Chickamauga Timeline
Thomas Jefferson

His second term was one of genocide planning to relocate the Indigenous peoples of the Southeast or relocate them west.

"In war, they will kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them." TJ

Thomas Jefferson on the policy of "civilization," 1803

When they [American Indians] withdraw themselves to the culture of a small piece of land, they will perceive how useless to them are extensive forests and will be willing to pare them [pieces of land] off from time to time in exchange for necessities for their farms and families. Should any tribe be foolhardy enough to take up the hatchet at any time, the seizing of the whole country of that tribe and driving them across the Mississippi as the only condition of peace, would be an example to others and a furtherance of our final consolidation.

Source: Moses Dawson, A Historical Narrative of the Civil and Military Service of Major General William Henry Harrison (Cincinnati, 1824), 36.

MONTICELLO, August 28, 1807.

DEAR SIR,- I had had the letter of Mr. Jouett of July 6th from Chicago, and that from Governor

Hull, of July 14th, from Detroit, under consideration some days, when the day before yesterday I

received that of the Governor of July 25th. While it appeared that the workings among the

Indians of that neighborhood proceeded from their prophet chiefly, and that his endeavors were

directed to the restoring them to their ancient mode of life,.. to the feeding and clothing

themselves with the produce of the chase, and refusing all those articles of meat, drink, and

clothing, which they can only obtain from the whites, and are now rendered necessary by habit, I

thought it a transient enthusiasm, which, if let alone, would evaporate innocently of.. itself;

although visibly tinctured with a partiality against the United States. But the letters and

documents now enclosed give to the state of things there a more serious aspect; and the visit of

the Governor of Upper Canada, and assembling of the Indians by him, indicate the object to

which these movements are to point. I think, therefore, we can no longer leave them to their own

course, but that we should immediately prepare for war in that quarter, and at the same time

redouble our efforts for peace.

I propose, therefore, that the Governors of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, be instructed

immediately to have designated, according to law, such proportions of their militia as you shall

think advisable, and to be ready for service at a moment's warning, recommending to them to

prefer volunteers as far as they can be obtained, and of that description for Indian service.

That sufficient stores of arms, ammunition and provision, be deposited in convenient places for

any expedition which it may be necessary to undertake in that quarter, and for the defence of the

posts and settlements there; and that the object of these preparations be openly declared, as well

to let the Indians understand the danger they are bringing on themselves, as to lull the suspicion

of any other object. That at the same time, and while these preparations for war are openly going

on, Governors Hull and Harrison be instructed to have interviews by themselves or well chosen

agents, with the chiefs of the several tribes in that quarter, to recall to their minds the paternal

policy pursued towards them by the United States, and still meant to be pursued.

That we never wished to do them an injury, but on the contrary, to give them all the assistance in

our power towards improving their condition, and enabling them to support themselves and their

families; that a misunderstanding having arisen between the United States and the English, war

may possibly ensue. That in this war it is our wish the Indians should be quiet spectators, not

wasting their blood in quarrels which do not concern them; that we are strong enough to fight

our own battles, and therefore ask no help; and if the English should ask theirs, it should

convince them that it proceeds from a sense of their own weakness which would not augur

success in the end; that at the same time, as we have learnt that some tribes are already

experiencing intentions hostile to the United States, we think it proper to apprise them of the

ground on which they now stand; for which purpose we make to them this solemn declaration of

our unalterable determination, that we wish them to live in peace with all nations as well as with

us, and we have no intention ever to strike them or to do them an injury of any sort, unless first

attacked or threatened; but that learning that some of them meditate war on us, we too are

preparing for war against those, and those only who shall seek it;

and that if ever we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe we will never lay

it down till that tribe is exterminated, or driven beyond the Mississippi.

Adjuring them, therefore, if they wish to remain

on the land which covers the bones of their fathers, to keep the peace with a people who ask

their friendship without needing it, who wish to avoid war without fearing it. In war, they will

kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them. Let them then continue quiet at home, take care of

their women and children, and remove from among them the agents of any nation persuading

them to war, and let them declare to us explicitly and categorically that they will do this: in

which case, they will have nothing to fear from the preparations we are now unwillingly making

to secure our own safety?

