![]() ![]() During the time of their sojourning here I was born – January 31st, 1798. He then removed to the back settlements, directing his course to the west and afterwards to the north-east, and pitched his tent in the woods of a town called Colerain, near the Connecticut river, in the state of Massachusetts, where he continued for some time. From what I have already stated, it will appear that my father was of mixed blood – his father being a white man, and his mother, a native of the soil, or in other words a red woman but when he attained sufficient age to act for himself, he joined the tribe to which he was connected maternally, shortly after which he married a female of the tribe, in whose veins, not a single drop of the white man’s blood had ever flowed. I do not make this statement in order to boast of my origin, or to appear great in the estimation of others, when, in fact of myself, I am nothing but a worm of the earth, but with the simple view of giving the reader the truth as I have received it, and more especially as I must render an account to the Sovereign Judge of all men for everything contained in this little book. I have frequently heard my grandmother talk about it, and as nearly as I can tell, she was his grand or great-grand daughter. How nearly she was connected with the king I cannot tell but without doubt some degree of affinity subsisted between them. My grandfather was a white, and married a female attached to the royal family: she was fair and beautiful. They were subject to a more intense and heart corroding affliction – that of having their daughters claimed by the conquerors, and however much subsequent efforts were made to soothe their sorrows in this they considered the glory of their nation as departed. But this was not the only act of injustice which this op pressed nation suffered at the hand of their white neighbors. Betrayed to their avowed enemies, the nation was completely routed and the way thereby opened for the whites to possess themselves of the goodly heritage occupied by this once peaceable and happy tribe. ![]() As the story of King Philip is perhaps generally known, it will be sufficient for our purpose to say that he was overcome by treachery. This tribe inhabited a part of Connecticut, and lived in comparative peace on the river Thames, in the town of Groton or Pacatonic, and was commanded by King Philip. WILLIAM APES, the author of the following narrative is a native of the American soil, and a descendant of one of the principal chiefs of the Pequod Tribe, so well known in that part of American history called King Philip’s Wars. It was written under many disadvantages, and the bare acknowledgement of his entire want of a common education, will, he hopes, be a sufficient apology for any inaccuracies that may occur. IN offering to the public this little volume, containing the leading features in the eventful life of a Son of the Forest, the author would in the outset bespeak for the work a favorable reception. In conformity of the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled “An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned.” And also to an Act, entitled “An Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of the Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints.”Ĭlerk of the Southern District of New-York. The Experience of William Apes, a Native of the Forest Comprising a notice of the Pequod Tribe of Indians. 1829, in the fifty third year of the Independence of the United States of America, William Apes, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words following, to wit BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the twenty-fifth day of July, A.D. ![]() Any other changes to the original 1829 edition are unintentional. ![]() A few minor and obvious spelling mistakes have been corrected. Due to formatting issues, paragraph breaks are indicated by a space between paragraphs rather than by the indentations used in the original. The original pagination is indicated by page numbers in bold brackets at the site of the page breaks. It is offered so that readers of Apess’s works can compare the text with the more often anthologized 1831 version and freely copy and paste from the text for scholarly purposes. Presented here is a transcription of the first 1829 edition of William Apess’s memoir A Son of the Forest in a clean Word Document format. ![]()
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