Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Prelude

Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor
William Halsall 

It is difficult to say what the New World looked like before the arrival of large numbers of Europeans. It was not the pristine Eden beloved of so many writers, no place populated by the human species has ever been so, except perhaps the original Garden. We know how that turned out.

Our species is clever, adaptable, curious, and often loving and caring. We are also extraordinarily violent when the mood strikes us. This will be a story of two alien cultures, clashing in the forests and farm fields of that corner of the United States now known as New England. Of course, as warfare and other forms of human endeavor are not easily contained, the story will spill into New York, Pennsylvania, and Canada.

The goal is to tell a story involving characters drawn from four main groups of people. First, of course, were the people who lived in the northeast of what we now know as the United States and the southeastern part of Canada (Quebec) when the Europeans arrived in the area of which two main groups stand out: the Wyandot (Huron) and the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois). Then there were the Europeans: those from England and from France. While the Dutch were in possession of the New Netherlands (what we know as parts of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut), though I don't foresee any of the main characters being from that colony, it could happen. 

No, I haven't forgotten the Abenaki, the Micmac, the Pennacook, the Pequot, the Mohegan, the Nauset, the Narragansett, the Nipmuc, the Woronoco, and the Wampanoag - or any of the other tribes from the region I now inhabit. How could I, many of the place names here came from the language of those peoples. While I don't envisage any of the main characters being from those peoples, you never know what The Muse will decide.

The following wars were fought in this area from 1609 until 1783:
  • Beaver Wars 1609-1701
  • Pequot War 1636-38
  • Kieft's War 1643–45
  • Peach Tree War 1655
  • Esopus Wars 1659–63
  • King Philip's War 1675–78
  • Dummer's War 1722–25
  • French and Indian War 1754–63
  • American Revolutionary War 1775–83
It was a bloody time. I hope to portray the peoples of that time accurately and objectively. I have ancestors in three of the four camps, Haudenosaunee, French, and the "English" (which I use as a generic term for the colonists from Great Britain).

Research is ongoing (I even have a pretty good source for Indian names) and I'm still cogitating on plot lines. One of the characters will have descendants who return to the Old World and fight under Napoléon. Which would, of course, lead into a book on the Napoleonic wars. Am I being too ambitious? Maybe, only time will tell. I'm still thinking of a prequel and a sequel to the just finished book (for which I still need a title, feel free to suggest one in the comments). I have lots of ideas, I only need the time to make them happen.

Be prepared to travel back with me to the days when the frontier was not far from Boston and the people on that frontier had harsh lives.

Here's a taste:

Europeans had been visiting what is now New England for at least a century prior to the
landing of the Pilgrims in 1620, drawn there by the plentiful amounts of fish along the coast. The English and French fishermen were shorter than the natives, dressed in strange garb and were generally unbearably dirty, many having never had a bath in their entire lives, as opposed to the natives, who were scrupulously clean. The natives found the newcomers often surprisingly incompetent at what seemed to them like basic tasks, but they also made useful and beautiful goods such as copper kettles, glittering colored glass and steel knives and hatchets. Moreover, they were willing to exchange these goods for furs that the natives looked upon as cheap and useful only for blankets.

On March 22, 1621, a Native American delegation walked through what is now southern
New England to meet with a group of foreigners who had taken over a recently deserted Indian settlement. The party was led by Massasoit, the sachem of the Wampanoag confederation, a loose coalition of several dozen villages that controlled most of southeastern Massachusetts. Accompanying him was Samoset, sachem of an allied group to the north, and Tisquantum, a distrusted captive, whom Massasoit had brought along as an interpreter.

