My day job and the world of Frontier Partisans occasionally intersect.
Thought y’all might be interested in an exchange I had with a reader of The Nugget Newspaper (my day job). We had a small dustup last month before the City Council regarding the Columbus Day vs. Indigenous People’s Day question. Of course I weighed in. You can read my op-ed here if you want, but if you read FP, you already know where I’m coming from. And it’s clear from the context of the emails.
(I debated bringing up Lane’s Ice Cream Day to celebrate Custer’s demise, but I didn’t do it. Maybe if the email exchange continues…)
What do you folks think about the matter?
•••••
To the Editor:
Re: ..Past/never past….Posed in Mr. Cornelius’ opinion is an apologetic for not supporting a Holiday, or for that matter, a sports team, name change respecting First Nation history/tradition. Though not Native American myself I’m yet compelled to respectfully point out what I feel is the false comparison that was offered. First World conquering the third World with advanced weapons, usually slaughtering many for the sole purpose of economic gain with exploitation cannot compare to the usual case of one Indian tribe challenging another with similar weapons for hunting/fishing privileges. Usually permission for this or for passage was sought and granted, or when times were poor for sharing, skirmishes would occur, but never on the scale of conquest. True, the Iroquois Six Nations harassed its way to harness a vast territory from New York to S. Carolina, but many various tribes continued to thrive peacefully within this domain. With no white man’s guilt, I heartily agree that in most cases, a name change is called for.
Name Redacted
Response from Editor (that’s me):
Appreciate your letter. This is a personal response — I plan to run your letter without comment.
I disagree that I make a false comparison. There is ample evidence in the historical and archaeological record that First Peoples engaged in conquest and extermination of rivals. This predates European contact. The Crow Creek Massacre dated to c. 1325 is one such episode. (See: http://www.academia.edu/7907221/Mass_Grave_at_Crow_Creek_in_South_Dakota_Reveals_How_Indians_Massacred_Indians_in_14th_Century_Attack)
The Beaver Wars of the late 17th Century (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_Wars) were a commercially-motivated phenomenon that profoundly disrupted the native civilization of the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes, prompting mass migration that pushed some peoples out onto the plains and establishing the Great Plains cultures that would become so renowned in the 19th Century.
The Comanche drove the Lipan Apache from the plains and spent two centuries scourging Spanish/Mexican lands (see “The Comanche Empire,” by Pekka Hämäläinen and especially the excellent “War of A Thousand Deserts” by Brian DeLay).
It could be argued that these are not “conquests” in the Western sense, since, with the possible exception of the Iroquois, the conquerors did not “administer” conquered lands — but in the military sense of defeating and driving out rivals, they certainly were conquests.
The frontier lands of other continents tell a similar story. The Zulu and Ndebele peoples of southern Africa, who were conquered and their lands stolen by the British and Boers of the late 19th Century, had themselves built powerful military empires through brutal conquest that depopulated whole regions.
This is not to diminish the scale of the destruction wrought by the Euro-American conquest of the wild places of the world from the 1500s through the 20th century, but simply to recognize that mankind is a killer angel and that war for resources and prestige is a human phenomenon, not culture-specific. I also believe that rendering native peoples as mere victims of a rapacious, technologically advanced civilization does those people discredit, robbing them of their agency in their own history and oversimplifying a remarkable, centuries long attempt to navigate an unprecedented wave of geo-historical change.
I actually support creating a holiday (have no real opinion on the sports team name business; professional sport is nuts on so many levels) — but it only has value if the occasion is used for real discourse on the history, not just another day off or bank holiday. Such symbolic gestures do little of substance to grapple with the actual history that we share or the significant contemporary issues that continue to face native peoples here and in other lands. I just want to see some depth of engagement rather than gestures that often amount to little more than virtue signaling.
Thanks for engaging and indulging a long response from a history geek.
