The Allegewi

Ethnologist Henry Schoolcraft Rowe (1793–1864) said this about the Allegewi, an ancient and mysterious tribe with a power center in the Ohio River Valley: 

“The oldest tribe of the United States of which there is a distinct tradition were the Alleghans…This tribe at an antique period had the seat of their power in the Ohio Valley and its confluent streams which were the sites of their numerous towns and villages…From the traditions of the Lenapes, given to the Moravian missionaries, while the lamp of their traditionary history still threw out its flickering but enlivening flames, the Alleghans had been a strong and mighty people, capable of great exertions and doing wonders.”

A Dim Tradition

There is a dim tradition of an ancient tribe that lived in high-walled villages in the Ohio Valley. These were the Alleghans, better known as the Allegewi. John Heckewelder (1743–1823) was a Moravian missionary. He recounted many of the traditions of the Lenni Lenape (also known as the Delaware) in his writings. He said this about the Allegewi:

“Many wonderful things are told of this famous people. They are said to have been remarkably tall and stout, and there is a tradition that there were giants among them, people of a much larger size than the tallest of the Lenape.”

—John Heckewelder, History, Manners, and Customs of The Indian Nations Who Once Inhabited Pennsylvania and the Neighbouring States, (Philadelphia: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1881).

The Allegewi were "wonder workers." Moreover, their physical endurance and high civilization earned the respect of their neighbors.

Lenni Lenape Legend

According to Lenni Lenape legend, their tribe originally lived in the western United States. They moved east in the remote past. Their eastward migration probably began around 3,500 years ago. Heckewelder wrote:

The Lenni Lenape (according to the traditions handed down to them by their ancestors) resided many hundred years ago, in a very distant country in the western part of the American continent. For some reason, which I do not find accounted for, they determined on migrating to the eastward, and accordingly set out together in a body.

After a very long journey, and many nights encampments by the way, they at length arrived on the Namessi Sipit? where they fell in with the Mengwe, who had likewise emigrated from a distant country, and had struck upon this river somewhat higher up. Their object was the same with that of the Delawares; they were proceeding on to the eastward, until they should find a country that pleased them. The spies which the Lenape had sent forward for the purpose of reconnoitering, had long before their arrival discovered that the country east of the Mississippi was inhabited by a very powerful nation, who had many large towns built on the great rivers flowing through their land.

John Heckewelder.

The Uneasy Alliance

Today, we know the Mengwe as the Iroquois. The two groups formed an alliance and moved east together; however, they halted their progress on the banks of the Mississippi River. Their scouts sent word that the powerful Allegewi inhabited the land on the other side. Heckewelder left us with the following accoutn:

When the Lenape arrived on the banks of the Mississippi, they sent a message to the Alligewi to request permission to settle themselves in their neighbourhood. This was refused them, but they obtained leave to pass through the country and seek a settlement farther to the eastward.

I have often wondered why the Allegewi did not allow the alliance to settle. There is no way to know. But I wonder if, being of such large physical stature, the Allegewi were in charge of things and wanted to keep it that way. If the Allegewi represented an elite ruling class, and had normal-sized people living among them in lesser societal roles, they were probably afraid that an influx of newcomers would upset the balance of power and threaten their position. So, in order to keep the status quo intact, the Allegewi refused to allow the migrants to put down roots. 

Treachery

The Allegewi granted permission for the alliance to continue their eastward trek but treachery was afoot. In a cowardly and villainous act, the Allegewi attacked the alliance as they crossed the river. This set off a devastating war. I believe the war began sometime around 1,300 BCE.

After a lengthy, bloody campaign that lasted between one hundred and one hundred fifty years—possibly even three hundred to five hundred years according to some sources—the Allegewi fell to the alliance. As an aside, I can’t help but wonder if finds such as this are mass graves from the war:

In Sayre, Pennsylvania, 68 skeletons were uncovered during the excavation of a mound. The average size of the skeletons was 7 feet; many were much larger. Huge axes were found beside many of the bones. 
—“Salem Professor Discovers Huge Skeletons in Mounds.” Charleston Gazette, June 15, 1930.


After the war, the two tribes went their separate ways and lived in peace for about three hundred years. The Mengwe went north while the Lenape took the lands in the Allegewi power center—the Ohio Valley and surrounding area—and the Lenape absorbed the remaining Allegewi (mostly women and children) into their tribe.

