Genocide of American Indians

International Relations
in the Age of Empire

Genocide of American Indians
Courtesy: American Indian Genocide Museum

"When the past no longer illuminates the future,
the spirit walks in darkness."
de Tocqueville quoted in the Left Curve

Recollections of EARLY TEXAS (Memoirs of John Holland Jenkins) Edited by John Holmes Jenkins,III. Pgs. 20, 25 & 26

…Early in this year Col. James Neill, an old soldier under Jackson, came from Alabama and settled where old Mr. (Hugh King) McDonald now lives. His bravery and experience won for him a hearty welcome in our midst, and he was of great service to us in subsequent years…. …On this raid, Colonel Neill adopted a singular, if not barbarous, method of sending destruction upon the Indians. Having procured some smallpox virus, he vaccinated one of the captive warriors, and then released him to carry the infection into his tribe! Nothing was ever heard as to the success or failure of this project.

The Winning of The West Vol IV - The Indian Wars Page 56 by President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt

"The most ultimately righteous of all wars is a war with savages, though it is apt to be also the most terrible and inhuman. The rude, fierce settler who drives the savage from the land lays all civilized mankind under a debt to him. American and Indian, Boer and Zulu, Cossack and Tartar, New Zealander and Maori,--in each case the victor, horrible though many of his deeds are, has laid deep the foundations for the future greatness of a mighty people. The consequences of struggles for territory between civilized nations seem small by comparison. Looked at from the standpoint of the ages, it is of little moment whether Lorraine is part of Germany or of France, whether the northern Adriatic cities pay homage to Austrian Kaiser or Italian King; But it is of incalculable importance that America, Australia, and Siberia should pass out of the hands of their red, black, and yellow aboriginal owners, and become the heritage of the dominant world races."

The Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay Vol. I 1692-1714 Pg. 292

Fifty pounds reward for an Indian scalp. (Sec.1.) That there shall be paid out of the publick treasury of this province unto any party or parties that shall voluntarily go forth at their own charge, by commission as aforesaid, in the discovery and pursuit of the said Indian enemy and rebels, for every man or woman of the said enemy that shall be by them slain, the sum of fifty pounds; and for every child of the said enemy under the age of ten years that shall be by them slain, the sum of ten pounds; and that such party or parties shall also have and keep unto their own use all plunder and prisoners by them taken of the enemy; and that there shall be likewise paid out of the publick treasury for every man or woman of the said enemy that shall be slain in the defence of any house or garrison attacked or otherwise, the sum of five pounds; all which aforesaid payments shall be made by order of the goverour and council, upon producing before them the scalp of any Indian slain as aforesaid, and upon oath made of the time, place and other circumstances relating thereto , and that it is the scalp of the Indian that was then so slain. And in case any person or persons shall be wounded in the aforesaid service, he or they shall be cured at the charge of the publick; and if maimed or otherwise disabled shall have such stipend or pension allowed unto him or them as the general court or assembly shall think meet. And the reward herein before granted shall be equally shared and distributed to and among all the persons of any party or parties that shall be in company at the killing any Indian as aforesaid, only the captain to have two shares and the lieutenant one share and halfe thereof; and the plunder and prisoners that shall be taken to be distributed in like shares and proportion, unless where any party or parties shall otherwise agree among themselves.

Memoirs of Gen. W. T. Sherman Vol. 2 Pgs. 413 & 414

…They naturally looked for new homes to the great West, to the new Territories and States as far as the Pacific coast, and we realize to-day that the vigorous men who control Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota, Montana, Colorado, etc., etc., were soldiers of the civil war. These men flocked to the plains, and were rather stimulated than retarded by the danger of an Indian war. This was another potent agency in producing the result we enjoy to-day, in having in so short a time replaced the wild buffaloes by more numerous herds of tame cattle, and by; substituting for the useless Indians the intelligent owners of productive farms and cattle- ranches.

Report on the Conduct of the War 1865 Vol. 3 Page 47 MASSACRE OF THE CHEYENE INDIANS Proclamation by Governor Evans, of Colorado Territory. PROCLAMATION.