Jim
•••
Reply from reader:
Thanks for your time, info, and especially for planning to run my letter. Just this morning I finished reading the third in a set of 6 narratives of Allan Eckert’s awarded “Winning of America” (aka taking the land in America) series. In it he narrated the particulars of “Pontiac’s War with his siege of the Detroit the day after my birthday, May 7, but in 1763, to the day of his assassination by his friend a Peoria Indian in June, 1769. This “Indian War” was over through the efforts of the Swiss mercenary Colonel Henry Bouquet, His Majesty’s King George III Commander in Chief of the Southern Province. Close to the time of Pontiac’s death, Henry, probably the greatest hero of the times had been reassigned to Pensacola, where for the first time that a mercenary would be promoted above Colonel, was promoted to Brigadier General. He died there of malaria. His next narrative will pick up there and continue with the ascendancy of Tecumseh. This will include a Beaver War narrative, with the continuing atrocities (by British but mostly British colonial militias and bordermen), encroachments, incursions, and broken treaties.
I hope you, as an admitted history geek, won’t mind my carrying on here as I have.
••••
I’m glad my pen-pal is reading Eckert. Everybody should.
Paul McNamee says
My standard response to this subject (and maybe I’ve said it here before) is;
Drop Columbus Day and celebrate Leif Erickson Day. This is only a half-joke. Honest. Why? Because you get the ‘best’ of both worlds. On the one hand, you have the bold, intrepid European explorer heading out for terra incognita.
On the other hand, you have the successful collapse of the attempted colonization – many factors there but a major contributing factor was the hostility and skirmishes against the Skraelings (the Micmacs [Mi’kmaq.]) In a way, the Micmacs successfully drove off the Europeans.
JimC says
Works for me.
deuce says
Why not St. Brendan’s Day? Farley Mowat made a good argument for Greater Ireland/Hvitramannaland (as reported in the sagas) as being a relic of Celtic missionaries in THE FARFARERS. Of course, that wouldn’t be “Viking” then. Not as sexy.
Personally, I don’t see a need for such a “day”, period. I’ve got both Viking and Irish ancestors. And 96%+ European ancestry overall. There just isn’t a need for it. We don’t have a national “Confederate History Day” either. Or a national “American Revolutionary Tories Day”. Columbus Day was/is a sop to Italian-Americans. “Leif Day” would just be another divisive “day”, only for Scandinavians. I’d rather celebrate St. Olaf’s Day.
Any such “day” simply says to Native Americans, “We showed up from Europe. You lost (eventually). Suck it while we celebrate.” It has nothing to do (directly) with the United States of America (plenty of Injuns fought on the Continental side).
JimC says
I just wish that the “days” and the “XXXX History Month” would spark some real exploration of history. We’d all be better for it. But History Channel is al Pawn Stars and the news channels are covering politics with as much substance and reality as professional wrestling, so…
But hey — y’all got Frontier Partisans, right?
Cannoneer No. 4 says
Red Lives Matter! And y’all owe us reparations! Social Justice Warriors for Elizabeth Warren and Ward Churchill! How many Osage students attend Mizzou?
deuce says
Cannoneer, with a gun to my head (and I’m a gun-owner who shoots back; see below), I couldn’t write a parody of over-the-top, redneck agitprop to equal your four sentences. Wow.
“Red Lives Matter”: Has this been taken up by Native Americans generally? By more than a very small group for a short time last summer? I didn’t think so. Your first cannonade was loaded with turds. Let’s look at the next salvo…
“Reparations”: Injuns speak very little about reparations (unless you know something I don’t, which I doubt). A “straw man” argument (look it up). Larry Correia talks about it all the time. You’re, apparently, a past master of the art. A man of many talents.
“SJWs/Warren/Churchill”: Warren and Churchill are completely different (I’m a fan of neither) You lumped them together. Perhaps it’s just easier for you, because I really doubt (judging from your post) that you’ve got the wit to do even basic differentiation. You weren’t being “blunt” or “pithy”, only ham-fisted. Posting from your phone, I guess?
“Osage/Mizzou”: You got me there, Cannoneer. What the hell are you talking about? I live about 120mi west of Mizzou. It’s in Osage County. So what?
What a wagon-load of canine fecal matter. I don’t suffer fools. Feel free to respond.
Anyway, for the other 99% of Jim’s commentors (whom I respect), here are a few things to ponder…
Being Veterans Day, it should be pointed out that there’ve been 28 Congressional Medals of Honor (out of 3512) awarded to American Indians. I suspect several of the 61 “Hispanic” medals (on the basis of ancestry, not language) would also count. At the same time, there have been 90 handed out to black Americans. For blacks to equal Injuns in that tally (on a percentage of population basis), they would have received about 300+.
