Deep Ruts the Wagons Made

There were numerous tribes scattered all across theUnited States long before they were discovered by foreigners The whiteman. The period of the Indians was longwhen they lived within the confinement of the lands they called home. Theselands that they cherished, their beliefs they cherished. They were one with thealmighty one and free for hundreds of years but in a blink of an eye, they lostit all. They were hunted and annihilated ridiculed and persecuted. They were arace indifferent to us but they were a race the foreigners on their landsdidn't want and by what ever means possible they meant to disperse these peoplefrom their homes and take from them everything they owned and they did justthat. When Christopher Columbus born 1451 the son of DomenioColumbus stepped ashore on American soil on the 12th October 1492 everythingchanged for the Indians. By the time DeSota and Ponce De Leon arrived searching for gold and slaves many an Indian haddied at their hands. At this time therewere supposedly some 10 million Indians inhabiting the land but after threecenturies this number was reduced by 90%. The English arrived then the Frenchand the Dutch every Sovereign wanted apiece of the land to claim as their own and the Indians succumbed to diseasesimported by the whites. Famine and warfare were directed at them as the whitepeople pushed them further and further away from their own lands so they couldclaim and prosper by them. Before 1600 there were about one million Indians wholived north of the Rio Grande speaking some 2,000 languages but most of theselanguages are dead now. These people lived mainly of the land growing maize,fishing and hunting to feed their people. When the Europeans arrived that allchanged and destruction quickly followed as these intruders wanting what theIndians had and what was on their lands. In New England the tribes were hit by diseasesbrought by the white men which wiped out thousands. The Indian people werecheated by the Quakers, disgraced by the Iroquois and defeated by the Dutch inthe Esopus wars of 1660. They never stood a chance against these people andhundred's of years later they still didn't stand a chance. By 1840 all the Eastern tribes, those that hadsurvived annihilation were forcibly removed to Indian territory west of theMississippi. There are no words which could compensate for thesuffering over the years of these people, the Native Americans, the Indians. These people who were pushed and shoved all over the United States, starved andmurdered, beaten and humiliated but they are growing stronger. They arereclaiming their heritage and people are listening. To many lies were told, tomany treaties broken. Many of the tribes who lived in the United States beforetheir exodus to Indian Lands or their extinction can be found at the back ofthis book. This list may not fully represent all the tribes which inhabited theland over the period. There are many long forgotten names of tribes who werecompletely obliterated over the years when peace was hard to come by. Thetribes listed though do represent a vast majority of the Indians living in theUnited States during the period before the white man caused some of them to beextinct.There were many tales of greed throughout theperiod. Many of the tribes included in this book suffered harshly at the handsof soldiers. The same soldiers the Government had sent to protect them, when infact, all they did was abuse them for their own ends and for greed and in somecases glory.The subject of the Native American Indian has alwaysbeen a touchy one. At times they have been overlooked. At times they have beenportrayed as the "e;savages"e;,We have found out over the years that this was not so in many cases. Alarge injustice was dealt to these people. The real history of these peoplelike many other events has been swept under the American carpet so it is easierto forget whose lands you now live on. Whose blood lies dried in the earth. Whose bones are scattered, some not in peace as even in death some archeologistis looking for artifact's, they do not care if the ground is sacred or not. TheIndians paid their price to live upon this earth, let their spirits go free.Hard to believe, not really considering the recordof the white settlers and the forcible removal of the Indians from their landsespecially when Gold was found. Eyes lit up, greed set in and murder began. Yes their story has been written before and itprobably will be again for there is a never ending quest for truth and justicefor these people, the real first Americans who we seem to overlook at times,for they are the indigenous people.