Hard Times: The Survival of the People

A Department of the Interior report to the Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs, describes deplorable health conditions of Passamaquoddy people:

The undernourished bodies of the tribal members are easy prey for tuberculosis and apparently no attempt is made to weed out suspect cases to give proper treatment. A boy of 19 years has been invalid since he was a child. He suffered from infantile paralysis and did not receive proper medical attention. No effort was made on part of the State authorities to have given him treatment in a hospital and he spent his life enduring physical and mental suffering without a chance. Now his frail wasted body cannot be made strong because of years of neglect.

The State pays for medical aid rendered to the Tribe, with the exception of  maternity cases. I wonder why the mothers and their babies are not given the best of care at the expense of the State or their expenses paid out of the Tribal funds. Unsanitary living conditions and impure water from condemned wells are not conductive to good health. In 1934, State authorities had done nothing about the water supply and as a result typhoid fever and pneumonia were prevalent during the year and the death rate was high, as many as 20 members of the Tribe are listed as dead.

The small dwellings in which they live are so old and in need of repair that the Indians suffer from the cold in winter. There are holes in the roofs and sides and windowpanes are broken in some. In the case of one large family, the sleeping quarters are inadequate and 5 older boys and girls are obliged to sleep in one small room. Certain families do not have beds, not even mattresses to put on the floor on which to sleep.

Another contributing element to the unhealthy condition of so many in this community is the fact that for many years they have been using aniline dyes in the basket making.

The families of the Passamaquoddy Tribe can now toss away their obsolete tallow candles and kerosene lamps as electricity has been introduced into their reservation on the St. Croix River. It was no great expense for poles and wiring as the State highway is less than 2 miles from the reservation. Even the town of Perry, 2 miles from the reservation did not have electric lights installed until late last fall and the country roads were then properly lighted for the first time and in many of the Perry farm houses and country stores electricity is now enjoyed."

Perhaps nowhere else in the world not even in our good old USA did an entire village contribute its quota of soldiers to the world war independent of conscription, as did the Passamaquoddy Indian Tribe located at Pleasant Point, Perry, Maine. The town of Perry, Washington County, displays a single gold star on the service flag, for enlisted man Roger Sullivan, a mere lad. But from the Indian reservation, located at Pleasant Point went forth 37 native men, eager to do their bit, scornful of the tardy draft; 15 enlisted in Canadian ranks before our colors challenged the German flag, 9 entered on the struggle under the Army Stars and Stripes, and the others are with the Navy. On the service flag before the little Tribal chapel the crimson of five proud stars has already turned to shining gold. Two boys linger in France, others yet sail the seas, one is in the hospital, and three “by the skin of their teeth” were returned with battle-scarred Company 26.

A call at the gubernatorial home reveals Tribal Governor William Neptune, a middle-aged man possible with a little white blood, but speaks direct English. When approached on the subject of his son who claimed burial in France, there is no demonstration of grief. The letters of his boy are without comment laid in the inquirer's hand, and only silence betrays the heartache of him and of the lad's mother- a daughter of a white woman. There is another boy left, and three girls, but Moses Neptune, enlisting at 19, "while dead, yet speaking through the correspondence that was never allowed to lag till his pencil was stilled forever. His handwriting is uncommonly graceful and legible, and he urged his people ‘You must not let a week go by if you can help it. Every chance I get I always write.’”
Courtesy of Donald Soctomah

To the Tribal settlement came this letter from the company chaplain:

"Dear Governor Neptune: Your son gave his young life for freedom on the day the Armistice was signed... "

Read the rest of this letter to tribal Governor William Neptune