These ideas may form the substance of speeches to be made to them, only varying therein

according to the particular circumstances and dispositions of particular tribes; softening them to

some, and strengthening them as to others. I presume, too, that such presents as would show a

friendly liberality should at the same time be made to those who unequivocally manifest

intentions to remain friends; and as to those who indicate contrary intentions, the preparations

made should immediately look towards them; and it will be a subject for consideration

whether, on satisfactory evidence that any tribe means to strike us, we shall not anticipate by

giving them the first blow, before matters between us and England are so far advanced as that

their troops or subjects should dare to join the Indians against us. It will make a powerful

impression on the Indians, if those who spur them on to war, see them destroyed without

yielding them any aid. To decide on this, the Governors of Michigan and Indiana should give us

weekly information, and the Postmaster General should immediately put the line of posts to

Detroit into the most rapid motion. Attention, too, is requisite to the safety of the post at

Michillimacinac.

I send this letter open to the Secretary of State, with a desire that, with the documents, it may be

forwarded to the Secretary of the Navy, at Baltimore, the Attorney General, at Wilmington, the

Secretary of the Treasury, at New York, and finally to yourself; that it may be considered only as

the origination of a proposition to which I wish each of them to propose such amendments as

their judgment shall approve, to be addressed to yourself; and that from all our opinions you will

make up a general one, and act on it without waiting to refer it back to me.

I salute you with great affection and respect, the United States, and to he the pivot on which all

the intrigues and the conspiracies which foreign governments may wish to disturb us with, are to

turn. If he is convicted of the misdemeanor, the Judge must in decency give us respite by some

short confinement of him; but we must expect it to be very short. Be assured yourself, and

communicate the same assurance to your colleagues, that your and their zeal and abilities have

been displayed in this affair to my entire satisfaction and your own honor.

I salute you with great esteem and respect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. (HENRY DEARBORN.)

MONTICELLO; September 6, 1807.

DEAR SIR,-1 enclose you the letters of Mr. Granger and Mr. J. Nicholas, by the latter of

which you win see that an Indian rupture in the neighborhood of Detroit becomes more probable,

if it has not already taken place. I see in it no cause for changing the opinion given in mine of

August 28, but on the contrary, strong reason for hastening the measures therein recommended.

We must make ever memorable examples of the tribe or tribes which shall have taken up the

hatchet.

I salute you with affection and respect.

When the first effectual settlement of our colony was made, which was in 1607,

the country from the sea-coast to the mountains, and from Patowmac to the most

southern waters of James river, was occupied by upwards of forty different

tribes of Indians. Of these the Powhatans, the Mannahoacs, and Monacans,

were the most powerful. Those between the sea-coast and falls of the rivers,

were in amity with one another, and attached to the Powhatans as their link of

union. Those between the falls of the rivers and the mountains, were divided

into two confederacies; the tribes inhabiting the head waters of Patowmac and

Rappahanoc being attached to the Mannahoacs; and those on the upper parts of

James river to the Monacans. But the Monacans and their friends were in

amity with the Mannahoacs and their friends, and waged joint and perpetual war

against the Powhatans. We are told that the Powhatans, Mannahoacs, and

Monacans, spoke languages so radically different, that interpreters were

necessary when they transacted business. Hence we may conjecture, that this was

not the case between all the tribes, and probably that each spoke the language

of the nation to which it was attached; which we know to have been the case in

many particular instances. Very possibly there may have been antiently three

different stocks, each of which multiplying in a long course of time, had

separated into so many little societies. This practice results from the

circumstance of their having never submitted themselves to any laws, any

coercive power, any shadow of government. Their only controuls are their

manners, and that moral sense of right and wrong, which, like the sense of

tasting and feeling, in every man makes a part of his nature. An offence

against these is punished by contempt, by exclusion from society, or, where the

case is serious, as that of murder, by the individuals whom it concerns.

Imperfect as this species of coercion may seem, crimes are very rare among them:

insomuch that were it made a question, whether no law, as among the savage

Americans, or too much law, as among the civilized Europeans, submits man to the

greatest evil, one who has seen both conditions of existence would pronounce it

to be the last: and that the sheep are happier of themselves, than under care of

the wolves. It will be said, that great societies cannot exist without

government. The Savages therefore break them into small ones.

The territories of the Powhatan confederacy, south of the Patowmac,

comprehended about 8000 square miles, 30 tribes, and 2400 warriors. Capt. Smith

tells us, that within 60 miles of James town were 5000 people, of whom 1500 were

warriors. From this we find the proportion of their warriors to their whole

inhabitants, was as 3 to 10. The Powhatan confederacy then would consist of

about 8000 inhabitants, which was one for every square mile; being about the

twentieth part of our present population in the same territory, and the

hundredth of that of the British islands.

Besides these, were the Nottoways, living on Nottoway river, the Meherrins

and Tuteloes on Meherrin river, who were connected with the Indians of

Carolina, probably with the Chowanocs.

