INDIAN TRIBES OF THE EASTERN wOODLANDS AND wOODLAND LONgHOuSESHISTORICAL BACKGROUND, PAINTING AND MODELLING GUIDES

War In The Forest, a supplement for Chris Peers’s skirmish rules set A Good Day to Die, was released in February of 2005. It covers warfare in the eastern woodlands of North America during the 18th century, involving encounters between settlers, Rangers, Coureurs du Bois, and of course Indian war parties. Historically most of the fighting pitted rival Indian tribes against each other, and War In The Forest is especially suitable for this as it concentrates on bringing out the differences in fighting styles and abilities between the most important combatants. So it might be a good idea to distinguish the appearance of the various woodland tribes, so that players of these and other rules can paint up their figures to represent their favorite tribe. In this article I shall look at the principal inhabitants of the Ohio Valley, the Great Lakes region and the Southeast during the 18th century.

and natives, but incursions by the Great Lakes and New York tribes on behalf of their European allies.

MIAMI

The Miami were originally from the Great Lakes area, but migrated south into the Ohio Valley where they joined the Illinois Confederacy. The Miamis were well respected as warriors. They bearded

the Iroquois on at least one occasion, and in the 1790s, under Little Turtle, they were responsible for the worst defeat ever suffered by the U.S. army in its wars with the Indians. Unlike most of the Ohio Valley tribes the Miamis were not friends

Fortunately for those who are not skilled at conversions and modeling, figures representing specific tribes are now becoming available from Conquest Miniatures of Rancho Cucamonga, California. Their line now includes Iroquois, Delaware and Sac and Fox, as well as several packs of “generic” woodland Indians suitable for several different tribes.

THE OHIO VALLEy

The Beaver Wars of the mid to late 17th century saw many tribes such as the Eries, Neutrals, Hurons, Petuns, Delawares and Susquehannocks destroyed, scattered, or absorbed by the

victorious Five Nations of the Iroquois. Some of those who escaped fled south and some north, but many went to the Ohio Valley and its rich hunting grounds. Here they met tribes already established in the region such as the Miamis and the Shawnees. Mostly they welcomed the refugees and allowed them to settle on land that was not being used, though both they and the newcomers later resisted white incursions into their hunting grounds. During the 18th century the immigration of Anglo-American colonists, and the efforts by the French to bring the Ohio Valley tribes into their system of trade and fur production, provoked not just conflict between whites

By Tim Greene, photos by Tom Weiss

of the French. They often traded with the British, but they were of an independent cast of mind, and bitterly resisted the incursions of Anglo-American settlers.

Miami men wore very little; in summer just a breechclout and moccasins, plus in winter a deerskin shirt of simple cut. Deerskins were generally dyed red, and sometimes painted in the manner of the Plains Indians. Breechclouts were also red, which was a favourite Miami colour. Leggings were worn on special occasions and were knee or thigh length, gartered at the knees. The front and bottom of each leg were decorated by embroidered bands. The roach was commonly worn by warriors; sometimes the entire head was shaved leaving a tuft at the crown, and other men wore their hair short except for long locks dangling in front of and behind the ears.

Red facial paint was extensively used, with black sometimes added. The body was often painted brown. Men were also tattooed with elaborate designs, such as seven parallel lines on the nose and cheeks, and ten on the chin.

SHAWNEE

The Shawnee (meaning “southerners”) were wanderers who were often invited by other tribes to live among them because of their reputation as fighters. An Algonquian speaking people closely related to the Sac and Fox, they inhabited a region which stretched from the Great Lakes region to the Carolinas. The Shawnee claimed to have been responsible for preventing the Iroquois from completing their conquest of the Ohio Valley, and they resisted white expansion more fiercely than any other tribe. They threw up a great leader in Tecumseh, who in 1811 came closer than anyone to creating a pan-Indian confederacy which might have slowed or even halted the westward expansion of the White frontier.

In their overall appearance they were rather plain compared to the other tribes. Men wore tanned leather breechclouts with a short flap in front, and deerskin leggings gartered below the knee, fringed along the side seams and fastened to a belt with straps. Other ornamentation was rarely used; when it was, arrow, chevron, and zigzag designs were preferred. The roach was rarely worn. Men either shaved their heads in front and attached feathers at the back, or left the hair long and loose. Some wrapped their long woven sashes round their heads like turbans. Face paint was usually red. Some of the Perry Miniatures figures from their American War of Independence range which have the front of the head shaved and the hair left long at the back, or the large scalplocks and no roach, will do quite well for Shawnees.

