BULL, 30] 



ALGONQUIAN FAMILY 



39 



settled at one jilace and part at anotlier, 

 have frequently taken them for different 

 peoples, and have dignified sin^de vil- 

 lages, settlements, or bands with the title 

 "tribe" or "nation," named from the 

 locality or the chief. It is generally im- 

 possible to discriminate between tribes 

 and villages throughout the greater part 

 of New England and along the Atlantic 

 coast, for the Indians there seem to have 

 l)een grouped into small communities, 

 each taking its name from the principal 

 village of the group or from a neighboring 

 stream orother natural feature. Whether 

 these were subordinate to some real tribal 

 authority or of equal rank and interde- 

 pendent, although still allied, it is im- 

 possible in many instances to deter- 

 mine. Since true tribal organization is 

 found among the better known branches 

 and can be traced in several instances in 

 the eastern division, it is presumed that 

 it was general. A geographic classifica- 

 tion of the Algoncjuian tribes follows: 



Western division, comprising three 

 groups dwelling along the e. slope of the 

 Rocky mts: Blackfoot confederacy, com- 

 posed of the Siksika, Kainah, and Piegan; 

 Arapaho and Cheyenne. . 



Northern division, the most extensive 

 one, stretching fron) the extreme n. w. 

 of the Algonquian area to the extreme 

 E., chiefly n. of the St Lawrence and the 

 great lakes, including several groups 

 which, on account of insufficient knowl- 

 edge of their linguistic relations, can only 

 partially be outlined: Chippewa group, 

 embracing the Cree (?), Ottawa, Chip- 

 pewa, and ^lissisauga; Algonkin group, 

 comprising the Nipissing, Temiscaming, 

 Abittibi, and Algonkin. 



Northeastern division, em.bracing the 

 tribes inhabiting e. Quebec, the Mari- 

 time Provinces, and e. Maine: the Mon- 

 tagnais group, composed of the Nascapee, 

 Montagnais, Mistassin, Bersiamite, and 

 Papinachois; Abnaki group, comprising 

 the Micmac, Malecite, Passamaquoddy, 

 Arosaguntacook, Sokoki, Penobscot, and 

 Norridgewock. 



Central division, including groups that 

 resided in Wiscon&in, Illinois, Indiana, 

 Michigan, and Ohio: Menominee; the 

 Sauk group, includingthe Sauk, Fox, and 

 Kickapoo; Mascouten; Potawatomi; Illi- 

 nois branch of the Miami group, com- 

 prising the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, 

 Tamaroa,and Michigamea; ^liamibranch, 

 composed of the Miami, Piankashaw, and 

 Wea. 



Eastern division, embracing all the 

 Algonquian tribes that lived along the 

 Atlantic coast s. of the Abnaki and in- 

 cluding several confederacies and groups, 

 as the Pennacook, Massachuset, Wam- 

 panoag, Narraganset, Nipmuc, INIontauk, 

 Mohegan, Mahican, Wappinger, Dela- 



wares, Shawnee, Nanticoke, Conoy, Pow- 

 hatan, and Pamlico. 



As the early settlements of the French, 

 Dutch, and English were all within the 

 territory of the eastern members of the 

 family, they were the first aborigines 

 X. of the Gulf of Mexico to feel the 

 blighting effect of contact with a superior 

 race. As a rule the relations of the 

 French with the Algonquian tribes were 

 friendly, the Foxes being the only tribe 

 against whom they waged war. The 

 English settlements were often engaged 

 in border wars with their Algonquian 

 neighbors, who, continually pressed far- 

 ther toward the interior by the advancing 

 white immigration, kept up for a time a 

 futile struggle for the possession of their 

 territory. The eastern tribes, from 

 Maine to Carolina, were defeated and 

 their tribal organization was broken up. 

 Some withdrew to Canada, others crossed 

 the mountains into the Ohio valley, while 

 a few bands were located on reservations 

 by the whites only to dwindle and ulti- 

 mately become extinct. Of many of the 

 smaller tribes of New England, Virginia, 

 and other eastern states there are no liv- 

 ing representatives. Even the languages 

 of some are known only by a few words 

 mentioned by early historians, while 

 some tribes are known only by name. 

 The Abnaki and others who fled into 

 Canada settled along the St Lawrence 

 under the protection of the French, 

 whose active allies they became in all the 

 subsequent wars with the English down 

 to the fall of the French power in Canada. 

 Those who crossed the Allegheny mts. 

 into the Ohio valley, together with the 

 Wyandot and the native Algonquian 

 tribes of that region, formed themselves 

 into a loose confederacy, allied first with 

 the French and afterward with the Eng- 

 lish against the advancing settlements 

 with the declared purpose of preserving 

 the Ohio r. as the Indian boundary. 

 Wayne's victory in 1794 put an end to the 

 struggle, and at the treaty of Greenville in 

 1795 the Indians acknowledged their de- 

 feat and made the first cession of land w. 

 of the Ohio. Tecumseh and his brother, 

 Ellskwatawa, instigated by British in- 

 triguers, again aroused the western tribes 

 against the United States a few years later, 

 but the disastrous defeat at Tippecanoe in 

 1811 and the death of their leader broke 

 the spirit of the Indians. In 1815 those 

 who had taken part against the United 

 States during the War of 1812 made peace 

 with the Government; then began the 

 series of treaties by which, within thirty 

 years, most of the Indians of this region 

 ceded their lands and removed w. of the 

 Mississippi. 



A factor which contributed greatly to 

 the decline of tlie Algonquian ascendency 



