Blackfeet Perspective on Scalping Essays

Blackfeet Perspective on Scalping Essays Blackfeet Perspective on Scalping Paper Blackfeet Perspective on Scalping Paper 1904. This volume contains a story which depicts a couple fur trappers who were attacked by the Blackfeet, or so they claim. One of the fur trappers, John Colter, survived the attack and made it back to a fort where he retold his tale. The other trapper was apparently killed and scalped. The validity of this story is impossible to verify, but the fact that he could tell the tale and have it believed (or at least written about) provides an idea of how Indians could have been used as scapegoats. Early Western Travels: 1748-1846. Vol. VI. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Co. 1904 This volume called the Blackfeet â€Å"a ferocious savage race, who have conceived the most deadly hatred to the Americans† (28). Very helpful in showing opinions towards the Blackfeet. Early Western Travels: 1748-1846. Vol. VII. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Co. , 1904 This volume turned out unhelpful. Early Western Travels: 1748-1846. Vol. XXI. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Co. , 1904 This volume told a story of a white man with a small band of Blackfeet who invited a trapper to visit them. While in plain sight of a fort, the white man killed and scalped the trapper. How the man got away with this, it does not say. Editorial, The Richmond Examiner, July 5, 1864, http://infotrac. galegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). This newspaper column was discussing rules of engagement having little to do with Indians let alone Blackfeet. The opening statement describes how certain enemies were put to death â€Å"with as little ceremony †¦ as the backwoodsman does a painted Blackfoot or Comanche warrior when he is caught with a bloody scalp dangling from his girdle. † Showing me that in some areas the Blackfeet warriors were seen as constantly scalping and doing little else. Ewers, John. The Blackfeet: Raiders on the Northwestern Plains. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958. Ewers spent a number of years living with and studying the Blackfeet tribe during the mid-20th century. Chapter seven â€Å"Raiding for Horses and Scalps† provided half a chapter worth of information discussing scalping from the Blackfeet point of view. The book provided excellent information but was still written by a white American and has difficulty encompassing the full Blackfeet opinion. Ewers, John. The Horse in Blackfoot Indian Culture, with Comparative Material from Other Western Tribes. Washington D. C. : U. S. Govt. Print. Off. , 1955. I decided to put this in the primary section because Ewers spent so much time talking with tribal elders and essentially writing ethnographies through them. The section on scalping in this book is short and provides only a small amount of basic information on the tradition. Gaines, Edmund P.. â€Å"It is Not an Act of War†¦ † The National Advocate, February 10, 1818, http://infotrac. galegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). Gaines describes an incident where seven people were massacred and scalped including a woman and infants. The gist of his article was to declare war upon the offenders because he has little confidence in friendly relations with the Indians. This publication in the early 19th century provided information on sentiment towards Indians. Grinnell, George Bird. Blackfoot Lodge Tales: The Story of a Prairie People. Williamstown, MA: Corner House Publishers, 1972. Grinnell spent a number of years with American Indians and was considered a close friend to the Blackfeet tribe. He also published a number of books on plains Indians. This particular book is his interpretation of a number of stories that were told to him by Blackfeet elders in which he tried to keep them as close to the literal translation as he could. I consider this a primary document because they are written oral tradition, even though they are translated into English. â€Å"Has Scalps by the Score. † The Owyhee Avalanche, April 28, 1899, http://infotrac. galegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). This article described a white man who scalped Indians for vengeance but I did not use it in final draft. King, Charles. â€Å"Indian Dances. The Sunday Oregonian, June 29, 1890, http://infotrac. galegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). In this article, King describes a number of dances performed by Indians and claims that across the nation tribes are pretty much all the same. This was great insight into how many white Americans felt about Indian tribes. But this showed me the possibility that if the Blackfeet are discussed in an article, it m ay not actually be the Blackfeet tribe. Lancaster, Richard. Piegan: A Look from Within at the Life, Times, and Legacy of an American Indian Tribe. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966. This book was Lancaster’s interpretation of Chief White Calf’s life story. Chief White Calf was born in the 1860s and participated in scalping at sometime during his life. This was rather late for scalping, but it showed how integral it was to the Blackfeet as White Calf was rather blunt about it. â€Å"A Report was in Town Yesterday†¦ † Missouri Republican, July 16, 1823, http://infotrac. galegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). This article discusses a trapping party that was attacked by a group of Blackfeet. The author of the article claims that the recollection is doubted by those acquainted with the subject. This goes to show that in many cases the news articles of scalping could have been exaggerated. â€Å"Seven Years a Prisoner of the Black Feet Indians: A Horrible History. † The Wisconsin State Register, July 2, 1871, http://infotrac. galegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). I found this publication to be published in two different Wisconsin newspapers and one in San Francisco. The atrocity of the story adds to the sentiments towards Blackfeet Indians and shows that it was widely published. Works Consulted-Secondary Andrews, Ralph Warren. Indians as the Westerners Saw Them. Seattle: Superior Pub. Co. , 1963. Andrews discusses scalping in chapter five. He describes some methods and motives of scalping. This book was helpful for a basic overview and opinionated view on scalping, but gave little tribal specific information. Axtell, James. â€Å"Scalping: The Ethnohistory of a Moral Question,† in The European and the Indian: Essays in the Ethnohistory of Colonial North America. Edited by James Axtell. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981. Axtell discussed the importance of understanding moral questions in context with their contemporaries. Although he did not discuss Blackfeet specifically, his work gave me a basis for assessing scalping rather than judging the act. Axtell, James. â€Å"Scalps and Scalping,† in Encyclopedia of North American Indians. Edited by Fredrick Hoxie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. , 1996. netlibrary. com (accessed March 30, 2011). In this work Axtell provides a basic overview of the act of scalping in a very similar fashion to that of Andrews. It was very broad and not tribal specific. Bastien, Betty. Blackfoot Ways of Knowing: The Worldview of the Siksikaitsitapi. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2004. Bastien, as a current historian, sought to describe the ways the Blackfeet tribe keeps their history and understands the world. Using this in support of Grinnell’s works, helps with the validity of using the Lodge Tales as a primary source. Binnema, Theodore. â€Å"Allegiances and Interests: Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) Trade, Diplomacy, and Warfare, 1806-1831. † The Western Historical Quarterly 37, no. 3 (2006): 327. This article claims that the Gros Ventres tribe was often grouped with the Blackfeet by early fur-traders. Binnema claims that the Gros Ventres were much more violent than the Blackfeet attributing to their reputation. This article also attributes to the fact that when the Blackfeet tribe is mentioned, it may not actually be the Blackfeet. Binnema, Theodore. â€Å"‘Like the Greedy Wolf’: The Blackfeet, the St. Louis Fur Trade, and War Fever, 1807-1831. † Journal of the Early Republic 29, no. 3 (2009): 411-440. This article discusses relations with the Blackfeet up until the period of peace between them and white Americans. Binnema discusses a number of contributions to the violence but does not discuss scalping in depth. The article is useful in understanding relations, but not so useful in the argument for Blackfeet scalping. Conaty, Gerald T. Review of Blackoot Ways of Knowing: The Worldview of the Siksikaitsitapi, by Betty Bastien. Histoire Sociale 38, no. 76 (2005): 499. Used for background on Bastien. Dempsey, Hugh A. â€Å"Blackfoot† in Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 13, pt. 1. Edited by Raymond J. DeMallie. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 2001. 604-628. Dempsey provides a somewhat detailed overview of the tribe itself but spends little time discussing warfare let alone scalping. This was helpful in gathering details but not so much in the discussion of scaping. Kipp, Darrell Robes. â€Å"Blackfoot† in Encyclopedia of North American Indians. Edited by Fredrick Hoxie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. , 1996. netlibrary. com (accessed March 30, 2011). This entry was only used for basic background knowledge of the Blackfeet. LaPier, Rosalyn. â€Å"Blackfeet† in Dictionary of American History. Vol 1. Edited by Stanley I. Kutler. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003. http://go. galegroup. com (accessed March 21, 2011). This entry was only used for basic background knowledge of the Blackfeet. Sherrow, Victoria. â€Å"Scalping† in Encylopedia of Hair. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 2006. 344-45. This entry did not provide any information on Blackfeet specific customs. Spitzer, Allen. Review of The Blackfeet: Raiders on the Northwestern Plains, by John C. Ewers. American Anthropologist 61, no. 1 (1959): 145-146. Used for information on Ewers. Washburn, Wilcomb E. Review of Letters and Notes on the North American Indians, by George Catlin. The American Historical Review 81, no. 5 (1976): 1243. Used for information on Catlin.