Warrior Bio: Iroquois Confederacy, circa 1607 CE.

Author's Note:  The time period that I'm dealing with here is before gunpowder weapons were very widespread among the Native Americans - as such, they won't have them.  Instead they'll be fighting with their traditional weapons and wearing wooden armor.  As always, I'm looking at things here from a general standpoint, not a specific one, so what may be mistakes may simply be bad editing or too in-depth for the purposes of this Blog.  Either way, feel free to offer comments, critiques, suggestions and questions below.

The sport of lacrosse was invented by the Iroquois, and was very popular across the
continent - particularly among the Cherokee.  Lacrosse is very competitive, and was
originally created as a means of preserving life among bickering tribes that did not wish
for bloodshed.  It had the dual purpose of keeping the men of the tribes - the warriors -
in peak physical condition, and inspired a great sense of competition between them.
This image is used without permission from http://www.saycampuslife.com.

-Offensive Assessment

~Close-Quarters Combat; Tomahawks, Clubs, Shield.  The primary melee weapon of the Iroquois would have been the tomahawk – a weapon that was common all across North America, popular due to the shared heritage of the population.  Until the Europeans brought steel to the New World, weapons were fashioned of stone:  usually flint.  Essentially a hatchet, the tomahawk featured a heavy stone head mounted on a thick wooden shaft around one foot in length, commonly measured out as being the length of a man’s forearm.  Despite its crude build, the construction of the tomahawk was not crude at all; the stone was sharpened to a fine point that would not easily lose its edge, and was secured to its mounting with tight strips of twine.  Iroquois warriors would have been trained to use the tool from an early age in casual utility, chopping wood and cleaning game as well as sports such as throwing competitions and mock combat – sparring.  Oftentimes several tomahawks were carried of various sizes and designs; some for throwing, some for melee combat, and others for decoration or simple utility.  The “peace-pipe tomahawk” was actually a European invention made by logically combining two things integral to Native American society – the peace pipe and the ax.  This innovation was incredibly popular with the Native Americans and spread like wildfire throughout the continent. Like many other Northern Woodland peoples, the Iroquois were great users of clubs – not the knotted, heavy examples commonly thought of today, but light, sharpened models built of dense hardwoods used like knives and even swords in combat.  This is an interesting comparison to Polynesian clubs which developed the same way – they were made not to crush bones, but to slash through flesh.  Though it was difficult to keep an edge on such things, the innovation there is still admirable.  The Iroquois take four (4) of five (5) points in this category, as their unique weapons are dangerous in their own right while still able to be used with the shield.

~Weapons of Reach; Lance, Thrown Weapons.  The weapons intermediate between close and long ranges for the Iroquois warriors were primarily lances – a pole weapon between seven and nine feet long and aptly suited to be used on foot or on horseback, something that suited the fluid nature of Native American warfare very well.  The lance was very similar across most of the North American tribes, differing mostly in the ingredients used to construct it and how it was decorated – the Iroquois would paint theirs with white clay or black pitch so as to stick out proudly during daytime or blend in perfectly at night.  The tip was typically not of any sort of stone or metal, but rather part of the wood itself.  It would be cut at very sharp angles and then fire-hardened to increase its strength and durability.  This made it a cheap weapon that was easy to mass-produce and train with, but deadly efficient in the thrust.  However, despite possessing shields, the Iroquois did not use them along with their lances - they used both hands to get as much power behind the thrust as possible when attacking the foe.  Other types of middling-ranged weapons were thrown melee tools; tomahawks and knives.  Competitions between Woodlands men were very common, requiring them to stay healthy and well-practiced with their throwing skills in order to save face in front of their companions and neighbors.  This tradition spread quickly through to the Europeans, with such contests having been recorded as early as the First Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock.  Native American battles were normally skirmishes between small war-bands, but massive field-engagements featuring thousands of warriors was not unheard of.  Conflicts on such a scale were pre-organized by the commanders of both sides, who would choose the location, time of day, and who was to fight whom – detailing that down from whole units to individual warriors, requiring a great knowledge of the skill of one’s warriors.  However, these types of full-on battles were rare, and the majority of fighting between tribes would have taken place at night with small bands of no more than one hundred men (usually no more than twenty or thirty), who would play deadly games of hide-and-seek with the enemy until one out-stalked the other.  And when combat finally joined, few warriors were without their trusty spears, knives and axes, which earn a score of nine (9) of ten (10) possible points here, despite their crude construction..

