ROYCE. ] TREATY OF NOVEMBER 28, 1785. 137 
be worth while to allude to a tradition preserved among the Mohican or 
Stockbridge tribe. It appears that in 1818 the Delawares, who were 
then residing on White River, in Indiana, ceded their claim to lands 
in that region to the United States. This land had been conditionally 
given by the Miamis many years before to the Delawares, in conjunction 
with the * Moheokunnuks” (or Stockbridges) and Munsees. Many of the 
latter two tribes or bands, including a remnant of the Nanticokes, had not 
yet removed to their western possessions, though they were preparing to 
remove. When they ascertained that the Delawares had ceded the 
lands to the United States without their consent, they objected and 
sought to have the cession annulled. 
In connection with a petition presented to Congress by them on the 
subject in the year 1819, they set forth in detail the tradition alluded 
to. The story had been handed down to them from their ancestors that 
“many thousand moons ago” before the white men came over the * great 
water,” the Delawares dwelt along the banks of the river that bears 
their name. They had enjoyed a long era of peace and prosperity 
when the Cherokees, Nanticokes, and some other nation whose name 
had been forgotten, envying their condition, came from the south with 
a great army and made war upon them. They vanquished the Dela- 
wares and drove them to an island in the river. The latter sent for 
assistance to the Mohicans, who promptly came to their relief, and the in- 
vaders were in turn defeated with great slaughter and put to flight. 
They sued for peace, and it was granted on condition that they should 
return home and never again make war on the Delawares or their allies. 
These terms were agreed to and the Cherokees and Nanticokes ever re- 
mained faithful to the conditions of the treaty. 
The inference to be drawn from this legend, if it can be given any 
eredit whatever, would lead to the belief that the Cherokees and the Nan- 
ticokes were at that time neighbors and allies. The original home of 
the Nanticokes on the Eastern Shore of Maryland is well known, and 
if the Cherokees (or at least this portion of them) were then resident 
beyond the Alleghanies, with sundry other powerful tribes oceupying 
the territory between them and the Nanticokes, it is unlikely that any 
such alliance for offensive operatiens would have existed between them. 
Kither the tradition is fabulous or at least a portion of the Cherokees 
were probably at one time residents of the Eastern Slope of Virginia. 
The Delawares also have a tradition that they came originally from 
the west, and found a tribe called by them Allegewi or Allegans occu- 
pying the eastern portion of the Ohio Valley. With the aid of the Iro- 
quois, with whom they came in contact about the same time, the 
Delawares succeeded in driving the Allegans out of the Ohio Valley to 
the southward. 
Schoolcraft suggests the identity of the Allegans with the Cherokees, 
an idea that would seem to be confirmatory of the tradition given by 
Haywood, in so far as it relates to an early Cherokee occupancy of Ohio. 
