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groingrinder
It was NOT all peace and unicorns and rainbows before the white man came. Indians had wars with each other. They took captives as slaves. They tortured them and raped them. Your picture of Native Americans as peaceful and wise is not quite how it was. There was constant warfare and bickering.
groingrinder
And once the white man came, they could not sell and betray each other fast enough
Spookybelle
Its a myth that the Native Americans lived in harmony with nature and they were as destructive as any Europeans were. They simply did not have the technological capacity to conduct their pilfering on as large a scale.
Many tribes had no problem burning down entire regions of forests to make their hunts easier. They also conducted mass kills of buffalo by the "buffalo jump", an unsettling practice of driving entire herds off of cliffs. Contrary to their lore, they did not peacefully hunt only what was needed, they hunted the way they found easiest.
When discussing Native Americans you sort of have to read between the lines between what history books tell you and what has been found out to be more truthful accounts of their practices.
Realtruth
groingrinder
reply to post by Realtruth
It was NOT all peace and unicorns and rainbows before the white man came. Indians had wars with each other. They took captives as slaves. They tortured them and raped them. Your picture of Native Americans as peaceful and wise is not quite how it was. There was constant warfare and bickering.
I'm sure there were conflicts, but the general philosophy was to live symbiotically with mother earth, but since none of us lived back in that time, we'll have to take the stories that were passed down.
Danbones
the indians managed to last at least 12000 years, maybe if some archealogists are correct even 50 or a hundred thousand years, without bringing the continent ( the whole world really ) right to the brink of destruction the way the white man has just 400 yearsedit on 9-11-2013 by Danbones because: (no reason given)
Rosinitiate
reply to post by Spookybelle
I think we should always take into consideration that the victors write history....edit on 9-11-2013 by Rosinitiate because: (no reason given)
Rosinitiate
reply to post by Spookybelle
I think we should always take into consideration that the victors write history....edit on 9-11-2013 by Rosinitiate because: (no reason given)
Smallpox blankets could be a myth.
Fact is, on at least one occasion a high-ranking European considered infecting the Indians with smallpox as a tactic of war. I'm talking about Lord Jeffrey Amherst, commander of British forces in North America during the French and Indian War (1756-'63). Amherst and a subordinate discussed, apparently seriously, sending infected blankets to hostile tribes. What's more, we've got the documents to prove it, thanks to the enterprising research of Peter d'Errico, legal studies professor at the University of Massachusetts at (fittingly) Amherst. D'Errico slogged through hundreds of reels of microfilmed correspondence looking for the smoking gun, and he found it.
The exchange took place during Pontiac's Rebellion, which broke out after the war, in 1763. Forces led by Pontiac, a chief of the Ottawa who had been allied with the French, laid siege to the English at Fort Pitt. According to historian Francis Parkman, Amherst first raised the possibility of giving the Indians infected blankets in a letter to Colonel Henry Bouquet, who would lead reinforcements to Fort Pitt. No copy of this letter has come to light, but we do know that Bouquet discussed the matter in a postscript to a letter to Amherst on July 13, 1763:
P.S. I will try to inocculate the Indians by means of Blankets that may fall in their hands, taking care however not to get the disease myself. As it is pity to oppose good men against them, I wish we could make use of the Spaniard's Method, and hunt them with English Dogs. Supported by Rangers, and some Light Horse, who would I think effectively extirpate or remove that Vermine. On July 16 Amherst replied, also in a postscript:
P.S. You will Do well to try to Innoculate the Indians by means of Blanketts, as well as to try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race. I should be very glad your Scheme for Hunting them Down by Dogs could take Effect, but England is at too great a Distance to think of that at present.
On July 26 Bouquet wrote back:
I received yesterday your Excellency's letters of 16th with their Inclosures. The signal for Indian Messengers, and all your directions will be observed. We don't know if Bouquet actually put the plan into effect, or if so with what result. We do know that a supply of smallpox-infected blankets was available, since the disease had broken out at Fort Pitt some weeks previously. We also know that the following spring smallpox was reported to be raging among the Indians in the vicinity.