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

BLACKFEET SIOUX

Nothing to do with the Blackfoot Tribe, the Blackfeet Sioux, also referred to as the Siksika or Pikuni, originally lived by the Saskatchewan River in Canada and in the very northernmost parts of the United States. By the middle of the 19th century, however, they had relocated to the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains, close to the Standing Rock Agency and Reservation. The tribe are part of the Algonquian language family.

A band of the Dakota Sioux, there are two legends that explain how the name of the Blackfeet Sioux came about.

The first explains that some of the tribe had been chasing some Crow Indians; however, the quest was dramatically unsuccessful and resulted in the Sioux braves losing everything, including their horses. They were forced to return home on foot, across scorched ground, hence when they got back their moccasins were stained black.

The second myth describes how a certain chief, jealous of his wife and wanting to keep tabs on her, blackened the soles of her moccasins so he could track her wherever she went.

From 1837 to 1870 the tribe’s population was drastically reduced during a series of smallpox epidemics. In common with other Native Americans, the Blackfeet had no natural immunity to the disease. We know that somewhere in the region of 6,000 Blackfeet people died in the 1837 outbreak alone. In 1888 the tribe were forced by the U.S. Government to relocate once more, to the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana.

BLACKFOOT CONFEDERACY

Also called the Siksika, meaning “Blackfoot,” or the Niitsitapi, meaning “original people.” Blackfoot/Niitsitapi is the name of a confederacy of tribes: the North Piegan, the South Piegan, the Siksika, and the Kainai. All these tribes belonged to the Algonquian language family. The entire group were large and renowned for their ferocity in battle, second only to the Dakota in size and importance. The Confederacy also gave protection to two smaller bands, the Sarsi and the Atsina, or Gros Ventre. Like the Blackfeet Sioux—a completely different tribe—the Blackfoot, legendarily, were meant to have been given their name after their moccasins were stained black from prairie fires. These moccasins—which had a beadwork design featuring three prongs—made the Blackfoot immediately recognizable.

The Blackfoot ranged over a large territory, from the North Saskatchewan River in what is now Canada to the Yellowstone River in Montana, and from the Rockies to the Alberta—Saskatchewan border. Having adopted the horse from other Plains tribes, they roamed after the buffalo and lived in tipis in settlements of up to 250 people in up to 30 lodges. Each small band had its leader, and relationships between bands were flexible enough for members to come and go between bands as they pleased. In the summer the bands gathered together; they were among those who performed the Sun Dance ritual. In addition, the Blackfoot had another spectacular ritual: the Horse Dance ceremony.

The natural enemies of the Blackfoot included the Crow, Sioux, Shoshone, and Nez Perce; their most particular enemy, though, came in the form of an alliance of tribes who came under the name of the Iron Confederacy. They would travel long distances to take part in raids on other tribes. A young Blackfoot boy on his first such raid was given a derogatory name until he had killed an enemy or stolen a horse, when he was given a name that carried honor with it. Like other Native Americans, a lack of immunity to the most common European diseases had brought tragedy to the Blackfoot for many years; in one of the worst incidents, in 1837, some 6,000 Blackfoot perished when smallpox was contracted from European passengers on a steamboat.

During the protracted winter months, the camps of Blackfoot hunkered down, perhaps camping together when stores were adequate. The buffalo were easier to hunt during the winter, simple to track through the snow. Hunting took place when other resources were beginning to run low. For the Blackfoot as well as other Native American peoples, the buffalo was an essential part of their lifestyle. However, deliberate overhunting by the Europeans in an attempt to weaken the Natives by taking away their primary resource meant that, from the 1880s onward, the Blackfoot had to adopt new ways of survival. The Canadian members of the Confederacy were appointed reservations in southern Alberta in the late 1870s, which saw them struggle as they faced many hardships connected with a completely new way of life after generations of roaming freely. The Blackfoot were forced to turn to the white man for help, relying on the U.S. Government for food supplies, which were very often not forthcoming or rotten and inedible. The tribe were forced to turn to theft, which resulted in counterattacks from the Army; these attacks often saw women and children killed.

The worst winter, 1883–1884, “Starvation Winter,” was so-called because not only were there no buffalo, but no supplies from the Government. Approximately 600 Blackfoot perished.

