Page 210 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

CHAPTER F I VE

to enter comfortable situations with Indians that led to intimate rela­
tionships. In addition, women were not usually as dedicated as men to
the eradication of Native Americans and the seizure of their property.
Thus, white women were probably more accepting than men of cul­
tural mixing.
Of course, white men-often to the disdain of white women­
also married Indians. Although some white male-Indian fe male rela­
tionships were affectional, others contained an element of mutual
exploitation. For instance, an Indian wife might be of great use to a
white man who traded with Indians, whereas the wife gained status
among her people. Because most men considered Indian women infe­
rior, such marriages were almost never legalized or solemnized accord­
ing to white terms, as were marriages between white f e males and native
males. When a white man did marry a native woman according to white
law, it was a matter fo r comment by whites. In one such case, Alice
Baldwin wrote that the man was "the soul of honor," who "had the
decent courage to marry her legally."185 In a very different instance, a
woman claimed that Indian tumult was caused in W a shington state by
white men who not only refused to legalize their unions with native
women, but who already had wives back east. 186
Even though white male-native f e male alliances have received
much coverage in myth and media, little attention had been paid to
white fe male-native male relationships. Beginning with Pocahontas,
white men believed they had a mission to rescue native women fr om
primitivism, degraded status, and Indian men's supposedly low sexual­
ity. By allying with an Indian woman, a white man often stood to gain
land, stock, and the fr iendship of the woman's people, as well as the
help and affection of the woman herself. Because white men knew that
their status would determine that of their wives and children, they were
not afraid that they would suffer by marrying a woman f r om an "infe­
rior" race. 187
White man-native woman relationships were publicized in popu­
lar literature, the press, and more recently, movies and television. From
dime novels to the Hollywood movie Jeremiah Johnson, illegal and unsol­
emnized alliances (at least according to white prescriptions) could be
presented to general audiences and could even be glorified. Objections

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