Nathan Philbrick Quotes

He and George Washington were both young officers in this battle.

The Indian allies of the French scalped some American colonists which for some whites was akin to the modern reaction to terrorist atrocities. The British and Americans then justified the scalping of their Indian allies as simple retaliation. While Indians had scalped before the whites ever came, the whites accelerated the practice. There was an economic element to scalping. The French “paid” their Indian allies in arms, blankets, trinkets and alcohol by the scalp as it was a crude way of “performance measurement.” Not to be outdone, the English adopted the same custom with the French allied Indians as targets. In North Carolina, for example, the “volunteer” rangers were paid the enormous rate of 10 pounds a scalp.

The rationale for paying these Indians was given in the beginning of the treaty. See {612283}. In addition the treaty provided for the Federal government to build a flour mill and a saw mill and provide technical staff to operate and maintain them. In an interesting gesture the Federal government rebuilt a church that had been the house of worship for some Oneida Presbyterians. The English and the other Iroquois had burned the church to the ground. See {621968}. This is one of the few times in history, and certainly the first time, that the Federal government constructed a church for a particular sect. The other tribes of the Iroquois nation had allied themselves with the English. See {583726}. Only the Oneida joined the colonist cause. At the end of the war, the other Iroquois tribes were run out of the country and they escaped to Canada. The Oneida, in contrast, were rewarded by the Federal government and integrated into New York State society.

Clark’s men had English Colonel Hamilton under siege by making him think there were many more Americans in Clarks army than the real 180 or so. He tried to get Hamilton to surrender by threatening if they had to take the fort they would treat Hamilton and the British as murderers—Hamilton had paid hostile Indians for American scalps. At that point a party of Clark’s men arrived with 4 or 5 Indian prisoners who had been captured raiding
civilian farms. After the Indians were executed, Hamilton agreed to surrender.

In 1877 Gen. O. O. Howard and 600 men fought Chief Joseph and his Nez Perce warriors near Kamiah, Idaho. Outnumbered and outflanked, Chief Joseph headed his band toward the Canadian border, but before they reached it they were captured. Chief Joseph's surrender speech was recorded by General Howard's adjutant: Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain

The colonists had united for a war against the Narraganset Indians. The Charter allowed them to keep captives as slaves.

The French had launched a sneak attack on the English settlement at Schenectady, NY. The English had not provided enough security to Schenectady and now considered withdrawing from the upstate area. Contrary to the popular conception of all the Indians being invaded by the Whites and fighting it, here these Indians were urging the English to hang on and stay in the area. The Mohawk were one of the tribes of the Iroquois confederation which were very sophisticated, somewhat democratice, and very powerful economically and militarily. To them, the English were good trading partners and unlike the French tended to conform with Iroquis norms, rules and mores. It also illustrated the closeness of the alliance of these Indians with the English against the French in the French & Indian Wars.

Marquis de Seignelay. This shows that the concept of ethnic cleansing has been around for some time. The only thing that prevented the French from implementing the plan was that they couldn’t defeat the Iroquois. There is a certain irony here in that the Iroquois were very much allied with the British even during the American Revolution. After that war, the Iroquois were run out of their traditional lands, not by the French but by the Americans. And where did they go and resettle? Up to then British Canada, the very area where the French so feared them.

Most of the Iroquois, under the influence of Joseph Bryant, thought that the English would be the winner in the American Revolution. With the exception of the Huron Tribe, the Iroquois sided with the English. Washington developed a policy of what we call today “ethnic cleansing” and successfully chased the other 5 Iroquois tribes out of their traditional lands and to safety in Canada where their descendents still live.

The British, with few troops in the West, armed Indians and paid for American scalps.

There was a significant opposition in England who opposed the war against the rebellious colonies. Fox was one of the most outspoken who thought that England would not win.

This argument, condemned by many Englishmen, was essentially, it is moral to do whatever you God made you able to do a principle that was refuted in Christianity, Judiasm and most other religions. See {620562} for Clinton’s history of white encouragement of Indian scalping.

This quotation illustrates the racist view of Native Americans that prevailed at the time. The Mexican government invited settlers and would give then the Indian lands. In addition to Mexicans who came to Texas, many Americans also went to Texas, changing their citizenship to Mexico. Later, they banded together and broke from Mexico and Joined the United States. The Indians lost most of their lands.

One Islamic belief that has stood since the inception of the religion is that if a true believer who is defending the faith in a jihad is killed, he will immediate be transported to Paradise where he will receive the best of the other world. If a Muslim dies under normal circumstances, he is judged and may or may not attain Paradise depending on his past life. However, if he dies in jihad, all past sins are immediately erased and he is guaranteed Paradise. This quotation is exactly what is told to Muslim fighters and suicide bombers today (see {635766}, {588728} and {590762}) and it is just as effective as ever in persuading men to fight and sacrifice themselves. The Roman Catholic Pope issued a similar edict in the Crusades and fights of both religions were willing and almost anxious to die in battle. In modern times Christian leaders do not make such appeals and if they did, few would believe them.

Some of the Indian tribes who were allied with the French, raided the farms and settlements of upper New York State, committing many atrocities. Amhurst allowed Rogers Rangers to carry the war to the enemy; the Rangers traveled to St. Francis in Canada and attacked the Indian tribe in their home village, killing all the men, and despite Amhurst’s orders, some of the women. The other women and children were released. This was the first successful American commando raid. Rogers had almost no casualties in the raid, but lost many men to starvation and disease on the long trek home.

Although the Yugoslav casualties were horrific, they inflicted great casualties on the Germans who lost more men fighting the Yugoslavs than they lost to any other of the allies except the Russians.

This was a precursor of the total war views of William Tecumseh Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant during the American Civil War half a century later.