Proud and Determined: A History of the Stockbridge Mohicans, 1734–2014 by Jeffrey Siemers (review)

PROUD AND DETERMINED: A HISTORY OF THE STOCKBRIDGE MOHICANS, 1734–2014 offers a look at the Stockbridge Mohican Indians from their Christian mission in western Massachusetts to their move to Oneida Country in upstate New York to their current home in Wisconsin (via Indiana). It is an interesting story of a tribe that made every attempt to have some control over the situation in which it found itself, as non-Indians came to outnumber Indians and all tribes would soon be under settler-colonial rule.

Siemers presents the Stockbridge Mohican story in a roughly chronological fashion, beginning with their experiences just prior to incorporation of the Christian Indian town Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The tribe saw adopting Christianity as a path to survival. They had witnessed their tribe, as well as others, diminishing greatly in numbers over the years and had no means to stop that except to adopt the Christian religion and live in a town with an English-style government, a gristmill, a sawmill, roads, farms, animals, and other indications of colonial life. The book’s title and unifying theme of survival despite the odds signal a focus on political and legal relationships. It is a readable account of the more powerful forces faced by the tribe, each of which it overcame to be the strong tribe it currently is in Wisconsin. Siemers notes that “the condition of the Stockbridge Mohicans declined in the years following the French and Indian War” (1754–63) (17). Regular wars and skirmishes would weaken many New England tribes. The Stockbridge Mohicans would side with the colonists during the American Revolution (20) and, after the war, would decide that moving to Oneida Country in upstate New York would be best for the tribe.

Siemers provides some detail of the historical overlap between the Brothertown Indians and the Stockbridge Mohicans, including their move to New York then Wisconsin. He describes the impact of the American Revolution and the War of 1812 on the Stockbridge Mohicans, including the tribe’s temporary move to White River, Indiana, in the early nineteenth century. Returning to New Stockbridge, New York, all Stockbridge Mohicans, along with the Brothertown and some of the Oneida, would sign treaties granting them land in Wisconsin in the 1820s. Siemers goes on to explain the complications that ensued as a result of the timing of this move. In 1830, Congress would pass the Indian Removal Act and begin looking for ways to move some of the Wisconsin tribes, including the newly settled Stockbridge Mohicans, farther west.

Siemers takes the reader on a journey with the Stockbridge Mohicans, as they moved to new states and new parts of the country, across land and water, and always in an attempt to survive the devastating effects of colonization and white encroachment. It will make some readers think of the adage “That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” It is an interesting story, but not particularly unique. Readers would benefit from more attention to, and perhaps comparison with, what was happening with other tribes and in other parts of the country. Additionally, while it is a story easy to follow for one already familiar with it, the organization is a bit scattered for those less familiar. These concerns aside, this book will likely make its most lasting contribution as an accessible text for a general audience interested in knowing more about the Stockbridge Mohican Indians and their historical and contemporary status.