Chapter 5: The English Colonies

-Chapters five and six will deal with the period of struggle between the American Indian Tribes and the European Settlers in the geographic confines of the thirteen original colonies during the period of their establishment beginning in the 1600s and up until the start of the French and Indian Wars in the mid-1700s.

In the order of their establishment, the English settlements were:

(1607) Virginia was the first colony established in the new American Colonies. It was founded by John Smith and other partners backed by the London Company, and located at Jamestown.

(1620) Massachusetts was the second colony to be established in the new American Colonies. It was founded by John Winthrop and the Puritans and was centered in the region of Massachusetts Bay.

(1623) New York was the third colony to be established in the new American colonies. It had formerly been known as "New Netherlands" and was settled by the Dutch under control of Peter Stuyvesant and Peter Minuit. The Dutch surrendered New Netherlands without a fight to the Duke of York and his fleet of warships.

(1634) Maryland was the fourth colony to be established in the new American colonies. The Maryland colony was founded by Sir George Calvert, Lord Baltimore and other prominent settlers in Baltimore harbor.

(1636) Rhode Island was the fifth colony to be established in the new American colonies. This colony was established by Roger Williams and other colonists to include the well-known Anne Hutchinson in Providence.

(1636) Connecticut was the sixth colony to be established in the new American colonies. It was founded by Thomas Hooker and many other religious minded settlers at the town of Hartford.

(1638) New Hampshire was the seventh colony to be established in the new American colonies. This colony bordering on Massachusetts was founded by Captain John Mason and John Wheelwright. It was the first colony to be mostly inland at the time. Formal Royal Charter not granted until 1679.

(1638) Delaware was the eighth colony to be established in the new American colonies. This colony was founded by Peter Minuit and the New Sweden Company.

(1663) North Carolina was the ninth colony to be established in the new American colonies. It was founded by settlers who had struck out from the Virginia colony looking for additional land to settle.

(1663) South Carolina was the tenth colony to be established in the new American colonies. It was founded under a charter from King Charles II given to a number of titled personages at court.

(1664) New Jersey was the eleventh colony to be established in the new American colonies. It was founded by Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret.

(1682) Pennsylvania was the twelfth colony to be established in the new American colonies. It was founded by William Penn who brought his Quaker followers to the New World.

(1733) Georgia was the thirteenth and final colony to be established under English rule in the new American colonies belonging to England. This colony was founded by James Oglethorpe and other prominent members of court. Georgia became a Royal Colony in 1752.

These thirteen original English colonies were sub-divided into three main regions.

Furthest North we have the "New England Region" Colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire. The primary exports back to Europe consisted of fish and oils from whaling, lumber, skins of animals traded from the Indians, maple syrup, ores, and spirits brewed by New World breweries.

In the middle are the colonies that comprise the "Middle Region". They are New York, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The primary exports to Europe were grains and other crops that dominated their economy.

Further south, there were the colonies of the "Southern Region" which consisted of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The main exports back to Europe consisted of hot weather crops of cotton, tobacco, rice and sugar as well as skins derived from trade with the Indians.

The period of 1607 to the very beginnings of the French and Indian Wars in the 1750s encompassed a timespan of approximately 150 years but the single most crucial influence was the rising tide of the European Settler Population and the drastic reduction in the population of the American Indian Tribes. Of course, it had started all the way back in the beginning of The 400 Year War in 1492 because of the diseases carried to the new American Colonies by the European Settlers but during this formative period leading up to the French and Indian Wars for European colonial dominance, the population changes on the Eastern Seaboard were crucial.

At the beginning of the 150 year period, the ratio of American Indian Tribes to European Settlers was 24 to 1. However, at the conclusion during the French and Indian Wars, the ratio had dropped all the way down to almost 1 to 1. When taking into consideration the fact that this drop from having a 24 to 1 manpower advantage over the European Setters was further reduced to a net 1 to 2 disadvantage because the Indian Tribes outside the geographic locale of the American Colonies were obviously not involved in the conflict inside the borders of the 13 original colonies. This startling development was the result of a number of factors that included an ever increasing tide of migration of European Settlers to the New World and a high birth rate amongst the settlers which coincided with decimation of the Indian Tribes because of smallpox and other diseases, the never-ending cycle of Inter-Tribal Warfare, Voluntary withdrawal of the Tribes to areas outside the present-day "lower 48" and forced transport of captive "slaves" to places like the "Sugar Islands" and other locations that bartered the slaves like chattel. The Indian Tribes had already been deemed as inappropriate for the plantation society of the Southern Colonies because of their warlike nature and their propensity to escape with ease back into the wilderness from whence they came. It was much easier and more lucrative for the plantation owners to import African slaves for plantation work because they were generally more docile and willing to follow orders. This immoral decision to use slave labor for economic profit caused problems for the emerging nation after the American Revolution and culminated in the bloody Civil War in the middle of the following century.