BLAZING A TRAIL

We use the term “blazing a trail” to describe a pioneering endeavor of any kind, but its origins are altogether more pragmatic.

To blaze a trail was a way for either a Native or a white man to mark a route, often surreptitiously, so that the trail would be followed only by someone who was familiar with the signs that were left along it. Methods used to show direction might include sticks laid on the ground in a certain way, notches taken from trees or shrubs, or an arrangement of stones, rocks, or leaves on the ground.

BLUE JACKET

1740(?)–1810

Also known to his own tribe as Weyapiersenwah, Blue Jacket was a war chief of the Shawnee people. We don’t have a great deal of information on his early life; he first comes into focus in 1773 when he would have been in his early thirties. He is first mentioned in the records of a British missionary who had visited Shawnee settlements, and mentioned Blue Jacket as living in what is now Ohio.

There’s a strange legend surrounding Blue Jacket: that he was, in fact, Marmaduke Swearingen, a European settler who had been kidnapped, and subsequently adopted by, the Shawnee. So far, though, no definitive information has proved this legend; rather, records describe Swearingen and his entire family as being fair-skinned with blond hair. If this description had been applied to Blue Jacket, there is no doubt that there would be some mention of it somewhere.

Blue Jacket was among the many Natives who fought to retain their land and their rights. During the American Revolutionary War, many Indians supported the British, believing that a British victory would end the encroachment of the settlers. When the British were defeated, the Shawnee had to defend their territory in Ohio on their own, a task they found increasingly difficult in the face of a further escalation of European settlers. Blue Jacket was a very active leader in his people’s resistance.

The pinnacle of Blue Jacket’s career as a war chief was when he led an alliance of tribes, alongside the chief of the Miami people, Blue Turtle, against the U.S. Army expedition led by Arthur St. Clair. The Battle of Wabash proved to be the most conclusive defeat of the U.S. Army by the Natives.

However, the American Army could not let this Indian victory go unchallenged, and raised a superior group of soldiers; in 1794 they defeated Blue Jacket’s army at the Battle of Fallen Timbers; the result was the Treaty of Greenville, in which the United States gained most of the former Indian lands in Ohio. A further treaty signed by Blue Jacket was the Treaty of Fort Industry, in which even more of the Ohio lands were taken by the U.S. Government.

Blue Jacket died in 1810, but not before he witnessed a new person take on his role as chief. Tecumseh carried on Blue Jacket’s fight to win back the Indian heritage in Ohio.

BOLA

A weapon used to catch or hinder an animal (or person) when it was hurled at the legs of the prey. The bola consisted of rocks or stones attached to lengths of sinews or thongs, the whole attached to a longer length of rope. The bola hobbled the prey, enabling it to be captured easily.

BOOGER MASK

Likely to be a European word, since “booger” has the same origins as “boogeyman” or “boggart,” the booger mask was in particular a Cherokee artifact, a mask carved of wood with exaggerated, cartoonlike features, often resembling animals or human/animal hybrids.

BOW AND ARROW

The traditional image of a Native American would not be complete without the classic weaponry of the bow and arrow. We know that the use of the bow and arrow was widespread among the indigenous people of America from about A.D. 500, and that it’s likely the weapon arrived in America around 2500 B.C., from the Arctic.

ARROW

It was very important that the main shaft of the arrow was as straight as possible. The pithy canes used for these shafts were selected with care, and hung in bundles above a fire—the central fire in a tipi was ideal—to further straighten and season them. Afterward, the shafts were smoothed and polished with stone tools. Initially intended for hunting animals, a shallow groove would be carved along the length of the arrow so that, once the arrow had pierced its target, the animal’s blood would continue to flow along this groove, not only weakening the prey as it lost blood but also enabling the hunter to track the animal as the blood splashed the ground.

The “flight,” or feathered end of the arrow, was actually made from feathers and helped the weapon fly through the air. In the main, feathers from the wild turkey or the eagle were preferred, and of these birds, the wing feathers were best for the purpose. Using feathers from the same wing meant that the arrow had a twisting, spiraling flight pattern. Most arrows had three feathers fixed to them, set at regular intervals around the end of the shaft. These feathers were fastened with glue (probably made from ground bones) and further strengthened with sinew tied around them.

