I am Native American and knowing the horrific depravity that these tribes have committed is just terrible,I can see why there were such hostility and prejudice between the tribes and races. So much bloodshed and hatred in this world. May God be with us.

I think the reason she killed like she did is really very simple. She saw her baby brained and killed against a tree. As far as she knew her husband and the rest of her children were dead also. And there was no guarantee as to her final fate. She saw a chance to escape and exact some revenge and she took it.. She killed because she wanted the Abenaki to know that two could play at that kind of game. No one was safe, women and children included. The Abenaki had been raiding and killing that way for yrs and her mind this was just a little bit of payback.

Our forebears were serious frontier types capable of extreme violence. In a rage, she simply treated her captors in kind.

There is no way to apply modern sensibilities to the actions of someone 326 years ago. We grew up with central AC/heat, running water and the ability to call police & emergency medical services. She could reasonably assume that she must leave zero survivors in order to protect her escape. It's also reasonable to assume that she needed those scalps for the verification of her story. Not to mention the timeless human motivator of revenge. If she watched someone bash her baby's brains out, she would be reasonable to spend the rest of her life killing for the sake of revenge. We all still have those basic instincts, we are just less likely to have those instincts drawn to the surface because of modern comfort & the utter comparative absence of violence that we enjoy in the modern era. In those times, the accomplishment of all things was based on violence & the threat thereof. Today the threat of violence is more abstract, but it is still the ultimate motivator of order.

Bro. You're vids have a perfect mix of old-history teacher vibes writing notes via overhead projector + a cousin dropping weird amounts of knowledge at a family event. Love the pseduo-low tech setup (but def prefer your new greenscreen) and the dry-ish delivery. No corny click-tactics or over emoting and feels like your just talking to me or small class...so refreshing. Hit me with facts laid out with some good visuals and in a relatable tone for normal dorks that wanna learn. Keep it up D&DG 👍

Your neutral and unbiased viewpoint towards both Indians and settlers is refreshingly nice! Thank you.

Both Hannah and the Abenacki, were products of their time. Pretty much impossible to judge them by today's standards.

I’m really enjoying your videos. The fact that they aren’t terribly long is a plus. I appreciate the research you have to devote to these subjects.

Wow! As a Brit, the European settling in and expansion of the Americas fascinates. There are so many stories to tell - and so many lessons to be learned - that I'm often surprised we, and especially today's Americans, don't know more. I only wish such tales could be told more like you do, Sir: unbiased, honest, contextual and accepting of human nature. We only learn from the past if we can see ourselves in it. All today's focus on identity, and which tribe was the most 'moral' or had the most right, is infantile.

A proud fervent Canadian Loyalist I had reason to look deeply into the roots all my 'American' ancestors, the Moores/Mooers/Moore and the Man/Mann families (fantastic Loyalists, only a foot note to the famous of the day) who arrived in Boston successivly in 1638 & 1652. A branch of the family, the 'Dawsons', were victims of the French led Abananki attack on Oyster river in 1696(?) - old memory fails me for the moment) and they suffered again in a 2nd attack ca 1706. Survivors went on to immigrate to Canada (lumber trade), founding Dawsonville in NB, in the 1830s. Stars of their generation, Dawsonville is now reduced to reclaimed forest and a few dispersed 'rough' homes, best known for a large grave yard and an abandoned church of those long gone and on the cusp of being completely forgotten. Such is history. It is either erased by 'politics' or else surely erased by 'time' and the 'pull of gravity''' of old memory killed by pure 'apathy', on the well travelled road to complete ignorance.

Born and lived in Haverhill, MA. for 69 years, I had a 1 month class in the history of Haverhill (pronounced Hayvrill) in the late 1960s.We were taught that Hannah kinda lost it when she thought her entire family had been killed and was bent on vengeance. According to a tale from the boy from Worcester, they were 50 to 100 feet from the island in the Merrimack when Hannah turned the canoe back to the island to collect the scalps of those they had killed. They then went back south on the river at night only and found sanctuary with a farmer from Nashua ,New Hampshire.This man would not leave his family alone with French and Abenakis in the area but did give supplies and advice on how to get back to Haverhill MA. We were told that after several days the 3 escapees landed where her and the nanny were initially put in canoes for their journey to Canada. I believe the young boy, who had been a prisoner for much longer was returned to his surviving relatives in Worcester. The Buttonwoods museum in Haverhill has much info on this as well as some artifacts from Hannah.

