Native Americaan Warriors So far this column has dealt with the elite of the world's military forces from early mimes to Vietnam. This particular column was a challenge to write. It concerns the Native Americans who fought American expansion in the 1780's and 1790's. In preparing for this assignment, I was able to take a fresh look and was able discard a lot of what Hollywood has told us about the "Indians" of the Northeast. What I found was that there were few hierarchies among the warriors of the various Indian nations, but there .were many war chiefs, and those leaders were the elite of their tribes. One further thing that I found striking was how deeply ritual and spiritualism infused the warriors, and how strong their faith was. More on this later. I will begin by showing you how the male Indian went from child to warrior. During the period in question, which forms the backdrop for this issue's game, 23 tribes inhabited the disputed section of the Northeast, and of these, four (the Chippewa, Potawatomy, Miami, and Shawnee) provided the most manpower. I will be concentrating on the last two. The first were the Shawnee. This great tribe began as nomads, but soon occupied areas in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia. They fought with the Iroquois until about 1690 when their land rights were settled. The Shawnee were divided into five patrilinear divisions: Pekowi (or Piqua): controlled religion Kishpoko (or Kispogogi): war and war training Mekoche (or Mequachake): health, healing, and food Thawikila (or Hathawekela) and Chalaakaatha (or Chillicothe): both controlled politics. The principal chief of all Shawnee would come from one of these divisions. After the American Revolution, the Thawikila, Pekowi and Kishpoko split from the rest of the Shawnee and moved westward. These divisions were further divided into totem clans guided by various animal spirits. Each division had a peace chief and a war chief. The peace chief successions were hereditary. The war chiefs, however, earned their status through personal bravery. How did one move to this status? Shawnee males were trained from birth for hardship. From the age of one month until old enough to sit up unaided, the child was carried on his mother's back strapped to cradle board. This promoted good posture, but left a flat spot on the back of the baby's head. Youths were bathed daily in cold water to make them hardy. Most play was physical in nature to hone skills. Harsh punishment was unheard of. Being shamed was far worse than physical correction. By age nine, Shawnee boys had to go take their daily dip themselves, breaking the ice if necessary. Their training enhanced endurance, and they could swim and stay under water for hours with just the tip of their nose exposed. At puberty, boys would go into the woods to fast and seek their spirit helper. This was important to all Shawnee warriors, whose faith in the spirit guides was as great as faith in their own skills. An adolescent could bear arms at age 15, but was not considered an independent adult until age 20. Among these children rose two principal Shawnee chiefs, Blue Jacket and Tecumseh. Both were raised in the same village, and saw their share of combat before they were adults, including the death by betrayal of Cornstalk, the great war chief of Pontiac's War. The rituals they followed that led to war went something like this: if provoked, the various villages and divisions would hold a council. There, the peace chiefs and war chiefs would meet to decide the issue. Female peace and war chiefs were also present. Consensus had to be achieved. Once the decision to go to war was reached, the peace chiefs would turn control of the tribe over to the war chiefs. A principal war chief was decided upon, usually a member of the Panther totem clan. Tecumseh's name, for example, means Panther Passing Across. This principal war chief would declare to the tribe the necessity for war and exhort his own clan in raising the tomahawk. Allies would be sought by runners passing a red clay coated tomahawk to the villages. Negotiations with the enemy would cease. The warriors would be assembled in the village of the principle war chief, who at the time of our game was Blue Jacket. There is some speculation he was a Caucasian raised by the Shawnee. By this time he had fought for the British in the American Revolution and was a seasoned fighter and war party leader. At his village, the assembled units would meet and the war dance performed. Various rituals would be performed to augur success, and if the prophecies of victory came true, the shamans would be rewarded. Finally, the sacred bundle of the tribe, containing relics and mementos of the past, would be brought forward and given to a member of the turtle clan