The U.S. Mint's New $1 Sacagewea/ Wampanoag Treaty Gold Coin Release

Plimoth Plantation

                         PLYMOUTH,  MA  

The latest American Indian $1 coin will honor the Treaty of 1621 between the Wampanoag tribe and the Pilgrim settlers.

The 2011 Native American $1 Coin is the third in the series of United States coinage that features Sacagawea on the obverse and a different reverse each year that bears the image of important contributions made by Indian tribes or individual Native Americans to the development of the United States.
  The coin was unveiled at the Henry Hornblower II Visitor Center at Plimoth Plantation.  On the back of the coin is an image of the arm of Ousamequin Massasoit, the sachem, or leader, of the Wampanoag tribe, extending a peace pipe to the hand of John Carver, the first governor of Plymouth Colony. The front of the coin has an image of Sacagawea, 

 the  woman who served as guide to Meriwether Lewis and   William Clark during their cross-continental trek. The coin is the third in a series of coins depicting American Indian historical moments. The U.S. Mint says Sacagawea will be on the front of all coins in the series.

The 1621 treaty was the first formal agreement between the Wampanoag tribe and the settlers at Plymouth Colony. The mint has released a sketch of the back of the Wampanoag coin, but not a photo.

The 10:30 a.m. unveiling of the coin was open to all.  American Indians who attended received one of the coins

Tribal leaders from Aquinnah and Mashpee regions of the Wampanoag tribe were at the ceremony, and Cedric Cromwell, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, delivered the address.

An American Indian drum group from Mashpee performed at the event.

The Native American $1 Coin Law was enacted in 2009. It requires the mint to release coins “celebrating the important contributions made by Indian tribes and individual Native Americans to the history and development of the United States.” “We are honored that the United States Mint has chosen to acknowledge our great sachem Ousamequin and the significance of the 1621 treaty to American and Wampanoag history,” Cromwell said in a statement.  “As the first tribe to meet the Pilgrims, the alliance our ancestors forged through this treaty ensured the European settlers’ survival during their first difficult years here,” he said.

(Brian Badzmierowski  :  reported  and may be reached at : bbadzmierowski@ledger.com.)

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TTownTony commented on this ‘event’…

  This coin program is another example of New England favoritism when viewing American history. The tribes of the South were far larger than those of New England and were in contact with Europeans many decades or even a century earlier than those that met the so-called 'pilgrims'. The giant chief Tuscaloosa (over 7 feet tall) almost wiped out the DeSoto expedition in 1540. Spanish settlers encountered native Americans near Pensacola and St. Augustine long before anyone ever heard of New England. The Bahia del Espiritu Santo (modern day Mobile Bay, Alabama) was explored only a few years after Columbus and appeared on European maps over 100 years before Plymouth Colony was founded or any European had any idea the North American continent even existed.

If we are to have coins honoring Native American, then how about honoring those from a much larger part of the country where contact with Europeans was much earlier. Not those from backwater New England.