Minor Groups- English and American
A. Indian Themes Contents
75. Alknomook 171
76. The Indian Hunter 172
77. The Indian Hunter 172
78. The Indian Student 173
A. Indian Themes
BY 1840 the Indians of western New York were no longer a menace to the whites; the few red men who survived were mostly on reservations of the Senecas. "Alknomook," printed in a songster as early as 1789, is in the tradition of the Noble Savage
singing his death song and addressing his enemies; he is the sort of romantic person whom the next century could accept comfortably. This is not to say that there were (and are) no noble Indians.
The Stevens family seem to have known two songs both
called "The Indian Hunter." The first is about a son of a chief;
one of the six stanzas refers to the maid who taught him to love.
(The folk in the early nineteenth century liked stories about
Indian lovers, especially lovers who leaped over a precipice, and
of course Longfellow in 1855 told about his Hiawatha's wooing
and wedding feast.) The second "Indian Hunter" has a text
originally written by an English poetess; the manuscript refers
vaguely to an appropriate tune to be found in a "Chorus &
Glee Book." This Indian was wronged by the white men. "The
Indian Student" is rather sentimental but probably represents
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172 A Tioneer Songster
what happened to more than one student at Dartmouth or at
Hamilton College (earlier the Hamilton Oneida Academy) ; the
pious founders of these institutions tried to educate Indian
youths.
7 j. Alknomook
This death song of an Indian chief is in the sentimentally heroic
vein so often found in white people's songs of the red man. Alkno-
mook, or in the Pennsylvania version, Alknomah, boasts of his prow-
ess and scorns complaint. The full title of the song, according to
Sonneck, is "Alknomook. The Death Song of the Cherokee Indians."
It was published in The Philadelphia Songster in 1789.
The philosophical first two lines of Douglass and the third stanza
are not in Shoemaker. Also, many words in the Pennsylvania version
are different from those in the Douglass version, and some lines are
even placed differently. For example, Shoemaker's lines 1 and 2 of
stanza 2 correspond to Douglass' lines 1 and 2 of stanza 4.
Alknomook
1. The sun sets at night and the stars shun the day
But glory remains when the light fades away
Begin ye tormentors your threats are in vain
For the son of Alknomook Shall never complain
2. Remember the arrows he shot from his bow
Remember your chiefs by his hatchet laid low
Why so slow do you wait 'till I shrink from my pain
No the son of Alknomook shall never complain
3. Remember the wood where in ambush we lay
And the scalps which we bore from your nation away
Now the flame rises fast you exult [in] my pain
But the son of Alknomook shall never complain
4. I'll go to the land where my father is gone
His ghost shall rejoice at the fame of his son
Death comes like a friend to relieve me from pain
And thy [son] oh Alknomook has scorn'd to complain
76. The Indian Hunter
A popular song about the romanticized Indian, this appears in
DeMarsan with only minor variations, one of which, inserted in
Minor Groups — English and American 173
brackets, improves the Douglass version. Brown's version is also
much the same except for such a word as "valint" (stanza 4, line 4)
which is "galliant" in Brown.
The Indian Hunter
1 . Let me go to my home that is far distant west
To the scenes of my youth that I like the best
Where the tall seeders are and the bright waters flow
Where my parents will greet me white man let me go
2. Let me go [to the spot] where the cataract plays
Where oft I have sported in my boyish days
There is my poor mother whose heart will o'erflow
At the sight of her child oh there let me go
3. Let me go to the hills and the vallies so fair
Where oft I have breathed my own mountain air
And there through the forest with quiver and bow
I have chased the wild deer oh there let me go
4. Let me go to my father by whose valint side
I have sported so oft in the height of my pride
And exulted to conquer the insolent foe
To my father the cheiftain oh there let me go
5. And oh let me go to my dark eyed maid
Who taught me love beneath the willow shade
Whose heart's lik the fawns and is pure as the snow
And she loves her dear Indian to her let me go
6. And oh let me go to my fair forest home
And never again will I wish to roam
And there let my body in ashes lie low
To that scene in the forest white man let me go.
77. The Indian Hunter
Eliza Cook, English poetess (1818-1889), is the author of this
poem, and Spaeth (1) gives 1837 as its publication date. A penciled
note in the manuscript reads "Music pg. 1 1 in Chorus & Glee Book."
There are only a few minor word changes from the original as given
in Felleman. Another song called "The Indian Hunter" is credited to
Eliza Cook by Ozark.
174 d. Pioneer Songster
The Indian Hunter
i . Oh why does the white man follow my path
Like the hound on the tigers track
Does the flush on my dark cheek awaken his wrath
Does he covet the bow at my back
2. He has rivers and seas where the billows and breeze
Bear riches for him alone
And the sons of the wood never plunge in the flood
Which the white man calls his own
3 . Then why should he come to the streams where none
But the red man dares to swim
Why why should he wrong the hunter one
[Who] never did harm to him
4. The father above thought fit to give
The white man corn and wine
There are golden fields where he may live
But the forest shades are mine
5. The eagle hath its place of rest
The wild horse where to dwell
And the spirit that gave the bird its nest
Made me a home as well
6. Then back go back from the red mans track
For the hunters eye grows dim
To find that the white man wrongs the one
Who never did harm to him
j 8. The Indian Student
Philip Freneau wrote another poem called "The Indian Student,"
but this Douglass song does not appear in any of the books examined.
It is in the typically sentimental vein.
The Indian Student
1 . O give me back my bended bow
My cap and feathers give them back
To chase o'er hill the bounding roe
And follow on the otter track
You took me from my native wild
Minor Groups — English and American 175
Where all was free was gay and blest
You said the Indian hunters child
In classic halls and bowers could rest
2 . Long have I dwelt within these walls
And poured oer ancient pages hong [long? ]
I hate these antiquated halls
I hate these grecian poets song
My soul formed for nobler deeds
Twas formed oer Indian plains to roam
Your bells of call no more I heed
I long to see my native home
3. I wish I was as I have been
With bended bow and bloodhound free
Chasing the deer oer forest glen
thats the life designed for me
My brothers to they bound as free
As the wild hare on soaring wing
My sisters to they think on me
As their low chant at eve they sing
4. Yes and perhaps away away
How can I think and linger here
1 hear in dreams their silent sighs
In dreams I see their silent tears
Tis done tis past as free as air
111 drink their health in forest glade
On on nor toil nor footsteps spare
111 seek the deepest wilaest shade