English on the Warpath English and Native American Tactics in New England, 1600-1800

In northeastern North America, English colonists and explorers encountered a completely unfamiliar people. The Native Americans possessed different cultural values, different religious beliefs, different lifestyles, and different views and methods of warfare. The native lifestyle was highly suited to their natural environment, the forested terrain of what is now known as New England. This paper will discuss the major differences between European and Native American warfare, the origins of native tactics as developed in northeastern forests, adaptations of both cultures to the other’s tactics. Native American tactics were highly sophisticated and well suited to the environment of the northeastern forests, while the English were forced to react to native strategy in their colonial expansion. Even at the time of the American Revolution, Native American tactical practices remained largely unchanged (despite the encounter with a technologically superior opponent) while the English were forced to change and evolve. Before colonizing the Americas, Europeans practiced what they considered to be “civilized ” warfare. Battles in Europe were fought on open fields, during fair weather, and in the daylight hours—anything else was considered dishonorable. European soldiers were highly regimented and strictly disciplined, trained to march in step and fight in formation. The carnag