Post by Historian on Aug 7, 2009 11:23:46 GMT -5
The photo below is the mutilated corpse of Sergeant Frederick Wyllyams, G Troop, 7th U.S. Cavalry. He was killed on the morning of 26 June 1867, when a war party of Arapaho, Lakota and Cheyenne attacked Fort Wallace, Kansas. Sgt. Wyllyams' corpse was photographed by Dr. William Bell, a member of the Ethnological Society of Great Britain, shortly after the warriors were out of site.
The following is taken from the book titled "Son Of The Morning Star: Custer And The Little Bighorn" by Evan S. Connell, Harper Perennial, NY, 1984. (pages 160-161):
"I shall minutely describe this horrid sight," Dr. Bell wrote, "not for the sake of creating a sensation, but because it is characteristic of a mode of warfare soon-thank God, to be abolished; and because the mutilations have, as we shall presently see, most of them some meaning, apart from brutality and a desire to inspire fear." After noting that a piece of the sergeant's scalp lay near him, although the larger part was gone, and a bullet had passed through his head, and a tomahawk blow above the left eye had rendered the brain visable, and the nose was slit, he points out that an arm had been cut to the bone and both legs were gashed from the hip to the knee.
Dr. Bell then proceeds to summarize the relevant signs: drawing a finger across one arm to symbolize Cheyenne, seizing the nose to indicate Arapaho, cut throat signifying Sioux.
"If we now turn to the body of poor Sergeant Wyllyams, we shall have no difficulty in recognizing some meaning in the wounds. The muscles of the right arm, hacked to the bone, speak of the Cheyennes, or 'Cut Arms;' the nose slit denotes the 'Smeller Tribe' or Arapahoes; and the throat cut bears witness that the Sioux were also present. There were, therefore, amongst the warriors, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Sioux. It was not till some time afterwards that I knew positively what these signs meant, and have not yet discovered what tribe was indicated by the incisions down the thighs, and the laceration of the calves of the legs, in oblique parallel gashes. The arrows also varied in make and colour according to the tribe; and it was evident, from the number of different devices, that warriors from several tribes had each purposely left one in the dead man's body."
Today's ethnologists may dispute fine points of Dr. Bell's analysis, but esentially he knew what he was talking about. It is agreed that pretending to gash an arm or finger meant Cheyenne...Dr. Bell was also correct about the cut throat meaning Sioux. In the patois of early French traders they were coupes-gorges, maybe because they decapitated enemies--although by the time of the Little Bighorn only the Santee Sioux retained this custom.
Most tribes could be identified by a simple gesture. Touching the left breast meant Northern Arapaho because they were known as good-hearted people. Rubbing the right side of the nose meant Southern Arapaho, although nobody is quite sure why.
The following is taken from the book titled "Son Of The Morning Star: Custer And The Little Bighorn" by Evan S. Connell, Harper Perennial, NY, 1984. (pages 160-161):
"I shall minutely describe this horrid sight," Dr. Bell wrote, "not for the sake of creating a sensation, but because it is characteristic of a mode of warfare soon-thank God, to be abolished; and because the mutilations have, as we shall presently see, most of them some meaning, apart from brutality and a desire to inspire fear." After noting that a piece of the sergeant's scalp lay near him, although the larger part was gone, and a bullet had passed through his head, and a tomahawk blow above the left eye had rendered the brain visable, and the nose was slit, he points out that an arm had been cut to the bone and both legs were gashed from the hip to the knee.
Dr. Bell then proceeds to summarize the relevant signs: drawing a finger across one arm to symbolize Cheyenne, seizing the nose to indicate Arapaho, cut throat signifying Sioux.
"If we now turn to the body of poor Sergeant Wyllyams, we shall have no difficulty in recognizing some meaning in the wounds. The muscles of the right arm, hacked to the bone, speak of the Cheyennes, or 'Cut Arms;' the nose slit denotes the 'Smeller Tribe' or Arapahoes; and the throat cut bears witness that the Sioux were also present. There were, therefore, amongst the warriors, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Sioux. It was not till some time afterwards that I knew positively what these signs meant, and have not yet discovered what tribe was indicated by the incisions down the thighs, and the laceration of the calves of the legs, in oblique parallel gashes. The arrows also varied in make and colour according to the tribe; and it was evident, from the number of different devices, that warriors from several tribes had each purposely left one in the dead man's body."
Today's ethnologists may dispute fine points of Dr. Bell's analysis, but esentially he knew what he was talking about. It is agreed that pretending to gash an arm or finger meant Cheyenne...Dr. Bell was also correct about the cut throat meaning Sioux. In the patois of early French traders they were coupes-gorges, maybe because they decapitated enemies--although by the time of the Little Bighorn only the Santee Sioux retained this custom.
Most tribes could be identified by a simple gesture. Touching the left breast meant Northern Arapaho because they were known as good-hearted people. Rubbing the right side of the nose meant Southern Arapaho, although nobody is quite sure why.
