Historical Background
Although Vikings may have attempted settlement of North America in the twelfth century or earlier, contact between Natives and Europeans began in earnest after the expeditions of Jean Cabot and his son Sebastian. Fishermen from England and other European countries quickly realized the profits to be made from North Atlantic waters and sometimes made landfall in North America. They developed a crude system of barter and communication with the tribes they met, primarily the Abenaki. However, they made no attempt to settle the area. Spanish exploration of what is now the Eastern United States began with the de Soto expeditions into Florida and the lower Southeast as far as Louisiana. Catholic missionaries soon followed, then colonists who made their homes in La Florida.
The next Europeans to arrive in earnest were the French under Samuel de Champlain in 1603. Soon after, settlements along the St. Lawrence sprang up. Missionaries and settlers alike dealt with tribes such as the Huron, the Mohawk, and other Iroquoian-speaking people, with mixed results. The Duthc also established a colony in North America in what is now New York, New Jersey, portions of Pennsylvania and Connecticut. The failed colony of Roanoke aside, the first serious attempts to colonize the Mid-Atlantic seaboard began in 1607, with the founding of the Jamestown colony in what is now Virginia. England gained another foothold in North America with the settling of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620. By that time, contact with settlers was beginning to take its toll on Native people. One of the first sites the Pilgrims chose to explore was a seemingly abandoned Native village. It was a Patuxet town that had been wiped out by disease. The last former resident of the village, Tisquantum or Squanto, was the Native guide who helped the Pilgrims survive their first growing season in their new home.
Throughout the 1600's, the main points of contention were land and the beaver fur trade. Whites loved the luxurious fur for its durability, water-resistance and smooth finish, especially for hats. They realized that the most efficient way of obtaining supplies of pelts were to allow the Natives who knew the area to trap and prepare the beaver skins in exchange for trade goods such as cloth, metal tools like blades and pots, mirrors, beads, and items of adornment made from coin silver. Other premium trade items included weapons and liquor, which many Native Americans became addicted to, to their detriment. As their numbers decreased from disease and displacement, Native tribes fought among themselves for new land to farm and as hunting ranges. While the 17th century turned to the 18th, the emphasis shifted from wars over beaver to wars between colonial powers over land. These wars were often intercontinental, beginning among the royal dynasties of Europe and impacting people as far away as India and the forests of North America. The colonial powers, most particularly the English and French, offered alliances with various Native tribes to do the fighting in North America. Or, more cynically, they took advantage of age old feuds and rivalries to pit one tribe against another. Settlers, particularly on the frontier, were caught in the crossfire.
For this reason, beginning with the Quebec Act of 1763, the English government attempted to prevent settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains, wanting to leave this land, particularly the Ohio River Valley as Indian Territory. Settlers defied the laws, settling on lands claimed by Native tribes. As both English authorities and Natives tried to clear squatters from their lands, brutal frontier fighting broke out, leading to the massacres and captures of American legend. The bloody conflicts on the frontier continued throughout the Revolution and into a prolonged war over the Ohio River Valley known as the Northwest Indian War. By the time of the War of 1812, Natives in the Great Lakes and Northeast had lost vast amounts of land. As tribes displaced from their original home ranges, they were driven into conflict with other Natives further inland, leading to more conflict. While leaders such as Tecumseh attempted to stem the tide through revolt, they were ultimately unsuccessful. Gradually but inevitably, tribes ceded their eastern lands and moved west.
The Southeastern tribes had tried a different tack, adopting several of the White lifeways in an effort to live peacefully with the Settlers. They adopted European styles of dress, farmed, sent their children to school, and adopted municipal and justice systems based on White structures. To no avail. Beginning with the War of 1812, the Creeks were the first to feel the wrath of Andrew Jackson, who was sent to quell a revolt by a faction of the tribe. He also turned his attention to the Seminoles in the First Seminole War. Perhaps because of these experiences, or maybe due to his own personal biases, Jackson made Indian Removal a major aim of his Administration. Beginning in 1831 and continuing to 1838, the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Cherokee either ceded their lands through treaty or were driven off their farms by American soldiers and sent to Oklahoma in a migration that would be known as the Trail of Tears. Nor were they the only Natives slated for removal. The Sac and Fox, under their war leader Black Hawk, rose in revolt in 1832 causing militias to muster throughout the Midwest. They were sent to Iowa, instead. Efforts to remove the remaining Mohawk in New York were scrapped.
