Part 10

Such, as briefly reviewed, is the history of the original settlements of the _old thirteen United States_. The character of the settlers, as well as their circumstances, were various. They were from different nations in the old world, though the great majority were of direct English descent. But amidst the variety, there is a degree of uniformity, a similar basis of institutions and principles has obtained, and they have admirably coalesced in forming and sustaining one and a general government, amid their several distinct state organizations--a government admirable for its simplicity, freedom, exact equipoise, and liberal compromises. The number of states is now more than doubled, and ere long will probably be three-fold. Through the Divine blessing, let it be perpetual!

FOOTNOTE:

[15] Except Virginia.

III.--INDIANS, THEIR TRIBES AND WARS.

I. INDIAN TRIBES.

GENERAL DIVISION--Tribes in the Central and Southern parts of New England--Tribes in the Northern parts--East of Lake Erie and south of Lake Ontario--Southern tribes.

At the period of the settlement of the English colonies in America, savage tribes of Indians were scattered over the country. In many respects, they possessed a similar character, usages, and institutions--a bond of affinity running through their several communities and tribes. As a race of men, they were distinct from all the races found in the old world. Their history was unknown, and to us, in these times, dates no farther back than to the period of European discovery here. They had, indeed, their traditions; but these, like the traditions of all other nations, are no farther entitled to credit than they are confirmed by appearance or probable conjecture. If the hypothesis be correct of the Asiatic origin of the Aborigines of America, by the way of Bherings straits, there would seem to be a probability in the general account given of their migration towards the east, and of their conquest of a more civilized race, then occupying the country. Such a race seems to have been once in existence, judging from the monuments and relics that have been occasionally found among us. They were called the Allegewi, and their more rude conquerors styled themselves the Lenape and the Mengwe, or the Iroquois. These seem chiefly to have divided the country between them, after they had expelled the Allegewi. The general name of the Delawares has since been given to the former, and their language, called by the French, the _Algonquin_. The Iroquois inhabited more the upper parts of the country, along the lakes and the St. Lawrence. The Lenape, or Delawares, extended themselves to the south and east.

When our fathers came to these shores, they found here the descendants of these savage conquerors. They were entirely uncivilized, having, probably, undergone no process of civilization, from the time of the migration of their ancestors to the Mississippi and the Atlantic slope. As distributed through the various parts of the thirteen original states, they may be mentioned, as to their confederacies or tribes, in the following order:

In the central and southern parts of New England there were five principal tribes: the Wampanoags or Pokanokets, the Pawtuckets, the Massachusetts, the Narragansets, and the Pequods. The Pokanokets were the first known to the English settlers. The territory inhabited by this tribe, was that which now constitutes the south-eastern part of Massachusetts and the eastern portion of Rhode Island. To the chief of this tribe, who was Massasoit, at the time of the English emigration, other smaller tribes were subject, dwelling principally on the adjacent islands. His residence, as also afterwards that of Philip his son, was at Montaup, now Mount Hope, in Bristol, Rhode Island.

The tribe of Pawtuckets occupied the land upon the Merrimack near its mouth, as their principal seat, though they extended themselves south until they came in contact with the Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts were found about the bay which bears the name of the tribe. They were bounded by the Pawtuckets on the north, and the Pokanokets on the south. Their head sachem held under his rule several smaller tribes, some of which were known by the name of the Neponsetts, the Nashuas, and the Pocumtucks. The acknowledged sovereign of the confederacy, at the time of the English settlement, was the widow of a powerful chief, styled sometimes the "Massachusett's queen." They were situated in a delightful region, where now stands the metropolis of New England, with its cluster of noble towns in the vicinity.

The tribe of the Narragansets held their chief seat on the island of the Canonicut, in the bay called after their name. Here, also, their grand sachem resided. They extended west of the Pawcatuck river, where they came into the neighborhood of the Pequods. The Pokanokets bordered them on the east. They occupied a beautiful country, and happily adapted to their mode of life, which was fishing and hunting. Their disposition was more mild and peaceable than usually appeared in the Indian character. When the English arrived in that region, they found there Canonicus, the grand sachem of the tribe, who proved a benefactor of Rhode Island.

The tribe of Pequods were seated in the eastern part of Connecticut, having the Narragansets on their eastern border. They were a fierce and warlike race. Their grand sachem, Sassacus, resided on the heights of Groton, near the river called by their name, now the Thames. Sassacus held the Mohegans subject to his authority. These were a tribe occupying the place where Norwich now stands. Uncas, the leader of the latter, joined the whites in their war with the Pequods. These several tribes, at the period referred to, were singularly diminished in number and power, on account of a wasting sickness, which had been sent among them a few years before.

