SCALPING IN AMERICA. 435 



with the Indians. In the French colonies the conditions were similar. 

 Scalping was also practiced during the War of the Revolution, and 

 that on both sides. Serious complaints were made in this regard 

 against the English, and Hamilton, " the hair-buyer general," was 

 on this account for a long time the object of a bitter hatred. There 

 is no doubt that the English, who incited some of the Indians against 

 the colonists, also offered pay for scalps, though this does not seem 

 to have been the subject of any special law or public ruling. English 

 commanders and generals, among others Burgoyne, received scalps 

 in festive gatherings. In the north the English, following Sulli- 

 van's expedition, paid $8 ; in Georgia occasionally £3 for a scalp. 

 So far as the colonies are concerned, among the border population 

 scalping was general, besides which some of the legislatures offered 

 direct premiums. Thus the legislature of South Carolina promised 

 £75 for every scalp of the fighting men of the enemy, £100 for every 

 captured Indian, and £80 for every captured Englishman or negro. 



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In Mexico the first offers of head premiums of which the writer 

 could find a record date from ICIG to 1018, preceding, therefore, by 

 twenty years similar rewards given by the New Englanders during 

 the Pequod war. The occasion for the Mexican offers was the Tepe- 

 huane rebellion in the State of Durango. During the eighteenth 

 century, particularly toward its close, and in the beginning of the 

 nineteenth, scalps, which to prevent frauds had to show both ears, 

 seem to have had a definite market value in northern Mexico, but 

 exact data on the subject are wanting. During the second third of 

 the nineteenth century reports concerning scalping are more frequent. 

 In 1835 the legislature of Sonora proclaimed a war of extermination 

 against the Apaches and set the reward of $100 for every Apache 

 scalp. Chihuahua followed in 1837 with an offer of $100 for every 

 scalp of a male, $50 for that of a female, and $25 for that of every 

 Indian child. In 1845 these scalp regulations were also adopted by 

 the other north Mexican States, as a result of which numbers of 

 adventurers formed themselves into scalp-hunting bands. Kirker, 

 the leader of one such, had in the very beginning, through surprising 

 an Indian camp, such success that the treasuries were able to pay 

 him only a part of the scalp money. 



In 1848 and succeeding years the conditions became still worse. 

 It was decided in Chihuahua to again employ bands of scalp hunters, 

 and the premiums were advanced to $250 for each captured full- 

 grown Indian or $200 for his scalp; $150 for every captured Indian 

 woman or child under 14 years of age or $100 for each of their scalps, 

 in addition to which the offers carried the right to the spoil. The priv- 

 ilege granted was often abused by the bands, and scalps were taken 

 from other Indians besides the enemies and even from Mexican 



