9 received ideas on the West West, Cowboys and Indians

Cowboys were not all white

The cowboy spent most of his time on horseback: he had to watch out of the animals that were easily overwhelmed, which had them crossing rivers or desert expanses-there were eight to ten horsemen by herd of 2000 to 2,500 heads-, and that sixteen to eighteen hours a day, every day.Haraling work, but poorly paid and little valued.The monthly salary varied between 30 and 40 dollars, when a pair of boots cost 15. The team's cook was better paid!Almost half of the cowboys (45 %) were people of color: Mexicans, black, me-in or even Indians.The whites came from families of poor farmers or were vagabonds (hobos) renting their services in the season.In Texas, the majority was of Hispanic or Indian origin.This state had 5,000 black cowboys.Forget John Wayne!

Indians did not all wear feathers

Only the Sioux - which gathered the Lakotas, Nakotas and Dakotas - actually wore large feathered headdresses.But they reserved these ornaments for their major festivals and their ceremonies.The rest of the time, these emeritus riders were a lot of early months.They endured hunter outfits, much more convenient to stay in the saddle for a long time.The bison constituted the main livelihood of these nomadic Indians, to the point that the American army carried out massive eliminations of whole herds in order to starve them.Another cliché: most of the Indians were sedentary, the Sioux exception;They slept in summer in tents, the famous tipis, and spent winter in huts and huts.

The Indians were not so "wild"

Between 500,000 and 600,000 Indians lived beyond Mississippi when the white settlers arrived at the beginning of the 19th century.We were able to count a hundred tribes, speaking 375 different languages and practicing agriculture, hunting and fishing.In the Missouri and Arkansas valleys, they occupied houses in land in villages.The pawnees cultivated corn.The Sioux, the Cheyennes and the Comanches, they hunted the bison.The whites made them sign treaties to settle in their homes, but did not respect the terms, which caused the Indian revolts.Merciless warriors - they scalped their victims - the Indians often showed courage and selflessness.Between 1866 and 1891, they lost nearly 4,000 fighters, while 932 American soldiers were killed and more than a thousand, injured.

Cowboys did not slip two colts to their belt

What good is it to get a revolver when you are a simple horse worker?The essential mission of the "cowo boys" was to convey livestock between the great plains and the stations of the Kansas, so that the herds can then be transported by train to the slaughterhouses of large cities.So no need to wear a gun to keep the cows: detonations could only scare cattle.To be obeyed animals, cowboys rather used lassos and whips.Only the leaders responsible for supervising the teams could hold a weapon, which they should nevertheless leave at the entrance to the hotels and the Saloons.So, if at the Far West it happened that we unfortunately come across individuals armed with two colts, it could only be wages or formidable outlaws.

Cowboys did not look like Buffalo Bill at all

The cowboys wore rustic clothes, suitable for their tasks: a thick canvas shirt, leather pants without a belt with leggings, a pair of boots ... no hat on the head because it would have gone, but in theback, retained by a strap.A handkerchief around the neck was used to protect itself from dust.The famous Levi’s jeans did not appear in the ranchs until the 1880s, when the end of the big transhumances approached.So we are far from the elegance of a Buffalo Bill sporting Stetson and Tunics in leather with fringes, gilding and stars.These operetta outfits were reserved for the stage or the photos and had their effect during equestrian theater or rodeos.

"Cattle cities" were not all dangerous

Dodge City, Abilene, Ellsworth, Wichita… cities of cowboys (Cattle Towns) were all alike.Near the station, thousands of animals were parked before their departure.Makers frequented fairly luxurious hotels and bars where cowboys were not admitted.The latter were going to have fun in a district reserved for prostitution and game, with Saloons where they could drink and smoke ... But where the weapon was prohibited, under penalty of fine!The entrance was most of the time refused to the Mexicans, Indians and Métis.Handle sheriffs reigned order.Between 1867 and 1890, only 55 homicides were counted in these cities (39 per rifle, including 16 caused by the police) and a single cowboy was shot.Throughout Wyoming, there were only 4 murders in 1872. These villages were therefore much less dangerous than certain cities of today.

Indians rarely attacked diligence or convoys

Cinema has multiplied the scenes where Indians attacked carts.But these attacks were rare.Because the Indian tribes at war were rather attacking the army.When the whites arrived, they agreed to sign treaties authorizing the passage on their land, then the installation of farmers.Despite these compromises, many Indians were then carried out by inhospitable regions, such as Oklahoma.They then led raids when the situation seemed favorable to them, attacking only for sure, but seeking above all to defend themselves.They flew horses and livestock, and sometimes did captives.Buffalo Bill, who did not have to complain about the Indians at the time when he conveyed colonists then herds, even hired some to play their own role in his shows.

The cowboy did not play the first role

Heirs of Mexican cowhide boys (Vaquero), the cowboys appeared in the American West in the middle of the 19th century, and this profession spread in the space of a generation, between 1865 and 1890. Historians estimateTheir number between 30,000 and 40,000, while 360,000 pioneers had launched the tracks of the Far West, from Mississippi, between 1840 and 1860, and that the population of the United States was 36 millioninhabitants.These itinerant agricultural employees were therefore much less numerous than sedentary farmers or workers employed in the construction of railways.Not to mention gold prospectors, many of whom had become minors.

Indians were not always beaten by the cavalry

It’s a classic of Lucky Luke's westerns and albums: the attack on hundreds of Indians against soldiers in the United States. A somewhat epic vision of history, because the Native Americans, less armed and often less numerous, preferred guerrilla warfare to stored battles. Thus, the Sioux Lakotas multiplied the skirmishes against the whites when the cohabitation treaties were not respected. Overwhelmed by the magnitude of the attacks, the northern general Sheridan had to leave their territory in 1868. But the intrusions in the sacred mountains of the Lakotas resumed in 1874, following the discovery of gold. The authorities tried to buy these lands from the Indians, who refused. On June 25, 1876, the 7th Custer cavalry regiment confronted the Lakotas, allies to the Cheyennes, during the battle of Little Bighorn; Custer and 263 soldiers perished. This Indian victory remains a pride for the community and has inspired many books and films, whose fantastic charge (1941).

Article published in Geo History magazine on Lucky Luke and the conquest of the West (n ° 41, October - November 2018).

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