Page 113 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

FRONTIER P R OCESS: VILIFYING

largely unfounded. Although they tortured themselves and one another
with apprehensions that kept everyone on tenterhooks, most travelers
were actually more harassed and plagued by their own angst than by
Native Americans. A surprisingly small number of chronicles by emi­
grants and settlers recorded any violent interchanges with Indians,52 yet
the m;tiority did contain some mention of tension, agitation, and dread
concerning the possibility of altercations with natives. Such malaise
often evaporated by the end of the westward trek, leaving a traveler fe el­
ing a bit sheepish. It is perhaps best expressed in a statement by a member
of the Donner Party, Virginia Reed Murphy. Although terrorized by
Indian tales before leaving home, Murphy later wrote, "let me say that
we suffered vastly more f r om f e ar of the Indians before starting than we
did on the plains."53
As time passed, women even became skeptical. Although some
white-Indian altercations occurred, the more usual narratives were
punctuated by impending crises and predictions of doom, ending on
rather anticlimactic and peaceful notes. Oregon migrant Margaret
Chambers's remark in 1851 that "we had no trouble with the Indians­
only some scares" was typical of trail accounts. 54 When Charlotte Pengra
heard a "frightful tale" about fo ur hundred revengeful natives blocking
her party's path she was at first concerned. She soon added: "Have seen
no Indians so conclude the tale we heard was false." Some days later, the
appearance of a "hostile" Indian village again caused distress; "we antic­
ipated some trouble," she wrote, "but realized none." By the end of her
1 8 53 chronicle of her move fr om Illinois to Oregon, she declared that
.
"I have heard lots of bugbear stories about the Indians . . . I conclude
the stories are about as true as they ever will be."55 On the way to
California in 1859, Lavinia Porter exchanged what turned out to be her
"groundless" fe ars f o r an almost favorable attitude toward Indians. "From
their general demeanor they rather inspired us with a confidence which
seemed to sanction our presence in their midst," she wrote at one point.
On another occasion, when an Indian returned her train's wandering
cattle to them, she remarked, "It truly seemed to us in our long jour­
ney traveling alone that the Indians watched over us."56
It is also instructive to pursue the writings of some individuals who
were the most terrified when beginning their westward journey. Their

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