Did It Happen: Henry Hamilton the Hair Buyer

Scalping remains one of the most controversial topics in Early Frontier history.  Who was the first to do it?  Who did more of it?  Why?  Those questions aren't part of the purpose of this blog.  Scalping is an ancient practice with evidence seen in many civilizations around the world, from the Scythians in the ancient world, to the Visigoths in the twilight of the Roman Empire, to the Dahomey in Africa.  Evidence of scalping injuries on skulls date from pre-contact North America.  At its most basic, scalping was a convenient, if bloody and painful way of counting enemy dead and proving which soldier or warrior had killed enemy and how many.  Enough said.

One practice that was routine on the frontier was the issuing of scalp bounties to anyone who had killed a Native man, woman or child, whether in battle or other circumstance.  Some examples will suffice.  Massachusetts and Connecticut authorities offered bounties during the Pequot War in the 1630's.  Authorities in New France also offered scalp bounties in their ongoing conflicts with the Iroquois in the Beaver Wars.  Massachusetts offered scalp bounties in most of the wars we have discussed, Queen Anne's War, Father Rale's War, King George's War, and the list goes on.  English authorities in Nova Scotia also offered scalp bounties during their conflicts with the Mikmaq and other tribes.  The last war in which Colonial governments offered scalp bounties was the French and Indian War (1755-1762), in which both Massachusetts and Pennsylvania offered bounties for Native scalps of men, women and children. 

Did it happen during the Revolution?  And, if so, by whom?

The most obvious candidate in this scenario is Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton.  Hamilton was born in Ireland and entered the British Army in the French and Indian War.  Connections and luck sponsored his rise through the ranks until, in 1775, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, based out of Fort Detroit.  His orders called for him to encourage and support Native auxiliaries in their attacks on frontier outposts and settlements.  In his own correspondence, he worried about excesses by Natives and tried to make sure, as much as it was in his power, that Native war parties were accompanied by or under the control of British Regular or Loyalist commanders.  As we've seen, this didn't stop the cruelty by both Whites and Natives on either side.  If anything, it exacerbated the problem. Not only that, but Native leaders and Loyalists for whom military discipline held no appeal often operated on their own.  Many people were killed and scalped, by both Loyalists and Natives, as well as Patriots and Natives.  As a disproportionate amount of the behavior seemed to be with British controlled units it was easy to see how a rumor got started and became "fact".  The reason the Natives were so eager to take scalps had to be that the British were subsidizing them to do so. 

While Americans such as George Rogers Clark were certain that the impetus for American attacks on the frontier came from Fort Detroit, there is no written or other evidence that Hamilton ever offered a scalp bounty.  Unlike many British commanders, Henry Hamilton seemed to have developed a respect for Natives, learning much about the various tribes, making detailed drawings and leaving notes about the things he had learned.  The Americans could have cared less about his views on the Natives, though, and branded him a war criminal.  In February, 1779, Clark recapture Fort Vincennes and sent Hamilton to Williamsburg, Virginia, where Governor Thomas Jefferson ordered him clapped in irons until Washington decided what to do with him.  He was eventually sent to New York, exchanged and left for England and other service.  That he wasn't tried might be an indicator that, for all the rumors, nobody at that time could find any evidence that he was paying for scalps, either.