Looking for western native reenactors

[nonotuck]

Hi,

My name is John..I am from out here in western massachusetts....I have been portraying an eastern Native person for awhile now but find myself drawn to the various indigenous cultures of the west....I was wondering if anyone here portrays these folks..I am particularly interested in the Delaware, Comanche, Pawnee, nations...Any leads or info most welcomed.........---john

[Chuck Burrows]

I don't really do the re-enacting thing per se (I have done lots of "living history" though including months at a time), but have long been interested in the eastern NDNs that came west since my great great whatever granmama was a Tuscarora and there is quite a bit of documentation for the Iroquois in the west working for both the NWC/HBC as well as the Americans (i.e Pierre Tevanitagan sp? fo whom Pierre's Hole is named). There were also a lot of other eastern NDNs, especially the Delaware/Shawnee, who had moved west to Oklahoma and were engaged in the RMFT.
Some of the better known Delaware/Shawnee were James Secondine aka Sagundai and Black Beaver. Many others traveled with Carson and James Kirker. Overall those boys were considered some of the best to ride the river with. During the 1840's they had some big fights with the Southern Cheyenne. Sagundai acted as a guide for Fremont in the 1840's and saved Carson's life. His ball headed club is in the Smithsonian.
I'll try and post some more info later.

[sean]

Portray, no. Interested, yes. I've done a lot of reading on the Delaware, Shawnee, Iroquois, and others in the West. Are you looking for historical info or reenactment info?

I've attached Audubon's painting of Black Beaver.

Sean

Attachments:

[jeffp]

Nonotuck-

Fremont's expedition to Klamath lake & surrounding areas is pretty interesting,
he had some Eastern natives with him, and his chronicle of the expedition
describes some warfare between the Eastern natives and the local Klamaths,
after the Klamaths attacked the Fremont party.

You might also check out the HBC company, they had lots of Eastern
natives working for them: Iroquois, Deleware, Abinaki, and Canadian Mohawk.


Another good book to pick up is "Cheyenne Dog Soldiers;
a Ledgerbook history of Coups & Combat"

the book shows a lot of Pawnee, Shawnee and
Delaware indians in the featured ledger drawings, as well as a
biographic breakdown of the artist and commentary on the drawing.