Ok folks, this one is something that we have all seen in history lessons and Movies...
Well here it is, Scalping was originally started by French Canadian trappers and woodsman. Apart from leaving their mark and claiming a trophy, it was also a means to collect bounties paid on Natives, collect scalps and trade for food and staples, whiskey and cash...
It was much easier to carry scalps then to hunt and trap for furs and tan them out to trade, and in certain instances, where bounties were paid, well a scalp is easier to carry then a body...
The Native American did not scalp originally, however eventually, after finding the remains of those whom had been scalped, it became a tit for tat action, where white mans scalp began to be taken.
This tended to occur more in the Plains nations then the woodland BUT it was never as prevalent as white mans history would claim. If one were to believe the written histories, one would think men, women, children all lost their hair on a regular basis along the wagon routes, but in reality, it was a far less common action. However it was the perfect tool to horrify the people reading newspapers, to quash those whom believed the Native deserved better treatment, and to gee up those who would ride out to commit atrocities.
Kind of interesting to consider that effectively we see the same style of falsehood used today against certain aspects of society... The use of Fear and Misinformation... Sadly some things do not change.
