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“They are really better to us than we are to them. They always give us Victuals at their Quarters, and take care we are arm’d against Hunger and Thirst. We do not so by them (generally speaking) but let them walk by our Doors Hungry, and do not often relieve them. We look upon them with Scorn and Disdain, and think them little better than Beasts in Human Shape; though, if well examined, we shall find that for all our Religion and Education we possess more Moral Deformities and Evils than these Savages do, or are acquainted withal.“

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“The whole number of people belonging to the Nottoway town, if you include women and children, amount to about two hundred. These are the only Indians of any consequence now remaining within the limits of Virginia. The rest are either removed or dwindled to a very inconsiderable number, either by destroying one another or else by the small-pox and other diseases. Though nothing has been so fatal to them as their ungovernable passion for rum, with which, I am sorry to say it, they have been but too liberally supplied by the English that live near them.”

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Tomachichi, Georgia, 1736
A Creek leader

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Tomachichi, Georgia, 1736
A Creek leader

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“He that is above,” replied the mico [chief], “knows what He made us for. We know nothing. We are in the dark. But white men know much, and yet white men build great houses as if they were to live forever. But white men cannot live forever. In a little time white men will be dust as well as I.”

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Gachradodow, Pennsylvania, 1744 a leader of the Iroquois,

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Gachradodow, Pennsylvania, 1744 a leader of the Iroquois,

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“The World at the first was made on the other Side of the Great Water, different from what it is on this Side, as may be known from the different Colors of our Skin and of our Flesh, and that which you call Justice may not be so amongst us. You have your Laws and Customs, and so have we. The Great King might send you over to conquer the Indians, but it looks to us that God did not approve of it. If he had, he would not have placed the Sea where it is, as the Limits between us and you.“

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Minavavana (Chipewa leader), French Canada, 176123 

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Minavavana (Chipewa leader), French Canada, 176123 

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Englishman, it is to you that I speak, and I demand your attention! Englishman, you know that the French king is our father. . . it is you that have made war with this, our father. You are his enemy, and how then could you have the boldness to venture among us, his children? You know that his enemies are ours. . . . Englishman, although you have conquered the French, you have not yet conquered us! We are not your slaves. These lakes, these woods and mountains were left to us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance, and we will part with them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like the white people, cannot live without bread ⎯ and pork ⎯ and beef! But you ought to know that He, the Great Spirit and master of Life, has provided food for us in these spacious lakes and on these woody mountains

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John Woolman (Quaker), Pennsylvania, 1762

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John Woolman (Quaker), Pennsylvania, 1762

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"At this place we met with an Indian trader lately come from Wyoming [a frontier settlement in Pennsylvania]. In conversation with him, I perceived that many white people often sell rum to the Indians, which I believe is a great evil. In the first place, they are thereby deprived of the use of reason, and, their spirits being violently agitated, quarrels often arise which end in mischief, and the bitterness and resentment occasioned hereby are frequently of long continuance. Again, their skins and furs, gotten through much fatigue and hard travels in hunting, with which they intended to buy clothing, they often sell at a low rate for more rum, when they become intoxicated; and afterward, when they suffer for want of the necessaries of life, are angry with those who, for the sake of gain, took advantage of their weakness."

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"Brother, I am sorry it is so difficult for us to understand each other. If we could understand one another, we would put one another in Mind of the Friendship that subsisted between us and our Forefathers, but as we do not easily understand one another, we are obliged to deliver you the Substance in short of what we have to say, which makes it tedious. ⎯⎯ (Meaning that they are obliged to interpret in two or three Languages before it is told to us.) . ."

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The equality among the Indians, and the just rewards they always confer on merit, are the great and leading ⎯ the only motives that warm their hearts with a strong and permanent love to the country. Governed by the plain and honest law of nature, their whole constitution breathes nothing but liberty.

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On the Huron people: "They are very good hunters and fishermen, and very gentle people. They are also very hospitable and generous."

