An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States Ortiz

74 An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

created us. They would make slaves of us if they could, but as

they cannot do it, they kill us. There is no faith to be placed

in their words. They are not like the Indians, who are only en­

emies while at war, and are friends in peace. They will say to

an Indian: "My friend, my brother." They will take him by the

hand, and at the same moment destroy him. And so you will

also be treated by them before long. Remember that this day

I have warned you to beware of such friends as these. I know

the long knives; they are not to be trusted.4 7

HOW THE SETTLERS WON INDEPENDENCE

Both the British and their settler separatist opponents realized that

the key to victory on the southern frontier of the thirteen colonies

was an alliance with the Cherokee Nation. Despite constant attacks

on its villages and crops, and with refugees and disease, the enor­

mous Cherokee Nation remained intact with a well-functioning

government. To win the Cherokees to their side, British authorities

provided weaponry and money to Cherokee towns while separat­

ist representatives tried to persuade the towns to remain neutral by

threatening their complete destruction. Neutrality was the most the

settlers could hope for. The settlers' viciousness toward Indigenous

people caused them to be despised and spurred some Cherokees to

take sides against them. A few Cherokee towns that had been hit

hardest by settler-rangers responded by attacking squatter settle­

ments, destroying several in the Carolinas in 1776. Following such

attacks, separatists quickly announced their determination to de­

stroy the Cherokee Nation. The North Carolina delegation to the

Continental Congress declared, "The gross infernal breach of faith

which they [the Cherokees] have been guilty of shuts them out from

every pretension to mercy, and it is surely the policy of the Southern

Colonies to carry fire and Sword into the very bowels of their coun­

try and sink them so low that they may never be able again to rise

and disturb the peace of their Neighbors."48

In the summer and fall of 1776, more than five thousand set­

tler-rangers from Virginia, Georgia, and North and South Carolina