Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America

In 1722, two white fur traders attacked an Indigenous hunter near Conestoga, Pennsylvania, setting off a series of criminal investigations and cross-cultural negotiations that challenged the definition of justice in early America. In Covered with Night, historian Nicole Eustace reconstructs the crime and its aftermath, showing how the murder of the Indigenous man set the entire mid-Atlantic on edge, igniting a debate between Native American forms of justice and an ideology of harsh reprisal. Eustace overturns persistent assumptions about "civilized" Europeans and "savage" Native Americans, revealing that the Iroquois saw the killing as an opportunity to forge stronger bonds with the colonists and argued for restorative justice and reconciliation.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 464 pages
Publication date: 27 September 2022
Publisher: WW Norton & Co

In the summer of 1722, just before a significant treaty conference between Iroquois leaders and European colonists, two white fur traders attacked an Indigenous hunter near Conestoga, Pennsylvania, leaving him for dead. Despite being virtually forgotten today, this act of brutality ignited a remarkable series of criminal investigations and cross-cultural negotiations that challenged the definition of justice in early America. In her book, 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 demonstrates, 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.

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, were a sophisticated and complex society with a rich cultural heritage.

The murder of the Indigenous hunter also had far-reaching consequences for the colonists themselves. It sparked a renewed interest in Native American culture and led to increased contact and trade between the two groups. This, in turn, helped to shape the development of the United States and the broader North American continent. The case also highlighted the tensions and conflicts that existed between the colonists and the Indigenous peoples, as well as the complex and often conflicting legal and political systems that were emerging in the colonies.

In conclusion, the murder of the Indigenous hunter near Conestoga, Pennsylvania, in 1722 was a significant event in the history of early America. It set into motion a series of criminal investigations and cross-cultural negotiations that challenged the definition of justice and helped to shape the development of the United States and the broader North American continent. Through her book, Covered with Night, historian Nicole Eustace provides a powerful and nuanced account of this crime and its aftermath, shedding light on the complex and often fraught relationship between white colonists and Indigenous peoples in this formative period.

Weight: 355g
Dimension: 211 x 140 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781324092162