Cowasuck

{{Short description|Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe}} {{For|the village|Newbury (town), Vermont#History}} {{More citations needed|date=April 2020}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = Cowasuck | native_name = Goasək | native_name_lang = Abenaki | image = File:Wohngebiet_Westlicheabenaki.png | image_caption = Historical Cowasuck territory, c. 17th century | image_alt = Western Abenaki territory | total = Unknown, most merged with St. Francis Abenaki in the late 18th century<ref name=calloway231/> | total_year =  | total_source =  | total_ref =  | genealogy = | regions = New Hampshire, Vermont, Quebec | languages = Abenaki language | religions = Indigenous religion, Roman Catholicism | related_groups = other Western Abenaki people }}

The '''Cowasuck''', also known as '''Cowass''' or '''Coosuc''', were an Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe in northeastern North America. Cowasuck was also the name of their primary settlement.

Linguistically and culturally the Cowasuck belonged to the Western Abenaki and the Wabanaki Confederacy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Day |first1=Gornon M. |title=Abenaki Place-Names in the Champlain Valley |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |date=April 1981 |volume=47 |issue=2 |page=144 |publisher=University of Chicago Press|doi=10.1086/465683 |jstor=1264435 |s2cid=143643483 }}</ref> They were Western Abenaki who lived in and around the village of Cowass, which became Newbury, Vermont.<ref name=calloway8/>

==Name== The name ''Cowasuck'' comes from the Abenaki word ''Goasek'' which means "White Pines Place", an area near Newbury, Vermont.<ref name="clark56_73">{{cite book |last1=Roberts Clark |first1=Patricia |title=Tribal Names of the Americas: Spelling Variants and Alternative Forms, Cross-Referenced |date=October 21, 2009 |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=978-0786438334 |pages=56, 73}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tribal Information for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station |url=https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0634/ML063470217.pdf |website=United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission |accessdate=4 November 2019 |page=4 |date=April 10, 2006}}</ref> The members of the tribe were called Goasiak (singular: Goasi), which means "the people of the white pines".<ref name=clark56_73/>

Variant spellings of the place name include ''Koés'' in French and ''Cohass'', ''Cohoss'', or ''Coos'' in English, and an alternate demonym is ''Cohassiac''.<ref name=calloway8>{{cite book |last1=Calloway |first1=Colin G. |title=The Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600-1800: War, Migration, and the Survival of an Indian People |date=March 15, 1994 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=0806125683 |page=8}}</ref> Coös County, the northernmost county in New Hampshire, derives from the Wôbanakiak word.<ref>{{cite book |author= Bright, William |title=Native American Placenames of the United States |date=2004 |place=Norman, Oklahoman|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-3598-4 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5XfxzCm1qa4C|access-date=January 30, 2024}}</ref>

== Territory == The Cowasuck formerly resided on the upper Connecticut River, with the main village of Cowasuck, now Newbury, located in the states of New Hampshire and Vermont.<ref name=Western>{{cite journal |last1=Mathewson III |first1=R. Duncan |title=Western Abenaki of the Upper Connecticut River Basin: Preliminary Notes on Native American Pre-Contact Culture in Northern New England |journal=The Journal of Vermont Archaeology |date=2011 |volume=12 |page=7 |url=https://www.vtarchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/v12_ch1_reduced.pdf |accessdate=4 November 2019}}</ref> The river valley forest was a mixture of deciduous trees, hemlocks, and white pines, growing on light soils or old fields.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Abrams |first1=Marc D. |title=Eastern White Pine Versatility in the Presettlement Forest: This eastern giant exhibited vast ecological breadth in the original forest but has been on the decline with subsequent land-use changes |journal=BioScience |date=November 2001 |volume=51 |issue=11 |pages=967 |doi=10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0967:EWPVIT]2.0.CO;2 |doi-access= |s2cid=87959509 }}</ref> The villages were typically set up on the edge of a cliff or terraces, near the alluvial land suitable for growing corn, and with nearby rivers with sufficient water supply <ref name=Western/> All villages were close to a river or lake, which served for fishing and as a travel route. Their wigwams were rectangular, covered with bark, had domed roofs with a hole as a flue for each fire, and had room for several families.

