Readers need to remember that the focus of my article is on military aspects of the Native Nation culture. I have omitted the activities of various Native Nations that occurred as part of the American Civil War. Most of the source material available tends to concentrate their data on the non-military daily living aspect of the tribes. My conclusions are based on combining data from several sources. Therefore some findings contain exceptions. A number of battles between Native Nations were recorded by captive Euro-Americans or by Explorers or military patrols who happened to encounter a war party shortly after the battle.

I sometimes wonder that despite the animosity between the various tribes and Americans if some chiefs allowed captors to live just as a method to record their deeds for prosperity. Some captives record being brought to a battlefield but being kept at a safe distance. I can see no other purpose in such actions than to act as a recorder of the battle.

A more complete bibliography of sources used during the writing of the “Our Place In the Sun” series can be obtained by sending a written or email request. The main sources that can be easily obtained by the reader for further research are: The American Plains Indian by Jason Hook, Men At Arms #163, Osprey press, 1975, London. Reprinted as part of To Live and Die in the West Osprey Press, 1999 The Comanches: Lords of the South Plains by E Wallace & E.A. Hoebel. U. of Oklahoma, 1952. Indians of the Plains by Robert Lowie, American Museum of Natural History, 1954. The Indians of Texas by W.W. Newcomb. University of Texas Press, 1990 edition. Tribal Wars of the Southern Plains by Stan Hoig, U. of Oklahoma Press, 1993.

Geography

Geographically, the Texas and Southern Plains region extends from the Texas Gulf Coast northwards to the Arkansas River that divides Kansas in Half and includes virtually all of Missouri. The Plains extends westward from to Mississippi Valley to the southeastern area of Colorado. This vast area contains widely different terrain types. Much of South Texas, which today is farmland due to irrigation, was in earlier times a harsh semi-arid land, which was difficult to occupy.

With much of the manpower spent on finding daily subsistence, advances in culture were limited. West Texas was a virtual desert with only a few isolated areas capable of supporting villages located in it. East Texas on the other hand was a lush highly productive region with prosperous tribes in both population and culture. The areas of north and central Texas plus the previously outlined area to the North of Texas were part of the Southern Plains with vast herds of bison roaming across it. Each of these areas produced tribes whose culture provided the basic skills to survive in that land.

During my research, I was puzzled about the choice that many tribes made in establishing villages. In such a harsh environment, I would have expected that most villages would have been located along rivers in order to supply both water and game for survival. Yet, numerous villages were built in desolate areas where survival and the search for subsistence was the only daily activity. While I realize that rivers were often the boundary with neighboring tribes, their value as a supply source seems obvious. I would have expected river valleys to be the center of a nation’s strength.

With consolidated towns or groups of small villages, similar to the Muskogee culture of Alabama, being established along the rivers to defend their valuable resources. While some of the more successful nations followed this pattern, numerous tribes lived in isolated and widely separated small villages. These tribes became easy prey to the raids of the Apache and later the Wichitas and Comanches. The isolated settlements were too small to defend and too far apart to effectively join their relatives in a common defense.

Because of their dominance during the 1700s and 1800s, the best known of the Native Nations was the Comanches who gained power at the expense of local tribes. Some of the smaller tribes were destroyed, some migrated or merged with other tribes and a few were able to establish their own position in the region. The real bane facing the native nations of the region, as in other regions, was the threat of extermination due to the new diseases brought by the Euro-American invader.

The history of the region can be divided into distinctive eras. While the impact of the arrival of the Spanish then Americans are certainly two eras, the most extensive affect on culture was the introduction of the horse. The horse’s introduction into daily life radically changed some tribe’s culture from subsistence agriculture to one of nomadic bison hunting (Plains Culture). Other tribes mainly in East Texas maintained their sedentary agricultural mode of living but used the horse as a tool to improve it. A few in the arid South Texas area only viewed the horse as a new source of food and it is not surprising that these tribes were some of the first to disappear from the region. Frank Secoy among others classify the history into a Pre-Horse / Pre-gunpowder era followed by a Pre-Gunpowder/Post-Horse era, and ending with the Post-Horse/ Post Gunpowder era. This last era can be subdivided into pre and post cartridge bullet periods. The successful native tribes were quick to adopt new military tactics to the changing times.

The armies of the Pre-Horse/Pre-Gunpowder era contained massive numbers of foot troops. The side with the largest force often determined the victor. During this era, the tribes, which built palisade towns could fend off wandering raiders. With the introduction of the horse, the nomadic tribes shifted their tactics to a hit and run method. The stationary towns became prime targets for repeated raids. While revenge raids on the nomadic raiders frequently failed to locate their mobile camps. Once gunpowder muskets were obtained, the nomadic Plains warriors adopted new skirmishing tactics. While the tribes who favored the sedentary way of life used the muskets mainly for village defense, the mounted nomadic warrior still preferred to use the bow, which he could fire more rapidly. Once the bullet became a self-contained cartridge, the wide spread adoption of rifles by mounted warriors was quickly accomplished.

