Lincoln Came Near Death from Smallpox while giving the Gettysburg Address.

On the train to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Lincoln began to tell his staff that he was feeling weak, but he finished editing his address and continued on to Gettysburg. When they arrived, Lincoln rode to the cemetery on horseback and viewed the area and plans. 

When the program began on November 19, 1863, Lincoln sat on the platform for over two hours while classical scholar Edward Everett spoke and during the music piece Dirge by Composer Alfred Delaney.

Dirge was sung at the consecration of the Soldier's Cemetery

at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863.

Composed and Arranged for Four Voices. 

Lincoln was feeling weaker all the while, and observers called his color "ghastly." When the President finally got up, he stunned the crowd with his short address (271 words in ten sentences in just over two minutes); most were unaware they missed it. 

Read the Four Draft Versions of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, proofed by his staff.

Lincoln judged the crowd's silence as disappointment and left Gettysburg himself disappointed. On the train back to Washington, Lincoln grew feverish and weaker still. His valet, William Henry Johnson, sat up with the President, wiping his face with a wet cloth to cool him.

Painting of Abraham Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address.

By the time Lincoln returned to Washington, his weakness had progressed, and he had become feverish with severe headaches and back pain. By the fourth day of symptoms, a red rash appeared that developed into scattered blisters by the next day. A good description of the rash and its development is lacking. The president's personal physician, Dr. Robert King Stone, first diagnosed him with a cold, then "bilious fever" (fever associated with excessive bile), and then scarlatina (scarlet fever). Both scarlet fever and malaria[1] were common in early 19th century America, including Lincoln's home state of Illinois.

A rare photo of the Gettysburg ceremonies. A group of boys stands at the fringe of a crowd. In the distance, several men wearing sashes can be seen standing on the speakers' platform. Analysis of an enlargement of this photo reveals the image of Lincoln sitting to the left of these men.

Goldman and Schmalsteig reviewed Dr. Stone's records; oddly, he apparently never mentions this illness, though he attended the President through the entire period. As the rash progressed, Dr. Washington Chew Van Bibber was called in for a consultation. After examining the President, he diagnosed a mild case[2] of smallpox (varioloid). Much later, Dr. Van Bibber's version of a conversation with the President was recorded in the autobiography of another surgeon:

Abraham Lincoln photographed
by Alexander Gardner on
November 8, 1863, 11 days
before the Gettysburg Address.

"Mr. President, if I were to give a name to your malady, I should say that you have a touch of varioloid" [the old-fashioned name for smallpox]. "Then am I to understand that I have smallpox?" Lincoln asked, to which the Doctor assented. "How interesting," said Mr. Lincoln. "I find that an unpleasant situation in life may have certain compensation every now and then. Did you pass through the waiting room when you came in just now?" He replied, "I passed through a room full of people." 'Yes, that's the waiting room, and it's always full of people. Do you have any idea what they are there for?" "Well," said the Doctor, "perhaps I could guess." "Yes," said Mr. Lincoln, 'they are there, every mother's son of them, for one purpose, namely, to get something from me. For once in my life as President, I find myself in a position to give everybody something!"

By day 10 of symptoms, the fever was decreasing, and the rash began to itch and peel. The weakness persists the longest, preventing him from returning to work for the official business for 25 days. Visitors report that he was beginning to walk briefly by December 7 (day 19 of symptoms) and that marks of the rash were visible, but few, if any, remained as facial scars. On December 15, he could work for a few hours and went to a play at Ford's Theater. A month later, on January 12, he was reported as having regained most of his old vigor, though still underweight.

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Abraham Lincoln had malaria at least twice. The first time was in 1830 (21 years old), along with the rest of his family. They had just arrived in Illinois that year. The second episode was in the summer of 1835 (26 years old) while living in New Salem, Illinois. Lincoln was then so ill he was sent to a neighbor's house to be medicated and cared for. Malaria, during that time period, would often rear its ugly head throughout one's lifetime.

RUMOR: "Abraham Lincoln Had Marfan Syndrome." Today, geneticists consider the diagnosis unlikely.

UNFOUNDED: Lincoln's son, Willie, died from typhoid fever. It is only speculation that Lincoln suffered from typhoid fever at the Gettysburg address. But it is more likely that Lincoln had a mild case of smallpox, as his valet William Henry Johnson developed smallpox caring for Lincoln after the Gettysburg address, and he died of it on January 28, 1864.

