Conquistadores, Collapse, Coalescence

Notes by Sarah Grace Rogers

25 October 2022
Southeastern Archaeology and Ethnohistory
 
Shatter zone: “region of instability from which shock waves radiated out for sometimes
hundreds and hundreds of miles” (Meyers:82)
 
Ethridge, Robbie
2009 Introduction: Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone. In Mapping the Mississippian Shatter
Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the American South, edited
by Robbie Franklyn Ethridge and Sheri Marie Shuck-Hall, pp. 1-62. University of Nebraska
Press, Lincoln.
 Book Goal: outline collapse of Mississippian world and how Southern Native societies
transformed between 1540 and 1730 (New geopolitical landscape by 1730)
o Gradual, not uniform, collapse over the course of 200 years after Europeans
invaded
o Thousands of natives died or were enslaved
o Almost all native polities were destroyed
o Some reorganized
 Some causes of collapse
o Military loss from early explorers and destabilized chiefdoms
o Old World diseases
o Political/economic incorporation into Atlantic World economic circuit (modern
world-system/economy subsection)
 Evidence of disappearance
o Archaeological data
o Migrations into compact and fortified towns
o Population loss
o Migrations and group splintering
o Coalescence
o Disappearances
o Decrease in artistic life
 Interpretive framework to understand transformation: “Mississippian shatter zone”
o Region of instability in the east from the 16th to early 18th century created by
combined (Ethridge, 2):
 Mississippian structural instability and the inability to withstand
colonialism
 Diseases and lost lives
 Nascent capitalist economy introduced by Europeans through animal and
native slave trade
 Increased violence and warfare through slave trade and emerging
militaristic Native slaving societies that controlled European trade
o Explaining destabilization and reformation of Southern Native societies
o Multicausal– must consider trade, disease, warfare, and slavery interplay
 o Depopulation from disease as well as from emigration as people fled areas
affected by slave raids, war, and political collapse
 The Mississippian World
o 900 - 1700
o Political organization = chiefdom (elites and non elites)
 Chiefly lineage– related to supernatural beings = religious sanction (status,
prestige, political authority)
 Flat-topped, pyramidal earthen temple mounds, fronting large plaza,
surround by other mounds
 Mico (chief) lived atop– highest office with elites holding
permanent offices of high rank and authority
o Power varied
 Commoners in neighborhoods around mounds and plaza; farming
villages (economic foundation)
 Largely self-sufficient
 Traded for some– hoes, quality stone, salt, prestige goods
 People made a living by farming, fishing, hunting, gathering, and
manufacturing clothes/buildings from natural resources
 Not dependent upon trade
 Tributes to chiefly elites/micos
o Sub-periods
 Early: 900 - 1200
 Middle: 1200 - 1500
 Late: 1500 - 1700
o Cahokia = largest (Early) Mississippian mound complex (height at 1050 - 1200)
o Famous Middle: Moundville (AL) and Etowah (GA)
o Prehistoric art
 Stone, clay, mica, copper, shell, feathers, and fabric
 Headdresses, beads, cups, masks, statues, cave art, ceramic wares,
ceremonial weapons, necklaces and earrings, and figurines
 Hand-and-eye motif, the falcon warrior, bi-lobed arrows, severed heads,
spiders, rattlesnakes, and mythical beings
o Warfare
 Important, likely endemic
o Variation in chiefdoms
 Complex chiefdoms exert control/influence over simple chiefdoms (2800-
5400 people), made of 4-7 towns (350-650 people in each) that were 20
km across and 30 km apart
 Paramount chiefdoms– alliances of multiple organized complex and
simple chiefdoms
 Cycling rise and fall caused by stress like soil exhaustion, drought,
depletion of core resources, military defeats, and contested claims to the
chieftainship
 Others did not necessarily fall when one fell
 Overall regional stability in the period: one fell, others adjusted
o Europeans
  Exploration on Atlantic coast 15th - 16th centuries
 Colonization in early 16th century
 Expeditions of Spanish conquistadors (Juan Ponce de Leon and
Lucas Vazquez de Ayllón) = information to Hernando de Soto
(started expedition in 1539)
o Landed in Tampa, FL and moved north, failing to establish
a colony
o Records = first written describing interior South
o Dozens od chiefdoms at this point
o Encountered paramount chiefdom with chief Coosa
o Depended on Native foods tores
o Direct military assault that likely precipitate Native
collapse
o Presence likely upset power balances in chiefdoms through
influence and military aid for chiefs micos to challenge
chiefly authority
o Destabilized many
 Many chiefdoms were recovering from the de Soto expedition when they
encountered disease and slave raiders = quickened collapse
 Some survived into the 18th century (Apalachee, Natchez, Caddo); others
fell by 1600 (Coosa)
 The Demography of Diseases and Slaving
o Demographic collapse of 90%
o First widespread: 1696 Great Southeastern Smallpox Epidemic (first written
documentation for disease)
o Little written evidence prior– rely on archaeological evidence for the 16th-17th
centuries
o Rely on indirect evidence:
 Settlement pattern data (demographic shift and depopulation)
 Mortuary patterns (mass graves)
 Evidence of poor health
o Debated over timing of disease-induced collapse
 Multicausal effects
 Multicausal– must consider trade, disease, warfare, and slavery
interplay
 Depopulation from disease as well as from emigration as people
fled areas affected by slave raids, war, and political collapse
 May not have induced the demographic collapse on a level previously
thought– localized occurrences (FL)
o Slave raids
 Snatching vulnerable, mostly women and children (killed others), 100s at
a time
 Spanish, FL raid 1704-1707: 10-12,000 women and children
captured
 Captives walked very long, deadly distances
 Shipped out
  West Indies and South American plantations and mines
 New England, French Canada, and French Louisiana as domestic
servants, concubines, laborers, and agricultural laborers
 Jamestown and Charleston planters
 Likely accounts for about half of the population loss from 1685-1715
(thousands of slaves)
 Disease and warfare deaths = other half
 Stressed chiefdoms to breaking point
 Indigenous people: enslaved/killed by disease, others grouped in
coalescent societies (Creeks, Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Choctaws,) =
slave trade falters
 End of slave trade and collapse of last chiefdom with  the
Tuscarora War of 1712, the Yamasee War of 1715, and the
Natchez Revolt of 1729
 The Indian Slave Trade and the Inauguration of the World Economy in the Colonial
South
o Involvement in world economy (contact with English, French, Butch)-- economic
incorporation into world capitalist economy = fundamental cause of
collapse/transformation
o Capitalism: “large-scale extraction of raw materials, the production and
distribution of commodities, the endless accumulation of capital, the supply-
demand-pricing mechanism of the market, economies of scale, the appropriation
of human labor in service to capitalist production, and means of production
controlled by and profits accruing to a few” (Ethridge, 16–Wallerstein).
