Basically, the Buffalo was the same to the Native American Indians as the supermarket is to us today. From the animal they got virtually everything they needed, for example, here are just a few things the buffalo gave them:
- Horns that made arrows, cups, and spoons
- Fat, they used for cooking, hair grease, and even soap
- Fur, that kept them warm outside and, of course, at night
- They tanned the hide and made them into, well, virtually everything such as bags, blankets, clothes, toys, saddles
- They found the tail was a very good whip even to swat flies
- Bladder became a very useful bag
- Tendons were used to make the string for their bows
- Bones made very useful arrows as well as other things such as dice, jewellery, knives, needles, shovels, tools
In actual fact they found a use for nearly every part of the Buffalo. This is the reason that I describe it as their supermarket. The only problem is that they couldn’t just pop down the road, they had to kill it and then work on it!
Method of the hunt
So how did they hunt down these massive beasts, because they weren’t small, they were enormous, and originally, they didn’t have any horses, as they didn’t even know they existed.
Before the Horse
They had to be very clever to kill these gigantic mammals. So, they herded the bison into a pack, which they then drove over a cliff. Then, at the bottom of the cliff, other members of the tribe would finish off the stunned buffalo with spears. It worked!
It wasn’t. You see it was very difficult to drive the buffalo into a herd especially as they didn’t want to be herded.
Because of this it became very dangerous. Then, of course, there was another problem, what if there wasn’t a nearby cliff! In this case, they cut down trees and created a sort of “V” shaped funnel to drive the Buffalo into, then to kill them there. Not the easiest visit to a supermarket, very dangerous, but they had to eat.
They had another more dangerous way. A single hunter covered himself with a buffalo skin and then by imitating the call of the buffalo would lure them into a trap. As you can imagine whatever they did was dangerous, but they needed what the buffalo could supply.
Once The Horse Arrived
Then in the 1600s the Spanish brought horses with them when they came to North America. Immediately the Native American Indians realised how useful they would be to hunt buffalo.
They found they were now able to hunt buffalo in industrial numbers. They became so efficient that the number of North America buffalo dropped from 50 million to as few as 500 within 300 years.
Warfare
Once they used horses for the Buffalo hunt, they realised that horses were even more useful in Warfare. Now for the Native American Indians warfare was a way of life. This led to the younger ones always attempting to show how brave they were. They did this in battle by attempting to touch an enemy with a coup stick rather than kill them. However, it didn’t really work and unfortunately this led to many braves dying.
The Spirit World
The spirit world was very important to the North American Indians. Ceremonies, spirit communication and special dances were all celebrated to appease the spirit world.
The Musical “The Dream Catchers”
Educational Musicals have published a musical The Dream Catchers – The Plains Indians of North America has been set in times before the arrival of the horse. It tells of a young Indian Sioux girl, Spring Rain, who saves her tribe from destruction. She has a vision showing her that her people will be wiped out if they let pride draw them into war. She tries unsuccessfully to persuade the young braves that courage is something greater than fighting.
The tribe’s Shaman, the cantankerous Dead Crow, feels threatened by Spring Rain’s spiritual visions and tries to persuade Red Hawk, the tribe’s chief, to have her exiled. Eventually an unarmed Spring Rain, alone, confronts one of the deadliest creatures of the plains, showing them the meaning of true bravery.
If you go to https://www.history-portal.com/index.php/product/the-dream-catcher/ you can download the show after having heard two of the songs and read two pages of script.
Most importantly it is a fun show that tells us that
History is fun!
10 questions to discuss:
- How did the buffalo play a vital role in the survival of Native American tribes?
- What were some creative uses of buffalo parts in Native American culture?
- What challenges did Native Americans face in hunting buffalo before the arrival of horses?
- How did the introduction of horses change the way Native Americans hunted buffalo?
- What were the environmental consequences of the increased efficiency in buffalo hunting facilitated by horses?
- How did the reliance on buffalo for sustenance influence the cultural practices and beliefs of Native American tribes?
- What were some risks involved in hunting buffalo using methods like driving them off cliffs?
- How did the decline in buffalo population affect the way of life for Native American tribes?
- Can you describe the significance of horses in both hunting buffalo and warfare for Native American tribes?
- How did the spiritual beliefs of Native American tribes intersect with their relationship with the buffalo?
For more information:
https://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/buffalo-and-native-americans
https://www.pbs.org/buffalowar/buffalo.html
© Tony Dalton