The actual arrowhead could be made from a number of different materials: knapped flint, copper, bone or horn, or the tips of antlers. The coming of the white man meant that iron was introduced to the Natives, and so this metal was used to make arrow tips, too.

Hunting arrows did not have the distinctive barbed shape that’s often seen; this meant that the arrow could be removed easily from the animal. However, arrows that were intended for use in war were complete with the barb, which made them almost impossible to remove without doing further damage to the enemy. The barbs of these arrows were sometimes tied to the shaft quite loosely so that there was more chance of them remaining painfully embedded in the flesh of the victim.

Different tribes preferred slightly different types of arrow; experts can differentiate these sometimes subtle distinctions. Plains tribes, for example, liked a short arrow with a long feather. Native peoples also marked their own arrows so that they were identifiable. It was always good to know without a shadow of a doubt whose blow had killed the enemy.

BOW

Any kind of springy, whippy wood—hickory, cedar, mulberry, white ash, or dogwood—could be used to make a bow; so, too could horn or bone. Bows were made in many different sizes and shapes, to suit the user. His bow was a precious tool to any Native American, and he continued to carry it even after the coming of guns.

There were different types of bow, too. The simplest was called the “self bow,” made from one piece of wood and strengthened with sinew glued and lashed along its length. Then there was the “compound bow” made from layers of materials such as wood, bone, and horn, glued and lashed together with sinews. There was a bow whose wooden part was entirely wrapped in sinew. The Eskimo actually made bows from the rib bones of whales.

In the same way that different tribes preferred different types of arrows, they also preferred different styles of bow. For example, the Plains Indians preferred a shorter bow since they would be likely to use it when on horseback. The Apache bow had its tips curved back, like the typical “Cupid’s bow.” The Pueblo made miniature bows, painted them, and buried them with their dead.

The bowstring itself, which pulled back the arrow to make it fly, was generally made from twisted vegetable fibers, rawhide, and sinew. It was important that the bowstring had “bounce” and elasticity combined with toughness; bear guts or other animal guts were ideal for this purpose, since this material had the necessary qualities. One end of the bow string was affixed to the wooden part of the bow permanently, while the other was loose when not in use, attached only to a notch in the bow when the weapon was about to be used. This meant that the bowstring itself lasted longer and wasn’t overstretched.

The Native American, no matter his tribe, was incredibly skilled with his bow and arrow, and legendarily could fire off half a dozen arrows in the time it took the white man to load one bullet into the early single-shooter guns.

BRANT, JOSEPH

“The Mohawks have on all occasions shown their zeal and loyalty to the Great King; yet they have been very badly treated by his people.”

1743–1807

“Joseph Brant” was the name given by the Europeans to the Mohawk leader Theyebdabegea (meaning “two sticks tied together for strength”). Joseph was born in Ohio Country into the Wolf clan of his mother—it was the practice among matrilineal tribes, as the Wolf were, for the child to belong to its mother’s people.

Joseph’s father died before he was ten, at which point his mother moved back to a Mohawk village in the New York area with her son and his elder sister Molly. Shortly afterward, his mother married a Mohawk chief named Canagaraduncka, who also carried the name of Brant. Brant’s family had strong connections with the British, his father being one of the Four Mohawk Kings who actually visited Britain in 1710. The family were relatively wealthy, although none of the lineage of his stepfather was passed on to the young Joseph because of that matrilineal line.

Joseph’s new stepfather had a good friend, Sir William Johnson, a very influential man who was the Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the area. Joseph’s sister Molly and Johnson got to know one another, since Johnson spent a lot of time at the house, and the two subsequently married.

Sir William Johnson, now Joseph’s brother-in-law, took an interest in the young Mohawk, to the point of supervising his education. Joseph was sent with two other Mohawk boys to a school that would later become Dartmouth College. A clever boy, he was a quick study and was schooled in Latin and Greek as well as English. Like other Native American boys, Brant was introduced at an early age to the arts of warfare, and had followed Sir William into battle at the tender age of 13 during the French and Indian Wars. After this excitement, he returned to school.