FACT: Abraham Lincoln used "Blue Mass" (mercury pills) to treat some of his health issues.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

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[1] Malaria was a common disease in Chicagoland and southern Illinois in pioneer days, wherever swamps, ponds, and wet bottomlands allowed mosquitoes to thrive; the illness was called ague, or bilious fever, when liver function became impaired; medical historians believe that the disease came from Europe with early explorers around 1500; early travel accounts and letters from the Midwest reports of the ague (a fever or shivering fit), such as those of Jerry Church and Roland Tinkham, the details of which are extracted from their writings:

From the Journal of Jerry Church, when he had "A Touch of the Ague" in 1830: ...and the next place we came to of any importance was the River Raisin, in the state of Michigan. There, we met with several gentlemen from different parts of the world, speculators in land and town lots and cities, all made out on paper, and prices set at one and two hundred dollars per lot, right in the woods, and musquitoes and gallinippers thick enough to darken the sun. I recollect the first time I slept at the hotel, I told the landlord the next morning I could not stay in that room again unless he could furnish a boy to fight the flies, for I was tired out myself and not only that, but I had lost at least half a pint of blood. The landlord said that he would remove the mosquitoes the next night with smoke. He did so, and I was not troubled so much with them after that. We stayed there a few days, but they held the property so high that we did not purchase any. The River Raisin is a small stream of water, similar to what the Yankees call a brook. I was very disappointed in the country's appearance when I arrived there, for I anticipated finding something great and did not know that I might see the article growing on trees on the River Raisin! But it was all a mistake, for it was rather a poor section of the country. ...We then passed on to Chicago, and there I left my fair lady traveler and her brother and steered my course for Ottawa in Lasalle, Illinois. Arrived there, I put up at the widow Pembrook's, near the town, and intended to make her house my home for some time.

I kept trading around in the neighborhood for some time and was taken with a violent chill and fever and had to lay down at the widow's, send for a doctor, and commence taking medicine, but it all did not do me much good. I kept getting weaker every day, and after I had eaten up all the doctors-stuff the old Doctor had, he told me that it was a very stubborn case, and he did not know he could remove it, and he did not know as he could remove it, and thought it best to have counsel. So I sent for another doctor, and they both attended to me for some time. I kept getting worse and became so delirious as not knowing anything for fifteen hours. I, at last, came to and felt relieved. After that, I began to feel better and concluded that I would not take any more medicine of any kind, and I told my landlady what I had resolved. She said I would surely die if I did not follow the Doctor's directions. I told her that I could not help it, that all they would have to do was to bury me, for my mind was made up. In a few days, I began to gain strength, and in a short time, I got so that I could do a walkabout. I then concluded that the quicker I could get out of those "Diggins," the better it would be for me. So I told my landlady I intended to take my horse and wagon and get to St. Louis, for I did not think I could live long in that country. I concluded I must go further south. I accordingly had my trunk re-packed and made a move. I did not travel far in a day but finally arrived at St. Louis. I was feeble and weak and did not care much about how the world went then. However, I thought I had better try and live as long as there was any chance. 

From a letter by Roland Tinkham, a relative of Gurdon. S. Hubbard, describing his observations of malaria during a trip to Chicago in the summer of 1831: ...the fact cannot be controverted that on the streams and wet places, the water and air are unwholesome, and the people are sickly. In the villages and thickly settled places, it is not so bad, but it is a fact that in the country in which we traveled the last 200 miles, more than one-half of the people are sick; this is what I know for I have seen. We called at almost every house, as they are not very close together, but there is no doubt that this is an uncommonly sickly season. The sickness is not often fatal; ague and fever, chill and fever, as they term it, and in some cases, bilious fever are the prevailing diseases. 

[2] Did Lincoln have a full-blown case, or was it mild due to a previous smallpox vaccination (or variolization)? Modern vaccination protocol uses the related vaccinia virus (cowpox) to elicit immunity to protect against smallpox.

Variolization takes material from an active smallpox lesion and inoculates a healthy person through a cut in the skin. Variolization is riskier than vaccination because it can produce a full-blown case of smallpox. Yet, smallpox was so devastating, with such a high mortality rate (about 30%), that people were willing to undergo variolization, and the mild case of smallpox it usually created to increase their chances of surviving smallpox.

The Last Two Years of Jacques Marquette, Jesuit Missionary and Explorer. (1673-1675)

In September of 1673, after leaving the Illinois Village of La Vantum (by Utica, Illinois, at Starved Rock), Father Pere Jacques Marquette (1637-1675) traveled to Green Bay, where he stayed for only a short time. His health being bad, and the Winnebago Indians, with whom he sojourned (a temporary stay), were unwilling to abandon the religion of their fathers for Christianity. It being impressed on the mind of Marquette that his stay on earth would be short, and before departing hence, he felt it his duty to visit the Illinois Indians and again establish among them a mission in honor of the Holy Virgin.

