Warren County
Local History by Dallas Bogan |
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Dallas Bogan on 30 August 2004 |
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original article by Dallas Bogan |
Return to Index to see a list of other articles by Dallas Bogan |
This week we shall examine the mannerisms and traits of the Native Americans
of Ohio. In an address to the Franklinton Centennial by Col. E.L. Taylor, dated
September 15, 1897, the Colonel goes into great detail regarding the Ohio Indians.
We shall now take from this source.
Ohio was an excellent location for the American Indian. With an ideal climate,
the streams plentiful with fish and the forests overflowing with game, the scene
was set for habitation. The red deer, the buffalo and elk were found in considerable
numbers in certain areas of the State. With these animal resources available,
food was furnished for the Indians along with hides that provided covering for
their quarters and clothing for their community.
Wild fowl was also found in abundance on the waters at certain seasons of the
year. The livelihood of the tribes depended on all these gifts of nature.
All Ohio tribes had essentially the same government or tribal organization.
However, they may have differed in many particulars. The social organization
of the Wyandotte consisted of four groups: the family, the gens, the phratry,
and the tribe.
1. The family was the household and consisted of the persons who occupied one
lodge or wigwam.
2. The gens were composed of consanguineous (having the same ancestor or related
by blood) kindred in the female line. The woman was the head of the family and
"carried the gens," each gens having the name of some animal. The
Wyandottes were composed of eleven gentes, namely: Deer, Bear, Striped Turtle,
Black Turtle, Mud Turtle, Smooth Large Turtle, Hawk, Beaver, Wolf, Sea Snake
and Porcupine.
3. The phratry applied to medical and religious rites and ceremonies.
4. A tribe was a body of kindred and it was deemed necessary, in order to become
a member of the tribe, to belong to or to be adopted into a family. Many white
captives were often embraced into families and given the kinship.
Military and social governments were virtually separated. A council of women
chose the councils and chiefs in the social government from the male members
of the gens.
The chiefs of the gentes selected the Sachem, or tribal chief.
Heads of the households and all the leading men of the tribe took part in their
grand councils, from which great ceremonies were conducted.
A council was called for by the Sachem and assembled with the purpose that each
person was at liberty to express his own opinion as to what was reasonable or
best to be done.
If the majority of the tribe agreed that the Sachem should not speak, then his
general function was only an announcement of the decision. If an equal portion
of sentiment was divided, the Sachem was expected to speak. Once a tribe member
had stated his opinion, a reversal meant dishonor.
Avenging wrongs and in times of war was reserved to all male members of each
gens. They also had a right as hunters in supplying game to the villages. When
in times of need and destitution all game was brought to the camp or village
and fairly divided amongst all tribe members.
The military council was reserved for all able-bodied men of the tribe.
Separate property was held by the wife, which consisted of everything in the
lodge or wigwam except the implements of war and the chase, which belonged exclusively
to the men.
Women of each gens were required to be tillers of the soil. It was beneath the
dignity of the hunter or warrior to toil in the fields, or to engage in manual
labor other than in battle or the hunt.
Children were required to assist the women in tending the crops, which mainly
consisted of corn; also cultivated were beans and peas. And in some parts of
Ohio, the Indian had a variety of potato that the white captives say, "When
peeled and dipped in coon's fat or bear's fat tasted like our own sweet potatoes."
Nuts and berries were beneficial, particularly the walnut, hickory nut and black
haw, all of which were found in most parts of the State.
The Indian's dominant annual event was the green corn festival. For this occasion
the hunters supplied the forest game, while the women furnished the corn and
vegetables from the fields. They not only filled themselves but paid homage
to the Great Spirit for his blessings.
Each year during this festival the council of women of the gens selected the
names of the children born during the previous year, and the chiefs of the gens
announced their names at the festival. These names were permanent, but an additional
name could be earned by some act of bravery or occurrence.
The Ohio tribes customarily recognized and punished crimes such as murder, treason,
theft, adultery and witchcraft. If the case was murder it was the duty of the
gentile chiefs of the culprit's gens to investigate the facts for themselves,
and if they failed to settle the matter, it was then the duty of the nearest
relative to avenge the wrong.
Theft was punished by twofold compensation.
Treasonous undertakings consisted of revealing the secrets of medicinal ingredients
as well as giving information or support to the enemy, and were punishable by
death.
Witchcraft was also sentence by death, either by stabbing, burning or with the
tomahawk.
A woman convicted of adultery experienced her hair being cropped, for repeated
offenses her left ear was cut off.
When anticipating a war, the Indians usually executed their war dance and then
proceeded to their objective point. Rather than move in a large group, each
party broke up into small bands and would take a different route to a point
of gathering. Reasoning for this was they had to secure for themselves a supply
of game, which would be consumed while in battle. It was next to impossible
to acquire sufficient game to maintain a large number of warriors.
The warrior's strike would be swift and unexpected against their enemy, subsistence
being one of the principle guideline.
Some white captives adopted the ways of the Indian, they acquiring the woodcraft
and habits of their captors. Many became established and active foes of the
white man. Simon Girty, called the "White Indian," was considered
of this class. In his cunning and craftiness, no Indian eclipsed him of these
qualities.
Summer seasons found the Indians assembled in their villages. This was the
season of war with the white man. During the winter season the villages were
practically deserted, as it was their general custom to separate into small
parties and live with their relatives, including the old men, women and children.
Temporary home sites were usually selected along a stream of water, or by the
side of a lake or spring. Here they would erect a place of encampment where
the old men, women and children might endure for the winter.
The assigned hunters would then separate and travel in different directions
and choose a place or camp from which to hunt and trap, always keeping a safe
distance so as not to interfere with each other.
They would stay in contact with the main camp to which they supplied meat for
survival. Changes in the campsites were according to their necessities. At the
end of the season they would gather the results of their winter's hunt, if at
all successful, and proceed back to the village.
Collecting the fat of the beaver, the raccoon and the bear was customary. This
ingredient was then secured into the entrails (inner organs of animals) of large
animals that the women had prepared for that purpose, and was carried to their
villages for future use.
Sugar was made in the spring of the year when the sap began to run, and this
was also put into the entrails of animals for preservation. This sugar was mixed
with the fat of the bear and that of other animals and cooked with green corn
and other vegetables.
The Indians were often in need of food and many frequently died from hunger
and exposure. They had no means of acquiring large hordes of food for future
use, and never secured any recourse for doing so. When plentiful, the food would
be used with extravagance, but it was not uncommon for the Indian to go days
without food of any kind, and, they never seemingly profited from these experiences.
Winter was the worst time. They often saved themselves from starvation by digging
hickory nuts, walnuts, and other nuts, out from under the snow.
The Native American was a survivor. He endured for thousands of years before
the white man ever appeared on this continent. His pattern of life, primitive
as it was, was secured around a never-ending love for the land and its natural
treasures.
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This page created 30 August 2004 and last updated
28 September, 2008
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