Page 6 - Were Native Americans the Victims of Genocide?

effectual manner, that the country may not be merely overrun,
but destroyed.” It is diffi cult to know what motivated Washing-
40
ton’s tone. Washington believed victory over Britain would come
in a decisive battle in the eastern region, so expending men and
resources to battle Indians on the western frontier was frustrating.
His call to eradicate the Iroquois enemy
could have much to do with his desire to
“There is nothing solve the crisis in the western frontier as
to be obtained by quickly as possible so that the Continen-
an Indian War but tals could get on with the war against the
the Soil they live British regulars.
on and this can be However, David E. Stannard believes
had by purchase at
less expence [sic], Washington’s word choice reveals a
and without that deep-seated and pervasive attitude that
bloodshed, and those the Native Americans were subhuman.
distresses which Stannard quotes a 1783 letter to James
helpless Women and Duane, a Revolutionary War leader in New
Children are made York, in which Washington compared the
partakers of in all Native warriors who fought against the
kinds of disputes colonials to wolves, “both being beasts
with them.” 42 of prey tho’ they differ in shape.” Yet in
41
the rest of the letter, Washington speaks
— General George Washington
of the importance of making peace with
the Indians so that the settlement of the
frontier could continue. He stated, “There is nothing to be ob-
tained by an Indian War but the Soil they live on and this can be
had by purchase at less expence [sic], and without that blood-
shed, and those distresses which helpless Women and Children
are made partakers of in all kinds of disputes with them.” 42
Sullivan’s mission was so successful that the Iroquois who
survived referred to Washington by the nickname “Town De-
stroyer.” Stannard claims that numerous villages of the Mohawk,
Onondaga, Seneca, and Cayuga were eradicated to make way
for American settlement. There are accounts, too, of colonial
soldiers and militia skinning dead Iroquois and committing acts
of torture and desecration in retaliation for reports of Native
American savagery. In 1784, a year after closing hostilities with
the British, the new government of the United States concluded
the Treaty of Fort Stanwix with the Iroquois. For siding with the

36