Greetings from Oregon everyone
Mar 8, 2018 22:13:27 GMT -5
Diane Merkel, yellowwolf's, and 1 more like this
Post by Mike on Mar 8, 2018 22:13:27 GMT -5
Greetings everyone,
I am happy to be able to join, I have been relying on this amazing site for some time and I thought it was past time I joined and tried to contribute something myself. I have been a member on the LBH forums, though the last year my interests have re-blossomed to a larger window of time and I have gotten out of what I call the 'Little Bighorn tunnel vision'.
Like most everyone else here I have had a lifelong fascination with native Americans and their culture. It is so rich and varied that I lament not living in a time to have at the very least been able to talk to the people who lived the stories we read about.
You can call me Ghost, Ghost Eagle or Mike, I do not care which
(I don't expect everyone to read my whole introduction by the way, it's a little long)
Top Interests
Northern Cheyenne in general
Northern Suhtai Band and its rank/influence role in the larger tribe
Crazy Dogs Society
Roman Nose
Totoimana
Contraries
The mixing of Northern Cheyenne and Oglala (and other) bands, societies etc
The Cheyenne rank structure and power distribution between the chiefs and the societies and between the societies themselves (far more complex than a lot of people realize)
The exact locations and layouts of the big gatherings in 1865 in the north
Getting everyone to stop calling They Fear Even His Horses the name Man Afraid of His Horses haha
Background in regards to my native interest
I live in Oregon and am 44 years old, I was in Iraq in a scout unit (3rd squadron of the 1st Cavalry) and I did tactical intel as my job. When I wore our authorized black Stetson with the colored hat band and spurs (the army really keeps the cavalry tradition alive) it was an honor to be a part of the unit with the most battle streamers in the army (1st CAV), yet it was a little odd in a way to have so much interest in native culture and to be a part of the organization that was their sworn enemies in many cases, then again many Indians were proud scouts for the cavalry.
A fellow NCO (that was 100% Crow) and I talked a lot about the warrior culture and ethos of the Indians prior to reservation life. Serving in the military for him was about the warrior culture and this was the only way to live the warrior culture. That was a revelation for me sitting there with this man in a warzone. Now when reading some points of view in books about the end of hostilities and as to why some of the hostiles turned around and immediately began scouting for the army after having fought them for so long, the concept that it was because they were professional warriors who had spent their adult life fighting and it was all they knew how to do, suddenly made more sense.
After that epiphany of understanding of a warriorhood -that at the least competed with the concept of race or culture- a big part of my viewpoint now comes from that 'warrior to a warrior' angle.
I read a story of a warrior who served in Vietnam and captured some elephants in an ambush and when he returned he was told that while capturing an elephant was impressive, it 'wasn't a horse and so he didn't receive a feather for that. Harsh in my opinion!
I am honestly jealous of the continued traditions of 'coup counting' that some warrior societies still do. I hope to hear stories from my fellow OIF/OEF veterans about any feathers they received for actions in theatre.
My 1/32nd trace blood
Like many white Americans I grew up with rumors and stories of there being Indian blood in the family. There is very remote Cherokee in the 1700's on my father's side, so far back to as to not even register as a percentile of myself.
Through new records and the power of the internet and the digitization of old information we have in the last couple of years found out that there is Northern Cheyenne through my maternal grandmother. She was very obviously at least 1/4 native, but not knowing her parents (they died when she was 3) we didn't know what tribe. (Long story for another section of the forums but I wanted to share here). We also found out that our 'Dutch' blood is in fact German, from Wurttemburg haha. Family stories are crumbling all over the US with all this genome research and access to church records in Europe etc.
It's kinda funny to see friends of mine who were told growing up that they had a lot of Cherokee in them in the southern US to find out that have zero Indian haplogroups/chromosones/DNA haha.
I don't claim to be native in any way shape or form at 1/32nd, because for one, you can't tell in my physical features except the proverbial cheek bones and personally my opinion is that if it is less than 1/4 or so it's questionable to claim it as what you are, but I won't tell anyone what they are, not my business
I do claim it to be part of who I am however and I am as proud of it as my Wurttemburg German and Argyll Scottish.
