Artwork

Eden

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~Interaction Between Natives and English Colonies~

~Ashlee Lawrence~Honors History 10~03/04/08~

Abstract: This paper compares and contrasts the interactions between the Jamestown settlers and the natives of their land and the Massachusetts settlers and the natives of their land. It also applies the relationships to give an insight on the Massacre of Wounded Knee. There is support from various online sites listed below.

1)http://chnm.gmu.edu/7tah/units_7tah.php?seventahid=14

2)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Anglo-Powhatan_War

3)http://womenhistory.blogspot.com/2007/10/native-americans-and-massachusetts-bay.html

4)http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/knee.htm

The Jamestown and Massachusetts settlements both involved contact with the Native Americans. This contact was similar and different in many ways. One way it was different was the first intentions of the settlers. When the Jamestown colonists sailed into Fort Henry they did not see the Native Americans as someone to live peacefully with. They saw them as people who were not Christians and therefore had no right to the land. The Jamestown colonists however were not acclimated to this new land and were quickly dieing of salt water poisoning, starvation, or diseases they got from the mosquitoes. The settlement was saved by the leadership John Smith. He became friends with "Pocahontas" (the Chief Powhatan's daughter) and formed a peace treaty with the Powhatan's. The Natives shared their food with the colonists and taught them how to grow their own corn and tobacco. The natives were the last strand of life in the settlement for the Jamestown colonists.

The interaction between the English settlers and the natives became aggressive when John Smith was wounded in an accidental gun powder explosion. After this accident the natives saw no good coming from the English, so they captured and killed their new leader John Ratcliffe. The English began raiding the natives villages , burning their crop fields, and burning their houses. Opechancanough the natives chief came back with counter attacks and laid siege to the English colonies at Jamestown almost driving them out. The First Anglo-Powtan War was ended in 1614 and was sealed by the marriage of John Rolfe to Pocahontas; making this the first inter-racial union in Virginia. The English wouldn't stop until they were in control of the land. This brought on the Second Anglo-Powtan War. This time the natives were defeated by the English and were nearly exterminated. This was a foreshadow to the reservations that the natives would soon experience.

As you can see the interaction between the Jamestown settelers and the natives was not a very good relationship. The Massachusetts settelers had a little bit different look on things when they came to America but some of the same outcome.

The Massachusetts settlers were the Pilgrims, a group of Puritans. They thought when coming to America that they would have brand new land to explore and develop. When they arrived and found all kinds of natives roaming around, all speaking different languages and having different styles of living they saw them as inferior because of their primitive lifestyle. Because the Pilgrims saw the natives as inferior they thought they could easily convert them to Christianity. The natives saw this as a way for the Pilgrims to take over the land. When converting to Christianity the natives had to give up their language and "abandon" their loved ones who would not convert. To the Pilgrims this was a way of breaking up the natives and making them weaker in defenses.

The Puritans also had a different way of viewing land than the natives. To the natives who are constantly moving about, sharing everything they have and being equal, "private property" was foreign. The Puritans brought on this "discriminating" use of land and expected the natives to live with the new ways. In 1636, the Pequot War broke out with the Puritans slaughtering the natives. Again in 1676 the natives came out against the Puritans, this time with the help of Puritan allies like the Narragansetts in King Philip's War. Despite the natives rigorous attempts to defeat the Puritans they failed. Just the opposite of the Jamestown colonists who became sick because of the natives diseases the natives became sick from the Puritans diseases that they brought with them and most of them died. By 1670, there were 52,000 colonists in New England, and they already outnumbered the natives by three to one.

As you can see the relationships between the Jamestown settlers and the Massachusetts settlers with the natives of their land were not very good. In this aspect the relationships are similar. They differ in the intentions of the settlers and in the tactics/ways of over-powering the natives. By looking at these interactions we can better understand latter incidents between Native Americans and the English, for instance the Battle of Wounded Knee.

'Do not fear, but let your hearts be strong. Many soldiers are about us and have many bullets, but I am assured their bullets cannot penetrate us. The prairie is large, and their bullets will fly over the prairies and will not come toward us. If they do come toward us, they will float away like dust in the air.'

The Native Americans had a strong faith and trusted one another very much. In both settlements they were, in a sense, one step ahead of the settlers in that they could survive off of the land without tools that the English had. The native Americans had a way of living that the English were not accustomed to. The English wanted to make the natives like them; or as I rephrase, the English wanted to take these primitive acting natives and shape them into people that they could use, and/or manipulate.

The Massacre at Wounded Knee was caused by the English being skeptical of the natives rituals....way of life. A Paiute shaman called Wovoka preached that a "tidal wave" of new soil would cover the earth burying the whites and restoring the prairie. To quicken the arrival of this event the natives were to dance the Ghost Dance wearing Ghost Shirts. Many of the dancers wore brightly colored shirts that had images of eagles and buffaloes on them. These "Ghost Shirts" they believed would protect them from the bullets that would be fired by the English. It was the spreading of this Ghost Dance throughout the Sioux villages throughout the Dakota reservations that brought fear to the whites.

"Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy....We need protection and we need it now. The leaders should be arrested and confined at some military post until the matter is quieted, and this should be done now." This was the start of the Massacre at Wounded Knee. In essence caused by the distrust and hatred between the English and the native Americans.