Indian Biography; Vol. 1 (of 2): Or, An Historical Account of Those Individuals Who Have Been Distinguished among the North American Natives as Orators, Warriors, Statesmen, and Other Remarkable Characters — John Shaqi
Indian Biography; Vol. 1 (of 2): Or, An Historical Account of Those Individuals Who Have Been Distinguished among the North American Natives as Orators, Warriors, Statesmen, and Other Remarkable CharactersThatcher, B. B. (Benjamin Bussey)
History
Indian Biography; Vol. 1 (of 2): Or, An Historical Account of Those Individuals Who Have Been Distinguished among the North American Natives as Orators, Warriors, Statesmen, and Other Remarkable Characters
Thatcher, B. B. (Benjamin Bussey)
Indians of North America -- Biography; Indians of North America -- History
The territory occupied by the whole of this great confederacy, south of
the Potomac, comprehended about 8,000 square miles. Smith tells us in his
history, [FN] that within sixty miles of Jamestown were 5,000 natives, of
whom 1,500 were warriors. Mr. Jefferson has computed the whole number of
Powhatan warriors at 2,400, which, according to the proportions between
Smith's estimates (being three to ten) would give an entire population of
8,000, or one to each square mile.
* * * * *
[FN] A work of which the value is well known to all readers of the early
American history. The title is--"The Trve Travels, Adventures and
Observations of Captaine Iohn Smith in Europe, Asia, Africke and America,
beginning about the yeere 1593, and continued to this present 1629." We
copy from the London edition of the date last named.
This calculation is probably quite moderate enough. It would leave an
average of less than one hundred warriors to each of the thirty tribes.
But we find it recorded by an early writer, that three hundred appeared
under an Indian chieftain in one body at one time, and seven hundred at
another; all of whom were apparently of his own tribe. The Chickahominies
alone had between three hundred and four hundred fighting men. The
Nansamonds and Chesapeaks showed on one occasion a force of four hundred.
And when Smith ascended the Potomac, in June 1608, though he saw no
inhabitants for the first thirty miles, he had scarcely entered "a little
bayed creeke towards Onawmanient (now Nominy) when he found all the woods
roundabout layd with ambuscadoes to the number of _three or four thousand_
Savages, so strangely paynted, grimmed and disguised, shouting, yelling
and crying as so many spirits from hell could not have shewed more
terrible."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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