The Minuteman

Central Florida SAR Chapter Volume 57, Issue 5 May 2018

Chartered on Chapter Meeting Dates to Remember! May 8, 1961 FLSSAR Spring Board of Management/ May 12, 2018 Annual Meeting - May 18 thru 20, 2018: At this meeting, we will be This event will be held at the Embassy Suites holding our annual awards ceremony to Orlando - Lake Buena Vista South located at recognize members for their invaluable 4955 Kyngs Heath Rd, Kissimmee, FL service. It will also be a pleasure to 34746. Note that this meeting will be a two have NSSAR Past President Mike day meeting. Tomme as our guest. He will also be speaking some at this meeting. May 26, 2018: George Roger Clark Me- morial Wreath Laying Ceremony in Vin- We will also have the pleasure cennes, Indiana. of meeting the recipient of the Chapter Meeting Location: Eagle Scout Contest who is Tyler Swid- June 9, 2018: Battle of Ramsour Mill erski. His parents will also be in at- Ceremony in Lincolnton, NC. The Mayflower tendance.

This meeting will be held in the July 13 - 18, 2018: NSSAR 128th Con- 1720 Mayflower Duxbury Hall of the Mayflower Retire- gress in Houston, TX Court ment Community Center. A time of Winter Park, FL socializing will begin at 11:30 am with 32792 lunch being served at noon. The cost of Happy Birthday the lunch is $18.00. The Central Florida SAR Chapter would The entrée choices are: Beef like to wish the following Compatriots a and Brocolli, Asian Chicken Thigh, Happy Birthday. They are as follows: Fish of the Day, or Salad Plate. Note that each meal comes with an assort- MAY ment of vegetables, starch, salad or soup, and a dessert. Coffee and tea is 1 Gaines, Ruth also served with the meal. 2 Weatherwax, Nancy 9 Hawkins, Robert

Please make your reservation to attend this meeting by 5/9/2018 by con- Membership in the tacting Compatriot Dan Stebbins via phone at 407-830-6946 or via e-mail at Ladies Auxiliary [email protected]. Your partici- pation is greatly appreciated in re- The Ladies’ Auxiliary Florida Socie- sponding with your RSVP before the ty of the Sons of the is open to wives as well as female blood rela- deadline date. Please plan to attend. Page 2 The Minuteman tives (mothers, daughters, grand-daughters, aunts, and as a Toys for the World fundraiser. He serves nieces) of the SAR member. The Ladies’ Auxiliary through his church as well, and has received a number supports the SAR in its historical, patriotic and of awards and recognitions educational objectives. The Ladies’ Auxiliary raises funds to award (on a smaller scale) the same Tyler is currently a dual enrolled senior at students that the Florida Society SAR awards. Crooms High School having won academic excellence Dues for the LAFLSSAR are $5 per year; the ap- awards related to computers and chemistry. He will plication form is available at: http:// graduate this year with both his high school diploma www.flssar.org/FLSSAR/DOCS/LadyAuxDocs/ and AA degree. Other awards include the 1st place - LaAuxMemApp.pdf. Please encourage the ladies county science fair, Disney Doer and Dreamer Award, in your life to join and support us in our efforts. and the Outstanding Community Service Award. At Croom’s, Tyler is a member of National Honor Society, Beta Club, Student Council, and also serves as a teach- Webpage Assistance er’s assistant.

