Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags

Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags (1829), a play John Augustus Stone. [Park Theatre, in repertory.] The great Indian chief Metamora ( Edwin Forrest) is determined not to forsake the land of his forebears but knows he fights a losing battle. He tells his wife, Nahmeokee ( Mrs. Sharpe), “The power of dreams has been on me, and the shadows of things that are to be have passed over me. When our fires are no longer red, on the high places of our fathers; when the bones of our kindred make fruitful the fields of the stranger. . . then will the stranger spare, for we will be too small for his eye to see.” Yet he is willing to save the life of a white woman, Oceana ( Mrs. Hilson), and aid her romance with Horatio [in some texts, Walter] ( Mr. Barry). In the end, however, the white adversaries prove too much for the Native Americans, and Metamora dies fighting and cursing them. Written in response to producer‐star Forrest's offer of a prize for a new American play, the drama proved one of his most enduring vehicles and was scarcely ever out of his repertory. After Forrest's death, numerous other actors attempted the part, with only small success.