Colonization and Christianity: A popular history of the treatment of the natives by the; Europeans in all their coloniesHowitt, William
History
Colonization and Christianity: A popular history of the treatment of the natives by the; Europeans in all their colonies
Howitt, William
Indians, Treatment of; Indigenous peoples
It was during this war that the settlers lived in such a state of
continual alarm from the Indians, and such adventures and passages
of thrilling interest took place, as will for ever furnish topics of
conversation in that country. It was then that the congregation was
alarmed while in church at Hadley, in Massachusets, on a fast-day by
the Indians, and were compelled to leave their devotions to defend
themselves, when they were surprised by seeing a grave and commanding
personage, whom they had not before noticed, assume the command, lead
them to victory, and as suddenly again disappear. This person was
afterwards found to be Goffe, one of the English regicide judges, then
hiding in that neighbourhood. These facts Mr. Cooper has made good use
of in his story of “The Borderers.”
But the facts of more importance to our history are, that in this war
3000 Indians were said to be destroyed. The Narragansets alone, were
reduced from 2000 to about 100 men. After the peace was restored 400
Indians were ordered to assemble at Major Walker’s, at Catchecho, 200
of whom were culled as most notorious, some of them put to death, and
the rest sent abroad and sold as slaves. Yet all these severities and
disasters to the Indians did not extinguish their desire to resist
the aggressions of the whites. On all sides, the Tarrateens, the
Penobscots, the Five Nations, and various other tribes, continued to
harass them; filling them with perpetual fears, and inflicting awful
cruelties and devastations on the solitary borderers. These were the
necessary fruits of that rancorous spirit with which the harshness
and injustice of the settlers had inspired them. Randolph, writing to
William Penn from New England in 1688, says—“This barbarous people,
the Indians, were now evilly treated by this government, who made it
their business to encroach upon their lands, and by degrees to drive
them out of all. That was the grounds and the beginning of the last
war.” And that was the ground of all the wars waged in the country
against this unhappy people.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA—SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account