The Element Encyclopedia of Native Americans: An A to Z of Tribes, Culture, and History

Now the people were on the run; this amounted to 800 Native American men, women, and children, including the elderly, being pursued by 2,000 United States Army soldiers. When the Nez Perce were refused asylum with the Crow Nation, they headed north toward Canada. In total they out-maneuvered their would-be attackers for three long months, traveling nearly 1,250 miles across five states. General Howard was apparently impressed with the fighting skill of the Nez Perce; their naturally developed strategies were common to those learned by European soldiers after years of training: advance guards, fortifications, skirmish lines. However, after a five-day battle in freezing weather with half his people starving, Joseph had to abandon the fight. He surrendered to General Appleton Miles on October 5, 1877. The Nez Perce tribe had traveled a long way from home and were less than 40 miles from the Canadian border when they surrendered.

Yet again the white man cheated the Indians. Despite the fact that Joseph had negotiated a safe return home for his decimated tribe, Joseph and 400 of his followers were taken in uncomfortable, unheated railroad cars to a prisoner of war camp in Kansas, where they were held for eight months. Those that survived were taken to a reservation in what is now Oklahoma. Here, during their seven-year stay, there were many more deaths.

In 1879 Joseph met with President Rutherford Hayes to argue for his people, but to no avail. Finally, however, in 1885 Joseph and what was left of his followers were permitted to return to the Pacific Northwest. Some went to the Idaho reservation, but Joseph and a few others were effectively segregated from their people, and removed to the Colville Reservation in Washington. The Native Americans from other tribes who already lived there were not pleased that they were forced to give away some of their allotted lands.

By now Joseph was an old man, but he continued to speak eloquently, stating his hope that America’s promise of freedom and equality for all men might actually one day include the Native American people, too. This was sadly not to come to pass during Joseph’s lifetime. He died in 1904, still exiled from his homeland.

CHIEF SEATTLE

“Let him [the white man] be just and kindly with my people, for the dead are not altogether powerless.” (attributed to Seattle)

1780(?)–1866

A chief of the Duwamish tribe, whose name would become immortalized for all time in the great city named after him, Seattle also became famous for one particular speech, although there is controversy as to the content, context, and precise nature of the speech.

Seattle—or Si’ahl—was born in the area of Blake Island, Washington. His mother was of the Duwamish and his father of the Suquamish. His position as chief was inherited from his maternal uncle, as was the tradition in a matrilineal tribe.

Accounts of Seattle tell us that he was tall for one of his tribe, standing at almost 6 feet; he was given the nickname Le Gros, meaning “The Big One,” by the European traders. A skilled orator, he also had the added vantage of a loud voice. He was a confident and skilled warrior, leading skirmishes against enemy peoples. It was a tradition among the Duwamish to make slaves of enemies that they captured.

Seattle’s first wife died after giving him a daughter; his second wife bore him seven children: four girls and three boys. His best-known child was his first daughter, Kikisoblu, who would become better known as Princess Angeline. In the late 1840s Seattle was baptized into the Catholic Church, taking the name of Noah Seattle.

The town of DuWamps was changed to Seattle when Chief Seattle formed an alliance with the Europeans against the Patkanim tribe, who were making incursions onto the traditional sites where the Duwamish caught clams and other shellfish.

After the Battle of Seattle in 1856, the Chief was reluctant to allow his people to relocate to the reservation that had been allotted them, since the Snohomish, their traditional enemies, were also going to be relocated there, and Seattle knew that this would lead to conflict. Instead, his people relocated to the Suquamish reservation in Washington, where he died in 1866. He was buried at the tribal cemetery there.

SEATTLE’S SPEECH

The quote at the head of this entry is an extract from the controversial speech involving Seattle. Consensus of opinion says that the occasion of the speech was March 11, 1854, in the then-town of Seattle. A public meeting had been called by the governor of the town to discuss the sale of Native lands to European settlers.

Seattle was asked to speak on the subject, and here the real controversy arises. Evidently Seattle spoke with passion and at some length, in the Lushootseed tongue, which was translated into Chinook and then into English.

The speech was only written down in English some years after the event, by one Henry A. Smith, who had taken notes at the time. In Smith’s version, Seattle thanked the Europeans for their generosity, and also compared the Christian god to the Native god. Smith himself admitted that he had noted only a small part of the speech, and what he wrote is rather florid. The speech has subsequently been rewritten by others who could not possibly know what was actually said, although it has been described as “a powerful, bittersweet plea for respect for Native American rights and environmental values.”

