Blade_Runner wrote:
Do you have any idea, Tom, how Indian tribes treated each other?
For example, the Commanche are considered the most brutal tribe among brutal tribes. The Commanche methods of torture would put Islamic Jihadists to shame. They were well known among their enemies for their viciousness.
Their methods of abortion for unmarried women who became pregnant was unbelievably gruesome - neither mother or baby survived.
Truth is, the Commanche torture and killing of their Indian enemies was far more brutal than when killing whites.
And, they enslaved many captives, both Indian and white.
But of course, the Commanche was not the only brutal warring tribe, nearly all tribes had war chiefs and the young boys became warriors.
Bunch of teenage Cheyenne (around 20 of them, youngest was 11), called themselves the "suicide squad", made an attack at the Battle of Little Bighorn that sealed Custer's fate. Several hundred yards down the ridge, below Last Stand hill facing the river, a dismounted company had formed a skirmish line. These kids came in on their flank and went straight for their horses. They killed the horse holders, scattered the horses, and sent the troopers running.
For many Indian tribes, war was a way of life.
Before the Spanish Conquistadors, before Columbus, before the Pilgrims, and for a couple centuries after the "white man" arrived, North America was a land of tribalism. Over 1200 tribes of indigenous people, many of whom were constantly at war with each other. They fought over land and resources. Other tribes formed alliances to deal with a common enemy.
The American Indians were a proud, in many cases, beautiful, and primitive people. They were never prepared for nor cared for civilization. They tried it, it didn't take. Civilization simply overwhelmed them.
Gotta hand it to them though, they fought like hell for their way of life and their beliefs.
Having said that, the way in which the US government treated the Indians was, in many cases, atrocious. The US Army, which bore the brunt of war with the Indians, had some really nasty leaders, sociopaths in some cases. The same can be said of some politicians across the country and in DC.
So, yeah, due the the extreme differences in cultures, the entire war with the Native Americans was a truly brutal affair.
Do you have any idea, Tom, how Indian tribes treat... (
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I am descended from a group of 263 survivors of a tribe that once numbered around 6000. They were chased out of Canada by miners and farmers who wanted their land. They made it to the American side and the safety of the Colville Indian reservation. They were never allowed to return and in 1957 the Canadian government declared them extinct.