The Song of Hiawatha is based on the legends and stories of many North
American Indian tribes, but especially those of the Ojibway Indians of
northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. They were collected by
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, the reknowned historian, pioneer explorer, and
geologist. He was superintendent of Indian affairs for Michigan from
1836 to 1841.
Schoolcraft married Jane, O-bah-bahm-wawa-ge-zhe-go-qua (The Woman of
the Sound Which the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky), Johnston. Jane
was a daughter of John Johnston, an early Irish fur trader, and
O-shau-gus-coday-way-qua (The Woman of the Green Prairie), who was a
daughter of Waub-o-jeeg (The White Fisher), who was Chief of the
Ojibway tribe at La Pointe, Wisconsin.
Jane and her mother are credited with having researched, authenticated,
and compiled much of the material Schoolcraft included in his Algic
Researches (1839) and a revision published in 1856 as The Myth of
Hiawatha. It was this latter revision that Longfellow used as the basis
for The Song of Hiawatha.
Longfellow began Hiawatha on June 25, 1854, he completed it on March
29, 1855, and it was published November 10, 1855. As soon as the poem
was published its popularity was assured. However, it also was severely
criticized as a plagiary of the Finnish epic poem Kalevala. Longfellow
made no secret of the fact that he had used the meter of the Kalevala;
but as for the legends, he openly gave credit to Schoolcraft in his
notes to the poem.
I would add a personal note here. My father’s roots include Ojibway
Indians: his mother, Margaret Caroline Davenport, was a daughter of
Susan des Carreaux, O-gee-em-a-qua (The Chief Woman), Davenport whose
mother was a daughter of Chief Waub-o-jeeg. Finally, my mother used to
rock me to sleep reading portions of Hiawatha to me, especially:
“Wah-wah-taysee, little fire-fly,
Little, flitting, white-fire insect
Little, dancing, white-fire creature,
Light me with your little candle,
Ere upon my bed I lay me,
Ere in sleep I close my eyelids!”
Woodrow W. Morris
April 1, 1991