Mingo

In the dark
Forests along the
Monongahela River
South of Pittsburgh then
French Fort Duquesne Mingo
Delaware and Shawnee Indians silently waited to ambush George
Washington’s Virginia militia and
Braddock’s red coats in 1755.
My forbear was there with
The militia and I suspect
Some renegade cousin
With a band of Mingos
Both caught up in a
War fighting their
Own kin as in
The War for
Independence
The Civil War and
All the other wars fought
By the West since Rome’s fall.
The Mingo were an offshoot
Of the western Seneca of
The Iroquois Union each
Mingo felt himself a
Chief epitomizing
The warrior view
But lacking as
Soldiers the
Discipline
To win
Most
Wars and
Shattered west
Each a chief but none
Willing to be under orders
They fit well into frontier life.
I see the Mingos in the
Protest marchers
Each a chief
None can
Be told
What
To do or
How to win.