The Wild Frontier: Atrocities During the American-Indian War from Jamestown Colony to Wounded KneeRandom House Publishing Group, 2009 M11 18 - 384 pages The real story of the ordeal experienced by both settlers and Indians during the Europeans' great migration west across America, from the colonies to California, has been almost completely eliminated from the histories we now read. In truth, it was a horrifying and appalling experience. Nothing like it had ever happened anywhere else in the world. In The Wild Frontier, William M. Osborn discusses the changing settler attitude toward the Indians over several centuries, as well as Indian and settler characteristics—the Indian love of warfare, for instance (more than 400 inter-tribal wars were fought even after the threatening settlers arrived), and the settlers' irresistible desire for the land occupied by the Indians. The atrocities described in The Wild Frontier led to the death of more than 9,000 settlers and 7,000 Indians. Most of these events were not only horrible but bizarre. Notoriously, the British use of Indians to terrorize the settlers during the American Revolution left bitter feelings, which in turn contributed to atrocious conduct on the part of the settlers. Osborn also discusses other controversial subjects, such as the treaties with the Indians, matters relating to the occupation of land, the major part disease played in the war, and the statements by both settlers and Indians each arguing for the extermination of the other. He details the disgraceful American government policy toward the Indians, which continues even today, and speculates about the uncertain future of the Indians themselves. Thousands of eyewitness accounts are the raw material of The Wild Frontier, in which we learn that many Indians tortured and killed prisoners, and some even engaged in cannibalism; and that though numerous settlers came to the New World for religious reasons, or to escape English oppression, many others were convicted of crimes and came to avoid being hanged. The Wild Frontier tells a story that helps us understand our history, and how as the settlers moved west, they often brutally expelled the Indians by force while themselves suffering torture and kidnapping. |
Contents
Some Indian Cultural Characteristics | |
Some Settler Cultural Characteristics | |
PreColonial Atrocities 5 Colonial Atrocities | |
The Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 | |
Atrocities from the Trails of Tears to the Civil | |
Atrocities in the Civil War and PostCivil War Eras | |
Some Other Aspects of the | |
Government Indian Policy | |
Where We Are and Where We May | |
Appendix A Intertribal Indian Wars | |
Appendix B Deaths Caused by Specific Indian Atrocities | |
Deaths Caused by Specific Settler Atrocities | |
Notes | |
Other editions - View all
The Wild Frontier: Atrocities During the American-Indian War from Jamestown ... William M. Osborn No preview available - 2001 |
The Wild Frontier: Atrocities During the American-Indian War from Jamestown ... William M. Osborn No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
Age Now Begins Andrist Apache Arapaho army Atlas atrocities attacked Axelrod battle Black Black Kettle body Bordewich Brandon British burned California camp Captain captive captured Catlin Century of Dishonor Cherokee Cheyenne chief Chivington Choctaw Chronicle Colonel Comanche Crimsoned Prairie Dance Debo Delaware Drimmer Earth Shall Weep Encyclopedia Exterminate fight fire fought Freezing Moon French frontier Gilbert head History horses Ibid Indian Affairs Indian Heritage Indian in America Indian Policy Indian Removal Indian Wars Iroquois Jackson John Josephy Kiowa land Lieutenant Long Death Massacre militia Mohawk murdered Opechancanough party Pawnee peace Potawatomis prisoners raided reported River Sand Creek Massacre Santee Sioux savage scalped Schultz Seeds of Extinction Seminole settlers Shawnee shot Simon Girty Sioux Sitting Bull soldiers Spicer Tebbel and Jennison told tomahawked took torture Trafzer and Hyer treaty tribes troops Utley and Washburn Wampanoag warriors White Man’s Indian Wilson Wissler women and children Wounded Knee wrote