The conflict between the American Indian Tribes and the European settlers in this period prior to the French and Indian Wars centered in the locale of the thirteen original colonies and was between mostly a civilian populace on one hand and war parties of the Indian tribes on the other. It was the result of misunderstandings, double dealing by colonists driven by the need to not only succeed in their attempts to settle a virgin land but to show some economic gain for their efforts. The Indian tribes were many and diverse in their cultures and their nature. Seldom did they band together to fight the settlers and that was one of the reasons for their ultimate downfall. At various times, the tribes did manage to form "Nations" and "Confederacies" that were much more successful in confronting the settler's usually superior firepower.

This following section will discuss briefly the composition of the American Indian Tribes that engaged in the conflict against the European Settlers in the period just prior to the French and Indian Wars. It will not include all tribes and address all areas of contention but merely serve to illustrate the complexity of the conflict.

INDIAN TRIBES VS EUROPEAN SETTLERS IN PERIOD 1607 – 1750

The Indian Tribes involved in this period of conflict are broken down into the three main areas of contention. They are "The New England Colonies", "The Middle Colonies", and "The Southern Colonies".

INDIAN TRIBES IN THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES

Estimated total population in 1600 (250,000) Estimated total population in 1750 (80,000)

Wampanoag, Massachusett, Nauset, Nantucket, Pennacook, Pocasset, Mohegan, Nipmuc, Pequot, Mohican, Pocumtuc, Abenaki, Mahican, Minisink, Quiripi, Narragansett, Niantic, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot

INDIAN TRIBES IN THE MIDDLE COLONIES

Estimated total population in 1600 (220,000) Estimated total population in 1750 (140,000)

Abenaki, Cayuga, Erie, Laurentian, Mohawk, Mohican, Wappingers, Mohegan, Montauk, Shinnecock, Munsee Delaware, Oneida, Onandaga, Poospatuck, Unkechaug, Seneca, Tuscarora, Unami, Lenape, Minisink, Munsee, Unalachtigo, Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape, Iroquois, Shawnee, Susquehannock, Powhatan, Tutelo, Saponi

INDIAN TRIBES IN THE SOUTHERN COLONIES

Estimated total population in 1600 (190,000) Estimated total population in 1750 (95,000)

Catawba, Cherokee, Croatoan, Powhatan Confederacy, Tuscarora, Tutelo, Saponi, Yuchi, Creek, Cheraw/Chicora/Waccamaw Sioux, Apalachee, Hitchiti, Oconee, Miccosukee, Muskogee, Timucua, Yamasee, Guale, Shawnee

The entire period of 1600 to 1750 was fraught with conflict between the American Indian Tribes and the European Settlers. We can begin with the POWHATAN WARS (1610 – 1646)

POWHATAN WARS ... In the locale of the Virginia Colony this war began when the settlers faced starvation in 1610 and asked the Indians for more and more food. The Indians already upset over encroachment refused the demands. During the following year almost 90% of the settlers died of starvation. After several years of peace, the Indians attacked Jamestown and other settlements. About one quarter of the remaining settlers were killed in the attack. Still they refused to withdraw and both sides continued to fight for the next twenty years. The colony population had increased to about 10,000 at this time and they defeated the Indians and killed their chief. After that the settlers and the Indians stayed away from each other until 1677 when Indian reservations were established following Bacon's Rebellion.

Then, the next swell of fighting was in the PEQUOT WAR (1636 – 1637)

PEQUOT WAR ... A short conflict lasting only about two years between the Pequot Tribe and the Massachusetts Bay Colony with their Indian allies, the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes. This war was the result of numerous property disputes, damaging of Indian crops, and the selling of spirits to the Indians. A militia unit attacked a Pequot village near present day New London, Conn. In 1637. They burned the village to the ground killing almost 1,000 Indian men, women and children. The survivors were rounded up and sold into slavery to the Sugar Islands. (West Indies) The tribe basically ceased to exist after that incident. The other Indian tribes aligned with the English settlers continued to murder the Pequot survivors whenever they were found in the wilderness.

A few decades of peace was followed by KING PHILIP'S WAR (1675 – 1676)

KING PHILIP'S WAR ... Named after an Indian chief of the Wampanoag tribe of the Narragansett area, this war was marked by the cunning and military skills of Chief Philip who was determined to drive the English out of the area. In 1675, he attacked Swansea and inflicted death and injuries on many of the inhabitants. He systematically burned and massacred his way through the entire colony, killing and looting and taking many females and children into captivity. Chief Philip managed to draw a number of other tribes to his side and his raiders swept through most of settled New England. The war even reached up to present day Maine where 50 English settlers were killed by members of the Saco and Androscoggin tribes allied with Chief Philip. The death of Philip and the losses sustained by the Indians caused the remnants of the Indian tribes in New England to come to eventual demise as a distinct and separate people.