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Indian influenced "white men".....
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Free Trapper
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An article by Ted Franklin Belue appeared in Muzzleloading VII,( I think?) on the hunters and frontiersman in the ohio valley and appalachion mtn region, and were they influenced by the Native tribes? Was it convience or necessity that formed the lifestyle and habits of these men? Also what effect did the adoption into the tribes have on these frontiersmen? A lot has been written about Kenton Boone, Girty , S. Brady, the Wetzels, and others, but vary from author to author, but how much is accurate? Hope this rambling thread makes some sense, and looking forward to your imput.


" You do with your scalp as you wish and don't be telling us what to with ours."
 
Posts: 158 | Location: lake champlain, vt | Registered: 03 January 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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I can not answer on the Ohio valley frontier, but one can seen it happen in the Rocky Mountian Fur Trade. I would have to say yes there was a lot of influence from the natives. It makes alot of sense, its an adapt and survive type of thing. After all as being the white man in a foreign land, it would be smart to be friend not a foe? It leads to clothing, sign language, a safe place to stay, a wife, learn the land, open up trading opportunities.

Just my thoughts...
 
Posts: 350 | Location: Whitewater, CO. | Registered: 22 June 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of Notchy Bob
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I think there were a lot of white folks who went native for various reasons. One of the first was probably Cabeza de Vaca, who was basically marooned by a shipwreck with three other people on the Gulf coast in (I believe) 1527. In his case, he had no choice, and it was necessary for survival. He did eventually make his way back to Mexico and the Spanish settlements. Later in his life, he held some administrative positions in New Spain, and he was strong advocate for fair treatment of the Indians.

Another survivor of the same ill-fated Narváez expedition was Juan Ortíz, who was accepted into one of the Timucua groups here in Florida. His story of being saved from execution by an Indian princess is believed to be the basis of the John Smith / Pocahontas story of the same type of event. He apparently went "all the way," including getting tattooed. Ortíz was "picked up" by the de Soto expedition a few years later, and he served as an interpreter. They thought he was an Indian when they first saw him.

Another early story of going native was about a very young fellow named Guillermo Rouffi, who elected to take his chances with the local Orista Indians in about 1562, when the settlement of Port Royal was abandoned in what is now South Carolina.

There are tons of stories out there. A young fellow named William Wells was captured by the Miami people in 1782, and went on to become a member of the tribe and chief Little Turtle's son-in-law. I believe he fought with the Indians in some of the battles against the Americans, at first. I think Little Turtle may have used him as an interpreter in some of the negotiations with the American soliders. If you are specifically concerned with the history of the Ohio Valley and surrounding area, you would probably be interested with William Wells' story.

A excellent and well-researched work of fiction I would recommend (if you are really interested in this sort of thing) is Thirteen Moons, by Charles Frazier, who also wrote Cold Mountain, the Civil War book. Thirteen Moons is about a white boy who was sent to a remote trading post to the Cherokees. The people befriended him, and while he did not exactly go native, he was deeply influenced by them. It's a really good read, and I think the Eastern Cherokees approve of it.

If you can get your hands on a copy of Vol. 33, Issue 3 (Autumn, 1991) of the Journal of the Southwest, you should find an article entitled "The White Indians of the Borderlands," by Peter Stern. This is a scholarly but readable article in which the author discussed the two-way process of acculturation on the frontier, in addition to some specific case histories. I think Dr. Kathryn Braund may also get into this in her book, Deerskins and Duffels: The Creek Indian Trade.

One final comment is that I went to the Little Bighorn Battlefield a few years ago. It is well known that a number of Indians, primarily Crow and Arikara, supported the 7th Cavalry in the Custer battle. I asked a ranger at the site if there was any evidence of white people supporting the Indians in the battle. From his response, it was my undertanding that there was no incontrovertible evidence, but there were apparently some shots fired into the soldiers with a very heavy rifle from a hilltop quite a distance off. The "sniper" was evidently a pretty good shot, and since this type of rifle was not much used by the Indians, some believe the shooter was a white man.

Interesting topic. Thanks for bringing it up.

Notchy Bob


"Should have kept the old ways just as much as I could, and the tradition that guarded us. Should have rode horses. Kept dogs."

from The Antelope Wife
 
Posts: 333 | Location: Florida | Registered: 24 May 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Sir William Johnson, Ensign William Augustus Bowles, and many others, were influenced by contact with the aboriginal peoples of North America, and had not ventured into the Ohio Valley or farther West. Doddridge documents that emulating Indian "dress" was popular among the young men of his day.

Aboriginal peoples are normally very practical in their approach to their material culture solutions to survival problems, so emulating their skills and habits is usually a good idea.

As for effect, well if one survives then there is the effect. I doubt that one can argue "convenince" until the modern age. Folks adapt to a situation, and use what works, or they perish. So in the cases of the men and women whom we know, we know them because they are documented as having survived for a long time after contact.

