On the eve of a major treaty conference between Iroquois leaders and European colonists in the distant summer of 1722, two white fur traders attacked an Indigenous hunter and left him for dead near Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Though virtually forgotten today, this act of brutality set into motion a remarkable series of criminal investigations and cross-cultural negotiations that challenged the definition of justice in early America.
In Covered with Night, leading historian Nicole Eustace reconstructs the crime and its aftermath, bringing us into the overlapping worlds of white colonists and Indigenous peoples in this formative period. As she shows, the murder of the Indigenous man set the entire mid-Atlantic on edge, with many believing war was imminent. Isolated killings often flared into colonial wars in North America, and colonists now anticipated a vengeful Indigenous uprising. Frantic efforts to resolve the case ignited a dramatic, far-reaching debate between Native American forms of justiceācentered on community, forgiveness, and reparationsāand an ideology of harsh reprisal, unique to the colonies and based on British law, which called for the killersā swift execution.
In charting the far-reaching ramifications of the murder, Covered with Nightāa phrase from Iroquois mourning practicesāoverturns persistent assumptions about ācivilizedā Europeans and āsavageā Native Americans. As Eustace powerfully contends, the colonial obsession with ācivilityā belied the reality that the Iroquois, far from being the barbarians of the white imagination, acted under a mantle of sophistication and humanity as they tried to make the land- and power-hungry colonials understand their ways. In truth, Eustace reveals, the Iroquoisāthe Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee, as they are known todayāsaw the killing as an opportunity to forge stronger bonds with the colonists. They argued for restorative justice and for reconciliation between the two sides, even as they mourned the deceased.
An absorbing chronicle built around an extraordinary group of charactersāfrom the slain manās resilient widow to the Indigenous diplomat known as āCaptain Civilityā to the scheming governor of PennsylvaniaāCovered with Night transforms a single event into an unforgettable portrait of early America. A necessary work of historical reclamation, it ultimately revives a lost vision of crime and punishment that reverberates down into our own time.
This book title, Covered with Night (A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America), ISBN: 9781631495878, by Nicole Eustace, published by Liveright (April 27, 2021) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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