DELAWARE

The Leni-Lenape, as the Delaware called themselves, were once a powerful confederacy along the Atlantic coast. They had an advanced culture, including a form of picture writing, and the other Algonquian speaking tribes regarded them as the originators of their culture, calling them “grandfathers”. Decimated by disease and wars with the Europeans and Iroquois during the 16th and 17th centuries, they were eventually driven first into Pennsylvania and then Ohio. The Iroquois claimed to have defeated them and reduced them to the status of “women” (meaning that they surrendered their political independence to the League). Despite this the Delawares were regarded as first rate woodsmen and formidable warriors, who had a reputation for ferocity despite mostly being of only medium stature. In the 18th century they were bitter enemies of the Anglo-Americans, who took their best lands in Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. (This was done with the permission of the Iroquois, who did a brisk business selling the lands of the tribes they had supposedly conquered to the British!)

Delaware warriors wore breechclouts with flaps in front and back, and thigh length leggings of deerskin fastened at the sides with thongs and gartered just below the knees. Tanned deerskin cloaks were worn fastened at the neck leaving the arms free, and were sometimes draped over one shoulder and belted. Clothing was decorated with concentric circles or spirals of shell beads. Winter robes of fur (bear, wildcat, beaver, wolf and raccoon sewn together) were also worn. Most men wore their hair long and loose, either with a wampum-decorated headband or gathered at the back like a ponytail, though some followed the dominant fashion in the woodlands of shaving the head and leaving a scalplock hanging behind. Sometimes a brush of stiff hair was left standing two to three inches high from forehead to nape, combined with a scalplock. Chiefs might wear a crown of upstanding turkey feathers dyed red. Delawares tattooed their faces and bodies with animal figures. The face was often painted with geometric or animal designs in black, red, white, and yellow. Figures are easily obtained: Conquest produce a pack, and the Stockbridge Indians in the Perry Miniatures range (who were basically the same people) would also do nicely.

HURON OR WyANDOT

These people were the remnants of the Iroquoian speaking confederacies which had been smashed by their relatives of the Five Nations during the 17th century. The scattered refugees reunited in the Great Lakes region under the

name of one of their original tribes, the Hurons, who were staunch allies of the French. The Wyandots were a faction of these people who emigrated to the Sandusky region of the Ohio Valley. The Hurons ended up in Minnesota, and throughout the 18th century they tried, in company with their allies the Ottawa, to drive the Sioux from their lands. (They were largely unsuccessful in this, despite possessing more guns than their enemies.) The Wyandots joined the Delawares and Shawnees in opposing the settlement of the Ohio Valley by Whites. Both Wyandots and Hurons resembled their Algonquian speaking allies in their way of life more than they did their Iroquoian cousins, though they were never the woodsmen or canoemen that the Algonquians were.

Huron and Wyandot men wore fitted breechclouts, with flaps to mid thigh in front and back, and thigh length leggings tied to a belt with thongs. Sleeveless tunics or ponchos were favoured in cooler weather. Decoration on the clothing consisted of bands of quillwork or moose-hair embroidery in reds and browns.

Garments were sometimes painted in floral designs, and occasionally had long fringes attached. A variety of hair styles were worn. These included shaved heads with the roach; shaved heads with a tuft left on top and a scalplock; half the head shaved with the hair left long on the other half; hair worn loose; or in two large rolls over the ears with the rest of the head shaved. A chief’s headdress was a cap of feathers with an embroidered headband rising to a peak at the front. Both tribes dyed their buckskin clothing and moccasins black. Few men were tattooed, but faces and bodies were painted with geometric designs or representations of animals and humans. Black, red, green and violet paints were most popular.

MINGO

The Mingos were a dissident Iroquois faction who settled in the lands which the Five Nations claimed to have conquered from the local tribes. They usually ignored the policies of the League, and were generally pro-French. Their towns often contained members of all the local tribes, including Delawares, Wyandots, and Shawnees. They were very bitter against the white settlers, especially after some of these killed Chief Logan’s family in a very brutal manner.

