Terminology: Sachem versus Sagamore

One of the more common names for a Native leader next to chief is the term sachem or sagamore and the misconceptions about these men and their role in Native life.

Sachem is a cognate of several Algonquian-based words, sakima (Lenape/Delaware), sachem (Narragansett), sakema (Abenaki), etc.  It denoted a leader who was a paramount chief, who held authority over several villages, each run by a headman, and assisted by war leaders, elders, medicine men and other prominent men and women in the tribe.  Early English sources described them as kings, implying absolute authority and royalty.  However, absolute power in Native societies was rare, most leaders having to prove their right to lead and to continue to exercise their authority by consensus and example.  Royalty in the sense of a hereditary royal family didn't exist in most Native societies.  The right to appoint sachems might be hereditary in some matrilineal societies, but the men so chosen still had to prove and keep proving themselves worthy to hold the honor.  They could be deposed by their people if they were tyrannical or otherwise unsatisfactory in how they carried out their role.

Some early sources, again seeing Natives through the lens of European hierarchy, tried to differentiate between it and a similar title, sagamore, by saying that one was a higher authority than the other, usually sachems over sagamores but it could be the other way around.  In fact, sagmo is a cognate of the same word, as seen in Western Abenaki, sogmo, or Algonquian ogima, and the terminology depended on the tribe or the locality and not on the rank of the person.  Though it was an Algonquian term, the 50 Lords of the Iroquois were also called Sachems because of their similar position in their society.  Famous sachems included Massassoit Sachem (Great Sachem) Ousemaquin, of the Wampanoag, Uncas, Sachem of the Mohegan and the last Sachem of the Wappinger, Daniel Nimham.  Iroquois sachems included Red Jacket of the Seneca.

As with other Native symbols, cultural appropriate of this word and its supposed authority were common, particularly in the 19th century.  Leaders of Tammany Societies, including the famous or infamous Tammany Hall in New York, were called sachems and the word became synonymous with a political boss, particularly one with an element of corruption.  Sagamore of the Wabash is a honorary title bestowed by the governor of Indiana similar to the Kentucky Colonel designation.  A higher honor, Sachem of the Wabash, is given to one distinguished Indiana resident each year.  Many sports teams in the Northeast also call themselves the Sachems.  An Algonquian Sachem, with all the despotic overtones that White culture has assigned to the word, is a character in the book and movie of Last of the Mohicans.