o Imperial contest over North America from English, French, Spanish, Dutch
o World systems theory: Dutch, French, and English involved in world capitalist
economy when they landed on the Atlantic coast in the 17th century, connecting
Native people to a world economy
 America as a strategic commercial outpost for extracting labor and
resources
 Global commercial power of Netherlands, England, and France that
powerfully transformed Native life
 Indians, Imperialism, Slaving, and Colonial Violence
o Violence was an attendant to imperialism and a part of capitalist incorporation
o State expansion + capitalist incorporation = militarization of Native people
through more and transformed warfare in tribal zones (edges of the empire)
 Participating indigenous people also contributed to violence, especially
when it involved slave trading
 Slave trading was not new, but the scale of it was
o Body part trophies, coercion, war captives
o Europeans enlisted Natives to capture prisoners for trade
o English used the slave trade to build their empire
o Natives traded other Natives to purchase guns, ammunition, tools, and resources
made available with European trade
o Trading furs and skins does not necessarily involve warfare
 Trading slaves requires force, which can involve warfare
  Warfare became tied to commercial interests = intensified Native
commercial interests, warfare, and militarization of Natives seeking to
control trade
o Trade intensified warfare = militaristic slaving societies = internecine warfare,
dislocation, migration, amalgamation, extinction
 Existed only about 100 years (!620 to 1720)
o Natives of coalescent groups incurred debts when they accepted guns, etc. from
Europeans
 Europeans requested the debt be paid in slaves, furs, and skins
 Native groups used weapons to raid rival groups for slaves
 Members of rival groups would acquire guns to defend themselves and
would develop into slave raiders
 Cycle of slaving, trading, and weapons = several militaristic slaving
societies
o Slave trade commercialized
 A Preface to the Mississippian Shatter Zone
o

o “Beachheads of empire” by English, French, Spanish, and Dutch on Atlantic

seaboard by late 17th century
o Spanish establish mission system to convert Natives to Catholic, Spanish peasants
(FL)
 Also prohibited large scale trade with and selling of guns to Natives
o Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries establish missions to convert Natives to
Catholicism (FL and GA)
o Spanish sought to assimilate Natives
 Start conversion with mico
 Brought in things of Spanish life into their lives
  Brought European diseases
 Labor system = just as detrimental
 Native in Spanish Florida were a blend of Native and European culture
o But Spain was declining as a world power in the 17th century (29)
 Part of the blows to La Florida originated as shock waves in the northeast
where English, Dutch, and French colonial projects had political,
religious, and military contexts like that of the Spanish
 Colonies and trad by 1620s
 Prized furs (maybe more than slaves?)
o intra-Indian access to fur trade = root of intra-Indian
conflict and hostility
 intra-Indian hostility = first militaristic slaving
society: Five Nations Iroquois (NY)
 Warfare and raiding– effects felt widespread
(FL and Mississippi River)
o Shows how the Mississippi shatter
zone extends further (includes
Iroquois, Erie, Susquehannock, and
Shawnee)
o Great League of Peace and Power
 Joined by Mohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas, Senecas, and Cayugas (NY)
just prior to European contact
 Guaranteed peace and aid against outside aggressors for members
o Iroquois^^^
 Surrounded by Algonquin-speakers; the Hurons; the Petuns; the Neutrals;
the Wenros; the Mahicans; and the Susquehannocks
 Intense hostility generated by raids by Iroquois for was captives
(mourning wars–requickening)
 Mourning wars transformed by European disease and trade
 First recorded Old World disease among Iroquois in 1630s; epidemics in
1647, 1656, 1661, 1668, 1673, 1676
 95% population loss at the end of the 17th century
 Mourning wars began to be used to keep their numbers up
 Were not selling war captive to Europeans, but mourning wars
were incorporated into trade interests (along with hunting land
acquisition)
 Iroquois emptied surrounding areas of people (Mahicans, Hurons,
Petuns, Neutrals, Wenros, Eries– fled, formed new groups at the
Great Lakes, dislocated others to the Plains and south)
 Turned to distant groups in north and west by 1600 miles
(Abenakis, Ojibwa, Ottawas, Wyandots, Crees, Illinois, Miamis,
and Chipewyans)
 Moved to the lower midwest
o Ohio Valley (KT and VA) largely depopulated by mid-
1600s (may have been other factors too)
 o Refugees of raids moving into Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and
even further south
o New groups forming (Shawnee)
o Filtered down Atlantic seaboard
 Seneca harassing Delaware Bay
 Susquehannocks and other Northern groups forced
south and displacing and raiding Chesapeake Bay
Indians and other groups
o 1640 new trade opportunity in Jamestown = more militaristic slaving societies
 Commercial slaving to get guns and ammunition
 Example: Occaneechis
 Middle men for VA traders– controlling 500 miles of English
Southern trade
 Coalescing with Tutelos, Saponis, and some Susquehannocks
o Effects of slaving of groups like Iroquois and Occoneechee
 Turmoil, movement, instability of chiefdoms/villages
 Coalescence
 Refugees
o Chisca– another militaristic slaving society
 SW VA and E TN at de Soto’s time
 Raiding mission Indians (1620)
 In Spanish FL in 1624 (Iroquois disruptions)
 No evidence of selling directly to Europeans
 Ran out in 1677 by Apalachee-Spanish battle; retreated to shadows
o Westos- another militarists slaving society
 Incorporation into commercial slave trade system through English trade
partnership
 Two decades on Southern trade monopoly
 Originally Eries that fled Iroquois predation and moved (multiple
migrations)
 Slave raids for English against Natives in Georgia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Florida, and even central Alabama
 Consequences of their presence in the south
 Disappearance of Cofitachequi and other Piedmont chiefdoms
 Coalescences of the Creek Confederacy, the Alabamas and
Coushattas, and the Catawbas
 May have generated Native settlement around Charles Town
 Restricted movement because of Westos (W and S), Occaneechis
(N), and later Tuscaroras (N)
o Militaristic slaving societies outliving usefulness to English trade
 By 1680, European and Indian wars
 Occaneechis- diminished in Bacon’s Rebellion (1676); survivors moved
south
 Westos- destroyed by Shawnee mercenaries in the pay of Carolina traders
(1682)
  Chiscas (Tallapoosa River)- dispatched by the Apalachicola with English
guns (1686)
 Iroquois- reduced by wars with Europeans and Natives; retreat to NY and
Canada (1686)
o Second generation slaving societies - frenzy of slaving
 Tuscaroras- prevailing middlemen in the southern Piedmont
 Cherokees- salving in southwestern Appalachians and Piedmont
 Yuchis- mobile militaristic slavers by the early eighteenth century
 Yamasees (SC and GA)
 1685-1698: Abhikas, Alabamas, Tallapoosas, Apalachicolas, Cussetas,
and Cowetas (would later form Creek Confederacy in GA and AL) intense
slaving campaigns
 Chicasaws– westernmost slaving society of shatter zone
 North Mississippi
 Involved in slave trade 1680
 Controlled trade from Tombigbee to the lower Mississippi River
Valley by 1700
 Impact: forced many to abandon LMV
o Some groups joined Chickasaw, Natchez, or Caddo
o Some moved west or south
o Some went extinct
o Some coalesced with refugees of Creek raiding
 Success from monopoly held on English slave trade
 The Meaning of Transformation
o Other transformations: widespread Mississippian organization; reorganization
after fall of Cahokia
o Remained aspects of pre-contact after contact
o Responses to living in the shatter zone
 Splinter groups
 “petites nations” – new social types that did not coalesce, remained
small independent groups
 Aggregation– immigrant communities attach to functioning chiefdoms
(likely subordinate)
 Spanish FL
 Refugees of Westo and Yamasee slaving that fled to FL and joined
Apalchee or Timucuan
 Likely with Natchez or Powhatans
 Still did not withstand instability
o “Powhatan was destroyed by 1650 after a series of wars
with the English in Virginia. The chiefdoms of Spanish
Florida were destroyed by 1710. The Caddo chiefdoms
began to break up around the same time with the survivors
reconfiguring themselves into so-called confederacies.125
The Natchez chiefdom broke apart after its disastrous revolt
against the French in 1729, with splinter groups joining the
Chickasaws, Creeks, Caddos, and others.”
