The Native American/Indian Thread

[Rasta]

Originally Posted by Salah

Estimates for when the Iroquois Confederacy was born range anywhere from 1300 to 1600. Most scholars believe it predated Iroquoian interaction with whites, but there is a theory that the Confederacy was formed in reaction to encounters with French explorers at the end of the 16th Century. Either way, the complex structure of this Native alliance was created without any European influence, a fact that surprised many whites who preferred to envision their Indians as noble savages.

I have also heard that the European use of palisades in North America may have been inspired by the Iroquois.

[Salah]

The Indian and his Horse

The image of an Indian brave, bedecked in feathers and riding his horse in the buffalo hunt or on a raid, is one of the most iconic pieces of American folklore. The white man's advent in North America may have been, retrospectively, a death sentence to the Indian. But ironically it was also the white man who first introduced the Indian to the animal that would help him hunt buffalo, count coups, and transport his family more efficiently, and in style.

The 'Mystery Dog', though sporadically utilized by many tribes between the 17th and 19th Centuries, had no greater influence than amongst the tribes that roamed the western plains. Here, the horse was directly responsible for an intense reshaping of the Indian way of life. Buffalo hunting, once an awkward and dangerous task, now became a sport, a religious ritual, and a defining cultural tradition simultaneously. Warfare, which was once conducted by crowds of enemy tribesmen clashing on foot, now involved fewer numbers of men, and became both more glamorous and less bloody than before.

Dogs

Fossil evidence reveals that many species of horse - some resembling the zebras and now extinct quaggas of Africa - once grazed across the American plains. They were hunted not only by wolves and American lions, but also by the first generations of American Natives. Exactly what caused their extinction is unknown - paleontologists have suggested it was overhunting by humans. However it came to be, by the time Columbus 'discovered' the New World in 1492, the horse was totally unknown to the Americas. Not even the most distant of folk traditions seem to have preserved a memory of the prehistoric equids.

The wolves who preyed upon the ancient horses, however, continued to thrive. Some were gradually domesticated, and were used by the early Native Americans as beasts of burden and an easy source of meat. These dogs were the only animal known to have been domesticated by North American Indians.

Tribes all across the North American continent used dogs to transport their goods, dragging them on sleds or tied to poles called travois. Such dogs were not particularly well-treated; many tribes believed that feeding them even scraps of meat taken from hunted animals would offend the spirits of the latter, and make it harder to catch their living relatives.

Nonetheless the domestic dog was an staple feature of pre-Columbian Indian life, particularly in the southwest and the great plains. The settled peoples of Mesoamerica referred to nomadic tribes in what is now northern Mexico as Chichimeca, 'Dog People', and appear to have used this name with the same scorn that the ancient Greeks and Romans said 'barbarian'.

First Encounters

Spain's Conquistadores could be credited with introducing the Mesoamericans to the horse, though the introduction was not a happy one for any of the parties involved. Originally thought to be some kind of demon based on a deer, the Mexican tribesmen expressed reverent horror at the Spaniards' mounts. Practical experience in battle, however, taught them that the horse was merely an animal. One horse belonging to one of Hernan Cortez's soldiers had its head ripped off by the maquahuitl of an Aztec warrior. In the following generations, Mayans learned to use spear phalanxes to neutralize the charges of mounted Spanish soldiers.

Tradition has it that the first horses to be claimed and ridden by Indians had belonged to the conquistador Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. More likely they had belonged to Spanish settlements in the Southwest, and had been captured after straying, or had been obtained directly through trade or raiding. By the closing decades of the 17th Century the Comanches and various Apachean peoples had horses, and by the middle of the 18th Century virtually every tribe of the Plains and the Southwest had been introduced to the animal.

Uses of the Horse

The horse revolutionized both hunting and warfare on the Plains. Tribes who had not or could not obtain horses were at an extreme disadvantage, and were driven off the lands of tribes that did have them. Previously, warfare amongst the Plains tribes had consisted of large mobs of warriors brutally assaulting one another on foot with axes, clubs, spears, and bows. Now open battles were rare. Violence remained constant - indeed, it increased - but it now took the form of smaller raiding parties striking one another mounted, often for the purpose of stealing more horses.