So naturally this allowed me to settle a internal debate I've had since I was looking at illustrated books on the Plains Wars as a 7 year old, be able to choose between the Cheyenne and the Sioux as my personal favorites. I'm just happy that as I've grown more knowledgable about them that I don't really have to choose because they are so incredibly tied together in so many facets.
I'm currently writing a dark and elemental historical fiction novel (I'm attempting my best Cormac McCarthy meets Ron Hansen) that begins right after Sand Creek and will run through to 1869, focusing on the Connor Expedition, Platte Bridge, Red Cloud's War, a Sundance, a vision and a bonding between a young hostile Northern Cheyenne and an older white Missourian who is a scout for the army, through their shared 'warrior culture' and an incident involving the famous Mouse's Road death in 1837 and the scouts rescue from Pawnee by Cheyenne as a child.
I'm 62,000 words into what will be about 170,ooo at least. I'm placing these fictional characters in completely accurate real events.
I have thoroughly enjoyed researching the Cheyenne and Lakota and their relationships during this time and most of my questions and comments will be about this era and these two peoples, I will gladly soak up the knowledge shared with me like a happy sponge and I hope to be able to contribute to the knowledge base!
The Books I own on the subject (any recommendations welcome):
The Fighting Cheyenne, Grinnell
The Cheyenne Indians Vol. 1 and 2, Grinnell
People of the Sacred Mountain: A History of the Northern Cheyenne Chiefs and Warrior Societies 1830-1879, Powell
The Cheyenne: Vol. 1 and 2, Dorsey
Life of George Bent: Written From His Letters, Hyde
The Cheyenne Indians, James Mooney
Bent's Fort, Lavender
Patrick Connor's War: The 1865 Powder River Indian Expedition, Hogan
Powder River Campaigns and Sawyers Expedition 1865, Hafen
Red Cloud's Folk, Hyde
Indian Fights: New Facts on Seven Encounters, Vaughn
Cheyenne Dog Soldiers: A Ledgerbook History of Coups and Combat, Afton, Halaas, Masich
Soldiering in Sioux Country: 1865, Cooling
Powder River Odyssey: Nelson Cole's Western Campaign of 1865, Clark
Circle of Fire: The Indian War of 1865, McDermott
Scalp Dance: Indian Warfare on the High Plains, 1865-1879, Goodrich
Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, Western Battles and Skirmishes: 1850-1890, Michno
Lakota Noon: Indian Narrative of Custer's Defeat, Michno
Cheyenne Memories of the Custer Fight, Hardorff
Keep the Last Bullet for Yourself: The True Story of Custer's Last Stand, Marquis
Sweet Medicine, Vol. 2: The Continuing Role of the Sacred Arrows, the Sun Dance, and the Sacred Buffalo Hat in Northern Cheyenne History, Powell
The Strategy of Defeat at the Little Bighorn: A Military and Timing Analysis of the Battle, Wagner
Little Bighorn 1876: Custer's Last Stand, Panzeri
The Bozeman Trail, Vol.1: The Historical Accounts of the Blazing of the Overland Routes Into the Northwest and the Fights with Red Cloud's Warriors, Heard, Brininstool
Fighting Red Cloud's Warriors: True Tales of Indian Days When the West was Young, Brininstool
The Fetterman Massacre: Fort Phil Kearny and the Battle of the Hundred Slain, Brown
Powder River: Disastrous Opening of the Great Sioux War, Hedren
Wooden Leg: A Warrior Who Fought Custer, Marquis
Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History Vol. XI, Societies of the Plains Indians, Wissler
Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, 1912, Webb
North American Bows, Arrows and Quivers, 1894, Mason
Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association: The Cheyenne
Varying Culture of the Northern Cheyenne, Dusenberry
Warpath and Bivouac: Narrative of Personal Experience in the Bighorn and Yellowstone Expedition of 1876, Chicago Times War Correspondent, Finerty
Indian Fights and Fighters, 1904, Brady
Annals of Wyoming, Wyoming State Archives and Historical Department
I am happy to be able to join, I have been relying on this amazing site for some time and I thought it was past time I joined and tried to contribute something myself. I have been a member on the LBH forums, though the last year my interests have re-blossomed to a larger window of time and I have gotten out of what I call the 'Little Bighorn tunnel vision'.