Drawing the parallel to Nat Turner is an interesting one to help put things in perspective. The lack of details surrounding the father and his escape with the children is interesting for me, maybe it's just because he wasn't the intended hero of the story by the people that recorded it but it's interesting. Makes me wonder how rough life was for these people or their forefather's in Europe that roughing it in a place with constant raids was more appealing.

I've been having a bit of a binge on your channel, and I have to say it's great content and well narrated. Keep up the good work. I am looking forward to more of your content.

Warfare has always been brutal. I'm sure the Abenaki would have done the same thing to Mohawk captives and vice versa. It just turned out that Hannah and her two compatriots, one fourteen years old, were underestimated and used the advantage to retaliate in kind.

I wonder if a modern day person could go back in time and survive those harsh living conditions, or do you have to be born in historic harsh times to survive them.

Keep dropping this heat. It’s much appreciated

I have admired your work for several months now. After listening to the conclusion of this video, your explanation on why she acted the way that she did, I admire you even more. Thank you for the great work.

12:27 I have read/heard that tribes "sold" land that they didn't have legitimate claim to.

Just found your channel, really enjoying the history content and have added it to my collection 😁

Very well told. I really enjoyed this video I look forward to watching your other ones🙂

Good on Her. Not seeing the problem here.

Welcome to life on the New England frontier. Plenty of shame and blame and self justification for vile acts to go around for everybody. She did a good job, man, I'm proud of her , she won playing by their own rules. And you try canoeing that river in March, pal, it's a boiling rushing ice cold hell...

True history isn't about judging, but understanding, and this channel does that spectacularly with respect for the perspectives and conditions of each party involved. Keep it up mate.

In support of Hannah's vicious reprisal... if someone kills one of my children, they had better tell everyone that's ever spoken a kind word to them to move far, far away because they would all be important targets in my mind. Good for you, Hannah.

Great info! I enjoyed it. I know some Duston descendents. Ps its pronounced Haiv rhill by the locals. Keep up the great videos

I feel no need to try to justify her's or the Indian's actions. Unfortunately, that is "just the way it was" at the period of time. We can't apply today's standards to the standards of that time.

Well presented -- Cheers!

As for the description by some of the murder of the baby and others on the march as "a mercy killings", I don't remember anyone referring to the murder of allied POWs by the Japaneses and Germans on similar marches as "mercy killings".

Love the vid and the channel, love hearing stories n history of my people. Times were crazy back then. Im Mi’kmaq from Nova Scotia, we were part of the wabanaki confederacy, which the abenaki was also a part of. My family on my dads side are all from boston

I think you are right neither to justify nor condemn the actions of the various parties involved. Life is, at times, unforgiving -- and any of us can be faced with brutal choices. It is not for the rest of us as armchair or keyboard warriors to try and justify or condemn, but to explain and try to understand. Thankyou for doing exactly this in the video; it's a fine line and I think you trod it well.

Excellent scholarship and analysis.

Your channel is amazing

If a person is kidnapping he or she should be able to use all means available to escape.

Despite my criticism below, I love these clips and respect your perspective. I'm a subscriber, and look forward to more of these.

So, how much was 25 pounds in the day? A month's wages or six or twelve? It would give an indication of how much threat the colonists felt from the natives.

“Fear keeps people in line…not Hannah Duston”. Brilliant 😂

Great take

I grew up in Longmeadow MA, just outside of Springfield. At the end of town, was a memorial park called King Philip's Stockade, commemorating a battle that took place there. It was said that you could still find arrowheads from time to time in that area.

What if it was the 14 year old boy, Samuel, that did the worst killing and she voluntarily took the rap for it because she approved of it and knew there was no way she would face any penalties back at the colony?

Well, 1st, Haverhill is not pronounced Haver- Hill. Here in NE, it's pronounced Hey-Veral but good analysis 👍. They should make a movie!!

I agree fully with steve wixsom's assessment below. The Abenaki were merciless savages. They had killed her baby. Only a mother could understand such pain. Good for her!