  Coalescence- multiple relocated chiefdoms/splinter groups join in new
social formation not necessarily resembling previous chiefdoms
 Yamasees, Creeks, Catawbas, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Caddo
confederacies, Alabama-Coushattas, and perhaps the Cherokees
 Variety of mechanisms (38-39)
o Contact did not leave Native lands completely destroyed
 Mississippian world collapsed BUT reformation and rebuilding
communities, new social orders, and political organization followed
 Maintained institutions
 Town councils, blood revenge, reciprocity, clan organization, corn
agriculture, hunting and gathering, and matrilineal kin system
 Transformed institutions
 Chiefdom hierarchical political institution
o Did not work in capitalist economy
o Europeans promoted internal factionalism
 Redefined power/authority from kinship/religious
sanction to economic prowess/international
diplomatic skills
 “People quit building platform mounds; craftspeople quit
producing elaborate religious and political paraphernalia; the
priestly cult used to buttress the elite was transformed into a cadre
of prophets administering to the common person; and chiefs were
no longer considered divine but mortal men and women” (40).
o Replaced by town councils of warriors/elders– every man
given equal opportunity to participate in decision making
o New South by 1730
 Polities de Soto saw were gone
 Replaced by Indian Nations: the Creek Confederacy, the Cherokee, the
Choctaw, the Chickasaw, the Catawba, and the Caddo confederacies
 Claimed large tracts of interior land, Europeans confined to coast
 Europeans soon exercise economic strength to expand- diving the South
 Thousands of Africans imported for slave trade
 Many joined Native coalescent societies
 Some Europeans married and had children with Natives
 Natives fully engaged in global trade system
 Clothes, guns, metal tools- common/necessary
 Trading deerskins– commercial hunting (deer came close to
extinction in the south)
 Still farming, fishing, hunting, gathering BUT NOW have
part0time occupations as guides, translators, mercenaries, postal
riders, horse thieves, slave catchers, and prostitutes
 Mississippian chiefdoms failed to rise again because of turmoil and
instability
 
Fox, William A
2009 Events as Seen from the North: The Iroquois and Colonial Slavery. In Mapping the
Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the
American South, edited by Robbie Franklyn Ethridge and Sheri Marie Shuck-Hall, pp. 63-80.
University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.
 Endemic warfare before Europeans arrived based on archaeological evidence– disruptive
violence
o Unrest exacerbated by transition to agricultural economy and increased
population
o Sacrificing prisoners linked to crop success, abundant game, and continuation of
the natural world
o Intense conflict suggested by 15th century palisades  and increased
cracked/burned human bone in 16th century middens
o Long distance movements in 16th century by groups in Neutral and Huron
confederacies
 But no warfare-related village abandonment archaeological evidence
o Warfare reflects beliefs about replacing dead (mourning wars)
 Iroquois political agenda of amalgamation of all Iroquoian people
o Evidence from the shatter zone: instability from commercial trade and colonial
struggles
 Explosion of Five Nations violence in the 17th century
o Needs layered approach
 Impacting Southern societies
 Acquisition of European goods for ritual = considering since contact
 Epidemics of 1630s and 1640s = recruiting replacements for dead
(mourning wars)
 Devastating epidemics = death toll = destabilization
o Fear of witchcraft
 European provision of firearms = advantage to war parties
 Rapid population growth - large number of young men = origin of
aggressive young male coalitions = contribute to violent conflicts
 ^^ triggering pre-contact violence in Ontario Iroquois after population
boom in 14th century
 Also explains aggression of prisoner captures (Neutral 1640s
capturing Fire Nation) in escalating long-term conflict
 Coalitional aggression demographic in late 1630s-1640s that fueled warfare
o Power structure weakened by epidemic losses
o Prevalent aggressive young men
o Spiritually and technologically superior weapon
o Defeated and dispersed Huron, Petun, and Neutral confederacies of 1649-1651
 Displacing survivors
 Early 17th Century Iroquoia
o Joint identity of Eries and Westos (equated to midcentury Richahecrians in VA;
participated in slave raids 1650s-1680s)
o Erie assemblage resembles Neutral assemblage (especially mortuary vessels)
o The Kahkwas, adjacent to southeastern Neutral group, were part of the Erie
confederacy
o Neutral confederacy: 8-9 groups in villages from southern Ontario into NY east of
the Niagara River
 Earlier people identified them as Neutrals, Eries, or Kakwas- conflicting
historical documentation and similar material culture of Neutral and Erie
 Eries separated from Neutrals shortly after Southwold
Earthenworks (about 1500)
 Neutrals and Eries were closely related, more so than eastern
neighbors (Seneca)
 Homeland north of Lake Erie
 French observers early 17th century: noted neutrality in relation to
endemic warfare of Five Nations Iroquois and Huron relations and
alliance with Odawa in wars against the Fire Nation (Gens de Feu;
“collective term for Central Algonquian-speaking groups later
known as the Kickapoos, Mascoutins, and Fox, among others, who
occupied lands at the western end of Lake Erie and along the
Detroit. Clair River corridor” (68))
 Very populous compared to Iroquoian groups (40,000 in 40
villages), more cosmopolitan and wide ranging in foreign contacts
(especially to the south)
o “Neutral groups had close ties with the proto-Shawnee Fort
Ancient peoples in the Ohio Valley, and some may have
had direct connections as far away as what is now central
Alabama. In addition, the Hurons through the Nipissings
and the Petuns through the Odawas maintained long-
distance connections with other Algonquian-speaking
nations far to the north and west, respectively. The Five
Nations Iroquois appear to have had more limited contact
with other Native groups beyond their immediate
neighbors.” (68)
 Animosities of antiquity between at least one Neutral group (probably the
Oheroukouarhronon, or People of the Swamp) and at least one of the
constituent groups of the Fire Nation (probably the Totontaratonhronon)
 Based on artifact evidence from southwest Ontario and northwest
Ohio
 Exact timing and basis unknown
o Though earthwork defenses as early as 15th century in both
groups
 Animosities with external groups
 Evidence at 1500 Lawson site (western Neutral citadel):
burned/fractured human bone in middens
 Late 16th century: this group moved east to Beverly Swamp, north
of Hamilton, and became known as the people of the Swamp
o Warfare on Northeast Native groups = raids and skirmishes
 Limited extent of most battles
  Example: Champlain’s frustration with Huron fighting tactics in
the 1615 campaign against the Five Nations Iroquois (Oneida or
Onondaga) 
 Neutral capture of hundreds on Central Algonquian-speaking prisoners in
early 1640s = stands out then
 May have been a form of mourning war from epidemic population
loss in the 1630s
 First large-scale forcible incorporation of alien people into
Iroquoian-speaking population
o 1640s = pivotal for Native relations in lower Great Lakes
 European trade competition = arming Five Nations Iroquois warriors with
muskets (particularly Mohawk)
 Substantial advantage
o Turned against general population of an Ontario Iroquoian
village
o 1648-1649 combined advantage with nontraditional
military tactics to out Hurons
o December 1649: dispersal of major portion of
Tionnontatehronnons (Petuns) and Kiskakon Odawas in
1650
 Neutral had had a peaceful relationship with Five Nations Iroquois until
late 1640s
 In 1651-1652, the epidemic-depleted Neutral confederacy
succumbed to the Seneca
o Refugees settled with the Seneca
o Jesuit retreated from Huronis 1650 (did not return until
1656 when they established a mission to Onondaga)
o Neutral abandonment - individuals dispersed widely
(Quebec, Detroit)
o Some of the Neutral People of the Swamp joined Seneca
 Suggested by the subsequent location of the
Sonontoua (Seneca) village of Outinaouatoua
adjacent to the Beverly swamp (Galinee 1667)
 Likely that the Ontario Iroquoian populations predominated among
Five Nations Iroquois villages established along northern Lake
Ontario shore from 1660 to 1680
 Substantial Neutral groups fled south to Erie confederacy (Sanson
map 1656) = boost Erie numbers in 4 year conflict with the Five
Nations
o Hurons arrived via Neutral territory with Neutral refugees
o Eries were defeated by Iroquois in 1656, dispersed, and
adopted into the Five Nations
 Know little history before this BUT the Neutrals
were familiar with southern nations in Ohio Valley
and western Neutral People of the Swamp were
proficient in capturing enemy people
  Neutral–Erie connection ^^^
 Historical evidence
o Father Ragueneau’s statement in 1645 that the Eries moved
far inland to escape their enemies
o Location of the Attioundarons, a Native group spanning the
Appalachians to the northeast of the colony of Virginia on
the “Nouvelle France” map of 1641
 Attiouendaronk is what the Huron called the
Neutral and the meaning of the word is “people of a
slightly different language” or, more literally, “their
words are some distance away.” 
