By 1724 the English colonies were firmly established along the Atlantic coast and the interactions between the English and the many tribes of the region had significantly modified the Indian cultures. By this time, disease and warfare had decimated Indian populations and the expanding English populations had reduced Indian lands.
In Massachusetts, Indian communities changed to meet the cultural, religious, and ecological demands of the immigrants. Native communities remained apart from Anglo communities, according to historian Daniel Mandell, in his book Behind the Frontier: Indians in Eighteenth-Century Eastern Massachusetts. This would later help fuel the myth that “Indians have disappeared.”
English colonial authorities were aware of the great importance of the Indian tribes and individual Indians. In an article in The Indian Historian, Yasuhide Kawashima reports:
“No matter how valuable and useful the Indians might have been to the colonists as allies, dependent tribes, and servants and slaves, however, they were never considered as equal to the white settlers.”
Indians were not citizens, nor could they become citizens and from the viewpoint of the English colonists, they were aliens.
War had existed in the Americas long before the arrival of the Europeans. The Europeans, however, brought with them a different concept of warfare and their wars were fought under different cultural rules. Unlike like Indian nations, the Europeans fought wars to obtain territory, to subjugate people, to prove the validity of their religions, and to exterminate entire populations. Cherokee historian Robert Conley, in his book The Cherokee Nation: A History, writes:
“They brought to America a concept of total war, wherein villages were burned and crops destroyed, so that anyone who might escape instant death during the battle would face death by exposure and starvation.”
Briefly described below are a few of the American Indian events of 1724.
Grey Lock’s War
Grey Lock’s War—also known as Drummer’s War, Lovewell’s War, and Father Rasles’ War—started in 1722. This was not just an “Indian” War, more importantly it was a religious war: it was a war fought by the Protestant English colonists against the hated, “evil,” and “atheistic” Catholics.
The colonial English were staunchly anti-Catholic and were particularly opposed to the activities of the Jesuit missionaries among the Indians. They were especially upset that Father Sebastian Rasles (also spelled Rale), a French Jesuit priest, was strongly encouraging the Abenaki to defend both their lands and their culture against the English colonists.
The Abenaki (also spelled Abnaki, and Wabenaki) are a group of loosely related Algonquian-speaking people who have lived in the New England area for thousands of years. In 1723, Grey Lock (also recorded as Gray Lock and Greylock), a Woronoco living in the village of Missisquoi, had led some Abenaki raids against the English settlements in Northfield and Rutland, Massachusetts.
In response to Grey Lock’s raids, the English colonists in Massachusetts built Fort Drummer in 1724. In spite of the fort, Grey Lock struck again. The raid was successful even though the colonists had advance notice that the Indians were coming. Massachusetts sent out a force of Rangers to find Grey Lock, but he eluded them and continued raiding deep into Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts colonial army then attacked the Norridgewock (an Eastern Abenaki group). Father Rasles was killed, and his corpse was mutilated.
Bounties
Many of the English colonists viewed the Indians as they did wolves and bears: animals which should be exterminated. The English colonists established bounties to encourage the killing of Indians. English hunters could turn in bearskins, wolfskins, or redskins (Indian scalps) and obtain a bounty. In Massachusetts by 1722 the bounty on Indian scalps was £100.
In Massachusetts, an English force of 87 men under the leadership of John Lovell attacked a small Indian camp, killing ten people. They scalped the dead and then returned home to collect the bounties. In their book Indian Wars, historians Robert Utley and Wilcomb Washburn report:
“Cheered by his success and the easy money, Lovewell immediately embarked on a summer campaign accompanied by forty-seven volunteers.”
This time, however, the English were ambushed and Lovewell killed.
Penobscots
In Maine, the Penobscots captured 14 English fishing vessels and used them to attack St. Georges. A combined group of Maliseets and Micmacs attacked Annapolis Royal, killing 10 English colonists.
Land Grant
In Massachusetts, land was granted for English settlement along the Housatonic River. The Indians were paid 460 pounds, three barrels of cider, and 30 quarts of rum. In their book Manitou: The Sacred Landscape of New England’s Native Civilizations, James Mavor, Jr., and Byron Dix write:
“The once-large Indian population of the area had been decimated by disease and migration, so at the time of the Massachusetts grant, there were only two major Indian villages in the vicinity.”
Gay Head
In Massachusetts, the New England Company expanded the lease of Gay Head land from 600 acres to 1,000 acres. The Indians protested the new lease.
Reserve
In Massachusetts, the General Court created a 100-acre reserve for the Teticut Indians.
More eighteenth-century histories
Indians 101: American Indians and Europeans 300 years ago, 1723
Indians 101: Indians and Europeans 300 years ago, 1722
Indians 201: The Tuscaroras join the Iroquois League
Indians 201: Queen Anne's War in the north
Indians 101: Washington's Chehalis Indians and the Americans in 1792
Indians 101: The eighteenth-century fur and hide trade
Indians 201: The Iroquois Peace, 1700-1713
Indians 101: Little Turtle's War