This video was made to promote the Gunstock War Club produced by Cold
Steel Knives.  Despite being a recreation, it is easy to see why the weapon was
so popular among the Native Americans as a mainstay of their arsenal.  Although
this version is made of steel and polypropylene, the physics behind how it works are
very clear to see.  The video was not uploaded by me, and is used without
permission from http://www.youtube.com.

~Long-Distance Weapons; Bow and Arrow, Javelins, Shield.  The traditional weapon of the Iroquois peoples was the bow and arrow – in size and shape very similar to the Welsh longbow, it stood a towering five and a half feet tall and was as wide as a man’s thumb was long at its thickest point.  Arrows used with it would be made as long as the arm of the man using them, so usually around three feet.  The Iroquois used the bow for two purposes – to hunt and to fish.  Arrowheads were made from flint or organic matter – turtle claws, sharpened bone, and more – and were normally as long as a man’s finger.  They were notoriously difficult to take out of the body, as they were shaped to have many small barbs that would rip and tear into a target, so on many occasions they were simply left in the body once the bleeding was stopped.  The Iroquois would often begin using the bow by the time that they could walk; joining the other men and warriors in the hunt would be a high priority.  It was often recorded that Iroquois warriors could loose as many as twenty arrows in the time that it would take a European with a firearm the time to fire once.  This too would have been a necessity, as the most common tactic when fighting at range would have been to lay down a field of covering fire with imprecise shooting in order for other warriors to outflank the enemy, though it was not unheard of for precision shooting from particularly talented warriors to occur.  Javelins were used as well, though not nearly as common as the bow and arrow.  They are described by contemporary European writers as being tipped with seal-teeth, though the validity of that claim is not very clear.  All in all, the weapon that really shines in this category is the bow and arrow, and in the hands of the Iroquois it was a great weapon – great enough to net a very pretty fifteen (15) of twenty (20) possible points here.  However, the lack of formal, regular metallurgy and the rather weak and inaccurate "pinch draw" keeps it from being perfect.

~Specialized Weapons; Gunstock War-Club, Shield.  The gunstock war-club was a weapon unique to the peoples of the North-Atlantic North American coastline, most notably the Mohawks (who were leading members of the more war-like elements of the Iroquois Confederacy and later Six Nations), Mohicans and Hurons.  This unique club spread westward throughout the continent and Native American tribes, with examples being somewhat common among the Lakota Sioux in the Black Hills late into the Nineteenth Century.  Roughly thirty inches in length and featuring a three inch long protruding blade, the gunstock war-club had several uses in combat – it could be swung blade-first, impaling and cutting into targets, struck point-first with the weighted, heart-shaped head, or even thrown with surprising accuracy at appropriate distances.  There are several theories as to the development of the gunstock war-club; some historians believe that it was modeled after European gun stocks, which makes enough sense given its modern name and appearance, while other camps assert that it was simple coincidence that both weapons bare such close resemblance.  The gunstock war-club shows great versatility with its crushing and cutting power, and while those methods would normally keep it in the realm of above-average rank, the ability to be thrown accurately as well as the ability to be used with or without a shield without much loss of power propels it to a perfect five (5) points.

This later woodcut depicts Samuel de Champlain and two of his soldiers fighting
alongside French-allied Huron warriors against two hundred Iroquois.  A propaganda piece,
it exaggeraties the Native Americans by showing them as fighting nude and with no
clear order about them.  Despite those shortcomings, an Iroquois fortification can be seen,
as well as one of their "single man" shields.  After this conflict, the Iroquois
 (and neighboring peoples) abandoned the now-defunct wooden armour found blow.
The image is used without permission from http://m1.ikiwq.com/.

