MEET THE

VAN VALKENBURGS

INDIAN ARTICLE CATEGORIES

I. Tribal Units
II. Role of Warrior and other Men
III. The Statue of Women
IV. Warfare and Weapontry
V. Finding a Food Supply
VI. The Medicine Man and Shaman
VII. Indian's Changing Life
VIII.The White Man of Europe Moves Across His Territory
IX. Miscellaneous

I. TRIBAL UNITS

THE BLACKFOOT INDIANS

The Blackfoot Indians were the ancient people of the plains. History has no record of how long they had been there, but in relationship to other tribes they wee probably the oldest. At one time they were the most populated, numbering about 30,000 people, out of a total population of 200,000 in the 1800’s. They were classified as Alagonquian by language group, but they had been separated from so many of the other Alagonquian tribes of the east, there were only basic word reforms that made the connection.

They dominated from the Saskatchewan river of Canada to the headwaters of the Missouri. They were warlike and feisty, feared by most other tribes. Their nomadic life style made them total teepee users and very dependent upon the buffalo. When horses were introduced by the Spanish they quickly became excellent horsemen.

Their name is taken from an Indian work "Sicsika" meaning black moccasin. The name came from two possibilities. One, they dyed their moccasins black or two, because they trudged across burned grassy plains and their moccasins were stained by the ash that made them look black.

They were called a plains confederacy, much like the Creeks and Iroquois because their tribal units were made up of several tribes. There were three major tribes in the confederacy and several smaller tribes. They also broke down their tribal units into secret societies. These societies were tied to tribal leadership, courage and success in battle or raid. They were a highly religious people. Each family unit had sacred religious bundles that were used as a part of healing, dancing, ceremonial and omens of predicting the future. They also used travois to travel, both with the travois pulled by dogs and later by horses.

Montana has a plains Indian museum and might be able to trace family names or give relevant information on specific family follow-up. The Blackfoot reservation is in Elberta, Canada.

II. ROLE OF WARRIOR AND OTHER MEN

THE TROPHY CASE OF YESTERDAY

I was walking through a Baldwin County High School corridor recently and I stopped to admire their trophy case of victories and proud achievements. I could not help but reflect on how far our motivations of the human spirit have come from Indian ancestors and heritage.

Warfare among the Indians was seldom wages for territorial gain. Warfare was an inspired activity, part Spirit, part religious and a whole lot of pride of accomplishment and achievement. To take the life of another human being had its place of honor and prestige. It was Spiritualized by honoring the weapon before victory and then purifying them after battle.

Also, the horse and rider carried tokens of protection, signs and symbols were painted on the horse, the warrior, war arm bands, head bands and multicolored weapons. The dance that began hours before battle did more than raise the emotions, but served as a heightening of readiness. The warrior during battle was on his own, if the battle did not go well, it was up to him to recognize that fact and adjust or pull back. The enemy could always count on the attacking warrior to return, a revenge motive required them to stay at the battle scene until their Spiritual energy was spent.

There is not a single incident of "buck fever" recorded in Indian battles in white diaries. That is the Indian never high-tailed it out of fear. An ultimate question, in exchanging life for victory in warfare is "Is it worth it?" This is a question asked by every soldier, it also is ultimately asked by every athlete who suffers through practice for a cause for nation, school or individual accomplishment. Knowing the Indians lifestyle and preparation, I do not think this ever occurred to an Indian warrior.

If the purpose of the raid was to gain advantage over an enemy for a home village or tribe, the individual bravely, fightingly and courageously gave it his all. The warrior was so close to his Spiritual roots, he felt that he and the spirit were already one, and this spirit beyond the warrior was in each individual and permeated the whole tribe.

The proudest day in the life of any warrior was the day he counted his first coup, pronounced "Coo". The word was borrowed from French trappers, who used it, to describe inflicting a blow on the enemy. The Indians shifted the meaning to mean touching the enemy. Especially, being the first in battle to touch the enemy.

If one was the first, he in this manner received a coup feather, if he killed the enemy that was two coup feathers and if a scalp was taken, that was three. Scalp taking was never routine, but all of these acts had customs and methods that were ritualized and observed. When returning to camp the warrior might award the scalp to a relative, especially the spouse of a fallen comrade. This was meant not so much as a trophy in exchange for death, but as a symbol of mourning that the enemy warriors soul is now freed from his body.

A warrior was expected to hold a special scalp ceremony, a victory rally, upon return in the evening of the battle. During this ceremony called "Soul and Scalp" or "Soul and Hair" dance, the bravery and the taking of scalps was recognized. The Indian warriors did these dances so many times that they became excellent orators of dance and suspense. They held the younger children spellbound as they told of the raiding party’s greatness.

A tribal warrior who was recognized for counting coup was sought after for advice and wisdom. Sometimes called upon to do ritual dances of bravery for the young men who were growing up. The warrior of note could paint his teepee new colors and depicted new symbols illustrating his brave deeds. He was paraded in tribal limelight much as we do youth on the newspaper’s sport’s page. A warrior was asked to be present at other award ceremonies.

The Indians saw a very close connection between recognition and future brave deeds. A warrior who was lifted up in spirit of victory remembered the feeling and relived it during dance as well as future performances. A day would come when he would be called upon again. In the meantime the tribe carried his name, his life and his achievements in tribal show cases for all of the tribe and all visitors to see.

III. THE STATUS OF WOMEN

THE CHANGING ROLES OF WOMEN

Down through history we can observe the changing roles of women as males and females shift in roles of cultural dominance. Women in history have been Shamans, Chiefs, Queens, Mayors and Governors, but in the hunting and gathering society the woman usually played the role of the lesser person . Hunting and gathering societies were dominated usually by men. That is why it is of interest to see the women often playing a more dominant role in Indian culture.