Father Pére Jacques Marquette

Late in the fall Marquette, accompanied by two of his countrymen, Pierre and Jacques, with two Indians, left Green Bay for the Illinois River. The weather was cold, the wind high, and with great difficulty they coasted along the western shore of Lake Michigan. Frequently the travelers were compelled to land from the turbulent water, draw their canoe on the beach, and wait for the wind and waves to subside.

After a long, perilous voyage the travelers reached the mouth of Chicagou River, and ascended it about one-half leagues to a grove of timber. Here Marquette was taken very sick, and winter set in, the river froze up, and the prairie covered with snow and ice. Near the river bank Pierre and Jacques built a hut, covering and siding it with buffalo skins, and here in this rude tenement they lived about three months.

[Read the story about this Marquette and Jolliet Cross on the Chicago River]

The Marquette and Jolliet Cross, Chicago River, 1907

Monument at 2631 South Damen Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, marks the location where Father Jacques Marquette (named "James Marquette" on this monument) spent the winter of 1674-1675. It also marks the eastern end of the Chicago Portage.

Buffalo and deer were plenty, and the Indians from a neighboring village supplied them with corn, honey and maple sugar, so they did not want for the necessaries of life. For many days Marquette was prostrated by disease so he could not leave his couch, and his friends believed that his time of departure was near. Having a great desire to establish a mission among the Illinois Indians before death overtook him, Marquette begged his two companions, Pierre and Jacques, to join him in nine days' devotion to the Virgin Mary, and through her interposition his disease relented and he gained strength daily. Indians from a village two leagues distant frequently visited their hut, and Marquette, feeble as he was, preached to them, and many became converted to Christianity. Near their hut they built a temporary altar, over which was raised a large wooden cross. The converted Indians were instructed, while praying, to look upon this· cross and thereby all their sins were remitted.

The winter was now passed, snow and ice had disappeared from the prairie, and the warm sun of early spring not only animated nature, but it gave strength and vitality to Father Marquette. His cough had almost ceased, his tall, manly form, which had been bent by rheumatism, was now erect, and he sang songs of praise to the Holy Virgin for his restoration to health. After taking an affectionate farewell of the converted Indians Marquette, with his two companions in a bark canoe, left for La Vantum, the Great Illinois town.

With sail and oars the voyageurs urged their canoe down the Des Plaines and Illinois Rivers, while the surrounding woods reechoed their songs of praise. Birds were singing among the trees, squirrels chirping in the groves, while elk and deer bounded away at the sound of the approaching canoe. Swans, pelicans and wild geese would rise from the water and fly squawking downstream, while beaver and otter were sporting in the water and diving under their canoe. Far and near the prairie was covered with herds of buffalo, some basking in the sun, while others were feeding on the early spring grass.

When Marquette arrived at La Vantum the Indians received him as though he was an angel from heaven, some of whom fell on their knees before him, asking forgiveness for past sins. Chassagone, the head chief, whom Marquette had baptized the year before, was so delighted at meeting the Holy Father that he embraced him, and wept for joy. On the following day after Marquette's arrival all the Indians, old and young, assembled on the meadow above the town to hear good tidings from the great French Manitou, the name given to Jesus Christ. Around him were seated on the ground five hundred chiefs and old warriors, behind them stood one thousand five hundred young braves, while around these were  collected all the squaws and papooses of the village. Marquette, standing in the midst of this vast assembly, displayed to them two pictures, painted on canvas, one of the Virgin Mary, and the other of Christ, telling them of God, of heaven, of hell, and of a judgment to come, when all the Indians clapped their hands and shouted for joy. By Marquette's direction the Indians tore down the temple and images erected to the God of war and built a chapel on its site. When the chapel was completed all the chiefs and old warriors assembled therein, when Marquette dedicated it in honor of the Holy Virgin, giving it the same name which he had already given to the Mississippi River, "The Immaculate Conception."

Each day the chapel of the Mission of the Immaculate Conception was filled with converts, and Marquette preached to them, baptizing old and young; a large number of converts were enrolled in the church book, and saved from perdition. On Easter Sunday the chapel was decorated with flowers and evergreens, representing crosses, anchors, crucifixes, etc. Incense was burned on the altar, and lights were kept burning during the day, according to the custom of the Catholic Church. This day was a joyous one, and long remembered by the Indians, but with it ended the ministry of Marquette among the red-men of the west.

Spring had now come, the groves were once more green, and the prairies again covered with grass and flowers, but it did not bring health and vigor to the failing Priest. His disease had again returned in its worst form, and he felt that his life was fast passing away. After spending two days and nights in prayer, communing with Christ and the Holy Virgin, he concluded to return to Canada, where he could receive the sacrament from the hands of his brethren before he died.