The "Adena Type"

According to Ross Hamilton who wrote A Tradition of Giants: The Elite Social Hierarchy of American Prehistory, this blending between the Lenape and the remnant Allegewi produced the “Adena type.” While the typical Adena male was about 5’6,” selective breeding brought about an elite class of robust, large-statured warriors, chiefs, and shamans. Some of these folks stood at eight feet in height. Some think, me included, that the Allegewi were the original Mound Builders and their influence among the Lenape and other tribes kept their mound building traditions alive.

There is another aspect to the fall of the Allegewi that might help account for giant traditions in other parts of the United States. As the Allegewi fell, many abandoned their land and fled. Some may have fled north or northwest. There are stories of giants from tribes in New York. The Plains Indians have similar tales. There is also a tradition of Allegewi fleeing down the Mississippi River. Some may have fallen in among friendly tribes, eventually taking on leadership roles.

The Nahoolo

H.B. Cushman (1820–1904), a missionary to the Choctaw, mentioned the great war between the Lenape alliance and Allegewi in his writings. He believed the Allegewi were the progenitors of the Nahoolo—giants of Choctaw legend:

The Allegewi were defeated and driven out of their country retreating southward, and the Delawares and other tribes took possession of their country. Now these Allegewi are without doubt the same stock of people spoken of in Choctaw tradition as the Nahoolo.

H. B. Cushman, History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Natchez Indians, (Greenville, TX: Headlight Publishing House, 1899).

This story of an ancient tribe, giant-sized people, and their movements go much deeper. I only scratched the surface in this article. Check out my book Giants: Men of Renown for more.




My Most Popular Posts

Giant Bones in West Virginia

Image
When the Bible famously declared that “there were giants on the earth in those days,” in Genesis 6:4, the writer wasn’t kidding—especially when it comes to West Virginia. In the early days of our nation, people routinely unearthed giant bones in the Mountain State. Giant Bones Countless newspapers and county histories in the 1800s told the story of giant bones. Stories such as these were commonplace: “It is said that a jawbone was plowed up near Moorefield which would pass over the outside of a common man's lower jaw; that it contained eight jaw teeth on either side, and that they sat transversely in their sockets. A bone of that size would have belonged to a man eight or nine feet high… Another jawbone of enormous size is recorded as having been discovered near Martinsburg.” Hu Maxwell and H. L. Swisher,  History of Hampshire County West Virginia from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present  (Morgantown, WV: A. Brown Boughner, 1897) “While digging a grave on Trace Fork, Lincoln
Read more

The Giants from the West

Image
The ethnologist James Mooney (1861–1921) wrote of ancient giants in his 1902 book, Myths of the Cherokee . The section titled "The Giants from the West" is an intriguing account. I have reprinted it below: THE GIANTS FROM THE WEST James Wafford, of the western Cherokee, who was born in Georgia in 1806, says that his grandmother, who must have been born about the middle of the last century, told him that she had heard from the old people that long before her time a party of giants had come once to visit the Cherokee. They were nearly twice as tall as common men, and had their eyes set slanting in their heads, so that the Cherokee called them Tsunil' kalu', "The Slant-eyed people," because they looked like the giant hunter Tsul'kalu' (see the story). They said that these giants lived very far away in the direction in which the sun goes down. The Cherokee received them as friends, and they stayed some time, and then returned to their home in the we
Read more

The Giants of Ancient Tennessee

Image
John Haywood (1753-1826) was a historian known as the "father of Tennessee history." These days, he might be best known for documenting giant skeletons found in Tennessee, as well as popularizing the "Tennessee Pygmies." In Haywood's 1823 work, The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee , he documented several unique discoveries. These include giant skeletons found in Tennessee, particularly in and around White County. Haywood devoted a section to the giant skeletons found in Tennessee in his book. The entire section (Chapter VIII, section 1) is printed below: First, then—Of their Size. This is ascertained by the length and dimensions of the skeletons which are found in East and West Tennessee. These will prove demonstratively, that the ancient inhabitants of this country, either the primitive or secondary settlers, were of gigantic stature , compared with the present races of Indians.  On the farm of Mr. John Miller, of White county, are a numbe
Read more

A Large Turtle

Image
Large turtle tales are among my favorite types of cryptid encounters . Perhaps that is why I spent over a week on the outskirts of Roswell, New Mexico in 2022. I had hoped to catch a glimpse of the fabled large turtles the "size of a Volkswagen." (I did not.) Maybe the best turtle tale is the story of Oscar, the Beast of Busco. This enormous turtle, with a shell as big as "the top of a car" caused a ruckus in an Indiana town in 1949. In 1883, the Scientific American published a blurb about a large turtle—large is an understatement!—spotted at sea. I reprinted the entire text below: A Large Turtle "Captain Augustus G. Hall and the crew of the schooner Annie L. Hall vouch for the following: On March 30, while on the Grand Bank, in latitude 40° 10’, longitude 33°, they discovered an immense live trunk turtle, which was at first thought to be a Reptiles and Amphibians 535 vessel bottom up. The schooner passed within twenty-five feet of the monster, and those on bo
Read more

