Ponteach

Ponteach; or, The Savages of America, (1766) a tragedy by Major Robert Rogers. The English who come to America are an unpleasant mixture of indifference, callousness, and greed in their treatment of the Native Americans. Some, like the hunters Honnyman and Orsbourn, shoot the Indians for sport. The English Governors, Sharp, Gripe, and Catchum, ignore instructions to make peace with the Native Americans. Sharp says, “Must mind that good old Rule, Take care of One,” while Gripe agrees, “Ay, Christian Charity begins at home; / I think it's in the Bible, I know I've read it.” The result is the destruction of the well‐meaning, even noble Indians, led by Ponteach [pronounced Pontiac]. Grieving over the death of his loved ones, the chief exhorts the elements to “witness for me to your new base Lords, / That my unconquer'd Mind defies them still.” The first tragedy to be written with a basically American theme and to feature Native Americans, this mediocre blank‐verse drama was published in 1766 but appears never to have been performed. Major Robert ROGERS (1731?–95) was a Massachusetts native who fought in the French and Indian Wars, but who was noted for his sympathies for the Native Americans. He spent much of his life in England, where he also published his Journal of the French and Indian War and A Concise Account of North America (1765).