On the third day after Easter the natives were assembled in the chapel, when Marquette, pale and feeble as he was, preached to them, instructing his converts in the ways of Christianity, telling them that he was about to depart for Canada, but promised to send a priest to teach them in the ways of salvation. The Indians heard the news in sadness, gathering around the Holy Father and begging him to remain with them. But he told his brethren that his work was ended, that a few weeks would close his pilgrimage here on earth, and before departing hence he desired to return to Canada and leave his bones among his countrymen.

Marquette's canoe was once more put on the water, and with his two faithful companions he commenced his journey eastward. About five hundred warriors, some in canoes and others mounted on ponies, accompanied Marquette as far as Lake Michigan, and there received from him the parting blessing. After parting with the Indians, Marquette's canoe, with sails hoisted and oars applied, coasted near the shore around the head of the Lake. Pierre and Jacques with all their power plied the oars to increase the speed, while the sick Priest lay prostrated in the bottom of the canoe communing with the Virgin and with angels.

On May 19, 1675, near Sleeping Bear Point, Marquette felt that his time had come and told his companions to land him on the Lake beach so he might receive the sacrament before he died. On a high point of land, at the mouth of a small stream which still bears his name, they built a bark hut, and carried thither the dying Priest. With his eyes fixed on a crucifix which one of his companions held before him, and while murmuring the name of Mary and Jesus, he breathed his last.

The Last Breaths of Father Marquette, May 19, 1675.

His companions dug a grave on the bank of the stream near the place where he died, and buried him there. In obedience to his request they erected over his grave a cross made of bass-wood timber, on which were engraved his name and date of his death. After burying Marquette Pierre and Jacques again put their canoe on the water and continued their journey toward Canada, conveying thither the sad news of his death.

Three years after Marquette's death a party of Indians from Point St. Ignace, Michigan, who were converted under Marquette's preaching some years before, went to Lake Michigan, opened the grave, and took up the remains. After scraping off the putrid flesh, washing and drying the bones, they were placed in a box made of birch-bark and carried home with them. With the remains of the Holy Father they turned their canoe homeward, singing and chanting praises as they went on their way. Seven miles above Point St. Ignace they were met by a large delegation of Indians in canoes, who formed a procession to escort the remains to the mission.

With their faces blacked, oars muffled, and singing a funeral dirge, the procession slowly approached the mission, and were met at the landing by priests, traders and Indians, all of whom wore badges of mourning. With a solemn ceremony the remains of Father Marquette were received at the mission, and buried beneath the altar of the little chapel of St. Ignace which he had built some years before.

For over two centuries since the burial of Marquette, and long since the little chapel of St. Ignace has disappeared, the spot where it stood was hallowed by the French and converted Indians, and continues to be pointed out to strangers visiting the place.

For many years after the death of Marquette the French sailors on the lakes kept his picture nailed to the mast-head as a guardian angel, and when overtaken by storm and perils at sea they would pray to the holy father beseeching him to calm the winds and still the troubled waters in order that they might reach port in safety.

The old chapel of St. Ignace continued to stand guard over the remains of Marquette until the year 1706, when it was burned down and the mission removed to the island of Mackinaw. For many years after the mission was removed from this old historic place religious enthusiasts were in the habit of visiting Point St. Ignace, and offering up   prayers on this sacred spot. For ages the place where the chapel stood was hallowed by zealous Catholics, but no steps were taken to memorize the grave or recover the bones of the great missionary and explorer. In the spring of 1877 Father Jocker, the village priest, began to agitate the subject of resurrecting the bones of Marquette, and. everywhere it met with public favor. A time having been set for that purpose, people from a distance collected at Point St. Ignace, and amid a large assembly of enthusiastic persons the remains were exhumed.

Excavations having been made on the site of the old chapel the relics of the altar of the Holy Virgin were found and taken out. Beneath the altar, in a vault walled with red cedar, was found a large piece of birch-bark in a good state of preservation, and here too were found the remains of Marquette, where they had lain for over two hundred years. The bones, much decayed, some of them moldered into dust when exposed to the air, were taken out in the presence of a large collection of people, and with proper ceremony buried in a cemetery nearby, over which a monument to his memory has been erected.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Illinois becomes the 21st State of the Union on December 3, 1818.

Illinois entered the Union on December 3, 1818. The twenty-first state takes its name from the Illinois Confederation (Illiniwek; Illini)— a group of Algonquian-speaking tribes native to the Mississippi Valley. The Algonquian word, “Illinois” means “tribe of superior men.”

Though Illinois presented unique challenges to immigrants unaccustomed to the soil and vegetation of the area, it grew to become a bustling and densely populated state.

