[Granville-Hough] 10 Jun 2009 - Horses for Guns

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:00:43 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Horses for Guns -10 June 2009

     British Guns for Spanish Horses

  The eighteenth century in Northern Mexico and the Spanish Empire west
of the Mississippi River was a period of rapid change for the Indian
tribes, especially after the Seven Years War (French and Indian War).
One could write books on the experiences of some thirty tribes as they
struggled to reconcile their traditional ways of life with the new
technologies introduced by the European settlers.  Heading these new
technologies were the introduction of the horse and the introduction of
guns, powder, and ball.

  The horses came from Spain, primarily, and their markings generally
showed they were former cavalry horses of the Spanish presidios.  One
could write whole books on how horse ranches in Central Mexico provided
horses to the Presidios from Texas to California, then how the Apaches,
for 150 years, watched these horse herds as they were moved to pastures
more and more distant from the Presidios in order to find sufficient
grazing.  When the herds were far enough from the Presidios, the Apaches
would strike and frequently get away with whole herds. The presidial
soldiers could not give chase when they had lost their horses. The
Apaches learned how to move these horses northward, then trade them to
other tribes for all the things Apaches needed for a good life.  What
the Apaches eventually wanted more than anything else were guns and
ammunition.  The northern neighbors to the Apaches wanted horses so they
could hunt buffalo and wage war on other tribes more effectively.  So
the Apaches said, for generations,  Ãô"We can get horses.  You can get
guns.  We can trade.Ãö"

  A thousand miles away, the other facet of this trade was taking place.
The French of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys wanted furs.  They
eventually were willing to let tribes have guns in exchange for furs,
buffalo hides, and other luxuries of the plains.  They did not mind at
all if the guns were eventually used against the Spanish, one of their
traditional enemies.  When the British took over the French domains east
of the Mississippi River in 1763, they located the center of their trade
at Detroit and continued the French practices.  Tories and renegade
Americans such as Simon Girty and his brothers worked out of Detroit as
Indian agents for various tribes and expedited the flow of guns during
the Revolutionary War years.  These northern tribes at first gradually
traded the guns south for horses and other goods.  By the time of the
Revolutionary War, this trade network had been perfected and new guns
could be traded for new horses in periodic trading fairs on the plains.

  So, did the British furnish guns through trade or other ways to their
Indian allies?  Yes, they did.  Did these Indian allies trade their guns
to other tribes for horses and other goods? Yes, they did.  Where did
the horses come from?  From the Apaches, the professional horse thieves,
who in turn got the horses from Spanish Presidios and Mexican ranches.
Did the British provide guns directly to the Apaches?  No! the British
in Detroit probably never heard of the Apache bands.  The typical Apache
probably never heard of the British in Detroit.  But the British in
Detroit did know the plains Indian tribes all the way into Canada had
Spanish horses.  And the bi-lingual Girty brothers and others who lived
and traded with the Indian tribes surely knew how the trades were made,
tribe to tribe.  Of course, they were on the British side and could only
encourage and expedite the trades.

(Note: This is not what Judge Butler wants, but it is a summary of the
situation by which Apaches on the Rio Grande were able to trade horses
to the Red River tribes of Texas for British guns.  They also traded
horses to other tribes for whatever these tribes had.)