Like most everyone else here I have had a lifelong fascination with native Americans and their culture. It is so rich and varied that I lament not living in a time to have at the very least been able to talk to the people who lived the stories we read about.
You can call me Ghost, Ghost Eagle or Mike, I do not care which
(I don't expect everyone to read my whole introduction by the way, it's a little long)
Top Interests
Northern Cheyenne in general
Northern Suhtai Band and its rank/influence role in the larger tribe
Crazy Dogs Society
Roman Nose
Totoimana
Contraries
The mixing of Northern Cheyenne and Oglala (and other) bands, societies etc
The Cheyenne rank structure and power distribution between the chiefs and the societies and between the societies themselves (far more complex than a lot of people realize)
The exact locations and layouts of the big gatherings in 1865 in the north
Getting everyone to stop calling They Fear Even His Horses the name Man Afraid of His Horses haha
Background in regards to my native interest
I live in Oregon and am 44 years old, I was in Iraq in a scout unit (3rd squadron of the 1st Cavalry) and I did tactical intel as my job. When I wore our authorized black Stetson with the colored hat band and spurs (the army really keeps the cavalry tradition alive) it was an honor to be a part of the unit with the most battle streamers in the army (1st CAV), yet it was a little odd in a way to have so much interest in native culture and to be a part of the organization that was their sworn enemies in many cases, then again many Indians were proud scouts for the cavalry.
A fellow NCO (that was 100% Crow) and I talked a lot about the warrior culture and ethos of the Indians prior to reservation life. Serving in the military for him was about the warrior culture and this was the only way to live the warrior culture. That was a revelation for me sitting there with this man in a warzone. Now when reading some points of view in books about the end of hostilities and as to why some of the hostiles turned around and immediately began scouting for the army after having fought them for so long, the concept that it was because they were professional warriors who had spent their adult life fighting and it was all they knew how to do, suddenly made more sense.
After that epiphany of understanding of a warriorhood -that at the least competed with the concept of race or culture- a big part of my viewpoint now comes from that 'warrior to a warrior' angle.
I read a story of a warrior who served in Vietnam and captured some elephants in an ambush and when he returned he was told that while capturing an elephant was impressive, it 'wasn't a horse and so he didn't receive a feather for that. Harsh in my opinion!
I am honestly jealous of the continued traditions of 'coup counting' that some warrior societies still do. I hope to hear stories from my fellow OIF/OEF veterans about any feathers they received for actions in theatre.
My 1/32nd trace blood
Like many white Americans I grew up with rumors and stories of there being Indian blood in the family. There is very remote Cherokee in the 1700's on my father's side, so far back to as to not even register as a percentile of myself.
Through new records and the power of the internet and the digitization of old information we have in the last couple of years found out that there is Northern Cheyenne through my maternal grandmother. She was very obviously at least 1/4 native, but not knowing her parents (they died when she was 3) we didn't know what tribe. (Long story for another section of the forums but I wanted to share here). We also found out that our 'Dutch' blood is in fact German, from Wurttemburg haha. Family stories are crumbling all over the US with all this genome research and access to church records in Europe etc.
It's kinda funny to see friends of mine who were told growing up that they had a lot of Cherokee in them in the southern US to find out that have zero Indian haplogroups/chromosones/DNA haha.
I don't claim to be native in any way shape or form at 1/32nd, because for one, you can't tell in my physical features except the proverbial cheek bones and personally my opinion is that if it is less than 1/4 or so it's questionable to claim it as what you are, but I won't tell anyone what they are, not my business
I do claim it to be part of who I am however and I am as proud of it as my Wurttemburg German and Argyll Scottish.