SHE WANTED REVENGE FOR THE DEATH OF HER BABY!!! NOTHING IS STRONGER THA A PISSED OFF WOMAN!!!

i had no idea who hannah duston was until i started building my family tree, she’s my 8th great grandmother😅

Can someone tell me what "scotied" means (9:07)? I googled it and checked on Wiktionary, but can't find anything.

Imagine if this was made into a movie.. Who do you think would play Hannah Duston??

Interesting that I found this video today. I live in this area of New Hampshire and just happened to ride by that site today and looked over at the statue of Hannah Dustin.

A lot of times land was sold or given to the colonists by tribes to place a buffer between them and their enemies

One of the biggest problems facing our country today is that people cannot understand that society was totally different 300 or 400 years ago, and we cannot apply today’s standards to how they lived their lives back then.

you tell a great story. Good stuff. We don't hear enough about the early conflicts with Amerindians and settlers in this kind of detail. Even though it is well documented.

Well said

You judge people by the times that they lived in I think you did a great job

I have lived in Haverhill (pronounced Hayvrill) my whole life and I drive by Hannah’s Statue all the time and you are telling me she is missing a shoe!!! wow!

Haverhill is pronounced Hay-vrill. Wicked awesome videos btw guy

If I was native i would have done what they’ve done, if I was her i would have done the same thing also! It was hard times and bad and good decisions were made to get us here today.

Second time here like how you cover the material....

This guy reminds me of watching the old western movies with my grandfather as a young boy. I asked him, "who's the good guys and who's bad?" He said there is no good guys and bad guys, there's just 2 sides that don't get along. Maybe people today could use that lesson.

I love that her statue has the scalps. What a hero, I’d love to go see it one day. Great story, thanks.

I read Phibrick's bok on King Philip 's War. A great read yo !

My boyfriend is a direct descendant of Hanah Dustin and I can tell you with absolute certainty they brutally killed her baby right in front of her screaming and pleading. I don't blame this woman for snapping and doing what she did. I don't excuse her but totally understand it as I'm a mother myself, watching what they did and thinking the rest were dead too, she most likely went insane with hatred and had nothing to lose at that point.

7:12 Not Hannah Dunston ❤

As far as the killing of the infant that wasn't unheard of due to the need of speed and stealth for the raiding party

My 11th Great Grandmother. What happened to her sister Elizabeth Webster was just as brutal as Hannah. She was hanged for infanticide, after she had given birth (without her parents knowledge) at the foot of their bed!

She made her escape from the devils the only way she could. Savages who murdered her infant have a propensity for barbarity, that's obvious.

She is my 9th times great grandmother, I remember my great grandmother, my grandmother and others in the family still talked about Hannah and others who were killed by Indians, they had several other family members killed by Indians. So she did what she had to do to get back to the rest of her family and anyone to judge her doesn't know what they would do in that situation, especially after watching them smashing her baby head against a tree. It was a different time and a very different way of life.

The painting depicted at 8:09 were my family members!

Well done! At 9:00 the text reads that ". . . they were scotied at . . ." I take that to mean the Indians spat at them. Is that correct? -- Old Matt

14:45 why would their knives swards and axes be dull?...

Had ancestor killed in 1676 during king Philips war. Capt Thomas Lathrop.He and 84 men were wiped out ( 200 yrs before Custer) evacuating towns harvests after many towns massacred

You forgot to say it was a mercy gauntlet.

From Maine.This is what got Me into this.Arrived 1640s.

25 Pounds Sterling was a fortune in that day. I think that many of us today would have gone into the scalp business. Especially after living in constant fear of attack by these folks that you were going to scalp. Your attempts to understand & explain the mindset of those involved in the struggles of the late 17th Century frontier are laudable. Most modern Americans have been so indoctrinated with wokeness that they cannot analyze things rationally. For example most young Americans seem to be of the opinion that early Americans invented slavery and that only Black folks have ever been enslaved. This ignorance is by design, btw. Critical Race Theory (along with several other Critical Theories) was developed in order to bring down The bonds of Western Civilization, especially America. This anticipated demise sets the stage for the Marxist takeover. The theories were developed by the Frankfurt School Marxists who were given refuge from Hitler in America. They eventually gained control of Columbia’s School of Education. From there the cancer spread to colleges & universities across the US. It’s now taken hold in primary & secondary education. And 80 years later we have ignorance & self loathing at all time highs. Thank you for your balanced discussions.

