(Reprint 3) DAWNLAND DIRECTORS: Status & Role of 17th-Century Wabanaki Sagamores, [aka Sakamos, Zakamos = “Chiefs”, “Leaders”]

Presented 1975 at 7th AlgnConf (Niagara-On-The-Lake, ON) Published 1976 as pp.495ff of Pot7AC [no IS#] Carleton Univ., Ottawa, ON
William Cowan, Editor.

Abstract: Sagamores were the sociopolitical leaders of the Dawnlanders — the Wabanaki Algonkian peoples of sub-St. Lawrence Canada and northern New England. This paper is a pioneer attempt to analyze ethnohistorical accounts of the Wabanaki with a theoretical model eclectically built from sociocultural anthropology to summarize meaningfully the status and role of Dawnland sagamores in the Early Historic Period (the 1600s). Both the topic and the method are believed to be new in Wabanaki studies to date.

[PLEASE NOTE: This Reprint 3 (1976) & Reprint 4 (1991) both together summarize & update my 1974 PhD dissertation Dawnland Decisions.]

(Reprint 4) DAWNLAND DIRECTORS’ DECISIONS: An Outline Of 17th-Century Encounter Dynamics On The Wabanaki Frontier.

Presented 1990 at 22nd AlgnConf (Chicago, IL)
Published 1991 as pp.225-245 of Pot22AC ISSN 0031-5671 Ottawa, ON
William Cowan, Editor.

Abstract: Several key decisions made by Wabanaki sagamoresduring the 1600s illustrate some of these leaders’ earliest attempts to deal with the intrusions of both French and English into their homelands. Ranging from naive to Machiavellian, these responses to European stimuli helped shape dynamic structures of later Wabanaki exploitation, expatriation, and encapsulation. With the French as their “friends”, Wabanaki sagamoresreally did not need the English as their “enemies”, to place their peoples’ ethnic integrity and independence in jeopardy. Yet the current Wabanaki revival demonstrates the open-endedness of their story. This paper discusses only the beginning of the encounter dynamics.

[PLEASE NOTE: This Reprint 4 (1991) & Reprint 3 (1976) both together summarize & updatemy 1974 PhD dissertation Dawnland Decisions.]

(Reprint 5) MEMBERTOU’S RAID ON THE CHOUACOET “ALMOUCHI- QUOIS”: The Micmac Sack Of Saco In 1607.

Presented 1974 at 6th AlgnConf (Ottawa, ON)
Published 1975 as pp.141-158 (with 159-179) of Pot6AC. collectively appearing as Canadian Ethnology Service Paper No. 23 – National Museum of Man Mercury Series, National Museums of Canada, Ottawa, ON
William Cowan, Editor.

Abstract: This paper is both an orientation and introduction to the epic poem which follows it, and an ethnohistorical critique of the accounts written by Lescarbot, Champlain, and others, about Micmac relationships with their Etchemin and Abenaki-Pennacook neighbors in the early 1600s. An analysis of the major Wabanaki political and military alliances of that time is attempted, in order to better understand these accounts, including the epic poem by French adventurer Marc Lescarbot. titled THE DEFEAT OF THE ARMOUCHIQUOIS SAVAGES* BY CHIEF MEMBERTOU AND HIS SAVAGE ALLIES, IN NEW FRANCE, IN THE MONTH OF JULY, 1607. This epic poem was translated into English by SUNY-Fredonia Professor Thomas H Goetz to accompany (pp.159-179) the Membertou’s Raidpaper.

(Reprint 6) THE CASE OF THE SLANDERED(?) SAGAMORE: Ouagimou Of The St-Croix River.

Presented 1993 at 25th AlgnConf (Montreal, QC) ISSN 0031 -5671
Published 1994 as pp.332-346 of Ad25CdA [French for Pot25AC1 Ottawa, ON
[When AC is in a Francophone city,Title is French; Article can be in English]
William Cowan, Editor.

Abstract: The time is early 1600s. The place is Wabanakia (Dawnland) — northern New England and Maritime Canada. The problem is the nature of Wabanaki sociopolitical leaders (sagamores) and a possibly deviant leader (Ouagimou). In terms of our theoretical conduct expectations (“models”) both of Wabanaki sagamores and of Wabanaki personality, Ouagimou’s apparent trepidations in foreign affairs seem peculiar indeed. Two key Frenchmen – Champlain and Lescarbot — describe Ouagimou as candidly admitting his fearfulness in his diplomacy dealings with Bashaba’s Abenaki Confederacy (a hostile native alliance). A third key Frenchman, Biard, accuses Ouagimou (instead of himself) of capitulating to the demands of invading English in guiding a search-and-destroy expedition against Port Royal, then the French colonial capital in Acadia. The (unanswerable?) question discussed here is: What interpretation should be given to the potentially negative statements made about Ouagimou?

(Reprint 7) WABANAKI WOMEN EXTRAORDINAIRE: A Sampler From Fact And Fancy.

Presented 1982 at 14th AlgnConf (Quebec City, QC) ISBN 0-7709-0126-3
Published 1983 as pp.125-136 of Ad14CdA [French for Pot14AC] Ottawa, ON
William Cowan, Editor.

Abstract: This paper discusses six extraordinary women of the Wabanaki Indians of Maine, during the 17th through19th centuries. The examples are derived from Archaeology, Ethnohistory, History, Folklore, and Ethnography. The ramifications of these cases indicate aspects of Wabanaki culture and society different than traditional models of women in hunting societies.