Massasoit was an able politician, but he faced a thorny dilemma. About five years
before, most of his subjects had died as a result of contacting European diseases. Whole villages had been depopulated. Adding to this disaster was the fact that the Wampanoag’s longtime enemies, the Narragansett alliance to the west, had been spared because of a lack of contact with the Europeans. As a result, Massasoit believed that it was just a matter of time before their enemies would realize their weakness and overrun them. The only solution he saw was to court the Europeans and form an alliance with them. This alliance between the Wampanoag and the English colonists marked a crucial moment in American history. (PDF)

That bit about many of Massasoit's subjects having succumbed to disease? According to one source I've read, the coast for 200 miles and 40 miles inland had been scourged by diseases brought by European fishermen.

A once vibrant set of communities brought low by disease.

Damn.

What a setting for a story!



78 comments:

  1. I know of another once vibrant community brought low by disease, but enough about COVID! haha. Looking forward to this story.

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    1. Picture villages with unburied dead in that entire zone. No one survived.

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    2. To be fair, many a frontier farmhouse 'died off' during the winters due to the Euro's lack of resistance to native bugs. The bio-warfare went both ways, just... the Euros tended to have a much hardier immune system, since they were constantly being 'attacked' by bugs from China.

      Much like today.

      Makes one wonder. How different the world would have been without all the various pandemics that came out of mid-western and western China?

      In comparison, bugs brewed up in Africa tend to be hot and burn out and only reach the local epidemic level. Rather devastating for the locals, but for the internationals, not a problem until cheap and reliable air transport came about.

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    3. I've not seen any references to that yet, not saying it didn't happen, but many Euros died off because they were shitty farmers.

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    4. And many more died off because of shitty water!

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    5. An accurate observation on many levels!

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  2. Will you address the continuing ongoing wars between the "native american" tribes? Or is that off-limits as it is for so many other historians?

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    1. If it happened between 1600 and 1815, then yes.

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  3. Hmmmm......so much conflict belie claims that humankind has evolved, conflict will always be involved with us bipeds. Sounds interesting Sarge.

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    1. We have evolved, but not in the past 1000 years or so.

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    2. Oh, we're evolving. In Euro-based homo sapiens, the size of the head of babies has constantly increased by a small but significant portion. We all are slowly changing, physically.

      That's the way evolution works. Slowly, then in fast fits, then slowly, then fast fits. Problem with the fast fits is that quick changes to react to things often makes for a dead end. I prefer slow and steady.

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    3. We're speaking behaviorally, not physically.

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    4. Beans, it's variation, not evolution.
      OH, oh, now I've started it.

      Sarge, we'll never get better. "The heart is deceitful above all things,
      and desperately sick;
      who can understand it?" Jer 17:9

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  4. Sounds like a pretty big pool for your cast of characters...

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    1. It is, don't worry, I'll narrow it down. 😁

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    2. And the occasional Latin wandering through... Almost like there's a whole continent to choose from!

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    3. Latin? As in South America?

      Probably not, just sayin'...

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    4. Spaniard, Portuguese, those Latins.

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    5. Ah yes, now I see.

      (It would be just like me to throw Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo into the mix...)

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  5. "Fight To The Finish!" "We Fought All The Way" Couple titles thoughts....

    Looking forward to the new series, Sarge. Rumor has it, my progenitor was here to fight against the lobster backs in the 70's and 80's. Before that is behind a dark curtain. I am woefully uninformed about the list you provided from 1609 to 1763.

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    1. Those are pretty good.

      Many Americans are.

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    2. I am blessed with relatives who have done the research; our folks got "here" in 1647.
      Boat Guy

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  6. Ah, interesting, yes, and one of my prefamilies, is devil tom. Out of Nova Scotia. Whose father died in Oswego. Very interesting times. There are very few, accurate stories there. And most take history to the fictional extreme. But, a good story must be retold or it goes silent, forgotten.

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  7. Many indentured servants ran away to settle in what was then frontier areas. later during the revolutionary war some of the hessian soldiers were supposed to have deserted and fled to the frontier. I don't have any research to show this, but it was "common" knowledge that many early settlements in western NY and Northern PA had such settlers. Take it for what it is worth.

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    1. I've heard those stories myself, I believe them.

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    2. Then there are the Hessians who just stayed after the war.

