The Yamasee War Analysis

Indians and Whites have always had a fragile relationship that could ignite into a war within days. One point in history where we see this take place is during the Yamasee War. The Yamasee War is a product of a broken relationship. Historians such as William Ramsey have examined the Yamasee War and hypothesized why the Indians went to war against South Carolina. Ramsey’s book, The Yamasee War, pinpoints various conflicts that may have started the war. These conflicts piled on top of each other and lead the Indians to their breaking point. The war was over all ignited by the flame of a broken relationship that led the Native Americans to ineffectively make a coalition to go against the English. Many historians have labeled the cause of the

Marriages between English and Indians were not uncommon. Although, Ramsey tells, “Such unions . . . produced long-term problems for all concerned” (Ramsey, 17). The differences between the different cultures would shine through in their unions. There were various expectations from each culture. For example, the children would have to be raised one way; Native American or English. If the children were going to be raised in a typical Native American way, then they would belong to the mother’s lineage. Also, the father would not be the main male in their lives, it would be the mother’s brother. On the other hand, if the children were going to be raised in a typical English way, then they would take on the father’s surname and the father would be the main male in their lives. One way that the traders would resolve this issue is “by simply removing their children from the mother’s influence and sending them to be raised in Charles Town” (Ramsey, 17). This quote can lead to a hypothesis that the mother would be upset by having her children taken away and raised in a different way they she wanted. In these marriages there were sometimes issues of violence. One account is of a trader named Alexander Nicholas. Alexander Nicholas “reportedly beat a woman that he kept mas his Wife so that she dyed and the child within her” (Ramsey, 15). There is also accounts of a man who

The Native Americans “had long-standing cultural and ethnic affinities that made them natural allies in wartime” (Ramsey, 102). Therefore, in the time period of the Yamasee War, the Native Americans could come together. Although the thought of all the tribes coming together seems like it would be of great benefit, the coalition at the end was not efficient. One reason it was not efficient is because there was a split between the upper towns and lower towns. As Ramsey tells, “the upper towns chose by and large to reestablish old ties to the Spanish in Florida, while the lower towns appear to have renewed their ancient connections. . .” (Ramsey, 125). These differences between the Native Americans separated them. Another reason the coalition was inefficient is because the Native Americans were disorganized as they came together. If they would have organized themselves, they would have been better