To begin to analyze the complexity of role shifts, we need to go back to the beginnings of mankind coming together in tribes and clans for survival. The early cultures as today were a complex mixture of political, social and biological factors. The male was by stature usually taller and stronger than females in physique and body build, so one could quickly summarize that the male would be the natural leader. Also, the male had narrow hips and therefore was always the faster runner and it might follow because he could run faster than women, he became the one to be sent out to hunt and to test his skills against nature, he could escape danger easier than his female counterpart. Then why does this give him leader status?

Researchers have analyzed his life one step further. That the male was sent out not because of his speed, but because one of the women’s obvious characteristic of childbearing. She did not go hunting because hunting involved long distances for several days. A woman, who was late in pregnancy could not make these journeys. Children suckled in some societies for as long as three or four years, so after birthing it was not convenient for her to be gone because of her child care giving role. So the women because the planters, the harvesters and gatherers rather than the area travelers.

Tribal dominance comes into being because of what happens after the hunt. Meat could not be kept for long periods. The hunter knowing this and returning with a fresh kill divided it among his folk, tribesmen and often took large kills to neighboring tribes. The charity system of surplus gave him a political currency that he could use in his own village and in communication with other villages that rewarded him with ultimately a male dominance role.

Interesting enough, when hunting became less, and agriculture became more, the female who had played the larger agricultural role found herself the major barterer and therefore a dominant role. The Indian women of the plains lost her role to a buffalo chasing male role society, but when pushed to the reservation, the Indian women’s roles became stronger.

Today, we have more women in the away from home work place, they are not held down by a child rearing role and she is able to compete with men in the bartering of goods, skills and ability. Once more, we see the women’s role changing to that of leadership and cultural equality and perhaps in the years to come, a position of dominance.


INDIAN WOMEN ESTABLISH THE MIDDLE GROUND FOR TRADE

When Nations or cultures are in conflict and conflict gets in the way of normal relations, there is always a way for commercial transactions to continue. The Indians had goods and services desired by the new American society and vice versa. The key mediator between the Europeans and the Indian culture were the tribal women. They often controlled Indian property, new the needs of the village and also moved unthreatenly between Indian village and trading center.

The superior place of the women in Indian culture was often misunderstood by the men whom they traded with. First in European eyes it was a little demeaning to do hard trading with a woman. Also, there was always the possibility they could hoodwink the Indian women trader because of her lack of trading experience and lastly, and most important the Europeans misunderstood that women in most Indian cultures played a truly equal role in Indian life.

The tribal woman played many roles in her culture, that were her special responsibility. For example, she was a planter and harvester. The hierarchical system of the tribe passed through the mother of the chief and warrior. The women built the hogan and teepee, she was the person who moved the tribal property when the tribe moved, in other words she decided priorities of what would be moved and what would be discarded.

The European men disregarded the signals of sexual activity in the lives of Indian women he encountered. There were times that sexual activity was absent or thought to be taboo. For example, an Indian woman often did not participate in sexual intercourse for a year after childbirth. Also, at the time of raid or heated battle, men abstained from relations because it was thought to drain the energy of the warrior. Sexual activity was not looked upon as an expression of maleness or femaleness. There were many customs that expressed the support of a person’s being.

Most Indian tribes had strong penalties for adulterous affairs. Women who were found out in such affairs often wore a severed nose, ear or facial scar the rest of their life. Men might be banned from the tribe. Adulterous affairs weakened the stability of the tribe.

Indian women had the power to stop a tribal raid or war. Indian women served on the highest councils and often became the peace chief (or village chief) of the tribe.

The trading for goods and services outside of the village was very different than in her tribal affairs. The women of the tribe were responsible for planting and harvest, for gathering and fishing and all of these were spiritual affairs, that called on trade relationships. A sexual relationship became blurred in the trading, because at this level it was not emotional affair, but a part of providing services desired for trade goods needed. Even the references to an Indian woman as a "Squaw" (An European term taken from the Iroquoian language meaning "loose women") was a prostitute term. The Indians called women and men "Human Beings" and used the word Squaw to describe a derogatory act.

In the European culture there were just two sexual categories "marriage" or "prostitute." The Indian culture had many levels that permitted relationships to occur. Another example of misunderstanding was Indian polygamy. In the Indian culture because of disease, hunting accidents and war, there was always a shortage of men. A wife often asked her husband to bring into their relationship a wife's sister or friend, who had lost a spouse in battle. Thus an Indian man might support two or three wives under his teepee.

In the 1750’s traders took on a different emphasis as Indians came to desire European rum and the Europeans found they could trade for all types of goods with a few bottles of alcohol. Indian women became the middle persons in a vast distribution of alcohol back to the tribes. This desire for "white man’s fire water" was almost irrational and extremely detrimental to tribal customs. The gene weakening of Indians, the early weakness of Indian lives toward alcoholism often found inner tribal loyalties in disarray and detrimental. Many chiefs attempted to make a strong stand against alcohol as a trade item. They asked that alcohol trade be banned in trading with tribal communities. They wrote into new treaties with local governments with representatives in Washington and other relationships that Indians not be permitted to receive alcohol for trade goods. But the way of entrepreneurship had been established and it was just too easy to take advantage of the drunken Indian in trade negotiations. The system called for getting the Indian drunk first on a few bottles of cheap alcohol and then negotiate a great trade advantage. Land, animal skins, people and many other things were traded in this manner.

The Indian woman’s place in Indian society diminished during the great plain’s years. Horses, coup feathers, and decorated clothing became a part of the recognition of male strength. It was males who were Washington representatives, who treatied with the Cavalry and who became intertribal negotiators. It is interesting that in modern times the Indian woman has moved back into places of strength and many top positions in Indian culture are held by Indian women.

