Appendix 1 - Bibliography of Major Figures

The background and perspectives of the following figures who wrote about their contact with the inhabitants of the Southeast are useful because they provide insight into the "mind set" of these writers. If a person is described sufficiently in the text so that his views toward the Indians are known or if his background is not judged to influence his reporting, then that figure will not be included in this list. This list is organized chronologically.

 

Peter Martyr

He was an Italian scholar who in 1520 was appointed to the post of histographer. Soon afterwards, he arrived at the Spanish court as a foreign scholar. His abode became a cultural center, and he received first hand accounts by travelers and explorers about the New World. Some of his books from the compilation entitled De Orbe Novo - The Eight Decades - were published after his death in 1526.

 

Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

He was born in Spain circa 1490 and died there circa 1557. He was a Spanish soldier and explorer. He and a few other men were separated from the rest of their crew and lived among the Indians for many years.

 

Hernando de Soto

He was born in Spain circa 1500 and died along the Mississippi River in 1542. He made his first voyage to Central America at the age of 19 years. He was a Conquistador. He had a contract from King Charles V of Spain to conquer Florida and be governor of Cuba.

 

Garcilaso de la Vega

He was born in Peru circa 1539 and died in Códoba Spain in 1616. He was a Peruvian soldier, historian, and translator. His mother was an Inca princess and his father a Spanish soldier. He went to Spain as a Captain in the Spanish army and was given a pension. He started writing when he settled in Córdoba, Spain.

 

Jean Ribault or Ribaut

He was born in France in 1520 and died in Florida in 1565. He first sailed to the new world in 1562. He landed in Florida and claimed the land for France and then returned to France. In 1565 he returned to Florida with reinforcements for Laudonnière at Fort Caroline. While exploring the coast, he was killed by Spaniards.

 

René Goulaine de Laudonnière

He accompanied Ribault on his first voyage in 1562. He went again in 1564 and established Fort Caroline. The colony never took hold and he was ordered to return to France from where he wrote about his voyages.

 

Jacques Le Moyne

He was an artist who accompanied Laudonnière on his expedition to Florida in 1564. He was commissioned to report what he saw. He, however, did not do the actual drawings until his return to England.

 

John White

The career of John White has always been filled with mystery. It is believed that both the artist and Governor of the 1587 colony were the same man. He was born circa 1545. He was a professional limner (part of the Painter-Stainers Guild). His sketches were done in situ and he worked closely with Thomas Hariot.

 

Thomas Hariot

He was born at oxford in 1560 and graduated from the University in 1580. He was both a tutor to Sir Walter Raleigh and his friend. He was a well educated man and an accurate observer. He received a pension from Henry Percy and continued as a scientist until his death in 1621.

 

Richard Hakluyt

Richard Hakluyt was one of the most significant of Elizabethans. He was born in 1552 and died in 1616. He was considered important enough to be buried in Westminster Abbey. Hackluyt was extremely interested in the discovery of North America. He became an expert on French voyages and settlements in Canada and Florida. A. L. Rowse in his introduction to Voyages in Virginia compares his achievements in the areas of geography, navigation, and the settlement of North America to Shakespear's in the field of drama. Hakluyt's aim was to gather all the information possible on exploration and make it available in English.

 

Theodore de Bry

De Bry was a professional publisher and engraver. It is a well established fact that he modified most of the drawings done by LeMoyne and White by making the figures more European in pose and stature.

 

William Strachey

He was born in England in 1572. His education was such that he associated with the leading English literary figures. He started writing verse as a young man. As a gentleman-adventurer, he went to the New World. He served as first secretary and recorder of the Virginia Colony from 1609-1611

 

John Smith

Before coming to Jamestown, John Smith was an adventurer. He was one of the few explorers who realized the need to learn the Indian language.

 

Louis Hennepin

He was born in Ath, Belgium in 1640 and died in the Netherlands in 1701. He was a French Franciscan missionary who went to Canada at the request of Frontenac. Hennepin first ventured forth down the Mississippi by order of La Salle in 1680. He wrote up his first trip making no mention of reaching the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1683. This is his only trip that many scholars feel was reliably reported. His other books published years later reported that he journeyed to the mouth of the Mississippi. However, it is believed that he only went as far as the falls of St. Anthony of Padua at the junction of the Minnesota River. Although many of his facts as to the nature of the Indian tribes are judged to be accurate for he took his information from accurate sources even though he claimed authorship, his reliability as a witness will always be questioned.

 

Robert Cavalier de La Salle

He was born in Rouen France in 1643 and trained as a Jesuit. He never entered the order but sailed for adventure in the New World in 1664. His first expedition took place in late 1681 in which he was accompanied by Hennepin, Tonty, and Father Membré although they later split up to explore different channels of the Mississippi River. He, then, returned and in 1684 sailed to the Gulf of Mexico and formed a colony at Matagorda Bay. In 1686 he returned to Canada for provisions and was murdered by one of his own men. His career was filled with frustrations and intrigue by others. Joutel was with him at Matagorda Bay and when he was killed. Hennepin and Tonty were not.

