Covered with night: a story of murder and indigenous justice in early America
(Large Print)
An immersive tale of the killing of a Native American man and its far-reaching implications for the definition of justice from early America to today.
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 justice—centered on community, forgiveness, and reparations—and an ideology of harsh reprisal, unique to the colonies and based on British law, which called for the killers' swift execution.
In charting the far-reaching ramifications of the murder, Covered with Night—a phrase from Iroquois mourning practices—overturns persistent assumptions about “civilized” Europeans and “savage” Native Americans. As Eustace powerfully contends, the colonial obsession with “civility” 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 Iroquois—the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee, as they are known today—saw 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 characters—from the slain man's resilient widow to the Indigenous diplomat known as “Captain Civility” to the scheming governor of Pennsylvania—Covered 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.
Notes
Eustace, N. (2022). Covered with night: a story of murder and indigenous justice in early America. Large print edition. Waterville, ME, Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage company.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Eustace, Nicole. 2022. Covered With Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America. Waterville, ME, Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage company.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Eustace, Nicole, Covered With Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America. Waterville, ME, Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage company, 2022.
MLA Citation (style guide)Eustace, Nicole. Covered With Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America. Large print edition. Waterville, ME, Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage company, 2022.
Record Information
Last Sierra Extract Time | Jun 07, 2023 06:59:54 PM |
---|---|
Last File Modification Time | Jun 07, 2023 07:00:03 PM |
Last Grouped Work Modification Time | Jun 07, 2023 06:59:58 PM |
MARC Record
LEADER | 03601cam 2200397 i 4500 | ||
---|---|---|---|
001 | sky306575766 | ||
008 | 220628t20222022meuab edb 001 0 eng d | ||
010 | |a 2022932775 | ||
020 | |a 9781432899417|q (large print ;|q hardcover) | ||
020 | |a 1432899414|q (large print ;|q hardcover) | ||
040 | |a HBP|b eng|e rda|c HBP|d YEQ|d GRC|d SKYRV | ||
082 | 0 | 4 | |a 364.152/30973|2 23 |
100 | 1 | |a Eustace, Nicole,|e author. | |
245 | 1 | 0 | |a Covered with night :|b a story of murder and indigenous justice in early America /|c Nicole Eustace. |
250 | |a Large print edition. | ||
264 | 1 | |a Waterville, ME :|b Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage company,|c [2022]. | |
264 | 4 | |c ©2021. | |
300 | |a 717 pages (large print) :|b illustrations, map ;|c 23 cm | ||
336 | |a text|b txt|2 rdacontent | ||
337 | |a unmediated|b n|2 rdamedia | ||
338 | |a volume|b nc|2 rdacarrier | ||
340 | |n large print|2 rdafs | ||
500 | |a "Thorndike Press large print nonfiction"--Title page verso. | ||
504 | |a Includes bibliographical references and index. | ||
505 | 0 | 0 | |t Tomorrow's doom : July 30-August 1, 1722 --|t Taquatarensaly (captain civility) --|t When things go ill : February 1722 --|t Sawantaeny --|t Sorrow will come fast : March 6, 1722 --|t John Catlidge --|t What content and decency require : March 7-14, 1722 --|t Peter Bezaillion --|t Two heads are better than one : March 15-17, 1722 --|t Weenepeeweytah and Elizabeth Cartlidge --|t Forgive anyone sooner than thyself : March 21-26, 1722 --|t Isaac Norris --|t He will go to law : April 4-7, 1722 --|t Satcheechoe --|t Stark naught : May 4-11, 1722 --|t William Keith --|t Take him now : June 15-July 2, 1722 --|t Ousewayteichks|r (Smith the Ganawese) --|t Money and good men : August 3-15, 1722 --|t James Le Tort --|t A word to the wise : August-September 1722 --|t James Logan --|t Stiff obstinacy : October 3-5, 1722 --|t Civility's last word. |
520 | |a "An immersive tale of the killing of a Native American man and its far-reaching consequences for Colonial America. In the summer of 1722, on the eve of a conference between the Five Nations of the Iroquois and British-American colonists, two colonial fur traders brutally attacked an Indigenous hunter in colonial Pennsylvania. The crime set the entire mid-Atlantic on edge, with many believing that war was imminent. Frantic efforts to resolve the case created a contest between Native American forms of justice, centered on community, forgiveness, and reparations, and an ideology of harsh reprisal, based on British law, that called for the killers' execution. In a stunning narrative history based on painstaking original research, acclaimed historian Nicole Eustace reconstructs the crime and its aftermath, taking us into the worlds of Euro-Americans and Indigenous peoples in this formative period. A feat of reclamation evoking Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's A Midwife's Tale and Alan Taylor's William Cooper's Town, Eustace's utterly absorbing account provides a new understanding of Indigenous forms of justice, with lessons for our era." --|c Provided by publisher. | ||
586 | |a Pulitzer Prize, History, 2022 | ||
650 | 0 | |a Murder|z United States|x History|y 18th century. | |
650 | 0 | |a Criminal justice, Administration of|z United States|x History|y 18th century. | |
650 | 0 | |a Homicide investigation|z United States|x History|y 18th century. | |
655 | 7 | |a True crime stories.|2 lcgft | |
655 | 7 | |a Large print books.|2 lcgft | |
907 | |a .b21104141 | ||
940 | |a MARCIVE 09/2022 | ||
945 | |y .i34855476|i 30045000442672|l meanf|s -|h |u 2|x 1|w 1|v 2|t 121|z 220825|j 03-15-2023 17:27|r n|a LP 364.15 EUS | ||
998 | |h c|e n |f eng|a me |