THE EVOLUTION OF THE TREATMENT OF CAPTIVES BY THE INDIANS OF THE NORTHEASTERN WOODLANDS FROM EARLIEST EUROPEAN CONTACT THROUGH THE WAR OF 1812 THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the University of North Texas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By Jeffrey Deward Carlisle, B.S. Denton, Texas December, 1992 Carlisle, Jeffrey Deward. The Evolution of the Treatment of Captives by the Indians of the Northeastern Woodlands from Earliest European Contact through the War of 1812. Master of Arts (History), May, 1992. 236 pp., 1 Table, bibliography, 96 titles. When the first Europeans set foot on the North American continent, they clashed, both physically and culturally, with the native inhabitants. The Indian practice of taking, adopting, and sometimes torturing captives offended the Europeans more than any other practice. The treatment afforded to captives varied from tribe to tribe and tended to change as the Indians adapted to the new environment and adjusted to the increased pressure thrust upon them by the advancing whites. The primary sources used were Indian captivity narratives. The 111-volume Garland Library of North American Indian Captivities has made many of the better known narratives more readily available. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page iv LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS . - . - Chapter 1 I. INTRODUCTION. - - 0 . II. TREATMENT OF CAPTIVES BY NORTHEASTERN INDIANS TO 1675 ... ...... - - - - - 14 III. TREATMENT OF CAPTIVES BY NORTHEASTERN INDIANS, 1675-1701.............. ... - - . 53 IV. TREATMENT OF CAPTIVES BY NORTHEASTERN INDIANS, 1701-1754. .0.0.. .86 V. TREATMENT OF CAPTIVES BY NORTHEASTERN INDIANS, 1754-1766. .0.0. 108 VI. TREATMENT OF CAPTIVES BY NORTHEASTERN INDIANS, 1766-1783. .I.0. - - . 145 VII. TREATMENT OF CAPTIVES BY NORTHEASTERN INDIANS AFTER 1783. .. - - . 188 VIII. CONCLUSION. ..... ...- #. 219 BIBLIOGRAPHY......... ...........- #--- - . 226 11 t LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS Page I. Indian tribes of the Northeastern Woodlands . 4 iv CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION From the moment the first European set foot upon the North American continent until the North American Indian was finally banished to reservations carved from their once majestic land holdings, the two races were frequently in conflict, both culturally and physically. Neither race readily adjusted to or accepted the customs or lifestyles of the other and, as a result, they often clashed. To many Europeans the Indian way of life appeared barbaric and uncivilized. The native custom of taking captives and torturing them to death or adopting them into their tribes, thus turning them into "savages" like themselves, appalled many white men. Most people today generally think of the American Indian in one of two ways. According to the first view, the Indian was a bloodthirsty savage whose only desire was to massacre helpless settlers. Settlers who were unfortunate enough to fall prey to the marauding red men could only look forward to a fiery, torturous death or a life of slavery. The Indians often adopted children into their tribe and forced them to accept their customs. Women captives suffered a "fate worse than death" as they became slaves of I 2 cruel Indian masters and mistresses and were reduced to a life of drudgery. The Native Americans spared male captives only to provide amusement for the tribe when they tortured, burned, mutilated, and scalped the victims during their pagan celebrations. The second view of the American Indian is that of a noble red man. According to this view, the Indian lived at peace with all of nature until the white man moved in and began to steal his land and corrupt his civilization with liquor and bad morals. The Indian only fought to defend his rights or resist when pushed beyond the limits of endurance by aggressive settlers. The native inhabitants treated captives with as much or usually more kindness than they could expect to receive if they fell into the hands of their white counterparts. Neither of these simplistic views gives the complete view of the Indian. In reality, elements of both views existed in Indian culture. Individual natives within a tribe varied from each other as much as the various tribes differed from each other. Their treatment of captives usually reflected the Indians' attitude and policy toward the white man. But, like the rest of Indian culture, their treatment of captives was not a constant and it changed as their relations with the white man changed. The Indians' behavior toward their captives mirrored the constantly changing policy they pursued against the new arrivals. 