Customer Reviews

Lewis and Clark among the Indians

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

A more detailed view of Lewis and Clark's relations and attitudes toward the Indians. Interesting insight into Sacagawea's true role within the Corp of Discovery. A must read for any Lewis and Clark/Western history buff.

Responsibilities of proclaiming U.S. sovereignty, promoting intertribal peace between Indians, and advancing American trade were major components of the Corps of Discovery. This book portrays the relationships between Indian and white convergences when the U.S. was spreading its wings into unknown but recently acquired territories.
Ronda chronologically takes the reader up the Missouri River with Lewis and Clark first beginning with the Oto and Missouri Indians, followed by the Yankton Sioux, the intimidating and challenging Teton Sioux, the apprehensive Arikaras, winter life in the Mandan/Hidatsa village, the amiable Shoshones, Nez Perce and Flathead tribes and culminating with the ever so pilfering, troublesome lower Columbia River Indians.
What Ronda makes very clear, and what Lewis and Clark were hard pressed to alter and/or understand, were the intricate and byzantine trade network systems which existed among the various tribes. For example, there was the Teton Sioux and Arikara trade, followed by the Mandan/Hidatsa and Assinboine trade alliances which were difficult and demanding systems to change.
Secondly, encouraging intertribal peace between tribes was like swimming against the current. After decades and possibly centuries of intertribal warring, peace was not going to happen overnight.
If the reader is somewhat versed in the Lewis and Clark literature and assumes that there is not much else to learn from the expedition, this is an extraordinary look into a different side of the journey.

AS an author of a Lewis and Clark book, I can appreciate the research involved in writing a good book. Dr. Ronda has written the definitive book for understanding the interactions between The Corps of Discovery and the various Indian nations they encountered. He explains the politics behind the numerous interactions, some friendly others very contentious. For a Lewis and Clark buff, this is a MUST HAVE addition to their collection.
I totally enjoyed this book!

Lewis and Clark among the Indians by James P. Ronda is one of the most respected books in the L&C literature. It is not a general history of the expedition, but instead focuses entirely on Indian relations of the Expedition, explaining not only L&C's responsibilities, actions, and mistakes in dealing with the native people they encountered, but also on the motivations and views of the Indians.

The most interesting aspect of the book for me was the discussion of Lewis and Clark as ethnographers (or recorders of primary data about native American life). Several members of the Expedition made particularly valuable notes on the lifestyles of the Indians they met. Sergeant John Ordway had a talent for recording homey details that give us a glimpse into a long-vanished world of Indians at the moment of first contact with whites. Sergeant Patrick Gass, a carpenter, perceptively described the houses of the Indians. William Clark gravitated instinctively toward political analysis, grasping who the leadership was and how Indian power politics worked. It's not surprising he later proved so talented as a diplomat managing Indian affairs in the West long after the Expedition. But it was Meriwether Lewis who emerged as the premier ethnographer of the Expedition. Food, clothing, cooking utensils, weapons all caught Lewis's eye and were recorded, and often drawn, in painstaking detail.

Thankfully, Ronda steers clear of political correctness, refusing to portray the Indians as saintly victims or L&C as the vanguard of American imperialism. Lewis and Clark among the Indians is academic history at its finest. The research is fresh, measured, and dispassionate. As such it will appeal to those readers with a particular interest in the topic.

It's worth noting that Ronda sets a goal in the introduction of avoiding the themes of "high adventure, national triumph, and male courage." One sometimes senses that he bends over backwards to drain excitement and humor from the narrative.

A well researched book that is not meant to replace a reading of the original journals. Dr. Rhonda did an excellent job putting the American Indians back in to the narrative of Lewis & Clark's expedition. The information regarding the various tribes and nations is quite accurate and helps to give an introduction to American Indian history for someone who might not have any familiarity of the western nations. Generally, the book is well-written and interesting. It could be interesting and entertaining for both academic and general readers.

Lewis and Clark Among the Indians is a great book. It is very descriptive about the Mandan winter and going across the divide. Everything about this book is amazing! I recomend this book to read.

