Lethal Encounters: Englishmen and Indians in Colonial Virginia

Alfred A. Cave

ABC-CLIO, 2011 - History - 200 pages

This in-depth narrative history of the interactions between English settlers and American Indians during the Virginia colony's first century explains why a harmonious coexistence proved impossible.

Britain's first successful settlements in America occurred over 400 years ago. Not surprisingly, the historical accounts of these events have often contained inaccuracies. This compelling study of colonial Virginia is based upon the latest research, shedding new light on the tensions between the English and the American Indians and clarifying the facts about storied relationships.

In Lethal Encounters: Englishmen and Indians in Colonial Virginia, the author examines why the Anglo settlers were unable to establish a peaceful and productive relationship with the region's native inhabitants. Readers will come to understand how the deep prejudices harbored by both whites and Indians, the incompatibility of their economic and social systems, and the leadership failures of protagonists like John Smith, Powhatan, Opechacanough, and William Berkeley caused this breakdown.

• Draws extensively on primary source materials such as letters, memoirs, legislative proceedings, and court records
• Includes John Smith's 1612 map of Virginia, which identifies the location of Indian settlements

Contents

• Explorations Encounters and Abandoned Colonies: 1
• Early Encounters at Jamestown: 23
• Captain John Smith and the Powhatans: 45
• The Virginia Colony 16091614: 75
• Virginia 16161622: 101
• Virginia 16221635: 117
• Chapter 7 Another War and a New Policy: 133
• Chapter 8 Bacons Rebellion and Its Aftermath: 147
• Conclusions: 167
• Notes: 173
• Index: 195

About the author

Alfred A. Cave is professor emeritus of history at the University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio. His published works include Greenwood's The French and Indian War; Jacksonian Democracy and the Historians; Prophets of the Great Spirit: Native American Revitalization Movements in Eastern North America; and The Pequot War.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Lethal Encounters: Englishmen and Indians in Colonial Virginia; Native America : yesterday and today; Native America
• Author: Alfred A. Cave
• Publisher: ABC-CLIO, 2011
• ISBN: 0313393354, 9780313393358
• Length: 200 pages
• Subjects: History / United States / Colonial Period (1600-1775); Social Science / Discrimination; Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / Native American Studies