Surviving Genocide

In 1814, Big Warrior, a Creek ally of General Andrew Jackson in the Red Stick War, conceded that “I found the General had great power to destroy me”(p.175). Surviving Genocide, Jeffrey Ostler’s masterful synthesis of American settler colonialism in the eastern half of the United States, situates Big Warrior’s words alongside those of the Chickamauga Cherokee, the Osage, the Shawnee, and countless other leaders of Native nations. Across linguistic and national boundaries, Native people believed that Americans intended to commit genocide. Surviving Genocide takes their words seriously. In his meticulously researched, three-part analysis of the period from 1750 to 1860, Ostler substantiates their claims. Before removal, most Native nations managed to expand their populations despite the tremendous pressure on their people and lands. From New York to Alabama, American policy-makers often doubled as land speculators, tacitly or explicitly supporting the terroristic work of vigilantes and American armies as they burned Native towns and fields. Scorched-earth campaigns were customary, but these realities did not stop American leaders from George Washington to Lewis Cass from deliberately misrepresenting Native peoples, blaming them for the violence in a bid to guarantee upward mobility for White settlers.

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