E.G.+Last+of+the+Mohicans+Response

Ellie Gebhardt Mr. Rowells AP US History The Last of the Mohicans Reflection __ The Last of the Mohicans __ by James Fennimore Cooper is your basic Native American/War movie from the big screen, but in book format. It contains the vital elements of battle, action, sentiment, and a gut-wrenching ending. The astounding thing is that this is no flimsy book based of a movie. This book was actually written back in the 1700’s and still has appeal to the various generations throughout the years. The deep character connections are what really make this book come to life. We can see the hardships that the Natives went through as they were caught between fighting for the French and English armies and fighting for their lands. However, the two sides to the French and Indian War were completely different when it comes to treating the Native Americans. The first side fighting in heated combat was the English. The English and the French armies were fighting for control and ownership of the vast lands of the new world. Now, the English had a decent sized army. The English also had many more numerous colonies than the French had. This may be why the English didn’t enlist as many Indians in their armies. Instead, the English preferred to use the Indians as guides to help them, as seen in __The Last of the Mohicans.__ Colonel Munro has sent an Indian by the name of Magua to act as a guide to bring his daughters to come visit Fort William Henry. Sometimes the English did not judge very accurately and the Indians would ambush the English instead of guiding them. This is seen as Magua leads the two girls down a shortcut and purposefully gets them lost so he can seek his revenge on Colonel Munro. The English army used the Indians as guides to help them, unlike the French. The French Army saw things differently from the English. They saw power and potential in the fierce natives, like the Hurons. The French enlisted these fierce warrior Natives to establish terror and dread in the English. As seen in __The Last of the Mohicans__, When Munro surrendered the Fort to the French, the French brought in the Indians to stand by as the Brits filed out. Uncontrollable by the French, the Indians attacked the English, leaving nearly all of them dead. The other reason that the French enlisted the help of the Indian tribes was the numbers. With the vast amounts of Indian, the French found themselves a huge number of disposable soldiers. The French didn’t care if the Indians lived or died. All they cared about was winning battles and winning the war. In conclusion, __The Last of the Mohicans__ illustrates the differences between the French and English when it concerns the involvement of the Native Americans in the war. The English used them for their skills of the land and guiding in the unknown terrain. The French on the other hand used the Indians for scaring the English armies by intimidating them with the bloodthirsty vicious tribes. The tribes also served the French in numbers when it came down to being actual soldiers in battle. Meanwhile the Indians were stuck in the middle of this action movie nightmare, wondering which side to choose as their respect along with their homelands dwindled like sand in an hourglass.