Warriors adopted the practice of 'counting coup', where they aspired to touch an enemy warrior with their weapon while both parties were mounted. Counting coup was intended to humiliate the enemy and oftentimes did not result in injury or death.

The Plains Indians quickly developed a horse culture, comparable to nomad societies from the Old World. Children were trained almost from birth to ride and handle horses. As they grew older, boys were trained to pick up heavier and heavier weights from the ground while riding their horse at a gallop, this was to teach them how to pick up a comrade who had been dismounted or injured in a battle.

No Indian horsemen impressed contemporary whites more than those of the Comanches, who were renowned for their flexibility while on their mounts. An experienced rider was able to hang to the side of his horse, only holding on with his legs, and fire arrows from underneath the animal's neck or belly. Like white horsemen, Indians were not known for using firearms at full gallop, and preferred to use the bow and arrow for buffalo hunts.

Horses were also used for food in times of need. A warrior's favorite horse would often be killed as a sacrifice to his spirit. Horses were also used as a currency of sorts amongst the Plains tribes; medicine men, for example, demanding a payment of a certain number of horses for healing a fellow tribesman.

Right up to the final decade of the 19th Century, the equestrian skills of the Plains Indians never failed to amaze all observers. George Crook was firm in his belief that Lakota horsemen were the finest light cavalry the world had ever seen.

[Salah]

Technically not Native music, but a fabulous sampling of one of the finest movie soundtracks ever. Promentory from The Last of the Mohicans.

The Last of the Mohicans - Promentory - YouTube

The Last of the Mohicans - Promentory - YouTube

[Rasta]

Some tribes were known to occasionally use poisoned arrows. Among them were Sioux, Apache, Paiutes, Blackfeet, Assiniboin, Shoshonis, and Bannock.

J.W. Hoffman, in 1873 observed some Sioux preparing poisoned arrows:

"The arrow maker and the owner of the weapons went to the prairie dog town, a short distance from camp were they soon found a rattlesnake - Crotalus confluentus. One of the Indians carried a forked stick, while the other had the liver of a recently killed antelope. The serpent was gently but securely held to the ground by means of one of the forked sticks while the assistant impaled the liver upon another. The snake was then excited by thrusting the liver towards its head, where it soon buried its fangs; this was repeated several times, when, finally, the reptile, becoming obstinate and refusing to bite the object again, was killed.
The liver was then carried to camp and placed upon a pole where the rays of the sun hastened decomposition. The time necessary for this operation depends upon the state of the atmosphere; but usually a day is sufficient for all purposes. When the liver became putrid, it was taken down and crushed into a plastic mass in a small tin vessel, after which the arrows were dipped into it and laid to dry."

A Guide to the Indian Wars of the West
John D. McDermott

[Salah]

Another interesting detail about Indian arrows: each warrior made his own arrows and personalized them; this made it easier to determine who killed who in the aftermath of a battle or a large hunt. At least that's how it was with the Plains tribes.

[Rasta]

Originally Posted by Salah

Warriors adopted the practice of 'counting coup', where they aspired to touch an enemy warrior with their weapon while both parties were mounted. Counting coup was intended to humiliate the enemy and oftentimes did not result in injury or death.

Great post Salah. Demonstrating courage was important for men. Using the open hand to "slap" an enemy was also a favored way of counting coup. Another would be to touch their lance against an enemy hut. Some carried coup sticks, which were intentionally non-lethal: 45" Coup Stick

[Rasta]

More on counting coup. Scalping was another form of counting coup.

In 1860, Sir Richard Burton interviewed several Plains Tribes about this practice.

"According to Burton, the highest honor was to ride single-handedly into the enemy camp and touch a lodge with lance or bow. The second was to take a warrior prisoner, and the third was to strike a dead or fallen man. Least important was to slay an enemy in hand-to-hand fighting. Coups had to be verified by others, and the warrior had the right to recount his exploits publicly at appropriate times. As might be expected, Plains Indian leaders had amazing numbers of coups. For example, in 1891 the Oglala Chief Red Cloud stated that he had counted coup eighty times. In some tribes feathers were tallies of a man's prowess in war. Among the Sioux the number of eagle feathers worn denoted the number of enemies killed, the wing feathers of the bald eagle indicting a male and black eagle feathers representing a woman. If they had shot an enemy, warriors put a round red spot on the feather. A broad red streak across meant that the opponent had been scalped."

