Indian Names

Ye say they all have passed away,

That noble race and brave;

That their light canoes have vanished

From off the crested wave;

That mid the forests where they roamed,

There rings no hunter's shout:

But their name is on your waters-

Ye may not wash it out.

American Indian

NC Wyeth

'Tis where Ontario's billow

Like Ocean's surge is curled;

Where strong Niagara's thunders wake

The echo of the world;

Where red Missouri bringeth

Rich tribute from the west;

And Rappahannock sweetly sleeps

On green Virginia's breast.

Ye say that conelike cabins,

That clustered o'er the vale,

Have disappeared as withered leaves

Before the autumn's gale:

But their memory liveth on your hills,

Their baptism on your shore,

Your everlasting rivers speak

Their dialect of yore.

Cherokee Town

Picture courtesy of the

 Museum of the Cherokee

Walhalla, South Carolina

Old Massachusetts wears it

Within her lordly crown,

And broad Ohio bears it

Amid his young renown;

Connecticut has wreathed it

Where her quiet foliage waves.

And bold Kentucky breathes it hoarse

Through all her ancient caves.

Wachusett hides its lingering voice

Within its rocky heart,

And Allegheny graves its tone

Throughout his lofty chart.

Monadnock, on his forehead hoar,

Doth seal the sacred trust:

Your mountains build their monument,

Though ye destroy their dust.

Mount Wachusett, New Hampshire

Ancestral home of the Nipmuc Indian tribe.

"Indian Names"

Lydia H. Sigourney

American poet

(1791-1865)

Known as the

 "Sweet Singer of Hartford"