 The Erie are identified to the north of the enigmatic
Attioundarons on the 1641 map, but the appellation
may represent a Neutral-Erie population who had
moved to the south
 Ontario Iroquoian-speaking people joined the Erie Confederacy in
early 1650s = Eries became a coalescent nation like the Five
Nations Iroquois
o Brought together different political agenda
 Some from recent trauma with underlying
motivation in Erie-Seneca war (1654-1657)
o Defenders of Erie village were armed with muskets by
1650s
 Erie may have migrated to the VA frontier in mid
1650s in resident that was familiar with English
colony economic needs
 Migrants were likely armed with muskets and
familiar with large scale enemy capture, lacking a
containing social structure = prime candidates for
prominent role in commercial slaving
 Evidence of Erie origins of the Westos
 Father Jean de Lamberville’s letter from
Onnontague (Onondaga), penned on August
25, 1682: “six hundred men, women, and
Children of the nation of the chats [Eries],
near Virginia, surrendered voluntarily (to the
Iroquois), for fear that they might be
compelled to do so by force.”
 The Carolinians in concert with Shawnees
(Savannah) were pursuing Westos in 1682
 This return north and surrender near VA by
a group of Eries after the Westo War of
1860 ties Erie identity to the Westo
 Slavery among Iroquois
o Three classes of captives
  Those who voluntarily had integrated within Five Nations communities
following their capture
 Those captives who had fallen from esteemed status in their own villages
 Those young women and girls who had not yet married into their captive
communities.
o Considered for conversion
o Mourning war captives- serve as slaves in 17th century
o Descriptions from European writing
 Immediate death
 Torture
 Spared and roles in community
 Many as burdeners
 Roles determined by matriarch of community
 Some assumed prominent roles but all were subject to death
 Death may have been metaphorical– assuming new identity
 Slave status was not inherited– free members of society they were born
into
 Iroquois slavery was not chattel slavery
 17th century Wars of the Iroquois against New France and her Native allies
o Response to policies threatening survival, not necessarily response to mercantile
desire of Iroquois to participate in Euro-American economy
 Iroquoian motives into the South
o Riads based in Iroquois values and angry-young-man demographic brought on
with epidemic cycles
 New groups incorporated into Iroquois society brought own agendas for revenge
o Inability of Five Nations to naturalize captives returned to Iroquoia in later 17th
century
 “reflected in the migration of significant numbers of “Iroquois” to
Christian settlements along the St. Lawrence River (primarily the Huron),
the establishment of the Ohio Seneca to the west (primarily the Neutral),
and probably also the establishment of the north Lake Ontario shore
Seneca, Cayuga, and Oneida communities (probably the Neutral and
Huron)” (74)
 These people were not being sold/traded in commercial slavery
system and were not required to support Native communities in
Five Nations homeland so they had the option to migrate and break
away from the Five Nations
 Iroquois were fully occupied throughout later 17th century in complex political
negotiations and tactical war maneuvers dedicated to protecting their sovereignty in the
face of Europeans
o Suffered from epidemics
o Wars led to unleashing young men to capture slaves to boost numbers
o Fluctuating Five Nations population in early 18th century = little to no
contribution to Euro-American slave economy
 A coalition of Iroquoian-speaking people (Westos) participated in Indian slave trade until
they became victims
 o Some remnants of the Westos retreated north to join the Five Nations Iroquois
(maybe the mohawk) and others joined various groups forming the Creek Nation
(maybe because of relationships established 50 years prior by Neutrals of the
Niagara region)
 Neutral-Westo warriors may have influence Henry Woodward’s brokering
of English alliance with Creeks in 1685
 Five and then Six Nations Iroquois continued southern raids in early to mid 18th century
o Two reasons
 The Great Peace of Montreal in 1701 with the French and their Native
allies effectively closed the east, north, and west to their war parties
 The French encouraged (and revenge traditions dictated) the Iroquois
continue to divert their young men to the south, especially following the
adoption of the Susquehannocks in 1677 and the Tuscaroras in 1715.
o 18th century Iroquoian attacks on southern groups (Catawbas, Cherokees, Creeks,
Chickasaws, and Choctaws) contributed to shattering of tradition political and
emerging coalitions in the South
 But many actions of the Iroquois were directs to preserving their own
culture from external threats and internal stress
 
Meyers, Maureen
2009 From Refugees to Slave Traders: The Transformation of the Westo Indians. In Mapping the
Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the
American South, edited by Robbie Franklyn Ethridge and Sheri Marie Shuck-Hall, pp. 81-103.
University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.
