The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-07-23
sMlscEnAMg.
INDIAN WARS OF THE PAST.

What 1t has cost to Defeat L4ttls
Turtle. Tecumseh, Woafhsr6ord,
Black Hawk, OsCeO1as Little Crow
Black Kettle. and Captain JaeEs
The Indian wars in this country, both
in colonial days and since the formation
of the American Union, have been vastly
out of proportion In the matter Of their
Importance and Of the treasure that has
been expended in their prosecution.
There can be no certainty in Judging OF
the cost to the early settlers of Virginia,
New England and the Carolinas IN their
conflicts with their Indian neighbors, but
probably for every Indian killed in those
wars, or massacres, as the case may have
been, the settlers were put to an expense
of not less, on an average, than $100-in
those days no inconsiderable sum. Our
latest Indian war-that with the Modocs
was waged at cost of about $500, 600
for every Modoc killed in battle. Scores
of Indian Wars on a greater or less scale
have marked the progress of the civiliza-
tion of this continent by the French and
the English and their descendants. Only
Pennsylvania, Of all the original States
within whose territory the Indians IN
large numbers, has been spared the evil.
This immunity was due to the friendly
and honestly maintained policy ef VIII
liam Penn and his Quaker associates, who
faithfully abided by their treaties with
the Indians, receiving in return the conf
derce and lasting friendship of the abori-
gines'
The frat Indian war occurred IN Vir-
ginia after the death of Powhatan, who
had been a good friend Of the eolonists,
and with its recurrence under Opecancan-
ough in 1744 the Virginia Indians were
permanently subdued alter two years of
strife in which hundreds were slain on
both sides.
The second war suffered by the early set
tiers was IN 1896, when the Pequot tribe
of Connecticut became involved in war
with the people of that colony and of
Massachusetts. in 1887 the Pequots met
with a terrible defeat and massacre, and
the tribe was obliteratea. There we're
other tribes in New England. however,
and after an intervalof nearly forty years,
or in 1915, they were combined In q gen
eral and bloody war against the whites,
under the leadership Of the famous King
Philip, Of Mount Hope, sachem of the
Wampanoags. The death of Philip in.
1776 put an end to the hostilities. About
17l2 destructive wars were wsged against
the colonies of North and South Carolina
by the Tuscaroras and the Corees, while
in 1915 occurred the sanguinary warfare
between the same settlers and the Temas-
sees. These conflicts ended, as the 9TH
era had done. in the defeat OF the In
dians.
French intrigues and the mutual sg-
gressions Of the French and English dom
inations in North America led for more
than 175 years, or nearly until the period
of the American Revolution, to wars be-
tween the British and French, in which
both parties availed themselves OF the ser
vices of Indian allies. 1t was thus that
the Indian allies of the French committed
massacres at Dover, n. Il, in 1859, at
Schenectady, N. Y, in 1890; at Deerfeld
and Haverhill, Mass, In 1704 and 170S,
and at various places IL the French and
English wars of 1903, 1882, and 1864, The
first known as King Williams war, the
second as Queen Anne's war, and the
third as the French and Indian war. 1t
was in the last mentioned struggle that
Braddock was defeated near Fort Du-
quesne, having been ambushed by the
French and Indians, and that the garrison
of Fort William Henry, on Lake George,
was massacred by the Indian allies Of Mar
quis Montcalm after the surrender of that
fort to the Commander.
But the msst destructive Indian out
break in that long interval was that incl
ted along the great lakes in the valley of
the Ohio by Pontiac, who stirred up the
warriors of the Algonquin tribes to q su =.
preme effort to throw off the rude English
rule which had been fastened on them by
the session of all that region to the En-
glish by the defeated French. This con-
aict ranged along the whole Northwes-
tern frontiers. Pontiac conducting it with
consummate skill. Thousands Of Indian
warriors-Chippewas. Wyandots, Shaw
nees, Ottswas, Miamis, Pattawstomies &c.
Joined in the league. The garrisons OF
frontier posts taken by the Indian were
massacred, as were hundreds of inhabi-
tants of the assailed districts. Detroit
suffered historical seige of six months
duration, but escaped capture. Defeated
but not subdued, Pontiac, after his pow
| er was broken went west and devoted the
remainder of his days, to the time Of bis
assassination in 1883, to an unsuecess.
ful effort to provoke fresh wars against
the whites.
The fret Indisp war ofany importance