N’dakinna, "homeland" in Western Abenaki, is of central importance to the Cowasuck Abenaki people.<ref name="N’dakinna"/>

==History== Northeast Woodland Tribal presence of this region existed long before European settlement, as evidenced by a nearly 13,000-year-old Indigenous village found in Keene, New Hampshire<ref>{{cite web |title=12,000 years ago in the granite state |date=26 October 2023 |url=https://patch.com/new-hampshire/nashua/calendar/event/20231109/4a6de9e4-8bf4-4fa7-990d-d4c190ffc936/12-000-years-ago-in-the-granite-state#google_vignette |access-date=2024-01-02}}</ref> demonstrating that Paleo-Indians were present in the region from around the end of the last ice age.<ref>{{cite web |title=12,000 Years Ago in the Granite State |url=https://www.nhhumanities.org/programs/1258/12000-years-ago-in-the-granite-state |access-date=2023-10-04 |website=New Hampshire Humanities |publisher=Patch.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name="N’dakinna">{{cite journal |last=Harris |first=Michael |year=2021 |title=N'dakinna: Our Homeland...Still – Additional Examples of Abenaki Presence in New Hampshire |url=https://scholars.unh.edu/spectrum/vol10/iss1/1 |journal=Spectrum |volume=10 |issue=1 |page=1 |access-date=October 5, 2023}}</ref>

=== 16th century === Indigenous peoples lived along the Kwenitekw (Connecticut River/Long River) and its tributaries, along what is known today as the central borderlands of Vermont and New Hampshire. They are written about in colonial documents dating from the 17th century.<ref>{{cite web |author=Goodby, Robert G. |title=A Deep Presence: 13,000 Years of Native American History |date=7 May 2021 |url=https://harriscenter.org/about-us/merchandise/a-deep-presence |access-date=2024-01-02}}</ref>

=== 17th century === French colonists wrote early accounts of the Western Abenaki, but the French preoccupation consisted of proselytizing and fighting the English. However, the French practice of calling the Cowasuck by the name Penacook, led to misunderstandings in their reports.<ref>{{cite web| title=Place Names Divide Indigenous Communities in New Engiand|date=20 July 2020 |url=https://indigenousnh.com/2020/07/20/place-names-divide-indigenous-communities-in-new-england/|access-date=February 2, 2024}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=February 2024}}This however is not mentioned in another authoritative source on the Penacook.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Pennacook people|url= https://www.uml.edu/docs/Pennacook-People_tcm18-326996.pdf|access-date=February 5, 2024}}</ref> The tribes of the Western Abenaki were referred to by the names of each individual group. Cowasuck and Pennacook appeared to be distinct groups.<ref>{{cite web|title = NH Folklife learning |url= https://www.nh.gov/folklife/learning-center/traditions/native-american.htm#:~:text=The%20descendents%20of%20these%20people,dialects%20of%20the%20Abenaki%20language.|access-date=February 5, 2024}}</ref>

The first French priests of the Jesuit Order came to New France around 1611. Unlike the grey-robed Puritans in New England, the Jesuits did not try to assimilate Native people into French society. From Abenaki oral history suggests that French missionaries were active since 1615 in Abenaki villages on the shores of Lake Champlain.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dill |first1=Jordan |title=Abenaki History |url=https://www.tolatsga.org/aben.html |website=Tolatsga |accessdate=5 November 2019 |archive-date=24 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424075613/https://www.tolatsga.org/aben.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Jesuit Fathers often acted both as military and political agents of the French crown and as servants of God. They traveled alone in the Indigenous land, visited the villages of the Abenaki, and took part in the life of the Indigenous people.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=BELMESSOUS |first1=Saliha |title=Assimilation and Racialism in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century French Colonial Policy |journal=American Historical Review |date=April 2005 |volume=110 |issue=2 |pages=322–349 |doi=10.1086/531317 |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/110/2/322/25536 |accessdate=5 November 2019|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Some of them, like Father Sébastien Rale, became intimate connoisseurs of Native American culture. He produced an extensive dictionary of the Abenaki language.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Sébastien Rasles |editor1-last=Pickering |editor1-first=John |title=A Dictionary of the Abnaki Language, in North America |date=1833 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofabna00rasl |access-date=5 November 2019}}</ref>