 

Henry de Tonti (Tonty)

He was born circa 1650 and died near what is now Mobile, Alabama in 1704. He was an Italian explorer who accompanied La Salle on his explorations of the Mississippi River. In 1682, he traveled to the mouth of the Mississippi which act acknowledged France's claim to all the land therein. He, then, joined colonists in Louisiana under D'Iberville.

 

Minet

He had a royal appointment as an engineer and cartographer with the last La Salle expedition. However, he recorded narratives from some of the men who had been on the 1682 expedition.

 

John Lawson

His birth date is not known. He was well educated and a gentleman of birth who came to America in 1700. He remained in North Carolina for eight years and was awarded the position of Surveyor General of North Carolina. He wrote his book while in North Carolina. He died in 1712.

 

John Brickell

He was born in Ireland circa 1710 and died circa 1745. He was a physician and scientist. He arrived in North Carolina in 1729 and lived in the coastal towns of Beaufort, Bath and Edenten. He practiced medicine in the latter from 1730-1731

 

Robert Beverley

He was born in Middlesex County, Va. circa 1673 of a renowned planter family and died in 1722. Even though he was born in Virginia, he went to England for his schooling until he was nineteen years old. He was noted for his work as a historian. He became clerk of the Council of Virginia, an office that was previously held by his father.

In the preface of his book he stated "I am an Indian and don't pretend to be exact in my language." However his father had immigrated to Virginia from England in 1663 and there is no indication that he had an Indian woman for his mother. Beverley was probably using the word Indian figuratively to mean Virginia Born.

 

Mark Catesby

He was born in London circa 1679. In London he studied natural science. In 1710 he raised enough money to go to the New World. He made a few trips from 1711 to 1726. He studied, wrote, and drew pictures of the flora, fauna, and inhabitants of the Carolina area. In 1726 he returned to England to prepare his major work.

 

Antoine Simon Le Page Du Pratz

He was born in Holland circa 1695 and died in 1775. He went to Louisiana at the age of 23 and established a plantation near the Natchez Indians. He spent 16 years living near to and observing the Indians. He returned to France in 1734 and subsequently joined the French Dragoons.

 

James Adair

He was born circa 1709 and died circa 1783. He was an English trader who lived from 1735-1770 with the Southeast Indians, especially the Chickasaws and Cherokees. He believed that the Indians were descendents of the 10 tribes of Israel.

 

Bernard Romans

He was born in the Netherlands in 1720 and migrated to England where he studied civil engineering. He was a controversial figure being of a "contentious" nature and frequently involved in legal suits and arguments. His book, A Concise History Of East and West Florida was not received well possible due in part to its date of publication, 1775.

 

Jean-Bernard Bossu

He was born circa 1725 and was one of the first travelers who explored the Louisiana area. He was a Captain in the Navy and made three trips to the New World by the order of his government.

 

Henry Timberlake

He was born in Virginia in 1730 and died in London in 1765. He received an adequate education and joined the Patriot Blues Campaign of 1756 against the French and Indians under George Washington. He marched against the Cherokees with Colonel Byrd. After the Cherokees' surrendered, they requested that an officer visit them. Timberlake volunteered to go. He, also, accompanied two groups of Cherokee Indians to England. He wrote his Memoirs while there to try to recoup severe financial losses. He died shortly after he finished writing his book.

 

William Bartram

He was born in Pennsylvania in 1739 and died there in 1823. He was the son of the noted John Bartram. William Bartram was a botanist and ornithologist. He spent about 5 years investigating the animals and plants of The Carolinas, of Georgia, and of Florida.

 

Milford Le Clerc

He was born in France circa 1750 and died there in 1817. He was a French adventurer. During his career in America, he was made a Creek Indian Chief. Later, upon returning to France, he became a General under Napoleon.

 

Thomas Nuttal

He was born in England in 1786 and died there in 1859. He was an Anglo-American botanist and ornithologist. He lived in America from 1807-1842. In 1822, he became the curator of the botanical gardens at Harvard.

 

Basil Hall

He was born in Edinburgh in 1788 and died in England in 1844. He was a British Naval officer, traveler, and author.

 

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

He was born in New York State in 1793 and died in Washington D.C. in 1864. He was an American ethnologist and explorer. He traveled in Missouri and Arkansas. He was appointed an Indian Agent for the Great Lakes Area in 1822. He, also, held other government positions relating to Indian matters.

 

Elias Boudinot

He changed his last name to Boudinot in honor of Elias Boudinot (1740-1821) who was a noted philanthropist toward the Indians and the author of a book equating the Indians to the Lost Tribes of Israel. This younger Elias was born in Georgia circa 1803 and murdered in 1839. He was the first American Indian Editor. He was the Cherokee editor of the Cherokee Phoenix from 1828-1835.

