Seven Years’ War | Indians, Insanity, and American History Blog

Cherokee Confederates Reunion in New Orleans, 1903

Native Americans resisted white encroachment on their lands and cultures in a variety of ways (see last two posts). They refused to cooperate with these intruders, refused to send their children to their schools to learn new ways, and held on to their traditions by many strategies. One other significant way Native Americans resisted settlers was to join forces with their enemies. This occurred during the Seven Years War (1754-63) when Britain and France fought over New World territory with the help of native peoples on both sides.

By the time the American Civil War began, Native Americans had had experience with the treachery and false promises of the federal government. Officials in the Confederacy approached various native peoples to remind them of this, offering them better opportunities under Confederate rule for their help in fighting Union forces. The Confederacy created a Bureau of Indian Affairs in March, 1861 and appointed David L. Hubbard as its commissioner. In 1861, the new country’s leaders commissioned attorney Albert Pike as a brigadier general and assigned him to the Department of Indian Territory. There, he was to raise regiments among the Indians and command them in battle. My next post will discuss Native Americans and the Confederacy further.

Fort Davis, Built by Order of General Pike, courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society

General Albert Pike

Though the four primary groups of people settling in the New World (Spanish, French, English, and Dutch) recognized the rights of Native Americans to their land, their relationships with Native Americans developed differently. The

Father Joseph Pierre Bonnecamp and Native Americans, courtesy Indiana University of Pennsylvania

French, who were heavily dependent on Native Americans for their furs, generally had the best relationship. Intermarriage was not uncommon, and many fur traders established very friendly relationships with their trading partners. The Dutch were also heavily involved in the fur trade, and though their relationships were not so close, they also tended to rein in practices that would disrupt profitable trade. And, even though the Spanish conquistadors committed atrocities in the New World, Spain’s legal stand was to offer Indians protection as wards of the Crown. This paternalistic attitude often did not translate into reality, and the Spanish frequently forced both government and religion upon native peoples.

The British seemed to differ significantly from the other three nations in their attitude toward Native Americans. The English recognized native peoples’ right of occupancy, but did not recognize them as equals, or even as particularly worthwhile human beings. To a great extent, the British Crown left actual Indian policy development to each of the colonies; this resulted in drastically different approaches, interactions, and results when thirteen separate colonial governments dealt with Native Americans. Additionally, English settlers on the frontier acted in ways which were advantageous to them, no matter what the Crown or their particular colonial leaders desired. English frontiersmen who wanted more land usually regarded Native Americans as impediments to their own dreams and goals, and developed a hostile attitude toward them. These attitudes continued to play out once Americans gained their independence from England.

Map of Hudson River Area of New Netherland

British and Native Americans Clashing During the Seven Years' War, courtesy Library of Congress

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