"They are very honest and truthful people, and they have a great respect for their elders."

On the Algonquian people: "They are a very warlike people, and always on the lookout for enemies."

"They are very skilled in the art of war, and they are very brave and courageous."

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On the Huron people: "They are a people of great intelligence and capacity, and they have a natural inclination to religion."

"They believe in a supreme being whom they call 'Iroquois,' and they also believe in a number of lesser deities."

"They have a great love for their children, and they educate them with great care."

"They are very respectful of the dead, and they bury them with great ceremony."

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On the Mi'kmaq people: "They are a people of great simplicity and innocence, and they live in perfect harmony with nature."

"They are very hospitable and generous, and they share everything they have with their neighbors."

"They are very good hunters and fishermen, and they have a great knowledge of the natural world."

"They are very skilled in the art of canoeing and fishing, and they are very good swimmers."

“They consider themselves better than the French: ‘For,’ they say, ‘you are always fighting and quarrelling among yourselves; we live peaceably. You are envious and are all the time slandering each other; you are thieves and deceivers; you are covetous, and are neither generous nor kind; as for us, if we have a morsel of bread we share it with our neighbour.’ They are saying these and like things continually.”

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"Who gave you all the Countries that you now inhabit, by what

Right do you possess them? They always belonged to the ALGONKINS before.

In earnest, my dear Brother, Iï¿½m sorry for thee from the bottom of my soul.

Take my advice, and turn HURON; for I see plainly a vast difference between

thy condition and mine. I am Master of my Condition and mine. I am Master of

my own Body, I have the absolute disposal of my self, I do what I please, I

am the first and the last of my Nation, I fear no Man, and I depend only upon

the Great Spirit. Whereas, thy Body, as well as thy Soul, are doomed to a dependence

upon thy great Captain, thy Vice-Roy disposes of thee, thou hast not the liberty

of doing what thou hast a mind to; thou art afraid of Robbers, false Witnesses,

Assassins, etc., and thou dependest upon an infinity of Persons whose Places

have raised them above thee. Is it true or not?"

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Marriage between Huron women and French traders was common, giving rise to the term Metis, which refers to those of both French and Indian parentage. Through missionary activity, trade agreements, and the 'acculturation' of the Coureur de Bois, the Franco-Huron bonds were strong. A friend of one was assumed to be a friend to the other; an enemy was likewise an enemy to both. Thus as the English settled the northern regions of America, they came not only as enemies of France, but also of the Huron Nation. And through their courting and favor of the Iroquois, the English were seen as a despised enemy. (This was not to change until early 19th century, when a Huron alliance was made with England against the Americans in the war of 1812.)

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As the colonial wars raged throughout eastern North America, the Hurons proved themselves to be unwavering in their support of New France. The skills they possessed in tracking, raiding, and ambushing were invaluable to the war efforts. Where there were French, there were probably Hurons. Capitaine Pierre Pouchot recorded the presence of Hurons at Fort Niagara. Huron warriors were part of the French Indian force that defeated the garrison at Fort William Henry. Like at Forts Makinac and Detroit, they were very much a part of life at Fort DuQuesne prior to its fall to the English, along with the one Six Nations tribes that overtly cooperated with France and with whom the Huron had made peace, the Seneca.

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"Father Jean de Brebeuf...

who, not having found there a single Savage who invoked the name of God,

labored there so successfully for the salvation of those poor Barbarians that

before his death he had the consolation of seeing nearly seven thousand baptized

there, and the cross of Jesus Christ planted nearly everywhere with glory, and

adored in a country which, from the birth of the world, had never been

Christian...  He adapted his own

nature and temperament to the customs among these people, with so much ability;

becoming all things to all men, in order to win them to Jesus Christ; that he

had ravished their hearts, and was singularly loved there...

filled with the hopes that he had for the conversion of these

tribes."[1]