Remember the 1950’s? Twas a simpler time when women were wives and wore matching pumps and aprons; when men were husbands who sat on the couch after dinner and contentedly read the newspaper; and when children were respectful, never talking back or even daring to put their elbows on the dinner table. Ah, yes. There were good guys and bad guys: capitalists and communists; Christians and atheists; and of course, cowboys and Indians. And the hero at the center of the cowboy-Indian conflict? Marion Morrison, aka John Wayne.
John Wayne represented the archetypal cowboy: a fearless man constantly defending himself against those pesky Indians. His movies often contained stereotypical, misrepresented scenes of cowboys fighting Indians fighting cowboys. Or were they misrepresented?
Fanny Kelly’s Narrative of My Captivity Among the Sioux Indians, written in 1864 and published shortly thereafter, provides us with first-account descriptions of the cowboy-Indian conflict. These images took a hit as inauthentic from the politically correct movement of the past two decades. But if we look closely at Mrs. Kelly’s account of the capture, we discern some striking similarities between what she saw and what John Wayne would represent less than a hundred years later.
The narrative starts out innocuous and friendly enough—a band of eleven heads west from Geneva, Kansas: “The sky is of wonderful clearness and transparency. Narrow belts and fringes of forest mark the way of winding streams. In the distance rise conical mounds wrapped in the soft veil of dim and dreamy haze” (p.7).
Never was Kansas described so beautifully.
By July 12, the little band has been wending this way and that for two months when the scene turns ominous:
“Without a sound of preparation or a word of warning, the bluffs before us were covered with a party of about two hundred and fifty Indians, painted and equipped for war, who soon uttered a wild war whoop and fired a signal volley of guns and revolvers in the air” (pp.12-13).
Indian-covered bluffs, war paint, whooping, and skyward gunfire? Pass the popcorn, pilgrim.
Then, as soon as you can say “We’re surrounded!” the Sioux had done just that. Still, introductions were in order. According to Mrs. Kelly, the first thing the Sioux chief said upon meeting the head of her party was:
“How.” No word on whether the chief held up his hand.
After introductions, the cowboys and Indians made nice for a few hours until the scene turned more sinister and the Sioux attacked “in a cloud of smoke,” killing half the men, sparing the women and children, and plundering the goods under wagon cover while filling “the air with the fearful war whoops and hideous shouts” (pp.17, 18).
More Sitting Bull than Tonto, these Sioux.
Mrs. Kelly was then seized by tomahawk-wielding braves, thrown to the ground, and taken for ransom. They also took the horses but left the cattle.
The stereotype that Indians are fleet of foot also finds some truth in this narrative. When Mr. Kelly hides from his would-be captors under the cover of night and sagebrush, he recognizes soft footsteps, “[he] knew by the stealthy tread that they were those of an Indian” (p.23). And, just as the Sioux are about to find Mr. Kelly in his cloak of night and brush, he is saved by the rattle. Of a snake.
Snakes, stealthy Indians, and silent, hiding cowboys? Junior Mints, please. Slurp.
There were more differences between Wayne’s films and Mrs. Kelly’s account than just bad acting, but not all of Wayne’s films were hokey anti-historical Hollywood horse manure. Some of them contain kernels of truth.
More popcorn, please.
Related Articles |
Brent said:
Good read. I need to get a hold of the copy of the actual book! Many of these “sterotypes” were also recorded by Lt. Eugene Ware in his memoirs “The Indian War of 1864″. Among the Sioux, “How” and “How cola” were typical greetings.
March 5th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
MC said:
I heard that well-behaved women rarely make history, is that true?
March 5th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Tracey McCormick said:
Brent-
There’s nothing like a first account from the Wild West, eh? I’ll have to check out Lt. Ware’s. Lucky for me we’ve got western-themed bookstores here in Colorado.
Tracey
March 5th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Brent Layman said:
Tracey – do you know if Mr and Mrs Kelly survived their time with the Sioux?
March 5th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Anneliese Rix said:
Okay, I’m hooked! I’ve gotta get that book.
March 5th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Tracey McCormick said:
Brent-
Mrs. Kelly did indeed live to tell her story.
March 6th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Geoff said:
My favorite t-shirt: A portrait photo of Geronimo and several warriors with the caption, “Homeland Security. Fighting Terrorism since 1492.” Good guys/Bad guys not as clear as June Cleaver would like. Nice read, Trace.
March 6th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Adrienne Toomey said:
More popcorn indeed! Very interesting.
March 7th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Mike Halvorsen said:
It’s worth noting, historically speaking, that John Wayne strove to make his movies accurate in regards to interaction with Mexican people…at least as far as he could with the state of the predjudices of the time. Often they were portrayed as “comedy relief” (the character of Pedro in “El Dorado”), but they were usually allies to be depended upon. Same with his portayal of the Indian population. Wayne’s movies had some bad press, particularly in the ’60s, but he was, surprisingly (to many), very supportive of the actual facts of Western life…especially in his later films. Yeah, I am an unabashed fan…
April 14th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Larry Burgess said:
Great popcorn but it needs a little salt…a dash of butter would also help!
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Geoff Weinstock said:
Much of the post 1979 pro indian statements we hear are just not true. We all hear that the indians were the first environmentalist and sought to preserve the landscape, clean water and animal life. Its all false as there are many true accounts for instance of the Kiowa tribe and their method of hunting buffalo. They would set huge fires on the prarie and stampede the buffalo into the Platte River killing scores and then haul away a few leaving the rest to rot in the sun.
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Walter kolopajlo said:
The set for the filming of The Alamo by John Wayne still stands in Brackettville, Texas!walter kolopajlo
July 16th, 2009 at 7:13 pm