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5. Warfare
- University of Nebraska Press
- Chapter
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45 5 WARFARE After moving to Canada, the Sioux fought briefly with the Plains Ojibwas . Probably during those early years the formal war organization, including the war chief and soldier lodge, was activated as it had been during earlier times in Minnesota. But the imposition of peace among the tribes by the Canadian government made warfare a part of the Sioux past rather than an ongoing aspect of their lives. Still, Canadian Sioux today recall traditions relating to warfare. According to Robert Good Voice, before going off on an expedition the warriors would dance the Šuŋkáȟ Wachípi ‘Dog Imitators Dance’. In this dance the livers of dogs, killed on the spot, were removed, cut into strips, and hung on the top of a pole about five feet tall. The warriors danced around this pole, acting like hungry dogs. Finally one of the warriors grabbed a piece of the liver in his teeth and swallowed it. Others followed suit until all of the raw liver had been consumed. None but a shaman was allowed to touch the liver with his hands. The dance lasted all night. Afterward, those warriors going on the expedition retired some distance from the village and prepared for war. Mr. Good Voice recalled one of the songs of this dance, the words of which might be translated: The one I love is going to war, The one I hate is going to stay home. This song, like those of many of the social dances, supposedly expresses the feelings of one of the young women of the village. 46 THE CANADIAN SIOUX A Santee warrior went into battle naked except for breechcloth, leggings , and moccasins. His weapons were a ball-head or rabbit-leg warclub (later replaced by trade tomahawks), a bow and about twenty arrows, and a scalping knife. Later, the bow and arrows were replaced or supplemented by musket and ball. Some warriors also carried circular shields made from the neck of a bison bull, treated by a process of heating and shrinking until it was slightly convex and about one-half inch thick. From their use as ceremonial paraphernalia in the nineteenth century we also infer that lances, either straight or with a crook at the end (to allow the warrior to lean into his thrust with his shoulder), were used at an early period. By the time of the flight from Minnesota to Canada, however, such lances were used only as symbols of men’s and women’s societies. One such lance, the last one to survive among the Canadian Sioux, was kept by an old man named Jim Mackay. In 1958 I paid a special visit to his home to see this object. It was of the crooked lance type, about five feet long. When displayed at dances or parades it was wrapped with strips of otter skin and had eagle feathers attached along the shaft at ten-inch intervals. The Santee war party generally preferred ambush to frontal attack, firing on the enemy from concealed positions. When provoked, however , warriors were capable of acts of great bravery, such as rushing out under fire to retrieve the body of a fallen comrade. As with other tribes of the Woodlands and Prairie regions, the Santees awarded their highest acclaim to that warrior who, in battle, touched an enemy with his lance, quirt, or some other object held in the hand. This act was termed íyokhiheya kté ‘following the killing’ and is commonly translated “counting coup.” The enemy could be touched either alive or dead, although the name for the act would indicate that usually coup was counted upon dead enemies. Three warriors could count coup on each enemy, first coup being the most prestigious. Each of these three coups earned the counter the right to wear an eagle feather, according to Kenneth Eastman (Oak Lake). Mr. Eastman did not remember if the eagle feathers earned in this manner were worn in a distinctive fashion, but Landes (1968:211) reported that the feather for the first [35.172.193.238] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 12:39 GMT) Warfare 47 coup was worn erect, for the second pointing earthward, and for the third the warrior was entitled to wear an “Indian costume,” probably the crow belt, a dancing bustle of feathers (cf. Fletcher and LaFlesche 1911:441). Although no particular honor accrued to the person who did so, the Santee warrior also scalped his fallen enemy when the opportunity afforded. The scalp was...