The strange but beautiful prairie lands east of the Mississippi and north of Lake Michigan presented a difficult challenge to the tide of westward-moving immigrants. Accustomed to the heavily forested lands of states like Kentucky and Tennessee, the early immigrants to Illinois did not know what to make of the vast treeless stretches of the prairie. Most pioneers believed that the fertility of soil revealed itself by the abundance of vegetation it supported, so they assumed that the lack of trees on the prairie signaled inferior farmland. Those brave souls who did try to farm the prairie found that their flimsy plows were inadequate to cut through prairie sod thickly knotted with deep roots. In an “age of wood,” farmers also felt helpless without ready access to the trees they needed for their tools, homes, furniture, fences, and fuel. For all these reasons, most of the early Illinois settlers remained in the southern part of the state, where they built homes and farms near the trees that grew along the American Bottom.

The challenge of the prairies slowed emigration into the region; when Illinois was granted statehood in 1818, the population was only about 35,000, and most of the prairie was still largely unsettled. Gradually, though, a few tough Illinois farmers took on the difficult task of plowing the prairie and discovered that the soil was far richer than they had expected. The development of heavy prairie plows and improved access to wood and other supplies through new shipping routes encouraged even more farmers to head out into the vast northern prairie lands of Illinois.

By 1840, the center of population in Illinois had shifted decisively to the north, and the once insignificant town of Chicago rapidly became a bustling city. The four giant prairie counties of northern Illinois, which were the last to be settled, boasted population densities of 18 people per square mile. Increasingly recognized as one of the nation’s most fertile agricultural areas, the vast emptiness of the Illinois prairie was eagerly conquered by both pioneers and plows.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D  

Is an Indian Tribe one of the Twelve Lost Tribes of Israel?

The United States has the world's second-largest Jewish population. The Chicagoland area has the third-largest U.S. Jewish population, with New York and Los Angeles areas being first and second.

In either 3rd or 4th grade Sunday school, we discussed the 12 tribes of Israel and the 10 lost tribes with our Rabbi, Joseph M. Strauss (who lived to be 98 years old). We were the founding Rabbi of Temple Menorah in the West Rogers Park neighborhood of the West Ridge Community in Chicago, leading the discussion.

Rabbi Stauss told us that some Indian tribes have some Jewish-type traditions. I recall him talking about the Cherokee tribe (which I will address further in the article) and Indian tribes in the Midwest. After my intensive study of the Mississippi Valley Indian tribes, I can see where some of the tribes of the Illiniwek treat the Great Spirit similarly to how Judaism teaches.

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This article does not try to prove or disprove the theory of one of the twelve Lost Tribes of Israel came to America by way of the Indigenous people. Some have said: "It's a simple presentation of folklore."

Introduction
In the 8th century BCE, the Assyrians dispersed the Kingdom of Israel, giving life and legend to the Lost Tribes [1][2]. 

TRIBES                 HEBREW

Reuben                 (רְאוּבֵן‎ Rəʼūḇēn)

Simeon                  (שִׁמְעוֹן‎ Šīməʻōn)

Levi                        (לֵוִי‎ Lēwī)

Judah                     (יְהוּדָה‎ Yəhūdā)

Issachar                 (יִשָּׂשכָר‎ Yīssāšḵār)

Zebulun                  (זְבוּלֻן‎ Zəḇūlun)

Dan                        (דָּן‎ Dān)

Naphtali                 (נַפְתָּלִי‎ Nap̄tālī)

Gad                        (גָּד‎ Gāḏ)

Asher                      (אָשֵׁר‎ ’Āšēr)

Benjamin                (בִּנְיָמִן‎ Bīnyāmīn)

Joseph                   (יוֹסֵף‎ Yōsēp̄)

JOSEPH LATER SPLIT INTO TWO HALF TRIBES:

   ├ Ephraim (אֶפְרַיִם‎ ’Ep̄rayīm)

   ├ Manasseh (מְנַשֶּׁה‎ Mənašše)

The repatriation of these lost tribes eventually became an integral part of the Jewish–and Christian–-messianic dream, and there have been Lost Tribe speculations about numerous "discovered" populations. One of the most fascinating — and unfortunately forgotten — such discussions centered on Indigenous Americans. How did the greater Jewish community in America respond to this?

The Theory Begins

Notice the man in this photograph has "Payot," long-curled or braided sideburns. Payot is worn by some men and boys in the Orthodox Jewish community based on an interpretation of the Biblical injunction against shaving the "corners" of one's head. Literally, Payot means "corner, side, edge" in Hebrew.