 Actions of one Native group reverberated throughout the South: the Westo Indians
o Arrived at the James River fall 1656
 Debated origins
 Significant stay in VA with long-ranging consequences for Native
Southerners, even in FL
 Defeated rival Pamunkeys at the James River 1656, secured agreement
with VA traders to leave the area and procure Native slaves from the
interior in exchange for guns
 Appeared in the Savannah River Valley within a few years with a
known presence– feared because of capture and trade of local
groups
o Later threatened English colonists– armed the Savannah to annihilate the Westos
o The Westos altered Native lives within 25 year but disappeared by the end of the
17th century
 Little known historically/archaeologically
 Origins, relations to other Native groups in the mid-Atlantic in 17th
century, role in colonial VA, actions starting in 1656 that reverberated
beyond VA
o Relationships with VA colonists affected settler fortune; enslaving southern
Indian tribes commercialized slavery there
o Ethridge’s shatter zone of the south mass have encompassed all of Eastern
Woodlands
  Influenced rise of militaristic slaving societies, intense internecine
warfare, migration, coalescence, and extinction
 The Westos history illustrates the effect of this zone on the Eastern
seaboard
 Westo Origins
o Theory of Verner Crane: Westos were the same group at the Richahecrians that
appeared in VA in 1656 from the mountains, settling on the James River
 The Westos (Richahecrians) were displaced northeastern natives (Eries or
Iroquois)
 Evidence from longhouse common to northeastern groups
o Displace Eries (Bowne)
 Eries = lived west of Five Nations Iroquois and were a coalescent society
(incorporated groups like Huron, Neutral, and Wenro), one of the last to
hold against Five Nations aggression
 A faction of the group (Richahecrians) moved to VA in 1656 followed by
a defeat by the Five Nations Iroquois
 Because of the coalescent nature of the Eries in the first place
 References as cannibals
 Connection to mourning war ritual
o Ritual torture, ease grief of those lost in war
o Linked to European trade in 17th century
o Led to captive raiding and displacement of northeastern
people, some of which migrated south
 They found it more advantageous to below VA Fall
Line where Europeans had not yet established trade
with northern Native groups
 Henry Woodwards descriptions of West town along Savannah River in
1680 as evidence (Green)
 Multiple accounts of Richahecrians settling in Virginia the same
year the Eries were defeated by the Iroquois
 Similarity between Southern names for the Westo and Northern
names for the Eries
 Eries moved in response to threats from enemies and acted as
middlemen trading VA marine shell for northern beaver pelts
o Other groups may have made up Richahecrians-Westos
 Westos were a splinter group of the Neutral Confederacy and may have
contained more people from the Neutrals, Eries, and Wenroes that were a
part of the Neutral Confederacy
 Wenroes
 Short for Huron “Wenrohronon”
 Near Cuba NY
 Oil for medicine- controlled oil spring
 First victims of Five Nations Iroquois in Beaver Wars of min-17th
century
o Protected with alliance with Eries to west and Neutrals to
north; alliance ended in 1639 leaving them vulnerable
  Defeated by Senecas 1640s
 Then moved to Ontario and joined the Neutral Confederacy
o The Huron Confederacy provided refuge for six hundred
Wenroes
 Most destroyed with Iroquois overtook the Huron Confederacy in
1649 and Neutrals in 1651
 Neutrals
 Stronger ties to Eries, though not always friendly
 Early 17th century: expanded territory west from southern Ontario
into lands of Algonquin-speaking groups = tension
o In 1635, gave refuge to Aouenrehronon (Iroquoian-
speaking group from the western end of Lake Erie) that
also encroached on Algonquin territory
o Drove out Algonquiand from Ontario 1630s and 1640s =
escalated Iroquois and Neutral tension
 Tension led to western Iroquois attack and defeat of Neutrals in
1650 - Neutrals absorbed into Five Nations
o Some fled across Great Lakes to Hurons
o Some reached Susquehannocks in Pennsylvania
o Many joined Eries and were treated as slaves
 Iroquois defeated Eries in 1656 = Neutral ceased to
exist
o Possible origin: formerly with Five Nations Iroquois
 Line of evidence
 Five Nations Iroquois were better equipped than Eries with guns
o Likely that only the Iroquois could have produced enough
well-armed warriors to defeat the Pamunkeys in 1656.
 After the Iroquois defeated the Eries, those not incorporated into
the Five Nations were few in number.
o In contrast, based on documentary sources, Alan Gallay has
estimated that the Westos comprised a population of a few
thousand.
 In 1661 the Jesuit priest Lalemont recorded the presence of
Iroquois warriors in Virginia who had come “to avenge Iroquois
warriors who were killed there eight or nine years ago.”
o Suggests:
 If 8 to 9 year time estimate…killings occurred 1652
or 1653 before Richahecrians appeared on James
River in 1656
 Iroquois could have been in the region
before that, though
 If a miscalculation… Lalemont may be referring to
1656 battle between Pamunkeys (powhatan) and
Richahecrians at Battle of Bloody Run
  Many reference to Richahecrians written by Virginians could refer
to Five Nations Iroquois because the Virginians used the term as a
generic reference to hostile Northern Indian groups
o Bowne notes, “there is some evidence that versions of the
term ‘Rickahakians’ were used and understood by early
Virginians as a generic term for aggressive native groups
beyond the borders of the colony about whom the colonists
had very little information.”
 Northern Trade and Southern Migrations
o Richahecrians may have settled southern VA as early as 1585 with the group on
the James River falls in 1656 being related to them (Green)
 John Smith’s 1608 map: town of Ricahokene is one of four Weapemeoc
villages on the north side of Albemarle Sound; shows town of
Righkahauck on Chickahominy River which is interpreted (by Green) as
representing a movement north by the same group
 1621, Smith notes that Runnagados fled after treason to James
River under command of Itoyatin (brother and successor of
Powhatan, head of Powhatan Confederacy)
o Green explains that the group under Itoyatin participated in
the 1622 Jamestown Massacre before fleeing to the
mountains
 Archaeological evidence: Gaston ware (typical ceramic of upper James;
sand and crushed quartz-tempered type with simple stamping
 Significant ware of Powhatan
o Associated with the Powhatan, Appomattox, Arrohattoc,
and Weanock groups, most of which are listed as groups
inherited by Powhatan as part of the Confederacy
o Associated with such Iroquoian-speaking groups to the
south as the Nottoway, Meherrin, and Tuscarora
 Powhatan, his father, and his brother were Pamunkeys from the
southern or southwest of Jamestown; other groups were
incorporated into the Confederacy via alliance, not war
o Mid-17th century maps: Attioundaron, located in both Huron and Neutral territory
in upper Ohio River Valley
 May have been used by Hurons and Neutral when referring to one another
(people of different language) (Trigger)
 May have been Monongahela dispersed by Seneca Iroquois in 1635 and
were known as Massowomacks in early 17th century (Johnson)
 The Massowomacks resided in Chesapeake Bay and raided and traded
beaver pelts and whelk shell, acting as middlemen between Neutrals and
southern Eastern Shore Algonquians (Johnson and Pendergast)
 May have bene a confederation of Eries and Neutrals originally from Ohio
Valley in late prehistoric period– traded with northern Iroquoian neighbors
and assumed middleman position in early 17th century
 The Seneca Iroquois dispersed the Massowomacks 1635
  Seneca were previously excluded from shell/beaver trade; after
Henry Fleet began trade with Natives in 1631 in Chesapeake Bay,
the Seneca began destroying/dispersing other groups with control
over beaver resources in upper Ohio Valley and Upper Great Lakes
 1635-1636 dispersal of Massowomack-Monongahela-Attioundaron
= dispersed people moved into Susquehannock territory and
became known as the Black Minquas
o Northern-Mid-Atlantic trade connection
 Shell
 Archaeological evidence: northern Iroquoian speakers, likely the
Attiondaron-Massowomack-Monongahela, were trading shell to
the north
 Copper spirals and beaver pelt effigy from graves at the site
 Copper and brass spirals indicative of trade “between the Five
Nations Iroquois and the Susquehannock and protohistoric
Monongahela and Madisonville phase Fort Ancient people
between about 1550 and 1640.”