Men wore tanned leather breechclouts with rather short ends at front and back. Knee length kilts held in place with a belt were worn for ceremonies. Leggings were loose and long, partially covering the moccasins and dragging on the ground. They were sewn up in front with an embroidered strip covering the seam, gartered above the knee, and rarely

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fringed. Simple mid-length tunics were worn, made of two pieces of buckskin fastened at the shoulders and fringed on the bottom. Decoration was in arrow and chevron designs, or white beadwork in lacy patterns on a dark (often blue) background. Heads were shaved except for a scalplock. Many wore the roach. Chiefs wore a gustoweh skull cap on a frame, with overlapping layers of feathers hanging down all round, and between one and three feathers held upright in a bone socket. A black rectangle or three stripes were painted on each cheek. Many men sported spectacular tattooing, consisting of double-curve motifs, geometric designs and clan crests. (All the notes on the appearance of the Mingos apply equally well to the Iroquois tribes of the Five Nations - Senecas, Cayugas, Oneidas, Onondagas and Mohawks - who were still based in New York state. This of course means that Iroquois figures could be used to represent Mingos.)

THE GREAT LAKES

The tribes living in the Great Lakes region, north of the Ohio Valley, were originally mostly speakers of various Algonquian languages. They did some farming, but mainly lived by hunting and fishing. In the 1680s and 1690s there was a massive invasion of the area by the survivors of tribes broken by Iroquois attacks. These refugees were remnants of confederacies like the Huron, Erie, and Neutrals, plus various Algonquin speaking bands. They forced their way into the Great Lakes region, slaughtering and driving out the indigenous nations. Eventually the French intervened. They rallied the Great Lakes tribes, and persuaded them to make peace with the invaders and together turn on the Iroquois and their British allies. Eventually a measure of stability returned to the region, which remained a bastion of anti-British sentiment through Pontiac’s rebellion in the 1760s.

CHIPPEWA AND OjIBWA

The Chippewas were a numerous tribe of hunter-gatherers who lived between Hudson’s Bay and the Great Lakes. They consisted of many loosely organized bands. Their closest relatives were the Ottawa and the Potawatomi, and together these peoples were known as the Three Fires Confederacy. The western bands of the Chippewa generally went under the name Ojibwa, and most of the remarks here also apply to them. The Chippewa were formidable warriors, who more than held their own against the Iroquois and were a major factor in stopping their invasion of the Great Lakes region. They were among the staunchest allies of the French, and frequently fought the British and other tribes on their behalf. War parties frequently went south against the Catawba after those people began killing French trappers.

Chippewa men wore breechclouts with long flaps in front and back. Sometimes a kilt-like garment fringed at the bottom was worn instead. Leggings were close-fitting; either gartered below the knees, or thigh length and tied with thongs or straps to a belt. Buckskin ponchos were common in cool weather. Men wore their hair loose, or occasionally braided with a scalplock at the back; warriors liked to stiffen this scalplock so it stood up straight for several inches. Red, black, green and yellow paint was used for war, with green spots sometimes painted in an arc across the face.

Ojibwa men favoured buckskin shirts, embroidered and painted, with attached scalplocks like those of the Plains tribes. Leggings were decorated with porcupine quillwork and moosehair embroidery. Skin garments were frequently dyed black and edged with short fringes. Some men wore their hair long, hanging naturally. Others wore it in two or four braids. Successful warriors, in particular, shaved the head

except for a brush or roach on top and a scalplock hanging behind. Others coiled their braids on top of their heads and wrapped them in bark to make them stand erect. Hair could be painted with red or yellow paint. Ojibwa moccasins were often dyed black. Faces and bodies were painted in dots, bars, patches and other simple designs using red ochre and black charcoal or soot. Men were extensively tattooed, and their bodies were often covered with various designs.

FOx

The Fox were an Algonquian speaking people who may have originally come from the Michigan Peninsula. They were part of the confederacy known as the Fire Nation, which also included the Sac, Kickapoo and Mascouten who had been driven into Wisconsin during the invasions of the Great Lakes region by the refugees fleeing from the Iroquois. The Fox were especially formidable fighters, but in the 18th century they unwisely chose to single-handedly oppose the French, while simultaneously alienating most of their neighbours. This resulted in the near destruction of the Fox Nation. The remnants were taken in by the Sacs and incorporated into what became known as the Sac (or Sauk) and Fox Nation.

