NativeAmericans

Roger Williams National Memorial

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Those ignorant people who claim that America was founded as a Christian nation need to visit this site in Rhode Island. Disgusted with the forced religious conformity in England (including burning heretics), Williams moves to Boston in 1631, where the Puritans had moved to escape persecution.

“… that no civil magistrate, no King, nor Caesar, have any power over the souls or consciences of their subjects, in the matters of God and the crown of Jesus …”

Roger Williams

Williams’ idea, that the government should not control citizens’ spiritual lives, made him flee the Massachusetts Bay Colony and live with the Native Americans, learning their languages and becoming an advocate for their rights and separate beliefs. Eventually, they deeded him land and he founded “Provident’s Plantation”, now Providence, and Rhode Island became a haven of religious tolerance, for Jews, Baptists, Quakers and even atheists. It is no accident that the country’s oldest synagogue is in Rhode Island. King Charles II granted a charter to Rhode Island, fulfilling Williams’ wish, that no one would be “molested, punished or called into question” for different beliefs in 1663 over 100 years before America became a country. Other colonies copied his charter’s separation of church and state and Jefferson enshrined the concept in our Constitution’s 1st Amendment.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

The First Amendment to the US Constitution

We live in a precarious time, where a single conservative Catholic sect, Opus Dei, has used its influence to place a majority of Justices on our Supreme Court, and that Supreme Court majority has limited an established right based on their particular religious objections to abortion, ruled in favor of Christian prayer at school events, and ruled in favor of using taxpayer funds for Christian schools. This country has avoided the religious and sectarian violence and oppression common elsewhere, by granting the right to freedom of conscience, and it is a frightening step backwards almost 500 years for the court to grant favored treatment to one religion. We have never been a Christian nation, and voters are wrong to vote for one.

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

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Does this bird look like a Peregrine Falcon or a parrot? I ask, because some of the folks at this Native American archaeological site suggested the former and seemed pretty insistent that the Eastern Woodlands people must have been “completely separate” from the Southwestern people who traded parrots widely at the time. Having just driven along the Canadian, Arkansas, Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, I can confirm that people who traveled by canoe could easily cover that distance. Of course, if it’s a Carolina Parakeet (now extinct), then it would have been native to both Ohio and Colorado.

Some archaeologists and anthropologists resist making obvious conclusions. Each native site focuses on its speciality, often avoiding drawing any connection between contemporaneous, sequential or geographically neighboring cultures. For me, it’s clear that the Paleo, Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian and Puebloan people are all related ancestors of today’s Native Americans. It’s silly to ask “what happened to the people who built these?” Because, as Native Americans universally answer, “we’re still here; they were our ancestors”. Pretending that an early Native American culture just magically popped up out of nowhere and then mysteriously disappeared (as the park film sort of suggests) is stupid and ignores the role of European-Americans who plowed over evidence of the early people after driving their descendants off their land.

Native Americans living in North & South America still travel and interact with each other, as they did for thousands of years spreading different ideas, crops, weapons, tools, and materials across our continents. The Alibates Flint Quarries, Russell Cave, and Ocmulgee Mounds parks units all show evidence of fairly continuous use over the entire 17,000 year period until Europeans began to encroach. Poverty Point, Hopewell and Chaco Culture sites all show extensive trade routes over thousands of miles. These people all built similar sites aligned with the sun and moon, in round and square shapes, at different times and in different places from 1500 BC to 1500 AD. Every site I have been to and every description I’ve read describes Native Americans as using feathers and bird figurines for ceremonies and adornment. The park service should make these connections, so visitors can appreciate the full scale of Native American culture. At least UNESCO is now recognizing Hopewell as a World Heritage Site in reflection of its importance as a religious pilgrimage and burial site for Native Americans across the continent.

George Rogers Clark National Historical Park

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Someone in Hollywood needs to tell this story, because I don’t think enough Americans know about the older brother of William Clark (of the Lewis & Clark Expedition) or how 150 men took the territory that became Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

The Revolutionary War in this area between the northern Mississippi and Ohio rivers was sort of a rematch of the French & Indian War. The French wanted revenge against the British, so they sided with the American colonists. The British were paying Native American mercenaries to fight for them, even though the natives were on the French side before. And the American colonists had antagonized the natives by taking their lands.

Clark was 19 when he started surveying the territory west of Virginia and joined the militia just before the war started in Concord, Massachusetts. Although young, he knew the area, the tribes, the conflicts and he showed initiative. He negotiated a territorial dispute with Governor Patrick Henry, representing settlers like Daniel Boone. He led Kentucky militia to defend settlements against British-funded native raids. So when the fighting broke out, he presented a bold plan to seize three British outposts in what’s now southern Illinois. Governor Henry approved the plan, gave him a promotion, but little else.

