Penobscot River

Address by Penobscot Indian Chief John Neptune to Maine Governor William King and his Executive Council, Maine Senate Chambers, Portland, Maine, July 11, 1820.

"I thank you for the good you say. You see us well today. Christ is our Saviour as yours. He is the same to us all -- no difference of color. The same Heaven is for the black men and white men.

One thing in particular I wish to say today. Perhaps we get nothing for it. The white people take the fish in the river so they do not get up to us. They take them with weirs; they take them with drift net. They are all gone before they get to us. The Indians get none. If you can stop them so that we can get fish too, we shall be very glad.

There is another thing -- our hunting privilege. The white men come and spoil all the game. They catch all the young ones and the old ones. We take the old ones and leave the young ones till they grow bigger and are worth more. We wish the white men to be stopped from hunting. They take the timber -- they have teams and oxen to haul the trees. Indians have no teams; no oxen to haul timber. We wish your Government to stop the white men from hunting -- put their traps in their chests. Let white men have the timber and the Indians have the game.

You see us here very poor. If we were not poor you would see us better dressed. We want you to give us something so that when you see us again you will know us. Perhaps a hat, or shoes or powder and shot.

One word more. We want a new Agent. You have a new Government, a new State. We want you to give us a new Agent."

Source: Godfrey, John E. 1882. The Annals of Bangor, 1769-1882, in History of Penobscot County, Maine with Illustrations & Biographical Sketches. Williams, Chase & Co. Cleveland, Ohio.

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