for safekeeping. Singing songs along the way, the war party would start out, accompanied also by a shaman who would double as doctor if necessary. Once in proximity to the enemy, the war party would halt and kill 12 deer. A feast would be held and the principle war chief would again make a big speech. All nonessential items were cached on the spot to serve as a rallying point in case of defeat. The war party would then strip to breechcloths and approach the enemy from concealment. Stealth and surprise were essential. The enemy village would be surrounded if possible and upon a pre-arranged signal, the attack would begin. This was the end of any concerted action. Unlike Caucasian armies that fought as units, the warriors fought as individuals, using shock and surprise as their main weapons. Once the battle was over, prisoners would be rounded up and it fell to the war chief of the Wolf clan to lead the victorious party home. The Panther clan would serve as rear guard and also take charge of prisoners and booty. Having returned successfully, there would be a big feast. The warriors would afterward be quarantined for four days, to be questioned by elders and drink medicinal beverages, which were supposed to return them from the red road of war to the white road of peace. Prisoners were then divided up. Children could be adopted, women could be taken as wives, and the males, if not enslaved, were made to run a gauntlet of stick-wielding tribe folk. Exceptionally brave prisoners could be spared or given quick deaths, but others were ritually tortured or burned at the stake. Ritual cannibalism among the Shawnee was used to absorb the captured warrior's qualities. The Miseekwaaweekwaakee was the only organized group of Shawnee to do so. This hereditary secret society was presided over by four women who painted their lips with red clay to represent blood. So repellent was this group that it was discontinued by 1825. The Shawnee wore no body armor, but depended on their gods and carried special charms. They were also the first Indian group to use forts, building them around springs and transplanting walnut, hickory, and beech trees nearby to provide food in case of a siege. They were so good that in 1779, 25 men and 15 boys held off 265 U.S. troops from their fortified council house. The Shawnee would never sue for peace themselves, but did accept ambassadors and would negotiate if asked. The Miami Indians took the religious aspects of their society even farther. Their principal deities were the Great Hare, the Sun, and Manitous. The latter were powerful spirits that controlled all things. Sky Manitous controlled thunder, lightning, eclipses, weather, and other such phenomenon. Earth Manitous controlled dangerous animals or those who competed for food. Beneath the Earth Manitous controlled bears and other cave or den animals. The most feared Manitou was Lennipinja, the Underwater Panther, whose tail stirred the turbulent waters. All these beings influenced the Miami warrior during his upbringing. The warriors performed many vision quests, starting at puberty. Like the Shawnee, they had peace and war chiefs. Once war had been declared, the warriors would perform the bison dance. Peace chiefs were not allowed to go into battle. On the march, the younger warriors would cook and maintain camp. Once they reached the battle area, the warriors would fast and ritually prepare. Each warrior would put a token of their guardian spirit in the shaman's bundle that, like the Shawnee, was brought along. Normally, the bundle stayed in the council house and a dance was performed on its return. Midewiwin, or spirit doings, were as much a part of their society as the telephone is to ours. Mide shamans held sway over all aspects of living and kept social order by rituals, death threats, and so on, and had powerful influence. Principal Miami war chiefs were La Demoiselle (Memeskia, Dragonfly), who was captured and ritually eaten, Pacanne (Pacani, Nut), Le Gris (Nakawauga, Crippled Ankles), Piedfroid (Wisekaukautshe), a mide priest who used his powers and Manitous to gain chieftainship, Jean Baptiste Richardville (Peshewa, Wildcat), Le Gros, Owl (Hibou), Wampamungwah (White Lion), Metocina (Indian), and the most famous, Little Turtle (Mishikinakwa). All these men from various tribes had distinguished themselves in battle. Tecumseh, for example, gained renown by taking on the dangerous mission as scout and spy for Blue Jacket during the ill-fated Harmar and St. Clair expeditions. Little Turtle was a master tactician, adept at luring the enemy to an ambush site. Just prior to the battle of Fallen Timbers, however, he saw the handwriting on the wall and moved for peace. He was overruled and replaced by Blue Jacket as principal war chief. In the end, both