Post by tbw on Aug 26, 2012 16:22:54 GMT -5
It has been a while. So I thought I would add some more information. Below are selected extracts from a book titled, "Our Wild Indians,"Thirty-Three Years Personal Experience Among the Red Men of the Great West... by General Richard Irving Dodge. Dodge was an Army officer and author. He graduated from West Point in 1848. His career in the Army, with the exception of the Civil War years, was almost wholly in the west fighting Indians.
I consider the Indian boy, of from twelve to fifteen years old, the best rough rider and natural horseman in the world. At about this age he begins to think of himself as a man, and to yearn for the position, fame and honor of the warrior. He is given more liberty, younger brothers or sisters take his place on herd, while he, with others of the same age and aspiration, wanders about the country in search of the adventure which is to crown his ambition by making him a warrior. No military man can contemplate such a school for recruits without admiration, and one can readily sympathize with the enthusiastic cavalry officer who exclaimed, "Give me the handling and discipline of such recruits as the Indian boys, and I can whip an equal number of any cavalry in the world."
Until he is a warrior the Indian has never had a "drill," that is, he has had instruction in nothing. All he knows is self-taught. It is now the province of the chief so to instruct all this energy and capacity as to render it available for concentrated action. The actual force of a thousand men is exactly the same whether the men be disciplined or not. The effect of discipline and drill are simply to concentrate; to make the whole mass a machine which at the will of one, may exert this force in a certain direction or to a certain end. It is the actualization of the old fable of the bundle of sticks.
The Indian understands this perfectly, but the peculiarity of the tribal relation prevents any very decided enforcement of what we call discipline, and the lack of knowledge precludes the idea of anything like conventional drill.
The chief must do the best he can with the material he has, taking advantage of its wonderful individual skill, knowledge, and pliability, without trammeling it by any attempted adherence to rigid rules of tactics. There is, therefore, no fixed system of tactics, each chief instructing according to his own capacity and his idea of the capabilities of his materiel.
In time of peace there is very little drill or instruction of any kind by the chiefs or leading men, though sometimes when there are a good many Indians together, a chief may have a "show drill," or grand parade of mounted men of mounted men something in the nature of a review. There is no compulsion in the attendance of warriors. The claims of the stomach are always paramount, and those warriors who need meat for their families go to look for it, even on drill days.
In anticipation of war, the chief may call out his warriors for instruction every day, or at least several times each week.
There are no ranks, no organizations, no units of command, each sub-chief being surrounded by his followers in any order that they may happen to fall; but there are words or signals of command by which the same evolutions are repeated performed, more, it would appear, by the wonderful intuition of the individual Indian than by any instruction that could possibly have been given to him by a lifetime of drill.
Tactical manoeuvres of Indians always suppose an enemy, and previous to the drill the chief indicated to his command this supposed position, sometimes on open ground, at other times in hills and ravines. The chief now forms what may be designated his line of battle. This line consists of masses of Indians, more or less detached from the other, each sub-chief being surrounded by his following, but all together forming a line of masses faced towards the supposed position of the enemy. To produce a moral effect on that enemy, the young and ardent, or those who have exceptionally good horses, are tearing over the ground, circling, at full speed, in front, rear, and flanks of the masses to which they belong, making a great show of force, and appearing to be numerically at least five times greater than they really are.
At a signal, the whole line will charge en masse and without order upon the supposed position of the enemy. At a word or signal it breaks or scatters like leaves before the storm. Another word or signal, a portion wheels, masses, and dashes on a flank, to scatter again at another signal. The plain is alive with flying, circling horsemen, now single, each lying flat on his horse, or hanging to his side to escape the shots of the pursuing enemy; now, joined together, they rush upon that enemy in a living mass of charging, yelling terror.
The command of the chief are sometimes communicated by the voice, but more generally, especially when there is any considerable force, by signals. These are devised after a system of the Indians' own invention, said to be a sort of offshoot of the sign language. This system of signals is most strong and sacred "medicine," the secret of which it would be dishonor and destruction to divulge. I have elsewhere spoken of the sacredness to an Indian of an oath, administered after their forms and "medicines." No earthly power could force him to disclose a secret learned under such an oath; and in answer to the effort at persuasion he looks at you with wide-eyed astonishment, and says simply, "I have sworn."
Even the whites,intermarried and living with the Indians, are not admitted to this mystery. I have questioned may of these, and of Plains hunters, who, however, could only say that a system of signalling is in common use among Indians.
The Indians themselves I have used both persuasion and bribes,always reaching the general admission of the use of such a system, but never arriving at even the slightest hint on which might be founded a practical system. I am inclined to believe that effective as it is in action, the system is a very crude and imperfect one, giving only the most general directions, very much indeed as one as the sportsman uses in the management of his dogs in the field.
Wonderful as the statement may appear, the signalling on a bright day, and when the sun is in the proper direction, is done with a piece of looking-glass held in the hollow of the hand. The reflection of the sun's rays thrown on the command, communicated the orders of the chief. How this is done is the mystery which no one will divulge.
Once, standing on a little knoll overlooking the valley of the South Platte, I witnessed, almost at my feet, a drill of about a hundred warriors. Their commander, a Sioux chief, sat on his horse on a knoll a little way above me, and some two hundred yards from his command in the plain below. For more than a half an hour he directed a drill, which, for a variety and promptness of action, could not be excelled (I doubt if equaled) by any cavalry in the world. There were no verbal commands, and all I could see was an occasional movement of the right arm. He afterwards told me that he had used a looking-glass.
