Counter-Currents
Edgar Samuel Paxson, Battle of Little Bighorn, 1911.
1,622 words
American history was always taught to me in a way that shamed and vilified white people. Despite all the efforts and propaganda to make me feel sorry for the Native Americans, I always resented them for their attacks on the European colonists and settlers. Even some of my favorite metal bands wrote songs that romanticized the Indians while forgetting the horrific acts they committed. Nevertheless, the works of Louis L’Amour gave me a different perspective on American history. His frontier stories portrayed white men as heroes in a way that modern nationalists and dissidents can relate to and enjoy.
In elementary school, the Indians were portrayed as noble warriors while the European colonists were portrayed as ignorant and incompetent. When learning about the colonies, they would skip over certain events like the Jamestown Massacre. On March 22, 1622, the Powhatan Indians attacked the Jamestown colony and killed 347 European settlers. With their crops destroyed, over 500 settlers died of starvation within the next few months. When I mentioned these facts and concerns, my teachers either ignored me or responded with politically correct answers that tried to justify these events. Regardless, I was glad to discover that the Virginian colonists got their revenge by poisoning 200 Powhatan Indians at an alleged “peace talk” a year after the Jamestown Massacre.
I understood that the European colonists and settlers were encroaching upon a foreign land that other people were already living on. Even as a kid, I struggled with the reasons and justifications for European expansion. In many ways, I wished that my grandparents and all the European settlers before them never came to America. However, the thought of dark-skinned savages killing white colonists and settlers always made my blood boil. Even if they were invading another continent, my sympathy always went to the European settlers. Sadly, this sympathy was not shared by some of my favorite heavy metal bands.
Iron Maiden’s first single from The Number of the Beast was “Run to the Hills.” The lyrics describe the European colonization of America. The first verse is written from the perspective of the Indians and the second verse is written from the perspective of an American cavalryman. Although I appreciate the fact that both sides are portrayed in the lyrics, the third and final verse accuses the European settlers of “raping the women” and “enslaving the young.”
What most people seem to forget is that the Indians were doing these things to each other long before the Europeans came. One such example is the Crow Creek burial site that dates back to the 14th century. Over 400 Indians were killed and put in this mass grave. Another forgotten truth is how various Indian tribes sided with the European colonists to kill other rival tribes. The Mystic Massacre occurred on May 26, 1637, when Mohegan and Narragansett allies joined with the colonists in Connecticut to kill over 600 Indians of the Pequot tribe. So while I still enjoy seeing Iron Maiden in concert and hearing “Run to the Hills” as an encore, I will save my breath and sing along to the second verse only.
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Although I have seen Anthrax in concert, I was never a fan of their music or their politics. One of their most popular songs is called “Indians.” The lyrics complain that people only see “black and white” while depicting the Indians as innocent pacifists. That was not the case when the Mohawk Indians killed over 90 French settlers near Lachine in 1689. The lyrics go on to explain that the Indians “love the land and fellow man.” The Yamasee Indians did not have much love for their fellow man, as they killed over 100 white settlers in South Carolina in 1715. If we only see black and white, it is because our enemies always see us as white and attack us for being white. The chorus of the song demands that we “cry for the Indians,” but they will only get crocodile tears from me.
While “Run to the Hills” and “Indians” were both songs from the 80s, the 90s reached a new level of Indian worship with Dances with Wolves. My family had this film on VHS, and I watched it numerous times as a kid. The acting, cinematography, and music of the film have aged well. The historical accuracy of the film is another story. The film portrays the Sioux as peaceful people while portraying the Pawnee and the white men as pure evil. In reality, the smaller Pawnee population was often the victim of the larger Sioux tribes. The northern Sioux tribes were also responsible for killing over 600 settlers and soldiers during the US-Dakota War of 1862. While I still enjoy watching Dances with Wolves, I have more sympathy for the buffalo than the Sioux.
