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Fondness for War

Among the earliest songs to which a Dakota child listens are those of war. As soon as he begins to totter about, he carries - as a plaything - a miniature bow & arrow. The first thing he is taught as great & truly noble is taking a scalp, and he pants to perform an act which is so manly. At the age of sixteen he is often on the war path. When a boy is of the proper age to go to war, he is presented with p, or he makes a war club. He then consecrates certain parts of animals, which he vows not to eat. after he had killed an enemy he is at liberty to eat any one of those portions of an animal from which he agreed to abstain. If he kills another person the prohibition is taken off from another part, until finally he has been emancipated from his oath by his bravery. Before young men go out on a war party, they endeavor to propitiate the patron deity by a feast. During the hours of night they celebrate the "armor feast" which is distinguished by drumming, singing, and agonized shrieking. much in the same way as the Knights of old [?watched?] their armor before the day of trial.

  The war prophets, or priests, by the narrating of pretended dreams or by inspiring oratory, incite the tribe against an enemy.  If a party are successful in securing scalps, they paint themselves black and return home in mad-triumph.   As they approach their village, those who are there run forth to greet them and strip them of their clothes and supply them with others.   The scalp is very carefully prepared for exhibition being painted red and stretched upon a hoop which is fastened to a pole: If the scalp is from a man it is decked with an eagle feather, if from a woman with a comb.   At a scalp dance at Kaposia Minnesota the braves stood on one side of the circle, drumming & rattling and shouting a monotonous song, reminding one of a ditty of the chimney sweeps of a city.  The women standing opposite to the men, advanced & retreated from them squeaking in an unearthly manner a sort of chorus  This is the chief dance in which the women engage.  If a scalp is taken in summer they dance until the falling of the leaves; if taken in winter, until the hares appear.   When the scalp is freshly painted, as it is four times, it is a great occasion.  After their mad orgies have ceased, they burn or bury it.
 An Eagle's feather with a red spot on the head of an Indian is a badge that the possessor has  killed a foe.   If the feather is notched and bordered with red or dipped and topped with red, it signifies that a throat has been cut.  The red on a blanket shows that the woman has been wounded by an enemy; but the black hand, that he has killed his enemy.  The Dakotas like other savages in war, show no sympathy for sex, infancy or old age.   At Pokeguma, the Kaposia band scalped two little girls