All right, my stalwart ones! This little PT Challenge is rooted in Five Nations history and a nice demonstration of the stamina of the early frontiersmen and coureur des bois [“woods runners.”] First the historical background. The Five Nations were the Five Tribes that united under a loose confederacy known as the Iroquois or Haudenosaunee. The five tribes that made up the League were: the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca. In 1722, the south-eastern tribe, the Tuscarora made the League the Six Nations. The Iroquois League was primarily a Northeastern confederation and it is there that they occasionally accepted white men into their tribal system. This acceptance was not easy to come by—one was expected to perform many feats of woodsmanship, bravery and cooperation to be accepted, One such man’s account [William Johnson] gives us a little peek into how rigorous the initiation was. The Iroquois tribes were masters of river-navigation via canoe, bull-boat...
Examining & Resurrecting Indigenous Skills and Frontier Rough & Tumble Combat