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167 Sopiel Selmore (1814–1903) Chief Sopiel Selmore was the son of Sopiel Soctomah (p. 163) and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He was raised learning the old ways of his family as the traditional wampum keepers, and was the wampum reader at Sipayik. In 1870 he was one of the last two tribal envoys sent to Caughnawaga, the Mohawk village that served as the headquarters of the Wabanaki Confederacy. When he died, much of his knowledge would have been lost had it not been for the painstaking work of Lewis Mitchell (below) in reconstructing the wampum records. Megaque’s Last Battle In the old times there was a certain Indian chief and hunter. He was so cruel and brave in time of war and his success in conquering his enemies and taking so many scalps was so great that he was called Megaque, the scalping man. In hunting seasons he always went to his hunting grounds with his warriors to defend and guard their hunting grounds from the trespassing of other hunters. He was well known by other Indians for his bravery and his cruelty to his prisoners. He conquered so many other warriors and tortured them that he was hated, and they tried to capture him alive. Some of the other warriors from other tribes gathered an army and marched to his hunting grounds when they knew that he could not escape from their hands. When they came near where he was they sent messengers to him and notified him of the approaching army; he was out hunting when they reached his camp, but they made marks on a piece of birch bark, a figure of an Indian warrior with tomahawk in one hand and spear in the other, which was put in a village of wigwams. When Megaque returned from his hunt and found someone had visited him during his absence, he also found the pieces of bark, which he read to mean a band of warriors. He had no time. He was so brave and proud he did not try to escape. In a day or two the band of warriors reached him. After fighting, when he killed many as usual, he was finally captured and taken to the enemy’s country to be tortured. He could stand all the usual tortures bravely and sing his usual war songs while he was tormented. Finally he was killed. ...

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