THE WOMEN'S DAILY TASKS

The Indian woman was a vital part of the Indian community. In most tribes, tribal manners called for the husband to listen attentively to his wife’s council. Many Indian women across the United States sat on tribal councils. The reflection by whites of women servitude was usually illustrated by the impression that she trudged behind her husband carrying a heavy load, while the man walked ahead carrying only his weapon. What Europeans failed to understand or did not want to understand is that the man walked ahead to break brush, snow or trail in summer and winter. He carried his weapon to freely protect her and himself in case of animal or enemy attack. By doing this he fulfilled his vows that were made on their wedding day, that he would protect her.

Generally speaking, women enjoyed their work and were artisans of many, many camp crafts. The non-Indian and Indian would judge their lives, labors and happiness much differently. For example, the opportunity for greater fur trade helped the lives of most Indians. In the preparation of furs for trade, the man hunted and killed the game, but it was the woman who tanned and prepared the skins. The difference between killing the game and preparing the game for market was immense. The Indian women put in hours of labor day after day in the fleshing and tanning process. However, she also was the recipient of the products that furs were traded for, iron pots, knives, axes and clothing made her life easier.

The introduction of the horse did not change her life to a great extent. She often carried on her back before the horse, 70 to 100 pounds. After the horse, they moved more goods from place to place. The horse travois did usually carry the elderly and the small children. This was a big help, but with the aid of the younger children it was the women’s responsibility to tend to the general livestock, which included dogs and horses. More horses meant keeping a watchful eye on horses outside the village. Also, it was her responsibility to see that they were fed and watered.

Of special note is the fact that loose horses around the village destroyed gardens. In a few of the villages women threatened to kill all untethered horses. It is believed in a few villages they followed through with their warnings.

IV. WARFARE AND WEAPONDRY

AN INDIAN RAIDING PARTY ON THE MARCH

In the early days of Indian warfare, raiding parties set out in groups of four to ten warriors. A large party would sometimes number as many as fifteen. Of course, during the plains history of the late 1700’s and early 1800’s most able bodied men of the tribe would unite together for warfare, but during the early days it was often revenge or clan activity. Each tribe had its own system of setting out on a raid or a stealing mission. Some tribes were night travelers and some were predominately day travelers.

They were especially cautious about being seen (unless it was a deliberate show of strength), so travel was along the ravine and valley. They followed the travel patterns of their animal allies, the fox, the wolf and the deer. Seldom would an Indian raiding party walk or ride in the open. Open areas were stalking, darting or night travel times. The warrior carried his weapon, body paint and a pouch of other necessities. Young men, braves who were warriors-to-be carried extra food, ropes and other equipment needed to assist along the journey. These young men were like page boys in training, who were learning the system, and were expected to live out the trail discipline like all warriors.

The front man was the raid chief (pipe holder) his task was to command the journey and work out the plan ahead. This was not a democratic discussion process. The leader was the sole leader. The success of the raid was on his shoulders. If he received a bad sign, or omen along the way, he may cancel the whole raid and go home. Along the way, the raid chief would seek visions of how to meet the enemy, how the enemy would be waiting and the timing of their approach.

As they neared the border area and still were several miles away from the intended confrontation, they would gather and smoke the pipe, catch additional game or pick berries for storage in their bags so these tasks would not have to be done near the enemy’s camp. The leader carried a medium bundle, they would meditate, smoke the tobacco from this bundle, consecrate their dance, their eyes and their hearts on the success of their journey through sacred objects of the medicine bundle.

Now they moved single file, first the war leader, then the experienced warriors and other braves in rank order. Signals were passed by whisper or hand signal. Two men early in the journey were selected as scouts and their job was to go ahead to ward off ambush and advise the raid chief. All tribes had wolf clans that were selected as raid scouts and these men would, during their scouting journeys, wear the wolf head and hide. Not only was this a disguise as they crept along, but wolf attired men did not spook deer, buffalo and other animals into stampeding. These activities might alert the enemy of their presence. They would meet the raiding party at prearranged points to report their findings. If in strange territory where prearrangements were difficult, they would leave markings on the trail with sticks, dung or nicked trees to show directions or give a report.

A base camp was prepared an hour away from the enemy village. A rock shelter might be prepared for a later fall back barricade. No fires were made, few sounds were needed, most communication was by sign language.

Like today’s opening day of deer season, or in war time the landing on an enemy beach, there was little sleep the night before. Adrenaline was high and tomorrow all men would move forward in unison, but once in the battle, each man was responsible for his own bravery, valor or if things turned out badly, retreat.


THE RIDER, THE BUFFALO AND THE HORSE (The First in a Series of Four Articles)

In small communities today, we rely on one or two industries to furnish the employment and economic support, the base industry of the health of a community. For Detroit, it is the auto industry, for Akron, the tire industry, for other communities, Dupont, Johnson & Johnson, or more recently with the closing of the Levi Straus Denim plants, it is the clothing industry. The Indian community also had its early support industries. For those along the water ways it was fishing and other types of sea food, for the Indians of the forest it was the deer, elk, raccoon and other woodland animals. But, no industry held more power over the Indian communities than the horse and the buffalo.

The buffalo hunt was a source of supply for food, clothing and all types of tools made from bones and horns. The buffalo hunt was a training ground for military duty, bravery and a test of competence for young warriors.

A companion occupation was the training and acclimating the horse for the hunt, war or battle. The very life of a tribe could depend on their horsemanship. Prior to the introduction of the horse to America by the Spanish, the warrior’s or the tribes range from the village area was perhaps fifty miles, but with the horse it easily became five hundred miles.

The horse and rider in most tribes were viewed as one. The lower part of the Indian’s body gave signals with knee, feet and body leaning to inform the horse what the rider wanted. The horse was selected from other horses because of the response and calmness in what would ultimately become excitable situations. It took months of hard work and games of play at mock battles to train the horse. Most Indian games to an outsider appeared to be just big boy fun, but to the Indian brave and warrior, even the games of horsemanship were serious games of preparation for a future time of life or death.

