The boys' book of Indian battles and adventures, with anecdotes about them
History
The boys' book of Indian battles and adventures, with anecdotes about them
Indians of North America -- Anecdotes
capture of the aged Opechancanough, who was surprised and taken prisoner
by a squadron of horse under the command of Governor Berkeley, who
forthwith conducted him in triumph to James-Town.
It was the governor’s intention to have sent this remarkable person
to England; but he was shot after being taken prisoner, by a soldier,
in resentment of the calamities he had inflicted on the province. He
lingered under the wound for several days, and died with the pride and
firmness of an old Roman. Indignant at the crowds who came to gaze at
him on his deathbed, he exclaimed; “If I had taken Sir William Berkeley
prisoner, I would not have exposed him as a show to the people.” Perhaps
he remembered that he had saved the life of Captain Smith, and forgot the
numberless instances in which he had exposed other prisoners to public
derision and lingering torture.
After the decease of their great enemy, the colonists had no difficulty
in concluding a treaty with the Indians, which gave tranquillity to the
province for a long term of years.
[Illustration]
THE BURNING OF SCHENECTADY.
The incursions of the Indians on our frontiers in early times were
usually the result of Spanish influence in the South, or French influence
in the North. The French reduced the incitement of Indian hostilities to
a complete system, and their officers and soldiers were not ashamed to
accompany the savages in their murdering and marauding expeditions into
New England and New York. Among all the recorded instances of this kind,
none appears to have been attended with more atrocious circumstances
of cruelty and rapine, than the burning of Schenectady. This affair is
marked by many traits of the very worst description. The inhumanity of
murdering in their beds the very people who had formerly relieved their
wants, is, perhaps, without a parallel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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