Meanwhile, the Seminoles in Florida held out under leaders such as Osceola, Coacoochee, Billy Bolek, and Black Native leaders such as John Horse. Osceola was captured under a false flag of truce in 1837, and died soon after in prison of heartbreak, malaria, and throat infection. Other Seminoles were deported to Oklahoma piecemeal, but a few managed to remain in their Florida homeland. A further adopt to dislodge them happened in the Third Seminole War but a few held out, taking pride in being the Unconquered tribe. They along with the Eastern Band Cherokee, a few thousand Choctaw and scattered others in various tribes were the remains of dozens of teeming societies of people who covered the Eastern portion of United States from the Mississippi to the East Coast, as well as the Great Lakes region of Canada, and the Ohio River Valley.
The eighteenth and early nineteenth century was an age of great commanders. On the European Continent, men like Marlborough, Frederick the Great, Napoleon and Wellington dominated battlefields. In America, Washington, Gates, Morgan and others won America's independence. But these were not the only great military leaders. Field commanders such as Buckongahelas of the Delaware, Blue Jacket of the Shawnee, Little Turtle of the Miami, Dragging Canoe of the Cherokee, Pushmataha of the Choctaw, Tecumseh of the Shawnee, and a little known mixed-race Cherokee named John Norton stood up for their people. Native diplomats and leader such as Joseph Brant of the Mohawk, Red Jacket and Cornplanter of the Seneca and John Ross of the Cherokee also made their mark. Partisan leaders such as Osceola cannot be overlooked, nor the inventive efforts of men such as Sequoyah of the Cherokee. The women were there, including Nancy Ward of the Cherokee, and Mary Brant of the Mohawk. White captives who chose to remain loyal to their Native tribes and families such as Mary Jemison and Simon Girty, who paid with a reputation steeped in infamy. This is the era of frontiersmen such as Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark and Simon Kenton. For every villain, such as Jackson, there's a selfless hero such as William Holland Thomas, adopted son of Yonaguska of the Cherokee, who assisted his adopted people to remain in their North Carolina homeland, future Revolutionary War general John Stark, who refused to attack an Abenaki village containing his Native foster family, or Davy Crockett, who lost his political career because he refused to vote for Indian Removal. These and other people, places and events are the basis of Great Warriors Path.
Throughout the 1600's, the main points of contention were land and the beaver fur trade. Whites loved the luxurious fur for its durability, water-resistance and smooth finish, especially for hats. They realized that the most efficient way of obtaining supplies of pelts were to allow the Natives who knew the area to trap and prepare the beaver skins in exchange for trade goods such as cloth, metal tools like blades and pots, mirrors, beads, and items of adornment made from coin silver. Other premium trade items included weapons and liquor, which many Native Americans became addicted to, to their detriment. As their numbers decreased from disease and displacement, Native tribes fought among themselves for new land to farm and as hunting ranges. While the 17th century turned to the 18th, the emphasis shifted from wars over beaver to wars between colonial powers over land. These wars were often intercontinental, beginning among the royal dynasties of Europe and impacting people as far away as India and the forests of North America. The colonial powers, most particularly the English and French, offered alliances with various Native tribes to do the fighting in North America. Or, more cynically, they took advantage of age old feuds and rivalries to pit one tribe against another. Settlers, particularly on the frontier, were caught in the crossfire.
