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The American Army and the Indian

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Ethnic Armies
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THE AMERICAN ARMY ANDTHE INDIANBRUCE WHITEUN A RAINY day in the early 1750s, according to a nineteenth-century New Hampshire historian, three young frontiersmen wenthunting along the Asquamchumauke River near Moosilauke Moun-tain. Robert Rogers and John Stark of Dunbarton and Samuel Orr ofnearby Goffstown spent the day conversing with three Indian visi-tors. Shortly before nightfall the Indians departed. Stark and Orr sub-sequently noticed that Rogers was missing, and their apprehensionsmounted as the hour neared midnight. In the middle of the night,however, Rogers returned, and nonchalantly tossed the bloody scalpsof three Indians into a corner of the cabin. Upon being reproved byStark for murdering Indians in peacetime, Rogers replied: "Oh!Damn it! There'll be war before another year."1Apocryphal or not, it was believable to nineteenth-century NewHampshire residents and, to many historians, at least illustrative ofthe attitudes of white frontiersmen and the transformation of the lim-ited, formalized warfare of early modern Europe into one of total warin the wilderness of the New World. In A Wilderness of Miseries:War and Warriors in Early America, John Ferling concludes thatthe Indian wars were "total, a savage struggle for the survival notjust of individuals but of entire cultures."2 It was in such an environ-ment, Alden Vaughan has written, that the transition from ethnocen-tric to racist attitudes took place in the minds of whites, and "theimage of the Indian as vicious savage made deep inroads on theAnglo-American psyche."3 Vaughan has also argued that much of theblame for the bloody conflict with the Indians in Virginia may beattributed to the fact that Virginia's leaders in the Company periodwere mainly "professional militarists," "hardened veterans" who hadlived by the sword; "they were not reluctant to wield it against recal-citrant natives." New England's more peaceable early relations, heargues, can be explained in part by the fact that few of the early mag-istrates had had military experience. In later years, he concludes,New England was progressively militarized; he finds it significant forthe outbreak of King Philip's War in 1675 that the governors of both69
© Wilfrid Laurier University Press

THE AMERICAN ARMY ANDTHE INDIANBRUCE WHITEUN A RAINY day in the early 1750s, according to a nineteenth-century New Hampshire historian, three young frontiersmen wenthunting along the Asquamchumauke River near Moosilauke Moun-tain. Robert Rogers and John Stark of Dunbarton and Samuel Orr ofnearby Goffstown spent the day conversing with three Indian visi-tors. Shortly before nightfall the Indians departed. Stark and Orr sub-sequently noticed that Rogers was missing, and their apprehensionsmounted as the hour neared midnight. In the middle of the night,however, Rogers returned, and nonchalantly tossed the bloody scalpsof three Indians into a corner of the cabin. Upon being reproved byStark for murdering Indians in peacetime, Rogers replied: "Oh!Damn it! There'll be war before another year."1Apocryphal or not, it was believable to nineteenth-century NewHampshire residents and, to many historians, at least illustrative ofthe attitudes of white frontiersmen and the transformation of the lim-ited, formalized warfare of early modern Europe into one of total warin the wilderness of the New World. In A Wilderness of Miseries:War and Warriors in Early America, John Ferling concludes thatthe Indian wars were "total, a savage struggle for the survival notjust of individuals but of entire cultures."2 It was in such an environ-ment, Alden Vaughan has written, that the transition from ethnocen-tric to racist attitudes took place in the minds of whites, and "theimage of the Indian as vicious savage made deep inroads on theAnglo-American psyche."3 Vaughan has also argued that much of theblame for the bloody conflict with the Indians in Virginia may beattributed to the fact that Virginia's leaders in the Company periodwere mainly "professional militarists," "hardened veterans" who hadlived by the sword; "they were not reluctant to wield it against recal-citrant natives." New England's more peaceable early relations, heargues, can be explained in part by the fact that few of the early mag-istrates had had military experience. In later years, he concludes,New England was progressively militarized; he finds it significant forthe outbreak of King Philip's War in 1675 that the governors of both69
© Wilfrid Laurier University Press

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents iii
  3. Contributors v
  4. Acknowledgements vi
  5. Polyethnicity and Armed Forces: An Introduction 1
  6. The Ethnic Question in the Multinational Habsburg Army, 1848-1918 21
  7. Race, Ethnicity, and Social Class in the French Colonial Army: The Black African Tirailleurs, 1857-1958 50
  8. The American Army and the Indian 69
  9. Race and the American Military: Past and Present 89
  10. "Brotherhood in Arms": The Ethnic Factor in the Soviet Armed Forces 123
  11. Bilingualism and Multiculturalism in the Canadian Armed Forces 158
  12. The Unwelcome Sacrifice: A Black Unit in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1917-19 178
  13. Index 198
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https://doi.org/10.51644/9780889208278-006

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents iii
  3. Contributors v
  4. Acknowledgements vi
  5. Polyethnicity and Armed Forces: An Introduction 1
  6. The Ethnic Question in the Multinational Habsburg Army, 1848-1918 21
  7. Race, Ethnicity, and Social Class in the French Colonial Army: The Black African Tirailleurs, 1857-1958 50
  8. The American Army and the Indian 69
  9. Race and the American Military: Past and Present 89
  10. "Brotherhood in Arms": The Ethnic Factor in the Soviet Armed Forces 123
  11. Bilingualism and Multiculturalism in the Canadian Armed Forces 158
  12. The Unwelcome Sacrifice: A Black Unit in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1917-19 178
  13. Index 198
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