Assignment 3

Assignment #3
The United States has been through its fair share of wars and battles throughout its short history as a country. Those wars are in our current textbooks and talked about many times a year. Think about it, we hear about our country’s Independence Day every July 4th and we are reminded of Pearl Harbor and World War II every December 7th, however, something that is almost never mentioned is the longest war this continent has ever seen, the Indian wars. Lasting over 390 years and killing hundreds and thousands of people, the hidden war of our country is something most Americans never think about.

The first 200 years of the Indian wars were fought in the eastern part of the United States. However, by 1840 all of the eastern Native American tribes were either wiped out by disease or forced to move westward by incoming settlers. These eastern and coastal tribes moved further inland at the expense of their westward neighboring tribes setting the scene for a whole series of conflicts. Tribes such as the Cherokee from North Carolina moved as far west as Oklahoma. Another example is the Delaware Indians who moved across the country as far as Minnesota. As these tribes and many others moved westward a domino effect was transpiring. Indians who were already living in these more western regions were facing their neighbors moving in on them. Some of the tribes merged, yet, others fought over which tribe would get to stay. For instance, the Siouan tribes in the Ohio valley were being bombarded by other tribes moving in from the east; in turn, they floated down the Mississippi river until they found an uninhabited part of the Missouri valley.

As the tribes moved westward, the settlers, traders, and trappers moved westward too. The culture of the Great Plains Indians was about to change dramatically. By 1000 AD these Indians had established themselves as a rudimentary farming community. They used simple tools to cultivate the land. Around the 13th century, the Indians moved further into the grasslands and were able to farm more easily and create larger harvests. With this addition of agriculture, their buffalo hunts were decreased to only two major hunts a year. Buffalo hunts were still important, but they were less of a survival means. With the development of crops, the Indians only needed to hunt before the planted harvest ripened at the beginning of summer and after the crops had been harvested in the fall. Hunts at the beginning of the season were somewhat subdued because they only took what they needed since the harvest would be plentiful soon. Conversely, the fall hunt was much more lucrative since the mating season was over for the buffalo and there would be an abundance of animals.

The Great Plains Indians used the buffalo in every aspect of their lives. It was said that a buffalo could provide everything an Indian needed with the exceptions of drinking water and the poles for their tepees. A calf’s hide could be used as swaddling clothes for a baby, and the adults hides used for tepee covers, inner curtains, drums, rattles, and shields. Each buffalo would be harvested all the way down to the bone. Skins would make shirts, leggings, dresses, gloves, or moccasins. While the winter skins could be used as blankets, robes, and raw hide could be cut into pieces to make lassos. Buffalo hair could be woven for strong ropes, or it could be used loose as stuffing for cradleboards, gloves, moccasins, saddle bags, and pillows. Their horns were made into spoons or drinking containers and the small bones made for knives and awls. Even the ribs of the animal were put to use by tying them together and covering them raw hide to make a sled. On the other hand, the hooves, scrotum, and the skull were often used to religious ceremonies. The buffalo were greatly revered by the people and tribal leaders often took names associated with the buffalo to show honor and respect.

Early on in the western movement there was actually open trade between the whites and the Indians. The Mandan Indians were the first Plains Indians to be in frequent contact with French traders. They were also one of the tribes that got taken out by disease. By the 1830’s, they had all died of small pox. As the Europeans acquired furs, the Indians obtained guns. This possession of guns by the Indians presented a whole new problem. Several tribes in Canada as well as the five nations of the Iroquois Confederacy were creating havoc amongst their fellow Indian tribes. The tribes with guns created warfare and took land from other tribes who had no guns. Along with guns, the Europeans brought horses into the Great Plains. Coronado brought the first horse to the Great Plains in 1541, but it was another two centuries before they were a common commodity.

Horses created a new way of life for the Plains Indians. Dogs had previously been the only domesticated animal; however, they were prone to fight and could not carry much on a travois. So when the Europeans introduced horses to the Indians, the horse replaced the dog in importance. They called the horse “spirit dog,” “holy dog”, and “medicine dog.” The southwest Indians were in constant contact with the Spaniards and were the first to own horses. By the early 17th century many Plains tribesmen were beginning to own their own herds. In terms of horses, the Comanches were one of the most important tribes. “The Kings of Horsemanship” as they were called, had brilliant horses because of their breeding capabilities. A group of 2,000 Comanches had no fewer than 15,000 horses. Each child, especially boys, started out on a pony at the age of four. Starting out, they would pick up small objects from the ground and would progress to heavier objects, and by the time they were grown they could swoop down while mounted and lift a man from the ground. Their Indian bred horses tended to be smaller than European horses and therefore better for battle and buffalo hunts.

With the addition of guns and horses came a new transformation for the Plains Indians. The buffalo hunt became more important. Before horses, their hunts had been much more difficult on foot. Having these animals and guns secured the prospect of abundant fresh meat. So instead of two annual hunts, the warriors would be gone longer throughout the year and would return through the winter months and whenever there was a fresh kill. The end of a buffalo hunt was a cause for great feasting and festivities. After everyone had eaten, there was relaxation and then a dance celebration.