 Dutch beads at Abbyville site early 17th century: evidence of two historic
occupations
 Tied to northern groups
 Found on both Niagara Frontier and Seneca Iroquois sites as well
as on Neutral and Huron sites in southern Ontario where they are
more popular
 Abbyville ceramic, metal, and bead artifacts = northern connection to mid-
Atlantic region
 Dutch beads and beaver pelts = beaver pelt trade moving south in
early 17th century
 Northern, Iroquoian-speaking groups (the Monongahelas-
Massawomacks-Attioundaron) were procuring shell and beaver
pelts from Virginia and trading them north to the Neutrals and
other groups in exchange for European goods
 Seneca Iroquois excluded temporarily from shell and possibly beaver pelt
trade after 1610
 Likely 1630 when Massowomacks were making inroads into VA
 Decrease in shell at Seneca NY 1590-1630
 Decreases as Seneca as increases at Huron, Petun, and Neutral
 Most shell coming from Chesapeake Bay
 1635 Seneca defeat of Massowomacks = reopen access to shell and
beaver trade = increase in shell  in graces after 1635
 Westos became middlemen in marine shell trade soon after 1656 VA
arrival, but may have been following already established trade route
 The Battle of Bloody Run
o Westos were 600-700 people when settled at falls of James River 1656
o VA colonists immediately organized militia from Pamunkeyes (largest group of
Powhatan Confederacy) who likely had their own reasons to attack (maybe for
regional control)
 o Westos were allied with Susquehannocks, which may have provoked Pamunkeys
that were enemies of Susquehannocks
o Battle occurred at Richahecrian settlement on James River
o English and Pamunkey made way to settlement, English rested and Pamunkey
continued… Richahecrians drove Pamunkey back and killed Totopotomoy
o Creek nearby became known as Bloody Run
o English militia retreated
 Later regretted because 20 years later the Pamunkey queen used their
failure and lack of compensation for their losses to refuse aiding colonists
in Bacon’s Rebellion
o Pamunkeys were the only native group to join colonists
 Dominated native on VA coastal plain– under Powhatan– even when he
dies, his brother (Opechancanough.) held the balance of power
 Broke apart after brother’s death
 1646:  Opechancanough’s successor Necotowance (King of the Indians)
ceded most Powhatan territory to English in VA government treaty
 Totopotomoy replaced him in 1649
 Referred to as King of Pamunkey = shifting political alliances and
dissolution of confederacy
 Was an English ally unlike predecessors
 Colonists and Traders along the James River in the 1650s
o After Richahecrian victory at Bloody Run, VA government sued for peace in
1656
o Colony wanted to open trade with interior Indians
 Aspiring traders saw their chance after the battle to seize control of trade
 Abraham Wood replaced Edward Hill as militia leader
 Knew colony wanted peace– initiated VA trade relationship with
natives
 Other wealthy Indian traders in the region and some likely had agreements
with the Richahecrians
 Thomas Stegge II plantation at James River falls 1656 (Belvidere
and Falls Plantation)
o Established successful trade with southern VA and W NC
Indians
 William Byrd I (Stegge’s nephew) continued to run Stegge’s
business
o Acquired tracks on both sides of James River
o Active trading post 1673
o Well-known trading path emerged
o Also imported white indentured servants, African, and
West Indies slaves
o Owned a salve ship later capture by French privateers
o Became a political leader though primarily slave trader
o Competed with Wood
 Trading family of Thodorick Blank and sons
 Edward Hill
  A Hill and Wood partnership
 Likely at disadvantage
 Hill’s actions against Richahecrians at Bloody Run
 A Bland-Stegge-Byrd I partnership
 More advantage
 Stegge had advantage: property located across from Bloody Run where
Richahecriand were settling
 Virginia Council contributed to Stegge’s advantage in securing
trade agreement too
o Though Jamestown Massacre 1622 placed trade
restrictions, they were lifted in 1656 = direct trade with
Natives allowed
o Trade establishments were designated by trade regulations,
and Indians were required to get a license stipulating with
whom they would trade
 One of Bland’s plantations was called Westover, which was later sold to
Byrd I
 May account for name transition to “Westos”
 May have been shorthand for Westover on trade agreement though
the first record of the name does not appear until 1670 in a warning
from SC natives to the British
o Richahecrians moved to Savannah River to raid Spanish mission Indians and low
country groups– how did they know where to get claves though?
 VA colonists had close ties with SC colonists through correspondence of
James Needham, Wood, and Henry Woodward = advantage to both VA
and SC colonists
 The Virginia Colony and the End of the Westo
o 1660s Richahecrians moves south and settled on the Savannah River near
Augusta = became known as the Westos
 John Lederer’s 16732 journey to North Carolina– encountered them on
Occaneechi Island
 Evidence of raiding groups in GA and FL early as 1659
 John Worth describes Indians from VA (likely Westos, called
Chichimecas by the Spanish) raiding native groups north of FL by 1661
 Southern groups fled Westo slavers and went to interior Spanish missions
but the Chichimecos began attacking missions and used the Savannah
River as a vantage point
 Raiding continued through the 1660s
 Interior GA became a buffer between musket-bearing Chichimecos on the
Savannah River and the established mission provinces of SE GA coastline
 By 1670 when English landed in Charles Town, native groups were
seeking alliances with Europeans for safety against the Westos
o 1670s fateful blows to the Westos
 Other southern groups were acquiring guns and competing with Westos
for slaves to trade with English
 Occaneechis became a threat
  Westos secured a trade agreement with Henry Woodward after Charles
Town was established = opened trade relations with English in SC
 Allowed for Westos to gain guns/ammunition without
expense/risks of transporting slaves to VA
 Westos reign came to an end when Charles Town planters and business
men (Goose Creek Men) staged a trade coup against Lord Proprietors and
Westo monopoly
 Goose Creek Men hired Savannah (Shawnee) mercenaries to
annihilate Westos (to open trade into the interior)
 Only 50 Westo warriors left in 1682; completely disappeared by 1715
 Virginia government also played a role
 1650s-1670s: Virginia Council passed laws to regulate trade
 1656: all freemen were granted the right to trade with natives but
forbidden to trade guns, powder, and shot
o Revoked 1658-1659
o But because colonists felt unsafe with armed natives, the
Council passed a law requiring participants in trade to
obtain a commission from the colony’s governor
 1662: another law passed, prohibiting trade with Northern Indians
o Benefit colonists trading with Westos
 Law sanctioned selling of guns to them
 Gave Westos and Occaneechis sole rights to trade
with VA colonists- limiting competition from other
groups
 1665: tensions = sale of arms prohibited, with strict fines
 1676: increased Indian raids (precipitating Bacon’s Rebellion) =
selling Natives guns, etc. ends in forfeiting estates and death
o Bacon’s Rebellion
 First rebellion against the Crown
 Linked to Indian slave trade
 September 1675: Susquehannocks raided plantations/farmsteads of
Bacon and Byrd I
o Consequence of these attacks = Bacon’s Rebellion
 Feared Northern Indian incursions would disrupt
their trade
 Bacon attacked the Occaneechis (enemy and recent
murderers of the Westos, and, as the rebellion
proceeded) and Pamunkeys (fought the
Richahecrians as English allies twenty years earlier)
 Attacked other Indian traders (Edward Hill-
failed Bloody Run militia leader, despised
by poor farmers of Bacon’s forces)
 Result for groups like Westos = Indians would no longer control trade
o 17th century exponential increase in African slaves
o Circumstance in VA aligned against the Westos
 Threat of Occaneechis
  Cost of slave transport to VA
 Political and economic situation
 Drove them to trade with SC
 Conclusion
o Colonial Virginia political climate seen with the Westos
o Origins in Erie, Wenro, Huron, Neutral, or even Five Nations Iroquois (not
enough evidence)
o 17th century incursions into VA by Massowomack and Monongahela made VA
known to northern groups
o Multiple colonists in VA had alliance with Westos
 Trading partnership with Indian traders Stegge, Bland, and Byrd may have
led to “Westo” name (from Westover) as moniker for Richahecrians
o Westo demise instigated by SC traders also affect by VA colonists and actions
with Bacon’s Rebellion
o Relationships of Natives in Eastern Woodlands
 Abbyville: northern beaver and shell trade before mid 17th century
 Trade route may have lured Richahecrians to VA in 1656
 VA and SC colonist relationships (Henry Woodward) may have helped
direct Westo movements southward
 This precipitated slaving in that region
 Trade connected the Northeast with the South
 Seen with ability of Westos to make their way down the east coast
o Westos “originate in the upper Northeast; move south almost to Florida; negotiate
with the French, Dutch, English, and Spanish; and successfully survive” (100)
 Natives shaped stuff without the Europeans
 
Bowne, Eric E.
2009 “Caryinge awaye their Corne and Children”: The Effects of West Slave Raids on the Indians of
the Lower South. In Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade
and Regional Instability in the American South, edited by Robbie Franklyn Ethridge and Sheri
Marie Shuck-Hall, pp. 104-114. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.
