Page 195 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

T
FRON I E R P L A C E : G E N D E R MATTE R S
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like white women, could see that t was not always Indians who caused
turmoil. They admitted that "bad" white men existed as well. One white
man described white traders as being "as roguish and treacherous as the
Indians themselves." Others thought "white Indians" more dangerous
than warlike Pawnees.85
These realizations helped white men recognize that, at times,
Indians were unfairly condemned. Some whites tried to reach out to
Indians to alleviate the rancor that too often resulted f r om white-Indian
contacts. Such white men visited Indian camps and met with leaders to
prevent loss of goods or lives. Unfortunately , these meetings were usu­
ally f o rmal affairs that did little to f o ster sympathy or understanding.
Following accepted practices, white and Indian men exchanged gifts,
smoked the pipe together, and discussed questions of trade, passage,
landownership, and other issues. Around the core group of talkers were
a large number of onlookers, whose presence added to the tension and
impersonality of the situation. 86
Even though these conf e rences ended with a f e ast, stiffness
remained. 87 One army officer who smoked the pipe with an Oglala
Sioux leader, parleyed, and f e asted in the Indian's lodge f e lt that the
"good will" was superficial and very little had been accomplished. His
f e ars were borne out; within a f e w days the belongings of his men van­
ished despite the Indian leader's promises to the contrary.88 The white
f o rty-niner Reuben Shaw also came away f r om a similar ceremony with
a bad impression. When Shaw called on a village of Blackfeet, he was
appalled by the "filthy, repulsive interiors" of the dwellings, the "filthy
cooking methods" of the women, and the preponderance of dogs. "What
struck us as being most abundant about the Indian camp was, first, dirt,"
he asserted, "second, dogs; third, more dirt." His disgust grew when he
had to give gifts of jewelry and buttons to the women and a variety of
articles to the leader to obtain hunting rights in the area. Shaw went
away convinced that the "crafty" chief-whom he dubbed "Saint Brag"
because of the chief's boasting of his exploits-got the best of the bar­
gain. He also reported that, notwithstanding promises, goods disappeared
fr om his party's camp. "We were;' he said, "glad to be done with the
Blackfeet, though we looked upon them as a very interesting people
and as noble types of the American Indians."89