For the rest of the story, you have to watch the park film, or read a book or wait for the Hollywood blockbuster. But let me just say it involves many French settlers who help Clark, an Italian merchant who tells Clark when the British are vulnerable, Native Americans who decide to stay out of the conflict, a brutal winter march through floods, Kentucky sharpshooters, much military deception, and a desperate pre-emptive strike against a superior defensive force.

Whatever Clark did in the rest of his life to die an impoverished alcoholic, should not take away from what he accomplished at age 26: an incredible underdog victory by 150 men, whom Clark convinced to fight and trained, resulting in five states ceded by Britain to the US. (I had neither graduated from college nor gotten my drivers license by age 26.)

Gateway Arch National Park

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This park is the lynchpin of the nation. If it were removed, the whole country would fall apart.

OK, maybe not, but it is an important spot. The domed courthouse above heard the infamous Dred Scott case, which was used by the Supreme Court to take the country backwards, deny people their basic rights and help spark the Civil War. (How times change). The arch represents a gateway to western expansion, facilitated by Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and subsequently explored by Lewis & Clark from here.

Many factors came together for the territory to wind up as ~12 US states. France traded with the Native Americans who lived there, and all along the rivers there were French communities, from Pittsburgh to St Louis and from Quebec to New Orleans. Shortly before we became independent, Britain declared war on France, used their ships to take Quebec and blockaded Spain from their colonies, and in exchange for peace, they took Canada and Florida, while France kept Haiti and Spain wound up with the Louisiana territory.

That peace treaty didn’t last long. The British heavily taxed the colonists to pay for that war (bad idea), the US declared independence (and won), the slaves in Haiti revolted (and won), Spain secretly gave Louisiana back to France, and France & Spain were preparing to invade England (and lose). Amidst this chaos, Napoleon wanted cash more than colonies that he couldn’t control, and Jefferson wanted to secure the Mississippi and expand our new country. Both sides approached each other to make a deal.

Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument

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This little lady is an Eastern Collared Lizard, and she’s sitting on Alibates flint, which is an extremely hard and unusual type of flint used by Native Americans for sharp edged tools. These flints were used to hunt Mammoths (possibly to extinction) by the Clovis people over ten thousand years ago. (Clovis is the New Mexican town where they were studied). Successive groups of natives used these flints, notably the Antelope Creek tribe, who dug hundreds of quarry pits around here to dig out the best quality, unweathered flint, and traded them as far as Montana, California, Mexico and Alabama.

I’m not particularly interested in geology, but this was the funniest parks tour I’ve taken. The ranger, Ben, somehow got ten strangers roaring with laughter in ~100 degree heat while climbing a hill to look at rocks and taught us all lots of interesting facts along the way. He even got a Texas Horned Lizard (or “horned frog” or “horny toad”) to scramble in front of us, so we could all get a good look at the official lizard of the state. Actually, the only way into the park is by guided tour, and the only tour during the heat of summer is at 10am. Better to call and make a reservation.

If you are into geology, then this park is fascinating. There’s petrified algae, iron rich red beds, fossilized dolomite, salty gypsum, and of course the multi-colored, sometimes sparkly, agatized dolomite, known as Alibates flint. That name came from a cowboy guide named “Allie Bates”. Mysteriously, perhaps from Valles Caldera or Yellowstone volcanic activity, there was an abundance of silica-rich water that seeped into the dolomite and crystalized into a dense quartz along with an array of other colorful minerals. The flints have many of the rich colors and patterns of the mineralized trees found in the Petrified Forest.

I stayed the night in Palo Duro Canyon (2nd in size to the Grand Canyon) which is another great location for views of the colorful red, white, orange, and yellow rocks under a blue sky with lots of different green trees and plants. The night sky was also brilliant. Any recent rain can close roads though. There was a summer musical playing there for Texans about how wonderful the history of Texas is, but of course, it glosses over the theft of native lands and doesn’t mention slavery at all. It never occurred to me that Texans would be so insecure.

Big Hole National Battlefield

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This site is also part of the Nez Perce National Historical Park, and it sits in the scenic Big Hole valley, right near the little town of Wisdom.

The US military was hunting down natives who refused to go to reservations and a few fugitives who had killed some settlers. They attacked the camp at night, burned the tipis and killed around 90 natives, mostly women and children, including babies bludgeoned to death. The warriors killed 31 soldiers in defense and then fled with the survivors. Some eventually escaped to Canada, but Chief Joseph later surrendered at Bear Paw with the rest.