If you would like to assist the Central Flor- Tyler is the son of proud parents David and ida SAR Chapter in revamping the chapter website Tammy Swiderski and descendant of revolutionary sol- or have some content that you think might be good dier William Blum. Along with his contest application to include in the webpage. Please let the Chapter and 4 generation ancestor chart Tyler submitted the fol- President Burt Fairchild know. We would eventu- lowing essay to complete the final requirement of the ally like to have it as a stand alone website that is contest. not hosted by the FLSSAR. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. The Blum Spirit Chapter Eagle Scout Award By Tyler Swiderski

Winner America was settled on the belief of new beginnings— starting fresh and hoping to do better than their lives in Eagle Scout Tyler David Swiderski from Europe. America was a land of opportunity; an un- Troop 773 in Longwood, is the winner of the 2017 known territory full of risks. Wanting religious free- Central Florida Chapter level of the Arthur M. and dom, and hoping to achieve prosperity by using their Berdena King Eagle Scout Contest. Tyler passed skills and trades, were just some of the many driving his Eagle Scout Board of Review on July 27, 2017. forces of the settlers centuries ago. Settlers came from During his time in Scouting he has earned 78 merit diverse backgrounds and roots, were all brought togeth- badges. Tyler has served in er on this new land—to start new lives. Our way of liv- many leadership positions in ing and where we live were brought on by the courage, Scouting including, as his determination, and perseverance of the colonies. The troop’s Senior Patrol Leader, colonies’ militia did not have much military experience; 60 months as a Cub Scout in fact they were average citizens leading ordinary lives. Den Chief, and as both a Boy Storeowners, farmers, blacksmiths, and carpenters were and Cub Scout summer camp what made up the American defense. It was because of staff member. Tyler is a the American spirit and their drive for freedom that won member of the Order of the our independence. We owe our lives to those first Patri- Arrow, scouting’s honor soci- ots. ety and service organization. He has participated in a num- July 4th is an ordinary day for other nations. For United ber of service activities States citizens it should be a day that all Americans take through scouting such as pride and remember the historic victory and celebrate Scouting for Food and volun- the blanket of freedom that we sleep and rise to. We teering at the Veteran’s Hos- have forgotten the battles, events, and results of the pital. Tyler has also been a American Revolutionary War were momentous. British volunteer for Central Florida soldiers outnumbered the American militia three to one Zoo Cancer Awareness Night and had about six times more combat experience. The Volume 57, Issue 5 Page 3 price of going to war was known to , our founding fathers and all those who fought. In order to On July 18, 1755, some 20 years before the win our freedom: blood, and sacrifices were an obstacle American Revolution, a young man wrote to his to overcome. It showed that ordinary people could gov- brother to dispel the false news that he was dead. ern themselves. Our victory over the British served as a “I take this early opportunity of contradict- guide for America. ing both my death and final words and assuring you that I now exist and appear in the land of the People should be concerned about their country’s pro- living by the miraculous care of Providence, that gress and prosperity. It is important to remember all sol- protected me beyond all human expectation.” diers that fought and served for our country. Patriots go This young soldier had been in an intense beyond limits of their character and morals to work for and difficult battle in the Ohio valley and now, the betterment of their country. They give for the coun- even after the rumor of his death began to spread, try, keeping their country ahead of themselves. Patriot- what he wanted most was to rest in the comforta- ism is an inherited feeling that sparks the country’s spir- ble embrace of Maryland’s Fort Cumberland. He it. They serve as an example for generations to come. felt an urgency, however, to delay comfort so he could write a letter to his family to let them know Recently I found information about my heritage. My sev- he was still alive. enth-great grandfather William Blum “Bloom” Sr. He continued to write in his letter to his served in the Revolutionary War. He was a German im- brother, “I had four bullets through my coat, and migrant arriving with his parents in New Jersey. He later two horses shot from under me, and yet I escaped married, owned a farm and began raising a large family. unhurt.” He wanted to share not only that he was But when asked to take up arms, he left his fields, he left alive, but that he lived solely because of the provi- his family, and he served 6 years under General Wag- dence of God. ner’s Brigade in NJ. Not once did he hesitate or question The young twenty-two-year-old colonel the call to serve this country. Even though he did not who was . He had felt, even appear in any significant history books, I feel honored to early in his life, the providence of God upon him. have been related to him. For this citizen of the United God has blessed our nation and our peo- States, America’s history means more to me than just ple. May we always acknowledge the providence dates on pages of some history book. of God upon us, and give thanks.

I hope that unbridled spirit of patriotism never diminish- es; it is one of the most crucial elements for a nation’s development and prosperity. Patriotism is one of the best ROTC/JROTC Awards qualities one can have. Committee Update MLA 8 Bibliography / Citation Page: As we close out our final three weeks of Jodee Lund. “America The Story of the US Ep 2 Revolu- the graduation season, the JROTC/ROTC Awards tion” YouTube, 09 Feb. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/ Committee is proud to announce that a total of 30 watch?v=qJ50mvc2C4U Cadets from 32 Central Florida area high schools Straw, Albert Y. Some Genealogies and Family Records. (in four counties) have been presented with our Clearfield County Historical Society?, 1982. SAR/ROTC Bronze Medal Awards. Only two of these schools did not have a qualifying Cadet this year.