The history of several Native Nations contains records of a pre-history (~1300-1400) northern migration. A return, southern migration, occurred after the arrival of the Europeans and the horse. A major factor in the southern migration was the arrival of aggressive Siouan nations (Dakotas and Osages) in the Northern Plains. Many of these tribes were supplied guns by the French. Another factor was the need to get closer to the source for the ‘new’ horse. As can be expected, the migration of the Wichita, Kiowa and Comanche nations among others sent waves of conflict rippling across Texas.

The battle tactics changed with the eras. In the pre-Horse era, the massive foot forces were arranged into units lead by a respected warrior with each sector commanded by a war chief. The forces would soften the enemy with volleys of arrows. Skirmishers throwing javelins followed this. Finally one force would rush the other in a massive wave, hoping to overwhelm the enemy. The Post-Horse tactics are described in the Comanche section.

Though some authors imply that scalping was introduced by Europeans to the Atlantic coastal region, it is evident that the practice was practiced in the Plains region prior to their contact with Europeans. The Osage followed the practice of the Northwest Pacific Nations by decapitating the victim as well as scalping them. . Scalps of women and children were prized not for the valor required in their acquisition but because their loss humiliated the honor of the enemy warriors who could not protect them.

Clothing and Weapons

The use of clothing varied throughout the area and changed with time. Initially the tribes of South Texas, coastal Texas wore only a loincloth covered by a longer, knee to calf length, breechcloth. In harsh weather a simple cloak/robe often of coyote hide was used. Because of the normal lack of clothing, tattooing and hairstyles were used for both decorative and tribal identification purposes.

Those tribes located in the ‘Plains area’ used deer hide for trousers and shirts. The bison hide was a valuable item, which due to its hardness was used in making shields. During the winter, buffalo robes were worn to protect against both the elements and the attacks of a rare desperate wintertime raider.

With the coming of the Spanish and French invaders, fabric cloth was introduced as part of trade and by the civilizing attempts of missionaries. Still when the need for war arose, most warriors stripped down to their traditional mode for the battle.

Headdresses varied between tribes with feathers and animal horns being used to denote rank. The Wichita and other Caddo tribes wore a bison hide cap with a colored horse-hair plume attached to the top. In an 1759 battle with the Spanish, one Tavoya war chief wore at white hide cap with a red dyed plume and carried a white shield.

The bow was the common weapon of the Texas area. Its size and effectiveness varied depending on the material use to make them. As noted in the tribal characteristics section, bows could be weak with limited range or powerful longbows capable of hitting a bear or man at 40 yards and still travelling another 50 plus yards after passing through the body. Even after the introduction of guns (due in part to the shortage of ammunition and difficulty in measuring powder for an effective charge), the main weapon continued to be the bow.

The bow continued to be a favaorite weapon even after the introduction of the musket. The bow’s rate of fire was considered vastly superior to the musket. A ratio of twelve accurate arrows per flintlock musket round was reported in several sources. An even higher ratio was possible against the earlier 1600 matchlocks and firelocks. Only when the cartridge became common after the American Civil War (1860s) did the rifle become more popular than the bow among the tribes of Texas.

Some coastal tribes used a short javelin and a dart for hunting. There was no mention of the use of slings but with them being used in Mexico and Southeastern North America, I find it hard to believe that they were not in use at some level. It is not unreasonable to think that all of these could have been used in warfare. Slings would have been a logical home defense weapon to be used by women and children. Before knives and trade hatchets became widespread, warriors carried swords captured from the Spanish. The swords were viewed as too cumbersome to use mounted with a bow, so were often left in the village as the widespread adoption of the horse.

The spear was another common weapon that seemed to have varied in length. A ten to fourteen foot lance would have been in frequent use by ‘Plains tribes’ to penetrate and kill the bison. Other close combat weapons included the club, hand hatchet and later the trade knife and tomahawk.

Another weapon mentioned is a coup stick that was a common item among the Horse cultures. The coup stick was a one handed war club used to strike a significant blow onto an opponent. Though the practice may have varied among the tribes, I feel that the term “coup stick touch” is misleading. The ‘touch’ was a significant blow applied to an enemy warrior. Several incidences are recorded where the receiver of the coup touches later died. A prominent Comanche sub-chief died after a battle with the Cheyenne in which he received more than thirty ‘coup touches’. This and other examples lead me to believe that a coup touch is actually applying a blow to an enemy warrior with a small warclub.

Shields are recorded as being used by most tribes but not all. They were made of the hardest material known to that tribe. Some hides used included coyote, deer and the prized bison. Some bison hide shields were known to deflect arrows and even musket balls that hit the shield at an angle. In the Pre-Horse era the shields were round or oval and large enough to protect the torso of the warrior. After the introduction of the horse, the size of the shield shrunk to a buckler size. The shields continued to be carry after the adoption of the musket, since they carried magical powers for the protection of the warrior. The magical designs included a number of items such as animals, the sun, the moon and geometric symbols that may have been seen in visions. The Apaches and later the Wichita also made bison leather breastplates for their horse.