Comment

Neil - Very interesting article. I did a little further research and... tell me if I'm crazy, but the headgear that the native is wearing looks to me a lot like the Shtreimel, the traditional round fur hat worn by Orthodox Jewish men. I tried to post pics of two examples, but wasnt able to in this post. I'll try to send it by email.  Rand Eller

Two examples of the traditional Orthodox Jewish Shtreimel headdress for comparison to the headdress of the Native American. Courtesy of Rand Eller.

One of the first books to suggest the Native American Lost Tribe theory was written by a Jew, the Dutch Rabbi, scholar, and diplomat Manasseh ben Israel. In The Hope of Israel (1650), Ben Israel suggested that the discovery of the Indigenous Americans, a surviving remnant of the Assyrian exile, was a sign heralding the messianic era. Just one year later, Thomas Thorowgood published his bestseller Jews in America, or Probabilities that Those Indians Are Judaical, which was made more probable by some additionals to the former Conjectures.

The Lost Tribe idea found favor among early American notables, including Cotton Mather (the influential English minister), Elias Boudinot (the New Jersey lawyer who was one of the leaders of the American Revolution), and the Quaker leader William Penn.

The notion was revived after James Adair, a 40-year veteran Indian trader and meticulous chronicler of the Israelitish features of Native American religion and social custom, wrote The History of the American Indians . . . Containing an Account of their Origin, Language, Manners, Religion, and Civil Customs in 1775. Even Epaphras Jones, an American Bible professor, engaged the theory in 1831, claiming that anyone "conversant with the European Jews and the Aborigines of America . . . will perceive a great likeness in color, features, hair, aptness to cunning, dispositions for roving, etc."

Religious Connotations
Some of these writers were interested in Native American history, but most were interested in the Bible. Indeed, the Lost Tribe claim should be part of a general 19th-century fascination with biblical history. Explorations of Holy Land flora and fauna, the geography of the Holy Land, and the life of Jesus the man were very much en vogue. A close identification among some 17th and 18th-century Americans with the chosen people of Scripture helped Christian settlers see their colonization of New England as a reenactment of Israel's journey into the Promised Land.

It also contributed to a more general religious myth-making scheme that helped define the national identity of the United States. To cite just one example, in a 1799 Thanksgiving Day sermon, Abiel Tabbot told his congregation in Massachusetts:

"It has often been remarked that the people of the United States come nearer to a parallel with Ancient Israel than any other nation upon the globe. Hence, 'OUR AMERICAN ISRAEL' was a term that was frequently used, and common consent allows it apt and proper."

A curious incident that drew considerable attention and "proved," at least to some, that Indigenous Americans had ancient Israelite origins unfolded when tefillin phylacteries (Pronounced: tuh-FILL-in. These are the small boxes containing the words of the Shema that are traditionally wrapped around one's head and arm during morning prayers) were "discovered" in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in the early 19th century.

Phylacteries (Tefillin in Hebrew)

Their discoverer wrote that this "forms another link in the evidence by which our Indians are identified with the ancient Jews, who were scattered upon the face of the earth, and to this day remain a living monument, to verify and establish the eternal truths of Scripture."

Prominent Jews Respond
Around the time of the Pittsfield tefillin incident, Mordecai Manuel Noah, the journalist, playwright, politician, and Jewish American statesman, began writing about the subject. Noah wrote a play, She Would be a Soldier, or The Plains of Chippewa (1819), that resolved the tension between the Yankees and the British by identifying the Indian Great Spirit with the God of the Bible. Noah's ideas about Jewish Native Indian affinities grew in a distinctly political manner when he invited Native Americans to help settle "Ararat," the separatist Jewish colony he hoped to establish on Grand Island on the Niagara River around 1825.

Noah's writings on Jewish Native Indians came to their full expression with his Discourse on the Evidence of the American Indians Being the Descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel (1837). The work documented a host of theological, linguistic, ritual, dietary, and political parallels between Jews and Indigenous Americans. Most importantly, he identified several essential character traits shared by the Jews and the Native Indians, all of which were highly laudable. For Noah, the conflation of Indians and Jews sanctioned the latter as divinely ordained Americans.

Another notable Jewish-Indian incident occurred in 1860 when stones hewn with Hebrew inscriptions were found in ancient Indian burial mounds near Newark, Ohio. The story unfolded over many months and was followed closely by The Israelite, The Occident, and The Jewish Messenger, whose respective editors represented the intellectual vanguard of American Jewry.

The Newark Holy Stones, a set of artifacts, were discovered in 1860 within a cluster of ancient Indian burial mounds near Newark, Ohio. The collection consists of (1) the Decalogue with its sandstone box, which has Hebrew inscriptions on all four sides, (3) the box top lid, (4) the box bottom, (2) the Keystone, and (5) a stone bowl.

