Short stories
Collected by
David Beasley

Richardson was as interested in revealing love in its many aspects as he was in describing the characteristics of the North American Indian. Both his short stories and his novels are illustrative of this. "The Sunflower" (published in the November issue of Graham's Magazine, 1850) for example, tells of the love between a Saukie brave and a Saukie woman, Sunflower, which comes to an end when they encounter the white world. "Ampata!" (published in three issues of the Sunday Mercury in the Spring of 1852) describes the unrequited love of an Indian girl for the enemy, a British officer. "Captain Leslie" (Sunday Mercury, November 1851) portrays the love of an American nurse, Miss Clarendon, for a dying British officer against the background of the American War of Independence and the love of the Delaware Indian for his land now occupied by whites. "Criminal Love" (Sunday Mercury, November 1851) describes a courtroom in southern France where we as readers are forced to pass judgment on the crime of passion.

In his brief essay "The North American Indians," which is included in this collection, Richardson makes two points which his Indian stories illustrate: the American Indian is indigenous to North America and did not migrate from Asia, as is commonly believed; and the Indian nations are as distinct in physique and language as are the European nations. "The North American Indians" was printed in the first issue of a weekly New York newspaper, Copway's American Indian (July 10, 1851) edited by George Copway, an Ojibway from Ontario. The same issue contains Richardson's essay "A Trip to Walpole Island and Port Sarnia," which he had published anonymously in the Literary Garland (Montreal, Jan. 9, 1849) and which later was reprinted by A.H.U. Colquhoun in 1924 in his Tecumseh and Richardson. Richardson did not again contribute to the newspaper despite the promise in his essay to continue writing about the Indian. Perhaps exception was taken to his views and pressure put upon the editor to employ non-controversial writers thereafter. This surmise is substantiated by the fact that the first issue only, which was written entirely by Richardson, gained any attention in the form of high praise by the prominent journalist Julie de Marguerittes in the following issue.

The essay also reveals, as do his other writings, Richardson's sense of fatalism about Indians, that they and the wilderness were doomed for destruction; and Richardson's belief in the superior characteristics of the Indian over other races, namely his better sense of order, his finer sensibility, and his lack of hypocrisy. For example, whereas this essay asserts the Indian's superior intelligence over the blacks, his other essay, "A Trip to Walpole Island and Port Sarnia" suggests the Indian's superiority over the whites. Such a stand today would brand Richardson as racist. However, it is necessary to note that in his day, although the abolitionists regarded the enslavement of blacks as criminal, they condoned the merciless pursuit and slaughter of Indians.