This story is too complex for me to judge as all I heard of was vague references to her, in comparison to the Joseph Kellogg story which happened in the same year. From memory, I'll try to relate my family's story. While Joseph Kellogg was away, his farm was attacked, his wife and infant child killed and four older children were abducted and taken to Canada. The infant was killed because a baby's cries would give the band away. The press gave a minister's family all the press when they were ransomed, the name was Williams. The Kellogg's got little but as most settlers kept journals, the story survived. The oldest boy tried escaping but was recaptured. They cut off his big toes so he would try escaping again. He and his brother were worked as slaves. The girls were forced to marry into the tribe. The oldest boy escaped again despite his handicap and made it back home somehow. For years he hated the Indians but at the end of the war, his siblings were ransomed. The younger brother stayed with his family but the two girls, now women and mothers wanted to return to the tribe. The life of an Indian women and Colonial women were just equally as harsh according to my source. The oldest son who escaped upon finding out his sisters were treated well, changed his mind about the 'savages' and opened up a missionary school to convert the local tribes to Christianity. Sorry, I don't recall the name of the oldest son. I thought the change of his attitude more interesting, while the Williams story tended to praise the superiority of Christian Western culture. An interesting coincidence happened. I went to a small LDS family history center in Oakley, Calif. and met a woman whose family line was from one of those two sisters who went back to the tribe in Canada. I was also able to fill in gaps from some of her lines from Arizona. The Kellogg family name is interesting. Four Kellogg brothers came to the colonies, each were known for their size. There are eight generations of Kelloggs in my line. Joseph Kellogg had nine children by his first wife killed by the Indians and nine more by his second, 18 in all. The survival rate of the White children were much greater than those born to the Indian tribes. Smallpox killed more Native Americans than wars.

I can’t believe how you are saying Haverhill It’s have like wave and ril like til

I would like to recommend a few books by Allan Eckert 1) the frontiersmen 2) the dark and bloody river..a bloody history of the ohio river 3) a sorrow in our heart.. These are my three favorite books although i have many more of his books..he is a awesome author if you love the early history of America and the frontier you must read these books..i will warn you they are highly addictive!🪓🏹 I love your content and appreciate your Neutrality on most of your videos! I subbed after viewing all the great content!

I recently heard this story on another channel and I don't mean any disrespect but it was a lot more powerful of a story without all the apologies.

Man has been doing this to each other throughout time, if you look a little further back, the mound culture had pushed those Natives out of the Ohio Vally all the way north east in a cannibalistic fashion ( as I surmise they were originally from the Central American Origins), a good example can be found in the Oklahoma University Press titled, 'LaSalle, Discovery of the Mississippi' ( An Iroquois Wolfpack decimated an Illini Village on the west side of the river where LaSalle had started a fort/outpost) Because the Mound Culture was cannibalistic, their enemies would retaliate in kind, to the shock of whites, killing your enemy and then eating his liver was commonplace.

Mercy killings????? Wow. She’s a hero.

Wait a second , you can't defend what this woman did and then say that it wasn't right . If she had no choice , and clearly she didn't , then she was right . One can't be on the fence about this just to please everyone

So Anakin Skywalker massacre of the Sand People was inspired by Hannah Duston!

I'm not sure of the value of including modem day apologists arguing that people who regularly murdered infants wouldn't have murdered an infant. Also I think the outcome in terms of killing everybody was just

David Gemmel said it best, "A woman to walk the mountains with"

Throughout all of human history the basic land law has been, "if you can defend it, it's yours." It's still very much that way today.

This wouldn’t need explaining until quite recently

Don't "see things" from the pov of the pre-Americans. See them from the pov of Wr-Alds. Listen to Prem Rawat!

What comes around goes around.

Hannah Duston was a hero. That being said, understand that my grandmother b.1902, was mohawk and schaghticoke, and my best friend and best man was Abenaki. They came and raided outside the Abenaki homeland so f them. My family straddles this event and they were documented as being in the zone. Brits and natives. Leave it go or you may be ventilated... Hoktahay wapsini sekonka.

