Gnadenhütten Journal - Supplements
H through N
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Litt. H*
Eighth Supplement to the Report on the Indians’ Visit
in Bethlehem in March 1753
for Friday March 23rd
Brothers! Now I tell you what all of my Brethren think. It is true, we expected you earlier. We would have been pleased to have seen you earlier. But it was not possible for you to come earlier.
Do not think that we thought ill ofyou that you did not come at the appointed time. We are well pleased that you are here with us now.
Brothers! Our eyes are clear, our ears are clean and our heart has reached out to you, in order to hear and accept your words.
Our Chiefs are pleased to see you; our youth are pleased to see you; our children are pleased to see you.
*Spangenberg’s answer to the Shawnee and Nanticokes.
Litt. I*
Ninth supplement to the Report on the Indians’ Visit
in Bethlehem in March 1753
for Friday March 23rd
Brothers! You, the Nanticoke and Shawnee, we are happy that we have been able to help you in a time of hardship. We thank our dear God and Lord, from whom all good comes, for enabling us to help you.
You must not think that only our Chiefs love the Indian Brethren, and that only they are happy when they can help their Indian Brethren. We thank our dear God, that he has also given our youth such hearts, that they are happy when they can help our Indian Brethren.
Our children love our Indian Brethren, as you can see yourself and the children in their mothers’ wombs, will also have a mind to help you, whenever they have the ability to do so and they will thank God when he gives them something that will enable them to help their Indian Brethren when they are in need.
Brothers! You made us a present of deerskins to make gloves and trousers. We accept the present in love and thank you for it. Our youth will be glad to wear pants made from the gift. Our children will also be pleased.
You have said, that it was something bad yours [presents] were so few. But Brothers! Because you give it to us in love, so it is large to us.
When our youth and children receive pants and gloves from the gift they will be pleased and will remember it is from our Nanticoke and Shawnee Brethren.
I (Tgirgitonti) am crossing the ocean and I want to take the best skin with me to bring it to my Brethren, particularly to our Chief Johanan and Tekariontie** and tell them that this is one of the skins that our Nanticoke and Shawnee Brethren have given us. This will please them.
* Spangenberg to Shawnee and Nanticoke.
**Probably Johannes de Watteville, who was given the name Tgarihantie,
meaning a messenger, during a treaty in Philadelphia in July 1749 renewing
the alliance with the Iroquois. The name belonged to the Turtle clan.
Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Pa.: Box 331, folder 6, item 3.
Litt. K*
Tenth supplement to the Report on the Indians’ Visit
in Bethlehem in March 1753
for Friday March 23rd
Brothers! It is true. We can understand each other out of necessity, but it is still a little arduous. You have said that one way for us would be if you came to us, and for you, if we came to you. But because it is not acceptable we must let it be just the way it is.
But we believe that if our Brothers the Nanticoke and Shawnee visit us often in Bethlehem and we also visit them frequently it will be easier for us to understand each other.
This String of Wampum is to confirm everything I have said.
This is not only my mind, but what I have said is what all of my Brethren think.
This is all I have to say today. I was away and did not come home as early as i thought I would.
Now three speeches remain. Early tomorrow we want to see you again at this place and give you an answer. We do not want to hold you up because you would like to be on your way since you are considering to leave Wyoming so soon.
11th Supplement to the Report on the Indians’ Visit
in Bethlehem in March 1753
For Saturday March 24th
Brothers! We have been pleased, that we had you so close to us. We are very happy we could come to you and you could come to us so soon, and we would have liked it if you had remained such close neighbors.
But because our common Brethren, the Five Nations, have called upon you that you should live closer to them, so we have nothing against it. We know what you agreed on at your council and at your big fire. You have a good reason for it and you are doing well that you are going to them, because they called you.
We are not curious to know your reason for going. It is good enough that you are letting us know that you are going. We would have felt bad, if we had come to Wyoming and had found only huts, but not our Brethren and had not known where they went.
Brothers! We are glad, that the path will not be too long for you to visit us.
Litt. M*
The 12th Supplement to the Report on the Indians Visit in Bethlehem
in March 1753 — for Saturday Marc’h 24th
Brothers! It is right for you to let us know your thoughts. We want to do nothing but avert suspicion.
We know that the Five Nations have big eyes and big ears and that they see and hear everything that happens in America. If they only knew how we and all Indians feel about them in our hearts, we would be glad. We have nothing against their intention that the Mahicans and Delawares who live in Gnadenhütten should go to them in Wyoming.
It is generous of them to care for their cousins and offer them their land.
You show great love, Nanticokes, through your desire to clear and clean your houses and your land, to gather the embers together and to repair houses. And all this for your love to them, so that they can live in peace and can follow their right path. It is certainly praiseworthy. And you prove yourselves as true Brethren of the Mahicans and
the Delawares in that you do not want to force them, but to leave it to their free will, either to move away from Gnadenhütten or to stay here, if they please. It is very reasonable when people behave in such a way as to leave every one their freedom.
That the path to you has been cleared all the way to Onondago pleases us very much. Let it always remain so. Do not let stones or shrubs prevent our coming, so that we can always see each other and come together in love.
Now if several of our Mahican and Delaware Brethren are willing to move to Wyoming, do this my Brothers: hold on to them on their one hand and we want to hold on to them on the other.
From the beginning we wished that they live with us in Gnadenhütten, but we have never forced them to stay with us in Gnadenhütten.
They are welcome to live with us in Gnadenhütten because they are our Brethren.
But they are free to go to Wyoming if they want to. We force no one.
Take this Sting of Wampum as a confirmation to what I have said.
*Spangenberg to Shawnee and Nanticokes.
Litt. N*
13th Supplement to the Report on the Indians’ Visit in Bethlehem
in March 1753 — for Saturday March 24th
Brothers! We must indeed confess that you are very generous toward our Brethren Mahican and Delaware, who live in Gnadenhütten. You are helpful to them, in that they can go to Wyoming peacefully if they want to.
I must say again, it is very reasonable that you do not want to force our Mahican and Delaware Brethren in Gnadenhütten to come to Wyoming. We do not want to force them to stay in Gnadenhütten. We have never done anything like it before. We leave them their freedom.
It is also very good that the path to you and the Five Nations, our Brethren, is open. We wish that it might stay so, as long as the world stands. We want to keep the path open for you so long as it is in our power to do so. The path to us is entirely clear. Our Mahican and Delaware Brethren (if some of them want to move to Wyoming) can always visit us, if they want to and we can also go to them if we want to.
We think that this is very good. We love them and we cannot do otherwise. We must visit them and stay with them for two or three days longer. And how could we hold on to their hand if we should not see them. They need our help for a while and therefore it is necessary that they see us.
We hold the chain of brotherhood between us, as long as the world stands.
This is what our Chiefs, youth and children think. We are glad that not only you, our Nanticoke and Shawnee Brethren, but also brothers the Five Nations are bound with you in one Belt.
Take our Belt. We are not alone, those who are present here, also our Brethren over the ocean, esp. Brother Johanan, who was the first one of us here and was acquainted with Five Nations and forged an alliance with them, which we want to hold forever, are here. I say the truth in the presence of all my Brethren, who you see in front of you, and in confirmation of what I have now said, is this Belt of Wampum."
Now Brothers! It might be that because you have a long journey ahead of you, you need many things. (Here some presents were brought and placed.) Take this, our small present, because you will need it when you are on your way. It is not much, but it comes with good will.
*Spangenberg to Shawnee and Nanticokes.
Translation by Rachel Wheeler & Irakly Chkhenkely
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