Main Content Show Most Native American tribes during the War of 1812 sided with the British because they wanted to safeguard their tribal lands, and hoped a British victory would relieve the unrelenting pressure they were experiencing from U.S. settlers who wanted to push further into Native American lands in southern Canada and in the lower Great Lakes and the south. Although some tribes remained neutral and some supported the United States, the majority allied with Britain. The Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his charismatic younger brother Tenskwatawa, a religious revivalist known as The Prophet, spearheaded a movement for Native American political and military unity to resist settler encroachment. When war began, Tecumseh persuaded activist warriors from tribes like the Fox, Chickamauga, Iroquois, Kickapoo, Mascouten, Mohawk, Ojibway, Piankeshaw, Potawatomi, Sauk and Shawnee to form an alliance to aid the British. This confederation supplied vital support to British forces on the western frontier and in Canada, notably in forcing surrenders of U.S. outposts on Mackinac Island and Detroit and aiding British victories at Queenston Heights and Beaver Dams in Ontario. After Tecumseh was killed in October 1813 at the Battle of the Thames in Upper Canada, the alliance began to fall apart, considerably diminishing the power of Native Americans east of the Mississippi to retain their homelands. In western Georgia and eastern Mississippi Territory (now Alabama), General Andrew Jackson's forces defeated factions in the Creek Nation's ongoing civil war that opposed expansion of U.S. settlements in Creek territory, raising Jackson's national profile and forcing the Creeks to negotiate a peace treaty. The resulting Treaty of Fort Jackson compelled the Creeks to surrender about 23 million acres (most of southern Georgia and half of present-day Alabama) to the United States.  Discovery and Exploration As the colony's fortunes deteriorated during its first two years, Captain John Smith's leadership saved the colony. Part of this leadership involved exploring the area and establishing trade with local people. Unfortunately for the Native Americans, Smith believed that the English should treat them as the Spanish had: to compel them to "drudgery, work, and slavery," so English colonists could live "like Soldiers upon the fruit of their labor." Thus, when his negotiations for food occasionally failed, Smith took what he wanted by force. By 1609, Powhatan realized that the English intended to stay. Moreover, he was disappointed that the English did not return his hospitality nor would they marry Native American women. He knew that the English "invade my people, possess my country." Native Americans thus began attacking settlers, killing their livestock, and burning such crops as they planted. All the while, Powhatan claimed he simply could not control the young men who were committing these acts without his knowledge or permission. Keep in mind, however, that Powhatan's reactions and statements were reported by John Smith, hardly an unbiased observer. In the next decade, the colonists conducted search and destroy raids on Native American settlements. They burned villages and corn crops (ironic, in that the English were often starving). Both sides committed atrocities against the other. Powhatan was finally forced into a truce of sorts. Colonists captured Powhatan's favorite daughter, Pocahontas, who soon married John Rolfe. Their marriage did help relations between Native Americans and colonists. With the reorganization of the colony under Sir Edwin Sandys, liberal land policies led to dispersion of English settlements along the James River. Increasing cultivation of tobacco required more land (since tobacco wore out the soil in three or four years) and clearing forest areas to make land fit for planting. Expanding English settlements meant more encroachment on Native American lands and somewhat greater contact with Native Americans. It also left settlers more vulnerable to attack. By this time, the Native American fully realized what continued English presence in Virginia meant--more plantations, the felling of more forests, the killing of more game--in sum, a greater threat to their way of life. The self-proclaimed humanitarian efforts of people like George Thorpe--who sought to convert Indian children to Christianity through education--did not help either. Finally, the deaths of Powhatan and Pocahontas further hastened hostilities. The Native Americans, led by Powhatan's brother Opechancanough, bided their time. Pretending friendship, they were waiting for an opportunity to strike the English and dislodge them from Virginia. In early 1622, they struck. In all, nearly 350 colonists were killed; Jamestown itself was saved only by the warning of an Native American Christian convert. One result was an ever-hardening English attitude toward the Native American. Another was bloody reprisals against local tribes. For additional documents related to these topics, it is probably best to focus on John Smith's Generall Historie of Virginia and Peter Force's collection of tracts. Both these items are in The Capital and the Bay. Another good source of information is the Records of the
Virginia Company, in the Thomas Jefferson Papers. In addition to browsing these sources, use the terms found in the documents to the right of the page. Documents
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What was the main source of conflict between English settlers and Indians?The biggest source of conflict between Native Americans and European settlers was the issue of land ownership and land use. Europeans felt land should be privately owned, while Native Americans believed land should by owned and used by everyone.
Why was there tension between the English and the Native Americans in Jamestown?After the English demanded food in 1609, war broke out and the Indians laid siege to James Fort. With the development of new settlements between 1611 and 1613, the English pushed the Powhatan people off their best riverfront land. Both groups raided each other, kidnapped each other and tortured each other.
What were the major causes of conflict between Native Americans and white settlers in the 1800s?The Indian Wars were a protracted series of conflicts between Native American Indians and white settlers over land and natural resources in the West.
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Which was a source of tension between the English colonists and Native Americans?
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