Natives and Newcomers: The Cultural Origins of North America

Axtell discusses assimilation into Native society and loss of the English language. Referring to "Ohio prisoners," he continues "[they] responded only to Indian names, spoke only Indian dialects, felt comfortable only in Indian clothes, and in general regarded their white saviors as barbarians and their deliverance as captivity. Had they not been compelled to return to English society by military enforced peace treaties, the ranks of the white Indians would have been greatly enlarged" (p. 194). Mary Jamison's reference to speaking Seneca is echoed in Axtell's narrative, "Another problem encountered by the English was the difficulty of communicating with the returned captives, a great many of whom had replaced their knowledge of English with Algonquian or Iroquoian dialect and their baptismal names with Indian or hybrid ones. (p. 195).

The ambivalence felt by Whites regarding their return to their communities, is reflected in Axtell's description of Native trust and tolerance toward their White captives, "It is not surprising that captives who enjoyed such autonomy [visiting and inviting other captives] were also trusted under the same roof. John Bricknell, [captive] remarked that three white prisoners, Parton, Johnston, and Mrs. Balker [of Kentucky] had lived with me in the same house among the Indians, and we were as intimate as brothers and sisters. (p. 204). Axtell describes Native respect for their captives, "...the weight of evidence suggests that marriage was not compulsory for the captives, and common sense tells us that any form of compulsion would have defeated the Indian's purpose in trying to persuade the captives to adopt their way of life" (p. 204 ), and "... They had been left liberty of choice, and those who chose to remain single were not sufferers on that account" (p. 206).

Marriage between Whites living among the Natives was also tolerated, "So free from compulsion were the captives that several married fellow white prisoners" (p. 206).

Equality and the respect for ability and wit appears as another reason for White yeomen to remain among Native peoples. "The captives' social equality was also demonstrated by their being asked to share in the affairs of war and peace, matters of supreme importance to Indian society." (p. 206). Axtell explains the White Indian as a Native warrior. '"Adopted captives' frequently enter into the spirit of the nation, of which they are [to] become members, in such a manner, that they make no difficulty of going to war against their own countrymen'" (p. 207). Axtell's chapter eight is congruent to other portrayals of the White Indian, giving us a sense that his use of ethnohistory has provided his writings with rigor.

Because Axtell found it important enough to discuss ethnohistory in his prologue, and because his notes are replete with period writings later published in the 19th and 20th centuries, and based on past reviews of his work presenting him as a reliable historian, his book Natives and Newcomers is highly recommended not only as an example of a more balanced history of the United States in its intricate and complicated embryonic stages of colonization, but also as a work that models his methodology.