And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
You'd like to think so, but at the time the NUMBER of white people coming across the prairie combined with the demise of the buffalo and the reduced number of Indians because of small pox, etc. meant that a lot of these folks felt that they had no choice.
Then there is alcohol, which still impacts the Indian tribes with a horror of addiction that is unrelenting. (then and now, just the same)
They went to the reservations because there was no food and no choice for the women and children. Warriors could fight and raid - Geronimo held out longer than most but he had mountains to hide in. In the end even he accepted peace and moved to Ft. Sill, OK to live off a stipend.
Resistance was futile, so the only option was to make friends. And make friends they did, lots of marrying. Out in Oklahoma and Arkansas, you'd be amazed at how many folk are part Indian. My family, for example, have a lot of Choctaw in the tree. One uncle could speak a few sentences of Cherokee. I had a gal who worked for me for a while who would be called African American today, but had a grandmother who was full blooded Cherokee, and who ruled over the grandkids with an iron fist. In other words, all of us are all American people, in the most literal sense.
I think that's a "friendship medal" on his chest. He sold out to the pale faces.
ReplyDeleteOr he was strategically playing them, lulling them into complacency while the Cheyenne mustered their strength.
DeleteYou'd like to think so, but at the time the NUMBER of white people coming across the prairie combined with the demise of the buffalo and the reduced number of Indians because of small pox, etc. meant that a lot of these folks felt that they had no choice.
DeleteThen there is alcohol, which still impacts the Indian tribes with a horror of addiction that is unrelenting. (then and now, just the same)
They went to the reservations because there was no food and no choice for the women and children. Warriors could fight and raid - Geronimo held out longer than most but he had mountains to hide in. In the end even he accepted peace and moved to Ft. Sill, OK to live off a stipend.
Resistance was futile, so the only option was to make friends. And make friends they did, lots of marrying. Out in Oklahoma and Arkansas, you'd be amazed at how many folk are part Indian. My family, for example, have a lot of Choctaw in the tree. One uncle could speak a few sentences of Cherokee. I had a gal who worked for me for a while who would be called African American today, but had a grandmother who was full blooded Cherokee, and who ruled over the grandkids with an iron fist. In other words, all of us are all American people, in the most literal sense.
Delete