There were thousands of black slave owner of black slaves. The national census of 1830 in the US lists over 3000 black slave owners. Many of these slave owners had 100-150 slaves; just as many as the richest white slave owners owned.

Wish he make a show about east coast Canada natives nova Scotia

I had never heard of that story as our history books in French Catholic schools were quite different. I know of a family in the province of Québec whose ancestor was a young boy taken from an English settlement by the Abenaki and traded to the Mohawks and adopted by them and brought to the French colony as an adult and later married a French Canadian woman and had a descendence in my country. They changed his name to make it sound French and most of his descendants don't even know about this story as it wasn't written in any history books. The English colonists would also send war parties against French settlements in those days as they were at war. That war was started in Europe and both sides would hire natives to do the ugly work and both would demonize the other side. As you may know, history is written by those who survived and they always have to find a way to justify their deeds so they can look as if they always acted in their own right. In those days it was customary for natives to adopt some of their captives to bring new blood as to avoid marriages in the same clan. Thank you for presenting the subject from an objective perspective. I is believed that some 60% of French Canadians have some Native ancestry as in Canada relations between natives and colonists were different and more inclusive for those who would accept baptism. It was customary though to hide it as not to be rejected by pure Europeans. I'm proud to be a mixed blood yet it means I don't belong to any family clan or tribe as since my grandmother died when I was 16 the family lost its center and ceased to gather together on holidays. Modern life pulls families apart and people are more alone than ever. Hopefully, these conflicts are things of the past yet I worry about all these wars abroad where Americans and Canadians have to participate because of past alliances through Nato and the UN. Their way to kill people nowadays is also very ugly and can hardly be justified. ⚜🍁♾♾🌲♾♾🪔

9:00 scotied?

Im new, are you doing/ have you done a Nat Turner video?!

I can appreciate the attempt to see it from a historical perspective but it seems awkward to compare Hannah and Nat Turner without acknowleding the very different way the stories were treated at the time. I dont think there are any statues of Nat Turner even now, although he's mentioned on one. If we are going to try to understand them, shouldnt we understand that Hannah knew her actions would be popular if she returned home, but for Nat, he was facing execution at the hands of his own country?

Well at least they all got to pray together.

"No matter what your legends say, you didn't sprout from the plains like the spring grasses. And you didn't coalesce out of the ether. You came out of the Minnesota woodlands armed to the teeth and set upon your fellow man. You massacred the Kiowa, the Omaha, the Ponca, the Oto and the Pawnee without mercy. And yet you claim the Black Hills as a private preserve bequeathed to you by the Great Spirit." "Chief Sitting Bull, the proposition that you were a peaceable people before the appearance of the white man is the most fanciful legend of all. You were killing each other for hundreds of moons before the first white stepped foot on this continent. You conquered those tribes, lusting for their game and their lands, JUST AS WE HAVE NOW CONQUERED YOU FOR NO LESS NOBLE A CAUSE." Best movie quote that sums up what we should think about land ownership and the natives.

Oh please! Hannah Duston was a mother who saw her infant child's head slammed into a tree. The butchering of the other women captives were not mercy killings, but the depraved actions of men inconvenienced by the slowness and infirmities of those captives. PERIOD. Duston and her fellow captives acted out of desperation and rage, killing ALL the Abenaki so that NONE could alert tribe members. Even the Christian Indians were catholic, and held protestants in contempt and showed it. To the indigenous the English were just another tribe, and could just as easily been Huron or Pequot. Captive indigenous women might well have acted the same way as Duston.

Good for her if they had done that to my baby I think I would have done the same.

The blame falls upon Louis the fourteenth, who was ultimately responsible for the behavior of the Abenaki. That critter was never any good. He was a tool of jesuits. Listen to Prem Rawat!

Anyone who feels sure about what they would do is painfully ignorant. You are your environment.

She was a hero.

14:59 - love your shit and I think we agree mostly but black white red or brown nobody has ever been oppressed by an infant. Also if you can't keep the baby why did you take it in the first place? As if you thought a rescue party wouldn't be by shortly. I can understand the actions taken by the wabanaki up to the taking of an infant. Same goes for Hannah, too