In the early 1640s the Narragansett sachem (roughly: chief) Miantonomi was successfully organizing the tribes of the Connecticut River Valley and Long Island to rise up against the Puritan and Pilgrim colonies that were being established along the river and around Massachusetts Bay. The major obstacle was a competing sachem, the Mohican leader Uncas, who had developed a mutually profitable relationship with the English. Miantonomi attempted to persuade Uncas to join him. Instead, Uncas reported everything to the English and with English help eventually killed Miantonomi in 1643, establishing himself as the premiere Indian sachem of the valley. It opened the way to eventual English dominance of New England.
The English colonies of the time were small and struggling. A united Native American attack would very likely have destroyed them all and driven the English back into the sea. At the same time, there was widespread unrest among the Indians of the lower Hudson River valley over their treatment at the hands of the Dutch. The war could easily have spread to them and led to the destruction of New York and other Dutch settlements.
IOW, if Uncas had joined Miantonomi's war, it's entirely possible that every colony between Virginia and Quebec would have been wiped out. Meanwhile. England itself was in the throes of the English Civil War, a conflict that would continue for the entire decade. It would hardly have been able to spare attention for a handful of Separatist colonists on the far side of the Atlantic.
So what would be the long-term fallout from all this? Certainly the elimination of the English colonies would open up room for French expansion, but the French of that era weren't all that interested in occupying land and settling it with colonists from the home country. Considering how important the Puritans and Pilgrims have become to American popular mythology, it raises some interesting butterflies concerning the American self-image, especially the way they were used in the mid-1800s to justify Manifest Destiny.
Any thoughts?
The English colonies of the time were small and struggling. A united Native American attack would very likely have destroyed them all and driven the English back into the sea. At the same time, there was widespread unrest among the Indians of the lower Hudson River valley over their treatment at the hands of the Dutch. The war could easily have spread to them and led to the destruction of New York and other Dutch settlements.
IOW, if Uncas had joined Miantonomi's war, it's entirely possible that every colony between Virginia and Quebec would have been wiped out. Meanwhile. England itself was in the throes of the English Civil War, a conflict that would continue for the entire decade. It would hardly have been able to spare attention for a handful of Separatist colonists on the far side of the Atlantic.
So what would be the long-term fallout from all this? Certainly the elimination of the English colonies would open up room for French expansion, but the French of that era weren't all that interested in occupying land and settling it with colonists from the home country. Considering how important the Puritans and Pilgrims have become to American popular mythology, it raises some interesting butterflies concerning the American self-image, especially the way they were used in the mid-1800s to justify Manifest Destiny.
Any thoughts?
