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... er ization of the Indian Savage. The formation of Native American identity was, in part, to perpetuate the imported culture of the Europeans. Captivity must also be considered under the social context of the times.
The strong moral basis for existence gathered with the Biblical nature through which most colonists lived their lives ushered in beliefs that captivity served as punishment for sin. Indians were considered creatures of the devil who take up those not living their life under God. The narrative of Hannah Swarton finds her blaming captivity on the family for [leaving] the Publick Worship and Ordinances of God, to go to live in a remote Place, without the Publick Ministry; depriving ourselves and our Children of so great a benefit for our Souls; and all this for Worldly Advantages. By leaving the congregation in search of a new homestead the Swarton family had doomed themselves to a hellish life that took the lives of the eldest son and the father. This rationale carries with it the connotations toward all Native Americans. The masses feared being taken by the savages so they maintained a life close to their church.
The view of Native Americans as the son of the Anti-Christ did little for promoting positive relations with the colonists. These children of the devil served to keep the colonists in sound moral standing with God. Those who were to fall out of line found themselves engulfed into a culture of repent. Many of the narratives were not indicative of the cultural identities of the Native Americans. Rather, the narrative was more than a personal journal reflection. Narratives were used as propaganda tools within English settlements.
The goal of these narratives was to engage the public in a general sentiment with regard to native groups. The settlers took to a policy of non-coexistence with the natives. Many narrators heavily slanted the perceptions of the Native Americans that the culture existed based on savage inhumane practices. These perceptions were used to legitimate the policies and practices used by the colonialists, and, eventually the Americans, against the Indians. In the case of the Seven Years War there were many accounts of narrative use as propaganda against the acts of the French and Indian partnership. The narrative of Reverend John Norton tells of the horrid manner by which the English captives were treated amongst the French and Native American parties.
The tales of cannibalism and conduct to promote Indian viciousness against the captives brought rage against not only the Native Americans, but the French as well. These accounts brought forth an identity of revenge and hatred through their travels through out the English settlements. The rebellious colonists in the American Revolution employed the same practice against the British. The accounts of John Dodge took to the American Patriots as a rallying cry. Dodge served as an Indian trader and at the inception of war strove for Indian neutrality in the War for American Independence. This made him a target for the British Military who captured Dodge and held him captive.
Dodges writings were portrayed across the continent in newspapers and inspired paintings of the atrocities that he told. The British were promoting a sadistic treatment of American captives by the Native Americans. The Party of Savages under Le Mote went out with orders not to spare man, woman, or child. To this cruel mandate even some of the Savages made an objection, respecting the butchering the women and children, but they were told the children would make soldiers, and the women would keep up the flock.
Conceptual propaganda such as this was a powerful tool in placing those between English and American identities toward American Nationalism. This American Nationalism existed holding revolt against Native Americans tightly in its creation. In this Nationalism we can find the policy of American/Indian interaction that spawned expansion, Manifest Destiny, and indeed Native American existence today. The romanticism of the narratives served to establish an American identity through interaction with the Native Americans.
Nationalism among colonists, and eventual Americans, could be found in the heroic nature by which the narratives portray conflict. Tall tales of heroic white peoples in the frontier were met by taller tales of the inhumane nature of the Native Americans. In the narrative of Mary Smith, she identifies the heroic nature of her saviors against the Native American enemy. The company of men encountered the captures of the Smith Family. The commander sends scouts, who retrieve the information that the number of savages is far more than they have to combat them with. The company assembles to discuss: whether it would be prudent to risk an action with a force so much superior to their own, there probably being four to one!
But the idea of rescuing from the merciless hand of their enemies their unfortunate countrymen, who probably were designed as victims to feed their savage fires, inspired the Lieutenant and his little band with unconquerable resolution not one expressed a doubt of their success, but the whole company begged to be led on to the unequal combat! The commander, placing the utmost confidence in his men, who he knew were well skilled in the Indian mode of bush-fighting, did not hesitate to devise a plan of attack that would insure the release of their unfortunate countrymen. The heroism placed the Native American identity to be a single enemy of savages to be overtaken by unification of white peoples. This narrative places the colonials in a unifying against one common cause. The use of the word countrymen places a nationalist identity for the Europeans that be asserted by discarding the weak native populations. The displacement of Native American identity comes in the falsification of presenting a colonial/American identity.
Throughout captivity narratives we see more than a simple journal or description. These narratives were written with a purpose behind them. While the purposes may vary one aspect remains consistent; captivity narratives serve as an identification method of two cultures in a territorial conflict. The conflict was settled by drawing lines of who belongs where. These cultural lines served to establish one culture through destruction and diffusion of another.
The relentless nature of the European culture was, in the end, the downfall of the Native American inhabitants of North America. The identification of the Native American as being a defeated force led to a massive herding and containment by a culture based upon power and dominance. The scars from the long struggle still remain today although conceptions of the situation have changed. The image of the evil Indian has been replaced by a glorified Native American. Many people of the dominant culture dream of a life in the culture that was swept away by the past.
The few records that lead back to their way of life exists through the eyes of those taken captive within the lost culture. Bibliography:
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