Page 114 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

CHAP E T R TH R E E

accounts disclosed a reversal n their attitudes toward American Indians.
i
T e rror was routinely replaced by equanimity, aversion by acceptance,
and hatred by affection. For instance, Lucy Jennings, the young woman
who had been afraid to leave the f a mily wagon, met some Oklahoma
Indians who were "very nice" to her and her f a mily.57 And Mary
Williams, the young trail girl who had so dreaded living with her f a ther's
native wife and children, not only learned to love her new brothers and
sisters but eventually married a Choctaw herself. 58

-- In New Settlements --

Despite some softening of attitudes, especially among women, travelers
who reached new settlements seemed to need to repeat the cycle of
terror, alarms, sheepishness, and diminishing f e ar. As a result, trails were
far fr om the only breeding grounds f o r anxiety about Indians; an
omnipresent dread of Native Americans accompanied the migrants into
their new settlements. Like trail fo lk, the specter of savage beings
haunted settlers' minds as they slashed at the trees or cut the sod to build
their first cabins or soddies. Consequently, settlers typically continued
to restrict their actions and lives. Some men wore guns at all times,
including working in the fields, which made them vulnerable to
attack. 59 o men refused to go on rides or picnics, to attend war dances
W
and other ceremonies, or to observe the splendid sight of a government­
endorsed hunting party .60
Others made more substantial efforts to protect themselves. They
engaged in subterfuge, such as lacing their own liquor supply with mor­
phine in case troublesome Indians appeared or placing in their yards
hollow logs in which they intended to hide.61 Band after band of infor­
mal "frontier guards," "rangers," and "brigades" drilled zealously , only to
disband without having seen action.62 In many regions, f o rts, stockades,
and blockhouses were built to shelter settlers when the dreaded horde
descended upon them.63 Sometimes the local rangers staffed these gar­
risons; on other occasions, f o rmal troops were ordered out, often by the
thousands.64

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