war chiefs became forces for peace among their tribes. Tecumseh, however, held out, and with his brother, The Prophet (Elkswatawa), formed a new society based on prophecy that in the end proved insubstantial. For all his prowess, he was killed anonymously during the battle of the Thames in 1813. We have seen that Woodland Indians of the Northeast went into battle principally naked save for breechcloth and moccasins. They would, however, often paint their bodies and faces to gain further spirit protection or to appear fearsome to their foes. Principally, they attacked at daybreak, and sometimes warriors would perform acts of bravery so bold that they appeared insane, like throwing down their weapons and causing such a stir that the enemy would be drawn to them. Others felt that the spirits would make them invisible to the enemy. Among the Huron and Iroquois, a type of armor made from tied wooden rods was used,'but gunpowder made it obsolete. Their original weapons were the bow, axe, knife, and club. The first three used flint or stone, but were later replaced by steel after contact with the Europeans. Bows were made in one piece, usually hickory and oak, the heads delicately chipped chert. Some tomahawks were intricately decorated or carved to commemorate battles and some were designed to double as pipes. The latter were long affairs and served the double purpose of being able to be raised for war or smoked for peace. The original phrase "bury the hatchet" came from the peace ritual, but with the new combination weapons, the phrase became figurative. The bow gradually gave way to the musket, usually of English manufacture, but French weapons were found as well. The other weapon was the war club. This was a very heavy weapon, carved in a single piece from ironwood or maple. It had a slightly curved handle terminating in a large ball. The ball was usually smooth, but some versions had faces carved on them. Squatting atop the ball was a longtailed animal. The photos I have seen do not identify the animal, but it looks a lot like a lizard or alligator, and apparently held some ritual significance. These weapons were also highly decorated, sometimes with wampum. There were also poisoned arrow blowguns, but there is no record of them being used in combat. If you were to be unfortunate enough to see one of these war chiefs on the march, he would cut a striking figure. Shawnee warriors wore comfortable shirts and leggings, while Miami warriors were usually bare-chested. Their soft moccasins had tinbanded tassels. The Shawnee had elaborate silver disks that fit the flat spot on the backs of their heads and held feathers. The average war chief would carry a blanket, an extra set of moccasins, a tumpline for tying up prisoners, and his own personal medicine. His standard weapons load would be his musket, powder horn, bullet bag, tomahawk or war club, and knife. Most warriors carried extra tomahawks. Those still using bows would have the addition of a quiver made of either animal skin or cornhusks. War chiefs led their tribes' warriors in most European conflicts, usually siding with the French against the British, and later, the British against the Americans. Some tribes changed their loyalty to America after the British were defeated, since their natural enemies were always on the other side. The usual result, though, was that individual prowess and bravery could not cope with massed fire from disciplined regulars backed by cannon and dragoons. The success of the Indian Confederation against the Americans was as much due to the Americans racial overconfidence and lack of unity. Once "Mad" Anthony Wayne put together arvcombined arms legion, the advantages were all with the Americans, and the Indians were quick to sign treaties, which turned out to be as substantial as the air spirits they worshipped. SOURCES Bluejacket, John Sugden, 2000, University of Nebraska Press The Shawnee, Janet Hubbard Brown, 1995, Chelsea The Miami Indians of Indiana, Stewart Raffert, 1996, Indiana Historical Society The Shawnee, Jerry Clark, 1993, University Press of Kentucky Shawnee., James Howard, 1981, Ohio University Press Civilization, Thomas "Wildcat" Alford, 1936, University of Oklahoma The Life and Times of Little Turtle, Harvey Carter, 1987, University of Illinois Press American Woodland Indians, Michael Johnson, Osprey, 1990 "Tecumseh", Kelly Bell, Command Magazine Issue 43, May 1997 "Mad Anthony Wayne and the Battle of the Fallen Timbers", John Burt, Strategy and Tactics #187, Sept/Oct 1997 Back to Table of Contents -- Against the Odds vol. 2 no. 3 Back to Against the Odds List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by LPS. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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