Isaac Mayer Wise, the leader of the Reform movement in America, employed philological proofs to undermine the stone's authenticity. He rejected any connections between Jews and Indigenous Americans, though it's notable that he bothered to engage the story. Isaac Leeser, a traditionalist, sided in favor of the Lost Tribes theory. Reviewing the relics, The Occident, Leeser's newspaper, concluded, "The sons of Jacob were walking on the soil of Ohio many centuries before the birth of Columbus."

The letters on the Decalogue stone appear to be very early Hebrew. For the past 1000 years, Hebrew has most commonly been written with vowel points and consonant points missing on both the Decalogue and Keystone. The absence of points suggests but is not conclusive of earlier dates.
The Torah is written without accents or consonant points.

Implications
From a historical and scientific point of view, the Native American Lost Tribe claim is clearly Narishkeit (Yiddish for foolishness). But, even a brief exploration of who was making it and why, who was refuting it, and why reveals essential insights about American Jewry. Popular thought about who Jews were — their place in America, with whom they could or should be associated — helps us understand how Jews negotiated their place in American society. Theories about Ancient Israelite Indians should not be dismissed as mere fantasies; instead, they are important precisely because they are fantasies.

Jews responded to the Lost Tribes' claims about Indigenous Americans in sermons, plays, public statements, scholarly works, and popular writings. The critical responses are more understandable: from the perspective of Reform and science, the theory is flagrantly nonsensical. But there are other reasons some may have rejected it: so as not to be associated with that which was thought of as naive, primitive, and barbarian, so as not to be considered as atavistic or lower on the evolutionary ladder than other Europeans, so as not to be thought of as imminently disappearing from history, and so as not to need Christian civilizing (i.e., missionizing). On the other hand, advocates had to go against the scholarly consensus and side with religious figures who could be dismissed as fanatics.

Accepting Indigenous Americans as ancient Israelites had several (sometimes mutually exclusive) implications for American Jews. Foremost, it meant that the Indians were, in some way, related. It could buttress the sentiment that America was the New Jerusalem. This was the destined place where the original exiles, scattered to unknown corners of the world, were ingathered to their God-chosen Promised Land. They were not "lost" at all. Instead, the near aboriginal connection of Jews to American soil served as evidence of the end of exile and another reason to support a new American Jewish identity.

The connection between Indigenous Americans and Judaism seems clear. Among the Cherokee tribe, they carried an ark into battle, celebrated seven feasts, kept the seventh day of rest, had cities of refuge, and didn't eat pork.

Many of the significant figures in 19th-century American Jewry weighed in–in one manner or another–on the Jewish-Indian controversy. The practical stakes were never high, but the claim — so ubiquitous and so fluid (since it was used for so many different functions by so many other people) — was taken seriously and fretted over by Jewish leaders of very different orientations. The Lost Tribe theory had significant symbolic stakes — for Jews, Christians, and Indigenous Americans. Linking America and its earliest inhabitants with the Bible and its theology meant staking a claim on America–and championing God's plan for the New World.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

#Jewish  #JewishThemed  #JewishLife

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[1] The lost tribes are one of the biggest mysteries of Jewish history and have inspired multiple theories. Maybe the Igbo Jews of Nigeria are one of the lost tribes? Perhaps Bene Menashe, in Northern India, can claim the title. Or the Pashtun people of Afghanistan. Or Indigenous Americans. These groups and many more have claimed to have descended from the lost tribes of Israel.

[2] The ten lost tribes were ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been deported from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire circa 722 BCE.

The Great Plains Indians in Illinois before the French Colonization of the Mississippi Valley in the mid-1600s.

THE ILLINOIS INDIAN TRIBES.
The Illiniwek Indian tribe was a Confederacy of tribes [aka: Illini and Illinois (pronounced as plural: Illinois')]; consisted of the Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Peoria, Tamaroa, Moingwena, Michigamea, Chepoussa, Chinkoa, Coiracoentanon, Espeminkia, Maroa, and Tapouara tribes. These three former bands of tribes, the Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Peoria, occupied villages bearing their respective names, and the two latter lived north of Peoria Lake.

Much of what we know today about the early history of the Great Plains Indian tribes is from the French explorers recording some of the Indian tribes' verbal history that are passed down through specially trained storytellers who were forbidden from changing a single word.

Great Plains Indians west of the Mississippi River.

According to the statements of early French explorers in the mid-1600s, these Indians were the most numerous of all the tribes of the western frontier in the Mississippi Valley, occupying almost the entire territory now included within the State of Illinois boundaries.

Along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, from the mouth of Ohio to Lake Michigan, their villages were found at short intervals, and the vast country east and west of these rivers were their hunting-grounds, including the area known as Chécagou or Chicagou. Over this country herds of buffalo, elk and deer roamed for their benefit, and the many rivers were navigated only by their bark canoes. The French arrived in Chicago in the latter quarter of the 1600s.