Any buffalo in its raging weight and being threatened could run over an untrained horse and rider. The buffalo had few enemies, just on the basis of its size and weight. When angered or threatened a buffalo was far from being docile. Horses knew this from instinct and an untrained horse when in the thick of hunt or battle may shy or buck to free itself from perceived danger. A horse had to be taught to run through the confusion of a buffalo herd, holding its ground among the crowded animals and remaining sure footed in rough terrain while running at a full gallop. Through all of this the Indian trained the horse to be guided by knee pressure alone. The hunter/warrior needed to have both hands free to lift the bow, string the arrow or jab with the spear.

So see now the Indian’s great dependence on this wonderful animal we call a horse. An Indian’s favorite horse was tethered near his teepee. Now the organizing for the hunt or raid. They traveled a "several days journey" to the buffalo herd, then they viewed the herd from a hill top. Now with the reins in the mouth the knees locked against the sides of the animal, bow in hand and perhaps a dozen arrows in the quiver the hunting party rushed in to make its selected kills.

These selected horses were too valuable to the Indian warrior to be traded to outsiders. If the horse was stolen or wounded in the hunt the warrior was heart sick. One can easily see why in the grave of a great warrior they would also place his best horse mount.

A buffalo or war horse was trained to stop instantly at the tug of a "war bridle". This was a raw hide leash tied around the horse’s lower jaw. A rider had another emergency system, a horse, during the raid or hunt had a 15 to 20 foot rope tied around the horses neck. One pull on this rope lead the horse to stop immediately. The purpose is obvious, in the thick of battle or uneven terrain a rider might be thrown. When a rider fell he immediately grabbed for the neck rope dangling behind. One tug and the horse would come to a sharp halt. The Indian had other supporting industries that sustained his livelihood. This is the first of four articles on the rider, buffalo, and horse of the Indian culture.

THE RIDER, BUFFALO AND HORSE OF THE INDIAN CULTURE (The Second in a Series of Four Articles)

In the last article, I wrote about the industries around the Indian culture that sustained the Indian, much the same as the industries around our communities sustain us today.

Each warrior had at least one selected horse that he had personally trained for hunting and raid. These horses were fine tuned to respond to the warrior’s commands. These commands were usually given in the lower part of the Indian’s body by the knees, squeeze of the legs or by the heels.

The Indian’s selected horse might have his ears nicked in unique patterns so that he could easily identify it from others of similar coloring and size.

Prior to the onslaught of the hunt the warrior would strip to only a breech clout or perhaps retaining leggings if he was riding through brushy areas. All of the Indians other extra gear, bags of food, shells, etc. were left at a camping sight, perhaps a mile away. The quiver of arrows hung to the left side of his back so he could easily reach with his right hand to pull them in a hurry. As in hunting today the hunter seeks a target behind the left shoulder, and this is a shot to the heart. Hunting skill was greatly complimented by those who cleaned the buffalo. The warrior’s arrow from a kill which was returned to him with much praise for his valor and accuracy. IIn the last article, I wrote about the industries around the Indian culture that sustained the Indian, much the same as the industries around our communities sustain us todayf the buffalo had arrows in the body at other places, the buffalo cleaners (usually women) would scold the warrior for his wasted effort and poor marksmanship.

To the hunter victors would be given the prize of the buffalo’s liver. This was eaten raw and then passed to the other warriors who had not been successful in the hunt. The liver brought omens of bravery, skill and success on another hunt day.

These were special times for a warrior and long into old age he would tell of his first buffalo kill and the taste of his first prize, the liver of the downed animal.

There were many methods used to hunt buffalo, to track the herd and to live for a time on a good buffalo kill before the tribe moved on. Americans prior to Columbus was a land of plenty and buffalo roamed from one ocean to the other. It was indeed a harvest industry that supplied the Indian family with the needed materials for survival.

Buffalo like all animals have hybrid types that provoked discussions around the later Indian camp fires. There were the white albino buffalo. Easily spotted in a herd. There were so few albino’s that to see one was to be recorded in tribal history discussions. For example, a year may be remembered as the year of “the albino buffalo”. Some warriors speculated that the “white buffalo” was protected by the herd, that it always seemed to be in the center surrounded by large buffalo bulls. For others, when taken or found the head piece became a sacred buffalo ceremonial trophy that was worn on special occasions.

Another kind of buffalo were the “spotted” ones that often had white stockings or spots on their sides or undersides, and also there were the “small heads”, those buffalo that had heads smaller than others. These were usually female buffaloes, and were worthy of note. Also, others were called “narrow cows” and those that had hair locks between the horns were called “mourning cows”, because they reminded the warrior of Indian women with shortened hair in mourning over someone’s death.

THE RIDER, BUFFALO AND HORSE OF THE INDIAN CULTURE (The Third in a Series of Four Articles)

The buffalo was a storehouse of resources for the Indian’s livelihood. It was the topic of conversations around the campfires and women talked with other tribal women of how to prepare it, tan it and clean it for many purposes. The buffalo was thought by many tribes to be the intermediaries between God and man. One can visualize how devastating it was to the Indian to see the buffalo being slaughtered for sport by white hunters, by the wealthy and foreign visitors. The slaughter started about 1870 and ended in about 1885. In a short 15 years the buffalo as a system of support and food supply was gone. It is little wonder why in every treaty signing and in every skirmish the Indian was attempting to protect his food supply.

In this series of articles, I feel the need to spend some time on another part of the buffalo/horse trading industry, on the preparation and use of hides. Skin preparation was classified into two types of rawhide and buckskin. Rawhide was the use of the skin in a very rough form and the buckskin was the tanned hide preserved and treated. Each tribe had its own methods and steps in this process, what I will describe here was observed and reported by Catlin.