CHILKAT

The traditional form of weaving carried out by peoples on the northwest coasts of British Columbia and Alaska, including the Haida and the Tlingit. The Chilkat people after whom the blankets were named were a division of the Tlingit who originally lived along the river of the same name in Alaska. Chilkat blankets were worn exclusively by high-ranking tribal members at important dances and ceremonies including the potlatch.

This method of weaving is one of the most complex in the world; the artist is able to incorporate curved lines and circular shapes within the body of the weave itself. All sorts of materials are used in the fabric: dog and mountain goat hair and the bark of the yellow cedar were used traditionally, although today, sheep wool is more likely to be used. The designs are very distinctive, incorporating stylized animal designs primarily in red and black. The art of Chilkat weaving had almost been lost—in the 1990s it was estimated that only six people still practiced the art—but luckily the technique has enjoyed a revival recently.

CHINOOK

The Chinook lived on the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, and were known for their fishing and trading skills. They used dugout canoes for their fishing trips and lived in permanent wooden houses rather than, for example, the moveable tipis of the Plains Indians. In appearance they were tall; their most defining characteristic was perhaps the shape of their skulls, which were deliberately manipulated in infancy to alter their appearance. For the Chinook, a skull modified in this way was the height of good breeding, and a “normal” skull was considered to be inferior.

The Chinook language was particularly difficult to master, not only its rudiments but its pronunciation. Because of this, other tribes—and also the European fur traders—used a sort of shorthand language with the Chinook. This was known as “Chinook Jargon,” and made life easier for anyone who had to trade with the tribe, or for whom Chinook was not their mother tongue.

CHIPPEWAH

See Ojibwe

CHOCTAW

Belonging to the Muskhogean language family, the Choctaw were the largest tribe in that particular group. Originally they came from the southeastern U.S., including Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. There are different theories as to the origin of the tribe’s name. It was possibly the name of a great chief of the tribe, possibly from a derivation of “river people,” possibly from the Spanish word chato, meaning “flat heads.” Because they allowed their hair to grow long, they were also called “long hair.”

An agricultural people, the Choctaw had a unique way of dealing with their deceased. The bones of the corpse were cleaned thoroughly and then placed in boxes which were stored in “bone houses.” The task of cleaning the bones was carried out by older men who let their fingernails grow especially long for the purpose. The Choctaw also belonged to the ancient mound-building cultures, and an ancient myth belonging to the tribe states that the people emerged from a mound in the ground, called Nanih Waiya.

In the 17th century the Choctaw arranged themselves into three independent groups: the eastern, western, and southern Choctaw. These different bands struck up different allegiances with the European settlers, although the American War of Independence saw all three Choctaw groups band together to take the side of independence against the British monarchy.

Because the Choctaw had embraced many of the practices of the white settlers, they were credited with the title of one of the Five Civilized Tribes in the 19th century. The other four tribes considered by the Europeans to be “civilized” were the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole. The Choctaw were also one of the tribes who kept slaves.

Nine treaties were made between the Choctaw and the U.S. Government; this resulted in vast tracts of former Choctaw land being ceded to the Government, and the tribe itself relocating to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. The Choctaw had the dubious honor of being the first Native Americans to undergo such forced removal, although they did manage to negotiate a sizeable chunk of land for themselves. One of the features of the Choctaw, which no doubt led to their “civilized” status, was their system of self-governance, which divided the tribe into three, each with its own chief. There was also a Choctaw delegate to represent the tribe at the center of the U.S. Government in Washington, D.C.

After the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1831, the Choctaw were the first large non-European group to be given the status of U.S. citizens.

In the First World War, a number of Choctaw soldiers served in the U.S. Army. The Choctaw language is a difficult one for nonspeakers to decipher, and so was used as a code to transmit messages on behalf of intelligence officers in order to make sure the German enemy wouldn’t be able to discover the plans of the Allied armies (See Choctaw Code Talkers).

CHOCTAW CODE TALKERS

During the First World War, despite the fact that the American military tried to befuddle the German enemy by means of various codes and ciphers, the Germans had a high success rate in deciphering these messages. But one Colonel Bloor had an epiphany one day when he realized that he had a number of Native Americans—including several who spoke the Choctaw language—in his division, which was based in France.

The first test of the new “code” took place toward the end of the war, in 1918, and resulted in the successful withdrawal of two battalions, with no interference from the Germans. This told Bloor that it was unlikely that the enemy had any idea what language was being spoken, an assumption that was corroborated by a German officer who was subsequently captured. The “code talkers” used field telephones to communicate with one another. The only downside was that the Choctaw language simply did not have words to translate some of the modern military terminology and technicalities; however, the Choctaw soldiers were able to improvise.

