Chronology of American Indian History

P

1761

The Aleut attack Russians at
Umnak.
On the Aleutian island of Umnak, the Aleut attack
a party of Russian traders who have tried to force
Aleut men to hunt for them by taking women and
children hostage (see entry for 1741). The assault
sets off a highly effective series of raids and attacks
on traders and trading ships over the next five years
(see entry for 1766).

February

British general Jeffrey Amherst refuses to
give gifts to Indians.
General Jeffrey Amherst, the commander of
British forces in North America, issues a de-
cree that ends the practice of giving gifts—such
as metal goods, guns, and ammunition—to
En gland’s Indian allies. Amherst condemns gift-
giving as too expensive and overindulgent.
Indians, however, have come to rely on gifts
from Europeans for many of their basic neces-
sities. Their outrage over Amherst’s policy will
lead many Indians to join Pontiac’s Rebellion (see
entry for MAY 9, 1763). (See also entry for JUNE
1763.)

Summer

An English army crushes the Cherokee
uprising.
After an unsuccessful attempt to put down the re-
volting Cherokee the previous year (see entry for
SUMMER 1760), the English send a massive army of
1,800 regular soldiers and 700 militiamen into the
tribe’s territory. In a relentless campaign, the troops
destroy more than 15 villages and burn the inhab-
itants’ stores of food. Unable to obtain supplies
from the French, the Cherokee are forced to agree
to a peace treaty, in which they formally recognize
British rule and promise to release prisoners taken
during the war.

1762

Neolin urges his Lenni Lenape (Delaware)

followers to reject non-Indian ways.

Neolin, a Lenni Lenape (Delaware) holy man (also

known as the Delaware Prophet), begins preaching

a new Indian religion from his home in present-day

Ohio. He maintains that two years earlier he visited

the Creator’s realm in a vision. Through the expe-

rience, he learned of the Creator’s disappointment

with Indians for adopting the corrupting ways of

whites. Neolin tells his followers that they must

now purify themselves by abandoning white cus-

toms, restoring Indian traditions, and driving the

English from their lands. If Indians do not follow

these reforms, Neolin holds, after death their souls

will be punished by an evil spirit—a concept of hell

possibly borrowed from Christianity.

“Hear what the Great Spirit has

ordered me to tell you! You are

to make sacrifices, in the man-

ner that I shall direct; to put off

entirely from yourselves the

customs which you have ad-

opted since the white people

came among us; you are to re-

turn to that former happy state,

in which we lived in peace and

plenty, before these strangers

came to disturb us.”

—Lenni Lenape (Delaware)

prophet Neolin’s instructions

to his followers

Neolin’s beliefs spread quickly and are embraced

by such Indian groups as the Ottawa, Potawatomi,

Wyandot, and Ojibway throughout what is now

Ohio and Michigan. They will have a great influ-

ence over the Indians involved in the rebellions led