The spirit of the buffalo seems to have inspired Manowar to write “Spirit Horse of the Cherokee.” Manowar is one of my all-time favorite bands, but even I can admit that the lyrics of this song lack nuance. The song declares that “the white men came to trade and borrow but then they would not leave.” The Killough family were never given the chance to leave, as the Cherokee Indians killed 18 members of their extended family on October 5, 1838. The song also talks about slavery but forgets to specify who was enslaved. Not only did the Cherokees enslave captives of the neighboring tribes, but they also owned over 4,000 black slaves by 1860. I really like the song, but the lyrics are as subtle as a deaf Indian arguing with US soldiers at Wounded Knee.
The Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 was one of the last major conflicts between the US military and the various Indian tribes. By this time, most of the Indian tribes had already surrendered to the US government and had agreed to live on designated reservations. While most modern Indian reservations in the US are stricken with poverty, many tribes have been given the right to have casinos on their territory to support and employ their people. Less than 200 years ago, Indians and white settlers were killing each other. Up until the COVID lockdowns, their descendants were dealing blackjack and spending their social security checks on the spirit of the slot machines.
Part of me wonders which group will have the last laugh. What would Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Geronimo think of the white man and modern America in 2021? Personally, I think they would laugh at us. Elderly Asians are being targeted by black criminals, but white people get blamed for the attacks. Thousands of illegal aliens are now invading our borders, but if white Americans complain about it, they are labeled as “racists” and “white supremacists.” Moreover, the COVID lockdowns are destroying our economy and our lives. The colonists, settlers, and cowboys may have won the West, but their descendants are slowly losing it. How do we get it back? Perhaps a storyteller of the Old West can help us find a path towards a future frontier.
Louis L’Amour was born on March 22, 1908. During his lifetime, he wrote over 80 western novels that he called “frontier stories.” These stories followed cowboys, outlaws, and settlers as they forged their own life on the American frontier. His protagonists were masculine white men that survived the wilderness, fought the Indians, and stood up against the government and its corrupt officials. While some would call his writing style “formulaic,” I always felt that L’Amour knew his audience and gave them exactly what they wanted. Whereas the book industry has become increasingly feminine over the last few decades, L’Amour wrote books about white men for white men. I don’t have all the answers, but if you have ever considered moving to a rural area away from the cities, reading L’Amour’s books will give you some history, entertainment, and inspiration for the new frontier of your life.
I recommend starting with To Tame A Land. If the Western genre is not your cup of tea, then I recommend The Walking Drum, which is set in Europe in the 12th century. I got into L’Amour’s books after playing a western-themed role-playing video game called Wild Arms. If anyone has enjoyed the Red Dead Redemption series, I recommend L’Amour’s books on the Sackett Family. Although I wouldn’t categorize L’Amour as a writer of the Dissident Right, his novels have a lot to say about men, women, Indians, and the realities of human nature. Whether you are a Sackett or a Shoshoni, we all prefer our own tribe. And all tribes deserve a homeland of their own.
My views on the Native Americans have matured over the years. While I resented them in my youth, I realize now that the history of mankind has always been the perpetual struggle for land, resources, and sovereignty. The Indians fought each other before the Europeans came to North America, and they fought the European settlers as they expanded westward. For various reasons, these settlers defeated the Indians and won the West. White men today are losing the West, but unlike the Indians, no one will be giving us reservations to live on. By reading the frontier stories of Louis L’Amour, we can take inspiration from the past while forging our own paths and homelands for the future.
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16 comments
Ah, I’m inspired simply knowing that someone like full moon, who shares my tastes and predilections, is alive! I feel less isolated.