Nineteen Choctaw men formed this band of “code talkers.” They rarely spoke about what they had done and did not gain the acclaim that the Navajo code talkers, operating during the Second World War, achieved. However, all 19 of the men were awarded posthumous medals, the Choctaw Medal of Valor, in 1989.

CLIFF DWELLING

Various Native American peoples lived in dwellings on or in cliffs, either perched on ledges or in caves or other natural hollows, which might be enlarged by digging and scraping or the addition of adobe. The Anasazi in particular lived in such a way.

CLOWN SOCIETY

There were many different secret societies among the various Native American peoples, and the Clown Society was one of these. Members of this particular society were known to the Sioux, for example, as Heyoka. The Sacred Clown had an important part to play in many societies, was beyond authority and therefore able to poke fun at any form of officialdom without fear of reprisal. An important aspect of the Heyoka was the ability to ask the sorts of questions that others might be afraid to ask.

A prospective member of a Clown Society has to be initiated; naturally the initiation rites are a closed matter, but it has been recorded that one of the rites involves eating dirt and smearing the body with mud. This might seem to be antisocial behavior but is in keeping with the contrary nature of the Heyoka.

It is in the nature of a clown to be funny; the Heyoka is trained in all forms of humor, from wit to slapstick. Each Heyoka develops his own makeup and costume; once he is wearing his disguise, then anything is permissible.

COCHISE

“Nobody wants peace more than I do. Why shut me up on a reservation? We will make peace; we will keep it faithfully. But let us go around free as Americans do. Let us go wherever we please.”

1805–1874

A famous chief of the Chiricahua Apache, at the core of Cochise’s reputation was his resistance to the white man’s invasions in the 19th century. In the Apache language his name, Cheis, means “strong like the oak” or “hardwood,” a name that proved to be entirely appropriate. Cochise is most infamous for having held off the U.S. Army for four years, with just 200 men, when the Government tried to force them to move onto a reservation in New Mexico. Cochise County in Arizona is named in his honor.

Cochise’s tribe originally occupied that part of the United States which would become Arizona and New Mexico, as well as Sonora. The Chiricahua were already used to invasions; they had resisted the encroachment of the Spanish and the Mexicans into their territory. Consistently losing to the Chiricahua in various skirmishes, the Spanish rethought their approach, employing wilier means than mere warfare. They devised a strategy whereby the Chiricahua would become dependent on cheap liquor and the substandard guns issued to them by the Colonial Government. This worked for a while, and Spain gained control of the land; however, Mexico managed to win it from Spain. As a result, the supplies of liquor and guns to the Chiricahua dried up. The more traditional method of warfare flared up once again, since the tribe were no longer reliant on cheap alcohol to befuddle them.

In an attempt to subdue the Chiricahua, the Mexicans decided on a policy of killing them off. Mercenaries, who were paid per scalp, were employed in this endeavor. Cochise’s father was a victim of this policy, and it was this tragedy that proved to be the driving factor behind his desire for vengeance, not only for his father in particular, but for his people as a whole. A mark of Cochise’s effectiveness was that when he was captured by the Mexicans in 1848, he was ransomed in exchange for a dozen Mexican prisoners of war.

Tensions on the U.S./Mexican border were nothing new, not to the Apaches and the Europeans in any case, although there was a relatively settled period in the 1850s after the United States acquired the area. But since the U.S. persisted in encroaching further into Apache grounds, the skirmishes continued, and in 1861 things blew up when Cochise and his men were (falsely) accused of kidnapping the son of a local rancher, and stealing his cattle. This crime had in fact been committed by a different band of Apaches. In a case that became known as The Bascom Affair, which is cited as a key trigger in the Apache War, a young Army officer invited Cochise into the camp, where he was then accused of the kidnapping. Cochise denied everything and even offered to help find those guilty, but when the officer made moves to arrest him, Cochise struck back with a knife, which he then used to slash his way to freedom. The U.S. Army officers retaliated by taking, as hostages, some of Cochise’s people. Numbered among these hostages were some of Cochise’s immediate family.

The whole situation was racked up another few notches as Cochise took more U.S. hostages in an attempt to release his own people. As the situation escalated beyond anyone’s control, the hostages from both sides were summarily murdered; among the slain was Cochise’s brother. The war raged on for another 11 years, resulting in countless deaths; a total body count of as many as 5,000 has been estimated.

