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17th century term for Christian Native Americans

Praying Indian is a 17th century term referring to Native Americans of New England, New York, Ontario, and Quebec who converted to Christianity either voluntarily or involuntarily. Many groups are referred to by the term, but it is more commonly used for tribes that were organized into villages. The villages were known as praying towns and were established by missionaries such as the Puritan leader John Eliot and Jesuit missionaries who established the St. Regis and Kahnawake (formerly known as Caughnawaga) and the missions among the Huron in western Ontario.

In 1646, the General Court of Massachusetts passed an "Act for the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the Indians." It and the success of Reverend John Eliot and other missionaries preaching Christianity to the New England tribes raised interest in England. In 1649, the Long Parliament passed an ordination forming "A Corporation for the Promoting and Propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England," which raised funds to support the cause. Contributors raised approximately £12,000 to invest in the cause, to be used mainly in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and in the Province of New York. Eliot received financial aid from the corporation to start schools to teach the Native Americans. The Indian nations involved appear to have included the Massachusett and the Nipmuc. On October 28, 1646, in Nonantum (now Newton), Eliot preached his first sermon to Native Americans in their Massachusett language in the wigwam of Waban, the first convert of his tribe. Waban later offered his son to be taught in the ways of the European colonists and served as an interpreter. Eliot translated the Bible into the Massachusett language and published it in 1663 as Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up Biblum God. By 1675, 20% of New England's Natives were living in praying towns. Christian Indian Towns were eventually located throughout Eastern and Central Massachusetts and included Littleton (Nashoba), Lowell (Wamesit, initially incorporated as part of Chelmsford), Grafton (Hassanamessit), Marlborough (Okommakamesit), Hopkinton (Makunkokoag), Canton (Punkapoag), Mendon Uxbridge (Wacentug), and Natick. Only Natick has retained its original name. Praying Indian Towns started by Eliot extended into Connecticut and included Wabaquasset (Senexet, Wabiquisset), six miles west of the Quinebaug River in present day Woodstock, the largest of the three northeastern Connecticut praying towns. The towns had a location that served as an outlying wall of defense for the colony, a function that came to an end in 1675, during King Philip's War. Praying Indians offered their service as scouts to the colonists in Massachusetts but were rejected by the Puritans in Boston. Instead, Praying Indian residents were first confined to their villages and were thus restricted from their farms and unable to feed themselves. Many were confined on Deer Island in Boston Harbor. John Eliot and many others in the Plymouth Colony tried to prevent it, but it is reported that it became dangerous in Massachusetts to talk positively any Native Americans, which likely contributed to the initial successes of the Indian rebellion. After the war, in part because of the loss of life, the General Court of Massachusetts disbanded 10 of the original 14 towns in 1677 and placed the rest under the supervision of colonists, but some communities survived and retained their religious and education systems.

Indigenous peoples of the Americas including Praying Indians were trafficked through Atlantic trade routes. The 1677 work The Doings and Sufferings of the Christian Indians, for example, documents English colonial prisoners of war (not, in fact, opposing combatants, but imprisoned members of allied Praying Indian) being enslaved and sent to Caribbean destinations.

In the mid 17th century, John Eliot and a group of praying Indians from Dedham, Massachusetts, won a lengthy court battle and were awarded the title to the of land in the town that is now known as Natick. The dispute, which lasted from 1651 to 1665 and flared up again sporadically in the years afterward, centered on the Indians' use of a tract of land along the Charles River. They claimed to have an agreement to use the land for farming with the Town Fathers, but Dedham officials objected to them. Eliot had converted many of the native people in the area to Christianity and taught them how to live a stable agrarian life. He converted so many that the group needed a large portion of land on which to grow their own crops. The law was on the side of the town, Elliot made a moral argument that the group had a need for land of their own. The case eventually went before the General Court, which granted the land in question to the Indians and, in compensation for the land lost, gave another piece of land in what is today Deerfield, Massachusetts, to the Dedham settlers. The town's actions in the case were characterized by "deceptions, retaliations, and lasting bitterness" and harassed its Native neighbors with petty accusations even after the matter had been settled.

There are several narratives regarding Native American history that are greatly underrepresented. A significant number of Praying Indians fought for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. They fought in entirely integrated units, unlike the African American soldiers who fought for their country from the Revolutionary War to World War II. There is no evidence of official discrimination towards Native American soldiers. They received equal pay and treatment as compared to their white counterparts. That is a direct contrast to unit segregation in the Civil War, for instance. African American soldiers fought in segregated units, such as the 54th Massachusetts Regiment under Col. Robert Gould Shaw. They were initially paid less than their white counterparts. Soldiers of Native American origin fought in several significant battles during the Revolutionary War such as Bunker Hill, Battle Road, Trenton, and Saratoga. The Praying Indians never saw such a split. They had extremely close ties to both the Puritan clergy that established the Praying towns, as well as non Native peoples that lived among them. Despite the continued seizure of Native lands, the various Praying Indian communities realized that their continued survival could be ensured only by close ties to their communities. Support of a distant government would only alienate them from those who were in proximity. The borders of Natick have since changed and includes parts of what was Needham, Dedham. As a result of the unit integration in the Continental Army, most cases had no real concentration of Praying Indians in a single unit. Praying Indians served in dozens of distinct units throughout the Revolutionary War. The Battle of King's Bridge in the Bronx, where both Daniel Nimham, the last sachem of the Wappinger and his son Abraham were killed alongside some 60 members of the Stockbridge Militia is a notable exception.

Historian George Quintal Jr. discusses Revolutionary war veterans who were Native American, African American, and other minority groups in his book Patriots of Color: ‘A Peculiar Beauty and Merit’. Samuel Comecho served in the Battle of Bunker Hill under the command of Capt. Benjamin Bullard in Col. Jonathan Brewer's regiment. Born in Natick, Comecho enlisted for eight month's service and his unit held the line at Bunker Hill between the redoubt and the rail fence. He re enlisted on the first day of 1776 in Col. Asa Whitcomb's regiment and served in Capt. William Hudson Ballard's company in the Canadian theater. It was reported that he died on March 14, 1776. The cause of death was likely smallpox.

The sacrifices made by Praying Indians and other minority groups during the Revolutionary War have never been properly celebrated. It was not until the 20th century that these veterans were first recognized. The town of Natick installed a monument to Native American veterans of the Revolutionary War in 1900, which still stands today on Pond Street near Natick Center. However, it was not until Needham historian Robert D. Hall Jr. that their final resting places were properly honored. Hall and volunteers placed grave markers and American flags in a Needham cemetery to honor these veterans in 2003.

In the 21st century, people who identify as descendants of Praying Indians have formed different organizations. They are unrecognized and are not federally recognized tribes or state recognized tribes. These include the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag and Praying Indians of Natick and Ponkapoag.