Having sent special messengers to the Indians of the plains, directing the friendly to rendezvous at Fort Lyon, Fort Larned, Fort Laramie, and Camp Collins for safety and protection, warning them that all hostile Indians would be pursued and destroyed, and the last of said messengers having now returned, and the evidence being conclusive that most of the Indian tribes of the plains are at war and hostile to the whites, and having to the utmost of my ability endeavored to induce all of the Indians of the plains to come to said places of rendezvous, promising them subsistence and protection, which, with a few exceptions, they have refused to do: Now, therefore, I, John Evans, governor of Colorado Territory, do issue this my proclamation, authorizing all citizens of Colorado, either individually or in such parties as they may organize, to go in pursuit of all hostile Indians on the plains, scrupulously avoiding those who have responded to my said call to rendezvous at the points indicated; also, to kill and destroy, as enemies of the country, wherever they may be found, all such hostile Indians. And further, as the only reward I am authorized to offer for such services, I hereby empower such citizens, or parties of citizens, to take captive, and hold to their own private use and benefit, all the property of said hostile Indians that they may capture, and to receive for all stolen property recovered from said Indians such reward as may be deemed proper and just therefore. I further offer to all such parties as will organize under the militia law of the Territory for the purpose to furnish them arms and ammunition, and to present their accounts for pay as regular soldiers for themselves, their horses, their subsistence, and transportation, to Congress, under the assurance of the department commander that they will be paid. The conflict is upon us, and all good citizens are called upon to do their duty for the defense of their homes and families. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the great seal of the Territory of Colorado to be affixed this 11th day of August, A.D. 1864 [SEAL] JOHN EVANS. By the governor: S.H. ELBERT. Secretary of Colorado Territory.

The Laws of Virginia: Being a supplement to Henning's The Statutes at Large: 1700-1750 Page 41 - 44 April 18 to May 12, 1705

…And forasmuch as, by the 8th Act of Assembly made at James Citty the 20th of October 1665, Entituled An Act Concerning Indians, It is enacted that if any Englishman be Murthered, the next town of Indians shall be answerable for it with their lives or libertys, which act is revived and reinforced by the 14th Act of the General Assembly held at James Citty the 8th day of June 1680, and there being strong presumptions that the Other Indians of the said Nation of Nansiatticos were Consenting or privy to the Aforesaid Murther,… Be it Enacted by the Governor, Council, and Burgeses of the present General Assembly and the Authority thereof, And it is hereby Enacted, That the said as Nansiattico Indians be disposed off as followeth (to witt) That the Children under Twelve Years of Age shall be Adjudged of what Ages they are by the Governor and Council and, by their direction, Bound out Amongst the English there by the Clerk of the General Assembly (who is hereby Authorised and Impowered thereunto) to be Servants, and to Serve such person or persons, to whom they or any of them shall be bound,their Executors, Administrators, or Assignes until he, she, or they be Twenty four Years Old, when he, she, they, or any of them, the said Indians soe bound, is to be and are hereby Declared Free, Provided always that if any of the said Indians, after they are Free, do presume to Settle or Inhabit in any Indian Town, such Indian or Indians so settling or Inhabiting shall be Lyable to Transportation and shall be Transported beyond Sea to England or Some of the Iselands and there bound or Sold for Seaven Years.... And be it further Enacted By the Authority Afforesaid that the Bounds for the Nottoway Indians Lands shall be Asscertained in manner Following (to witt) the Bounds of the Land on which they now live shall be laid out by a Circle running three Miles Round their fort, and on the South side of Nottoway River they shall have Another Parcell or Tract of Land Six Miles Square which shall be laid out and bounded as followeth... And Be it further Enacted that the Bounds for the Meheren Indians Lands shall ber laid out as followeth (to witt) a Streight Line shall be runn up the Middle of the Neck of Land between Meheren River and Nottoway River, from the Mouths of the said Rivers, so far up as will Include between that Line and Meherin River as much Land as will be Equall in Quantity to a Circle Three Miles Round their Town....

PRESIDENT MARIBEAU LAMAR, THE SECOND ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS JOURNALS OF THE FOURTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS 1839-1840 Vol.1 President Maribeau Lamar's Annual Message to Congress Page 15

"…The white man and the red man cannot dwell in harmony together. Nature forbids it. They are separated by the strongest possible antipathies, by color, by habits, by modes of thinking, and indeed by all the causes which engender hatred, and engender strife , the inevitable consequences of juxtaposition. Knowing these things, I experience no difficulty in deciding on the proper policy to be pursued toward them. It is to push a vigorous war against them; pursuing them to their hiding places without mitigation or compassion, until they shall be made to feel that flight from our borders without the hope of return, is preferable to the scourges of war."

President Maribeau Lamar's Inaugural Address to Congress The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar

"…an extermination war upon their warriors; which will admit of no compromise and have no termination except in their total extinction or total expulsion."

Col. H. Mcleod's letter of December 1, 1838 to Lamar:

"…Let us drive these wild Indians off, and establish a line of block houses, and we have done all we can now--If the U States will not remove their own Indians, to wit, Cherokees, Shawnees, Delawares, Kickapoos , Choctaws, Alabamas, & Coshattes, to say nothing of these Caddoes who they have literally ordered & driven into our territory--I say if the U.S. is faithless enough to refuse to remove them We must await a more auspicious moment than the present, to exterminate them--" (The Lamar Papers Pg. 309)

In Col. H. Mcleod's October 25, 1838 letter to Lamar , he lays out the plan for genocide,

"…General Rusk proposes to concentrate the effective force of the Ea(stern) Section of the Country, upon the Indi(an) territory , and exterminate the race--" (The Lamar Papers Pg. 270)