 Chiefdoms of 1500s (Spanish explorers) transformed into coalescent societies of 1700s
o European accommodation
o Large role of Northern Indians invading Southern Indian homeland in 1656 until
1682 and inflicting violence (Westos)
 European trade in Indian slaves = important economic component of early colonial South
and English empire
o 1660-1715: about 50,000 Indian captured by other Indians and sold into slavery in
VA and Carolina colonies
 Often resold to sugar plantations in Caribbean (though few records on
shipping)
o Semiclandestine nature was to avoid regulation/taxation
o Drastic effects on Southern Indian social and political organization
o Westo Indians = preeminent slave raiders in the region
 Westos entered historical record as the Eries in 1630s
 o Erie confederacy converged on southern Lake Erie, made of Eries and Neutrals,
before European contact
o 1640s: Eries pursued trading partnership with Susquehannocks of northern
Chesapeake Bay
 Exchange beaver pelts for European items (like firearms) that the
Susquehannocks got from Virginians
 Five Nations Iroquois (NY) also trading with Europeans in northeast
 1650s: European demand for beaver pelts increase Native trade
competition = Beaver Wars
o Eries fared badly in Beaver Wars
 Struggled with Five Nations and abandoned homeland, moving south out
of reach of their enemies in 1656
o Arrived at SW VA frontier (Virginians called the Richahecrians)
 Formed trade partnership with Abraham Wood
 Virginians wanted beaver pelts but also slaves to work tobacco fields
 Richahecrians stage raids against natives in Spanish FL by 1659
o Southern Indians did not have guns = easy targets
o 1660s: moved to Savannah River (GA-SC boundary) and continued raiding
Spanish missions
 “Westos” name originated in 1670 Carolina– local Indians used the name
 1663-1674: Westos assaulted Indian groups to steal corn/capture Natives that they would
transport to VA and sell as slaves
o Local Indians sought protection against Westos
o 1674: Lords Proprietors of Carolina collaborated with English trade Henry
Woodward and established trade with Westos, thinking slaves would be captured
only from interior, nonallied Indians
 1674-1690: Lord Proprietors fought with Carolina planters for control of
trade
 The proprietors' monopoly on trade with Westos angered planted
because exporting deerskins, beaver pelts, and slaves was the most
lucrative economy activity of the time and place
 Westos military advantage had to be challenged from planters
could take control of trade
o 1680: planters financed war against Westos = forced them
to abandon their town on Savannah River
 Only 50 warriors left by 1682
 Thousands of slaves before end of West War in
1682- Westos = main Indian slavers
 Westo aggression affected Spanish FL social geography in 1660s
o Missionary and native flock dispersion over wide area = vulnerable to Westos
o Illegal to trade arms to Native along Spanish borders = Westos had a weapon
advantage (destabilized region’s population)
o Spanish mission system offered some retreat/protection against Westos
o Raiding forced interior groups into Spanish FL
o Emptied populations
 Westos = impetus for Yamasee formation (diverse confederacy recorded in 1662)
 o Coalesced in 1663 along lower coast of SC between Westos and Spanish mission
of Guale
o Became Spanish allies but resisted conversion
o Eventually left Spanish, moved closer to Carolinians
o Eventually replaced Westos as preeminent slavers
 By 1667: Westos attacking Indian settlements along SC coast
o Local Indians sought protection from Westos = intimately associated with
Carolina colony living with settlers
o Would trade food for protection
 Relief for coastal Natives: 1674 agreement between Westos and Carolinians to take
slaves from interior, nonallied groups
o Westos turned main attention to Indian provinces in interior SC and NC
 Began to enslave Cofitachequi on Wateree River in SC
o Likely went into terms with English before since they were the only ones who
could defend them
o Influenced several villages as late as 1670, disappeared in 1670s (may have been
disease, but there is more to the story: Significant depopulation did not occur in
Carolina piedmont until after 1650)
 Became a principal target for Westos raids
 Westo aggressions may have also led to political coalescence into Creek Confederacy
o Refugees of Spanish frontier slave raids in 1660s
o Accelerated by slave raids
 Formation of coalescent societies in height of slave trade
o Creek Nation: Ocheses, Hitchitis, Ocmulgees, and Cowetas, as well as dozens of
others.
o Catawba Confederacy: saws, Waterees, Congarees, and Sugarees
o New social identities
 Creeks, Catawbas, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Cherokees
o Reaction to slave trade
 South unrecognizable by 1700
o Some Mississippian world still intact like political diversity of chiefdoms
 Diversity disappeared by 1700
o Westo raids = refugees can either seek Spanish/English settler protection or join
with other Native groups
o Four decades after Westos were forced to abandon Lake Erie = South with
characteristics common in Northeast Beaver Wars
 Native polity decrease
 Almost all male Indians had firearms by 1700
 Hunting and slaving economy affected those not even involved with
Europeans
o ^^^ propelled by Westos military advantage - powerful stimulus for other groups
to acquire firearms

Additional Articles:

Mair, Edward
 2020 Slaves and Indians. History Today (February 2020): 60-69.
 Intro
o Native slaveholding = institution with long history
 Not as compassionate as commonly written about
o Europeans did not introduce slavery but definitely changed its emphasis, scale,
and traits
 Captives
o Initial process of slavery = captives in war
o Slaveholding before 18th century: dominated by prestige
 Slaves as physical markers of dominance
o Small chiefdoms in Mississippian- inequality
 Captives: upheld inequality system; lacked kinship = unworthy
 Role in hierarchy: community brought together based on shared
understanding that they were above those lacking kinship
o Varied between nations and even towns within nations
o System well-established before Africans
 Slave trade
o 18th century: firmly established European settlements
 Natives saw advantage in trade, especially with muskets
 = perfect conditions for rise of slave trade
 = moving away from tradition captive-taking and more toward European
trade/exploitation system
o Encouraged by Europeans = weakened threats, fulfilled labor shortage
 Offered goods = turn nations against one another = old alliances collapse
and power shifted
 Encourage with better rewards
o Focus = women and children
 Killed warriors, kidnapped rest
o Soon overshadowed bt Atlantic slave trade because was easier than dangerous
Native slave trade
 Colonial values
o Natives pressured to adopt Anglo-American norms
 Agriculture
 Forced into market economy– first embraced
o Natives started to rely on black slaves in the 19th century
o Slaveholding was a way to reinforce power
 Abolition
o Mid-19th century Indian removal = strengthened racial divide in Native
communities
 Cherokee harsh slave codes throughout the 19302
o Emancipation Proclamation (1863) did not extend to Five Tribes to partly
maintain their slaveholding practices
o 1866 treaties with U.S. to end chattel slavery in Indian Country

Wallace, Paul A.
1956 The Iroquois: A Brief Outline of Their History. Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic
Studies 23(1): 15-28. 