Fox men wore breechclout and moccasins in summer, with thigh length leggings and a shirt added in winter. Leggings had fringes at the sides, and large pointed flaps at the bottom which covered most of the foot. They were seamed up the front and sometimes had garters of fur. Garments were lavishly decorated with geometric quillwork and, later in the period, floral and traditional moosehair embroidery. This decoration was much more elaborate than among the allied Sac. Clothing could also be painted in bright hues in solids and stripes, or figures and designs like those of the Miami. The

roach hairstyle was almost universal, though there was one section of the tribe who wore their hair long and loose. Other men shaved the head, leaving a tuft running from front to back or side to side, and a scalplock hanging from the crown. The tuft was sometimes shaved, leaving just the scalplock and roach, and the top part of the shaved skull was then painted red. Some Fox warriors wore a turban made of otter fur, and a few sported buffalo horn headdresses captured from enemies like the Sioux and Iowa. They liked red and black pigments, and some chiefs illustrated by a European artist had their faces painted blue. Yellow, red and black stripes could be painted on the lower half of the face. Among the Fox and the Sac, hands painted on the body denoted an enemy killed in hand to hand combat. Sac and Fox figures are available in the Conquest range.

SAC

Closely related to the Fox and Kickapoo, the Sac were allies of the French. They moved south into the territory of the Illinois Confederacy in the 18th century, occupying the area around the Rock and Mississippi Rivers. Sac men wore the usual breechclout and moccasins in summer, with a robe added in winter. The breechclouts, usually painted red, were of the fitted type without flaps. Hip length leggings of deer or elk skin were also worn. These were whitened with clay and decorated with porcupine quillwork and fringes at the sides. Geometric quillwork and abstract floral moosehair embroidery were used for decoration. Hairstyles and headdresses were similar to those of the Fox. For painting the face and body, white and black pigments were favoured, with the eyes often rimmed in red paint. White stripes were sometimes painted round the arms and legs.

OTTAWA

The Ottawa lived too far north for agriculture, their land was poor in the wild rice so abundant in the land of the Chippewas, and there were few fur bearing animals in their country. So they had little choice but to become traders. This honed their diplomatic skills, and they eventually produced one of the greatest Native American leaders, Pontiac, who led a great revolt against the British in 1763. The Ottawas had a reputation for cunning, treachery and cruelty, but proved loyal to the French, and became the nucleus of anti-British hostility after the French and Indian War.

The French often remarked on the prevalence of nudity among the Ottawas. Men usually wore only a robe and moccasins, though sometimes a fitted leather breechclout was seen with

flaps in front and back, decorated with quillwork. Leggings, when worn, were simple thigh length tubes of hide, fringed on the outside seams and gartered just below the knees. Some men favoured the roach, but the head was more often shaved except for a scalplock hanging from the crown, and a central tuft running front to back and decreasing in height towards the back. Hair could also be worn in two or four braids sometimes wrapped in fur or thongs. Yet others allowed the hair to hang loose or shaved it all except for a tuft at the crown. Men were commonly tattooed with designs including lizards, snakes, and geometrical figures, sometimes covering the entire body. The face and body were painted in red, brown, green and black.

POTAWATOMI

The Potawatomi were close relatives of the Chippewa and Ottawa. They wore tanned leather breechclouts with quillwork bands at the bottom, and flaps hanging down to the knees at front and back. Leggings were deerskin, thigh length, fringed down the side seams and gartered below the knees. Unseamed pieces of tanned skin were worn for shirts. The Potawatomi decorated these garments with quillwork in geometric designs, and with dyed moosehair in modified floral patterns. Warriors generally shaved their heads and wore the roach. The most common style was a tuft of hair from front to back with a scalplock hanging down; a single eagle feather was often added at the back. Warriors painted their faces red and black, the upper face frequently being all black, and the eyes ringed in red and/or black.

WINNEBAGO

The Winnebago were a Siouan speaking tribe from Wisconsin. Early traditions connect the Winnebagos with the northernmost Mound Builder centre of Azatalan. Perhaps because of this exalted ancestry they were said to be haughty and arrogant, looking down on the surrounding tribes as inferior. They also had a reputation for treachery and cannibalism. The Winnebagos occasionally sent warriors to help the French, but mostly they stayed neutral. They wore breechclouts consisting of an underpiece and two separate apron flaps, or a long, single piece of material ending in flaps. These were of elk or deerskin, painted red or black. Leggings were also made of elk or deer hide. They were usually knee length and gartered below the knees. In cooler weather a poncho type shirt reaching to the hips was worn. Shirts and leggings had short fringes. Men wore their hair either in two braids, or just clumped on either side and fastened with thongs.

