|
|
|
Reviews
INDIANS AND EMIGRANTS: ENCOUNTERS ON THE OVERLAND TRAIL
|
by Michael L. Tate
|
| University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 2006. Illustrations, photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 352 pages. $29.95 cloth. |
|
|
| Indians and Emigrants is a comprehensive study of the complex history of relations between emigrants and American Indians on the central route of the overland trails to Oregon, California, and the Salt Lake Valley from 1840 to 1870. Along the overland trails, Indians and emigrants viewed each other from radically different perspectives. In contrast to the stereotypical images of "savage" Indians continually attacking wagon trains and fearful, sometimes vengeful, emigrants portrayed by journalists, novelists, artists, and movie-makers, Michael Tate masterfully shows that this popular focus on conflict and violence "fails to account for the equally compelling reality of cooperation, aid, and mutual benefit that dominated Indian-white relations" (p. 231). In topical chapters, he examines the evolving nature of intercultural relations between two fundamentally different peoples. Through the first half of the 1850s, Indian-white interpersonal relations generally demonstrated cooperation and friendship. Even though relations were transient and superficial, individuals often formed short-term friendly associations based on curiosity, hospitality, and social interaction. Tate describes how changing circumstances caused heightened tensions and increased conflict in the later years of the period. |
1
|
|
Tate explores the confusion, misinformation, and preconceived ideas about Indians that emigrants gained from guidebooks, literature, art, and family stories before they departed and that were reinforced by rumors circulating in jumping-off towns. At the outset they were conditioned to expect violence from western Indians, which they often precipitated during the journey by their own cultural misconceptions. Tate discusses the emigrants' first impressions of the Indians they encountered as they began traveling westward from the Missouri River. Between 1841 and 1854, the region known as "Indian Country" was dotted with small Indian villages; but after Kansas and Nebraska were organized into territories in 1854, farms, ranches, and towns changed the landscape dramatically. Whether in the early or later periods, overlanders' preconceptions were tested when they met their first Indians. |
2
|
|
Chapters on trade and the ways Indians assisted emigrants for compensation delve into the interactions for mutual benefit that occurred throughout the period on all the trail routes. Tate details the kinds of trading encounters and trade items and the divergent perceptions of the participants. He also discusses the ways Indians helped overlanders, especially in the early years, such as giving trail advice, guiding trains, operating ferries, piloting boats on the Columbia River, aiding lost travelers, and rescuing people in swift rivers. Another chapter examines a wide range of social interactions without tangible reward that enabled individuals of both cultures to better appreciate each other. Another chapter describes the benefits of cooperation and friendship for Indians and emigrants, citing numerous examples of Indian cooperation as well as humanitarian acts by emigrants well into the 1850s. |
3
|
|
As the magnitude of overland migration increased in the 1850s, so did the apprehensions of tribes along the trails. The impact of massive traffic over the trails threatened the resources that Indians depended on. Negative environmental effects, ranging from the destruction of bison and other game to deadly diseases to prairie fires, were compounded by heightened interpersonal tensions. Cultural misunderstandings and exaggerations on both sides, white outlaws disguised as Indians, and magnified Indian massacre rumors further intensified relations. The West presented unfamiliar, threatening natural and cultural environments to emigrants, but Tate writes that "American Indians often had more to fear from traffic along the trails than overlanders had to fear from the indigenous tribes" (p. 156). |
4
|
|
A chapter on the exaggerated fears of emigrants discusses captivity narratives and the Goldilocks syndrome — the fear of Indians abducting white children. Indian-white relations on the overland trails dramatically shifted from cooperation to conflict in the mid 1850s. Harsh treaties, punitive military campaigns, and increasing attacks on civilians culminated in full-scale warfare on the Great Plains from 1864 to 1868. In the context of the turmoil of the 1860s, Tate provides an excellent analysis of Indian warfare, which was little understood by civilians or the U.S. Army. Yet, he stresses, even as relations deteriorated in the later trail years cordial acts and cooperation often occurred. |
5
|
|
This long-overdue study of a significant aspect of the overland trails experience is well-written and readable. Tate's scholarship is impeccable, and his analysis is substantiated by voluminous excerpts from emigrant accounts. Drawing on a vast array of diaries, journals, letters, and government documents, the narrative presents balanced and discerning perspectives of two differing peoples who sometimes clashed but often cooperated. This book is written for a broad audience and should appeal to both general readers and scholars interested in western overland trails. |
6
|
| Susan Badger Doyle
|
| Pendleton, Oregon |
|
Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.
|