Red Bird's Song (36 page)
Authors: Beth Trissel
"This is much to bear,
Nimesoomtha
,” Wicomechee said.
"Yet, you must learn of English ways. These people will only increase in our land. To better understand them is useful for you and your people when you return."
"For Red Bird, for you, I will do this."
"Good. Is there fear also in you, Waupee?"
"Now that the time has come, I am almost afraid to return to that life,” Colin admitted.
"Hold fast to the courage I saw in your eyes the day I took you captive. Remember your Shawnee brothers."
"I swear to you, before God, my hand will never be lifted against my brothers if our people war again."
"I am glad you speak this, for they will.
Ouishi catoui
. Be strong."
Author's Note
Wicomechee, the hero in
RED BIRD'S SONG
, was a Shawnee warrior who lived early in the nineteenth century. The Moffetts, an early Valley family to whom I'm related, include a reference to him in their genealogy. His father, John Moffett, was captured by the Shawnee at the age of eight and adopted into the tribe. It is said that John was a boyhood companion to the great chief Tecumseh. Forced to return to his English family as the result of Wayne's treaty (1794), John, then a young man, ran back to the Indians and wed a Shawnee woman. For years he tried to live in two worlds, eventually opting for the white one.
Sometime after John Moffett's removal from the tribe, a Moffett niece stopped at a trading post along the Mississippi and was eagerly examined by an elderly Shawnee woman who exclaimed, “Moffett, Moffett, you are Moffett!"
It seems she recognized the family resemblance, still evident in the Moffetts to this day. A conversation was struck between both women. John Moffett's abandoned Shawnee wife related her bereavement at his leaving, and the name of her son, Wicomechee, which means, ‘his father left him.'
Historian Joseph A. Waddell records this account in
The Annals of Augusta County
. The attack at the opening of
RED BIRD'S SONG
is also based on an attack that occurred to my Shenandoah Valley ancestors and is recorded by Waddell.
Historian Waddell also notes that during the Black Hawk Wars Wicomechee recovered the captive daughters of a Dr. Hull and brought them safely into camp, which reminds me of Hawkeye in
The Last of the Mohicans
.
A few words from the author...
I am a member of RWA(R), Virginia Romance Writers, For The Heart Romance Writers, and Celtic Hearts Romance Writers. My work has finaled in a number of chapter contests, including the 2007 Golden Pen. I am also a 2008 Golden Heart Finalist in the Historical Category.
I am married to my high school sweetheart and live on a farm in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with children and multiple animals. The beauty of the valley is an inspiration, as are my roots, which go well back into Virginia's history.
My fascination with the colonial frontier and the Shawnee Indians is an early and abiding one. My English and Scot-Irish ancestors had interactions with this tribe, including family members taken captive. Intrigued with all things Celtic, much of my writing features the Scot-Irish who settled the valley and spread into the mountains and the Carolinas. This absorption with early America also extends to the high drama of the Revolution and ancestors who fought and loved on both sides of that sweeping conflict.
Moreover, I am ever intrigued by ghost stories, and Virginia has more tales than any other state. I find myself asking if the folk who've gone before us are truly gone, or do some still have unfinished business in this realm? And what of the young lovers whose time was tragically cut short, do they somehow find a way? Love conquers all, so I answer ‘yes.'
Visit Beth at www.bethtrissel.com
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