The preceding table contains a state of these several tribes, according to their

confederacies and geographical situation, with their numbers when we first

became acquainted with them, where these numbers are known. The numbers of some

of them are again stated as they were in the year 1669, when an attempt was made

by the assembly to enumerate them. Probably the enumeration is imperfect, and

in some measure conjectural, and that a further search into the records would

furnish many more particulars. What would be the melancholy sequel of their

history, may however be augured from the census of 1669; by which we discover

that the tribes therein enumerated were, in the space of 62 years, reduced to

about one-third of their former numbers. Spirituous liquors, the small-pox,

war, and an abridgment of territory, to a people who lived principally on the

spontaneous productions of nature, had committed terrible havock among them,

which generation, under the obstacles opposed to it among them, was not likely

to make good. That the lands of this country were taken from them by conquest,

is not so general a truth as is supposed. I find in our historians and records,

repeated proofs of purchase, which cover a considerable part of the lower

country; and many more would doubtless be found on further search. The upper

country we know has been acquired altogether by purchases made in the most

unexceptionable form.

Westward of all these tribes, beyond the mountains, and extending to the great

lakes, were the Massawomecs, a most powerful confederacy, who harrassed

unremittingly the Powhatans and Manahoacs. These were probably the

ancestors of the tribes known at present by the name of the Six Nations.

Very little can now be discovered of the subsequent history of these tribes

severally. The Chickahominies removed, about the year 1661, to Mattapony

river. Their chief, with one from each of the tribes of the Pamunkies and

Mattaponies, attended the treaty of Albany in 1685. This seems to have been the

last chapter in their history. They retained however their separate name so

late as 1705, and were at length blended with the Pamunkies and Mattaponies, and

exist at present only under their names. There remain of the Mattaponies

three or four men only, and they have more negro than Indian blood in them.

They have lost their language, have reduced themselves, by voluntary sales, to

about fifty acres of land, which lie on the river of their own name, and have,

from time to time, been joining the Pamunkies, from whom they are distant but 10

miles. The Pamunkies are reduced to about 10 or 12 men, tolerably pure from

mixture with other colours. The older ones among them preserve their language

in a small degree, which are the last vestiges on earth, as far as we know, of

the Powhatan language. They have about 300 acres of very fertile land, on

Pamunkey river, so encompassed by water that a gate shuts in the whole. Of the

Nottoways, not a male is left. A few women constitute the remains of that

tribe. They are seated on Nottoway river, in Southampton county, on very

fertile lands. At a very early period, certain lands were marked out and

appropriated to these tribes, and were kept from encroachment by the authority

of the laws. They have usually had trustees appointed, whose duty was to watch

over their interests, and guard them from insult and injury.

The Monacans and their friends, better known latterly by the name of

Tuscaroras, were probably connected with the Massawomecs, or Five Nations.

For though we are (* 1) told their languages were so different that the

intervention of interpreters was necessary between them, yet do we also (* 2)

learn that the Erigas, a nation formerly inhabiting on the Ohio, were of the

same original stock with the Five Nations, and that they partook also of the

Tuscarora language. Their dialects might, by long separation, have become so

unlike as to be unintelligible to one another. We know that in 1712, the Five

Nations received the Tuscaroras into their confederacy, and made them the Sixth

Nation. They received the Meherrins and Tuteloes also into their protection:

and it is most probable, that the remains of many other of the tribes, of whom

we find no particular account, retired westwardly in like manner, and were

incorporated with one or other of the western tribes.

(* 1) Smith. (* 2) Evans.

I know of no such thing existing as an Indian monument: for I would not honour

with that name arrow points, stone hatchets, stone pipes, and half-shapen

images. Of labour on the large scale, I think there is no remain as respectable

as would be a common ditch for the draining of lands: unless indeed it be the

Barrows, of which many are to be found all over this country. These are of

different sizes, some of them constructed of earth, and some of loose stones.

