United States -- Social life and customs -- To 1775; Women -- United States -- History; Women -- United States -- Social conditions
"On a gentle slope near the Fort stood a row of temporary huts
built by retainers to the troops; the green before these
buildings was the scene of these pathetic recognitions which I
did not fail to attend. The joy of the happy mothers was
overpowering and found vent in tears; but not the tears of those
who after long travel found not what they sought. It was
affecting to see the deep silent sorrow of the Indian women and
of the children, who knew no other mother, and clung fondly to
their bosems from whence they were not torn without bitter
shrieks. I shall never forget the grotesque figures and wild
looks of these young savages; nor the trembling haste with which
their mothers arrayed them in the new clothes they had brought
for them, as hoping with the Indian dress they would throw off
their habits and attachments...."[91]
Such distress caused by Indian raids did not, of course, cease with the
seventeenth century. During the entire period of the next century the
settlers on the western frontier lived under constant dread of such
calamities. It has been one of the chief elements in American
history--this ceaseless expectation of warfare with primitive savages.
In the settlement of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, in the
establishment of the great states of the Plains, in the founding of
civilization on the Pacific slope, even down to the twentieth century,
the price of progress has been paid in this form of savage torture of
women and children. Even in the long settled communities of the
eighteenth century such dangers did not entirely disappear. As late as
1782, when an attempt was made by Burgoyne to capture General Schuyler,
the ancient contest between mother and Indian warrior once more
occurred. "Their guns were stacked in the hall, the guards being
outside and the relief asleep. Lest the small Philip (grandson of
General Schuyler) be tempted to play with the guns, his mother had them
removed. The guards rushed for their guns, but they were gone. The
family fled up stairs, but Margaret, remembering the baby in the cradle
below, ran back, seized the baby, and when she was half way up the
flight, an Indian flung his tomahawk at her head, which, missing her,
buried itself in the wood, and left its historic mark to the present
time."[92]
_VIII. Parental Training_
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