The Sovereignty And Goodness Of God Analysis
William Krouse
Professor Kelton
History 128
16 September 2009
The Sovereignty and Goodness of God From reading Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative and other English-language sources relating to Metacom’s or King Philip’s War, one can derive a fairly clear understanding of how English participants viewed the origins and outcomes of the conflict as well as how they wanted posterity to interpret the war. The English did not try to show the indigenous side, but a critical reading of the sources can give us some clues to understand the indigenous experience. The Natives had contrasting cultural and psychological views from the European invaders that caused them to initiate and eventually lose King Philip’s War, leaving the participants …show more content…
Diseases such as small pox and influenza had decimated Indian population in the New England region. Furthermore, the Natives lacked key supplies: guns and ammunition. The Indians did have one rather large advantage; they were fighting for their land. Land they knew much better then the invading British forces. Rowlandson hints at this when they cross the river, “I was so weak and feeble, that I reeled as I went along, and thought there I must end my days at last, after my bearing and getting through so many difficulties (from crossing the river); the Indians stood laughing to see me staggering along.” The Indians easily crossed the river, while the British were unable to find a crossing to continue to chase the Native group. Another major advantage the Indian’s had was the use of guerilla tactics against the British. These tactics were foreign to British soldiers, causing them to be unable to defend themselves effectively against it. Guerilla warfare is simply, ambushing your opponent when they are least prepared, inflict as many casualties as possible, then retreat swiftly before the enemy can organize. These tactics allowed their relatively small Native force to take on the much larger British army. In order to procure the proper supplies to fight the British, the Natives would raid small frontier towns and capture inhabitants to be ransomed later. This proved to be …show more content…
First, the British had a much larger, and well trained standing army then the Indians. Second, the Indians had no steady stream of supplies, they were completely reliant on what they could scavenge from raids and encounters with the British soldiers. Third, the Natives were not unified under one banner to combat against the invading British. In reality the most significant reason the Natives were defeated was the outbreak of smallpox. The Indian population had plummeted to an estimated 16,000.[2] In the end; the Indians were defeated by something they had no control
Professor Kelton
History 128
16 September 2009
The Sovereignty and Goodness of God From reading Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative and other English-language sources relating to Metacom’s or King Philip’s War, one can derive a fairly clear understanding of how English participants viewed the origins and outcomes of the conflict as well as how they wanted posterity to interpret the war. The English did not try to show the indigenous side, but a critical reading of the sources can give us some clues to understand the indigenous experience. The Natives had contrasting cultural and psychological views from the European invaders that caused them to initiate and eventually lose King Philip’s War, leaving the participants …show more content…
Diseases such as small pox and influenza had decimated Indian population in the New England region. Furthermore, the Natives lacked key supplies: guns and ammunition. The Indians did have one rather large advantage; they were fighting for their land. Land they knew much better then the invading British forces. Rowlandson hints at this when they cross the river, “I was so weak and feeble, that I reeled as I went along, and thought there I must end my days at last, after my bearing and getting through so many difficulties (from crossing the river); the Indians stood laughing to see me staggering along.” The Indians easily crossed the river, while the British were unable to find a crossing to continue to chase the Native group. Another major advantage the Indian’s had was the use of guerilla tactics against the British. These tactics were foreign to British soldiers, causing them to be unable to defend themselves effectively against it. Guerilla warfare is simply, ambushing your opponent when they are least prepared, inflict as many casualties as possible, then retreat swiftly before the enemy can organize. These tactics allowed their relatively small Native force to take on the much larger British army. In order to procure the proper supplies to fight the British, the Natives would raid small frontier towns and capture inhabitants to be ransomed later. This proved to be …show more content…
First, the British had a much larger, and well trained standing army then the Indians. Second, the Indians had no steady stream of supplies, they were completely reliant on what they could scavenge from raids and encounters with the British soldiers. Third, the Natives were not unified under one banner to combat against the invading British. In reality the most significant reason the Natives were defeated was the outbreak of smallpox. The Indian population had plummeted to an estimated 16,000.[2] In the end; the Indians were defeated by something they had no control