Quote Originally Posted by Rifleman View Post
As you work on that project don't forget that the plains tribes were largely subjugated because the buffalo were eliminated. The buffalo gave them everything they needed: food, shelter, clothing, even a theology. When the buffalo was gone they got in line fast for blankets and beef.

It's enough to make a body think that the buffalo was one of them there Clauswitzian centers of gravity that I keep hearing about.
Granted we're diverting from topic here, but I do understand that. But it also varies from tribe to tribe. The groups most impacted by the demise of the buffalo were the Plains tribes...the loss of buffalo didn't do squat to the social support systems of the Southwestern tribes (Navajo, Apache, Yavapai, and so on). And some of the tribes had their resistance broken before the buffalo were removed from the equation (the Comanche are a good example, as are the Kiowa).

I'll hush now....the Indian Wars are one of my main focal areas, so I could bore folks to death with tons of trivia.....