The smoke from their camp-fires could be seen ascending, and the lonely forest groves reechoed their wild war screams. These Indians had many villages on the Illinois River, the largest and most important one, called La Vantum, which was located near the present site of Utica (Starved Rock). On account of the abundance of game (Illinois was known as the buffalo country), neighboring tribes frequently made this their hunting-ground, and although the Illinois Indians were not a warlike people, they would still resent an encroachment on their rights, consequently, many bloody battles were fought with the aggressors. More than 350 years ago the northern bands of the Illinois Indians became extinct, therefore most of their traditions are lost, still, there are some things relating to them preserved by the French pioneers which are related by their descendants in the American Bottom.

INDIAN ON INDIAN MASSACRE.
Near the village La Vantum, on the banks of the Illinois River and partly surrounded by a marshy outlet, was a place where the Indians held their annual religious feasts. On this ground was erected an altar, containing images of the different gods, and around which the Indians knelt in prayer while offering up sacrifices. At one of these feasts, all the warriors of the village and many from neighboring ones were gathered here engaged in religious exercises, while squaws with their children in papooses (used to carry a child on one's back) stood looking on, and mingling their voices in songs of praise.

The warriors, dispossessed of their arms, were engaged in devotion, the priests exhorting them in the ways of holiness, and receiving their annual offerings. While engaged in their services they were suddenly attacked by a large body of Potawatomi. Being taken by surprise, and unarmed, defense or escape appeared impossible, and many a brave warrior sang his death song and submitted to his fate. A few escaped by swimming the river, but most of them, including the women and children, fell as easy prey to the victorious enemy. Most of them were slain.

In 1493, on Columbus’ second voyage to the Americas, Spanish horses, representing Equus ferus caballus, were brought to North America, first in the Virgin Islands, and then in 1519, they were reintroduced on the continent, in modern-day Mexico, from where they radiated throughout the American Great Plains, after escape from their owners or by pilfering.

The victors collected all the valuables of the vanquished, including arms, clothing, camp equipment, furs, pelts, etc., loading them on horses, and with their spoils left for their homes on the Wabash River. The date of this tragical affair is not known, but it was before the French arrived or the future raids on these Indians by the Iroquois. For some time after the French came to this country the ground where this massacre took place was reportedly strewn with human bones.

RAID OF THE IROQUOIS.
The Seneca Iroquois, a part of the Six Nations or Iroquois League (Haudenosaunee) moved down from the Ontario region to New York well before the American Revolution.

Famous Seneca Chief of the Union of Six Nations (Iroquois League), Red Jacket.

The Iroquois made frequent raids on the tribes of the Illinois prairie, destroying their villages, killing women and their children, and carrying away large quantities of pelts, furs, etc., which they sold to English traders. According to tradition, in one of those raids, they imprisoned 800 Indians, mostly women and children, marching them to their village on the bank of Seneca Lake in New York and then burning them to death. 

The Iroquois, having been trading with the British (or "English," as they call them) at Albany, New York, had armed themselves with muskets, which gave them a target distance advantage over the Illinois, who used only bows and arrows at this time period. 

NOTE: The Great Plains Indians could shoot six arrows to every one shot from a musket. {{Matchlock guns, used in the 1400s, were fired by holding a burning wick to a "touch hole" in the barrel igniting the powder inside. In 1509 the wheel lock was invented, generating a spark mechanically. With no wick to keep lit, the wheel lock was easier to use, and more reliable than the matchlock. The flintlock ignition system, beginning in 1630, reigned for two centuries, with virtually no alteration.}}

These frequent raids of the Iroquois were for spoil only, and not for conquest, as they made no effort to take possession of the country. The Illinois were rich in horses, furs, pelts, trinkets, etc., and the robbers would return loaded with the spoils of battle. One time they brought back over 300 horses loaded with valuables. It is said the traders at Albany encouraged these robberies by furnishing the Iroquois with war implements, liquor, and buying the stolen goods.

On account of the frequent raids on the Illinois tribes, they became reduced in numbers, which caused them to fall easy prey to the neighboring tribes for some years after. A number of tribes combined, forming an alliance against the Illinois Indians, which resulted in near annihilation, and the occupation of the prairie country by the victors.

The Great Plains tribes formed the "Illinois Confederacy" (aka: Illiniwek or Illini), to strengthen their numbers. The tribes included the Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Peoria, Tamaroa, Moingwena, Michigamea, Chepoussa, Chinkoa, Coiracoentanon, Espeminkia, Maroa, and Tapouara.

Additional Reading: Click on the hyperlinks provided in the article.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.