The Plains Indians - Essay Example

The Plains Indians From prehistoric times, the Native Americans of the Great Plains, or the Plains Indians, had lived on the plains and prairies, where bison abound. These people lived on hunting bisons (or buffaloes) for food and hide. Nomadic in nature, these Plains Indians were composed of twelve tribes, and spent most their time hunting, with only a few settlement villages near major rivers. Although they were basically warriors and hunters, they also believed in Natural Spirits, and performed religious rituals like worshipping the Sun. In the late 1500s, however, European, or white settlers began to migrate to North America, and gradually spread to the West into the prairies, eventually driving the Native Americans or Indians, farther away from their original abodes. As written by Ralph K. Andrist in his book “The Long Death”, the Plains Indians suffered much from the European settlers or the “whites”. “The Long Death” tells of the years and years of agonizing saga of the Native Americans, concluding at their losing their precious lands. The white settlers, coming from highly civilized and complex societies already, used varied military strategies and tactics to successfully take over the frontier, with advanced weapons, technology, and strategic military tactics. To these, the Plains Indians could do nothing but defend themselves and their lots. Violence was often used by the whites. Too brutal and barbaric were these that even the Plains Indians who were naturally hunters and barbaric were appalled. As recounted in the book, highlights of these violence were the massacres done on the outnumbered and almost defenseless Plains Indians. One unforgettable instance of brute and savagery recounted in the book was the attack on an Indian Village at Sand Creek. There were only women, children and elderly when the white vigilantes attacked, forcing the Cheyenne tribe leader Black Kettle to raise a white flag to signify surrender. He even hoisted an American flag. However, this was disregarded. Col. Chivington’s Raiders encircled the village anyway, and gunned it down with highly advanced and powerful arms of that time, like howitzers and rifles. Not content yet, the attackers went on to hack and butcher the helpless and defenseless women, children and elderly to death, using knives and sabers. Body parts and scalps later on were paraded for cheering crowds in Denver to see. A report was then given to the officers that the Indians at Sand Creek Village was at peace, and were on the reservation where they belonged. Violence was, likewise employed by the whites when the Plains Indians attacked them for breaches in agreements that angered the latter and pushed them too far. On the other hand, there were also battles where brute force was used by the Plains Indians against the white settlers. For instance, in the Fetterman’s or Custer’s Last Stand battle, although it was an attack led by Col. George Armstrong Custer on a Sioux encampment along the Little Bighorn River in Montana, in the battle that followed, Custer and all his men were killed. This was actually one of the biggest and most famous victories of the Indians. Hard war, or subtle but long and agonizing “war”, was a strategy that really won the white settlers the “war”. Hard war included all the strategies and weaponry, violent and non-violent tactics, that the whites employed to finally take over the land of the Plains Indians. One of the factors that counted much in the hard war was demographics, or population, or as we plainly say it today, the “numbers game”. When the white settlers started coming, they came in huge groups, and in continuous manner. Overtime, the whites dominated the land in terms of demographics. As can be taken from history books as well as from Andrit’s, it is estimated that by the beginning of the 19th century, there were 2.5 million Indians in North America; by 1860, the Indian population fell to 350,000; by 1890 it stood at 250,000. In contrast, the white settlers’ population kept increasing. Apparently, by numbers alone, the Indians were losing the battle. This was explained by Andrist, that such population decrease was caused by interaction with white settlers, since the latter brought various diseases, such as smallpox, cholera and influenza, diseases to which the Plains Indians had no immunity. These diseases broke out and ravaged Plains Indians during the 19th century, particularly in the 1850s and 1860s. Likewise, battles with U.S. troops and settlers reduced the Indian population, as did wars between Indian tribes, especially when Eastern tribes were forced on reservations in the West, on lands already settled by other tribes. Another factor that counted much to the white settlers’ victory was the introduction of Western civilization, bringing forth a market economy that destroyed the culture and ways of the Plains Indians who were basically warriors-hunters. Further, the bison or buffalo, which was valued much by the Natives for meat and hide, were decimated by hide hunters. This meant deprivation of food for the Indians, weakening them altogether. As estimated by Andrist in his book, “there had been as many as 15 million buffalo which by the late 1880s were almost entirely killed. The destruction of the buffalo herds was crucial in destroying the vital food source for the Plains Indians and in altering their ways of life as hunters.”. Finally, the white settlers’ system of reservation, which they claimed was mainly intended to sustain the Indian population by allowing them to farm their own land allotments, in fact isolated the Plains Indians, destroying their culture and ways of life, especially their means of sustenance. This in fact completed the destruction of the whole Plains Indian population. This was, in fact, the culmination of the slow, protracted and long death for the Indians. Other history books recount plainly that when the Civil War was over, in 1865, the government in fact sent an army to force or drive the Plains Indians away from a large section of land onto reservations. Conversely, the prairie land was offered to former soldiers. There were instances of “victories” for the Plains Indians. However, their real enemy was hunger. They did not have bison to hunt for meat mainly, and hide secondly. They had land allotments but were terrible farmers, for they did not have training or exposure to do it, having hunted for food all their lives. Eventually they had no choice but surrender and accept their fate. It was a long death. Slow. But sure death for the Plains Indians. Works Cited Andrist, Ralph K. with an Introduction by Dee Brown. The Long Death: The Last Days of the Plains Indians. University of Oklahoma Press, 2001 Grolier Student Encyclopedia, Volume 12. Connecticut, 2004 Savich, Karl K. A Book Review. www.Balkananalysis.com posted 5/7/2006. Retrieved 10/22/2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitting_Bull http://inkido.indiana.edu/w310work/romac/plains.html Read More