The Crimsoned Hills of Onondaga: Romantic Antiquarians and the Eu ...

In America, a large body of nonfiction writing about Native Americans accumulated over nearly three centuries after European contact, which provided raw material for later terror and suspense stories set in the wilderness; this early literature was also a valuable source for, and had an influence upon, antiquarians. These were the reports in various forms of explorers, soldiers, missionaries, and colonists before the end of the American Revolution, who wrote about their (sometimes harrowing) encounters with Native Americans along with a vast amount of other information, including descriptions of flora, fauna, geologic phenomena, earthworks and artifacts, and assessments of natural resources. Samuel de Champlain’s accounts of his journeys began to appear in 1604 and contain material about the Iroquois that have sparked readers’ imaginations for generations, including the famous tale of his assault on an Iroquois fortified village using a siege tower, a medieval battle waged in the wilds of Central New York (290–296). Numerous stories of this type were circulated to satisfy and entertain Europeans eager to learn about the New World. Later, in a variety of ways, they became part of the American literary tradition.

When reading these texts, one must take several factors into consideration: The authors tended toward self-aggrandizement; they sought to give themselves a positive place in history. In addition to enlightening readers, they often wrote to please wealthy investors who financed expeditions and might finance more; to defend and support national interests; to justify the spread of religion; and to encourage aggressive exploitation of resources in new territories as well as the subjugation and even enslavement of indigenous peoples, among other ulterior motives. In this context, it is apparent why Native Americans were frequently portrayed as irredeemably brutal and barbaric (and as dependent children of benevolent European monarchs). Romantic Antiquarians were influenced in their portrayal of Native Americans by the chronicles of the French missionaries who were the first Europeans to penetrate territories in Canada and the United States and who meticulously recorded their adventures and tribulations in a body of collected documents we know as the Jesuit Relations.