      As to running away, that was part of the problem the French Crown had with establishing a new principality in Canada. The darned nouveau serfs had a tendency to get uppity and slip their bonds.

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    3. People held in bondage often look to get away from said bondage.

      And Gray did mention the Hessians.

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    4. He mentioned the ones that deserted during the War. I'm referring to the ones that, after the shooting stopped, stayed.

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    5. As they were contracted by their Prince, and the British would have had to pay for any that they lost, I wonder how many were actually discharged here. Be an interesting thing to investigate.

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  8. smallpox or syphilis or TB or, for that matter, the common cold?

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    1. Smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, cholera and bubonic plague, diseases which the Europeans had the antibodies for and the Indians did not.

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  9. Title - just a thought somewhat wry - Dein Reich komme

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  10. Very interesting. Such a fertile field to pick from. I am looking forward to kibitzing and being my usual "Mr. Wizard" about things. And I can feel your excitement.

    You are a true New Englander, born and bred, and you have the feel for the terrain and the people. Gonna be a good one or more!

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  11. On topic of diseases, smallpox did horrible things to natives, since Europeans had some resistance acquired over centuries . We are ourselves quite unable to comprehend the scale of pre-vaccination epidemics. COVID is but a pale shadow of plagues of old. Just visit some old cementeries to see how many kids never grew old due to what are considered nuisances nowadays...

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    1. We also tend to forget pandemics. Anyone ever heard of the 'Russian Flu' of the 1890's? There was a newspaper article in the UK when a historian was researching the 1890's and found lots of references to people dying of flu. It doesn't get a mention over here and apart from a few historians no one knows about it.
      Retired

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    2. I've known that since today...

      Wow, I had no idea.

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    3. I actually had read some material about the Russian Flu (1889-1890), but I have no idea where I read it. It was said to be of a similar strain to the current Wuhanavirus. It is also believed that was what led to the death (from pneumonia) of Queen Victoria's grandson, Prince Albert Victor, who was at that time second in line to the throne.

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    4. One of my fun past times in times past is walking old cemeteries. I found one out Juvat's way that had a wife and four kids interred. They died within ten days of each other. Cholera epidemic. I didn't see the husband. After planting my future, I think I would have moved on to different scenery, too.

      The old days aren't rosy, not by a long shot.

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    5. Lost my great granddad and grandma W. during a Cholera epidemic in New Orleans. Orphaned 6 kids, and messed them all up to one way or another. Oldest had to get a job and slowly 'buy' back her younger siblings.

      Cholera, Diptheria, measles, mumps, rubella, all the old childhood illnesses that reaped too many children back in the day.

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    6. STxAR - The old days tended to be nasty, brutish, and short.

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    7. Beans - Not unusual to see diseases back then take out entire communities.

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  12. One read on the topic i would advise: Guns, germs and steel.

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  13. Great! A superbly defined scope and vision for you and your free range Muse to explore and report back for our edification and enlightenment, and certainly enjoyment.

    While we wait for you to get rolling on this, I MOST HIGHLY RECOMMEND to everyone here:
    Eric Jay Dolin’s "Fur, Fortune and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America" as a great way to bring all the bits and pieces of this part of our history together in a comprehensive, yet enjoyable account. We know many of the names, vaguely know where some locations are, and have heard of some of the events, but not how they mesh into the big picture of our nation's founding, growth, economy and expansion. It covers the entire period from Henry Hudson in 1609 until the demise of the fur trade and rise of conservationism by 1900. It encompasses the entire North American continent, disregarding the artificial borders on maps. It reflects the clashes of the empires of England, France and Spain as well as the rise of the American nation. It includes coastal and inland fur trade, with lots on the “mountain men” and other adventurers and entrepreneurs.

    About 440 pages, with used copies on Abebooks.com starting about $10.00. Also available as an audio book (perhaps from your library) which runs about 12 hours, or on Kindle.