 Five United Nations of Iroquois call themselves “the Longhouse”
o Describes geographic relationships and Confederacy government
o Five independent people- five dialects of a common root language
o Villages across northern NY from beyond Schenectady to Genese Rivers
 East to west: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca
 Three Elder Brothers:
o Mohawks = “Keepers of the Eastern Door”
o Senecas = “Keepers of the Western Door
o Oneidas: tended central council fire
 Three Younger Brothers:
o Oneidas (affiliated with Mohawks)
o Cayugas (affiliated with Senecas)
o Later: Tuscaroras and Delawares
 Federal council met at Oneida
o Light political bond
o Nations of the League sent representatives to Onondaga Council but retained
sovereignty
o Checks and balances (With veto)
o Periodic Great Council meetings
o Impressive religious ritual
 Typical housing: long frame house with many families
 Iroquois History
o Founding of Confederacy
 No documentation, probably around mid-15th century
 Described in legend
 Patriotic incentive that held them together
 Gave wars a religious crusade complexion
 Facts
 Slow band of five nations through local confederation process
against strong opposition until two men (Deganawvidah and
Hiawatha) held influence
 Union complete with Tree of Peace planted on Onondaga Lake
shore
 Belief in divine origin of League
o Coming of Europeans: economic revolution
 At first contact: recognized European manufacturing superiority
 Brisk trade = eventually depended upon white man’s goods
 Were agricultural people/good farmers (corn)
 But was not acceptable to trade for weapons
 Instead traded furs (beaver) = energy devoted to hunting/marketing hides
in exchange for guns, powder, broadcloth, hoes and axes
 = brought almost immediate near-disaster
o Great War for Survival: Beaver Wars; conflict over fur trade
 Intensive hunting exhausted hunting grounds
 o Left with choice: find new hunting ground or capture
position as middlemen
 Tough: powerful and suspicious neighbors
 Pressed by Mahicans and Hudson
 Susquehannocks to the south: jealous of
Dutch/Swede trade on Schuylkill River
 Hurons to the north: great merchants;
middlemen to Montreal French who had
trade monopoly with Indians north of Great
Lakes
 Neutral Nations west of Senecas: allied with
Hurons
 New France
o Did not want trade monopoly to
suffer because brought in wealth and
made Indians reliant on them =
control on allies
 Tried to make commercial treaty with Hurons but French put a
stop to it
 Iroquois took to piracy
o Raided French trade on St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers:
ambushed Huron fur fleers
o Successful and made French reconsider policy
 1645: French (and Huron) made peace with
Iroquois
 Huron were now in trade with Iroquois
 1646: Huron fur fleet of 80+ canoes came from northwest (protected by
Iroquois) and descended to Montreal
 Iroquois allowed no part in trade
 12 bales of fur the French didn’t have merchandise enough to
purchase went back to Huronia
 Mohawks: enraged with open breach of commercial terms of the
treaty = sent war belts to Senecas and Onondagas
 Iroquois in strong military position in relations to French
 Had Dutch (and late English) to supply them with guns and
powder
 BUT French had the terrain to tighten hold on nations surrounding
Iroquois
 1647: Hurons made alliance with Susquehannocks
 Hurons also sent embassy to negotiate separate peace with
Onondagas and Cayugas (taking advantage of loose Iroquois
political bond)
o Would split confederacy apart and leave Mohawks and
Senecas to shift for themselves
 = Mohawks and Senecas dispatched forces to break Huron and
Onondaga and Susquehannock communication
 Attacks on Huron
 1648: inconclusive fighting
 Large Huron trading fleet successfully brought through Mohawk
blockade = Mohawk loss
 Mohawks and Senecas sent a thousand hunters to Ontario to
rendezvous months later
o March 16, 1649: stormed and took St. Ignace (Huron town)
and set on fire
 Next day Iroquois set St. Louis on fire
o Huron counter attack led Iroquois to not press on Huron
stronghold (Ste Marie) and returned to their own country
 = Huron panic
o Fled and took refuge on Christian Island, among Neutrals,
made way to Eries, some to Tree of Peace, north to Ottawas
 Attack on Huron = beginning
 War for Survival: Iroquois disposed of whole nations: Petuns 1649,
Neutrals 1650-51, Eries 1654
 War with Mahicans and Susquehonnocks: different matter
 Mahicans drove Mohawks from lower Castle on Mohawk River
east of Cholarie Creek in 1626
o Last great battle at Hoffman’s Ferry: Mohawks defeated
Mahicans 1669
o Peace 1673
 Susquehannocks had strong military tradition
o 1663 turned back Seneca force of 800 men
o Raided Iroquois repeatedly
o Marylanders turned against them = dislodged from
riverbank stronghold
o Iroquois conquest = dispersion
 Grew out of struggle for fur trade control but grew into war for survival
 Iroquois emerged in 1675 as strongest military power on continent
o Won title to vast territory NY, Pennsylvania, Ohio, much of
Maryland and Virginia
o Delaware Indians (formerly subject to Susquehannocks)
now “props to the Longhouse”
 Beaver Wars as a whole = failure as commercial venture
 Dispersing Hurons did not make Iroquois middlemen in fur trade
o Hurons carried on trade with French after dispersal
 After defeat of Neutrals and Eries, Senecas spread west and
developed profitable trade win Ohio and Mississippi Valleys
o Susquehannocks raided Seneca trade routes and forded
Seneca to dispatch warriors to escort traders home
 BUT Susquehannock expulsion in 1675 = rid Iroquois of danger but
exposed them to others
 Susquehanna Valley opened = contact with English in
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia = problems
  Other issues arise
 Virginia Carolina Road
o Warpath from Five Nations country
 Through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia
 To Conoys, Tuteloes, Tuscaroras, Catawbas, and
Cherokee country
o Warriors traveled to punish those that harborerd
Susquehannocks
o Sometimes war parties met settlers
o Iroquois expect to find provisions in Virginia but settlers
refused them food
 Warriors helped themselves and settlers brought out
guns
o To avoid this: 1685 Virginia road rerouted further west to
Blue Ridge
 Peace for a while but population thrust west overran
path soon
o 1722: moved west of mountains into Shenandoah Valley =
Blue Ridge as boundary between English and Iroquois
 Defenseless Susquehanna Valley after Susquehannock expulsion in
1675
o Solution: fill area with Indian refugee populations
 Iroquois policy to care for defeated people that
appealed for sanctuary
 Offered asylum for Shawnees and Conoys,
Tuscarorars, Delawares, naticokes
o Colonies placed at strategic points, usually at important
trail/canoe route junctions
 Vice regents or “half kings” appointment to
superintend
o Iroquois had special agents to ensure rival was organized
with food/transportation
o Moved upriver as white settlements caught up with them to
prevent war
 Reminder of growing European influence
o Balance of Power: maintaining importance through neutrality between English
and French
 Montreal Treaty of 1701: Turning point for Iroquois
 Result of Five Nation uneasiness with English expansion
 Saw need to counter-balance weight internationally
 History of French/Iroquois reprisals starting with  New France
punishing Iroquois for raids on fur fleets
o Iroquois wanted better shar of fur trade but not war
o French wanted to be free of Iroquois terror
 o French realized they could not destroy Iroquois; Iroquois
realized they needed the French as counter-weight to
English
 English did what they could to stop French and Iroquois
accommodations
o Reminded Iroquois they were English subjects
o Didn’t want to lose trade monopoly, northern protection, or
manpower
 Five Nations made peace with French and their Indians allies at
Montreal in 1701
o French invited Iroquois to trade at Detroit
o Iroquois promised to remain neutral
 But didn’t abandon the English– renewed friendship at Albany
o Dispersion: migration after Revolutionary War to Canada- reestablished
Longhouse on banks of Great River
 French and Indian War: Iroquois were neutral
 Officially, though some scattered partnerships
 New France fell 1763 = English cease to court Iroquois
 Iroquois were divided at American Revolution
 Oneida sided with colonists
 Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas sided with British
 Dispersion after war
 Canada
 Six Nations Reserve (Tuscarora = 6th) near Brantford, Ontario
 Many remain in NY and Pennsylvania
 Move to reservations in the West
 Late 18ths to early 19th century: unhappiest years in Longhouse history
 International power = gone
 Scattered fires
 Reservations
 Morale collapse
 Handom Lake (Seneca prophet visions)
 Started strong national religious movement
 Iroquois pulled themselves together
o Join the world without relinquishing identity as People of
the Longhouse
o Industry contributions, structural steel workers, soldiering