The Wa-gas

Image
In her book To the American Indian, Lucy Thompson (1856–1932), a member of the Yurok tribe whose Yurok name was Che-na-wah Weitch-ah-wah, recorded many of the tales of her people. One of the most interesting stories in the book is that of the Wa-gas. According to Thompson, the Wa-gas were an ancient race of white people that lived in North America many thousands of years ago. However, these folks were much different than Europeans who colonized the Americas in recent times. The following excerpt comes from Thompson’s book in a section titled “ Traditions of the Ancient White People” :
Read more

Bigfoot Musings From the Lowcountry

Image
The Lowcountry of South Carolina is a great destination. The food and the beaches are amazing. Cities such as Beaufort and Charleston are full of history, stunning architecture, and antebellum homes with manicured lawns that embody the deep South. Large oak trees draped with Spanish moss form canopies along narrow streets and side roads. And of course, there is Bigfoot. Visits to Lowcountry I spent a week in the Lowcountry in the summer of 2020 and again in January 2022. But I was a good hour’s drive from Hilton Head; thirty minutes away from Beaufort; and around forty-five minutes from Charleston. I stayed at a campground “in the middle of nowhere.” The nearest town was Yemassee—a small community whose roads leading in were riddled with potholes the size of kitchen sinks. The point of this post is not potholes, Spanish moss, or antebellum homes—Bigfoot is the star here. As I usually do when I arrive in a new place, I began thinking of the elusive beast. I checked the Bigfoot Field Re
Read more

Ahuizotl

Image
The Ahuizotl is the legendary water monster of Aztec folklore once thought to live in lakes and rivers around Tenochtitlan, Mexico. Its name means “thorny one of the water” or “spiny aquatic thing.” The Aztecs had many legends of the Ahuizotl. The Florentine Codex, a manuscript compiled in the 16 th century describing aspects of life before the arrival of the Spanish mentions the creature. Descriptions This strange beast is similar in appearance to a small dog with monkey-like hands. The most unique feature of the animal is a long, slender tail with a human-like hand of the end. Using its unusual tail, the beast would snag its prey—humans—and drag them to a watery demise. The Ahuizotl feasted upon its victims; it was particularly fond of eating the eyeballs, teeth, and fingernails of its human prey. Several days after becoming a fatality of the water beast, the victim’s corpse would wash ashore with missing nails, teeth, and eyeballs. Some have described the Ahuizotl as some sort of
Read more

The "Mystery Noises" in Moodus

Image
When I arrived in Moodus, Connecticut in early-May 2022, I was surprised when a friend texted me an article from the New England Historical Society. The piece was titled “The Mysterious Moodus Noises of Connecticut,” and recounted the history of strange, unexplained noises that occur around the village of Moodus. The Moodus Noises I read the article at once. I couldn't believe that I had stumbled upon a place renowned for strange activity. According to the article: The Wangunk Indians had told the colonists of the fearful noises that they tried to appease. In fact, the Indians called the land around Mt. Tom “Machemoodus,” meaning place of bad noises. The settlers shortened the name to Moodus, now a village in East Haddam. Once Puritans moved to the area in the early-1700s, they heard the noises, too. And they, too, attributed the sounds to a supernatural source. The superstitious Puritans believed God was angry with them for their sins. Meanwhile, the local Indians believed the
Read more

Lucy the Phantom Hitchhiker

Image
According to local legend, there is a phantom hitchhiker named Lucy along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail just outside of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. This trail is a six-mile, one-way drive that cuts through a dense tree canopy. Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is easily accessible from downtown Gatlinburg and lands you a world away from the busy streets in mere minutes. The trail follows Roaring Fork, a beautiful cold-water stream typical of those found in the Great Smoky Mountains. The white-water crashes against large boulders and there are small waterfalls and deep pools of frigid mountain water along the way. Mills, old structures, and historic homesites are scattered along the trail—a reminder that people used to live and work here. One of those old mountain folks that lived along the trail in the early 1900s was Lucy. As the story goes, Lucy was a young lady who died tragically when her family’s cabin burned down. Sometime after her death, a man named Foster (I don’t know if this
Read more