Rawhide was staked out with the hair side down. Fat and other tissue was raked off by the women with a stone or bone tool. At this point most Indian women used an adz made from an antler. This was used to even the hide thickness and was also used to remove the hair from the reverse side, if hair removal was desired.

Raw hide dried in the sun or over slow heat remained fairly flexible and could be used for bindings, coverings, etc. If the hide was to be used for clothing it needed more flexibility and the next steps were taken to process it into buckskin. Buckskin was used for moccasins, breech cloths, pouches, etc. The already prepared rawhides were thinned with the antler adz down to the desired thickness. At this point some tribes used animal brains directly or a mixture of fat and brains rubbed into the skin in a slow deliberate oily process. Brain materials had an acid base and served as both a preservative and as a system of keeping the skin flexible. Tanned hides found in caves, after laying there for many years remained both flexible and often waterproof. The rubbing of the brain oil into the skin was done both with a flat stone prepared for the purpose and the hands. After it again laid for a period in the sun to evaporate the surface oils. The hide was rolled into a bundle and stored. This process fermented the oils into the hide for deeper penetration. It was then pulled through a sinew loop for flexibility.

Some skins were yellowed, browned or dyed by color smoking over a fire Various roots were used in the fire to create the desired colors.

THE RIDER, THE BUFFALO AND THE HORSE OF IDIAN CULTURE (The Fourth Article in A Series of Four)

The horse came to the Indians from two sources. The Spanish and the trade routes from the east. The earlier Spanish horses were small and fast. The Spanish had bred a horse in Spain that was swift and easy to manage.

This was to be a much smaller horse than was to be ridden by the early settlers and the U.S. Cavalry. At this point the Indians industrial creativity took over and horse breeding became a part of every tribe’s life. The Indians bred horses for size, task, swiftness and color. They developed a state of the art veterinary ability to care for horse illness treatment and for injuries. Few white communities could rival the Commanches in horse care and breeding. The horse became the Indian’s show piece, his most dependable friend, his work transportation and his security from any animal or human enemy.

Those that visited the Indian villages were amazed at the riding ability the Indians acquired in just a few years. Catlin was to write that out of all the great horse cultures in Europe, mid-east or Africa, the Indians were the most skilled horsemen in the world. At a full gallop they could drop to either side of a horse, or even under its belly hanging on with their heels. They did this often to avoid detection or to avoid being hit with enemy arrows or bullets. At a full gallop young boys could pick up objects from the ground also at a gallop a warrior could pick up a wounded comrade and swing him onto the horses back or with a loop under the armpits drag him to safety from a buffalo herd or enemy.

A practiced rider could pick up an object off the ground with an arrow tip while the horse was running at full speed. Some riders could spring to the ground and back to the horses back while hanging on to the mane. This stunt used by the Indians to avoid being hit by Cavalry bullets was later used as a feature attraction in all the wild west shows and is still used in today’s rodeos.

A warrior often painted his horse the some colors as the war paint on his body. The painted characters of a horse was always a signboard about its rider. It indicated the men he had killed, the raids he had been on, the wounds he had suffered and his leadership ability.

The tribal identity of the rider was also evident in the paint of his horse. The Sioux usually decorated the characters of the horse with red, the crow with white, some tribes used dots to indicate the vision they had had before successful raids, and others showed their coups with horizontal lines (coups were acts of bravery).

Most saddles were wood carved and held together with wood dowels or sinew. The Indian’s did not have metal forges or screws for binding the saddle together, but they made strong durable saddles for women and their own use while moving from place to another. The saddle was not used for raid or hunt, but was a great help because so many items could be hung on the front and back pommel and cantel when the tribe was moving.

V. FINDING A FOOD SUPPLY

OVERCOMING WATER PROBLEMS IN TRAVEL

Water has always been both the enemy and friend of people on the move. Water could be used as a system of transportation on a raid, it could serve as a protective barrier for a village, it could be a hindrance to be crossed on the trail, it could be needed for alleviating thirst and food away from home, but always it was a consideration of the way of life for the American Indian.

An Indian party caught in a place where water was scarce would lick the moisture from the bottom of rocks, the seepage inside of caves or the dew from morning leaves in order to quench their thirst and maintain the body. The Indians carried water in soft bags taken from the stomachs of buffalo and deer. The ends were tied to avoid seepage.

When a river was ahead on the trail, Indians made hide covered boats (Mandens called them “Bull Boats”), pontoons were made of deer skin and lashed to limbs to serve as a transportation device for equipment and, of course, the old fashioned makeshift wooden raft was used, if wood was available.

Some warriors shot their arrows across the river at land targets on the other side to keep their arrows from getting wet.

The use of bark from the white birch was a special boat application. The Algonquin Indians who lived in the mid-west great lakes area used the white birch for transportation, for shelter, utensils, fishing tools and writing surfaces. The Abnaki considered the birch to be sacred material. They regularly asked the trees to care for them. Ojibwa women cut out shapes of people, animals and even dog objects to design beadwork and moccasins.

The Algonquins had learned through the years now to remove the outer layer of birch without destroying the tree. The bark could be peeled off in large strips, lashed to a cedar framework to make an amazingly light two or three man canoe that one man could easily carry for miles of portage between streams and lakes. Resin from pine, cherry and other trees waterproofed seams. These boats not only could be constructed in a short period, but lasted for years if well cared for.

WATER PLAYS A VITAL ROLE IN THE LIVES OF MANKIND

Water has always played a key role in where people lived. It has also dictated how and what people ate and how they moved from one place to another. Our lives are still dominated by water, not only as a diet need, but we only have to view the traffic on our intercoastal waterway to understand it is still serves as a surface for transportation.

