The Leni Lenape

(also known as the Delaware Indians)

 They were said to be the most powerful Indian Tribe in the East.

The tribe was divided into three clans ~~the "Turtle" which is the oldest, the "Wolf," and the "Turkey.'' Each clan was had  a chief and a war chief. Over all the clans was a sachem (pronounced sah-kee-mun), who came from the Turtle clan. His office was hereditary.

They grew large fields of corn or maize, squash, beans, sweet potatoes, and tobacco. They made pottery, dressed deerskins, and made beads or wampum, feather mantels and other ornaments, and used native copper, which they hammered into ornaments or used for arrowheads and pipes. They also made stone pipes, bows, and arrowheads. The corn or maize was broken up in stone or wooden mortars, with stone or wooden pestles.

For war there were war clubs, tomahawks, bows and arrows, scalping knives, and spears. They often used a shield of thick dried hide for defense. They used the bow and arrow and spear for killing fish and game. They caught fish with fishhooks made of bone and dried claws of birds, and also used brush nets.

They made use of paints and dyes, which they derived from both mineral and vegetable realms, to decorate themselves when going to war, or for picture writing, which was their means of keeping records of historical events or of communicating with each other.

They had their native priests or medicine men, and of those there were two classes ~~ one who devoted themselves to divination and the other to healing of the sick. The medicine men would interpret the dreams of others and of themselves, and claimed the power to dream truthfully of the future and of the absent. In their visions their guardian spirits visited them, they became, as they called it, "all light," and they "could see through men and know the thoughts of their hearts." At such times they were also instructed at what spots the hunters could successfully seek game.