So naturally this allowed me to settle a internal debate I've had since I was looking at illustrated books on the Plains Wars as a 7 year old, be able to choose between the Cheyenne and the Sioux as my personal favorites. I'm just happy that as I've grown more knowledgable about them that I don't really have to choose because they are so incredibly tied together in so many facets.
I'm currently writing a dark and elemental historical fiction novel (I'm attempting my best Cormac McCarthy meets Ron Hansen) that begins right after Sand Creek and will run through to 1869, focusing on the Connor Expedition, Platte Bridge, Red Cloud's War, a Sundance, a vision and a bonding between a young hostile Northern Cheyenne and an older white Missourian who is a scout for the army, through their shared 'warrior culture' and an incident involving the famous Mouse's Road death in 1837 and the scouts rescue from Pawnee by Cheyenne as a child.
I'm 62,000 words into what will be about 170,ooo at least. I'm placing these fictional characters in completely accurate real events.
I have thoroughly enjoyed researching the Cheyenne and Lakota and their relationships during this time and most of my questions and comments will be about this era and these two peoples, I will gladly soak up the knowledge shared with me like a happy sponge and I hope to be able to contribute to the knowledge base!
The Books I own on the subject (any recommendations welcome):
The Fighting Cheyenne, Grinnell
The Cheyenne Indians Vol. 1 and 2, Grinnell
People of the Sacred Mountain: A History of the Northern Cheyenne Chiefs and Warrior Societies 1830-1879, Powell
The Cheyenne: Vol. 1 and 2, Dorsey
Life of George Bent: Written From His Letters, Hyde
The Cheyenne Indians, James Mooney
Bent's Fort, Lavender
Patrick Connor's War: The 1865 Powder River Indian Expedition, Hogan
Powder River Campaigns and Sawyers Expedition 1865, Hafen
Red Cloud's Folk, Hyde
Indian Fights: New Facts on Seven Encounters, Vaughn
Cheyenne Dog Soldiers: A Ledgerbook History of Coups and Combat, Afton, Halaas, Masich
Soldiering in Sioux Country: 1865, Cooling
Powder River Odyssey: Nelson Cole's Western Campaign of 1865, Clark
Circle of Fire: The Indian War of 1865, McDermott
Scalp Dance: Indian Warfare on the High Plains, 1865-1879, Goodrich
Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, Western Battles and Skirmishes: 1850-1890, Michno
Lakota Noon: Indian Narrative of Custer's Defeat, Michno
Cheyenne Memories of the Custer Fight, Hardorff
Keep the Last Bullet for Yourself: The True Story of Custer's Last Stand, Marquis
Sweet Medicine, Vol. 2: The Continuing Role of the Sacred Arrows, the Sun Dance, and the Sacred Buffalo Hat in Northern Cheyenne History, Powell
The Strategy of Defeat at the Little Bighorn: A Military and Timing Analysis of the Battle, Wagner
Little Bighorn 1876: Custer's Last Stand, Panzeri
The Bozeman Trail, Vol.1: The Historical Accounts of the Blazing of the Overland Routes Into the Northwest and the Fights with Red Cloud's Warriors, Heard, Brininstool
Fighting Red Cloud's Warriors: True Tales of Indian Days When the West was Young, Brininstool
The Fetterman Massacre: Fort Phil Kearny and the Battle of the Hundred Slain, Brown
Powder River: Disastrous Opening of the Great Sioux War, Hedren
Wooden Leg: A Warrior Who Fought Custer, Marquis
Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History Vol. XI, Societies of the Plains Indians, Wissler
Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, 1912, Webb
North American Bows, Arrows and Quivers, 1894, Mason
Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association: The Cheyenne
Varying Culture of the Northern Cheyenne, Dusenberry
Warpath and Bivouac: Narrative of Personal Experience in the Bighorn and Yellowstone Expedition of 1876, Chicago Times War Correspondent, Finerty
Indian Fights and Fighters, 1904, Brady
Annals of Wyoming, Wyoming State Archives and Historical Department
