Page 226 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

CHAP E T R S I X

brutishness. Government agents, renegade Frenchmen, Catholic priests,
and representatives of religious groups were accused of corrupting or
agitating Native Americans.27 White thieves were excoriated fo r steal­
ing f r om settlers and Indians.28 One T e xas woman of the I870S thought
that white f u gitives fr om other states were the real problem on the e xas
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f r ontier. According to her, f e ar of these "desperadoes" played on her
mother's mind "far more than fe ar of Indians." 2 9 Renegade and other
"unprincipled" white men were also condemned f o r "inciting" Indians
and leading them "on to desperate deeds."3 0 Still other women believed
that Indian problems in their areas were created by Mormons, who
reportedly perpetrated heinous deeds themselves or encouraged Indians
to do so.31 This charge evoked countercharges, with Mormons claim­
ing that it was the "foul tricks" of the emigrants that caused the
difficulties f o r which they had been accused. 32
Many women realized the need to consider solutions to the events
that plagued settlers and American Indians in many areas of the fr on­
tier. They thought it apparent that if people expected to attain stability
and productivity, violence and acrimony could not be allowed to con­
tinue. Conflict eroded the peace of mind and the physical energy of
whites and Indians, and led to wanton destruction of resources. Many
women thus came to grips with the question of what could be done
about the flare-ups that characterized white-Indian relations.
W o men did not usually agree with the plan to restore patches of
land to Indians through the reservation system. Although some women
thought the idea provided partial atonement fo r past injury, others
believed that the reservation concept was white patronization and arro­
gance, especially by the f e deral government in W a shington, D.c.
Although women did not employ the term internal colonization, they
objected to reservations as internal colonies where Indians had no polit­
ical rights. "Now the government allows them a portion to themselves
as a great f a vour and taken as such," Oregon-bound emigrant Agnes
Stewart W a rner contended in 1 8 53, "but this does not make it right."
W o men like a rner did not realize that government policy intended to
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keep groups separate and unequal in internal colonies, nor did they
credit the argument that keeping Indians on reservations protected
white women fr om them.33

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