Actually, my own ancestors were victimized by the Indians down along the gulf coast. There was a terrible massacre of the French settlers at Fort Rosalie by the Natchez Indians. They came in the night and slew everyone. My ancestor, then in his early twenties, together with his wife, escaped but they forgot the deed to their property in Louisiana in the fort. Without the deed you had no property, so he snuck back into the maelstrom to get the deed, leaving her under a tree. When he returned, he found only her bloody garments! His friend was killed in the massacre, so he married his wife, and they made it to Louisiana where they founded St. John Parish! It’s a really interesting story. I’m surprised no one has novelized it.
I guess I should add that in revenge the French totally annihilated the Natchez Indians and sold the survivors into slavery in saint domingue.
I never accepted the simple view of good (indians) vrs evil (whites) historical frame…Back in those days The Continental North America remain Un inhabitated until Whites began to open the West. I doubt the crypto/historical accounts of mass rapings of indian women…how can you be racist and lust after nonwhite women..I dont like citing movies for historical purposes…but I remember watching The Searchers…a white family that had enraged the local tribe for adopting an indian girl. And John Waynes character ultimately bonds intimately with his “halfreed” nephew…ultimately seeing him as his own kin.
I think you’ve confused ‘The Searchers’ with ‘The Unforgiven.’ Both books were written by Alan Le May.
I experienced some weird synchronicity yesterday. After I wrote this about the Natchez, I perused a short book about bear hunting in the lower Mississippi delta. The appendix dealt with the last battle between the Natchez and French in Sicily island Louisiana. Apparently they fought a long war with the French with many reverses and defeats.
That’s so interesting to me. I also have roots in St. John Parish. Perhaps we are distantly related!
I know some of this history in the area that concerns the Indians. It isn’t pretty.
Nowadays, St. John is rather sleazy and has a huge black problem. Post Katrina , they also acquired a Hispanic problem- unfortunately, the drugs and general beatdowns has affected to whites. It’s really awful. The whites are just deeply degraded, in the throes of addiction, usually birthing some sort of diverse children.
But have hope! Despite the fact that Louisiana people have given up on this as a third world cesspool and white trash pit of terror…there are still people that care about it. They don’t really know what to do, but it’s there, and they do care. Someone cares about the degradation of humanity there.
Within driving distance of my home is a stretch called ‘Indian Massacre Road’. It is near the site of the Brimmer Massacre during the French and Indian War. Searching ‘Indian Massacre Road’ I discovered there are many such places all over the US.
If any American has huwhite guilt about the Injuns, get over it. Just serve cornbread, succotash, and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving and smoke a celebratory cigar every now and then. If that doesn’t suffice, buy some Navajo pawn jewelry. “I’m red, white n’ blue wah ooo, ah woo, ah woooooo.”
Anyone descended from old stock American settlers descends from the survivors of an Indian massacre. But most don’t know it. Simpy grasping that fact should be enough to dispense with most of the spurious guilt trips laid on whites about the poor red man.
I’m conflicted. Both sides of my family were in the Northeast by 1750. They had to have had dealings with the “forest dwellers.” I don’t believe that Eastern Woodland Indians raped white women. They did kill and torture white and Indian captives, but they kept and adopted some whites, ones they thought were good and would strengthen their tribes’ genes. In that, they were either sophisticated or naive–probably the latter, since so many adopted whites escaped and used their knowledge of Indian ways against their captors. Eastern Woodland Indians were worthy foes. I read an account of someone taken prisoner in an Indian raid on Massachusetts in the early 1700s. On the way back to Canada both captors and prisoners had little or no food. They were forced to hunt and eat raccoons. The Indians had much fun at the reluctance of their white captives to stomach such fine fare, even though they themselves didn’t like it.
They would adopt children and sometimes older teenagers or very young adults. The probable reason is these age groups could still learn the language. Plasticity of mind.
Thanks Fullmoon,
And here are the last few lines of “To Tame a Land”:
“And that was the way it was in the old days before the country grew up and
men put their guns away.
Someday, and I hope it never comes, there may be a time when the Western
hills are empty again and the land will go back to wilderness and the old, hard
ways.