The missionaries learned the language of the Native Americans, adopted their style of speech, and tried as far as possible to follow their customs and manners. They had no interest in the Abenaki land, in their women, or in the fur trade. Their poverty and devotion were respected and their courage, as well as their apparent immunity to the diseases that the communities healers faced helplessly, was admired by the natives. They shared the lives of the Indigenous peoples and earned their trust, although their missionary vocation demanded that they renounce Native American culture, the disempowerment of religious leaders, and the spiritual and social revolution. The missionaries were the lawyers for the Abenaki and helped them to better overcome the differences between Native American and European cultures. Sometimes they also represented the Abenaki in negotiations with the English. Men like Sébastien Rale became central figures in the Abenaki story. Soon the Abenaki were reputed to be the most pious Catholics and to be among the most loyal Native American friends of New France.

=== 18th century === The Cowasuck numbered around 300 in the early 18th century, but this includes different groups passing through the Cowass area, an important area connecting Canada and the Coastal United States.<ref>Calloway, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EB2Q1un0tzkC ''The Western Abenakis of Vermont''], pp. 83–84.</ref> In 1704, Cowasucks sent representatives to meet with the Governor-General of New France Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil in Quebec. He suggested they move north to Quebec to avoid the English; however, they declined this opportunity.<ref name=c104-05/> At that time Mohegans attacked residents of Cowass.<ref name=c104-05>Calloway, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EB2Q1un0tzkC ''The Western Abenakis of Vermont''], pp. 104–05.</ref> Cowasucks likely fled to a remote area.<ref name=c104-05/> In 1712, Cowass was deserted, and French maps from 1713 and 1715 labelled Cowass as "Koēs, ancien village des loups" and it was likely later reoccupied after peace resumed, which was a common Abenaki strategy for the time.<ref>Calloway, ''The Western Abenakis of Vermont'', pp. 108–09.</ref> At that time Mohegans attached residents of Cowass.<ref name=c104-05/>

The era was marked by warfare, including the French and Indian War of 1754 to 1763, in which the Abenaki sided with the French, and the American Revolutionary War. While many Western Abenaki tried to remain neutral during the Revolutionary War, others joined in both sides of the war.<ref>Calloway, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EB2Q1un0tzkC ''The Western Abenakis of Vermont''], p. 205.</ref> Historian Colin G. Calloway wrote: "Traditionally, the final quarter of the eighteenth century stands as the time when the last western Abenaki disappeared from Vermont and New Hampshire, when the few survivors finally pulled up their roots and followed their relatives to Canada."<ref name=c204>Calloway, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EB2Q1un0tzkC ''The Western Abenakis of Vermont''], p. 204.</ref> However, he points out that some remained in Vermont during the Revolutionary War.<ref name=c204/>

By 1798, most Cowasuck had joined the St. Francis Abenaki in Quebec, while hunting and fishing in their previous territories in New Hampshire.<ref name=calloway231>Calloway, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EB2Q1un0tzkC ''The Western Abenakis of Vermont''], p. 231.</ref>

=== 19th century === Joseph Laurent, an Abenaki chief (''sôgmô'') from Odanak, Quebec, moved to Intervale, New Hampshire in the late 19th century, maintained an Indian trading post and became a local postmaster. His former trading post is now a U.S. historical site. Laurent also wrote an Abenaki English dialogs dictionary.<ref>{{cite web|title= New Familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues (1884) |author=Laurent, Joseph|date=1884 |url =https://dawnlandvoices.org/collections/items/show/332 |access-date= January 28, 2024}}</ref>

