862 



MILITARY SOCIETIES 



[b. a. b. 



as the social .system among most of the 

 tribes n. of Mexico. The exceptions 

 were the Eskimo and the thinly scattered 

 bands of the extreme n., the California 

 tribes, and the various bands w. of the 

 Rocky mts. commonly grouped as Paiute. 

 East of the Mississippi, where the clan 

 system was dominant, the chief mili- 

 tary functions of leadership, declaration, 

 and perhaps conclusion of war, seem to 

 have been hereditary in certain clans, as 

 the Bear clan of the Mohawk and Chip- 

 pewa, and the Wolf or Munsee division 

 of the Delawares. It is probable that if 

 their history were known it would be 

 found that most of the distinguished 

 Indian leaders in the colonial and other 

 early Indian w^ars were actually the 

 chiefs of the war clans or military socie- 

 ties of their respective tribes. If we can 

 trust the Huguenot narratives, the ancient 

 tribes of n. Florida and the adjacent re- 

 gion had a military system and marching 

 order almost as exact as that of a modern 

 civilized nation, the various grades of 

 rank being distinguished by specific titles. 

 Something similar seems to have pre- 

 vailed among the Creeks, where, besides 

 war and peace clans, there were war and 

 peace towns, the war or "red" towns 

 being the assembly points for all war 

 ceremonies, nicluding the war dance, 

 scalp dance, and torture of prisoners. 

 Tlie "Red Stick" l)an(l of the Seminole, 

 noted in the Florida wars as the most 

 hostile portion of the tribe, seem to have 

 constituted in themselves a war society. 

 Among the confederated Sauk and Foxes, 

 according to McKenney and Hall, nearly 

 all the nuen of the two tribes were organ- 

 ized into two war societies which con- 

 tested aganist each other in all races or 

 friendly athletic games and were distin- 

 guished by different cut of hair, costume, 

 and dances. With the more peaceful 

 and sedentary Pueblo tribes, as the Zuiii 

 and Hopi, mditary matters were regu- 

 lated by a priesthood, as the "Priesthood 

 of the Bow" of the Zuni, which formed 

 a close corijoration with initiation rites 

 and secret ceremonies. 



Throughout the plains from n. to s. 

 there existed a military organization so 

 similar among the various tribes as to 

 suggest a common origin, although with 

 patriotic pride each tribe claimed it as its 

 own. Maximilian was inclined to ascribe 

 its origin to the Crows, perhaps on the 

 ground of their well-known ceremonial 

 temperament, but it is probably much 

 older than their traditional separation 

 from the Hidatsa. In each tribe the 

 organization consisted of from 4 to 12 

 societies of varying rank and jirominence, 

 ranging from boys or untrieil warriors up 

 to old men who had earned retirement 

 by long years of service on the warpath 



and thenceforth confined themselves to 

 the supervision of the tribal ceremonies. 

 The name of each society had reference 

 to some mystic animal protector or to 

 some costume, duty, or peculiarity con- 

 nected with the membership. Thus, 

 among the Kiowa there were 6 warrior 

 societies, known respectively as Rabbits, 

 Young Mountain Slieep, Horse Caps, 

 Black Legs, Skunkberry People {alias 

 Crazy Horses), and Chief Dogs. The 

 Raljbit society consisted of boys of about 

 10 to 12 years of age, who were trained in 

 their future duties by certain old men, and 

 who had a dance in which the step was 

 intended to imitate the jumping motion 

 of a rabl)it. The next four societies 

 named were all of about e(jual rank, 

 varying only according to the merit or 

 reputation of the officers at an\' particu- 

 lar time; but the K'oitseiiko or ' Chief 

 Dogs' were limited to 10 picked and 

 tried warric^rs of surpassing courage, each 

 of whom, at his investiture with the 

 sacred sash of the order, took a solemn 

 obligation never, while wearing it, to 

 turn his face from the enemy in battle 

 except at the urgent appeal of the whole 

 war party. It was the duty of the leader, 

 who wore a black sash passing around 

 his neck and hanging down to the ground, 

 to dismount and anchor himself in the 

 front of the charge liy driving his lance 

 through the end of the sash into the 

 earth, there to exhort the warriors with- 

 out moving from his station unless, 

 should the battle be lost, they released 

 him by i»ulling out the lance. Should 

 they forget or be prevented in the hurry 

 of flight, he must die at his post. In 

 consequence of the great danger thus 

 involved, the K'oitseii scarf was worn 

 only when it was the deliberate intention 

 to light a pitched and decisive battle. 



Each society had its own dance, songs, 

 ceremonial costume, and insignia, besides 

 special tabus and obligations. The cere- 

 monial dance of one society in each tribe 

 was usually characterized by some species 

 of clown play, most frequently taking the 

 form of speech and action the reverse of 

 what the spectators were expecting. The 

 organization among the Arajmho, Chey- 

 enne, Sioux, and other tribes was essen- 

 tially the same as among the Kiowa. At 

 all tribal assemblies, ceremonial hunts, 

 and on great war exjieditions, the various 

 societies took charge of the routine details 

 and acted both as performers and as 

 police. Among the Cheyenne the Ho- 

 tamitiineo, or Dog Men society ("Dog 

 Soldiers"), acquired such prominence in 

 the frontier wars by virtue of superior 

 number and the bravery of their leader- 

 shij> that the name has frequently been 

 used by writers to designate the whole 

 organization. 