Hail fell while I was at the Nez Perce cemetery above, and it felt appropriate, considering the terrible history here. I took some time after the film and walk to try to draw any wisdom, and all I could come up with was this.

No person can claim credit alone for greatness, as our existence is entirely due to the natural world that we evolved from, which sustained our ancestors and us. Yet a great idea, which is not limited by time and place, can inspire, destroy or outlast our civilizations, as long as there are still humans who understand it. So we must not think so much of ourselves. We must thank the natural world for everything it has given us. And we must try to cultivate thoughts, wisdom, moral judgements, insights, inspiration and kindness that may survive us and improve the future.

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

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Two unnamed cavalrymen are memorialized here, below the hill where Custer made his last stand. Until fairly recently, there were no similar monuments to the Native Americans who won the battle. Now there are several, naming the heroes who defended their village, wives and children here from the cavalry attack. Custer intended on burning the village and likely was trying to take women and children hostage when he overextended his forces to this hill. The natives were surprised by the attack, and while this was their greatest and last victory over better armed US troops, it must be recognized as essentially a defensive act in response to US military aggression.

Seeing the landscape helps understand what went wrong. Custer split his forces, sending some towards the far south end of the village as he approached the north. Underestimating the size of the village both physically and in number of warriors and underestimating how fiercely they would fight back, he spread his forces thinly in order to prevent natives from escaping. He sent word to his other troops to join him thinking that he had found the village, not realizing that they had also found the village at the other end two miles away. His cavalry would have been visible on the ridge, while the natives would be hiding in the grasses & creek beds that allowed them to slowly climb the ridge. Urged on by Crazy Horse, White Bull and other chiefs, the natives stopped the US advance, kept the troops separated and eventually took the hill as Custer ran out of ammunition.

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site

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Not to be confused by the other Fort Union, this was strictly a trading post built for the fur trade at the invitation of the Assiniboine. The post was open for 40 years, peacefully and profitably trading with the Native Americans. Large numbers of natives brought stacks of furs, which were sorted and pressed outside the fort to determine payment, and then at a window they bought various goods, especially cloth. The large fur press outside the fort is basically a long pole on a fulcrum to measure fur stack thickness. Fort Vancouver in Oregon has one too, reconstructed from photos, but the rangers didn’t know what it was. (I showed them a picture and told them to call the rangers here.)

Audubon came here to study mammals after finishing his bird book. Catlin came here to paint portraits of natives and portray their lives without the hateful bias that was common at the time, and he first suggested a series of national parks to protect the beautiful, historic and vanishing way of life in the West. The rangers here were among the best I’ve heard at bringing the old fort to life with engaging stories.

There’s also a small plaque, near where Lewis & Clark must have stopped, to a national parks founder named Mather, praising him for good works that “will never come to an end”. But if we lose the climate fight, many of our national parks will fail in their mission to protect nature and fail to pass that natural world on the future generations.

Mount Rushmore National Monument

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I like Mount Rushmore, but it’s in the wrong place. The Presidents selected all had issues with Native Americans (although the Presidents were all long dead when the monument was sculpted). The sculptor was a KKK member who wanted to sculpt confederate leaders, but that’s just a side note. No, the problem is that the monument is carved into the sacred Black Hills which may be the most shamefully taken, fought over and litigated place in America. It doesn’t help that the surrounding area is filled with common tourist traps, and that the tourist dollars do not go to the tribes who legitimately (according to Court decision) should own the land. Even though they have Tesla chargers in the parking lot, I just can’t appreciate the site as I did years ago.

Fort Laramie National Historic Site

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The site of two eponymous treaties, I ordered a sarsaparilla and talked history with a well-informed seasonal ranger. We decided that although the soldiers were sent out to protect pioneers, they were mostly bored silly, since the “attacks” were mostly myths or exaggerated stories. But the military leaders practiced diplomacy to try to avoid potentially deadly conflicts, and that didn’t always go well. Case in point, in 1854 a Mormon pioneer lady complained to authorities that a cow she lost on the trail had been caught and eaten by some natives who lived on the land while she was trespassing. Lt. Grattan was sent to arrest the offender (not the lady) with 29 soldiers. Apparently the negotiations were cut short when (most likely) one of the soldiers shot the chief, whose men subsequently killed all the soldiers. Several treaties were signed here, although they were not honored by the US. Ultimately, the US military ”solved the Indian problem”, by killing resistors with superior fire power, including the mountain howitzers above and Gatling guns, and driving the rest on to reservations. Four of these artillery pieces were used at Sand Creek.