MOHEGAN/MOHICAN

It's All In The Spelling of A Name

I had an eye doctors appointment the other day, always an interesting experience after a corneal transplant.

That day however, was extra tough because the Orlando VA is now in a holding pattern, waiting for the new VA Hospital in Medical City to be finished.

So, I had to go to an outside Doctor and this meant starting from scratch, not a fun day for me, my puppy, or my driver.

Anyhow, my doctor and I, (Great Doctor) started talking about Native Americans, right after he spotted my pouch.

"Last of the Mohegan's" he said, with a grin.

"Well, I was for a while," I said.

He then told me that he had another person/patient for an appointment who said that there are thousands of Mohegan's around.

I felt obligated to give him a short history lesson about my Mohegan people, explaining that from the time of my birth in the 1940's, until the late 1970's, there were never more than 13 families at any of the monthly meetings held by my Grandfather, Sachem Tallfox, the last true Sachem of the Mohegan people.

But, right after Congress passed some funny, not ha ha funny, but strange funny laws and people starting building casinos, Mohegan's and Pequot's came out of the woodwork.

Strange thing, wouldn't you say?

Next, we went into the life of Uncas, his father and friend.

The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fennimore Cooper, is a story about a great friendship between Hawkeye, the white Man, and Chingachook, the Chief of the Mohicans.

The name is not spelled the same, but no one seems to care, just like where did all of these long dead Indians come from?

Also from fiction?