Pennsylvania Scalp Bounty Proclamation, April 22, 1780.

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Written By Herbert Snow

Throughout the Revolutionary War, bounty rewards for killing, scalping, and capturing Indigenous soldiers and civilians were offered by both Continental and British government and military officials. Support for bounty laws was further encouraged by a 1777 raid near Kittanning, Pennsylvania by Westmoreland County militiamen who scalped five Native people, most likely members of Lenape Nation. When news reached colonial officials, Pennsylvania Colonel Archibald Lochry asserted that bounties served “a good end,” and settlers were “determined to exert themselves that way.”

In 1778, British forces and allied Six Nations soldiers mounted a series of attacks on Continental forces and settlers in New York and Pennsylvania. The Continental army and settler militias soon retaliated and launched scorched earth campaigns of ethnic cleansing in Haudenosaunee, Six Nations homelands.

Detailed description 1780 Joseph Reed Bounty Proclamation

ESSENTIAL QUESTION & DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Essential Question

How did colonial officials and settlers use Joseph Reeds’s Scalp Bounty Law to justify the taking of Native peoples’ land in what became the United States?

Discussion questions

What does Joseph Reed’s Scalp Bounty Law represent in the conflict between Native peoples and the colonial government in Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War?

Who was Joseph Reed?

Describe the historical moment when the Reed Bounty Proclamation was issued and the motivations for its passage.

For whom did he write the Proclamation?

What other government or military officials encouraged the passage of this bounty act?

In what ways do you think the bounty proclamations passed during the Revolutionary War have influenced U.S. popular culture's understanding and portrayal of Indigenous peoples and the assumptions made about their involvement in this conflict?

Reflecting on Barbara Mann’s excerpt, what were some of the motivations for Indigenous forces to conduct their own raids on American armies and settlers? In what way does this help explain her observation that these Native warriors were not merely allies of the British or fighting for their cause?

Why do you think American generals like Brodhead might have rejected efforts at peaceful negotiation made by tribal leaders? What were some motivations of American military expeditions in this region?

What is the role of historical documents in human society, American civics, and democracy?

excerpts

  • Sir, As some Indian Tribes, to the westward of the Missisippi have lately, without any provocation, massacred many of the Inhabitants upon the Frontiers of this Commonwealth, in the most cruel and barbarous Manner, and it is intended to revenge the Injury and punish the Aggressors by carrying the War into their own Country.

    We congratulate You upon your Appointment to conduct so important an Enterprize in which We most heartily wish You Success; and we have no Doubt but some further Reward in Lands, in that Country, will be given to the Volunteers who shall engage in this Service, in addition to the usual Pay: if they are so fortunate to succeed, We think it just and reasonable that each Volunteer entering as a common [soldier] in this Expedition, shou’d be allowed three hundred Acres of Land, and the Officers in the usual Proportion, out of the Lands which may be conquered in the Country now in the Possession of the said Indians; so as not to interfere with the Claims of any friendly Indians, or of any People willing to become Subjects of this Commonwealth; and for this we think You may safely confide in the Justice and Generosity of the Virginia Assembly.

    We are Sir Yr. most Hble Servts.,

    G: Wythe, G. Mason, Th: Jefferson

  • 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 planting more.

    I would recommend, that some post in the center of the Indian Country, should be occupied with all expedition, with a sufficient quantity of provisions whence parties should be detached to lay waste all the settlements around, with instructions to do it in the most effectual manner, that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed.

    But you will not by any means listen to any overture of peace before the total ruinment of their settlements is effected. Our future security will be in their inability to injure us and in the terror with which the severity of the chastisement they receive will inspire them.

SOURCES & RESOURCES

HANDOUTS

Pennsylvania Scalp Bounty Proclamation, passed April 22, 1780. “By His Excellency Joseph Reed, Esq. president, and the Supreme Executive Council, of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” A proclamation. Library Company of Philadelphia Broadsides, Philadelphia : Printed by Francis Bailey, 1780 #Am 1780 Pen Cou 953.F.45,

Thomas Lynch Montgomery, and Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. VIII, 167, 176

Herbert Snow
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