Native American Hunting and Fighting Skills

by Colin F Taylor

This superbly illustrated volume focuses on the changing character of Native American Indian hunting and fighting skills - the tactics, practices, customs, and techniques - under the impact of confrontation with the European colonizers and the environmental changes they made.

Colin F. Taylor begins with a broad overview of the hunting and fighting tactics of the Native American Indian, contrasting and evaluating the various regions. A major thrust, however, relates to the tribes of the Great Plains. Historically, this region was home to many groups who moved in from other cultural areas. These new arrivals initially employed the tried and tested skills and techniques inherited from their original homelands, but they quickly adapted and changed to match new conditions. Not least, it considers the changing hunting and military patterns on the Great Plains under the impact of the horse and the white encroachment; a fascinating saga of both continuity and change.

As well as being an interesting study of how Indian skills changed and developed, the text also includes accounts from the Indian viewpoint. There are stories of hunting exploits, and details of some of the more famous battles of the Plains conflicts - such as the Wagon Box Fight, the Fetterman Massacre, the Battle of the Rosebud, and the Battle of the Little Big Horn - from the Indian side. With over 130 illustrations, this book is a rare and evocative visual history and will be valued by all who are interested in Native American skills.

128 pp ~ illustrated — ©2003