Captives in American Indian Wars

Captives in American Indian Wars could expect to be treated differently depending on the identity of their captors and the conflict they were involved in. During the American Indian Wars, indigenous peoples and European colonists alike frequently became captives of hostile parties. Depending on the specific instances in which they were captured, they could either be held as prisoners of war, abducted as a means of hostage diplomacy, used as countervalue targets, enslaved, or apprehended for purposes of criminal justice.

An engraving depicting Native Americans returning captured white colonists to their families under the direction of Henry Bouquet upon the conclusion of Pontiac's War.[1][2]

History

Cultural background

Treatment applied to European captives taken in wars or raids in North America varied according to the culture of each tribe. Before European colonization, the indigenous peoples of the Americas had developed customs for dealing with captives. Depending on the region, captives could either be killed, tortured, kept alive and assimilated into the tribe, or enslaved. When indigenous tribes came into contact with European settlers, they applied longstanding customary traditions for dealing with indigenous captives to the white colonists. Conflicts between indigenous tribes and European settlers resulted in captives being taken on both sides; while the westward expansion of the United States and subsequent conflicts with Native Americans also resulted in many white and Indian captives being taken. Captivity narratives were often written by European-Americans and European-Canadians who were ransomed or escaped from captivity.

King Philip's War

In King Philip's War, a three-year conflict between indigenous peoples of New England and New England colonists, captured Native Americans were frequently sold into slavery in the West Indies by the colonists. Many friendly Native Americans were enslaved and sent to the West Indies as well.[3][4][5][6]

Cultural differences

Male and female captives as well as teenage boys, would usually face death by ritual torture.[7][8] The torture had strong sacrificial overtones, usually to the sun.[9] Captives, especially warriors, were expected to show extreme self-control and composure during torture, singing "death songs", bragging of one's courage or deeds in battle, and otherwise showing defiance.[10]

In contrast to the Eastern Woodlands tribes, peoples of the Northwest Coast (encompassing the coastal regions of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and southeastern Alaska), enslaved war captives. Slaves were traded and were a valuable commodity. More importantly, enslaved captives were given as gifts during a potlatch ceremony to enhance the prestige of the gift giver. Some scholars believe that slaves performed major economic roles in this region and comprised a permanent social class and a significant proportion of the population, though this has proved to be controversial.[11][12]

Pontiac's War

Henry Bouquet set out from Fort Pitt on October 3, 1764, with 1,150 men during the chaos of Pontiac's War. After that, treaties were negotiated at Fort Niagara and Fort Detroit; the Ohio Natives were isolated and, with some exceptions, ready to make peace. In a council which began on 17 October, Bouquet demanded that the Ohio Natives return all captives, including those not yet returned from the French and Indian War. Guyasuta and other leaders reluctantly handed over more than 200 captives, many of whom had been adopted into Native families.[13] Because not all of the captives were present that day, the Natives were compelled to surrender hostages as a guarantee that the other captives would be returned. The Ohio Natives agreed to attend a more formal peace conference with William Johnson, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, which was finalized in July 1765.[14][15]

See also

References
  1. Crytzer, Brady (2013). Guyasuta and the fall of Indian America. Westholme. ISBN 9781594161742.
  2. Abler, Thomas S. (1979). "Kayahsotaˀ". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. IV (1771–1800) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  3. Gookin, Daniel (1836) [1677]. The Doings and Sufferings of the Christian Indians . hdl:2027/mdp.39015005075109. OCLC 3976964. archaeologiaame02amer. But this shows the prudence and fidelity of the Christian Indians; yet notwithstanding all this service they were, with others of our Christian Indians, through the harsh dealings of some English, in a manner constrained, for want of shelter, protection, and encouragement, to fall off to the enemy at Hassanamesit, the story whereof follows in its place; and one of them, viz. Sampson, was slain in fight, by some scouts of our praying Indians, about Watchuset; and the other, Joseph, taken prisoner in Plymouth Colony, and sold for a slave to some merchants at Boston, and sent to Jamaica, but upon the importunity of Mr. Elliot, which the master of the vessel related to him, was brought back again, but not released. His two children taken prisoners with him were redeemed by Mr. Elliot, and afterward his wife, their mother, taken captive, which woman was a sober Christian woman and is employed to teach school among the Indians at Concord, and her children are with her, but her husband held as before, a servant; though several that know the said Joseph and his former carriage, have interceded for his release, but cannot obtain it; some informing authority that he had been active against the English when he was with the enemy.
  4. Bodge, George Madison (1906). "Capt. Thomas Wheeler and his Men; with Capt. Edward Hutchinson at Brookfield". Soldiers in King Philip's War: Being a Critical Account of that War, with a Concise History of the Indian Wars of New England from 1620–1677 (Third ed.). Boston: The Rockwell and Churchill Press. p. 109. hdl:2027/bc.ark:/13960/t4hn31h3t. LCCN 08003858. OCLC 427544035.
  5. Bodge, George Madison (1906). "Appendix A". Soldiers in King Philip's War: Being a Critical Account of that War, with a Concise History of the Indian Wars of New England from 1620–1677 (Third ed.). Boston: The Rockwell and Churchill Press. p. 479. hdl:2027/bc.ark:/13960/t4hn31h3t. LCCN 08003858. OCLC 427544035. Captives. The following accounts show the harsh custom of the times, and reveal a source of Colonial revenue not open to our country since that day. Account of Captives sold by Mass. Colony. August 24th, 1676. John Hull's Journal page 398.
  6. Winiarski, Douglas L. (September 2004). Rhoads, Linda Smith (ed.). "A Question of Plain Dealing: Josiah Cotton, Native Christians, and the Quest for Security in Eighteenth-Century Plymouth County" (PDF). The New England Quarterly. 77 (3): 368–413. ISSN 0028-4866. JSTOR 1559824. OCLC 5552741105. Archived from the original on 2020-03-22.
    • Douglas L. Winiarski (September 2004). "A Question of Plain Dealing: Josiah Cotton, Native Christians, and the Quest for Security in Eighteenth-Century Plymouth County". New England Quarterly. 77 (3): 368–413 – via University of Richmond.
  7. Jesuit Relations of 1632, Father Paul Le Jeune
  8. Hodge, Frederick W., Handbook of the American Indians North of Mexico, p124
  9. History of the American Indian, La Farge, Oliver, 1966, at 57
  10. How Early America Sounded, Rath, 2005, at 156
  11. "Aboriginal Slavery on the Northwest Coast of North America" by Leland Donald, 1997
  12. "Aboriginal Slavery on the Northwest Coast of North America by Leland Donald" by Christon I. Archer, 1997
  13. Abler, Thomas S. (1979). "Kayahsotaˀ". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. IV (1771–1800) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  14. For Bouquet expedition, see Dixon, Never Come to Peace, 233–41; McConnell, A Country Between, 201–05; Dowd, War under Heaven, 162–65.
  15. Crytzer, Brady (2013). Guyasuta and the fall of Indian America. Westholme. ISBN 9781594161742.
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