As the title indicates, Ronda's book concentrates primarily on Lewis and Clark's interactions with Indians along their journey to the Pacific. Aside from the exploration, Jefferson's other mission, as described by Ronda, was to make peace with the Indians, establishing not only a relationship with the U.S. but to also broker peace among the tribes. As the author points out, the latter was very naïve as the two explorers' did not comprehend the complex relationships among the various tribes. For example, the tribes closest to traders had a distinct advantage over the interior tribes due to their access to guns, ammunition and other material sought by the interior tribes such as the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes living well up the Missouri. Tribes such as the powerful Teton Sioux were protective of their roles as dominant traders while their enemies the Mandans and Hidatsas traded with many plains tribes due to their ability to grow vegetables and corn that the plains Indians lacked. Although trying to bridge gaps between rivals such as the Mandan and the Arikaras seemed plausible to the explorers, Ronda points out well that presents and well meaning speeches by Lewis and Clark could not realistically alter relationships until the whites provided a dominant presence among the tribes. A good portion of the book concentrates on the Mandan and Hidatsa since the explorers spent their first winter on the upper Mississippi enduring a very supportive relationship. Strong bonds were made with the Mandan but Ronda well documents the intricate relationships that the explorer's had with the various tribes including sexual contact that Ronda describes had a mystical tribal benefit aside from some cases of trade. It is quite impressive that the explorers were well treated among the less fortunate Indians such as the Flatheads, Shoshone and Nez Perce who assisted L & C over the most crucial part of the trip supplying needed horses, food and guides. After reading of L & C's fortunes with the mountain and plains Indians, Ronda described a different contrast with the Indians closer to the Pacific who had either direct or indirect contact with traders. The Chinooks prove to be savvy traders as well as other tribes along the Columbia River. This change and more aggressive stance toward pilfering, which Ronda describes as possible cultural misunderstandings, try the corps almost to violence altering the more congenial relationship that the expedition featured for the most of their contacts with the natives. Ronda goes beyond describing the contacts between the corps and the Indians; he also explains the cultures of each tribe and clarifies issues that were not clear to the explorers. This is most notable when Lewis and his three man platoon make contact with the aggressive Blackfeet that ends in the only bloodshed between Indians and the corps. Ronda indicates that Lewis may have unintentionally raised tensions by explaining that the U.S. would be aiding the Blackfeet's traditional enemies and in turn under cut there trade dominance. Interesting that later, the Blackfeet become the most feared tribe of future Mountain men. Excellent book that fits well after a general read of the journey since the book covers activities of only key corps members concentrating primarily on Indian relations.

Okay, so the Lewis and Clark bicentennial era has come and gone, but this remains a very good study of a sensitive subject - lewis and clark's encounters with Native Americans. Not given to empassioned conjecture or political polemic, Rhonda considers context, comparable expeditions, and lots of careful, well-documented research in telling the story of and drawing thoughtful conclusions about the expedition's recorded perceptions of the inhabitants they encountered and their responsibility for subsequent treatment of Native Americans in the West. The late historian cum history-book-factory Stephen Ambrose deemed this book worthy enough to fill an entire (albeit footnoted)chapter of his popular work Undaunted Courage almost exclusively from Rhonda's text.

This interesting book has completely altered my understanding of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Their harrowing journey from St. Louis to the Pacific and back was met with many Indian encounters--some friendly, some not. At the same time the explorers labored under the misapprehension that the Native Americans were ready to join the new political entity that was the United States--a governmental system that they could be hardly expected to conceive of. Lewis and Clark tried to forge new alliances between various Indian nations--but without understanding the complex network of already existing alliances and relationships that sustained these groups. Particularly confusing to the explorers was the fact that a given tribe might trade with the enemy that sometimes raided them.

The very nature of the Lewis and Clark expedition was often confusing to the Indians. The idea of exploration made little sense to most Indians groups. The Indians could understand the motives of white traders like the Hudson Bay Company, and the explorers' claim that they were something altogether different only invited suspicion. Only future promises of guns and trade kept the Indians somewhat interested--although the coming of this new trade system threatened some Indian groups with entrenched interests.

Also of interest were sexual relations between the explorers and Indians. Some Indian groups would hold a sort of orgy where the wives of younger Indians joined in sexual congress with the male elders so that the spiritual power of the elders could be visited on the younger males through the medium of their wives. Those among the expedition who were interested in participating in this sort of gathering were also invited--as the white men were also considered to have some sort of spiritual power that was worth passing on! It is also noteworthy that the one black man of the expedition, as a type of person who the Indians had not yet seen before, was of singular interest to the Native Americans in general and their women in particular. There was also the very credible claim that Clark himself had sired a child among the Indians.

Wow this book is tedious. I didnt need to hear about every single meeting that Lewis and Clark had with the Indians; an overview would have been enough. It was interesting that the Native Americans had there own economy and trade relationships. Why wouldnt they? Maybe Jefferson should have sent along a few bankers because L&C seemed to be oblivious. I would have loved this book had the author expanded on the realtionships between tribes both commercial and cultural and used Lewis and Clark as a vehicle to move that story along but this book reads like minutes from Chamber of Commerce meetings. I gave up after 90 pages.