A few men wore the roach for war, usually with a roach spreader and one or two feathers inserted in a swiveling socket. Headdresses made of rawhide with buffalo horns and grizzly-bear claws could also be worn. Warriors painted their faces and bodies red, black or green. A hand painted on the face or breast signified a man who had killed an enemy, and men who had gone on the warpath in winter commemorated this feat by painting their legs white.

THE SOUTHEAST

South of the Ohio Valley, and stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic, was a region inhabited by some of the most advanced tribes in North America - so much so that they later became known as the Five Civilized tribes. Despite this the Southeastern peoples were extremely warlike, and bitterly resisted both the incursions of the Iroquois from the north and the advance of White settlement.

CATAWBA

The Catawba were one of a number of Siouan-speaking tribes inhabiting the Carolina Piedmont country, east of the Appalachians. During the late 17th century they absorbed other tribes which had been weakened by the English colonists and the diseases they had brought with them, so that by the early 18th century they were an agglomeration of many different nations, and a variety of languages could be heard in the Catawba towns. They allied themselves closely to the colony of South Carolina, and fought loyally for the British throughout the Colonial Wars. They helped the British destroy French posts along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the French responded by embroiling their Great Lakes allies in constant wars with the Catawba. The Iroquois also raided as far south as the Carolinas, and a bitter and protracted war broke out between the League and the Catawbas, who stubbornly refused to be beaten into submission. This situation was much to the discomfiture of the British,

who relied on both tribes as allies. The Catawbas were ferocious warriors with a fearsome reputation. Early in the 18th century they helped South Carolina destroy the Tuscaroras, and drove the remnants north to become the Sixth Nation of the Iroquois. They also fought the Cherokees, Delawares and Shawnees - driving several bands of the latter from North Carolina into Pennsylvania. However constant warfare and disease steadily reduced their numbers as the 18th century wore on.

Already by the early 18th century the Catawbas had long been under British influence. While buckskin garments were still seen, most men wore muslin, calico or linen. Breechclouts and leggings were often made of red or blue wool strouding. Shirts might be decorated with complex patterns. Unlike their neighbours Catawba men wore their hair long, often pulled back into a ponytail style. The roach was apparently not worn, but some chiefs wore headdresses of upstanding turkey feathers. One of the most distinctive features of their appearance was the practice of cranial deformation, which led their enemies to call them “flatheads” - though this custom had probably died out by the mid 18th century. Moccasins were worn on the war trail, although the men often went barefoot at home. The Catawba had a very distinctive style of war paint: the lower face was black or red, with a white circle around one eye and a black circle around the other. Combined with their deformed skulls the effect must have been terrifying. Ignoring the “flat heads”, the Conquest Delaware figures with clothing painted as cloth instead of buckskin would make excellent Catawbas.

CHEROKEE

The Cherokee were the southernmost of the Iroquoian speaking tribes. Like their Iroquoian cousins they were very warlike, though they fared poorly against both the Catawbas and the Chickasaws. Conflict with their cousins of the Five Nations was common, with the Iroquois usually the aggressors. The Cherokees often responded to an Iroquois raid by sending one warrior north single-handed to collect a scalp. Cherokees and Shawnees also fought constantly, and the honours were about even. The formidable warriors of the Chickasaw, Catawba and Shawnee aside, the Cherokee more than held their own against other Indian enemies. They usually sided with the British, but early in the 19th century it became apparent that the Americans were now too powerful to be resisted, and they reluctantly agreed to be moved west.

Skin breechclouts of the apron type were universal. Knee length leggings could also be worn, and in cooler weather a light skin poncho. From the middle of the 18th century European style cloth shirts became available. Quillwork was rare, but some floral beadwork was done on pouches and shoulder bags, with circular motifs being the most popular. Men shaved their heads except for a roach running from front to back on top of the head, often with a fringe of hair along the forehead. The roach was frequently augmented by opossum or deer hair dyed red or yellow. Symbols such as flowers, animals and stars were tattooed on the arms, torso, and thighs. Warriors used red paint to signify success, blue for trouble or defeat, black for death, and white for peace and happiness. Red and black were therefore the most popular war colours.