That they were repositories of the dead, has been obvious to all: but on what

particular occasion constructed, was matter of doubt. Some have thought they

covered the bones of those who have fallen in battles fought on the spot of

interment. Some ascribed them to the custom, said to prevail among the Indians,

of collecting, at certain periods, the bones of all their dead, wheresoever

deposited at the time of death. Others again supposed them the general

sepulchres for towns, conjectured to have been on or near these grounds; and

this opinion was supported by the quality of the lands in which they are found,

(those constructed of earth being generally in the softest and most fertile

meadow-grounds on river sides) and by a tradition, said to be handed down from

the Aboriginal Indians, that, when they settled in a town, the first person who

died was placed erect, and earth put about him, so as to cover and support him;

that, when another died, a narrow passage was dug to the first, the second

reclined against him, and the cover of earth replaced, and so on. There being

one of these in my neighbourhood, I wished to satisfy myself whether any, and

which of these opinions were just. For this purpose I determined to open and

examine it thoroughly. It was situated on the low grounds of the Rivanna, about

two miles above its principal fork, and opposite to some hills, on which had

been an Indian town. It was of a spheroidical form, of about 40 feet diameter

at the base, and had been of about twelve feet altitude, though now reduced by

the plough to seven and a half, having been under cultivation about a dozen

years. Before this it was covered with trees of twelve inches diameter, and

round the base was an excavation of five feet depth and width, from whence the

earth had been taken of which the hillock was formed. I first dug superficially

in several parts of it, and came to collections of human bones, at different

depths, from six inches to three feet below the surface. These were lying in

the utmost confusion, some vertical, some oblique, some horizontal, and directed

to every point of the compass, entangled, and held together in clusters by the

earth. Bones of the most distant parts were found together, as, for instance,

the small bones of the foot in the hollow of a scull, many sculls would

sometimes be in contact, lying on the face, on the side, on the back, top or

bottom, so as, on the whole, to give the idea of bones emptied promiscuously

from a bag or basket, and covered over with earth, without any attention to

their order. The bones of which the greatest numbers remained, were sculls, jaw-

bones, teeth, the bones of the arms, thighs, legs, feet, and hands. A few ribs

remained, some vertebrae of the neck and spine, without their processes, and one

instance only of the (* 3) bone which serves as a base to the vertebral column.

The sculls were so tender, that they generally fell to pieces on being touched.

The other bones were stronger. There were some teeth which were judged to be

smaller than those of an adult; a scull, which, on a slight view, appeared to be

that of an infant, but it fell to pieces on being taken out, so as to prevent

satisfactory examination; a rib, and a fragment of the under-jaw of a person

about half grown; another rib of an infant; and part of the jaw of a child,

which had not yet cut its teeth. This last furnishing the most decisive proof

of the burial of children here, I was particular in my attention to it. It was

part of the right-half of the under-jaw. The processes, by which it was

articulated to the temporal bones, were entire; and the bone itself firm to

where it had been broken off, which, as nearly as I could judge, was about the

place of the eye-tooth. Its upper edge, wherein would have been the sockets of

the teeth, was perfectly smooth. Measuring it with that of an adult, by placing

their hinder processes together, its broken end extended to the penultimate

grinder of the adult. This bone was white, all the others of a sand colour.

The bones of infants being soft, they probably decay sooner, which might be the

cause so few were found here. I proceeded then to make a perpendicular cut

through the body of the barrow, that I might examine its internal structure.

This passed about three feet from its center, was opened to the former surface

of the earth, and was wide enough for a man to walk through and examine its

sides. At the bottom, that is, on the level of the circumjacent plain, I found

bones; above these a few stones, brought from a cliff a quarter of a mile off,

and from the river one-eighth of a mile off; then a large interval of earth,

then a stratum of bones, and so on. At one end of the section were four strata

of bones plainly distinguishable; at the other, three; the strata in one part

not ranging with those in another. The bones nearest the surface were least

decayed. No holes were discovered in any of them, as if made with bullets,

arrows, or other weapons. I conjectured that in this barrow might have been a

thousand skeletons. Every one will readily seize the circumstances above

related, which militate against the opinion, that it covered the bones only of

persons fallen in battle; and against the tradition also, which would make it

the common sepulchre of a town, in which the bodies were placed upright, and

touching each other. Appearances certainly indicate that it has derived both

origin and growth from the accustomary collection of bones, and deposition of

them together; that the first collection had been deposited on the common

surface of the earth, a few stones put over it, and then a covering of earth,

that the second had been laid on this, had covered more or less of it in

proportion to the number of bones, and was then also covered with earth; and so

on. The following are the particular circumstances which give it this aspect.

1. The number of bones.

2. Their confused position.

3. Their being in different strata.

4. The strata in one part having no correspondence with those in another.

5. The different states of decay in these strata, which seem to indicate a

difference in the time of inhumation.

6. The existence ofinfant bones among them.

(* 3) The os sacrum.