My comment so far. Who said, the Indians were individual savages who didn't have a military organization and was a mere horde of wild savages with no one to lead them... well... was wrong.
For the complete text and commentary, sign up, sign in and enjoy as I conclude at a later time this part of the Cavalry Journal for the members of this forum.
I consider the Indian boy, of from twelve to fifteen years old, the best rough rider and natural horseman in the world. At about this age he begins to think of himself as a man, and to yearn for the position, fame and honor of the warrior. He is given more liberty, younger brothers or sisters take his place on herd, while he, with others of the same age and aspiration, wanders about the country in search of the adventure which is to crown his ambition by making him a warrior. No military man can contemplate such a school for recruits without admiration, and one can readily sympathize with the enthusiastic cavalry officer who exclaimed, "Give me the handling and discipline of such recruits as the Indian boys, and I can whip an equal number of any cavalry in the world."
Until he is a warrior the Indian has never had a "drill," that is, he has had instruction in nothing. All he knows is self-taught. It is now the province of the chief so to instruct all this energy and capacity as to render it available for concentrated action. The actual force of a thousand men is exactly the same whether the men be disciplined or not. The effect of discipline and drill are simply to concentrate; to make the whole mass a machine which at the will of one, may exert this force in a certain direction or to a certain end. It is the actualization of the old fable of the bundle of sticks.
The Indian understands this perfectly, but the peculiarity of the tribal relation prevents any very decided enforcement of what we call discipline, and the lack of knowledge precludes the idea of anything like conventional drill.
The chief must do the best he can with the material he has, taking advantage of its wonderful individual skill, knowledge, and pliability, without trammeling it by any attempted adherence to rigid rules of tactics. There is, therefore, no fixed system of tactics, each chief instructing according to his own capacity and his idea of the capabilities of his materiel.
In time of peace there is very little drill or instruction of any kind by the chiefs or leading men, though sometimes when there are a good many Indians together, a chief may have a "show drill," or grand parade of mounted men of mounted men something in the nature of a review. There is no compulsion in the attendance of warriors. The claims of the stomach are always paramount, and those warriors who need meat for their families go to look for it, even on drill days.
In anticipation of war, the chief may call out his warriors for instruction every day, or at least several times each week.
There are no ranks, no organizations, no units of command, each sub-chief being surrounded by his followers in any order that they may happen to fall; but there are words or signals of command by which the same evolutions are repeated performed, more, it would appear, by the wonderful intuition of the individual Indian than by any instruction that could possibly have been given to him by a lifetime of drill.
Tactical manoeuvres of Indians always suppose an enemy, and previous to the drill the chief indicated to his command this supposed position, sometimes on open ground, at other times in hills and ravines. The chief now forms what may be designated his line of battle. This line consists of masses of Indians, more or less detached from the other, each sub-chief being surrounded by his following, but all together forming a line of masses faced towards the supposed position of the enemy. To produce a moral effect on that enemy, the young and ardent, or those who have exceptionally good horses, are tearing over the ground, circling, at full speed, in front, rear, and flanks of the masses to which they belong, making a great show of force, and appearing to be numerically at least five times greater than they really are.
At a signal, the whole line will charge en masse and without order upon the supposed position of the enemy. At a word or signal it breaks or scatters like leaves before the storm. Another word or signal, a portion wheels, masses, and dashes on a flank, to scatter again at another signal. The plain is alive with flying, circling horsemen, now single, each lying flat on his horse, or hanging to his side to escape the shots of the pursuing enemy; now, joined together, they rush upon that enemy in a living mass of charging, yelling terror.
The command of the chief are sometimes communicated by the voice, but more generally, especially when there is any considerable force, by signals. These are devised after a system of the Indians' own invention, said to be a sort of offshoot of the sign language. This system of signals is most strong and sacred "medicine," the secret of which it would be dishonor and destruction to divulge. I have elsewhere spoken of the sacredness to an Indian of an oath, administered after their forms and "medicines." No earthly power could force him to disclose a secret learned under such an oath; and in answer to the effort at persuasion he looks at you with wide-eyed astonishment, and says simply, "I have sworn."
Even the whites,intermarried and living with the Indians, are not admitted to this mystery. I have questioned may of these, and of Plains hunters, who, however, could only say that a system of signalling is in common use among Indians.
The Indians themselves I have used both persuasion and bribes,always reaching the general admission of the use of such a system, but never arriving at even the slightest hint on which might be founded a practical system. I am inclined to believe that effective as it is in action, the system is a very crude and imperfect one, giving only the most general directions, very much indeed as one as the sportsman uses in the management of his dogs in the field.
Wonderful as the statement may appear, the signalling on a bright day, and when the sun is in the proper direction, is done with a piece of looking-glass held in the hollow of the hand. The reflection of the sun's rays thrown on the command, communicated the orders of the chief. How this is done is the mystery which no one will divulge.
Once, standing on a little knoll overlooking the valley of the South Platte, I witnessed, almost at my feet, a drill of about a hundred warriors. Their commander, a Sioux chief, sat on his horse on a knoll a little way above me, and some two hundred yards from his command in the plain below. For more than a half an hour he directed a drill, which, for a variety and promptness of action, could not be excelled (I doubt if equaled) by any cavalry in the world. There were no verbal commands, and all I could see was an occasional movement of the right arm. He afterwards told me that he had used a looking-glass.
My comment so far. Who said, the Indians were individual savages who didn't have a military organization and was a mere horde of wild savages with no one to lead them... well... was wrong.
For the complete text and commentary, sign up, sign in and enjoy as I conclude at a later time this part of the Cavalry Journal for the members of this forum.
