Churchmen and the Western Indians, 1820-1920 (review)

Abstract

130Quaker History meeting in 1862 at the same time this status was granted to Hobart and Adelaide. Later in that decade enough Quakers had moved to Queensland to begin discussion of a meetinghouse, and one was erected with British help in 1866. Joseph James Neave and Walter Robson were early visitors to these Friends. The author has described the manner in which British and Irish Friends sought to assist Australian Quakers through visitation, epistles, offers of money, and advice. While a special deputation in 1875 proposed the creation of an Australian yearly meeting, the Friends in the colonies were clearly not ready for that responsibility and they continued to receive support from London. On the other hand Oats describes the way in which Australian Quakers were different from those in the British Isles. The book begins somewhat slowly with the first 75 pages devoted to background, the results of a vigorous search for the names of the first 1 ,000 Quaker immigrants and an effort to describe the reasons for migration. These are all useful points to develop but the book takes on more life and vitality as it deals with the actual creation of Friends meetings in the colonies. His last two chapters, "Toward an Australian Quakerism: 1875-1901," and one entitled "Retrospect," pull the entire volume together. This admirable study is weakened by several typographical errors and an index which this reviewer found difficult to use. One hopes that William Oats will now write a comparable volume about the 20th century. Haverford CollegeEdwin B. Bronner Churchmen and the Western Indians, 1820-1920. Edited and with an introduction by Clyde Milner II and Floyd A. O'Neil. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985. 252 pp. Hlus., maps, notes, index. $19.95. One of the more shameful chapters in the expansion of Euro-American civilization on the North American continent is the treatment of the native Americans. To be sure there was positive response to the Indians by churchmen such as Jean de Brébeuf, John Eliot, David Zeisberger, and Anthony Benezet, but even the story of religious work in Indian-white relations is checkered at best. This book presents case studies of the work by men ofsix different denominations among and for Indians during a time in United States history when churches were engaged in vigorous mass evangelism, concerned reform work, and were serving as the handmaids of federal Indian policy. By presenting a variety of denominational responses the study offers the reader the opportunity to discern patterns in Church attitudes and methods of outreach as well as the reaction of the Indian "clients." What becomes clear is that most Christian work for the Indian was motivated by the twin goals of "civilization" and salvation, the order of those ends differing with the various denominations. Boarding schools, agricultural stations, gospel instruction , and the development of a settled lifestyle were all integral parts of a program to "save" the Indians both physically and spiritually. As becomes clear through the six authors' exhaustively researched details, Indian acceptance of the package was never overwhelming. Only a few missionaries were willing to preach and teach in the native language, thus limiting comprehension and response, and even fewer were open to encouraging Indians to maintain native cultural integrity. In most cases white civilization itself helped destroy the Indians through greedy land acquisition, trade in alcohol, and subjugation. The cure for this destructive contagion was probably worse than the poison: many churchmen advocated the removal of Indians to the West, further disrupting their already decaying cultural institutions and encouraging an anomic reaction. Of special interest to Quaker readers will be the chapter on the Quaker philanthropist Albert K. Smiley, whose Lake Mohonk conferences on Indian affairs and many Book Reviews131 years of service on the federal Board of Indian Commissioners made him the most influential public Friend since William Penn. Written by Clyde Milner II (whose book on Quaker Indian work under Grant's "Peace Policy, " With Good Intentions, was reviewed in Quaker History in the Fall, 1983, number), the discussion of Smiley's contribution to Indian concerns raises serious questions about Quaker work in the 1800s and early 1900s. Smiley advocated Indian assimilation through...