But on whatever occasion they may have been made, they are of considerable

notoriety among the Indians: for a party passing, about thirty years ago,

through the part of the country where this barrow is, went through the woods

directly to it, without any instructions or enquiry, and having staid about it

some time, with expressions which were construed to be those of sorrow, they

returned to the high road, which they had left about half a dozen miles to pay

this visit, and pursued their journey. There is another barrow, much resembling

this in the low grounds of the South branch of Shenandoah, where it is crossed

by the road leading from the Rock-fish gap to Staunton. Both of these have,

within these dozen years, been cleared of their trees and put under cultivation,

are much reduced in their height, and spread in width, by the plough, and will

probably disappear in time. There is another on a hill in the Blue ridge of

mountains, a few miles North of Wood's gap, which is made up of small stones

thrown together. This has been opened and found to contain human bones, as the

others do. There are also many others in other parts of the country.

Great question has arisen from whence came those aboriginal inhabitants of

America? Discoveries, long ago made, were sufficient to shew that a passage

from Europe to America was always practicable, even to the imperfect navigation

of ancient times. In going from Norway to Iceland, from Iceland to Groenland,

from Groenland to Labrador, the first traject is the widest: and this having

been practised from the earliest times of which we have any account of that part

of the earth, it is not difficult to suppose that the subsequent trajects may

have been sometimes passed. Again, the late discoveries of Captain Cook,

coasting from Kamschatka to California, have proved that, if the two continents

of Asia and America be separated at all, it is only by a narrow streight. So

that from this side also, inhabitants may have passed into America: and the

resemblance between the Indians of America and the Eastern inhabitants of Asia,

would induce us to conjecture, that the former are the descendants of the

latter, or the latter of the former: excepting indeed the Eskimaux, who, from

the same circumstance of resemblance, and from identity of language, must be

derived from the Groenlanders, and these probably from some of the northern

parts of the old continent. A knowledge of their several languages would be the

most certain evidence of their derivation which could be produced. In fact, it

is the best proof of the affinity of nations which ever can be referred to. How

many ages have elapsed since the English, the Dutch, the Germans, the Swiss, the

Norwegians, Danes and Swedes have separated from their common stock? Yet how

many more must elapse before the proofs of their common origin, which exist in

their several languages, will disappear? It is to be lamented then, very much

to be lamented, that we have suffered so many of the Indian tribes already to

extinguish, without our having previously collected and deposited in the records

of literature, the general rudiments at least of the languages they spoke. Were

vocabularies formed of all the languages spoken in North and South America,

preserving their appellations of the most common objects in nature, of those

which must be present to every nation barbarous or civilised, with the

inflections of their nouns and verbs, their principles of regimen and concord,

and these deposited in all the public libraries, it would furnish opportunities

to those skilled in the languages of the old world to compare them with these,

now, or at any future time, and hence to construct the best evidence of the

derivation of this part of the human race.

But imperfect as is our knowledge of the tongues spoken in America, it suffices

to discover the following remarkable fact. Arranging them under the radical ones

to which they may be palpably traced, and doing the same by those of the red men

of Asia, there will be found probably twenty in America, for one in Asia, of

those radical languages, so called because, if they were ever the same, they

have lost all resemblance to one another. A separation into dialects may be the

work of a few ages only, but for two dialects to recede from one another till

they have lost all vestiges of their common origin, must require an immense

course of time; perhaps not less than many people give to the age of the earth.

A greater number of those radical changes of language having taken place among

the red men of America, proves them of greater antiquity than those of Asia.

I will now proceed to state the nations and numbers of the Aborigines which

still exist in a respectable and independant form. And as their undefined

boundaries would render it difficult to specify those only which may be within

any certain limits, and it may not be unacceptable to present a more general

view of them, I will reduce within the form of a Catalogue all those within, and

circumjacent to, the United States, whose names and numbers have come to my

notice. These are taken from four different lists, the first of which was given

in the year 1759 to General Stanwix by George

Croghan, Deputy agent for Indian affairs under Sir William Johnson; the second

was drawn up by a French trader of considerable note, resident among the Indians

many years, and annexed to Colonel Bouquet's printed account of his expedition

in 1764. The third was made out by Captain Hutchins, who visited most of the

tribes, by order, for the purpose of learning their numbers in 1768. And the

fourth by John Dodge, an Indian trader, in 1779, except the numbers marked *,

which are from other information.

The following tribes are also mentioned:

xxx

But, apprehending these might be different appellations for some of the tribes

already enumerated, I have not inserted them in the table, but state them

separately as worthy of further inquiry. The variations observable in numbering

the same tribe may sometimes be ascribed to imperfect information, and sometimes

to a greater or less comprehension of settlements under the same name.

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