It should be the other way around, shouldn’t it? Judging from what Cannoneer sneeringly implied, Injuns have done nothing for this country. American Indians died at Valley Forge. Read THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN INDIAN COUNTRY. Injuns have died fighting for the American flag before there was an American flag. Grant’s adjutant in the Civil War was an Iroquois. Plenty of Union Indian tribes were basically wiped out due to their service in that war. Read BETWEEN TWO FIRES.
Let there be no mistake: 620,000 men died defending black Americans in the Civil War (yeah, go ahead and parse things otherwise). I’d like someone to point out where a single Federal soldier ever died (specifically) defending an Injun.
Native Americans have never held back when it was time to fight for the United States of America. During Vietnam, there was no “Injun Ali” who brayed about sending “the red man to fight the yellow man.” My ancestors fought and died to “free the black man”. A pity Ali couldn’t return the favor.
We’re heading into the Thanksgiving season. November is “Native American Heritage Month”. Is there even one-tenth of the media (or societal) focus on Injuns as there is on Sub-Saharan African-Americans in February? Essentially nothing. Your Thanksgiving dinner, with the turkey, corn, cranberries, pumpkin, beans, pecans… all of that (along with tomatoes, potatoes, chilis, vanilla, chocolate) is either directly from AMERICAN Indians or their cousins further south.
Yet, we’re told about how we need to thank God (not Native Americans). Last I checked, the Good Book tells us to thank God every day. There was no need for such in the Jewish or Christian calendars until the Pilgrims thought they’d double down. Such hubris.
It seems many Americans are very ignorant of the state of affairs on this continent (and hemisphere) prior to the advent of Europeans. Most of what Americans think they “know” is 30+yrs out of date. I recommend Mann’s “1491” and “1493” to get a readjustment. Even-handed and not partisan. Jim Cornelius has read both.
Cannoneer No. 4 says
Well, deuce, if I triggered you, go tremble in your safe space and think up some more ad hominems.
JimC says
I think you’ve misread where Deuce is coming from, Cannoneer. “Tremble in your safe space” is actually pretty funny if you know the dude.
Guess this is the way these kinds of convos go on the internet in 2015, but I’d rather have you cut each other to ribbons with Bowie knives in true Frontier Partisan style.
Either fight it out with some history for ammo or let it go.
Lane Batot says
LOTS to ramble on about here! I maught havta split my responses up some….First–sure, go ahead and mention my ice cream celebration of “Little Bighorn Day” every June 25th! The better to spread this little known “National Holiday”(ahem!) around! Of course I DON’T expect that to catch on, but if it did, it could be representative of the rare but wonderful times in history and hopeful present, when certain arse-holes got/get exactly what was/is due, dished out by the appropriate parties! That IS something to celebrate and commemorate, I think! But, like more fully blooded Native Americans(like many mongrel Americans, I have a bit–far as I know–of Injun ancestry back thar somewhere. And I am considered something of a “throwback” by relatives…), I could personally care less WHAT tha white-eyes’ calendar states–I mean, the NEW YEAR in the middle of frikkin’ WINTER? How much sense does THAT make? I celebrate the NEW year same as all of NATURE–in the SPRING! I’ll just celebrate and have my own “tribe’s” ceremonies when it suits us(my “tribe” consisting of moi, 10 dogs, and 3 ferrets at the moment….). This is how most “conservative” Injuns operate, too, of course. They tend to mind their own business, and just wish whitey would do the same. But hey, I’m all for any kind of historical memoralizing anybody wants to do–this IS Uhmairika, right? Keep Clumbus Day, have Leaf Erickson Day, and we need a Mulungeon Day, too! How about that Welsh feller that maybe beat ALL the Europeans here? What-sis name? Madoc? And you can count on me to keep celebrating Custer’s “wearing-of-the-arrow shirt” with ice cream every year!…to be continued….
