A post on two books I have recently read about the conflict between white settlers and native Americans.
Peaceable Kingdom Lost: The Paxton Boys and the Destruction of William Penn's Holy Experiment, by Kevin Kenny, covers the conflicts that finally pushed the Indians out of Pennsylvania. Penn, a Quaker, was determined to live peaceably with the native Americans. He would only allow settlement on land that he had previously purchased from the Indians. This was partially to prevent conflicts, and partially so he could control the growth of settlements. Penn's heirs rejected his Quakerism, and over the years Quaker influence waned as many Scotch-Irish Presbyterians migrated into Pennsylvania. Prompted by the belief that the land was being "wasted" by the native American, and that it should rightfully be taken by Christians, the Indians were brutally dispossessed, and eventually pushed out of Pennsylvania.
The book also covers one of the most intriguing incidents in American History, the war between Connecticut and Pennsylvania in the last half of the 1700's. Deciding that Connecticut was running out of room, a group of men from that state decided that they should just take part of northern Pennsylvania. The conflict that ensued lasted for years, and was not settled until after the American Revolution.
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S. C. Gwynne, is set in Texas, and the Great Plains. The book is structured around the events that resulted from the 1836 Commanche kidnapping of nine year old Cynthia Ann Parker in a raid on her families Texas settlement. Parker assimilated into the Commanche tribe, married a prominent leader and bore three children, before she was then kidnapped back by the whites. (These events were the real life inspiration for the John Wayne's 1956 film, The Searchers.)
Parker's eldest son Quanah was left behind during her second kidnapping, and he went on to become one of the most influential Commanches, leading resistance to white take over of the Plains. Quanah retained his influence after the Commanches were settled to a reservation, but by this time his mother had died, so he was never to see her again.
Here is clip of the author discussing the book.
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Not to get too defensive of my home state, but I believe that Connecticut's 1662 sea-to-sea charter stated that its borders extended all the way to the west coast. Unrealistic and unreasonable? Absolutely, but they had their dubious paperwork in order.
ReplyDelete"The New Haven Colony in 1641 in an agreement with the Lenape tribe was to claim that it owned all the land east and west of the Delaware River. The Colony was to set up the first settlement of any kind in modern Philadelphia. Residents of New Sweden and New Amsterdam who lived in the area burned the community and it was disavowed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. While New Haven was to retreat from the venture, the Lenape agreement was to form the basis of a Connecticut sea to sea claim of owning all the land east and west of the Delaware from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ctwestclaims.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Western_Reserve