The Chaplain’s Message As for our Navy Sea Cadet program, we By W. Maynard Pittendreigh, Chaplain are awarding a Good Citizenship Medal to two deserving Cadets in two local battalions, as well The term “fake news” is all the rage these as awarding two UCF Cadets in the Air Force and days. We find ourselves falling for news that has not Army programs with our SAR/ROTC Silver Med- been properly vetted, people misunderstand satyr ad real al Awards. In all, a total of 34 Medals & Certifi- news, and people who want to deny something in the cates will be hand-delivered and/or presented on news will proclaim, “It’s all fake news.” But fake and our behalf. erroneous news has always been with us. The feedback received from the schools Page 4 The Minuteman who have been participating in our program has been Indian affairs for the northern department, an office very positive and appreciative. to which Sir William Johnson was appointed. In 1756 a similar superintendency for the southern colonies Many thanks to everyone involved in making was established, with Sir Edmond Atkin as superin- this another successful year! tendent. The superintendents operated in subordina- tion to the commander-in-chief of British forces in Phil Markoe America. While not taking the conduct of Indian rela- CFLSAR JROTC/ROTC Awards Committee Chair tions entirely out of the hands of the colonial gover- nors and assemblies, the existence of these new colo- nial officers marked a significant diminution of the powers inherited and assumed by the individual Eng- Indians and the American lish colonies.

Revolution With the conclusion of the Great War for By Wilcomb E. Washburn Empire, the English government applied further con- Source: www. AMERICANREVOLUTION.ORG trols over colonial freedom to act, particularly in re- stricting settlement westward within the chartered The late Wilcomb E. Washburn was one of America's limits of the colonies. By the Proclamation of 1763, most versatile and accomplished historians, receiving his Ph.D. the lands beyond the Appalachian mountain chain (American Civilization) from Harvard University in 1955. This is the annotated text of a presentation he made here in Riverside, CA were declared off limits to colonial governments, the during the time he was Director of American Studies at the Smith- lands being "reserved" to the Indians under the cogni- sonian Institution. The author of more than sixty books and arti- zance of the British Crown which reasserted its sov- cles, he was noted for his expertise concerning the history of Vir- ereignty and control over the area. Although the an- ginia and the American Indian. Works include The Indian in Amer- ica (1975) and The Assault on Indian Tribalism: The General Al- ger of the colonies was tempered by the knowledge lotment Law (Dawes Act) of 1887 (1975). that the freeze was a temporary measure and not nec- essarily permanent, it marked another example of the The role of the American Indian during the tightening noose placed by the home government American Revolution was a shadowy and tragic one, over colonial freedom of action. symbolized by Benjamin West's painting, now in the National Gallery of Art, of Colonel Guy Johnson, the The status of the Indian nations of the interi- British superintendent of Indian affairs in the North, or is not easy to describe. Certainly they attributed to and Joseph Brant, the great Mohawk warrior. It was a themselves independent status which they felt able to shadowy role, but an important one. It was shadowy maintain by force of arms. The English government, not only because the Indian operated physically from on the other hand, asserted ultimate sovereignty over the interior forests of North America and made his Indian lands by virtue of the ancient charters which presence felt suddenly and violently on the seaboard former kings of England had granted to those under- settlements, but because the Indian was present also in taking to plant colonies in the New World. Though the subconscious mind of the colonists as a central in- speculative in origin and based on ignorance of the gredient in the conflict with the Mother Country. geography of the New World and of the power of the Indian nations in the interior, the charters were After a century and a half of exploration and brought forth in legal arguments whenever the possi- settlement, the English colonists, in 1763, were finally bility of their full realization was possible. (1) masters of the coastal areas of North America. With In their dealings with the Indian nations, the rapidly growing populations they now turned inward English authorities utilized the treaty form of negoti- away from the sea to a larger destiny. The Great War ation in which solemn covenants were entered into as for Empire in the 1750s and 1760s had resulted in the between equals. During the period 1763 to 1775, a expulsion of the French political and military presence series of boundaries between the colonists and the from the interior. The powerful Indian nations who Indians of the interior were created from Lake Ontar- lived in the region were now unable