3 Indian treatment of captives varied from tribe to tribe and from individual to individual within the various tribes. Still, general trends within each tribe can be woodlands recognized. Using the Indians of the northeastern as subjects, their dealings with and treatment of captives can be traced from their first contact with the Europeans until their subjugation. Two major tribal groups, the Algonkin and the The Iroquois, inhabited the northeastern woodlands. Algonkin covered an extensive area of the northeastern smaller quarter of the North American continent, as well as Centered regions dispersed over the rest of the continent. within the Algonkin groups were a powerful group of Iroquoian speaking Indians. The dominant group of these Indians was the Iroquois Confederacy or League of Five Nations, consisting of five allied tribes, the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Cayuga. Other Iroquoian tribes, such as the Huron, Erie, Tobacco, and Neutral nations, lived on the perimeter of the Five Nations but were never allied with them. The Confederacy did, however, allow a sixth Iroquoian tribe into their league in 1715. This tribe, the Tuscarora, migrated northward to join their linguistic relatives after the settlers of Carolina drove them from their former homelands. For the purposes of this paper, the term Iroquois will refer to, and be used interchangeably with, the Five Nations, the League of 4 Table I Indian Tribes of the Northeastern Woodlands Iroquoian: Iroquois or League of Five (Six) Nations: Seneca Cayuga Oneida Onondaga Mohawk Tuscarora (after 1722) Huron (Wyandot) Tobacco Neutral Susquehanna or Conestoga Erie Mingo Eastern Algonkin: New England Tribes: Abnaki Passamaquoddy Penobscot Pennacook Massachusetts Pokumtuk Wampanoag Pequot Narraganset Mahican Shinnecock Alogonkin Montagnais Western Algonkin: Delaware Shawnee Miami Kickapoo 5 Iroquois, and the Iroquois Confederacy. Other Iroquoian- speaking tribes such as the Huron or Erie will be referred to by their tribal names. The Algonkin tribes can be conveniently divided into two groups for the purposes of this paper. The Eastern Algonkin will refer to those tribes inhabiting the New England coast, eastern Canada, and the area north of the Great Lakes. These tribes had early and extensive contact with the first European settlers of North America. The Western Algonkin will refer to the Algonkin tribes living to the south of the Iroquois and inhabiting the Ohio River Valley. The Western Algonkin had less contact with the white man than their eastern kin until the French and Indian War. Each of these three groups treated their captives differently. Likewise, each group varied its treatment of captives as time passed in an effort to deal more effectively with their European enemies. For the purposes of this paper, time has been divided into several chronological periods. Within each period, the Indians from each group followed a relatively clear policy in their treatment of captives. When a noticeable change occurred, either within an Indian society or because of outside influences, a new period began. For example, when the Iroquois first contacted Europeans, primarily French, they at first treated Frenchmen taken captive mildly in 6 comparison to captives taken from neighboring Indian tribes. This lenient treatment by the Iroquois probably resulted from their efforts to make peace with the new arrivals, for the mutual benefit of both societies. Unfortunately, the French had already allied themselves with several tribes who were traditional enemies of the Iroquois and peace negotiations soon failed. During the next period, the Iroquois treated their European captives, again primarily French, with as much if not more cruelty and sadism as they treated captives taken from their neighboring Indian enemies. The Iroquois had successfully cowed most of their Indian neighbors with their legendary torture methods and now, having failed to negotiate a successful peace, attempted to use these same methods to subjugate the French. Unfortunately for the Iroquois, the French view of warfare differed from that of the Indians. Indian warfare was based on hit and run tactics, with stalking and ambush as primary elements. If an Indian lost his life, even if he gained a great military victory, he received little honor from his associates because life was more precious than glory in the Indians' eyes. Thus, Indians rarely carried out extended campaigns against an enemy who anticipated attack or held fortified positions as the French and other Europeans did. The Europeans, on the other hand, carried out extensive campaigns against the Indians and, unlike their native 7 opponents, sought to destroy the Indian food stores, which caused many indirect deaths through starvation and broke the Indians' morale. Once the Iroquois discerned that their torturous treatment of captives did not have the desired effect on their new enemies, they began to alter