“John Eliot’s Brief Narrative (1670)”
Puritan missionary's diary. Colonial America.
This is an exert from John Eliot’s diary while he was a Puritan missionary to American Indians.
It describes his many relationships with several different chieftains and various other Native American
groups. As well as their relationships with Christianity and acceptance towards it. It also gives a general
idea on John Eliot’s feelings for the importance of converting Native Americans.
John Eliot
http://www.bartleby.com/43/12html
University of Memphis
1670
Edited
by Charles W. Eliot.
Proposition to the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas
History, Military, Five Nations, Raid, French, Canada
Richard Ingoldesby makes a direct request by way of letter to use the military might of the Iroquois League. Here he calls upon the Five Nations to participate in land raid against the French in Canada. This letter was written during the time of great imperial powers colliding, and due to the lack of attention given to the North American colonies by the Crown, British survival was essentially put into the hands, or more specifically the military might, of the Iroquois League. To convince them, Ingoldesby cites numerous times as to when the French showed themselves to be true enemies to the Iroquois and entices them by describing how their shamans would sing war songs while clasping the hands of the British as a sign of their commitment. Ingoldesby brings to the attention of the Five Nations of how their own kin, the Senecas, defected and were lured in to the French side due to the use of Jesuit priests. Ingoldesby expressed his wishes in regaining the full might of the Iroquois League by taking back the Senecas. Both historians Daniel Richter and William J. Campbell discuss the geographical advantage that the Iroquois had when dealing with the European colonizers, this advantage is emphasized in this letter when Ingoldesby urges the Five Nations to regain the Senecas as a means to strengthen British power in the colonies over the French.
Richard Ingoldesby
The Livingston Family Papers
University of Memphis
July 14, 1709
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Letters of Father Pierre Biard, 1614
Narative of early Virginia.
This is a letter from French Catholic Jesuit minister Pierre Biard to General Claude Acquaviva
of the Society of Jesus, at Rome, May 26, 1614. It describes Father Biard's capture in New France by
the English and their violent treatment. It also describes what happened to him and his party after they
were captured by the English and sent to Virginia. It shows the animosity the French
Catholics and English Anglicans had for one another.
Pierre Biard.
virtual James Town.<br />http://www.virtualjamestown.org/exist/cocoon/jamestown/fha/J1044
University of Memphis
May 26, 1614
Edited by
Lyon Gardiner Tyler
Governor Robert Dinwiddie to the Sachems and Warriors of the Six Indian Nations, n.d.
Dinwiddie, Indian, Warriors
In this source, Governor Dinwiddie seeks to gain Native American allies against the French, part of a British effort to acquire native allies. This highlights the alliances that formed prior to the war.
Governor Robert Dinwiddie
Brock, R.A. Editor. The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Volume I. (Richmond: Virginia Historical Society, 1883), 312
http://www.wvculture.org/history/frenchandindian/dinwiddie01.html
University of Memphis
c.1750s
R.A Brock
Virginia Historical Society
Maryland Governor Horatio Sharpe to Frederick Calvert, September 2, 1754
Sharpe, Maryland, Governor
Part of Governor Shape’s correspondence, this details the buildup of French fortifications in the Ohio valley. The French construction discouraged English colonists and proved to be a point of great tension for Sharpe. Highlighting a key factor of the French and Indian War.
Maryland Governor Horatio Sharpe
Browne, William. Editor. Correspondence of Governor Horatio Sharpe, Volume I. 1753-1757 (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society 1888)
http://www.wvculture.org/history/frenchandindian/17540902sharpe.html
University of Memphis
1754
William Browne
Maryland Historical Society
The Misfortune of Indentured Servants
shipment and treatment of indentured servants
This is a first hand account by Gottlieb Mittelberger, who was a German schoolmaster and organist who traveled to Pennsylvania in 1750. He goes over the experiences he and others endured during travel to colonial America. The ships were extremely over packed with people, provisions, and supplies. Not only were their men and women, but there were also children, many of which had died during the journey.
Gottlieb Mittelberger
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1600-1650/gottlieb-mittelberger-on-the-misfortune-indentured-servants.php
University of Memphis
1750-1754
© 1994-2012 GMW
"Portrait of a Woman"
A colonial woman.
Portrait of a colonial woman by Wenceslaus Hollar, a famous portraitist at the time
Wenceslaus Hollar
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw68297/Unknown-woman-Spring?set=161%3BHollar+etchings&search=ap&rNo=4#comments
University of Memphis.
1641
National Portrait Gallery, London
Trial of two Witches
This image is an illustration created by Howard Pyle of a court/church room where a trial is taking place. Two women are being accused by another woman of being a witch.
Howard Pyle
https://www.granger.com/results.asp?image=0015225&itemw=4&itemf=0001&itemstep=1&itemx=10
The University of Memphis
© 2016 Granger - Historical Picture Archive. The Granger Collection. All rights reserved
Sir Thomas Dale to the president and counsell of the companie of adventurers and planters in Virginia
Virginia
History
Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
“Sir Thomas Dale to the president and counsell of the companie of adventurers and planters in Virginia” is a letter that was written by Sir Thomas Dale to the Virginia Company in England about the state of the colonies upon his arrival in 1611. Dale was the Governor of the Virginia colony in 1611. He arrived in Jamestown following the aftermath of the Starving Time and provided leadership for the rebuilding of the colony during his 3 ½ months of being acting Governor. Dale then served as Marshall of the colony and then from 1614-1616 he again served as Governor.
Thomas Dale
University of Virginia Library Special Collections
The University of Memphis
May 25, 1611
Image belongs to the University of Virginia Library Special Collections.
Instructions for George Washington
Instructions, Washington, French
This source talks about Washington’s orders for dealing with the French in the Ohio Valley. It mostly talks on recruitment and things related to that. Part of the West Virginia Achieves.
Unknown
Sparks, Jared. The Writings of George Washington, Volume II. (Boston: Charles Tappan, 1846) 184-186
http://www.wvculture.org/history/frenchandindian/dinwiddie03.html
University of Memphis
c.1750s
Jared Sparks
Charles Tappan, 1846