lane batot says
…..I think we in the present day U. S. A. and Europe make the mistake regarding “indigenous peoples” in far too narrow of terms and geography–ALL peoples were “indigenous” somewhere at some point, and ALL our ancestors have been on the move since the first hominid exodus from Africa! And what races/peoples “dominated” really has just been luck of the draw in time and place–ANY race out there COULD have been the “dominating” race if certain things had occurred in their development–an EXCELLENT treatise on this, both cheapo book available, and more expensive DVD, is Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, And Steel”. If one has a broader view/study of humanity, you see clearly that NOBODY has a monopoly on cruelty, genocides, racism or more positive, enlightened behaviors! I also love that John Travolta/Harry Belafonte movie(depressing as it is) “White Man’s Burden” to give another possible perspective on history! Also, EVERYONE IN THE WORLD should have as required reading the books “Ishmael” and the sequel “My Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn(and I know I keep recommending these books on this blog!) to REALLY get a realistic perspective! We ALL were nomadic hunter-gatherers and/or nomadic pastoralists for HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of YEARS before ONE cancer-like culture(intensive-not-subsistence agriculture) started IN THE MIDDLE EAST, and spread to destroy or amoeba-like, absorb ALL OTHER CULTURES–European, Asian, African, North and South American, and Australian–so blaming the Euros for everything is just not looking back far enough! All of us with European ancestry were proper barbarians until we were invaded ourselves, and fought mightily to resist it, as all indigenous peoples encountering this planetary cancer have throughout hominid history! The “Ishmael” books changed my perspectives forever on that! Required reading, folks!…..
JimC says
Y’know, I’ve never really taken it back that far, because of my particular historical interests, but the point is well taken. Certainly, for a person of my temperament, the idea that intensive ag is “where it all went wrong” has a certain resonance.
Lane Batot says
READ the “ISHMAEL” books, and if you don’t FINALLY get it by the end of both of them, you are dumber than an ape!
Lane Batot says
….The U. S. of A. was HUGELY influenced by the native tribes–the very idea of “freedom” and the united 13 colonies came directly from the influence of the 5(later 6) nations of the Iroquois–as Franklin rather insultingly admitted–“If a bunch of naked savages can be successful, so must we”(or sumthin’ like that). And after years of torture in French classes in school(despite my own French ancestry, I didn’t take to it very naturally, though I am accused often of having a lot of Gaul–Ahem!), I personally am VERY glad we are not a French speaking nation, as we WOULD be, were it not for the kick-arse Iroquois siding with the Brits during the French-And-Indian War(thanks to Sir William Johnson, the adopted Irish Mohawk!). And if there had NOT been formidable native resistance in our frontier history, the present U. S. A. would likely have remained permanently divided European colonies, much like the European homeland, and the very idea of the United States would never have been born. Which could lead one to postulate that without a United States of America saving everybody elses’ arses in the world in later(and continuing) history, we might well be a Nazi dominated planet right about now. Yeah, the Great Spirit works in mysterious ways……
Thedarkman says
So, the USA saved the rest of the world during WWII? There were other countries fighting the good fight too: Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Russia and a whole bunch of others behind enemy lines. The war started in 1939, not December 7th, 1941. The huge US war effort cannot be denied, and certainly turned the tide, but you sure as hell didn’t do it all alone…
Lane Batot says
Sorry if you were offended Thedarkman–I was just postulatin’. “What Iffing” never has been pertikular accurate, but always something to ponder. And yes, no doubt it took ALL the allies working together to conquer fascism. But as you said yerself, no doubt the U.S.A.’s involvement turned the tide during World War 2, which many participating Europeans will attest to. And might well be why World War 2 didn’t continue until 1954! Which leads to the natural postulation of–what if there had been NO U. S. A. as we know it today, because of different historical developments?
Lane Batot says
…..in lamenting and romanticizing the Native Americans losses(which I am as guilty of as any other member of the “wannabee” tribe), we should also stop and take the “glass-half-full” viewpoint–it coulda gone a LOT worse–TOTAL eradication/acculturation, as HAS happened to many other peoples throughout history. Though much was lost, much has been saved and is being renewed of the positive wisdoms and life-ways of The People! And we as a Nation and people are having to relearn lots that the Injuns COULD have taught the Euros early on, if only the invaders had listened(some DID, of course!). For example, where do you think the Native American philosophies regarding living with(instead of against) the Earth and its fellow inhabitants came from? Were they just environmental geniuses? Lots of evidence to the contrary, in fact–this was LEARNED cultural wisdom–perhaps from participating in the extinctions of much of the megafauna of the Ice Age/Pleistocene, and desertification of the American Southwest. I’m not saying Native Americans were wholly responsible, but perhaps contributed to it and were certainly witnesses to it, hence the development of a superior(to Eurocentric views) environmental ethic…..