to play one Euro- io to Florida, confirming in the minds of Indians (and pean power off against the other. Their conflicts with of many colonists) the belief that the Indian country the English would now be conducted without benefit was closed to speculation and settlement by the in- of European allies. The need to coordinate British creasingly aggressive colonists. power in America in the face of the French threat had Lord Dunmore's War of 1774 marked the led, in 1755, to the appointment of a superintendent of beginning of the breakdown of the arrangements by Page 5 The Minuteman which the seaboard colonies and the Indian nations of the seaboard colonists and fixing sovereignty and the interior were to be kept apart. Lord Dunmore, royal control of the areas of potential expansion in England governor of Virginia, sought to seize the abandoned and in Parliament rather than in America and in colo- Fort Pitt, captured from the French during the Great nial legislatures.(3) War for Empire, in support of Virginia's charter claims. Dunmore's move into the trans-Allegheny areas Whether one seeks to explain the subsequent break as of western Pennsylvania (Virginia's charter claims a direct consequence of the British government's at- were to the west and northwest) led to war with the tempt to stymie colonial land speculation and expan- Delawares and Shawnees. The conflict triggered a re- sion, or merely indirectly related to it, there is no sponse from the to the north who stood in the doubt that British restrictions on colonial freedom of relation of elder brothers to the Shawnees and Dela- action in this as in other fields helped to convince the wares. Superintendent of Indian Affairs Johnson colonists that violent reaction might be the preferable worked diligently to keep the Iroquois out of war. He alternative. Violence was not long in coming. When pointed out that the Six Nations (who comprised the the citizens of Boston threw overboard English tea Iroquois Confederacy) had renewed and confirmed the (while, interestingly, dressed as Indians), the English "Covenant Chain subsusting between us" at the Treaty government responded by closing the Port of Boston. of Fort Stanwix, October 26, 1768. But the Iroquois In explaining the growing crisis to the Iroquois at a demanded to know why whites were not honoring the conference in January 1775, Guy Johnson asserted former treaties and boundary lines and were moving that: beyond the mountains into the Ohio River valley. This dispute was solely occasioned by some While arguing in council to forestall Iroquois involve- people, who notwithstanding a law of the King and ment in Dunmore's War, Johnson on July 11, 1774, his wise Men, would not let some Tea land, but de- died and was succeeded by his nephew and son-in-law, stroyed it, on which he was angry, and sent some Guy Johnson. Guy Johnson was relieved when, in a Troops with the General [Thomas Gage], whom you series of conferences culminating in a great meeting at have long known, to see the Laws executed and bring Onondaga in October 1774, the Iroquois decided to the people to their sences, and as he is proceeding ratify the pledge to remain at peace with the English with great wisdom, to shew them their great mistake, and to persuade the Shawnees to settle their differences I expect it will soon be over.(4) with the Virginians. Joseph Brant (left, in a portrait by Neither the loyalists nor the patriots sought ), a Mohawk graduate of Eleazar Whee- to enlist Indian support at this time. Indeed, both lock's Indian School at Lebanon, Connecticut (later sides urged the Indians to remain neutral on the moved to Hanover, New Hampshire, where it became grounds that the disputes were a family quarrel in known as Dartmouth College), was particularly persua- which the Indians were not concerned. Yet, informal- sive in these conferences. (2) ly, the line was not so clearly drawn. George Wash- ington, in the winter of 1774 -1775, recruited some The English government, meanwhile, contin- gunmen from among the minor Eastern tribes, the ued its policy of restraining colonial expansion into the Stockbridge, Passamaquoddy, St. John's and Pe- territory reserved to the Indians. By the Quebec Act, nobscot Indians. By the fall of 1775, General Gage, the seaboard colonies were seemingly shut off from the British commander, would use Washington's ac- expansion into the lands they claimed by charter, those tions to justify his orders to Guy Johnson and John lands being incorporated into the new British province Stuart (who had succeeded Atkin as superintendent of Quebec. The fact that this restriction was in the form of Indian affairs for the southern department) to bring of an Act of Parliament, and not an administrative de- the Indians into the war when opportunity offered.