    Obviously I love the book, but here are some other endorsements: A Seattle Times selection for one of Best Non-Fiction Books of 2010. Winner of the New England Historical Association's 2010 Hanlan Award. Winner of the Outdoor Writers Association of America 2011 Excellence in Craft Award.
    John Blackshoe

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    1. I just perused that book on Amazon, looks like a must buy (and read) for me!

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    2. Just scored a used hardcover copy, said to be in Good condition from thriftbooks, for $5.99!

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    3. (Don McCollor)...Another book touching on the early settlement of America and the differences between it and Europe is "Fields of Battle -The Wars For North America" by John Keegan (1995). And an interesting historical article is "Wildfire Burning By American Indians In Virginia", Hutch Brown, Fire Management Today, Vol 60, No 3, Summer 2000, US Forest Service. The early Eastern Seaboard forests were not the 'Forest Primeval' of the romantics. Some interesting information of the environment of the first settlement time...

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    4. Keegan is a fine writer.

      The Indians in the Northeast lived by farming and hunting. It wasn't unusual for them to move their villages every decade or so as the soil became exhausted. Very little of what the Romantics believed about the natives of the New World was true.

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  14. (for which I still need a title, feel free to suggest one in the comments)
    "Eleven Months across Europe" or "337 days, almost a lifetime" or some variation, I've always been struck by how short of a time it was from D-Day to VE-Day compared to the ground wars in my lifetime (Desert Storm excluded) but it must have seemed so much longer to the "boots on the ground".

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    1. Some good suggestions there DV.

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    2. "Groundwork" alone or added to the others above might work too.

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  15. I am so glad that you are going down this path.
    Be sure not to forget the idea of publishing the last tale.
    We're all in. D4

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  16. From Infamy to Eternity, A tale of heroics, sacrifice, mayhem and monotony.

    Spin

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  17. Book title--- The Ride of the Valkyrie...I really liked that title...or find names for the first 2 books, and call the last one The Ride of the Valkyrie...my two cents---worth what ya pay for it.

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  18. I am excited Sarge!

    In an odd bit of history, a somewhat distant family member was doing research and found that at least one branch of the family had migrated from The Netherlands to New Amsterdam in 1644, so some part of us have been there since then. And without the Dutch, where would Sleepy Hollow be?

    If might shamelessly recommend even more research books, Osprey Publishing (Men at Arms Series) has two that might be of interest, American Woodland Indians (Book 228) and Tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy (Book 395). They are rather short, but generally have a good historical summary and even pictures (I like pictures!).

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    1. I really enjoy the Osprey books, I'll have to give them a look-see.

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  19. May I also suggest 'Warpaths' by the military historian John Keegan. It details his travels in North America and goes from the 17th century to the Civil War and beyond.
    Retired

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    1. I have always enjoyed Keegan's work. I'll have to look for that book.

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  20. Between May, 1539 and early 1543, De Soto's last, ill-fated expedition covered portions of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and (maybe) Kansas. This probably explains why La Salle's expedition of 1679 to 1682 found the lower Mississippi sparsely populated. Also a possible cause for the disappearance of the "Mound People."

    Earliest records of my family in Virginia is the 1660s with indications of having been here for about a decade. The romantic in me wants him to be a displace Cavalier but I've no idea. Other influxes came with the Highland clearances, The Irish Famine, assorted European wars, and possible irate multiple wives (but Grandma was also a romantic).

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    1. That would be a plausible explanation, the people of the New World were vulnerable to a host of European diseases.

      Ah yes, the cavaliers and the roundheads. While I am no monarchist, what happen to Charles I was horrible, and Cromwell was not a nice guy. (The Irish despise him still!)

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  21. Addendum (fancy word for "stuff I forgot"): One branch on my maternal side was wiped out in the Influenza of 1918-1919. I remember Great-grandmother Alberta telling of her sister dying in the upstairs bedroom while her husband was laid out in the parlor and her two sons on the dining room table. Almost every home in DC had a black wreath on the door.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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