Albert Hensley's Two Autobiographies and the History of American Indian Autobiography

PEYOTE, THE DIVINE CACTUS, THE VISION SENDER, CAME TO THE WISCONSIN Winnebago in the last decade of the nineteenth century, years that were especially difficult for that Indian tribe. Most Americans were still convinced that America was the great melting pot, and so believed as well that it was the manifest duty of Indians to melt as soon as possible. The official expression of this sentiment was the Dawes Act of 1887, which aimed to break up the tribes and tribal predilections by dividing up the reservations into individual allotments for individual Indians. Like the Indians of many other tribes, the Winnebagos were divided in their response to these pressures to abandon the old ways, to melt-to become civilized. Some remained adamant in their belief that their Winnebago traditions ought to be maintained, that their children ought still to be initiated into the old ceremonies, and that they ought still to fast for visions. Sam Blowsnake, for example, tells us in his autobiography, Crashing Thunder, ' that his father encouraged him in 'these years not only to seek a vision, but to go on the warpath as well. And so he and some other Winnebago young men went to a neighboring village and killed an unfortunate Potawatomi, who was laboring there as a blacksmith. But times had changed. These young men could not tell of their deeds about the campfire-not for fear of avenging Potawatomis, not even for fear of the cavalry, but for fear of the police. Eventually Blowsnake and his fellow warriors would be brought to trial for murder. Other Winnebagos were convinced that it was not only expedient but right to melt into the larger American society. Still others managed to live in both worlds, to respect the old ways and yet to farm their land, as the Bureau of Indian Affairs encouraged them to do-a first step on the road to civilization. An alarming number of Winnebagos were choosing alcohol

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• Four Thousand Invitations

  Philip J Deloria, Philip J Deloria Philip J Deloria•Studies in American Indian…•2013

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