A Guide to the Indian Wars of the West
John D. McDermott

[kbear]

Originally Posted by Salah

Technically not Native music, but a fabulous sampling of one of the finest movie soundtracks ever. Promentory from The Last of the Mohicans.

The Last of the Mohicans - Promentory - YouTube

completely agree--this is one of my favorite movies and the music was beautiful..

[Salah]

The blending of the white man's Christianity, and the Native's spirituality, is documented early on. It was already occurring in Mesoamerica even as the Spanish Conquest was taking place (and indeed, Christian and pre-Christian beliefs and superstitions freely mingle in Latin America to this day).

At least two, and probably many more, Indian religions arose that seem to have been based closely on Christianity. These were Messianic cults in which sin and salvation - previously foreign concepts to Indian mysticism - played an important role.

In 1799, Ganiodariyo (Handsome Lake), half-brother to the famous 'half-breed' Seneca chief Cornplanter, was sick. During his long illness he had a series of encounters with supernatural beings, supposedly messengers sent by the Creator. They proclaimed 'Good Word' - Gaiwiio - which would be a solution to all the social problems facing the tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy. The resulting 'Longhouse Religion' was a seamless welding of Christian and traditional beliefs and practices, but its morality was staunchly Christian - followers were forbidden from drinking alcohol, or from practicing pre-Christian rituals that were now labelled 'witchcraft'.

In the aftermath of the American Revolution many Iroquois were rotting in a state of alcohol abuse and familial instability (the twin banes of reservation life even today); it should be considered little wonder that a religion combining the most attractive features of both Christianity and pre-Christian mysticism would lift their spirits and find an enthusiastic following. Other Iroquois of Handsome Lake's generation revealed their frustration with the turn of events in different ways. His half-brother Cornplanter disavowed all association with white people, destroyed an expensive sword he had been given as a gift by a white, and died a bitter and disillusioned man.

The Ghost Dance

When the sun died, I went up to heaven and saw the Great Spirit and all the people who had died a long time ago. The Great Spirit told me to come back and tell my people they must be good and love one another and not fight, or steal, or lie. He gave me a dance to give to my people.

-Wovoka

Just under a century later, in 1888, another Indian fell sick. He was Wovoka, a Paiute living in Nevada. During his sickness, he too communicated with the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit revealed to Wovoka that he was displeased with what the white people had done to the Indians in the past decades, and planned to avenge them. All the Indians had to do was dance the dance that the Great Spirit had given Wovoka, and the world as they had known it would be restored. This dance became known as the Ghost Dance.

Even while Wovoka still lay deathly ill in his bed, word of his visions swept across the West. An eclipse of the sun, as well as encouragements (and perhaps embellishments) from medicine men worked many reservation Indians up into a state of near frenzy. The new religion - for so it was becoming - was accepted by the Utes, and the Shoshones, and the Bannocks, and the Cheyenne and most fervently, by the Lakota.

The Messianic promises of the Ghost Dance bore a resemblance to those of Christianity - some Indians even saying that Jesus Christ himself was an Indian, and was soon returning to deliver his children from their white oppressors. Other Indians believed a great flood would destroy the white men, and restore the buffalo herds to the plains. One of the core beliefs of the Ghost Dance is that all the Indians who had died before would be brought back to life. For hours, and days at a time practitioners danced in rings, dancing till they collapsed from exhaustion and had more wild visions and trances.

The Ghost Dance craze came to a swift and violent end in December of 1890, with the murder of Sitting Bull by Indian Police and the butchery at Wounded Knee less than two weeks later. Many of the Lakota killed at Wounded Knee were wearing their 'ghost shirts', which medicine men had told them would make them impervious to wounds from the whites' bullets.

The dreams of the Ghost Dancers were broken along with their bodies under the murderous fire of the 7th Cavalry and four accompanying Hotchkiss guns.

[jehosafats]

Shawnee war paint