CHICKASAW

If the Great Lakes was a French stronghold, the Southeast was a British one. Probably the most formidable allies the British had in the region were the Chickasaws. They were closely related to the Choctaws, and both tribes have a tradition of having been originally one people. Despite this, by the 18th Century they were bitter enemies, the Choctaws being the main French allies in the Southeast. The Chickasaws fought no fewer than five wars against the French and whipped them every time. They also fought and beat virtually every other tribe within reach of them - particularly the Illinois Confederacy, the Shawnees and the Cherokees. In fact the Chickasaws - who became known as “the unconquered and unconquerable” - never lost a war in their recorded history, and kept their record perfect by packing up and migrating to the west in the 1830s when it became apparent that the Whites were too strong for them. Like their Creek cousins they were Muskhogean speakers who divided their tribe into two clans, or moieties - the White (or peace) and Red (or war), who occupied separate Red and White towns. Some scholars think the Chickasaws may have originally been the Red moiety of the larger Choctaw-Chickasaw tribe, which might account for their extreme proficiency in war.

Deerskin breechclouts were universally worn. In cooler weather a light skin poncho was popular, and from the middle of the 18th century cloth shirts were often seen. Men shaved their heads except for a roach from front to back on top of the head, often with a fringe of hair along the forehead. They would fasten feathers, the skin of a hawk, or a red bird’s wing to this scalplock. At the crown of the head a large conch-shell bead was sometimes fixed. A skein of

threads might be wrapped around the head, with the ends hanging down like tassels. Like other Southeastern tribes the Chickasaw often went barefoot. Red, yellow and white paints were used. War captains were extensively tattooed with figures of serpents and similar motifs.

CHOCTAW

Less warlike and more easygoing than their Chickasaw cousins, the Choctaws were nonetheless respected warriors. They were a numerous people and absorbed remnants of the Natchez, Tunica, Atakapa, and other Mississippi and Louisiana tribes after these were shattered by smallpox and wars with the French in the first quarter of the 18th century. Despite this the Choctaws were staunch allies of the French, and remained loyal to them until the end.

Breechclouts were simple fitted affairs of blue strouding with front and back flaps. Leggings were seldom worn. From the mid-18th century cloth shirts were widespread. Men wore their hair long and ornamented it with colourful feathers. The roach was worn in a distinctive style, consisting of an upright fringe on top, which widened at the back to cover the lower part of the head and the back of the neck. Deerskin moccasins decorated with beads and feathers were worn, though it was common to go barefoot. Like the Catawba, the Choctaw were said to practice head flattening. Tattooing was far less common than it was among the Chickasaw or Cherokee, but the men painted themselves with designs of suns, swastikas and serpents.

CREEK

The Creeks were related to the Choctaws and Chickasaws. They were not a single tribe, but rather a confederacy which had absorbed a number of tribes in the Southeast. Their

name comes from the fact that many of their towns were located near the tributaries of rivers. Highly organised into White (peace) towns and Red (war) towns under powerful chiefs, the Creeks were less individualistic than most other tribes in the Eastern Woodlands. They were staunch British allies, but they warred among themselves at times, and also against the Cherokees.

Fitted breechclouts hanging down in front and behind were worn. Leather leggings were dyed black, laced with white thongs, and bordered with fringes of coloured leather. Men wore the roach on the front of the head with a braid on each side, and a scalplock pulled back through a hair tube hanging behind. Another kind of roach like those of the Choctaw, which widened at the back of the head, was sometimes seen. A tonsure like a monk’s, with a fringe all around the head, was also worn by some warriors. Moccasins, when worn, were made from bison or deer hide. Creek warriors extensively tattooed themselves with stars, crescents, scrolls, flowers, animals and sun designs, usually placed in the center of the chest. The head, neck and breast were often painted vermillion.

Note: By the early 19th century all the tribes discussed were wearing a lot of cloth manufactured in England or America, mainly calicoes and red or blue strouding. At this period cloth sashes were often worn around the head like a turban.

USEFUL SOURCES

Paterek, Josephine, Encyclopedia of American Indian Costume, W.W. Norton, New York, 1994.