It's not a new concept..., When in Rome, Do as The Romans Do

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Free Trapper
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LD,

I hadn't considered Sr. William, and Bowles. They along with George Groghan and Daniel Weisner may have been more influenced by the tribes than the frontiersman. Thanks for the insight.


" You do with your scalp as you wish and don't be telling us what to with ours."
 
Posts: 158 | Location: lake champlain, vt | Registered: 03 January 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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I'm glad this was brought up, it was very interesting.

BC


"Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad."
Thomas Paine
 
Posts: 649 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 27 June 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Free Trapper
Picture of Talltree
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If anyone is interested, a pretty good read is a book written by James Adair (yes he is a past relative). The History of the American Indians which was published in 1775, deals with his living with the Creeks, Choctaws, Cherokees, and Chickasaw Indians. This provided him the opportunity to record, compare, and analyze their cultures and traditions. It also mentions his acceptance within the tribes.

Talltree

Keep your tail high and dry!
 
Posts: 173 | Location: Oregon Territory | Registered: 11 June 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Talltree,
Bully for you!
Nice to be able to stuff built/done by family.
Sparks


"I thought when you said you chased tornadoes, it was just a metaphor."
--soon to be ex-fiance in Twister
 
Posts: 247 | Location: Boise | Registered: 12 November 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Do a search for Tom Quick.
Tom was born up in the northeast corner of what is now Pennsylvania, near the Delaware River. At that time his family were the first white settlers in the region. Tom grew up associating with the local Indians and became good friends with some of them. However, during the F&I War Tom witnessed his father being killed by Indians. After that, and for the rest of his life, Tom was an Indian killer similar to the better known Lew Wetzel.


Know what you believe in. Fight for your beliefs. Never compromise away your rights.
 
Posts: 1296 | Location: Cherokee Land, Tenasi | Registered: 06 January 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Greenhorn
Picture of Woodyrock
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During the Colonial period what historians term "White Indians" were whites that accepted indian ways. Most of these whites were initially removed from their homes by force, then adopted into Indian communities. Oddly, when thsse people were 'rescued' from the 'heathens' most of them returned to the Indian communities, whereas Indians that had been brought into white communities also returned to the Indian communities. Most of the whites that were adopted by Indians were taken to replce the losses of the Indian communities, and were largely women, and children. Adult women that were adopted by the Indians obviously preferred the the Indian way of life as opposed to the Male dominated white way of life where they were treated as a possession.

Read the article by James Axtell titled The White Indians of Colonial America
Woody
 
Posts: 36 | Location: Wet side of Warshington | Registered: 30 April 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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quote:
Adult women that were adopted by the Indians obviously preferred the Indian way of life as opposed to the Male dominated white way of life where they were treated as a possession.


That's a pretty broad and simplistic statement (imho). Big Grin

There are plenty of examples of adult white women who rejected their Indian captors and fled, in some cases slaughtering their captors.

It assumes that the women who were present in an aboriginal culture were treated as equals to native women, when in fact that isn't true in many cases, and it assumes that the prime, overall reason for the return or the stay of some of the women was due to their rejection of the European "male dominant" culture. So it assumes that all of the Eastern Indian cultures that took captives were not male dominant..., when in fact they did not all follow the Iroquois model. Finally it would have to only apply to female captives if it was simply a rejection of male dominated European culture. Yet this is not so.

There is the Stockholm Syndrome to consider when looking for reasons for this behavior. Men, women, and children exposed to a horrific attack often respond by bonding with the attackers. A rejection of the home culture may be because of a psychological impression that the original culture was weaker than that of the captors, for it failed to protect the abducted. Better to embrace the culture of the captors and survive. Also it was often not a clear, simple choice of return-or-stay. Adult women by the time the choice was presented may have had children by Indians, and thus would have to leave their offspring if they returned. Mary Jemison is one example.

It was considered a curious phenomenon in the 17th through 19th century that both sexes of captive whites, who were integrated into Indian society, returned to that culture after coming back to the European settlements, NOT just the women.

There were also males who abandoned their European culture, and voluntarily went to the Indians. So they left a culture where their sex gave them a clear advantage, to go to a culture with much less male dominance... so perhaps the choice to become or to remain with the Indians was for a much different reason than a male dominated European culture?

In fact some of the adults who were not children when they "went Indian" either after capture or voluntarily, explained the reason thus,

"the most perfect freedom, the ease of living, [and] the absence of those cares and corroding
solicitudes which so often prevail with us [when living in the White culture]."

So it was the overall egalitarian society of the Indians, coupled with the lower stress of the culture, that led many of both sexes to go to or remain Indian when introduced to it as adults.


See Whte Indians of Colonial America for a better understanding of what went on.

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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