John C. says
Going back the response letter from “Name Redacted”, henceforth NR, the idea that the First World came to the Americas with “advanced weapons” and hostile intentions simply doesn’t hold water. Smooth bore muzzle loading weapons were scarcely a match for the war lance and especially the bow and arrow – the rapid-fire weapon of its time. Remember, Columbus was shooting for India (thus the term Indians), seeking trade goods and a faster route. Cortez sought to enrich the Crown, claiming territory before others could, and sending back all of the gold and silver they could plunder. As Jim alluded to in his piece, the real threat that Europeans brought to the New World was disease. Smallpox, measles, STD’s, and many other diseases became a plague when the indigenous people came into contact with the Europeans. NR seems to have skipped over that factor. It is estimated that there were between 25 and 30 million indigenous peoples in Mexico when Cortez and crew arrived. 50 years later, the population is estimated to be 3 million. The vast majority were eradicated by disease, not warfare and weaponry. Similar declines occurred in rest of the North American continent. I read an excellent article in Scientific American a few years ago, called The Arrow of Epidemic, that quantifies the losses that occurred. Had this Arrow not existed, the history of this continent, and the Manifest Destiny would be writ in a far different way.
And NR should note that many of the Indian tribes were inherently warlike, and conquest oriented. There is a reason that the Pueblo tribes shifted from dwelling in valleys to building cliff houses. It surely wasn’t for convenience, or improving the view. Anasazi is a Navajo word meaning “enemy ancestors”. That gives pretty succinct context to the two tribes’ relationship.
And Lane, I like the Madoc Day idea, but that history is pretty unsubstantiated. James Alexander Thom wrote an interesting piece of fiction centered around the Welsh, called The Children of First Man. Still, it is likely that the Polynesians landed in South America between 500 and 700 AD, and returned back to their islands, with, of all things, sweet potatoes (thus the genetic linkage). It doesn’t fit our Eurocentric mold too well, though, to celebrate Polynesia Day.
John C.
JimC says
Hey, bro! Thanks for the thoughtful post.
Lane Batot says
Ha! John C., I’m reading a Thom book right now–“Warrior Woman”, about Nonhelema the “Grenadier Squaw” of the Shawnee–EXCELLENT historical novel, as are all the Thom books I’ve read so far–I MUST get the Madoc one too! Thanks for the recommendation! Yeah, who CARES if Madoc’s verifiable historically or not! I’m all for having a National Sasquatch Day while we’re at it!…. And heck, I NEVER got paid holidays off for over 20 years, working menial jobs, so I haven’t benefitted there. Only my present job has that “perk” and I’m lovin’ it!….and NO DOUBT for CENTURIES, it was touch-and-go as to what culture might rule America. Easy to see where it was going in hindsight NOW, but back in those days, I’m sure it wasn’t so obvious! The Injuns KICKED ARSE for a LONG time! It was the white eyes huddled in isolated forts while the Indians roamed and ruled the “wilderness” for CENTURIES! Angels and devils on both sides–I like the Eckertt books too–mainly because he bluntly showed that. My PREFERENCE for Indian ways and cultures does not blind me to romanticize(well, not TOO much) and unrealistically defend them. I just prefer that lifeway, warts-and-all! And lament that BOTH cultures could not have survived together. But that goes back to the “Ishmael” syndrome, again. But then again, SOME of the Injun life-way HAS survived, and continues despite the Intensive Agricultural Cains ruling the roost!
VBell says
If we keep adding more holidays, we will end up taking weeks away from work and be just like…Europe. (Oh well)
JimC says
I’ve never taken a Columbus Day off in my life. Actually, the only holidays I get are XMAS and New Year’s Day. Everything else (except July 4) falls on a Monday, which is our deadline day, so I’m in the saddle (with extra pay). So make Indigenous People’s Day any day but Monday. Thank you.