For this reason, beginning with the Quebec Act of 1763, the English government attempted to prevent settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains, wanting to leave this land, particularly the Ohio River Valley as Indian Territory. Settlers defied the laws, settling on lands claimed by Native tribes. As both English authorities and Natives tried to clear squatters from their lands, brutal frontier fighting broke out, leading to the massacres and captures of American legend. The bloody conflicts on the frontier continued throughout the Revolution and into a prolonged war over the Ohio River Valley known as the Northwest Indian War. By the time of the War of 1812, Natives in the Great Lakes and Northeast had lost vast amounts of land. As tribes displaced from their original home ranges, they were driven into conflict with other Natives further inland, leading to more conflict. While leaders such as Tecumseh attempted to stem the tide through revolt, they were ultimately unsuccessful. Gradually but inevitably, tribes ceded their eastern lands and moved west.
The Southeastern tribes had tried a different tack, adopting several of the White lifeways in an effort to live peacefully with the Settlers. They adopted European styles of dress, farmed, sent their children to school, and adopted municipal and justice systems based on White structures. To no avail. Beginning with the War of 1812, the Creeks were the first to feel the wrath of Andrew Jackson, who was sent to quell a revolt by a faction of the tribe. He also turned his attention to the Seminoles in the First Seminole War. Perhaps because of these experiences, or maybe due to his own personal biases, Jackson made Indian Removal a major aim of his Administration. Beginning in 1831 and continuing to 1838, the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Cherokee either ceded their lands through treaty or were driven off their farms by American soldiers and sent to Oklahoma in a migration that would be known as the Trail of Tears. Nor were they the only Natives slated for removal. The Sac and Fox, under their war leader Black Hawk, rose in revolt in 1832 causing militias to muster throughout the Midwest. They were sent to Iowa, instead. Efforts to remove the remaining Mohawk in New York were scrapped.
Meanwhile, the Seminoles in Florida held out under leaders such as Osceola, Coacoochee, Billy Bolek, and Black Native leaders such as John Horse. Osceola was captured under a false flag of truce in 1837, and died soon after in prison of heartbreak, malaria, and throat infection. Other Seminoles were deported to Oklahoma piecemeal, but a few managed to remain in their Florida homeland. A further adopt to dislodge them happened in the Third Seminole War but a few held out, taking pride in being the Unconquered tribe. They along with the Eastern Band Cherokee, a few thousand Choctaw and scattered others in various tribes were the remains of dozens of teeming societies of people who covered the Eastern portion of United States from the Mississippi to the East Coast, as well as the Great Lakes region of Canada, and the Ohio River Valley.
The eighteenth and early nineteenth century was an age of great commanders. On the European Continent, men like Marlborough, Frederick the Great, Napoleon and Wellington dominated battlefields. In America, Washington, Gates, Morgan and others won America's independence. But these were not the only great military leaders. Field commanders such as Buckongahelas of the Delaware, Blue Jacket of the Shawnee, Little Turtle of the Miami, Dragging Canoe of the Cherokee, Pushmataha of the Choctaw, Tecumseh of the Shawnee, and a little known mixed-race Cherokee named John Norton stood up for their people. Native diplomats and leader such as Joseph Brant of the Mohawk, Red Jacket and Cornplanter of the Seneca and John Ross of the Cherokee also made their mark. Partisan leaders such as Osceola cannot be overlooked, nor the inventive efforts of men such as Sequoyah of the Cherokee. The women were there, including Nancy Ward of the Cherokee, and Mary Brant of the Mohawk. White captives who chose to remain loyal to their Native tribes and families such as Mary Jemison and Simon Girty, who paid with a reputation steeped in infamy. This is the era of frontiersmen such as Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark and Simon Kenton. For every villain, such as Jackson, there's a selfless hero such as William Holland Thomas, adopted son of Yonaguska of the Cherokee, who assisted his adopted people to remain in their North Carolina homeland, future Revolutionary War general John Stark, who refused to attack an Abenaki village containing his Native foster family, or Davy Crockett, who lost his political career because he refused to vote for Indian Removal. These and other people, places and events are the basis of Great Warriors Path.
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