The Patriot Chiefs: A Chronicle of American Indian Resistance; Revised Edition

Might always makes right, until it's too late, and we say it was wrong after all. Surely one of the biggest illegal land grabs in history took place right here in River City, otherwise known as the USA. Over a period of three hundred years, the original inhabitants of this vast country were dispossessed of nearly everything---their land, their pride, their language, their culture, and in many cases, their right to live. Brushed off as "savages", "primitive", "children of nature" and by other edifying epithets, by 1900, the surviving American Indians had been confined to a gulag archipelago of reservations, some of only a few acres---though these lands were at least nominally controlled by them. Alcohol and disease had brought them low, combined with massacres and forced migrations. And these were the lucky ones ! Many tribes, especially in the east, lost everything, reduced to remnants whose language and culture were all but destroyed, barely managing to hang on amidst the sea of uncaring white immigrants. Although the 20th century proved a time of resurgence for many Native Americans, many problems still remain. We've seen the endless Hollywood movies about Indians. John Wayne, such a decent guy, if a bit quick on the trigger, always gets the better of the Indians. That stock image of Indians is rampant. But how did these people really react to the European invasion ? Did they just run whooping out of the forest into the guns of the "sturdy white troopers" ? No, I don't think so. They were a lot smarter, but they got outnumbered, and their own internal dissensions helped to do them in too. If Alvin Josephy writes from the point of a white man and does not live up to the strictures of political correctness of 35 years later, he certainly is not "anti-Indian"; he illustrates the problems of unifying a mosaic of peoples, shows the whites as generally brutal, greedy, and treacherous, at the same time not trying to show the Indians as angels either. Throughout the three centuries of conflict over North America, Indians consistently produced leaders of high quality who tried desperately to stem the tide, to stop the steady loss of lands. That they ultimately did not succeed does not say anything about their character. Josephy has written a detailed history of nine of the most successful leaders, those who most challenged the European invaders, their armies and all. Starting from the nearly mythical Hiawatha, who unlike the hero of Longfellow's epic, did not live in Minnesota, but in upstate New York, he follows the advancing line of the colonists across the continent, to end with the inspiring tale of the Nez Perces led by Chief Joseph. "King Philip" of New England, whose real name was Metacom, was the first to try to build a pan-tribal alliance against the land grabbers. He was followed by such men as Pope of the Pueblo peoples, Pontiac, and Tecumseh. Asi-Yaholo (known to history as Osceola) of the Seminoles, Black Hawk of t

"The Patriot Chiefs" is an excellent biographical sketch of nine American Indian leaders. This book was stirring to the soul of this non-American Indian reader. The men profiled here fit every definition of true patriotism. Although most of their noble causes ended in treachery, the ability and courage of these men was absolutely incredible. The celebrated patriots of the American Indian cause were equals to the John Hancocks, Patrick Henrys and Thomas Jeffersons of the Eurocentric history taught today. This book should be a required read for all students of American History. The "Patriot Chiefs" history is truly American.