What started as an effort to remove a statue in Boscawen commemorating a woman who killed and scalped 10 Native American people in 1697 has evolved into a conversation about changing the site to better understand the broader conflict between Indigenous people and settlers in the 1600s, and how Hannah Duston’s story was used centuries later.
Republican Rep. David Nagel, who represents Gilmanton, began the process of filing a bill this fall to have a statue of Duston in Boscawen removed.
The statue is situated just off the rail trail in town and Nagel noticed it during his bike rides there. It’s imposing at 35 feet tall and depicts Duston with a tomahawk in one hand and the scalps of Native American people she killed in the other.
“This is a state-run site,” Nagel said. “We have an obligation as a state to provide an objective story of history without hurting people, especially showing tools of genocide, which is what scalp bounties were.”
So, Nagel filed the request to remove the statue. But he received immediate pushback. Angry calls and emails flooded his phone. Many people did not want to see the statue go, and he said he was open to the feedback.
“I've been willing to adapt my original proposal, because you get educated,” Nagel said. “That's the whole point of this, is to learn from a lot of different people and not just do it the way you want to do it, but the way you know the majority wants. Because that last I heard was called democracy.”
Part of that majority who want to see Duston’s statue remain are members of the Abenaki First Nation at Odanak in Canada.
“I think what we say is that, yes, history should remain,” said Daniel Nolett, the general director of the Odanak council. “Don't erase. Otherwise you're erasing part of the history, and that was an important fact of what happened in that little town back then.”
Nolett said it wasn’t uncommon for Indigenous people to kidnap settlers in the New England region during the 1600s. Duston’s capture happened during King William’s War, a conflict between the French and English, when some Native Americans were ordered by the French to attack Haverhill, Massachusetts. Nolett said while Duston’s actions were grisly, it’s part of a bigger picture.
“I know the statue may hurt the people by watching it,” Nolett said. “It may offend them, but I think the history should remain. . . . The memory of what happened should remain.”
The Duston statute was erected in 1874, nearly 200 years after her capture. Nagel said writers and preachers resurrected the story centuries later to promote the idea of Manifest Destiny, that settlers deserved to “win” the West by any means necessary.
“She never actually told the story,” Nagel said. “It was told by other people and they clearly used it to create a political narrative, specifically that Indians are savages, Indians are inferior, and that we have the right to subject them to us. And if they're not willing to be subjected, to eliminate them.”
Now, Nagel wants the state to tell Duston’s real story within the context of the time period when she lived. He’s been talking with her descendants, and said he’s had productive conversations with some. They’re split over whether the statute should remain at all.
Nagel and Nolett both said they’d like to see Duston’s statue remain, but with a plaque or an additional piece that offers the Indigenous perspective on the time. Nolett said he’d be glad to be a part of that process.
For Nagel, part of his journey with the Duston statue has been better understanding what his role is, and how he can find a solution that works for most people, including his constituents, Indigenous people in the region, and the descendants of Hannah Duston. If changes are to be made to the site, he’ll also have to coordinate with the state Department of Transportation and town officials.
“That's our hope is that we can use this place, this sacred ground, which is sacred for natives and relatives of Hannah Duston, that we can use this site to create that healing in a better knowledge of the history, so that we can go forward and not make the same mistakes in the future,” Nagel said.
Nagel’s request will become a bill once the legislative session begins in January.
