Indian Warfare

Feathers = show previous acts of bravery, can show killed enemies/taken scalps 

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Amulet = protects against evil spirits

Body painting = protects in battle

Lance = blade of polished steel

Hor

Horse = prized posession, marked with handprint so indians can recognise warrior

Coup stick = can touch enemy with it, braver to touch enemy with coup stick than kill him

Shield = made from skin of buffalo neck, decorations of it will protect in battle

Rifle = introduced by travellers and Europeans by trading, also gained in fights with non-indians 

Counting Coup

War Shirt = decorated with feathers and hair from enemy scalps, has scenes painted on it showing brave deeds

Indian Warfare

-no formal declarations of war-series of raids by relatively small groups of warriors-Plains Indians went on raids for 3 reasons1) to steal horses2) to seek revenge3) to destroy their enemies-Wars did not happen in the cold winter months, when snow covered the plains-War happened in summer when the Plains Indians had built up their food supplies by hunting the buffalo-LATER, wars were fought to defend the Plains Indians way of life against the threat from settlers and soldiers

Why did Individual Warriors fight?

1) opportunity to prove their bravery + gain personal glory2) might enable them to enter a warrior society, or gain a wife3) by capturing horses and weapons they could become wealthy4) for chiefs, like Crazy Horse it was a way to test their spiritual power and increase their standing in the tribe

A successful leader was one who:1) brought back horses and captives2) did not lose many warriors

If Chiefs were not successful, warriors would not follow them.Plains Indians didn't consider it heroic to die in battle, it was important to stay alive as a provider for their family + tribe.

-arrival of Gun on the Plains could have made war far more destructive but it didn't bc. war was made into a ritual-counting coup was the idea that it was braver to touch an enemy (to count coup) than to kill him-warriors were members of warrior societies e.g Kit Foxes of the Sioux

Why did Plains Indians take scalps?

-took scalps as evidence of their successes in battle, scalps were dried and hung as trophies outside the tipi-also used scalps to decorate their war shirts -believed that if a warrior lost his scalp he could not go into the afterlife, so scalped their enemies so he would not be there to fight you in the afterlife

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