In the northern portion of New England, roved the Indians whose general name was that of Tarenteens, or Abenakis. They inhabited the coast of Maine throughout, and extended into New Hampshire. Their character was ferocious, and the settlers suffered severely from their wars, murders, and depredations. Stealing in, at the dead of night, upon the villages or dwellings, they burned and plundered, indiscriminately, whatever came in their way--butchering men, women, and children, without mercy.

The five tribes, or nations, that spread out east of Lake Erie, and south of Lake Ontario, were the Iroquois, or Mengwe, who had become thus divided, in consequence of being pressed by the Hurons, and one or two other tribes, inhabiting the St. Lawrence. They were called the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks. They at length became a powerful race in their new abodes, and not only overcame the Hurons, but made war upon the Delawares, and were objects of dread far and near. The most warlike community of the whole was said to be the Mohawks. Their power and exactions reached east and south, to a great distance.

The Indians, in the southerly portion of the country, were of course earlier known to the English, than those already mentioned--this was true of the tribes at least that inhabited Virginia, of which there were more than forty in number, in 1607. The nucleus of an entire confederacy, inhabiting the territory from the sea-coast to the falls of the rivers, was the Powhatan nation. This confederacy included no less than thirty tribes, and the number of warriors was estimated at eight thousand. The chief of the same name, who figures so much in the history of Virginia, was the great sachem of the confederacy. The seat of the hereditary dominions was near the present site of the city of Richmond. Here the noble Pocahontas was born, and passed her early, uncultivated life.

The Indians who dwelt on the highlands, between the falls of the rivers and the mountains, were divided into two confederacies, not long after the arrival of the English. One division consisted of the Monahoaks, in the eight tribes, on the north. The other consisted of the Monacans, in five tribes, stretching on the south into Carolina. The latter went under the name of Tuscaroras, and connected with the Iroquois.

Of the Indians in the southern extremity of the country, the principal confederacies were the Creeks, whose locality was mostly in Georgia--the Cherokees, who inhabited the mountainous back country--and the Choctaws and Chickasaws, who dwelt in the region between the mountains and the Mississippi. Two or three other tribes occupied particular localities, which need not be indicated.[16]

FOOTNOTE:

[16] Mrs. Willard's Republic of America.

II. ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS.

VARIOUS SPECULATIONS ON THE SUBJECT--Opinions of Voltaire--Of Rev. Thomas Thorowgood--Dr. Boudinot--Roger Williams--Hubbard--Thomas Morton--John Josselin--Cotton Mather--Dr. Mitchell--Dr. Swinton.

Although not in precise accordance with the plan of this work, yet, on account of the interest which attaches to the subject, we devote a few pages to an exposition of the various theories advanced in relation to the _origin_ of the Indian tribes existing at the time the English settled the country. These theories have been various, according to the whims or predilections of the authors. Some have seen in them an original species of the human race, unconnected with any of the nations or tribes of the old world. Others have fancied their resemblance to this or the other people, ancient or modern, of the eastern continent--as Hebrews, Trojans, Tartars, and the like.

Voltaire, and other skeptical writers, have accounted for their origin, according to the first-named theory. They have considered the Indian placed in America by the hand of the Creator, or by nature--just as the buffalo, or the tortoise, or any other animal, was placed there--or just as trees and other products of vegetation, that are indigenous to the soil. Thus they make no account of the apparent scriptural doctrine of the unity of the human race--the common descent from Adam.

The identity of the Indian with the Hebrew or the Israelite has been conjectured by many. Rev. Thomas Thorowgood, an author of the seventeenth century, held that opinion, and endeavored to prove that the Indians were the Jews, who had been lost in the world for the space of near two thousand years. Adair, who claims to have resided forty years among the southern Indians, published a large quarto upon their origin, history, &c. He endeavors to prove their identity with the Jews, by showing the similarity of their customs, usages, and language to those of the latter. The author of the Star in the West, Dr. Boudinot, has followed the same thing, and thinks assuredly that the Indians are the long-lost ten tribes of Israel.

Roger Williams, at one time, expressed the same opinion. He writes, in a letter to friends in Salem, that the Indians did not come into America from the north-east, as some had imagined, for the following reasons: 1, Their ancestors affirm that they came from the south-west, and return thence when they die; 2, Because they separate their women, in a little wigwam by themselves, at _certain seasons_; and 3, Beside their god Kuttand, to the south-west, they hold that Nanawitnawit (a God overhead) made the heavens and the earth; and he avers, also, that he (the writer) had found "some taste of affinity with the Hebrew."

