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The Lenapes:
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Part 3The Lenape: Wars and Diplomacy Before the arrival of the white man in the Hudson Valley the tribes of that area got along with little conflict. However, when the Dutch sailed up the Hudson River, this all changed. The presence of the foreigners resulted in an increase in intertribal warfare, as well as warfare that was directed toward these foreigners. The catalyst to this activity can be said to be the The Fur Trade that was started by the Dutch. The Fur Trade in the Hudson Valley region was characterized by intertribal warfare. The Dutch made it profitable for tribes to trade their furs so hunting and trapping flourished during this time. Due to the increase of hunting and trapping, tribes such as the Iroquois decimated the animal population within their territory, thus restricting their participation in the Fur Trade to a minimum. This, however, resulted in tribes moving into the territories of other tribes, such as the Iroquois moving into Wappinger territory. What ensued was warfare between the two tribes initiated by the desire for profit which was offered by the Dutch and their Fur Trade. At this point the Dutch remained neutral, letting the tribes fight among themselves, however, this would change when the area became more populated by Dutch settlers. As the Fur Trade was winding down due to a depletion in furs, the Dutch began to need more land for agriculture because of its increased population. In an effort to obtain more land the Dutch began to push the tribes out of their territory which resulted in warfare between the Dutch and the Indians who resided in the Hudson Valley region (Waldman p. 95). As the Dutch developed thriving settlements in New Amsterdam and Fort Orange, they began to squeeze the Hudson Indians out. Pressure from the Dutch often became violent when the Indians would rebel, and fail to comply with commands put forth by the white man. One such example of this behavior was the Pavonia Massacre of 1643 (Waldman p. 248). The Pavonia Massacre began when a group of Dutch soldiers brutally killed a band of Wappinger Indians. Due to this incident, the Wappinger Tribe sought revenge upon the Dutch. This incident would escalate into a full scale uprising that would not be put down for another year in 1644. This process was also repeated during the Peach Wars of 1655 (Waldman p.80). The Peach Wars were similar to the Pavonia Wars in that they both began with Indians seeking revenge upon the Dutch. In this case the revenge was derived from an incident in which an Indian woman was murdered for picking peaches in a Dutch farm. Wappinger Indians sought swift revenge upon the foreigners which turned the incident into a major conflict. During this time the Dutch army was lead by Peter Stuyvesant. Stuyvesant was a firm believer in the idea of cleansing the Hudson River region of all Indians in order to make room for the Dutch settlers (Waldman p.248). The Indian tribes of the Hudson Valley also played a role within the French and Indian Wars. The cause for this war was control of North America, and it lasted nearly one hundred years. During this time the Wappinger and Delaware Tribes joined forcRes with the French in order to defeat the efforts of the Iroquois Tribe and Britain. Eventually the more powerful armies proved to be the Iroquois and the British and Britain assumed control over North America (Josephy p. 313). Local wars such as the Peach Wars often came to end when a treaty was signed between the white man and the Indians. These treaties were written to place the guidelines for the Indian policy of the federal government. It could be said that these treaties defined the standing of the tribes, and the amount of control that could be exercised by the federal government. The treaties signed address a variety of different issues that needed to be resolved. Some guaranteed hunting and fishing rights, while others intended to regulate commerce. Many treaties that were signed took land away from the Indians, while others still called for an end to hostility and beginning of peace. The most famous treaty that was signed with the Delaware Tribe was the treaty of friendship, with William Penn (Sturtvant p. 198). This treaty which was signed in 1682, was the first treaty to be signed with the white man. This act by William Penn earned himself trust and friendship from the Indians. Penn protected the Indians rights to land, as well as for freedom of religion. Unfortunately, this example that was set by William Penn, was quickly forgotten, and from then on treaties were characterized with unfair dealings by the white man (Axtel p. 77). For Hudson River Valley Indians, their way of life was doomed from the first time that the European foreigners sailed into their region. From that point on the white man exploited the Indians while taking control of their land often through the use of force. The Indians were further taken advantage of when treaties were signed often greatly favoring the side of the European. It was in this way that the Europeans stole the homelands away from the rightful owners, the Indians. Previous Table of Contents Next Part | |