The Plains Indians looked different from white men, and behaved in a way white men found strange and therefore frightening.
Firstly, they were completely dependent on the buffalo for their existence, as Francis Parkman says, “The buffalo supplies them with the necessaries of life; with habitations, food…” such that “when the buffalo are extinct, they too must dwindle away.” Buffalo provided them with not only meat, but, as a Spanish traveller wrote “With the skins they make houses, with the skins they clothe and shoe themselves…” Artifacts such as dice made of buffalo bone, hairbrushes made of buffalo tongue and bowstrings made of muscle sinew are just some of the tools that have been found. Because the herds of buffalo moved around the plains, the Plains Indians led a nomadic lifestyle, following them from one area to another. Some groups of Indians moved around less, and grew crops such as corn and tobacco.
Twain describes the ruling characteristic of all savages as “greedy and consuming selfishness”. However, it was part of the Plains Indians’ philosophy to respect the balance of nature and only to take what they needed – when they caught a buffalo they would make use for every part of the carcass; not letting any go to waste, being resourceful and economical.
They had adapted well to the way of life best for them; although a tepee may seem basic compared to a house, it was still the best type of shelter for their travelling lifestyle. The smoke flaps on the roof of the tepee show that they were an intelligent people too.
These were not a people intent on dominating and taming all around them as the Europeans had. Peter Nabokov, Director of American Indian Studies at the University of California, says ‘I think it’s fair to say that, for the most part, Indians felt themselves less owners of land than custodians of land. I think they felt themselves more responsible for interacting with the natural creatures of the land than with dominating them, changing their life ways or eliminating them entirely or putting them in zoos or game pens or the like’. Another way in which they weren’t selfish, contrary to what Twain had suggested.
Perhaps they could have become a more advanced society, but there was no need, as their simple way of life provided everything they needed. They were obviously happy with their lifestyle, as Catlin said: ‘Nor am I sure they are entitled to the name of “poor”, who live in a boundless country… indulging in the pleasures and amusements of a lifetime… With no notes in bank or business hours to attend to or other debts to pay.’
Plains Indians’ traditions such as scalping may seem barbaric to us, but to them it is part of religion. The death penalty coldly employed in Europe at the time may have seemed barbaric in the eyes of a Plains Indian. George Catlin spent time with the people of the plains and learnt about their culture and beliefs. He found the Plains Indians far from savage, a welcoming and hospitable people. General Custer brought his dragoons and Catlin to meet the Comanche tribe to establish peace. “… and, to the everlasting credit of the Comanches, whom the world had always looked upon as murderous and hostile, they had all come out… without a weapon, to meet a war-party bristling with arms, and trespassing to the middle of their country. They had every reason to look upon us as their natural enemy, and yet, instead of arms… or even of frowns, they galloped out and looked us in our faces… evidently with expressions of joy and impatient pleasure, on the bare assertion of Colonel Dodge, which had been made to the chiefs, that ‘we came to see them on a friendly visit.’” This shows that they were not “of low and devilish instincts” and were a friendly and welcoming race.
Although conflicts did occur between neighbouring tribes, they were usually for glory and to settle arguments over land but their warfare could still be violent and brutal, and this is perhaps the only way they could be classified as “savage”. hey were part of a society with laws and tradition and a council.
“With their beautiful costumes which I have procured and shall bring home, I shall be able to establish the fact that many of these people dress, not only with clothes comfortable for any latitude, but that they also dress with some considerable taste and elegance.” - Catlin. From Catlin’s remarks on the comfort and elegance of their clothes, they were obviously a very civilised people, one with arts such as sewing. In this respect, they are hardly unsophisticated “children” as Horace Greely suggested.
Of course, the Native Americans did attack the settlers; but they couldn’t just sit and watch their land, their culture, their heritage taken away from them. “The annihilation of our race is at hand unless we unite in one common cause against the common foe… Are we not being stripped day by day of the little that remains of our ancient liberty?... Your people will soon be as falling leaves and scattering clouds before their blighting breath. You, too, will be driven away from your native land and ancient domains as leaves are driven before the wintry storms.” – Tecumseh, a Native American Chief. They had to resist to stop the settlers from taking their land.
Calling the Plains Indians savages was an effective way to help to remove them. It was a form of propaganda to allow the settlers to attack and drive away the natives from land that had been theirs for centuries. Rick West (Director of American the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum) says “this was a period in American history when the attempt was to dehumanize Indians in an effort to deal with them politically. And if you’re not dealing with human beings, it doesn’t matter if you kill them off or take their land away. It makes it much easier as a matter of fact”.
In fact the westerners were savage themselves, as one quote by Major Scott Anthony of First Colorado Cavalry shows. When before the United States Congress in his report of the conduct of the war, he recounted the savagery during “The massacre of Cheyenne Indians of Sand Creek”. “There was one little child, probably three years old… the Indians had gone ahead, and this little child was behind, following after them. I saw one man get off his horse, at a distance of about 75 yards, draw up his rifle and fire – he missed the child” This carries on for some time until one soldier eventually hits the child and “the little fellow dropped”. They were also savage in the way they hunted the buffalo in an attempt to exterminate the Plains Indians’ food source. “Oh insatiable man… wouldst thou tear the skin from the back of the last animal of this noble race, and rob thy fellow man of his meat?” – Catlin.
In conclusion I think that those who regarded the Plains Indians as savages were wrong in their reasoning. Those who spent time understanding the ways of the indigenous people of America, such as Catlin, realised that they were not savage, they were civilised and only took what they needed from the land around them. Their arts and crafts were not those of “children” and their way of living was one highly suited to the natural environment they depended so heavily upon.
