Native American Journal Entry

These recent times have been tough for the tribe. Since the appearance of the Europeans upon our lands there has been a great plague upon our society. They brought with them unknown diseases that have infected much of the tribe and killed many others, the Europeans go to our hunting grounds killing hundreds of buffalo’s for pleasure and we have been restricted to a certain piece of land. The Europeans have set up a village at the top of a nearby hillside and although we keep in relative peace with them, it is as if they are saying we are watching you. Actions such as these will not be accepted and must be dealt with and we have many opportunities to accomplish this. Their settlement was recently built and lacks proper fortifications to defend themselves against any type of attack. They also have a stagecoach route that runs near my village bringing people who are either moving to the settlement or those who are only coming out to hunt buffalo. To attempt an ambush on those hunting would require many resources and result in a larger number of my brothers dying. The plan that would have the greatest success would be to attack the stagecoach before it nears my village. This will need to be thought about further before any action is taken. We do keep some ties with these people. They have brought with them items that help to increase our hunting efficiency and so we have created trade with them. We take to them animal skins, furs and tobacco in return we get horses, blankets and guns. With this trade comes a price, many people within the tribe feel as though the Europeans are infecting the materials they trade us in order to make us sick with their diseases to kill us off. There does seem to be a connection between those receiving items from the Europeans and those who are becoming sick. The illnesses take several days to infect the person but once it is in their system they almost always die. I have seen this happen many times and nothing the

References: Access Genealogy Indian Tribal Records (2004). Blackfeet hunting customs. Retrieved June 10, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/blackfeet/huntingcustoms.htm Access Genealogy Indian Tribal Records (2004). Blackfeet Indian history. Retrieved June 10, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/blackfeet/blackfeetindiantribe.htm