LETTER VI.
FROM DR. WISTAR TO MR. HECKEWELDER.
Philadelphia, May 21st, 1816.
My dear Friend.—I am much obliged by your kind letters, which are very interesting, and will, I hope, obtain from[274] us some of the valuable information which has been left unpublished by our ingenious colleague the late Dr. Barton. The Grammar of your venerable friend, Zeisberger, is regarded by Mr. Duponceau as a treasure. He thinks the inflections of the Indian verbs so remarkable that they will attract the general attention of the literati. Inclosed is a letter from him, by which he expects to open a correspondence with you on the subject. I will be much obliged by your writing to him as soon as your convenience will permit.
We expect soon to have materials for publishing a volume of Historical Documents, and I have proposed that we shall prefix to those which relate to Pennsylvania, all the information we can collect respecting the Indians who were here before our ancestors. The Committee agree that this will be the proper method, and my dependence for authentic information is on you; as I have never met with any person who had any knowledge to compare with yours, respecting the poor Indians. I was delighted to find that your enquiries have been directed to the history of the Lenni Lenape before they settled in Pennsylvania. The removal of the Indian tribes from our country to another is a very interesting subject. If you can tell us where they came from and what forced them away; who were here before them, and what induced their predecessors to make war for them, we shall be much obliged to you. There is no book I shall read with more pleasure than yours.
The causes of their downfall, I believe, are well known to you, and will of course have a place. The manner in which they were treated by the Six Nations, after their conquest, will be an interesting article, as it will shew the Indian policy. An account of the political rights which were still allowed them, and, in short, of everything which is connected with their conquest, will add to the interest of the work. As occupants of Pennsylvania before the whites, ought not the Shawanese and the Six Nations also to be described?
I have been told that the Shawanese were more refined than any other Indians in this part of America, and that the place where Chilicothe now stands, was the seat of Indian civilisation.
I have the pleasure of forwarding to you an instructing work by Dr. Drake, a physician at Cincinnati, which he sends you.
He also sends a small package and a letter to Mr. Steinhauer.
I send them by a wagon which goes from Mr. Bolling’s, but I am not without some expectation of paying another visit to Bethlehem very soon, where it will be a great gratification to meet with my friend.
Affectionately yours,
Caspar Wistar.