How Did George Washington Conquer The Indians

In 1779, George Washington chose General John Sullivan and General James Clinton to combine forces and bring an army of about 5,000 men into Central and Western New York. His goal was to push the Seneca nation back upon the British. George Washington designed this campaign to punish the British-allied Iroquois nations and to force the Iroquois out of the war. The nature of this campaign was to actually completely destroy the indians. As George Washington quoted in May of 1979 “The Expedition you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations of Indians, with their associates and adherents. The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements, and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their

The army entered and stayed in Livingston county for 4 days. Within a short period of time they decided to scout out where the indian village was. The following morning they ended up at an abandoned indian village. While they headed back they encountered indians along the way and pursued them. They led him into an ambush of 800 indian. Sullivan did what washington asked him to do. He diminished the resources of the British. The Americans inflicted a lot of damage upon the Indians. They killed many of them. This overpowering of the Indians destroyed any morale that they had. This mass destruction seemed like more of a way to “get rid” of the indians which would “get rid” of the problem. Washington did inflict a sort of Ethical Cleansing upon this group. He clearly stated that he wanted to imprison and destroy them and anything that they had. While he did not come out and say “murder them” he wanted to capture them. What was the next step after that? It was unavoidable death. Killed or kidnapped, they did not stand a chance once Washington had them in his