Hyde, George E., Indians of the Woodlands From Prehistoric Times to 1725, Norman, Oklahoma 1962.

wOODLAND LONgHOuSES

I decided to make the Large Longhouse (#500-100) into, what I call, a council house. I wanted to add a screened awning to both the front and back entries. I started the project by cutting a 1⁄8’’ hardboard base that was large enough to accommodate the extended entry areas. I opted to use maple and oak twigs for most of the new model carpentry, since wood doweling is just too uniform for this project. I’ve been collecting maple and oak twigs for years, mainly when I was out mowing my lawn, because they are handy to have around when doing model work.

I always make sure that the twigs are well dried and always remove the bark with rough sandpaper. Well, with that being said we can move on to the actual conversion work.

I drilled holes into the base for the main supports and the effigy or scalp pole. I will discuss the effigy pole in more detail later. I cut eight pieces of twig 1 3⁄4’’ long and glued them into the previously drilled holes. I next cut four 3 1⁄2’’ long pieces for the horizontal entry supports and attached them to the vertical supports. The screening was made from 1⁄16’’ diameter basket weaving reed, cut into 1 3⁄8’’ long pieces and glued to the horizontal supports.

I fabricated the effigy pole from a 4’’ long twig, a 1’’ long reed, two pieces of twine and some thread. I glued the reed crosswise onto the twig and then wrapped thread around both pieces to represent binding. I glued a section of twine to the top of each side of the reed cross piece, wrapped the twine around the reed and tied it off with thread. I used a toothpick to tease out the twine, coated the twine with white glue and water and attached the effigy pole to the base.

I used 1⁄16’’ thick card and tree wrap to make the roofs. Tree Wrap is used by gardeners and is a material that comes on a 3’’ wide roll and resembles heavy crepe paper. The tree wrap was cut into random sized pieces and glued to the card roof. This is a good place to pause on the description of the larger model and move on to the smaller longhouse conversion.

I wanted to use the Small Longhouse (#500-99) to make a Jesuit mission. Once again I cut a base large enough to accommodate two covered entries and, in the case of the mission, a bell on a timber frame.

I made the entry walls, for the Mission, by gluing six pieces of twig together for each wall. Once the wall sections were dry, I cut the roof slope of the walls with a dremel tool and then glued the walls to the model. The mission roofs were made using the same technique as with the council house roofs.

The two vertical supports of the bell frame were made from three pieces, with the outer logs being 1 1⁄4’’ tall and the center log an eighth of an inch shorter. The two assemblies were then glued to the base 7⁄8’’ apart from each other. The horizontal bell support was cut 1 1⁄4’’ long, with a hole drilled in the center for the bell and another drilled on one end for a handle. The handle was made from a piece of wire that was cut 3⁄4’’ long and glued to the end of the support. The brass holiday bell was next attached

Words & pictures by Herb Gundt

This past summer I designed two Woodland Indian Longhouse masters for Conquest Miniatures’ 500 Nations Range of Woodland Native Americans. Eric Roof, the proprietor of Conquest Miniatures, talked with me about doing some conversions to the resin reproductions of the two longhouses; the point of this exercise being to show gamers how to create variants for a Woodland Indian village, using only two different resin castings.

to the support and thread was wrapped around the bell, support and handle to once again represent binding.

The cross was made from two pieces of reed that were glued together and then bound with thread. A hole was drilled in the front upper center of the longhouse and the completed cross glued in place.

I used dark olive drab as a base color for all of the various pieces, although dark brown would be a good color choice for variation. Everything was dry-brushed with raw sienna, barn gray and gray. The bell was painted dark brown and then dry-brushed with bronze and aged brass. The “scalps” hanging on the effigy pole were painted dark brown and black.

After all of the painting was complete, I glued the longhouses to their bases and then glued all of the roofs and bell into place. I used earth tone chalks to further highlight the buildings. I planted green twine, around the perimeters of the models, using white glue to keep the twine in place. With the white glue dry, I applied dirt flocking to the bases and then followed that with an application of green flocking. The green twine weeds were teased apart with a toothpick and then dry-brushed with leaf green and yellow ochre. I allowed the models to completely dry for 24 hours and then gave them a finish of Dull Cote to lock in the chalk finish.

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Conquest Miniatures www.conquestminiatures.com

Sketch Book 56 Volume 6 Indian Allies by Ted Spring

The Art of Robert Griffing text by George Irvin

American Woodland Islands text by Michael G. Johnson

Tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy text by Michael Johnson

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