The similarity of practices, or even of a number of terms in a language, can, however, be no conclusive proof of sameness of origin. It may be merely accidental, or in respect to customs more particularly, may be owing to similarity of circumstances. "Who will pretend that different people, when placed under similar circumstances, will not have similar wants, and hence similar actions? that like wants will not prompt like exertions? and like causes produce not like effects?" The slight resemblances existing, or fancied to exist, between the Indians and the Israelites, may be owing to a cause like the one pointed out. As to the language of the Indians, Mr. William Wood, an old writer, says: "Some have thought that they might be of the dispersed Jews, because some of their words be near unto the Hebrew; but, by the same rule, they may conclude them to be of the gleanings of all nations, because they have words after the Greek, Latin, French, and other tongues."

Hubbard, an American historian, who wrote about 1680, has this among other passages on the subject: "If any observation be made of their manners and dispositions, it is easier to say from what nations they did not, than from whom they did derive their original. Doubtless their conjecture, who fancy them to be descended from the ten tribes of the Israelites, carried captive by the Salamaneser and Esarhaddon, hath the least show of reason of any other, there being no footsteps to be observed of their propinquity to them more than to any other of the tribes of the earth, either as to their language or manners."

Thomas Morton, an early New England historian, refers their origin to the scattered Trojans, observing, "for after that Brutus, who was the fourth from Æneas, left Latium, upon the conflict held with the Latins, where, although he gave them a great overthrow to the slaughter of their grand captain, and many others of the heroes of Latium, yet he held it more safely to depart unto some other place and people, than by staying to run the hazard of an unquiet life or doubtful conquest; which, as history maketh mention, he performed. This people was dispersed there is no question, but the people that lived with him, by reason of their conversation with the Grecians and Latins, had a mixed language that participated of both." Morton maintains the great similarity of the languages of the Indians to the Greek and Roman, as an instance of which, he fancied he heard among their words Pasco-pan, and hence thinks without doubt their ancestors were acquainted with the god _Pan_!

A writer, Mr. John Josselin, who resided some time in New England, towards the middle part of the seventeenth century, pronounces the speech of the Mohawks to be a dialect of the Tartars. He says "the north-east people of America, that is, New England, &c., are judged to be Tartars, called Samoades, being alike in complexion, shape, habit and manners."

That the Indians were Scythians, is an opinion expressed in a decided manner by Cotton Mather. He was confirmed in it, on meeting with this passage of Julius Cæsar: "Difficilis invenire quam interficere," rendered by him, "It is harder to find them than to foil them." Cæsar was speaking of the Scythians, and the aptness of the language, as expressing one peculiarity of the Indians in their warfare--their sudden attacks and retreats--is noticeable.

Dr. S. L. Mitchell, of New York, a voluminous writer in his day, thought that he had settled the question of the origin of the Indians. They came, in his opinion, from the north-east of Asia, and that is now, perhaps, the more common belief. He thinks that they possessed originally the same color, as that of the north-eastern nations of Asia.

Dr. Swinton, author of many parts of the Universal History, after stating the different opinions of various authors, who have advocated in favor of "the dispersed people," the Phœnicians and other eastern nations, observes, "that, therefore, the Americans in general were descended from a people who inhabited a country not so far distant from them as Egypt and Phœnicia, one will, as we apprehend, readily admit. Now, no country can be pitched upon so proper and convenient for this purpose, as the north-eastern part of Asia, particularly Great Tartary, Siberia, and more especially the peninsula of Kamschatka. That probably was the tract through which many Tartarian colonies passed into America, and peopled the most considerable part of the new world."[17]

FOOTNOTE:

[17] Book of the Indians.

III. VIRGINIA INDIAN WARS.

EARLY troubles of the English with the Indians--Power and cruelty of Powhatan--His apparent friendship for the Colonists--Treacherous conduct--Kindness of Pocahontas--Inhuman conduct of Lord De la War--Captivity of Pocahontas--Cruel Massacre of the Whites--Opecancanough--Troubles with Totopotomoi--Anecdote of Jack-of-the-feather.

The intercourse of the colonists in VIRGINIA with the Indians, was not altogether such as to secure their friendship. Difficulties arose, which were settled only by a resort to wars and massacres. The earlier colonists either returned to their native land, were destroyed by famine, or were cut off by violence. The whole scheme of colonizing was, at first, a series of mismanagement or misfortune. The earliest attempt at settlement, under the Captains Amidas and Barlow, in 1684, was abortive. It is related that the English, after landing on an island, called by the Indians Wokokon, saw none of the natives until the third day, when three were observed in a canoe. One of them came on shore, and the English went to him. He was not at all intimidated, but spoke much to them, and then went fearlessly on board the vessels. The whites, after making him some presents, received some food in return. Wingina, chief of the Indians in that place, never had much faith in the good intentions of the English, and to him was mainly attributed the breaking up of the colony. They were disposed to return home, having made no serious attempt at settlement.

