Subject to correction from something more specific, my guess would be that
the reference is simply to Capt. Bull being a Native American -- and that
"Tribe of Yellow Boys" is simply an attempt to coin a clever varient of the
word "tawny," which was, as I understand it, widely accepted as a derogatory
term for American Indians. The term "yellow boy" later came to be
Anglo-American slang for a gold guinea coin. It was also apparently used by
Native Americans (perhaps from that meaning) as a nickname for the
Winchester 66 rifle -- or so a gather from a number of internet sites.

Hugh C. MacDougall
8 Lake Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326-1016
[log in to unmask]
http://www.oneonta.edu/external/cooper
http://www.oneonta.edu/external/ccal


----- Original Message -----
From: "NYHISTLED" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 6:51 PM
Subject: Yellow Boys, NYC, 1764


> Thanks to any NYHIST-L subscribers who can provide an explanation of the
term "yellow boys" as used in New York City ca. 1764. Explanation follows:
>
> The New York Mercury  for March 26, 1764, contains a news report about the
arrival in New York City of fourteen Indians captured by a force of Mohawks
sent out by Sir William Johnson to destroy hostile Indian towns in the
Chemung Valley. One of the prisoners was Capt. Bull, the son of Teedyuscung
(d. 1763), a spokesman for the Delaware Indians in their negotiations with
Pennsylvania and with Johnson. The article contains the following text:
"The most famous Capt. Bull . . . is among the Tribe of Yellow Boys.  He has
confess'd the killing and scalping Abundance of our back Inhabitants. . . ."
Bull and the other Indians were jailed in New York City and later released
on Johnson's orders.
>
> What is the meaning, in this context, of the term "Yellow Boys"?  The
Encyclopedia of New York City, ed. Jackson, does not have an entry or
reference for this term. Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical
Principles, ed. Mitford M. Mathews (1951), p. 1903, has an entry for "yellow
boy" ("yellow man," etc.) as follows: "In designations, usually contemptuous
and slang, of Negroes and Indians of a brown or mulatto color." The earliest
example of usage of the term is dated 1814, and refers to a man without
reference to a specific racial or ethnic group. The usage examples for
"yellow" man or woman or boy referring to African-Americans are all later,
starting 1830s.
>
>
> Jim Folts
> New York State Archives
>