It’s certain that Joseph was a talented linguist, and it has been suggested that he was fluent in all six of the Iroquois Confederacy languages—an extremely valuable asset. Because of his language skills and the fact that he had adopted the Christian faith, Brant acted as an interpreter for a Christian missionary named Reverend John Stuart; their work together resulted in the translation of the Gospel of Mark, and the common prayer book, into the Mohawk language. In later life Joseph would translate more Christian works.

When he was 25 or so, in 1768, Brant married a woman named Christine, whose father was an Oneida chief. The couple had met at school, and they had two wedding ceremonies: a Native American and an Anglican one. When Christine died just three years later, she left behind a daughter and a son. A couple of years after this, Joseph married Christine’s sister, Susannah, who also died shortly afterward of the same disease: tuberculosis.

In 1775 Brant was promoted to the rank of Captain and was dispatched to England; here he met King George III, and two dinners were held in his honor.

Once he returned to America, Brant led four of the Iroquois League Nations into attacks on the colonial outposts at the borders of the New York Frontier. During the War of Independence, the Iroquois League split in its allegiances. Two of the tribes favored the American case, while the others sided, with Brant, in favor of the British. Some of the tribal leaders preferred to remain neutral, hoping, no doubt, that the white men would all simply slaughter each other and turn their attentions away from the Native territories. Brant, however, argued against neutrality since he suspected that the Indians would lose all their lands if the colonists won the war and achieved independence.

Brant’s reputation as a formidable leader was cemented after an incident known as the Cherry Valley Massacre, in August 1778. Brant and his forces destroyed the town and fort at Cherry Valley in eastern New York. Some 30 men were killed, houses were burned to the ground, and 71 prisoners were captured. Subsequently, however, the British surrendered their lands to the colonists—and not to the Indians as they had promised.

A couple of years later Brant married his third wife, Catherine Croghan, who was the daughter of a Mohawk mother and an Irish father. Brant was now faced with having to find a new home, not just for himself and his new wife, but for the Mohawk tribes. During this time he also helped the new U.S. Commissioners make peace treaties with the Native peoples, regained his Army commission, and was awarded a tract of land for the Mohawk to settle on. This land was on the Grand River in Ontario. This territory—the Grand River Reservation—was established in 1784, and almost 2,000 Iroquois loyalists set up home there. All six tribes belonging to the Iroquois Nation were included, although the majority of the settlers were from the Mohawk and Cayuga tribes.

The year 1785 saw Brant return once again to England, where he managed to secure compensation for Mohawk losses in the War of Independence. He had also wanted to gain a secure holding on the lands that had been granted the tribes, but was unable to do so.

Brant was a keen missionary, and in 1785 he oversaw the building of a small Protestant chapel on the reservation: Her Majesty’s Chapel of the Mohawks is a small wooden building which still stands today, and is the only place of worship with the title “Chapel Royal” outside the U.K. Brant believed that the Mohawk could learn a lot from the Christian faith, and encouraged white settlers onto Mohawk and Iroquois land, believing that the two races would learn from each other; this arrangement was unsettling for some. He also tried to arrange a proper land settlement between the Iroquois and the United States, and fought against further land cessions. He continued with his translations of the Bible up until his death in 1807 in Burlington, Ontario. He is buried at the Chapel of the Mohawks.

BRAVE

The word that used to be used to describe a young Native American male, “brave” was probably first applied by the Spanish explorers and settlers. In Spanish, bravo means wild and untamed, and the phrase Indios Bravos can be found in Spanish writings dating back to their time in the Americas. Whenever a Native American managed to overcome extraordinary hardship, he spoke of himself as having had a “brave time.”

BREASTPLATE

A covering for the chest of male Native Americans, which was both protective and decorative, often made of long beads made of bone; traders called these beads “hair pipes.”

The breastplate was common to the Plains Indians.

BREECHCLOTH

Also called a breech clout, this was the material (often made of deerskin) that protected and covered the loins of a male Native. The breechcloth extended from front to back, looped over a piece of sinew tied at the waist with a length of cloth extending down at either side.

BRULE

The original name of the Brule was Sichanghu, meaning “burned thighs.” The French word brulé means “burned.” The Brule were a division of the Lakota, who were one of the seven tribes of the Sioux Confederation. When the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered them in 1804, the tribe lived along both sides of the Missouri, Teton, and White Rivers. At the time they numbered about 300.