Strange Cruelties: The Spanish Slaughter The Natives, West Indies, c. 1513 Bartolome de las Casas The Mammoth Book of Eye-Witness History "First hand accounts of history in the making from the ancient to the modern world" Edited by Jon E. Lewis

The Spaniards with their Horses, their Spears and Lances, began to commit murders, and strange cruelties: they entered into Townes, Borowes, and Villages, sparing neither children nor old men, neither women with childe, neither them that lay in, but that they ripped their bellies, and cut them in pieces, as if they had been opening of Lambes shut up in their fold. They laid wagers with such as with one thrust of a sword would paunch or bowell a man in the middest, or with one blow of a sword would most readily and most delivery cut off his head, or that would berst pierce his entrails at one stroake. They tooke the little soules by the heeles, ramping them from the mothers dugges, and crushed their heads against the clifts. Others they cast into the Rivers laughing and mocking, and when they tumbled into the water, they said, now shift for themselves such a ones corpes. They put others, together with their mothers, and all that they met, to the edge of the sword. They made certain Gibbets long and low, in such sort, that the feete of the hanged on, touched in a manner the ground, every one enough for thirteen, in honour and worship of our Saviour and his twelve Apostles (as they used to speake) and setting to fire, burned them all quicke that were fastened. Unto all others, whom they used to take and reserve alive, cutting off their two hands as neere as might be, and so letting them hang, they said, Get you with these Letters, to carry tidings to those which are fled by the Mountaines. They murdered commonly the Lords and Nobility on this fashion: They made certaine grates of pearches laid on pickforkes, and made a little fire underneath, to the intent, that by little and little yelling and despairing in these torments, they might give up the Ghost. One time I saw four or five of the principal Lords roasted and broiled upon these gridirons. Also I think that there were two or three of these gridirons, garnished with the like furniture, and for that they cryed out piteously, which thing troubled the Captaine that he could not then sleepe: he commanded to strangle them. The Sergeant, which was worse than the Hangman that burned them (I know his name and friends in Sivil) would not have them strangled, but himself putting Bullets in their mouths, to the end that they should not cry, put to the fire, until they were softly roasted after his desire. I have seene all the aforesaid things and others infinite. And forasmuch as all the people which could flee, hid themselves in the Mountaines, and mounted on the tops of them, fled from the men so without all manhood, emptie of all pitie, behaving them as savage beasts, the slaughterers and deadly enemies of mankind: They taught their Hounds, fierce Dogs, to teare them in pieces at the first view, and in the space that one may say a Credo, assailed and devoured an Indian as if it had beene a Swine.

Gen. Philip Sheridan Before the 1875 Texas Legislature The Border and the Buffalo Pages 163 & 164 By John R. Cook

When he heard of the nature of the Texas bill for the protection of the buffaloes, he went to Austin, and, appearing before the joint assembly of the House and Senate, so the story goes, told them that they were making a sentimental mistake by legislating in the interest of the buffalo. He told them that instead of stopping the hunters they ought to give them a hearty, unanimous vote of thanks, and appropriate a sufficient sum of money to strike and present to each one a medal of bronze, with a dead buffalo on one side and a discouraged Indian on the other. He said, "These men have done in the last two years, and will do more in the next year, to settle the vexed Indian question, than the entire regular army has done in the last thirty years. They are destroying the Indians' commissary; and it is a well known fact that an army losing its base of supplies is placed at a great disadvantage. Send them powder and lead, if you will; but, for the sake of a lasting peace, let them kill, skin, and sell until the buffaloes are exterminated. Then your prairies can be covered with speckled cattle, and the festive cowboy, who follows the hunter as a second forerunner of an advanced civilization"

General William Tecumseh Sherman's letter to John Sherman Sept. 23, 1868

"…But the more we can kill this year, the less will have to be killed the next war. For the more I see of these Indians the more convinced am I that they have all to be killed, or be maintained as a species of paupers.."

George Washington's instructions to Major General John Sullivan May 31, 1779

"Sir: The expedition you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tribes of the six nations of Indians, with their associates and adherents. The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible…I would recommend that some post in the center of the Indian Country should be occupied with all expedition, with a sufficient quantity of provision; whence parties should be detached to lay waste all the settlements around, with instructions to do it in the most effectual manner; that the country may not be merely overrun but destroyed …It should be previously impressed upon the minds of the men when ever they have an opportunity, to rush on with the warhoop and fixed bayonet. Nothing will disconcert and terrify the Indians more than this… But you will not by any means, listen to any overture of peace before the total ruin of their settlements is effected…Our future security will be in their inability to injure us; (the distance to which they are driven) and in the terror with which the severity of the chastizement they receive will inspire them… When we have effectually chastised them we may then listen to peace and endeavour to draw further advantages from their fears."