In the meantime, Cochise had married Dos Teh Seh, the daughter of the renowned chief, Mangas Coloradas. With his father-in-law, Cochise led a series of raids on the white settlements that continued to encroach on Apache land. One of these raids became known as the Battle of Dragoon Springs, during which the Apache’s superior knowledge of the landscape, and their ability to survive in the tough environment, meant that they held sway over a U.S. Army that was increasingly preoccupied with its own civil war.

At the Battle of Apache Pass, however, the U.S. Army turned their artillery fire on Cochise, Coloradas, and their men. Up until that point the Native Americans had been holding their ground. Despite the fact that this was the first time that they had experienced such powerful weaponry, some of them still fought on until they were either killed or forced to flee to save their lives. General Carleton, who had orchestrated the battle, took over as Commander of the territory.

In 1863, the U.S. Army perpetrated a shameful crime. Pretending to fly the flag of truce, General Joseph Rodman, under the orders of Carleton, captured Mangas Coloradas and, sometime later, murdered him. For Cochise—for anyone—what the Army had done—murdering someone under the pretence of inviting them to negotiate—utterly violated all the rules of war. And so the bloody battles continued.

Cochise and his men were driven toward the Dragoon Mountains, which provided good cover to use as a base from which the Indians could continue their attacks. For four years, Cochise managed to avoid capture by his enemies. Eventually, though, Cochise negotiated a peace treaty and retired, with his people, to a new reservation, a position which he had resisted for as long as he was able. Cochise felt that there was no need for the Native peoples to live on reservations, and that it was possible for them to live side by side in harmony with their white neighbors. He said:

“Let my people mingle with the whites, in their farms and communities, and let us be as one people.”

Sadly, this would not come to pass during Cochise’s lifetime. He died in 1874 of natural causes, and was buried in the Dragoon Mountains, in a secret location in a larger area that is now called Cochise’s Stronghold.

COMANCHE

A Native American people belonging to the Plains Indians group, for whom the horse was an inherent part of life and culture. The Comanche were considered among the finest horsemen of all the Indian Nations. A warlike people, largely open to new ideas, the Comanche were also buffalo hunters, and had a formidable reputation for stealing cattle and horses from other tribes, a trait that would cause many fights with other Native Americans. The Comanche allegedly were responsible for killing more white men than any other tribe. They were also slave traders.

The traditional territory of the Comanches was known as the Comancheria and encompassed the lands that we now know as eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas and Oklahoma, and the majority of northwest Texas.

The Comanche are believed to have been an offshoot of the Shoshone, who broke away around 1700, when the Dakota Sioux pushed the Shoshone back into the mountains; the offshoot Comanche were driven toward the south. The horses that were to prove such an essential part of their lives were acquired from the Pueblo after their successful resistance to the Spanish, which resulted in the Spanish leaving their horses behind in Pueblo territory. Indeed, it was the Comanche who supplied horses to traders from both France and America, and also to the hopeful gold prospectors who traveled through Comanche territory on their way to California. The tribe also had access to the thousands of feral horses that ranged through their territory.

The Shoshone, Comanche, and Kiowa tribes were all also known as “Snakes” by explorers such as George Catlin. The Comanches themselves were subdivided into many different “bands,” of approximately 100 members each. These bands were part of larger divisions, of which there had been three prior to 1750: the Jupes, the Kotsotakas, and the Yamparikas. In the decade after 1750 many of the Kotsotakas split away from the others and moved to the southeast, a move that caused friction between them and the original Comanches.

The Comanche did not have one single chief who controlled the whole tribe; instead, they had a number of leaders who counseled the group according to its needs at any one time. For example, different styles of leadership would be necessary during times of peace than were appropriate during war.

War was a way of life for the Comanche, and the longest battle they waged was that against the Mexicans. This particular fight ran on for nearly 40 years. Traditionally, the Comanche would lead their raids into Mexican territories at the time of the full moon, so that they had the element of surprise combined with the visibility that the full moon gave them. This strategy gave rise to the term “Comanche Moon.”

Initially the Comanche were hunter-gatherers; women as well as men would hunt. Subsequently, though, when the tribes moved from the Rocky Mountains to the Plains, hunting became the job of the men. Deer, wild mustang, bear, elk, and buffalo were all captured and eaten; the fur, bones, and teeth were all made good use of. The Comanche were also not averse to raiding Texas in search of cattle. The Comanche would eat birds and fish only when there was nothing else. This meaty diet was supplemented by berries, fruits, and nuts; gathering these was the task of the women. The Comanche did not cultivate the staple crops of the Native Americans, such as corn, maize, and tobacco, but instead acquired them through trading or raiding.