Indian Conflict With Immigrants In Edgar Huntly by Charles

Broken Brown

Arranged by
M Habib Jauhari
61417011

Introduction
The story of a young man named Edgar Huntly who only lived with his uncle and
younger sister on a farm outside Philadelphia because his parents were killed by
Indians, beginning with the death of a close friend or prospective brother-in-law
named Waldegrave, he died pitifully under an elm tree, and finally that made
Edgar curious who was the killer and finally he wanted to investigate the murder.
he will experience terrible events such as sleep walking, killing panther, and he
committed murder of Indian tribes, commonly called Delaware Indians who are
known to be very savage and terrible, this is what I want to discuss, conflict
between Indian tribes and border experienced by Edgar until he lost his family
and what Charles Brown experienced until finally Brown raised it into his work.
(Lotha)

Discussions

The first time the conflict arose in the story at the time of this explanation of
Edgar's family who was killed by an Indian tribe that made Edgar very afraid of
the Delaware tribe, but it was the situation that forced him to kill them. In that
cavern, Edgar saw four Indians sleeping by the fire. Each had a musket. He
remembered how there had been Indian raids in the community lately, and
reflected on how his own parents were killed by Indians when he was young. He
and his sisters had been away, or they would have been killed too. As a result, he

had always been frightened of Indians.

“Perhaps you will conceive a purpose like this to have argued a sanguinary
and murderous disposition. Let it be remembered, however, that I
entertained no doubts about the hostile designs of these men. This was
 sufficiently indicated by their arms, their guise, and the captive who
attended them. Let the fate of my parents be, likewise, remembered. I
was not certain but that these very men were the assassins of my family,
and were those who had reduced me and my sisters to the condition of
orphans and dependants. No words can describe the torments of my
thirst. Relief to these torments, and safety to my life, were within view.
How could I hesitate?” (Edgar Huntly: Or, Memoirs of a sleep-walker,
1799:80)

This illustrates a bit about the historical background of this Edgar Huntly story,
Brown gave such a background because he was also no stranger to the conflict
that occurred between the Delware Indian tribe and the American people, for
example on July 26, 1764 a terrible incident occurred, 4 Delaware people entered
the residential area and went to a school in Pennsylvania and killed the principal
of the school. Do not stop there, they also began to attack the students there using
their weapons, Tomahawked, 9 students were killed, 2 were injured, and 4 were
kidnapped by them as hostages, even before they also killed pregnant women,
really according to their nickname they were true savage. (Strait)

The incident triggered a hunt between the two parties, namely settlers with the
Delaware, a bounty system was created by the governor John Penn, where an
Indian man over ten years was given a price of $ 134 and for women was priced at
$ 50, therefore inside Edgar Huntly's Delaware story still often kills the residents
and kidnaps them, loots as they please, and vice versa the residents cannot stay
silent, they also hunt Delaware as when Edgar disappeared due to sleepwalking,
Uncle and someone named Sarsefield said they wanted looking for Edgar while
hunting down the savages. And also when Edgar found a woman who was made
their hostage.

“I thought upon the condition of the hapless girl whom I had left in the
power of the savages. Was it impossible to rescue her? Might I not relieve
her from her bonds, and make her the companion of my flight? The exploit
was perilous but not impracticable .” (Edgar Huntly: Or, Memoirs of a
sleep-walker, 1799:81)
Then finally Edgar chose to save the woman, then the woman told me that all of
her family had been killed by them, from that incident we can see that kidnapping
and murder were often experienced by Brown who was actually a Quakers, The
people of Delaware wanted independence from the strong influence of
Pennsylvania's large population of Quakers. The Quakers, or Society of Friends,
was a religious body that dominated Philadelphia, and the people of Delaware
feared the rapid economic growth of the Pennsylvania colony.

Conclusion

In conclusion all the conflicts that occurred between Delaware (one of the Indian
tribes) and the inhabitants of the city of Pennsylvania had a relationship with what
had been experienced by the author, Charles Brockden Brown. He made the
setting of the story the same as when he wrote the story, giving a historical
background to the family of the main character by the Delaware tribe where he
linked it to the events of his past, the massacre that took place at Enoch Brown
School in Pennsylvania. the place of the story is also the same as Brown's
residence, so this story illustrates the situation of the writer at that time.
 References

Smplanet. (2019). Delware. Retrieved, July 09, 2019, from

http://www.smplanet.com/teaching/colonialamerica/colonies/delaware

Brown, Charles Brockden. (1799). Edgar Huntly: Or, Memoirs of a sleep-

walker . Retrieved, June 30, 2019, from
http://public-library.uk/ebooks/31/55.pdf

Strait, Megan D. (2010). Enoch Brown: A Massacre Unmatched. Retrieved, June

30, 2019, from http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/Enoch.html

Lotha, Gloria. (2013) Charles Brockden Brown. Retrieved, June 30, 2019, from
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Brockden-Brown