(5) cree, made it all the more damaging to the pretensions In July 1775, the Continental Congress pro- of the colonies. By the act, the province of Quebec was posed a plan similar to the superintendencies created extended as far south as the Ohio River. Control was by the Crown for managing Indian affairs except that placed in the hands of a royal governor with a standing three geographical departments instead of two were army under his command to support him and with no created. Commissioners were appointed for each de- representative assembly to bother him. While the Que- partment. The Congress also drafted a talk which bec Act is usually interpreted in terms of its religious could be delivered by the commissioners to any tribes significance (its provisions for religious toleration of in their district. The talk asserted that: Catholicism outraged good Protestants), in fact, as This is a family quarrel between us and Old England. Francis Jennings has pointed out, the act was more sig- You Indians are not concerned in it. We don't wish nificant in putting a brake on the land speculation of you to take up the hatchet against the king's troops. Page 6 The Minuteman

We desire you to remain at home, and not join either more than ever convinced that the Indian future lay side, but keep the hatchet buried deep.(6) with the British Crown and not with the American Not until the summer of 1776 did either the Americans colonists. After distinguishing himself at the Battle of or British formally and officially attempt to involve the Long Island, Brant slipped through the patriot lines in Iroquois, the most powerful northern nation, on their order to return to Iroquoia and bring his countrymen side. Informal approaches, however, were made with into the fight against the Americans. In conjunction increasing frequency. In July 1775, Ethan Allen, of with Colonel Butler, the British commander at Fort Vermont, sent a message to the Iroquois urging them Niagara, Brant succeeded in getting four of the six to shun the King's side. Allen asserted: Iroquois nations to take up the hatchet against the I know how to shute and ambush just like the Indian Americans. Only the Oneida and the Tuscarora re- and want your Warriors to come and see me and help fused. The decision for war was made at a great con- me fight Regulars You know they Stand all along close gress at Irondequoit in July 1777, at which the Indi- Together Rank and file and my men fight so as Indians ans were finally overwhelmed by massive gifts of Do I want your Warriors to Join with me and my War- rum, provisions and useful goods.(10) riors like Brothers and Ambush the Regulars, if you The bloody seal to the fateful decision made will I will Give you Money Blankets Tomehawks by the Iroquois to break their traditional unity (as Knives and Paint and the Like as much as you say be- well as their neutrality) was the Battle of Oriskany, cause they first killed our men when it was Peace time. August 6, 1777, which occurred when American (7) General Nicholas Herkimer was on his way to relieve Meanwhile, the British were similarly exciting the Six beleagured Fort Stanwix. Herkimer failed, but the Nations. The Indians were invited "to feast on a Bosto- Seneca allies of the British in particular, suffered nian and drink his Blood." With good anthropological heavy losses. Seventeen of the thirty-three Indians understanding the British provided a roast ox and a killed were Seneca as were sixteen of the twenty-nine pipe of wine as the symbolic substitute for the rebels. wounded. In Indian terms, where success in battle (8) was measured by the smallness of one's own losses, The Iroquois at first resisted the blandishments of both the battle was a disaster. Even more galling than the sides. As a Seneca warrior put it, in reply to the warn- men lost was the fact that the Great Peace established ings against the Americans made by Colonel John But- by the Iroquois Confederacy was now dissolved. ler, who acted for Colonel Johnson in the latter's ab- Brother was fighting brother. Oneidas and Tuscaroras sence: had fought with Herkimer against their fellow Iro- We have now lived in Peace with them a long quois on the King's side.(11) time and we resolve to continue to do so as long as we Shortly after the battle of Oriskany, the patriot cause can - when they hurt us it is time enough to strike seemed vulnerable to destruction at the hands of Gen- them. It is true they have encroach'd on our Lands, but eral John Burgoyne who had moved south from Can- of this we shall speak to them. If you are so strong ada in June 1777 in order to cut off the middle and Brother, and they but as a weak Boy, why ask our as- southern colonies from those in New England. On the sistance. It is true I am tall and strong but I will reserve way, Indian auxiliaries in his command murdered a my strength to strike those who injure me. If you have young lady, Miss Jane McCrea, in a celebrated inci- so great plenty of Warriors, Powder, Lead and Goods, dent which fed the fuel of patriot propaganda that (as and they are so few and little of either, be strong and Jefferson put it in the Declaration of Independence) make good use of them. You say their Powder is rotten the King had "endeavoured to bring on the inhabit- - We have found it good. You say they are all mad, ants of our frontier the merciless Indian savages, foolish, wicked, and deceitful - I say you are so and whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished they are wise for you want us to destroy ourselves in destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions." When your War and they advise us to live in Peace. Their General Philip Schuyler received word during a con- advice we intend to follow. (9) ference with the Oneidas and Tuscaroras at Albany, Although the Indians refused to be swayed by in September, that the American army had engaged either side at this time, uncertainty as to how they Burgoyne's at Freeman's Farm he immediately asked might be affected by the struggle caused bitter divi- for their assistance and received it. The warriors, sions to be formed among them. fresh from their participation in Herkimer's cam- Meanwhile, in July 1776, Colonel Guy Johnson and paign, joined General Horatio Gates' army and ren- Joseph Brant, the Mohawk, had returned to New York dered invaluable assistance.(12) from a visit to England. While in London, Brant had The British thrust was turned back and warfare in been warmly received and highly honored. George New York State in 1778 and 1779 consisted of guer- Romney had painted his portrait. Brant had become Page 7 The Minuteman rilla raids by British supported Iroquois on interior attempt to engage the American columns in pitched New York settlements such as that at Cherry Valley. battles. Instead, they retired further west and watched The raids led to a massive counter offensive planned the colonial soldiers destroy their crops and houses. by George Washington and commanded by General Like the Iroquois, though to a lesser degree, the John Sullivan which entered the Iroquois homeland Cherokees were riven by factional strife on how best and applied a scorched earth policy to the villages and to confront the deteriorating situation.(17) cornfields which the Indians had prudently abandoned. Thomas Jefferson's reaction to the Cherokee Years later, in 1790, when the Seneca leader, Corn- attacks on the frontier expressed his sense of the seri- planter, was negotiating with Washington, he recount- ousness of the situation: ed that "When your army entered the country of the I hope that the Cherokees will now be driven beyond Six Nations we called you Town Destroyer; and to this the Mississippi and that this in future will be declared day when that name is heard our women look behind to the Indians the invariable consequence of their them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the beginning a war. Our contest with Britain is too seri- necks of their mothers."(13) ous and too great to permit any possibility of avoca- In the inland areas of the South, even more tion from the Indians.(18) powerful Indian nations existed than in the North The The fate of the Cherokees dampened the inclination Southeastern nations could muster 14,000 warriors: of the Creeks to seek vengeance against the en- 3,000 each among the Cherokees, Choctaws, and croaching settlers at the possible cost of similar retal- Creeks, plus 5,000 hardy Chickasaws.. The southern iation. Nevertheless, an opportunity to strike a coor- Indians had been subjected to the same encroachments dinated blow occurred when late in 1778 a British by the colonists that the northern Indians had experi- fleet arrived in Georgia. Savannah fell to it, and a enced. By the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals on the Wa- force was sent inland to Augusta. By virtue of poor tauga River in March 1775, the Transylvania Company communication (one might almost say a total lack of had obtained a title of sorts to much of present day effective communication), John Stuart, the Indian Kentucky and middle Tennessee. But the Cherokee superintendent in Pensacola, was uninformed of the chief Dragging Canoe had stalked out of the negotia- move and was unable to bring Creek allies and local tions, warning that any attempt to settle the area would loyalists to the assistance of the British troops.(19) turn the land dark and bloody.(14) Although huge amounts of goods were annually pro- The British sub-agents Alexander Cameron and Henry vided Britain's Indian agents for use in keeping her Stuart attempted to warn the American settlers who Indian alliances firm (£75,000 sterling in 1778 for the were encroaching on Indian lands at Watauga and Nol- southern Indians alone), few results were evident to ichucky.. Their warnings enabled the settlers to prepare an increasingly skeptical Parliament. In March 1779, themselves against attack and to characterize the Brit- in considering a money bill, heated comments about ish cautions - suitably distorted - as evidence of British the apparently fruitless expenditures of such sums instigation of Indian attack. For the most part, the were made.(20) Yet Indian goods continued to be Americans refused to heed the warnings to leave. (15) vital in maintaining Indian support. As one observer The patriots, who had appointed commission- put it, "Reason and Rhetoric will fall to the Ground ers to deal with the Indians as prescribed by the Conti- unless supported by Strouds and Duffells. Liberality nental Congress, sought to persuade the natives that the is alone with Indians true Eloquence without which King's agents were now superseded by themselves. In Demosthenes and Cicero or the more modern orators April 1776 a conference was held with representatives Burke and Barre might harangue in vain."