The second myth describes how a certain chief, jealous of his wife and wanting to keep tabs on her, blackened the soles of her moccasins so he could track her wherever she went.
From 1837 to 1870 the tribe’s population was drastically reduced during a series of smallpox epidemics. In common with other Native Americans, the Blackfeet had no natural immunity to the disease. We know that somewhere in the region of 6,000 Blackfeet people died in the 1837 outbreak alone. In 1888 the tribe were forced by the U.S. Government to relocate once more, to the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana.
BLACKFOOT CONFEDERACY
Also called the Siksika, meaning “Blackfoot,” or the Niitsitapi, meaning “original people.” Blackfoot/Niitsitapi is the name of a confederacy of tribes: the North Piegan, the South Piegan, the Siksika, and the Kainai. All these tribes belonged to the Algonquian language family. The entire group were large and renowned for their ferocity in battle, second only to the Dakota in size and importance. The Confederacy also gave protection to two smaller bands, the Sarsi and the Atsina, or Gros Ventre. Like the Blackfeet Sioux—a completely different tribe—the Blackfoot, legendarily, were meant to have been given their name after their moccasins were stained black from prairie fires. These moccasins—which had a beadwork design featuring three prongs—made the Blackfoot immediately recognizable.
The Blackfoot ranged over a large territory, from the North Saskatchewan River in what is now Canada to the Yellowstone River in Montana, and from the Rockies to the Alberta—Saskatchewan border. Having adopted the horse from other Plains tribes, they roamed after the buffalo and lived in tipis in settlements of up to 250 people in up to 30 lodges. Each small band had its leader, and relationships between bands were flexible enough for members to come and go between bands as they pleased. In the summer the bands gathered together; they were among those who performed the Sun Dance ritual. In addition, the Blackfoot had another spectacular ritual: the Horse Dance ceremony.
The natural enemies of the Blackfoot included the Crow, Sioux, Shoshone, and Nez Perce; their most particular enemy, though, came in the form of an alliance of tribes who came under the name of the Iron Confederacy. They would travel long distances to take part in raids on other tribes. A young Blackfoot boy on his first such raid was given a derogatory name until he had killed an enemy or stolen a horse, when he was given a name that carried honor with it. Like other Native Americans, a lack of immunity to the most common European diseases had brought tragedy to the Blackfoot for many years; in one of the worst incidents, in 1837, some 6,000 Blackfoot perished when smallpox was contracted from European passengers on a steamboat.
During the protracted winter months, the camps of Blackfoot hunkered down, perhaps camping together when stores were adequate. The buffalo were easier to hunt during the winter, simple to track through the snow. Hunting took place when other resources were beginning to run low. For the Blackfoot as well as other Native American peoples, the buffalo was an essential part of their lifestyle. However, deliberate overhunting by the Europeans in an attempt to weaken the Natives by taking away their primary resource meant that, from the 1880s onward, the Blackfoot had to adopt new ways of survival. The Canadian members of the Confederacy were appointed reservations in southern Alberta in the late 1870s, which saw them struggle as they faced many hardships connected with a completely new way of life after generations of roaming freely. The Blackfoot were forced to turn to the white man for help, relying on the U.S. Government for food supplies, which were very often not forthcoming or rotten and inedible. The tribe were forced to turn to theft, which resulted in counterattacks from the Army; these attacks often saw women and children killed.
The worst winter, 1883–1884, “Starvation Winter,” was so-called because not only were there no buffalo, but no supplies from the Government. Approximately 600 Blackfoot perished.
BLAZING A TRAIL
We use the term “blazing a trail” to describe a pioneering endeavor of any kind, but its origins are altogether more pragmatic.
To blaze a trail was a way for either a Native or a white man to mark a route, often surreptitiously, so that the trail would be followed only by someone who was familiar with the signs that were left along it. Methods used to show direction might include sticks laid on the ground in a certain way, notches taken from trees or shrubs, or an arrangement of stones, rocks, or leaves on the ground.
BLUE JACKET
1740(?)–1810
Also known to his own tribe as Weyapiersenwah, Blue Jacket was a war chief of the Shawnee people. We don’t have a great deal of information on his early life; he first comes into focus in 1773 when he would have been in his early thirties. He is first mentioned in the records of a British missionary who had visited Shawnee settlements, and mentioned Blue Jacket as living in what is now Ohio.
There’s a strange legend surrounding Blue Jacket: that he was, in fact, Marmaduke Swearingen, a European settler who had been kidnapped, and subsequently adopted by, the Shawnee. So far, though, no definitive information has proved this legend; rather, records describe Swearingen and his entire family as being fair-skinned with blond hair. If this description had been applied to Blue Jacket, there is no doubt that there would be some mention of it somewhere.
Blue Jacket was among the many Natives who fought to retain their land and their rights. During the American Revolutionary War, many Indians supported the British, believing that a British victory would end the encroachment of the settlers. When the British were defeated, the Shawnee had to defend their territory in Ohio on their own, a task they found increasingly difficult in the face of a further escalation of European settlers. Blue Jacket was a very active leader in his people’s resistance.
The pinnacle of Blue Jacket’s career as a war chief was when he led an alliance of tribes, alongside the chief of the Miami people, Blue Turtle, against the U.S. Army expedition led by Arthur St. Clair. The Battle of Wabash proved to be the most conclusive defeat of the U.S. Army by the Natives.
However, the American Army could not let this Indian victory go unchallenged, and raised a superior group of soldiers; in 1794 they defeated Blue Jacket’s army at the Battle of Fallen Timbers; the result was the Treaty of Greenville, in which the United States gained most of the former Indian lands in Ohio. A further treaty signed by Blue Jacket was the Treaty of Fort Industry, in which even more of the Ohio lands were taken by the U.S. Government.
Blue Jacket died in 1810, but not before he witnessed a new person take on his role as chief. Tecumseh carried on Blue Jacket’s fight to win back the Indian heritage in Ohio.
BOLA
A weapon used to catch or hinder an animal (or person) when it was hurled at the legs of the prey. The bola consisted of rocks or stones attached to lengths of sinews or thongs, the whole attached to a longer length of rope. The bola hobbled the prey, enabling it to be captured easily.
BOOGER MASK
Likely to be a European word, since “booger” has the same origins as “boogeyman” or “boggart,” the booger mask was in particular a Cherokee artifact, a mask carved of wood with exaggerated, cartoonlike features, often resembling animals or human/animal hybrids.
BOW AND ARROW
The traditional image of a Native American would not be complete without the classic weaponry of the bow and arrow. We know that the use of the bow and arrow was widespread among the indigenous people of America from about A.D. 500, and that it’s likely the weapon arrived in America around