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Intertwining a lyrical voice with historical texts, poet Denise Low brings fresh urgency to the Gnadenhutten Massacre. In 1782, a renegade Pennsylvania militia killed ninety-six pacificist Christian Delawares (Lenapes) in Ohio. Those who escaped, including Indigenous eyewitnesses, relayed their accounts of the atrocity. Like Layli Longsoldier’s Whereas and Simon Ortiz’s from Sand Creek, Low delves into a critical incident of Indigenous peoples’ experiences. Readers will explore with the poet how trauma persists through hundreds of years, and how these peoples have survived and flourished in the subsequent generations.

In a personal poetic treatment of documents, oral tradition, and images, the author embodies the contradictions she unravels. From a haunting first-person perspective, Low’s formally inventive archival poetry combines prose and lyric, interweaving verse with historical voices in a dialogue with the source material. Each poem builds into a larger narrative on American genocide, the ways in which human loss corresponds to ecological destruction, and how intimate knowledge of the past can enact healing.

Ultimately, these poems not only reconstruct an important historical event, but they also put pressure on the gaps, silences, and violence of the archive. Low asks readers to question not only what is remembered, but how history is remembered—and who is forgotten from it. Reflecting on the injustice of the massacre, the Shawnee leader Tecumseh lamented that though “the Americans murdered all the men, women, and children, even as they prayed to Jesus . . . no American ever was punished, not one.” These poems challenge this attempted erasure.
 
 

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Praise for "house of Grace, House of Blood", Half Title Page, Title Page, Copyright, Dedication
  2. pp. i-viii
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. ix-xii
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  1. Preface
  2. Denise Low
  3. pp. xiii-xvi
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  1. I. Slaughter of Innocents, Ohio, March 7-8, 1782
  2. pp. 3-4
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  1. House of Grace, House of Blood
  2. p. 5
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  1. Their Names: First Shots at Gnadenhutten, 1782
  2. p. 6
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  1. Weapon of Choice, the Gnadenhutten Massacre, 1782
  2. p. 7
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  1. Their Names: the Children
  2. pp. 8-9
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  1. Their Names: Benjamin Holmes
  2. p. 10
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  1. They Fled into the Forest
  2. p. 11
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  1. On the Ohio River, 1790
  2. p. 12
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  1. A Mixed-Blood's Questions
  2. pp. 13-14
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  1. II. (Not) Extinction History / Not (extinction) History
  2. pp. 15-16
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  1. The Perpetrators Vow Not to Talk
  2. p. 17
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  1. Genocide Mathematics
  2. p. 18
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  1. Night Terrors
  2. p. 19
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  1. Undocumented Stories
  2. p. 20
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  1. Blood Documentation
  2. p. 21
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  1. Big Miller the Indian Fighter: Conversation with a Timeline
  2. p. 22
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  1. Time Moving Through Flesh
  2. pp. 23-24
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  1. III. Witness
  2. pp. 25-26
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  1. A River's Witness
  2. p. 27
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  1. A Delaware Catechism
  2. p. 28
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  1. Colonial Belief: Canaanites
  2. p. 29
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  1. Walking with My Delaware Grandfather
  2. pp. 30-32
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  1. IV. the Lord's Prayers
  2. pp. 33-34
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  1. Hymns in the Forest
  2. p. 35
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  1. Translation: Psalm 27, Verse 4
  2. p. 36
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  1. Songs / Psalms
  2. p. 37
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  1. Translations: Gnadenhutten
  2. p. 38
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  1. Spelling Book for the Town of Gnadenhutten, 1782
  2. pp. 39-40
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  1. V. Trails
  2. pp. 41-42
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  1. Glyphs on Trees
  2. p. 43
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  1. The Forest Trail to Safety
  2. p. 44
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  1. Geography Lesson: Trail to / from a Massacre
  2. p. 45
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  1. Geography Lesson: "High-Ways"
  2. p. 46
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  1. Geography Lesson: of Rivers and Mountains and Stars
  2. p. 47
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  1. Some Survive
  2. p. 48
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  1. Doll Dance
  2. pp. 49-50
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  1. Dance
  2. pp. 51-52
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  1. VI. Trail Marker Trees
  2. pp. 53-54
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  1. Trail Marker Tree: Wisconsin
  2. p. 55
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  1. Trail Marker Tree: My Husband's Family History
  2. p. 56
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  1. At Delaware relatives' [stolen] Village in Ohio
  2. p. 57
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  1. No Fairy Tale
  2. p. 58
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  1. Grape
  2. p. 59
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  1. Settler Erasure / Desuetude
  2. p. 60
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  1. Seeds
  2. pp. 61-62
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  1. VII. Upstream
  2. pp. 63-64
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  1. Acknowledgement of Lenape Lands
  2. p. 65
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  1. Geography Lesson: Diaspora
  2. p. 66
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  1. More than Place Names
  2. p. 67
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  1. Census Form: What Color I[ndian]?
  2. p. 68
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  1. Ohio: Footstones in a Family Cemetery
  2. p. 69
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  1. Trails of My Relatives: Ohio to Kansas
  2. pp. 70-71
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  1. Mary Ann (bair / Bear / Bare)
  2. p. 72
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  1. Descendancy
  2. pp. 73-74
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  1. VIII. The Continuously Giving Forest
  2. pp. 75-76
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  1. Baptism of Moravian Indian Converts, Pennsylvania, 1757
  2. p. 77
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  1. The Forest: Roots
  2. p. 78
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  1. The Forest: Warnings
  2. p. 79
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  1. The Forest: Damage
  2. p. 80
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  1. "Ohio" Means "Continuously Giving River"
  2. pp. 81-82
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  1. IX. Fire Trails
  2. pp. 83-84
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  1. Archaeological Report I: Fire
  2. p. 85
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  1. Archaeological Report II: Corrections
  2. p. 86
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  1. Fire Terror / Fire Erasure
  2. p. 87
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  1. Family Research: Three Brothers
  2. pp. 88-89
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  1. Jane's Maze, Delaware "Half-Breed Tract"
  2. p. 90
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  1. X. Ohio: Memorials
  2. pp. 91-92
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  1. Gnadenhutten Memorial Dedication, 1872
  2. p. 93
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  1. Memorial: The Cost
  2. p. 94
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  1. Postcard: "The Monument, Gnadenhutten, Ohio"
  2. p. 95
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  1. Signage: "Burial Site of Indian Martyrs"
  2. p. 96
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  1. "The White Men Called Them to Return": A Transcription
  2. pp. 97-98
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  1. "The White Men Called Them to Return": An Interrogation
  2. p. 99
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  1. A Gambler's Odds
  2. p. 100
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  1. Stomp Dance, Wyandotte County, Kansas
  2. pp. 101-102
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. 103-104
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  1. Notes
  2. pp. 105-106
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  1. Sources
  2. pp. 107-108
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  1. Illustrations
  2. pp. 109-110
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  1. About the Author
  2. p. 111
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