(21) of the Cherokees, but most of the tribe absented them- Meanwhile, the new Spanish ally of the revolting selves. The colonial representatives urged the Chero- colonies outgeneraled the British in the Gulf Coast kees (and, in a later conference, the Creeks) to remain region. Bernardo de Galvez, moving from New Orle- neutral and not be swayed by British arms or argu- ans east along the coast to Mobile, was able to seize ments. The American case was not persuasive and, in that port on February 10, 1780, after General John May 1776, a delegation from the north composed of Campbell, the British commander in West Florida, Shawnees, Delawares, and Mohawks, arrived among had dismissed his Choctaw auxiliaries without ade- the Cherokees and convinced them to take up the tom- quate thanks or recompense. Campbell had earlier ahawk against the encroaching Americans. Devastation frittered away this support by calling them in unnec- soon followed on the frontier.(16) The response of the essarily in response to false alarms.(22) southern colonies was similar to that in the North. When Pensacola, further east, was next threatened in Devastating strikes were made by American armies March 1780 by the Spanish, 2000 Creeks under Al- against the Cherokees. Like the Iroquois, the Chero- exander McGillivray and William McIntosh rallied to kees chose to let their country be ravaged rather than Page 8 The Minuteman the support of the British. The Spanish settled down to The Spanish representative at the Paris nego- wait for the Indians to depart, but victory eluded them tiations, the Conde de Aranda, had similarly asserted when, after six weeks, a British fleet arrived. Galvez that the territory west of the Appalachians to the Mis- was forced to retire.(23) sissippi, which England grandly delivered to the In March 1781, a Spanish fleet again appeared off Pen- American colonies, belonged to "free and independ- sacola with a 4000 man army which overmatched 1500 ent nations of Indians, and you have no right to it." British soldiers, 400 Choctaws, and 100 Creeks. After But the American negotiators rejected the Indian fierce fighting, in which the Indian allies of the British claim and asserted the full authority of the colonies to distinguished themselves, the garrison capitulated May possess the lands west to the Mississippi.(28) 8, 1781. The fall of Pensacola was soon followed by In their succeeding negotiations with the In- the fall of Augusta and Savannah. British collapse in dians, the Americans attempted to convince the Indi- the South was imminent and the King's Indian allies ans that by choosing the losing side in the struggle were forced to choose their future course.(24) The they had lost all their rights. They asserted that the Cherokees and Chickasaws sought to negotiate peace Indians were a conquered people. James Duane in with the Americans. The Creeks continued to stand 1784 advised the governor of New York not to treat with the British; the Choctaws wavered.(25) When the with the Iroquois as equals, saying that "I would nev- British finally evacuated St. Augustine in 1783, they er suffer the word 'nation' or 'six nations' or were astonished to find that numbers of their Indian 'confederates,' or 'council fire at Onondago' or any allies sought to join them. As one Indian talk put it, "If other form which would revive or seem to confirm the English mean to abandon the Land, we will accom- their former ideas of independence they should rather pany them - We cannot take a Virginian or Spaniard by be taught that the public opinion of their importance the hand -We cannot look them in the face." The com- has long since ceased."(29) mandant of the garrison expressed his amazement at Neither the Iroquois, nor the Indians of the the Indian attitude: Old Northwest, nor those of the South, tamely ac- The minds of these people appear as much agitated as cepted colonial assertions of sovereignty by right of those of the unhappy Loyalists on the eve of a third conquest. Although most of the powerful nations evacuation; and however chimerical it may appear to which had hitherto held back the tide of English ex- us, they have seriously proposed to abandon their pansion had chosen the wrong side in the Revolution, country and accompany us, having made all the world they still possessed land and power only partially their enemies by their attachment to us.