American West: 1861-76

Lesson 4: Hancock, Custer and the 7th Cavalry, Red Cloud and the Peace Commission

The Buffalo Hunters

Buffalo

One major grievance the Plains Indians had was that the whites were destroying the buffalo and disturbing their migration pattern. These animals were the Indians’ storehouse, supplying nearly every thing needed.

Many tribes used the horns of the buffalo to make headgear and spoons. The hide provided clothing and shelter.

Buffalo Robe

The dung was burned for heat and cooking. Buffalo fat was burned in lamps while even the bones were utilized, being transformed into tools and toys. The stomachs became cooking pots and water containers and the hooves made wonderful rattles or were boiled into glue.

But most important was the meat of the buffalo. What was not used fresh was sliced thin and dried. This meat we know as jerky could be eaten as it was or made into stews. Pemmican was made from jerky by crushing it with berries and kidney fat. It made a high-energy food that warriors could easily carry on the warpath or the hunt.

The Plains Indians wasted nothing of the buffalo and it was into this world the white Hide Hunter came. Connell says in Son of the Morning Star, concerning the buffalo, that “eighty million — give or take a million or so — were shot for their hides during a period of three years. By 1874 there were more whites hunting buffalo on the Plains than there were buffalo. The Plains Indians’ store was nearly gone, right down to the tail of the buffalo which made an excellent fly swatter.”

Of course there are always two sides to every story, and with the buffalo the same was true. It is true that the whites helped finish off the buffalo and that the Indians had a legitimate complaint. However, in 1830 artist George Catlin traveled to the west and just before reaching Fort Pierre in the Dakotas a huge buffalo herd was spotted. He witnessed several hundred Sioux going out to make their kill. They returned at sundown with fourteen hundred tongues, which were traded for a few gallons of whisky. Catlin says, “Not a skin or a pound of meat (except the tongues) was brought in.”

Another witness to the Indians’ help in the demise of the buffalo was Fanny Kelly, five months a captive of the Oglalas. She said that they killed for sport, killing far more than they needed. Each hunter would take from his kill only the part of the animal that suited his taste, leaving the rest to decay or to feed the wolves. Eye witness reports of Indians wasting the buffalo go on and can be read in Connell’s Son of the Morning Star.

So we can see that the Plains Indians such as Black Kettle and Red Cloud, one a peace chief and the other a warrior, had reason for wanting the whites to stay out of the buffalo range.

For some fact and fancy about the buffalo here are two excelent links.

The Lone Prairie-The Buffalo http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/grea... Buffalo on the Nebraska prairie in the year 1685.

Miracle, White Buffalo Calf By Florence Cardinal http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/prop... The rare white buffalo (which were probably albino) were revered animals, worshipped as a gift from the gods.

Sources for this section are:

Connell, Evan S. Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn. North Point Press, San Francisco, California, 1984.

Simpson, Judith. Native Americans. . Time-Life Books, 1996.

Wheeler, Keith. The Chroniclers: The Old West. . Time-Life Books, New York, 1976.

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