Note 1349 — Chapter VIII · (continued 2)

All of the authorities to which he refers have already been cited, and it may fairly be said that there is nothing of special value in his remarks on the subject. In the development of the topic to which the work is devoted the author alludes to the custom of the Indians to refrain from connection with women not only during the time that they were on the war-path, but for some days before starting. The unanimity of testimony as to this custom of the Indians renders special citations unnecessary. Until the natives were debauched in this respect by contact with civilization, no authentic instance can be found of the violation of a woman by a warrior on the war-path. Brantz Mayer, in his defence of Cresap (Logan and Cresap, p. 110), quotes from the Md. Gazette (Nov. 30, 1774) a charge of this sort. If there was foundation for it in the minds of those who made it, investigation would probably have traced the outrage to whites disguised as Indians. The superstition which protected women from Indian assault was still in force at that time.