“Positive” Stereotypes

Even when Douglass is complimenting select Indigenous people, he is still perpetuating stereotypes and reducing Indigenous people to flat characters, who either helped or hindered white settlement.  

A Baptismal ceremony of Delaware men at a Moravian mission. Creator Unknown. Wikimedia images. Public Domain.

While Douglass spends a lot of time establishing how evil and backward Indigenous people are, he compliments a few Indigenous leaders and paints them in a positive light. 

Gelelemend,¹ translates to ‘leader’ or ‘one who is held in mind’ according to Weslager, The Delaware Indian Migration, 39. also called ‘Killbuck,’ was a Turtle Clan chief in the Delaware Nation in the late 1700s, around the time of the American Revolution. He lived both in eastern Ohio and Pennsylvania, escaping to Pittsburgh during the Revolution after decisively deciding to side with the United States.²Earl P. Olmstead, Blackcoats Among the Delaware, History of Wayne County, Ohio, 221-222. Today, Killbuck Creek in Wooster and Killbuck Township in Holmes County bear his name. According to some local historians, Killbuck also had a residence in Wayne County.³B.F. Bowen, History of Wayne County, Ohio, 87.

Benjamin Douglass, contrasted with his portrayals of most Indigenous Americans, compliments Gelelemend by saying:  

“Our border books refer to a chief Killbuck who is denominated a wise and great chief...In Ohio the Delawares were the ancestral tribe, and their biography contains an extraordinary number of remarkable personages, though none of so distinguished career or character, as to be known to the present generation.”

Benjamin Douglass, History of Wayne County, Ohio (1878), 228-229.

Why does Douglass point this out? Who is the “present generation” that Douglass wants to pass this information to? Douglass’s audience was residents of Wayne County. However, he seems to ignore that Gelelemend’s descendants outlived him, and may remember him for different accomplishments or reasons.

Gelelemend and the American Revolution

Reading further, we discover that the reason for this compliment is because of Gelelemend’s assistance to the Americans during the Revolutionary War and his Christianity. Douglass focuses on Gelelemend’s allyship with the Americans during the American revolution, calling him an “advocate of the American cause.”⁴Douglass, History of Wayne County, Ohio, 230

While it is true that Gelelemend sided with the United States during the American Revolution, and even fought for them, Douglass compliments this mainly because the American victory ultimately allowed for more white settlers to take over in Ohio with the signing of the Treaty of Greenville after the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Douglass also compliments the Delaware’s willingness to give up former missionary sites in Ohio with a series of treaties in 1823 (cecessions 4-6).⁵ Douglass, History of Wayne County, Ohio, 230. Gelelemend, Captain Pipe and White Eyes decided to allow the Americans to pass through their lands in exchange for protection, with the signing of the Treaty of Fort Pitt in 1778. However, there is some doubt about how fair this treaty was, as the Americans apparently gave the Delaware signers alcohol beforehand. ⁶ Weslager, The Delaware Indians: A History, 304-305. Gelelemend then lost power after he continued to support the Americans after the death of White Eyes, another important Delaware figure who was suspected to be murdered.⁷ Hurt, The Ohio Frontier, 79; 88; Olmstead, Blackcoats Among the Delaware, 222-223; Weslager, The Delaware Indians, 304-305. Other figures like Captain Pipe sided with the British, and they clearly do not get the same complimentary treatment as Gelelemend. ⁸ Weslager, The Delaware Indians, 304-305.

Gelelemend went so far as to be made a Colonel in the American Army, and adopted the name William Henry.⁹Weslager, The Delaware Indians, 314. However, most Delaware people did not follow in Gelelemend’s footsteps. ¹⁰ Hurt, The Ohio Frontier, 81. After the Revolution, the Delaware faced removal from treaties such as the Treaty of Greenville in 1795.

Gelelemend and Christianity

Furthermore, while Gelelemend practiced Christianity, not every Delaware person was willing to accept a new religion. Settlements established by white missionaries often came with strict rules that prohibited practicing old traditions.¹¹ Booth, The Tuscarawas Valley in Indian Days, 291. Gelelemend’s own father, Killbuck Senior or Benimo, had hesitations about converting to Christianity and feared that because the missionaries were pacifists, they would be open to attack.¹² Weslager, The Delaware Indians, 290-291. In 1771, David Zeisberger, a Moravian missionary, noted that one member of the Delaware questioned religious conversion, saying,

“Why do you come here with an entirely new religion for our people? I feel like kicking the lot of you out of the house, but if all the Indians accept your religion and believe your words, I will not do it”

Russell H. Booth Jr., The Tuscarawas Valley in Indian Days, 98.

Douglass does not take any of this nuance into account.

Instead, he views Gelelemend as a one-dimensional character who deserved praise only for serving American interests.¹³Jentz, Seven Myths of Native American History, 4 Douglass’s description of Gelelemend also still buys into stereotypes of Indigenous people overall. Read the quotes below and see how many you can find. See more examples by clicking on the footnotes.

After sowing his wild oats, and various border experiences, it will be seen, he drifted further west and ceased to be a portent.¹⁴This sentence conceals the true nature of Delaware removal, and also assumes that all Indigenous people are portents, or negative signs. He ceased swoops and forays; he yelped war no more.¹⁵Again, this sentence assumes that most Indigenous people are violent. The Moravian missionaries drew him under their “sweet influences;” he professed; he confessed; he said he believed, and died saturated in whisky, but observing the external and more muscular forms of the United Brethren Church.¹⁶This sentences praises Gelelemend for converting to Christianity, but also makes a point to reinforce stereotypes of Indigenous alcoholism. The accounts of David Zeisberger suggest that Gelelemend’s drinking in the early 1800s was due in part to the suicide of Henry, another Delaware convert. (Olmstead, Blackcoats Among the Delaware, 153).

Benjamin Douglass, History of Wayne County, Ohio (1878), 231

Similarly, Douglass’s introduction to Gelelemend’s life is rife with passages that characterize his relatives and his people as inherently violent. How many other examples of violent stereotypes can you find on page 231?

Portrayals of the “model Indian” can be seen throughout historical works and popular media.

Two figures who have been continually stereotyped for their roles in aiding white settlers are Pocahontas and Squanto.

Image: Smith Rescued by Pocahontas. Henry Schile (1870). Library of Congress and Picryl. No known restrictions on publication.

Pocahontas was largely celebrated for her supposed saving of John Smith in 1607, although whether or not the incident took place is contested by historians.¹⁷Jentz, Seven Myths of Native American History, 5. In his essay, historian Leo Lemay argues that the incident did in fact happen, but that historians doubted Smith as a narrator beginning in the 1860s. Like Douglass, authors who write about Pocahontas often also emphasize that she too converted to Christianity. Much of her history has been lost, and the stories that remain come from authors and historians who wanted to politicize her story and make her the exception to negative stereotypes.¹⁸Jentz, Seven Myths of Native American History, 4.

Squanto, a member of the Patuxet, is similarly celebrated for supposedly assisting the settlers at Plymouth during the winters when they first arrived and later converting to Christianity. However, this portrayal of Squanto ignores his complex motivations for allying himself with these settlers. After having been enslaved by the English, he was captured by the Pokanoket, and he convinced their leaders to ally with the English to defeat their common enemies. However, once he was freed, he attempted to turn the English against the Pokanoket as revenge for his enslavement and to gain more power within his own tribe.¹⁹Jentz, Seven Myths of Native American History, 6-7.

Both of these figures have been remembered only for their contributions to the advancement of white settlers, or their conformity to European culture and religion.

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