Indians and Emigrants Encounters on the Overland Trails (Audible Audio Edition) Michael L Tate Paul Bloede University Press Audiobooks Books
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In the first book to focus on relations between Indians and emigrants on the Overland Trails, Michael L. Tate shows that such encounters were far more often characterized by cooperation than by conflict. Having combed hundreds of unpublished sources and Indian oral traditions, Tate finds Indians and Anglo-Americans continuously trading goods and news with each other, and Indians providing various forms of assistance to overlanders.
Tate admits that both sides normally followed their own best interests and ethical standards, which sometimes created distrust. But many acts of kindness by emigrants and by Indians can be attributed to simple human compassion.
Not until the mid-1850s did Plains tribes begin to see their independence and cultural traditions threatened by the flood of white travelers. As buffalo herds dwindled and more Indians died from diseases brought by emigrants, violent clashes between wagon trains and Indians became more frequent, and the first Anglo-Indian wars erupted on the plains. Yet, even in the 1860s, Tate finds, friendly encounters were still the rule.
Despite thousands of mutually beneficial exchanges between whites and Indians between 1840 and 1870, the image of Plains Indians as the overland pioneers' worst enemies prevailed in American popular culture. In explaining the persistence of that stereotype, Tate seeks to dispel one of the West's oldest cultural misunderstandings.
Indians and Emigrants Encounters on the Overland Trails (Audible Audio Edition) Michael L Tate Paul Bloede University Press Audiobooks Books
The westward migrations have been off my radar screen since the demise of the 1960s TV series Wagon Train, starring Ward Bond. This book is more objective, stressing the fact that hostile encounters with Indians - the author insists on that term - were the exception rather than the rule and he recounts in excessive detail, tribe by tribe, how they helped migrants by supplying food, trading goods, fording streams, providing directions, etc. Although the subject is important, I found the book rather boring.Product details
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Indians and Emigrants Encounters on the Overland Trails (Audible Audio Edition) Michael L Tate Paul Bloede University Press Audiobooks Books Reviews
Movie scene 1957 -- Pioneers in covered wagons observe Indians on horseback upon a ridge. The white women and children start to panic as the men quickly move the wagons into a defensive circle. Children are hidden under bedding inside the wagons; men scramble to hurry the horses within the circle while mounted warriors dressed in war paint move down the hillside. Horses secured, the white men now lay prone behind wagon wheels and stacked boxes as they nervously watch the warriors move towards them.
The Indians ready arrows and begin their fearsome yells as they lead their Appaloosa ponies into a full gallop. The white men take careful aim with their polished Winchesters and open fire dropping warriors with each shot. The white men are eventually overcome, killed, and scalped. The movie fades to black as the Indians leave the scene of the bloody massacre with captured women and children in tow. We can only fear the worst from their situation.
Fast forward to 2006 and the book "Indians and Emigrants Encounters on the Overland Trails" by Michael L. Tate. It ain't nothing like the movies. Hollywood would never make a movie from this book only because they couldn't imagine the world believing in it. Tate's sweeping grand adventure should be read attentively for its profound evocation of myth vs. reality regarding the relationship between the two races, which met on the plains of America in the 19th century. The vast majority of those meetings were actually cordial and beneficial for both parties.
Vastly researched with primary evidence, Tate presents winning arguments for such a reality. Factors which contributed to the white folklore of Indian atrocities were the emigrants complete misunderstanding of the Plains Indian culture, "...fanciful series of books and pamphlets written mostly by amateurs who knew little about Indians or frontier life", and the grossly exaggerated "Goldilocks Syndrome."
Peering through countless diaries and petitions to Congress, Tate found very few accounts of Indian atrocities, which included murder, rape, and kidnappings of women and children. Backtracking the many stories of three-year-old blonde daughters (Goldilocks Syndrome) being raped and kidnapped, Tate confirms that this syndrome was and is nothing more than a falsehood or half-truths - it definitely is not history. Proven to be exaggerated and/or fabricated by second hand print in newspapers and cheap-thrill books are supposedly first-hand accounts of atrocities. Additionally, Tate verifies accounts of captives refusing to return to their old way of life with their white relatives.
Reading through these astonishing revelations one has to wonder if the Indians had more to fear from the whites. Tate documents accounts where Indian villages actually fled the approach of emigrants along the major trails.
Revisionist historians writing today are on campaign to perpetuate the myth of old Hollywood. Their selective documentation leads one to conclude they choose cheap thrills from yesterday just to sell a story in a magazine or a book. Yet, their campaign of falsely ascribing warriors to terrorists further embolden those who still embrace racist views toward Indians. Tate, on the other hand is honest in his reporting - he does not ignore those instances where Indians committed atrocities against whites. There is no attempt to create a false utopia on the plains or to remodel a warrior into a terrorist. Tate's analysis reshapes the stereotypical mold of Indian depredations against emigrants along the trails to its proper shape exactness.
The first chapter deals with the preconceived ideas of many of the emigrants, brought on by a plethora of books about Indians. From James Fenimore Coopers' The Last of the Mohicans to the Beadle's Dime Novel series to the fearful warnings of trail guidebooks, those who had never seen Indians read about them and formed stereotypes. The book next describes first encounters at river crossings near the beginning of the overland journey and follows with anecdotes of trading between emigrants and Indians. The next topic is Indian assistance to emigrants, then mutual friendships through gift-giving and social exchanges. The book discusses the phenomenon of white outlaws along the trail, whose actions were often blamed on the Indians. But significant material is devoted to those white people who looked beyond the prevalent stereotypes and made efforts to befriend native people and treat them with kindness.
Other topics treated in the book include the slaughter of bison and other wildlife along the overland trails, and the epidemics that accompanied the emigrants. A lengthy chapter is devoted to Indian massacres, real and supposed. The bulk of the chapter covers supposed massacres, in the forms of false alarms, exaggerated and fabricated tales, and white complicity in "Indian" attacks.
Another chapter deals with captivity narratives. Many accounts are examined, and many of these, especially later reminiscences, are found to be lacking credibility. But true accounts from journals are examined also. The last chapter discusses treaties and annuities, retributive justice, and the role of the army along western trails as cooperation degenerated into conflict. Still, incidents of friendship between Native Americans and white emigrants continued even while war broke out and the era of the overland trails came to an end.
Throughout the book, the personal narratives and eyewitness accounts lend credibility and readability, and statistics help to put these accounts into perspective. This book is very well-researched and documented, with 29 pages of endnotes and an extensive bibliography. This book provides a well-rounded and very human history of the overland trails.
We spend a lot of time in Wyoming and MT and really enjoy reading the history of these beautiful states. Although it's so very sad the way we treated the Native Americans ..it is it good to read that the people on the wagon trains seemed to be able to befriend and treat most of the Indians with respect. Good reading
Dispels many of the myths surrounding Indian-Emigrant relationship along the Great Platte River Road. A necessary addition to anyone's library.
I love reading the truth about the real west.
fun to read
as its.
The westward migrations have been off my radar screen since the demise of the 1960s TV series Wagon Train, starring Ward Bond. This book is more objective, stressing the fact that hostile encounters with Indians - the author insists on that term - were the exception rather than the rule and he recounts in excessive detail, tribe by tribe, how they helped migrants by supplying food, trading goods, fording streams, providing directions, etc. Although the subject is important, I found the book rather boring.
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