Indians east of the Mississippi often centered their lives around water regions, because of their reliance on water for health, food and transportation. The Indians developed unique systems of traveling on the water, as well as extracting food from it. Usually Indians who lived close to the water were healthier than Indians who lived in arid areas of America. They early frontiersmen copied many of the ways the Indians used in capturing food related products from the water. The Europeans saw Indians using light sources from torches to attract fish at night and this method was quickly adopted in Europe as a method of fishing.

The Europeans did not have a light weight boat concept like the canoe. They saw in the Indian’s canoe, not only a light weight boat that could be easily transported from one area to another or portaged across land to connect water ways, but the canoe was easy to paddle and could be maneuvered across any waterway.

The Indians learned from the Europeans how to dig wells. This permitted the Indians to live farther and farther away from running water sources. The Indians of the southwest were always disappointed to have dug an European style well only to find that it produced foul smelling liquids and black fluids. It would be years before out of Pennsylvania would come the practical uses of oil and gas.

Usually, however, where there was a water resource, there was also men conflicting with men. As farming and cattle ranching became dominant it came in conflict with land ownership and rights to water use. Water rights were privatized overnight. This meant surrounding of small lakes, ponds and bordering streams with barbed wire. Line riders protected the owner’s rights at night and sharp shooters by day. Outsiders were expected to pay or trade goods for the use of water. The American Indian found himself cut off from a part of Mother Earth that they assumed had no ownership. In desperation they would sneak in to water areas at night to water stock and fill water jars.

As ranching expanded, small wells were not adequate. A steer to stay health needed four gallons of water a day. A farm cow giving 2 or 3 gallons of milk a day needed 20 gallons of water to stay in production. In the vicinity of most towns wind mills were used to pull the water from the earth and this was held in a holding pond, tank or trough. This stored water provided the whole area with a modest water supply. A family needed 5 gallons of water a day per person and an additional gallon for Saturday night for bathing. The whole family usually took a weekly or monthly bath. The most used technique was for the whole family to use the same water beginning with children, then ladies in the household and then older boys and men.

The Army that moved through any area was quick to mark water areas for future reference. The routes and trails of the Army and early settlers was dictated by the trails already made possible by animals and Indians from water hole to water hole. A horse needed 2 gallons of water a day to stay healthy and human beings, soldiers and settlers could sparingly survive on 2 quarts of water a day.

The danger of contaminated water was usually know to the Indians and was indicated to the early settlers by the animal bones in and around a water source. Man’s own misuse of water resources created the health hazards of typhoid, cholera and other diseases that were not always evident to the traveling water users. Usually settlers and travelers who had disease in their families were respectful not to haphazardly enter a town or visit a settlement because of spreading disease. This was not true of spreading disease to the Indians, where often it was felt “good riddance” if disease spread among whole tribes.

VI. THE MEDICINE MAN AND SHAMAN

DEATH AND DYING

Indians had many approaches to where they were going at the close of their life on earth. Most of their future life projections were based on where they came from. Some felt they came out of the bowels of the earth, or they came from the sunrise of sunset. They were the first arrivals on the land. However, some thought that the coyote and raven might have been here first.

Some feared the world and the hereafter, others worshipped and praised the world. Some apologized to the animals they killed for food and others blamed the animals for their lack of numbers. One characteristic seems to be present in all tribes, they believed in the harmony of things on earth that all life, weather and objects were related to what did, is and will happen.

Also, most Indians believed in the immortality of the soul, that man continues to live on after this life. The next life was peopled by the ghosts and visions of this life. The deceased took the form of ghosts when his weapons were hung nearby. They believed the physical part of the weapon remained, but the Spirit part of the weapon accompanied the deceased to the next life. Indian’s believed the Spirit of the deceased returned from time to tome in some form. In the wind, or an animal or in the shadows. A person never came back as another person.

All individuals took the vision and age of how they last lived into the next life. A child dying in youth went to the next life as a child and an elder as an elder. If a warrior was killed in battle, he did not carry the battle wound, but if a person’s body was mutilated after death all of these wounds remained in the person. Therefore, to mutilate your enemy after death, held great power in that he would carry those wounds forever.

If natural death occurred in a teepee, the teepee was never used again. Instead the Indian was wrapped in it as a part of the funeral shroud. Usually, a deceased person was wrapped in a freshly killed deer or buffalo skin. The deceased was placed on a travois and carried to the spot he was to be buried, by weapons and his prized horse or favorite dog. The horse was often slain and laid near the warrior’s feet.

The Indian elevated the dead to allow the Spirit to be unencumbered as it rose from the body. Seldom did Indian tribes bury the dead in the ground. Usually, they were hoisted to a scaffold or a platform placed in a tree. From these scaffolds some tribes burned the dead. The Choctaws picked the flesh from the bones and then may or may not bury the skeletons in earthen jars.

Mourning the dead began soon after death. Women close to the dead warrior cut their hair, cut fingers off one or more joints and other physical practices to show a great loss. When a person died, male or female, close family members would go to nearby hills and wail and lament. Catlin reported that once a person had heard these wailings, they were readily identifiable.

In the case of scaffolds or burning, when the scaffold decayed and collapsed, the bones were buried and a buffalo skull was placed over the dead man or woman’s mound. The loved ones returned to those buried skull circles often with lasting affection for the dead. When the Indians were removed from their natural territory to other areas or reservations their greatest loss was that they could no longer talk or wail at the grave of their dead loved ones. They felt not only a separation, but they were abandoning their loved ones and the dead would wander alone forever on the prairie.

VII. INDIAN'S CHANGING LIFE

THE INDIANS AND COLONISTS GROW FROM FRIEND TO ENEMY

Let us step back in this article and look at the Indian and the new white man from Europe as they came together. First they came in these giant ships with billowing sails. The Indians had visions of a people who lived in the water or across the water, so the Indians quickly identified these visitors as coming from the water clan.

