Use of the Sword by American Indian Tribes

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by mahratt

I think that in the second half of the 19th century, long saber blades were used most often as attributes of power. At the same time, in the 18th century and earlier, European long blades were undoubtedly used by the local population of America as weapons.
Detail of hide painting sent to Switzerland from Sonora, Mexico in 1758 by Philipp Segesser (1 September 1689 - 28 September 1762). Assumed to represent the 1720 defeat of the Villasur expedition. Supposedly shown in the image is José López Naranjo and Fray Juan Minguez.

Thank you so much for adding this of the Segesser paintings!! which were mentioned earlier as one of the earliest recorded uses of the sword by American Indian tribes. I had the great opportunity to view these in New Mexico in research in which these paintings also showed the presence of a different kind of cuera (leather jacket) than previously known in Spanish colonial culture of the period.

That picture of the Blackfoot with a M1822 British cavalry sword is outstanding! and this is probably of course a studio photo with that sword possibly being one of the CDV props, as common practice of the time. It surely adds context to the presence of these swords in these environments, and begs the question, if the individual saw the sword there and requested being photographed holding it as something known in practice in these times in his tribal setting. Here I would say however that having seen the other images from this museum and in Alberta, it does seem that it is very possible this sword belonged to the warrior, as with the other example seen in earlier post.