Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/437

AMERICAN INDIANS 405 Penobscots and Passamaquoddies ; among the Iroquois of New York, their converts finally removing to Canada and now found at Sault St. Louis, St. Regis, and Lake of the Two Mountains; among the Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawattamies, Menomonees, Illinois (Kaskas- kias, &c.), and Miamis (Weas, &c.). Those in Louisiana, among the Tonicas, Natchez, Choc- taws, and Arkansas, seem to have produced little permanent good, except perhaps among the last. Maryland began missions coeval with its settlement, but the overthrow of the origi- nal plan of colonization put an end to them. About the beginning of the last century the English society for the propagation of the gos- pel in foreign parts began a new era. Missions arose among the Mohawks and in Virginia and Carolina. Dr. Wheelock's Indian school (after- ward Dartmouth college) contributed to the work. The Brainerds labored in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The efforts of the Mora- vians had still better results, and their Dela- ware mission was the most successful yet seen in the English colonies. During the present century far more has been done. The society of Friends took an active interest in Indian progress. The Episcopalians established an Oneida mission ; the American board of com- missioners for foreign missions, organized in 1810, established missions among the Chero- kees, Choctaws, Ottawas, Chippewas, Chicka- savs, Creeks, Dakotas, Pawnees, and Senecas, some of which were remarkably successful. Baptist missions were also established among several of these tribes. A Methodist society established in 1819 also founded Wyandot, Iro- quois, Creek, Ottawa, Shawnee, Dakota, and Oregon missions ; while the southern Metho- dists also created missions. The Presbyterians in 1837 began to labor among the Weas and other northwestern tribes, and among some of those in the Indian territory. The American missionary association, American Indian mis- sionary association, southern Baptists, and Bap- tist home missionary society also entered the field. Their labors were not always perma- nent or well concerted, and frequent changes took place. Catholic missions arose among the Chippewas and Ottawas, under Bishop Bara- ga and others, among the Winnebagoes, the Pottawattamies and Osages, and in the Rocky mountains. The French were able to main- tain peace with all the Canadian tribes, while the English colonies were constantly at war. The first war between the English colonists and the natives occurred in Virginia in 1G22, when the Indians under Opechanganough rose against the settlers to exterminate them. The colonists hi a ten years' war reduced them at this time, and again in 1644; and hi another war in 1675 they still more diminished the Indians. The New England wars began in 1637 with the destruction of the Pequods by the settlers of Connecticut and Massachusetts as allies of the Narragansetts, and the exter- mination of the Narragansetts hi 1643 'by the New Englanders as allies of the Mohegans. In 1675 began the war with Philip, chief of the Wampanoags, in which nearly all the In- dians were cut off or driven to a distance. Maryland enjoyed comparative peace, but was in 1675 with Virginia involved in a war wjth the Susquehannas. The Dutch at New Am- sterdam at first maintained friendly relations with the Indians, but in 1643 became involved in wars in which the Indians lost severely. In the south, North Carolina in 1711 suffered terribly in a war with the Tuscaroras, who finally emigrated to New York ; and South Carolina in 1715 was attacked by the Yemas- sees and a confederation of tribes on its fron- tier. The New England occupancy of Maine brought on new hostilities connected with the wars between France and England. The French in Canada proposed neutrality and an agreement to employ no Indians on either side. New York consented and was saved from the horrors of Indian war, which New England preferred. The New England forces, however, finally overthrew the Pennacooks and Nor- ridgewocks and closed their Indian war. In the seven. years' war, known hi America as the French and Indian war, both sides used the In- dians, and the annals of the tune teem with horrors. The French had some wars with the Foxes and Miamis in the west, and, provok- ing the Natchez, drew on themselves a mas- sacre, followed by a war in which the Natchez were destroyed. The French then attacked the Chickasaws, but failed to subdue them. The Indians looked on the English success in Canada with jealousy, and Pontiac in 1763 organized a vast conspiracy of the Indian tribes, aiming at a total extirpation of the whites ; but they were finally reduced, as were the Cherokees, who made war in 1760. In the course of these wars, Michilimackinac, and Forts St. Joseph, Ouiatenon, Miami, Presqu'isle, Leboeuf, and Venango, were taken by the Indians, Detroit besieged, and stubborn battles fought at Bloody Bridge, Fort Pitt, Bushy Run, and at Point Pleasant between the Virginians and Shaw- nees. "When the American revolution began, the English government at once employed Indians, and the Iroquois and western tribes ravaged the frontiers. An expedition under Sullivan laid waste the territory of the Six Nations. The articles of confederation gave congress little power. Under the constitu- tion of 1787 the general government claimed sovereignty over the whole territory, and had the management of Indian tribes not within a state and under laws and treaties with it. The United States treaties with Indians were made as with foreign powers. The great ob- ject to be obtained was the cession of the large tracts claimed as hunting grounds, some- times on very slight pretexts. The Indian tribes viewed the new government with dis- trust, and the Miamis began hostilities in 1790, and in two engagements near the present Fort Wayne defeated the army under Gen. Hannar.