The visitors from Europe were not hunters, few of them had owned a gun in Europe, because the only hunting that was done was on the King’s land. This hunting was very restricted to only a few invited guests. Those new frontiersmen who acquired guns were not marksmen. The guns didn’t shoot very straight in the first place and they had little opportunity to take target practice before arriving in a new land. They knew nothing of what or how to hunt. They did not know the habitat of wild animals or stalking, besides there were all of these savage men in the woods, so who would go out at risk of meeting a red man?

The visitors were not farmers. They knew nothing about agriculture or the planting of seeds. Most had not had tracts of land in Europe to learn how to plant or harvest. Most worked at a craft or laborer for someone else.

These people came by the hundreds to the American coast. After the ship’s food ran out, how were they to survive? Some Europeans found Indian store houses of grain and raided these to sustain them for awhile. In short, they came to save souls, or in search of gold, or to claim land. The life in early America became a struggle for individual survival. Records among the Spanish along the Gulf Coast indicated they walked the shore line in search of food.

Most Indians treated the new people with kindness. They shared their food, they showed the visitors how to build shelters. They treated most who came in good faith. The Indians by European standards were a strange and vulgar people, but the Europeans were the same in the eyes of the Indians. The English, Spanish and French took some hospitality and then demanded more. They held Indian chiefs for ransom until they got food to survive. The Indian began to reach the level of tolerance and responded by treating newcomers as enemies and not friends.

The Indian system of warfare was often moralistic. They took certain warlike actions to teach their enemies a lesson. One message might be “If you attack us, we will retaliate by attacking you.” “If you burn our villages, we will burn your homes, barns and buildings.” In some attacks they filled the colonists mouths with bread, “A clear statement they needed to choke to death on their unreasonable appetites.” In another attack in 1622 they “killed the colony with their own tools, a message they were destroying the timber and hallowed land.” In other cases colonists were found with mouths stuffed with dirt to tell the people “they were eating up too much Indian land.”

The colonists kept coming. The ships bringing more and more people. The people cleared more and more land. Those that survived taught others how to survive. Much of the survival was to adopt Indian ways. Gradually, by the mile the Indians gave up land and sacred ground to the advancing new people. Some like the Cherokees, tried to adapt to the white system. They learned livestock raising, they learned how to use farm animals for labor and they fenced and held land. But their ways were always different and seldom could be tolerated by the white community. The Removal Acts of the 1830’s permitted a major separation of cultures. A few Indians were permitted to stay. Most were called or forced into gathering areas and began long journeys to land west of the Mississippi river.

CULTURAL PROGRESS AND STABILITY CAN OFTEN BE FOUND IN CLOTHING AND COSTUMES

Let your imagination drift a bit to what Catlin, the painter, saw in America in 1832. Only a few years ago, he wrote: “No man’s imagination, with all the aids of description that can be given to it, can ever picture the beauty and wildness of scenes that may be daily witnessed in this romantic country; of hundreds of graceful youths, without a care to wrinkle, or a fear to disturb the full expression of pleasure and enjoyment that beams upon their faces - their long black hair mingling with their horse’s tails, floating in the wind, while they are flying over the carpeted prairie, and dealing death with their spears and arrows, to a band of infuriated buffaloes; or their splendid procession in a war parade, arrayed in their most gorgeous colors and trappings, moving with most exquisite grace and manly beauty, added to that bold defiance which man carries on his front, who acknowledges no superior on earth, and who is amenable to no laws except the laws of God and honor.”

Catlin describes both the luster and the pride of the North American native. He studied the land and knew his land in night or day. He concentrated and borrowed his behavior from the behavior of the animals that made adequate models and he developed a system of skills that perfected coping with life. He celebrated birth, youth and maturity with a loyalty that trained him to be an adequate human being. He sanctified marriage and family, high in his priority base was loyalty to his fellow human beings and the tribe and when age began to take its toll he ritualized with out fear, human death. Every culture in the world desired a perfection of what the American Indian had arrived at by systematizing ceremony. Every culture since the beginning of civilization have attempted to separate myth from reality, birth from death and life from beyond death. The Indian culture had worked this out to their satisfaction and might serve as some guide to be a world model.

Each tribe had worked at different styles of life that fit environment, food supply, survival and warfare. The civilized world that saw them in different dress and paint, that saw them bathing daily, while most of Europe thought that once a year was adequate bathing or at least no more than once a month, or the European would ask “why do they wear these silly quills and feathers, paint of body and face, of what purpose does all of this serve? While civilized man wore mustaches on the face, beards on the chin, and hair styles at the top of the head, the Indians observed these cultural differences with humor and thought it to have meaninglessness.

Few took the time as Catlin did to think through that it was nature that taught them much of their dress and manner. The importance and meaning of dress and paint the Indian would explain to anyone who asked. And the person who asked could immediately see that the Indian did little by chance, everything, every act, every journey beyond camp had a purpose. Each quill and each feather symbolized an enemy of the tribe that had fallen by his hand, each streak of paint symbolized a scar or wound he had received in battle. The bath in the morning and the bear grease colored with red ocher cleansed his body from head to toe, as well as protected his body from insects that would often drive the exploring whites out of the woods.

Clothing was more than wearing apparel or costume. Clothing both prepared him for the raid or hunt, but also it was a record, symbols representing badges of achievement. The young Indian child drew great courage in the desire to follow and be like their forefathers in the tribe. They dreamed that someday they , too, would be called upon for acts of bravery in the hunt and raid. They too, would not let their fellow warriors down as they, with enthusiasm, accepted this tribal responsibility.

It is said that the great Roman empire fell because if failed to build in the lives of people the ritual of past greatness. I visualize the desire to build models of great courage and achievement to be a worthy goal in any culture. We live in a society at a time in history where models of costume, custom and press of our youth represent the outlandish rather than the model of responsibility. Whether it be gold rings and loops in all parts of the body from tongue to genitalia, or hair style and color of the most bizarre or clothing on or off style setting modes. Where carrying a gun is used to defy society rather than protect society and values. All of these above mentioned are away from some foundation base of which a Christian democracy is based.