== State-recognized tribes and heritage groups == Vermont has designated four state-recognized tribes, all of which identify as being Abenaki, and two specifically identify as being descendants of the Cowasuck people. Vermont recognized the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation in 2011 and the Koasek Koas Abenaki Tribe in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |title=State Recognized Tribes |url=https://vcnaa.vermont.gov/recognition/recognized-tribes |website=Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs |publisher=State of Vermont |access-date=2 February 2024}}</ref>

New Hampshire has the New Hampshire State Commission on Native American Affairs<ref>{{cite web |title=State Committees and Commissions on Indian Affairs |url=https://www.ncsl.org/quad-caucus/state-committees-and-commissions-on-indian-affairs |website=National Conference of State Legislatures |access-date=2 February 2024}}</ref> but no state-recognized tribes.<ref name="keene">{{cite news |last1=Whidden |first1=Jenny |last2=Burch |first2=Kelly |title=New Hampshire is the only New England state with no recognized tribes. ... |url=https://www.sentinelsource.com/state_news/new-hampshire-is-the-only-new-england-state-with-no-recognized-tribes-and-yet-some/article_1dfbd93f-83eb-5bb5-8c66-2dc617b36f0a.html |access-date=2 February 2024 |work=The Keene Sentinel |date=September 7, 2022}}</ref>

Several organizations that self-identify as Native American tribes who identify as being Cowasuck are active in Vermont and New Hampshire; however, their claims to Abenaki ancestry are disputed.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Furukawa |first1=Julia |last2=Reed |first2=Elodie |title=Why Vermont tribes, New Hampshire groups might claim to be Abenaki without ever proving ancestry |url=https://www.nhpr.org/2023-08-08/why-vermont-tribes-new-hampshire-groups-might-claim-to-be-abenaki-without-ever-proving-ancestry |access-date=2 February 2024 |work=New Hampshire Public Radio |date=August 9, 2023}}</ref> One NH group and its (''sôgmô'') requires native lineage proof.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bunnell, Paul Joseph|title=French and Native North American Marriages 1600-1800|date=2004 |publisher=Heritage Books |isbn=978-0-7884-2595-0 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=raLuLe7M2TcC|access-date=February 3, 2024}}</ref>

One unrecognized organization, the Cowasuck Band-Abenaki People of Franklin, Massachusetts sent a letter of intent to petition for federal recognition as a Native American tribe in 1995<ref>{{cite web |title=List of Petitioners by State |url=https://www.bia.gov/sites/default/files/dup/assets/as-ia/ofa/admindocs/ListPetByState_2013-11-12.pdf |website=Office of Federal Acknowledgment |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Affairs |access-date=2 February 2024 |page=27 |date=November 12, 2013}}</ref> but have not followed through with a petition. The Ko'asek (Co'wasuck) Traditional Band of the Sovereign Abenaki Nation, a cultural heritage group with 430 members(2021), owns 10 acres in Claremont used for ceremonies.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Adrian |first1=Patrick |title=Giving Thanks: Ko'asek community hosts traditional fire ceremony |url=https://www.eagletimes.com/community/giving-thanks-ko-asek-community-hosts-traditional-fire-ceremony/article_b7c4aaf3-209c-519b-b044-f1c0864f3f09.html |access-date=2 February 2024 |work=Eagle Times |date=December 24, 2021}}</ref>

== Notes == {{Reflist}}

== References == * {{cite book |last1=Calloway |first1=Colin G. |title=The Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600–1800: War, Migration, and the Survival of an Indian People |date=1994 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman |isbn=9780806125688 |page=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EB2Q1un0tzkC}}

==External links== * [https://caodanak.com/en/ Conseil des Abénakis d'Odanak], also known as the St. Francis Abenaki, official website * [https://www.nh.gov/folklife/learning-center/traditions/native-american.htm Native American Heritage], New Hampshire Folklife * [https://vcnaa.vermont.gov/ Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs]

Category:Abenaki communities Category:Native American tribes in Vermont Category:Native American tribes in New Hampshire Category:Odanak Category:Pre-statehood history of New Hampshire Category:Pre-statehood history of Vermont Category:Cowasuck