University of Massachusetts Amherst - Index Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

Page 12 text:

The revival of Indian tradition on the campus reached its chmax in 1947 when the State Legislature changed the name of Massachusetts State College to University of Massachusetts. Immediately there was a spirited drive by undergraduates headed by George Burgess, ex- ' 49, to replace the cognomen Statesmen with something more appropriate. While animal husbandry majors, DAR enthusiasts and Cape-Codders were rooting for Bulls, Minutemen and Pilgrims, Burgess literally put the Indian sign on the campus by placing the issue of university cognomenclature before the student body until Redmen became the acceptable and accepted by-word of Massachusetts men. Previously the Hatchet Oration at commencement was one of the last vestiges of Indian lore upon the campus. There were, of course, the faculty Mettawampe Outing Club and some literary references by Professor Rand. To most Massachusetts graduates, however, there was only the Hatchet Oration, and that was so meaningless to them that the wearers of cap and gown were likely to ask, Who let the Indian in? There was, however, an actual Indian, Mettawampe, not to be confused with a Quaboag chieftain of the same name. In 1674 he and other Indians, living in the neighborhood of Mt. Toby, which they called Knuckquachu, sold to the whites a tract of land lying immediately to the north of the moun- tain. He was also known as Nattawwassawet, and he had a son named Nosa- tuck. This is all that we certainly know about him, l)ut his spirit still lingers about the mountain trails. When the University officially opened its Mt. Toby campus some twenty-five years ago, it was President Van Meter who impersonated Mettawamjje in a dedicatory pageant presented at the summit.

Page 11 text:

• s Here where Mettawampe g Walked and hunted, I ll, ' r ' God guided, guarded our way. . hij ' - Here no star fell. feJ ■ . -■ ■ ■ -, But light arose, glittered, shone. ' ! i(f ' i Still shines. . ik ffi V. W.i

Page 13 text:

In his hook Heart o ' Toivti Professor Rand has inchided a fictional cliar- acter sketch of Mettawampe, as of Augusl . ' 51, 1()7;5, looking- down from Mt. Knnckquachn at the vilhige of SunderUmd. then known as Swampfield, which was to he attacked l)y the Indians along witli Deerfield tlie following night, antl torn hetween his native hlood-lust to have a hand in the fight and his distnrhing sense of pity for a particular friendly family in the village. The poem concludes: Two trctils there were, two trails to destini : One to the sagamores about the spring; The otlier leading down, and traiforojish . To lehere the tiny light was beckoning. Two shadowy trails and neither of them rigid. Somewhere a nerrons dog began to bark; A spectral bat went sweeping by in flight. Tiro trails and both of them into the dark! The first would consummate itself in death, A fellowship of furious despair, And Mettawampe, sucking in his breath, Caressed his gun and knew he would be there. But still that other trail, the one that led Down to the Swampfield village — would it do To icarn those baby-loners, ere he sped Up to the tribal tree on Knuckquachu? Of course it was a coward ' s compromise. And on his ruddy forehead lay a frown. He stared into the dusk with heartbreak eyes, And felt decision click, and started down. So there were footfalls, silent ones on stone; And thunder, poised on imngs of broken light; A rabbit, too, who thought he was cdone Upon great Knuckquachu. And it was night.