I wonder what our culture might learn from the American Indians as we set our sites on America’s future. The Indian culture built a society with respect for the past, recognition of achievement that involved family, clan and youth and by using ritual took great pride in preparing themselves in a like manner for the life to come.

VIII. THE WHITE MAN OF EUROPE MOVES ACROSS HIS TERRITORY

BEADS OF GREAT VALUE

The bead trade began climbing toward a peak from about 1800 to 1840. In 1840 a new type of bead began arriving in the Indian villages. The new bead was called a “seed”, these were traded in strings in varying lengths of 4 to 6 inches. The small beads were much more adept at being worked into designs and patterns. By 1860, the bead industry was a major bartering industry throughout the Indians of the Plains. Also, Indians began doing bead work for Europeans who wanted to have decorative necklaces, broaches and clothing decoration.

Bead work was not only decorative, but also the colors represented the symbolism of the story the Indian wanted to tell through his new clothing.
Red beads - meant sunset, thunder, life or death Blue beads - meant water, sky, smoke or night Black beads - meant death or night Yellow beads - meant sunlight and earth Green beads - meant growth, vegetation and new life
No other world culture has matched the American Indian’s skill in beading, in design, use of color and spiritualness has never been duplicated or matched in other cultures who had available similar motives and techniques.

The Europeans were very critical of Indian art objects in the early days of artifacts exporting. The European critics said they were too bold, abstract and had too many bold colors. Although, the Indian would balance art objects with colors of boldness, feathers and later with beads. The Indian colors came from berries, clay and charcoal. They used the colors as they came from the source, bright and vivid colors of red, yellow and black.

Prior to the importation of foreign beads, Indian women dyed quills of porcupine, hard berries and shells. These items were sewn on clothing, bags and shoes. Although art critics were critical of the color usage, all of Europe marveled at the uniqueness of the way seeds and quills were implemented in clothing design.

Beads and their counterparts marbles, were of little value in Europe. They were played with by children, decorated pond, pools, jars and were worn as trinkets or ornamentation. The glass makers on an Island near Venice had developed a process of manufacturing multicolored beads in a factory rather than a hand one at a time process.

Columbus took along a few pounds of beads on his first journey and was amazed by the Indian’s reaction to these trinkets.

The Spanish, French, Dutch and English were soon to load tons of beads on their ships while they moved to the new found Americas. Among the Indian’s, beads became more than clothing ornamentation, but became intertribal emblems of power, wealth and prestige. The Indians traded whatever they had for different colored beads, but particularly sought were the blue and white beads similar to the quality found in shells.

It was the French who became the champion bead traders. They traded mainly for beaver pelts and deer hides, but also of value they traded for food, guide services and women. The French loaded certain ships with bead cargo for use along the frontier.

Prior to the European’s bead work, Indians made beads from stone and bone. Also, they used hoofs, teeth, and bones to crudely make ornamentation object. The work of bead making from raw materials was hard work and took hours of labor to make even the crudest of ornamentation.

The first beads were usually called “pony beads” because it was carried to the Indian villages on the backs of pony pack trains.

MOUNDS CARRY THE STORY OF ANCIENT INDIAN CULTURE

Throughout Baldwin County in Alabama, the southeast and even a wider area from coast to coast, the evidence of Indians are reflected in piles of earth we call Indian mounds. Most of these mounds were laboriously created by human toil, lifted in place by baskets of soil carried on human backs. When a person views these tremendously wide mound bases and many of the heights not entirely eroded, a person develops a deep appreciation not only for the task, but also the vision.

The mounds ranged in size depending on how long the were used, the size of the village and also the mound’s purpose. Smaller mounds were used for burial sites, a little larger mound for house construction and village ceremonies and large mounds for great reverence and spiritual purposes.

Often, the smaller mounds like those found in Baldwin County, when excavated appear to be nothing more than rubbish heaps. Often reflecting scattered broken pottery and a few animal bones. But, these scattered remains give us the clues to Indian diet, systems of hunting, gathering and growing of food as well as how clay pottery containers were made and used.

As we drive toward Ft. Morgan, we pass the area called Shell Banks, where the Indians ate vast amounts of mussel shells for hundreds of years. As one drives toward Bear Point one goes past property where the Indians buried their deceased in clay pots and other methods of burial layering generation upon generation and as we travel through Baldwin County, we find hundreds of scattered mounds in the forests and along waterways. The chief mound area in the county is at a site called Bottle Creek at the north end of Mobile Bay. These mounds are on a central island system, that reflect a vast array of cultural evidence of large mounds, flint production (perhaps a point production factory) and remains of stilted buildings.

One of the most interesting sites unearthed in the southeast was discovered in early 1900’s in Kentucky along the Green River. A site of longevity used from 8000 BC to 1000 BC containing chopping tools, bone awls, spear points, shell beads and scrapers. There was no evidence of clay pottery, which gives rise to support the theories that clay pots probably did not come into development and use until about 1000 BC. There were 880 graves at this site and by carbon dating, none of the Indians appeared to live longer than fifty years. This gives some evidence of the life span of Indians in the southeast.

Dog skeletons were found in most of the burial mounds. The dogs were bound and placed next to human skeleton remains, perhaps meaning that the owners were buried with their favorite pet or animal work mate. Other dogs were buried with food skeletons, with deer, bear, raccoon and other animals. This could have meant that dogs were also used as a food supply.

As we tour and view these simple mound sites, many are on private property or along public highways, let us be reminded that a mound is more than just a discard pile of rubbish or human remains, but also carry the only story available of the history and time period of a people who walked the paths, roads and fields where we live. They paddled their canoes over the very streams, bays and lakes where we now recreate, swim and fish. We should cherish the history of a people who called our present living areas their home.

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