Footprints of the Welsh Indians

Sound Bite

17th-19th c. American memoirs cite meetings with "White" Indians, and linguistic, archeological, and anthropological evidence from Alabama to the Dakotas suggest that Welshmen were among the first settlers of America.

About the Book

The legend of Prince Madoc and the Welsh Indians is a remarkable story of a brave, resourceful and intelligent people and the footprints they left in the New World - a story that can grip the beholder with intrigue and emotion. Archaeological finds in the Southern states as well as in the Ohio Valley include the remains of highly engineered stone forts, metal implements and other artifacts impossible to explain in the context of the savage tribes encountered by the Europeans and Americans who eventually settled the region. Did the Welsh leave them? In 12th century Wales, the terror and turmoil brought about by the contention for the throne caused an exodus of the frightened and disillusioned populace. The songs of medieval bards suggest that Prince Madoc, drawing on the seafaring knowledge of his Viking forebears, led some three expeditions westward, across the seas, to seek a new life in a land that could hardly be less hospitable than home. Legends of the Toltecs and Aztecs relate that ships full of tall blond men visited the Americas in this time period; needless to say, they were taken to be gods of the seas. After visiting Mexico, Madoc is believed to have sailed to the north side of the Gulf, where he founded a colony in Mobile Bay in 1170, and another at the mouth of the Mississippi. Over time, both groups were forced by warring Indians to move on, with the first group traversing Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. Wars with the Cherokee forced them out of Tennessee in about 1500, and in a great migration they found their way to the banks of the Upper Missouri River, where they became known as the Mandan Indians. The second group travelled up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to the Falls of the Ohio, where they established a well-defended colony; but wars with the Shawnee and Iroquois tribes eventually spelled their downfall. Numerous accounts in the 16th through the 19th centuries recall meetings with fair-skinned Indians. Those accounts especially include encounters with the Mandans, but they also include accounts with a mysterious people known as the "Asguaw," "Tallega," and several other names. Memoirs and correspondence tell of encounters with "Welsh-speaking Indians" - and suggest how later arrivals may have dealt with the inconvenient possibility that other White settlers had preceded them. Bibliography, Index

Introduction

...Coins have been found in New England that were designated as payment to Greek and Iberian soldiers in the army of Carthage. Other coins, which were found on a beach in Massachusetts, depict fourth century B.C. Roman Emperors. Similar coins have been unearthed all across New England.p align="justify">It is postulated that, for a long period of time, New England harbored a colony of Keltic and Phoenician settlers, the first of whom were Iberian with later arrivals of British and Irish origin. Phoenician sailors maintained an active trade with this colony for a time. Some tribes of Algonquian Indians in the northeast have displayed Mediterranean Caucasoid physical characteristics. When Samuel de Champlain met with the Micmac tribe in 1609, he found them taking notes as he spoke to them. When examined, the notes were written in the hieroglyphics of Egypt and Libya and could be easily translated. Many Algonquian words are phonetically the same as or similar to the same words in Gaelic including the words for fish stream, deep water, white stone, cold pond and many others. What happened to these people? Were they destroyed in wars with the Algonquians? Were they decimated by a natural disaster or epidemic, or were they assimilated into the Algonquian tribes and Culture? No one knows. We know only that the evidence that they existed is compelling.