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Greylock
Great Chief of
the Abenaki
By James P. Millard
It is a rare discussion of the Abenaki People that
does not mention their greatest leader. A war chief, Grey Lock conducted his raids
against Colonial settlers in New England from his base in Missisquoi, or as the
Abenaki themselves called the place, Mazipskoik.
Grey Lock's period of
greatest activity was between 1723 and 1726 when he fought the war that
would come to be known by his name. Striking the towns along the
Connecticut River without warning, he successfully foiled one expedition after
another sent by the Massachusetts levies to capture him.
One of the most interesting things
about Grey Lock's War is that it was not part of the conflicts
between France and England, which were usually ongoing and which
invariably involved the local natives, much to their detriment.
Grey Lock's War was fought by native Americans- for their own
reasons, not at the behest of or for the rights of a foreign
power.
Grey Lock, like the majority of his people, did
eventually ally himself with the French. Ancient Jesuit records from
Fort St. Frédéric, show that this great war chief, known to the French as la
Tête Blanche, or The White Head, converted to Catholicism and was
baptized under the French name of Pierre-Jean while his wife was known as
Hélène. They had a son and a daughter, Jean-Baptiste and Marie-Charlotte. Gray
Lock's descendants today carry the family name Wawanolet.1
Monument to the great Abenaki Chief Grey Lock
Battery Park, Burlington Vermont |
There is a web site devoted to the Abenaki of
Mazipskoik, you can
find it
HERE: I
recommend it heartily.
For an outstanding account of The Abenaki in Vermont
including an entire chapter on Grey Lock's War, I
recommend that you read:
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The Western
Abenakis of Vermont, 1600-1800
War, Migration, and the survival of an Indian people.
by Colin G. Calloway
University of Oklahoma Press: Norman and London, published 1990 |
and also of interest-
The Original Vermonters- Native Inhabitants,
Past and Present. by Haviland,
William A. and Power, Marjory W. published 1994. University
of Vermont. Published by University Press of New England.
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In Search of New England's Native
Past- Selected Essays by Gordon M. Day.
Edited by Michael K. Foster and William Cowen.
University of Massachusetts Press, published 1998.
Recommended Abenaki Links:
The Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi (St. Francis/Sokoki Band)
Traditional Abenaki of Mazipskwik
Native Languages of the Americas: Abenaki Language
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- Sources/Notes:
1Gordon M.
Day, "IN SEARCH OF NEW ENGLAND'S NATIVE PAST- Selected
Essays by Gordon M. Day" Edited by Michael K. Foster and William Cowen
(
University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 1998) 144, 147
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