Clearly, the Abenakis did not understand the treaty or even the concept of ownership of land.
Yet they allied themselves with the French & the French tactic was to harass English settlers, to keep them from becoming too settled!
The population of the Abenakis had been greatly reduced because of a variety of European illnesses, which they lacked natural defenses against. Settlement of French citizens in New France was low, while populations of English colonies further south were growing.
The settlers of Plymouth then Massachusetts were also responsible for the Salem witch burnings...
There weren't any witch burnings in the colonies. (One of my ancestors was among those hanged.) The Plymouth Colony was small & was absorbed into the larger, Massachusetts Bay Colony around the time of the witch hysteria. Much of the hysteria was created by some epidemics & it is believed that French & Indian attacks were also a contributing factor.
Father Rale did try to get the Abenakis to not kill the English. And he pleaded with the Indians not to go to war.
Meanwhile, the French forces he helped keep them allied to encouraged them to go to war.
There were repeated incidents of the English giving firewater to the Indians which made them crazy.
Most English colonies had laws against selling firewater to the Indians, but there were individuals who clearly broke those laws.
All of my research pointed that the French were here to be missionaries to the Indians. They also did fur trapping and fishing.
Yes, some of the French were missionaries, but others were soldiers. When George Washington spoke about avoiding foreign entanglements, I'm sure he was talking about the colonies getting dragged into every single was one wars on the European continent during the colonial period.
The fur market was flooded & prices of fur were dropping like a rock. Europeans had been fishing Canadian waters long before their governments "discovered" the territory. Some place names in Canada reflect places on the Channel Islands.
The English had other plans (which is probably good for us).
There were also English fishermen, trappers & Protestant missionaries.
The North American Martyrs in New York did not have done to them what was done to Father Rale. However, Father Rale probably died much quicker.
There was a whole lotta bloodshed on all sides & it wasn't just in New York. Hannah Emerson Duston's six day old baby probably died pretty quickly, getting it's head smashed against a tree. (I believe that was done by a different tribe, but the common thread was kidnappings by Indians allied with the French.
I believe it was the French who began the practice of putting prices on scalps. As I said, the French population was low, so they tried to gain territory by harassing English settlers to keep them from expanding out.
There was great hatred of the English of Father Rale.
If he'd gotten the Indian population on the side of the English, instead of trying to maintain their relationship with the French, I'm sure much of that English hatred for him would have been reduced.
As for the hardships and brutalities that happened on the British settlers, the same thing happened to the Indians and continued to happen to them until the 1870's such as in the old West...
True, but again, there was a lot of bloodshed on both sides. I live in Blackhawk war territory.
GoLightly posted:
There was a whole lotta bloodshed on all sides & it wasn't just in New York. Hannah Emerson Duston's six day old baby probably died pretty quickly, getting it's head smashed against a tree. (I believe that was done by a different tribe, but the common thread was kidnappings by Indians allied with the French.
Father Rale tried unsuccessfully a number of times to stop the Abenakis from killing, but he always kept trying.
There is a story that Father Rale tells in one of his letters that 6000 Abenaki braves went to New York to meet with the Governor. This was before one of the wars between the British and French.
Father Rale tried to convince the chiefs of the Abenakis at this meeting to not go to war with the British. The chiefs went off to a council after meeting with the Governor of New York and then listening to Father Rale's plea for the Indians to stay out of it.
At this time, the Governor make a hostile look in the direction of Father Rale. The Indians, seeing this, immediately surrounded Father Rale with about 21 braves.
The Chiefs came back and explained to the Governor of New York why they were going to war on the British and ally themselves with the French.
It did not help that Father Rale tried to get the Indians to stay out of the war... But he tried...
His presence in Maine was so that he could be a missionary to his people...