The next colony which proceeded to Virginia was conducted by Sir Richard Grenville, in 1685. He had the imprudence to commit an outrage upon the natives, which occasioned at length the breaking up of the colony of one hundred and eight men whom he left behind him. He burned an Indian town, in revenge of a petty theft, which some native committed upon him. Ralf Lane, who was governor, became justly chargeable with very reprehensible conduct. He put to death some of the natives on the most frivolous charges, and it is no wonder that the animosity of the Indians was aroused, and that the small band of adventurers were so discomfited as to seek a return to England.

No attempt to settle Virginia had succeeded up to the year 1607. The ill-advised schemes of the company or their controversies, and the suspicions and hatred of the Indians, had defeated every enterprise hitherto. But one man, Captain Smith, by his sagacity and heroism, at length accomplished the object. Of his adventures, no particular account needs to be given here, as these have been narrated in another part of this work. But his connection with Powhatan affords the occasion of bringing the latter more especially into view in this place. This chief is described as being tall and well-proportioned, wearing an aspect of sadness--exceedingly vigorous, and possessing a body fitted to endure great hardships. At the time of the settlement of Jamestown, he was about sixty years of age, and rendered the more majestic by the grayness of his hair. He inspired the awe of beholders as he was seated on his wooden form, and adorned with his robe of racoon skins, and his headdress of various feathers having the appearance of a crown. He governed many nations, and many of them by the right of conquest. The place of his residence, at first, was at Powhatan, near the falls of James river; but, afterwards, when he had extended his conquests north, it was at a place called Werowocomoco. His dominion included the country upon James river, from its mouth to the falls, and all its tributary streams. This was the boundary of his country southerly, and thus across the territory, "nearly as high as the falls of all the great rivers over the Potowmack, even to Patuxet in Maryland."

He usually kept a guard, consisting of forty or fifty of his bravest men, especially when he slept, but this number was four-fold after the arrival of the English. His wives were numerous, and taken or dismissed at his pleasure. When he slept, one sat at his head and another at his feet. His places for temporary residence, or at certain seasons of the year, were numerous. At these places he had victuals provided against his coming, in spacious wigwams thirty or forty yards in extent. His manner of attack upon his neighbors, was stealthy and fiercely cruel. An instance is given, in his surprisal, on one occasion, of the people of Payankatank, who were his neighbors and subjects. To effect his barbarous purpose, he sent several of his men to lodge with them the night on which he designed an attack; then, secretly surrounding them in their wigwams, commenced a horrid massacre. Many of the men were killed, their scalps taken, and the women and children made prisoners. The scalps were exhibited upon a line between two trees as a trophy, and the chief of Payankatank and his wife Powhatan became servants to the emperor.

Through Captain Smith's address, this prince was now brought completely into the English interest; although eventually, through the imprudent conduct of Newport, who soon after arrived from England, he was induced to practice deception upon his new friends, in the way of trade. Smith, however, in his turn, took advantage of the emperor, to the no great credit of his moral principles. The revenge was complete, as the following example shows; Smith gained his end fully, by pretending to set a great value on a few blue beads, which he had exposed to Powhatan as if by accident, and which he professed to be very unwilling to part with, as they were worn, according to his account, only by great kings. This fired the emperor with the wish to secure them, at whatever sacrifice on his part. In the infatuation produced, he parted with two or three hundred bushels of corn, for a pound or two of beads. Thus the intercourse of the whites with these simple children of nature, in the early period of our history, was not always marked with that delicate regard of right and veracity, with which every transaction of this nature should be attended. The consequences very naturally appeared in the many plots and counter-plots which were contrived to embarrass one another, or to effect unlawful objects.

On one occasion Powhatan became offended with Smith, because he could not procure swords from him in the manner in which he procured them from Newport. When the latter was about leaving the country, Powhatan sent him twenty turkeys, for which he demanded and obtained twenty swords in return. He supposed that he could do the same with Smith, but was disappointed; and, accordingly he ordered his men to seize the English wherever they could find them. The consequence was, that many of the latter, in the vicinity of the forts, were robbed of their swords. These depredations were continued until Smith surprised a number of the Indians, from whom he learned that Powhatan was endeavoring to get all the arms in his power, with a view to massacre the whites. When the chief found that his plot was discovered, he sent Pocahontas, his daughter, with gifts, in order to apologize for his conduct, and pretended that the mischief was done by some of his chiefs. He directed her to use her influence in effecting the release of his men, in which she succeeded, and thus the parties became at peace again.