 

Thomas Lorraine McKenney

He was born into a Quaker family in 1785. He obtained the post of Superintendent in 1816. He ran the office of Indian Trade until it was abolished in 1822. In 1824, he was placed in charge of the new Office Of Indian Affairs. He remained there until 1830 when he was dismissed by President Andrew Jackson.

 

John Howard Payne

He was born in New York in 1791 and died in Tunis in 1853. He was a child actor known as the "American Juvenile Wonder". He was an American dramatist, actor, and song writer, known for his famous song "Home Sweet Home". He authored, translated or adapted sixty plays and even collaborated with Washington Irving. He retired from the stage in 1832 and served at Tunis as American Consul from 1834-45 and from 1851-52.

Ethan Allen Hitchcock

He wrote many diaries which shed tremendous light on events that took place in the early and mid eighteen hundreds. His diaries from 1819 to 1834 were destroyed. These he rewrote, however, in 1853.

He graduated from West Point in 1817 at the age of 26, and in 1824 he became a 1st Lieutenant of an Infantry regiment. This information is garnered from his reconstruction of the early part of his life in book 1 of his series of diaries. He was a thoughtful man, not liking profanity and blustering. Instead, he was pensive and introspective, often wondering about the meaning of life, and desiring to improve himself.

"My notes show that I was (in the Spring of 1825) constantly enquiring about myself." [p. 133.]

He believed in integrity, and, in 1828, he was ordered to the North West. He felt that he was "banished" because he would not change his opinion.

"I told them that I could yield my opinion in cases affecting mere property, the injury to which could be repaired, but that in matters affecting personal rights and reputations, I felt bound to see that my orders were legal." [p. 150].

This period of his life lasted only for approximately a year when he was ordered back to the North East. In March of 1829 [he thinks] he assumed Command of the Corps of Cadets "maintaining my principles and my sense of rectitude" [p. 153].

He enjoyed philosophizing and reading. In his diaries he kept meticulous records of everything that he saw. He served in the second Seminole War and in 1841 assumed a commission to investigate fraud on the part of contractors, etc. in the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.

 

George Catlin

Catlin was born in Pennsylvania on July 26, 1796. Catlin was convinced by his father to become a lawyer. However, early on, he became interested in painting. He dedicated the rest of his life to painting portraits of the Indians of the west hoping to form both a visual and written record of their lives.

 

Albert James Pickett

He wrote his first book in 1851. He was born in 1810 and moved with his father, who had a trading house on his plantation, to Alabama. As a boy, he learnt from the Indians, especially the Creeks. He stated in the preface to his book, that much of what he learnt about Indian customs, he learn from oral reporting.

 

Horatio B. Cushman

He was born at Mayhew Station, Mississippi, probably in the 1830's. He was the son of missionaries to the Choctaw Indians who were sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He spent most of his young life among the Choctaws to whom he felt very close.

 

Albert Samuel Gatschet

He was born in Switzerland in 1832 and died in 1907. He became an American anthropologist and philologist for the BAE in 1879. He was an ethnologist for the U. S. Geological Survey from 1877-1879. His main area of interest was centered around the languages of the North American Indian.

 

Henry Sale Halbert

He was born in Alabama in 1837 and moved to Mississippi shortly thereafter. He received a Masters of Arts degree from Union University in Tennessee. He spent much of his life teaching including work among the Choctaw Indians from 1884-1899. He wrote extensively about the Choctaw Indians.

 

James Mooney

He was born in Indiana in 1861 and died in 1921. He was an American ethnologist and member of the BAE from 1885-1921. He was a specialist on the Cherokee Indians.

 

John Swanton

Swanton received his doctorate from Harvard. His area of specialization became the Southeast and he was a pioneer in his field. His contributions to the field are extremely numerous. While his contemporaries were learning about the Plain's and Plateau Indians who had relatively recently come into contact with the White man, Swanton chose to study a group of people's who had first been in contact with the White man centuries ago.

 

Charles Henry Coe

He was the author of Red Patriots. He wrote the book to make the people of Florida aware of the tragedy that happened to the Seminole Indians. Coe was born in Connecticut in 1856. In 1874 he came with his family to Florida. He remained there for six years. At that time, he developed an interest in the Florida Indians. He made periodic trips back, finally settling there in 1948.

 

Grant Foreman

Just prior to 1900, he came to Indian Territory as a young attorney working with the Dawes's Commission. In 1903 he left the Commission to practice law and became a partner of Judge John R. Thomas of Muskogee. In 1905 he married Carolyn, Judge Thomas's daughter. In the early 1920's, he gave up his law practice and devoted the rest of his life to writing about Oklahoma and the "Five Civilized Tribes."

He had much of the hand written documents housed in various repositories carefully translated. These involved journals, letters, etc. He used this material to write many well documented books.