Frank Secoy among others classified 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 quickly adopted new military tactics to the changing times.

Throughout all of the different periods of warfare types, the bow played a key part in combat. The bow was a very good and quiet killer from long range. It would not be until the wide spread use of cartridge ammunition, that the bow would lose its importance among the warriors. The bow’s domination as an effective killer, has lead some researcher’s to speculate that the adoption of coups which required close contact with the enemy would become a mark of extreme bravery among warriors. (Anybody could kill from a distance but only the bravest could do it in a hand to hand fashion.).

Other weapons that were used during the different eras were various clubs, spears and knives used for close combat. The Cree and Assiniboine tribes used a type of Morningstar. The Assiboine used a two pound stone in a hide bag attached to a stick by sinew cords. The Cree version consisted of the stone and bag but was attached to the two foot wood handle but the bag was loose so it could sway to give more momentum to its impact. . Most clubs were fashioned similar to the mace style. Some had weighted heads in order to provide a more crushing blow. Before the advent of Euro-American trade goods most heads were of stone and attached with sinew or leather cords. The steel headed hatchet (tomahawk) were adopted as more trade with the Euro-Americans occurred.

As I noted in the article on the Southern Plains tribesmen, the use of the term coup ‘touch ‘has been misunderstood. Many warriors were reported as dying from coup touches so it was more than just a simple touching of an enemy warrior. It could involve the use of a heavy club or hatchet. One Lakota warrior is shown achieving coup on a Crow warrior by stabbing him with a point from a crooked (sacred) lance. In any case I interpret the gaining of a coup is as the ability to strike an enemy warrior in hand-to-hand combat whether the hit lead to a kill or not.

During the pre-horse and pre-gunpowder era, most of the Plains tribes were sedentary. Many tribes established villages along waterways such as rivers and lakes. 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. The bow, spear and war-club were common along with a knife for almost every warrior. The shield of the era was of a larger style exceeding three feet in diameter and used mainly to protect the warrior from archery fire.

The bow was a longer Eastern style averaging between 5 and a half feet to six feet in length with arrows over four feet long.. The bow was reinforced with buffalo or other animal sinew to give it‘s arrows more penetrating power. The war club was often made to be heavy though I do not think that the two-handed Eastern variety was used often. Most clubs were made to be used with one hand while the warrior held the shield with the other hand. I have not seen evidence that a javelin was used frequently in warfare during this era. Also during this era, I am not sure if the long spear was used much in battle. In the East it had been regarded as mostly a home defense weapon and may have been regarded as such among the Plains Indians who did mainly live in sedentary towns.

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 conducted by warriors of the towns on the nomadic raiders frequently failed to locate their mobile camps. Initially the horse was used as transportation to and from the battlefield. Much like dragoons, the warriors would dismount near a target and advance the final distance to enemy on foot. Later in this era the use of mounted tactics developed and the use of the lance and bow from horseback were shown more frequently in artwork. So the long spear which had previously been used mainly for home defense became an offensive weapon for the mounted warrior. There are several accounts of warriors mounted on horseback and armed with lances scattering enemy warriors who fought on foot. As mounted warfare came to dominate the Plains the size of weapons adjusted to the change as sell. The length of the bow was shorten, war clubs became lighter and shields became smaller. It was during this time that the bow and shield became similar to the one that most people associate with the Plains Indians. The bow became shorter (average was now three feet with arrows of two feet) and less powerful but the warrior compensated for the difference by getting closer to the target (more close assault style as seen in buffalo hunt artwork) and the warrior leaned to fire it quicker. The shield became more of an object of mystical protection rather than offering physical protection and averaged two feet in diameter with some as small as eighteen inches. The war club also became smaller.

New Weapons, New Tactics

Once gunpowder muskets were obtained, the nomadic Plains warriors adopted new skirmishing tactics. 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. In fact there are numerous recorded instances where warriors armed with only bows defeated frontiersman and other tribal warriors armed with muskets. The musket armed men were often overrun while reloading their weapons. Still for a tribe which had plenty of powder and shot, the ownership of muskets gave them a distinct advantage over rival tribes who did not own any muskets. It is also during this period that I believe the coup practice may have developed into more of a ritualistic rite of passage for manhood. The use of smaller non-lethal coup sticks appear but the use of larger clubs and spears are still shown in artwork for ‘coup touching’.

When describing Eastern warfare, I often emphasized the fact that a lack of powder and ammunition among the tribes would cause the warriors to favor for combat a more close assault weapon use for the musket than a distance weapon. There is a large amount of recorded evidence that the English Trade Musket which was primarily used for trade among the Plains tribes in the 1700s and early 1800s had a smaller caliber and a shorter barrel (three feet) than white settler muskets. The warriors further shorten the barrel for use on horseback to the point that it was not much longer than a pistol. The warrior also favored a loose fitting musket ball which would slide down the barrel without the use of a ramrod. Both of these aspects helped the warrior to load the musket while mounted but would seriously reduce the effectiveness of accuracy of any distance firing.

Once the bullet became a self-contained cartridge, the wide spread adoption of rifles to replace the bow by mounted warriors was accomplished. Now the warriors had a firm fitting round with an equal amount of powder and shot. The warriors of the Plains would now use the rifle more for sniping at a distance than close assault. Still the images taught to modern readers by various forms of media entertainment that most Native Warriors fought with rifles and fired numerous wasteful rounds at white settlers is very misleading. Native warriors were always short on available ammunition. They could not mine and produce additional sources of gunpowder. They had to rely on obtaining additional ammunition by way of trade or through spoils of a raid. Such a restriction on ammunition would cause most tribes to conserve ammunition. The easy access to ammunition was one reason in addition to hatred for a rival tribe that it was easy for the US Army to obtain native American scouts. The army, however, used strict accountability practices for ammunition and its usage among the scouts.

Our Place in the Sun The Northern Great Plains

Bibliography
Plains Indians Colors for Uniforms
Native Nations of the Great Northern Plains
Warrior Societies
Weapons and Warfare on the Plains
Examples of Warrior Dress from Artwork of the Region

More Our Place in the Sun Issues' Table of Contents

TPP Fall 2002: Texas-Southern Plains Region
TPP Summer 2002: The American Southwest
TPP Spring 2001: Muskogee Wars
TPP Winter 2001: SE Atlantic Coast Native Nations
TPP Fall 2000: America's Far West