(26) diminished by the war. The British government, em- In the Preliminary Articles of Peace of 1782, no men- barrassed by the reproaches of their erstwhile allies, tion was made of the Indians. Despite their important continued to hold the forts of the Old Northwest and role and visible presence, they had receded into the to provide trade goods and sympathy to their Indian shadows of European diplomacy. Recognition of their allies though refusing military aid for a renewed at- existence and status was easier to ignore or deny in tack against the Americans. Attempts by American Europe than in America. Brant, the Mohawk, was out- forces to impose their will on the Indians confirmed raged that the King seemed to be selling out the Indi- the fact that the Indians had not been conquered by ans to the American Congress. Daniel Claus, the Brit- the Americans during the Revolution, for these at- ish agent for the Six Nations in Canada, was astounded tempts were repeatedly frustrated. In 1790, General that the English negotiator in Paris, Richard Oswald, James Harmar's expedition into the Maumee Valley had ignored, or been ignorant of, the boundaries of the resulted in an embarassing failure. In 1791, General Indian country established by the Fort Stanwix treaty Arthur St. Clair's army was similarly defeated by the line of 1768. "It might have been easily reserved and Indians near Fort Wayne, Indiana. In the South, inserted that those lands the Crown relinquished to all McGillivray of the Creeks played off Spanish and the Indn. Nations as their Right and property were out American authorities, finally negotiating a treaty with of its power to treat for, which would have saved the the United States in New York in 1790. In 1794, Honor of Government with respect to that Treaty," he General Anthony Wayne finally did manage to defeat wrote. Other Englishmen were outraged. "Our treaties the Northwest Indians at Fallen Timbers. But the re- with them were solemn," Lord Walsingham noted, sistance and strength of the natives had refuted the "and ought to have been binding on our honour." Lord notion that conquest could be asserted rather than Shelburne, on the other hand, vigorously defended the won.(30) Preliminary Articles, asserting that "in the present trea- With the formation of the Constitution and ty with America, the Indian nations were not aban- the establishment of a new government, Secretary of doned to their enemies; they were remitted to the care War Henry Knox, Secretary of State Thomas Jeffer- of neighbours."(27) Page 9 The Minuteman son, and President George Washington formulated a 15. Ibid., pp. 37-38. policy of honor and good will toward the native Amer- 16. Ibid., pp. 40-41. icans. As expressed in the Northwest Ordinance, the 17. Ibid., pp. 42-53. policy asserted that: 18. Ibid., Preface, ix. The utmost good faith shall always be ob- 19. Ibid., pp. 80-81. served towards the Indians; their land and property 20. Ibid., pp. 89-91. shall never be taken from them without their consent; 21. Quoted in Ibid., p. 101. and in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall nev- 22. Ibid., pp. 95-96. er be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful 23. Ibid., pp. 98-99. wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in jus- 24. Ibid., pp. 113-117. tice and humanity shall from time to time be made, for 25. Ibid., pp. 125-129. preventing wrongs being done to them, and for pre- 26. Quoted in Ibid., p. 131. serving peace and friendship with them.(31) 27. Graymont, The Iroquois, pp. 259-262 Yet the passions engendered by the American 28. Richard B. Morris, "The Peacemakers: The Great Revolution, despite the good will expressed in the for- Powers and American Independence" (New York, mal policy enunciated by the government, was to lead 1965), pp. 321-322, 419-420. to bitter and violent confrontations on the frontier. The 29. Quoted in Wilcomb E. Washburn, "Indian in bloody ground of Kentucky was to be repeated in re- America" (New York, 1975), p. 100. gion after region as the undisciplined and unregulated 30. Ibid., p. 163. expansion of the American people got underway. In 31. Quoted in Washburn, "Red Man's Land/White the end the Indian was the loser. That he would have Man's Law", p. 53. been a loser even if the King had repressed the rebel- lion is probable; but his decline would not have been so swift or so bitter.

FOOTNOTES

1. I have discussed the early English charters in my "Red Man's Land/White Man's Law: A Study of the Past and Present Status of the American Indian" (New York, 1971). 2. Barbara Graymont, "The Iroquois in the American Revolution" (Syracuse, New York, 1972), pp. 48-50. 3. Francis Jennings, "The Imperial Revolution: The American Revolution as a Tripartite Struggle for Sov- ereignty," unpublished paper delivered at The Newber- ry Library Conference on the American Indian and the American Revolution, February 1975. 4. Quoted in Graymont, The Iroquois, p. 57. 5. James H. O'Donnell III, "The World Turned Upside- Down: The American Revolution as a Catastrophe for Native Americans," unpublished paper delivered at the Newberry Library Conference on the American Indian and the American Revolution, February 1975. 6. James H. O'Donnell III, "Southern Indians in the American Revolution" (Knoxville, 1973), quoted p. 23.. 7. Quoted in Graymont, The Iroquois, p. 68. 8. Quoted in Ibid. 9. Quoted in Ibid., p. 99. 10. Ibid., pp. 122-123. 11. Ibid., p. 138. 12. Ibid., pp. 149-151. 13. Quoted in Ibid., p. 192. 14. O'Donnell, Southern Indians, pp. 8,13. Page 10 The Minuteman