Enemies may come into our country and times will have changed, but then
the boys will come down from the old high hills and belt on their guns again.
They can do it if they have to. The guns are hung up, the cows roam fat and
lazy, but the old spirit is still there, just as it was when the longhorns came up the trail from Texas, and the boys washed the creeks for gold.”
…words across time from Mr. Louis L’Amour.
Back when I was a lad, my family lived in the outskirts of a major city in a Western state.
The neighborhood was largely undeveloped with vacant lots boasting tumbleweeds, dry gulches (turning into rushing gorges upon the first sign of rain), the occasional Indian arrowhead and numerous samples of genera reptilia. Many a weekend was spent clearing those lots, uprooting rotting tree trunks, pouring cement, swinging hammers and building a respectable suburb…all without trace of government regulation or corporate grant. And many more weekdays were spent by us kids defending our territory against the kids of the next neighborhood using such cutting edge ordnance as water balloons and squirt guns.
It just may have been the kids from the next block had previously roamed over those same vacant lots before we ever showed up on the scene. Or those other kids may have outnumbered and thus outvoted us. None of this would have crossed our consciousness, nor made any difference. Our response, had they made such arguments to justify a move into our lots, would have been a healthy fusillade of water bombs and cap gun explosions.
We kids knew, knew, that were we to give up a single tumbleweed the retreat would not end until we had lost our last gulch. I doubt if anyone in those days had ever heard of Carl Schmitt, but we operated along the friend-enemy paradigm. The struggle for the lots was about power, not principle. And thus rose a mighty American suburb!
Now, I think this was the attitude of most Americans until at least the late 20th century. Heroes were pioneers crossing the Great Plains, cowboys of the John Wayne mold, U.S. cavalry riding to the rescue, and Davey Crockett hagiography in re-runs of old Disney ™ B&W television schlock. Yes, there were the Indians, but they were the others who just did not signify. There might have been the occasional nod to supposed injustices inflicted on the Noble Red Man, but it was all worth it because at the end of the day was the carving out of a great country from the wilderness.
Consider the ideologies used to motivate/justify the Winning of the West: Manifest Destiny, Social Darwinism, the unstoppable Engine of Progress. All very Hegelian. And all long since gone down the memory hole.
Which gets back to the underlying dilemma. The egalitarian-liberal ideologies of the 21st century knock the props out from under the justification for defense of White territories. These ideologies are so pervasive that most people do not realize they are a relatively recent construct, existing as a mass consensual hallucination rather than having any empirical reality.
And that is a mission for the Dissident Right: sweeping away the egalitarian-liberal delusions and providing the ideological justification for the defense of White territories, histories…and peoples.
It’s still our suburban lot. Let’s fight for it!
The American continent was populated by people from all over. The land was never “theirs” as many tribes replaced tribes who were already there from previous entries. There was a lot of depopulation going on here. One thing for sure was that if it wasn’t for the Europeans the locals here would still be participating in slavery, tribal warfare, canabilism. The Natives were constantly raiding the neighborhood, enslaving folks from other tribes, and many nasty tribes were of the neanderthal human species who did such things. These guys loved torturing.
The standard of living rose among the tribes when the Spanish reintroduced the horse. Otherwise it was a shitty existence, not a noble experience.
Some tribes were peaceful, just wanted to grow food, or whatever, just as the white tribes who came here, most of whom were escaping their own starvation and shitty existence from across the water.
The “Noble Savage” myth is exactly that. A myth. I highly recommend Scalp Dance by Thomas Goodrich. Really shines a light on the type of people our ancestors encountered in this land.
Even though technically speaking it’s not heavy metal but Europe’s song Cherokee from The Final Countdown album comes to mind:
The white’s man greed
In search of gold
Made the nation bleed
The lost their faith
And now they have to learn
There was no place to return
Nowhere they could turn…
Another informative book on the frontier is Empire of the Summer Moon. By S.C. Gwynn.
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