Great Plains traditions varied widely from tribe to tribe, but songs were an important part of life. There were many different kinds of songs including; ceremonial, secular war chants and pow wows, ghost dance chants, lullabies, and funerals. Many times, young men used flutes to woo a young woman. Courtships among the Indians were kept very modest and innocent. A man who was pursuing a young woman would have to meet her publicly outside of her parent’s tepee and would have to huddle within a blanket to talk to her. Even still, many marriages were arranged by the parents. Women were honored by how many horses their suitor would give her father. Often there were more women than men in the tribes because hunting buffalo is dangerous and men would be killed on a hunt or in battle. Since there were many more women, men would often take more than one wife. Polygamy was common and some men could have two or three wives.

Boys and girls in these Plains tribes had very different coming of age rituals. For a girl to be a woman she had to get her first period. After she had gotten her first menses, her mother would tell a messenger and they would tell the rest of the tribe. However, she would then go with her grandmother or older woman and be exiled from the rest of the tribe for four or five days. This would continue through her adulthood. A woman’s menstrual cycle was looked upon with awe and fear from most tribes. In the meantime, a girl’s first menses meant she was now a marriageable woman, and was cause for celebration. A boy’s coming of age was very different. In many of the Plains tribes a boy was considered a man after he had killed his first buffalo. They were also required to undergo a vision quest. Unlike a girl’s first period coming once, a boy was understood to go on many vision quests during his lifetime. Each vision quest would begin with fasting or purification like a sweat bath. Sometimes they would last up to four days with no food or water. Along this journey they are looking for a spiritual symbol or affirmation. The quests could vary in purpose; they may have taken a vision quest before a raid, during a child’s illness, or a time of personal doubt.

Most Plains Indians were semi-sedentary and moved with the buffalo. Their tepee homes made it easy to move place to place. Each tepee was made by a woman. Once there were enough buffalo pelts to cover the tepee (6 to 28), she gathered several women and they sewed it together. Each tepee was made by the woman who lived in it, and she packed it up on the travois when it was time to move again. The roundness of the tepee symbolized the circle of life. There was an earth altar inside to burn incense, sage, or sweet grass and pray. A woman’s tepee was her domain and her life. Women were also very involved in art. Quilling was an important Indian art form that consisted of many steps to get the finished product. In the early 1800’s white settlers brought multicolored beads and bartered them with the Indians. Beads were already colored and easy to sew onto garments, thus, quilling began to disappear. Heavily beaded clothing was only for special occasions, however, since it was so heavy.

Since art held so much significance in the Plains’ Indians culture, there was a huge emphasis on color. Each tribe may have had a different interpretation of color, but each represented something of importance. For instance, the Crow saw black as a color of victory, while the Sioux recognized black as symbolizing night. The Dakota Sioux understood red as the hue of sunset or thunder, and the Arapaho thought it represented man, blood, or earth. Each color was a symbol of the earth around them and their paints were created from local flora and fauna. They decorated their lodgings, horses, and their own bodies in paint. Some of the most significant art was painted as murals on lodges of the tribal elders, chiefs, and warriors.
A central element to all Plains people was a sacred pipe. Many times this pipe would be passed down in something called a bundle. For example, a Pawnee leader owed his status to a bundle usually passed from father to son. Each bundle would be different; however, they usually consisted of a buffalo skin containing a pipe, pigments, tobacco, and corn. These bundles were thought to have had supernatural powers. The pipe itself held a link between man and the Great Spirit and linked the supreme deity and mother earth. Magic and medicine were also linked very closely. Each tribe had at least one shaman or medicine man. These people held a great power to the Plains Indians and they played vital roles in terms of daily life as well as warfare.

In the Plains’ tribes each person was equal in their own rights. They were not compelled to obey a tribal leader or chief nor would they be punished by tribal elders. Their societies were very different from the Europeans’ who were moving into their regions. Each tribe had their own military type reinforcements; conversely, their idea of honor and war were what ultimately led to their demise. Performing a war-like deed was known as a counting coup and it was acts of bravery, not necessarily killing, that the natives valued most. Their ideas of war put them at an enormous disadvantage when fighting white soldiers. Tribal battles were never fought out of blood lust, and often prisoners had been adopted into the tribe after they had been taken. In some cases, even women participated in battles. More often, they supported their men by dancing and waving scalps and publicly displaying their husband’s weapons.

The Great Plains Indians’ most important festival was known as the Sun Dance. It was a twelve day festival that was supposed to bring the entire tribe closer to the Great Spirit. The shaman or medicine man played vital roles during this ceremony. In the first four days of the ordeal were festivities while the assistants were chosen. Some of the assistants would have been women who would cut down the sacred cottonwood tree. For the next four days, these assistants would be segregated from the rest of the tribe in order to be given instructions and meanings of the ceremonies. The last four days were considered sacred with the Sun Dance lodge, its dance bower, and the cottonwood pole being given the utmost attention. A cottonwood tree was chosen for the ceremony because of its resemblance to a tepee.