INTRODUCTION. 153 



Albert Gallatin has given us an elaborate and invaluable essay upon the struc- 

 ture of the American languages, illustrating the tongues of fifty-three nations. 



William L. Stone has had the felicity to appropriate to himself the depart- 

 ment of Indian biography. His first vs^ork was " The Life of Joseph Brant, 

 or Thayendanegea." The title, how^ever, does not convey a just idea of the 

 work, which is a complete history of the Iroquois confederacy during the life 

 of the hero. Brant was the leader of the Indian auxiliaries of the British 

 army during the revolution. The work is rich in historical information, con- 

 cerning the border scenes of that eventful struggle. The next work, by the 

 same author, was the Life and Times of Red Jacket, or Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, the 

 last great orator of the Iroquois confederacy. In this work the history of the Six 

 Nations is resumed at the period of the death of Brant, and continued until the 

 late dissolution of the league. The speeches of Red Jacket, preserved in this 

 volume, will for all time become more interesting as authentic exhibitions of the 

 rhetorical art, as it existed in a barbarian community. The Life of the Seneca 

 White Woman, called by the Indians Deh-he-wa-mis, by James G. Seaver, is 

 especially valuable for the light it throws upon the history of Sullivan's campaign 

 in the Genesee country in 1779. The affecting story of Wyoming is known to 

 every reader of Campbell's touching and most beautiful poem. But for an au- 

 thentic narrative of the painful events which the poet celebrated, we are indebted 

 to WiUiam L. Stone. William W. Campbell's Annals of Tryon County is a valu- 

 able contribution to the history of the state, and especially instructive concerning 

 the trials and sufferings of our frontier population exposed to Indian barbarities 

 during the war of the revolution. Edwin James has given us a narrative, by 

 John Tanner, a Virginian, who was captured by the Indians in his childhood, 

 which abounds in information concerning the Indians in the interior of the con- 

 tinent, and especially their manners, sentiments and customs. Tanner became 

 entirely assimilated to the Indians, and this interesting book was written from 

 his own lips, and may be deemed, therefore, a production of Indian autobiogra- 

 phy. Washington Irving's Memoir of Philip of Poconoket, a fierce yet magna- 



Intr. 20 



