work, but it was used often. As the whites advanced into Indian territory,
there were always new “nearer” Indians. Consequently, practically no colo-
nial “armies” had a majority of whites. For example, in 1712 Colonel John
Barnwell led a force of thirty whites and nearly 500 Indians against the
Tuscaroras in Carolina; and the next year Colonel James Moore com-
manded an even larger force of 850 Indians but only thirty-three whites.
One Indian society after another was beaten into submission, caught
between the advancing whites and the still more remote Indians.
The constant objective of the whites was simply land—land without
people. Land was what the colonists had come to the New World to get.
Each Indian society had to discover this for itself, but as soon as settlers
began to construct houses and plant crops, Indians perceived a mortal dan-
ger. In 1607, from Jamestown, the British government was informed that
the Indians “used our men well untill they found they begann to plant and
fortefye.” That was a message often repeated but rarely heeded as the
whites moved inland. In desperation, the Indians sometimes struck at
the settlers, trying to terrorize them into leaving. The result was always the
same: they drew down upon themselves the armed might of colonial gov-
ernments.
Such “search and destroy” missions, as George Percy related in 1610,
do not figure among the dozens of “wars” but were much more frequent.
Guided by an Indian captive in irons whom they beat and threatened to
kill, Percy’s men surrounded a “dissident” village and massacred all the
inhabitants except for the “queen,” her children, and one man. They imme-
diately beheaded the man, burned down the houses, and hacked down the
corn crop. When they got back to their boats,
A Cowncell beinge called itt was Agreed upon to putt the Children to
deathe the wch was effected by Throweinge them overboard and
shoteinge owtt their Braynes in the water yet for all this Crewellty the
Sowldiers weare nott well pleased And I had mutche to doe To save the
quenes lyfe for that Tyme.When they got back to Jamestown, Governor Lord de la Warr “thowghte
beste to Burne her at the stake, but, mercifully, the soldiers merely “putt her
to the Sworde.”
Whites, Indians, and Land 195