-Defensive Assessment

~Head; Helmet.  The helmet worn by Iroquois warriors would have been made form a wooden base layered over with thick wicker and topped by feathers – likely taken from geese or other large waterfowl.  Thanks to the French explorer Samuel de Champlain, it is known that Mohawk war-chiefs wore three such feathers in their caps to denote their high status – so it’s possible that an educated guess can be made to say that the number of feathers differed between the different classes.  The wooden helmet did not cover the back of the neck or cheeks, and was also not kept in place by a chinstrap.  While it was thick enough to protect against arrows or possibly poorly thrown javelins, it would not have done much to preserve its owner under direct assault.  For that reason, the Iroquois helmet gets only twelve (12) points of twenty (20) in this category.

~Torso; Vest.  The armor worn over the chest and back by the Iroquois was made of the same materials as the helmet – thick wood layered with wicker.  However, there is evidence to support that copper may have been used to at least decorate the armor of higher ranked warriors, if not outright support it.  Unfortunately, the poor materials that the vest was made from forced it to be very inflexible and encumbering to the man wearing it – as well as restricting it to protecting the torso and not being able to extend over the arms or legs.  That said, it is probably just as well that that did not happen – the fluid methods of Native American warfare would have been hurt by such a development, not helped.  All in all, I’m awarding the wooden vest six (6) points of ten (10) here.

Following the French and Indian Wars, the Iroquois Confederacy was split into
 several parts through uneasy truces with the different factions at play in the
New World - the British, the French, the Dutch, each tribes' own interests, and later,
the American colonies.  Despite having lost their political power, the Native Americans
were still highly respected as scouts and fighters by their European counterparts, and their
services were routinely purchased until the beginning of the Twentieth Century.
This image is used without permission from http://fineartamerica.com/.

~Limbs; Bracers.  Most of the Native Americans chose to not encumber themselves with armor on their arms or legs; instead they either took cover behind terrain or their shields to protect themselves.  That said, Champlain records that many Iroquois wore “guards” of the same material as their helmets and torso armor on their forearms and thighs; that is, thin willow planks with reeds and wicker sewn over them.  Many Woodland tribes also wore what are understood today to be buckskins – long trousers worn to protect the legs from natural problems like snakes and thorns, but not heavy enough to be of use in combat.  They also had the added advantage of providing some degree of modesty when in public.  Additional clothing would have been long-sleeved shirts also made from cleaned hides for men, and robe-like garments that fell to the knees for women.  Native American clothing was often richly embroidered with delicate beadwork, feathers, and more – the specifics differed from tribe to tribe.  They were also usually dyed with bright but natural colors – blues, greens, and oranges were common.  Back to the scoring side of things; the Iroquois get two (2) points in this category from the five (5) possible, again due to the poor ingredients they used.

~Mobile; Shield.  The types of shields carried by the Native Americans differed heavily between tribes.  Tribes from the Pacific Northwest carried oblong shields decorated with paint and carvings to ward off evil spirits (and strikes from the enemy) while Great Plains tribes such as the Sioux and the Apache used small round shields later identified as “bucklers” by Europeans for use as parrying tools to be easily discarded if need be.  The shields used by the Woodland peoples were referred to as “pavises” or “mantelets” by the Europeans in regards to their huge size and shape.  These shields came in two varieties – one large enough for one man, and one large enough for two or three.  They were constructed from thick wooden planks with wickerwork and the cleaned hides of animals – often multiple hides – stretched over the front to ward off enemy missiles and to hinder melee combatants.  These huge shields were typically used in pitched battles and sieges to protect melee fighters as they proceeded to the front, or were put in place for archers to hide and discharge their bows from behind.  However, these shields were not easily maneuverable, and were not a great asset in personal defense against an enemy in melee combat.  They get a score of three (3) points of five (5) here.

This video is a clip from the History Channel program, Wild West Tech, and is
featuring several arms and armour of the Lakota Sioux.  Despite not being Iroquois,
technology between both tribes was surprisingly uniform, and this gives a good
idea of how the Iroquois would have fought in raids and ambushes.  This video was not
uploaded by me, and is used without permission from http://www.youtube.com/.

-Variables Assessment

~Tactics; tactics for the Iroquois acted on two scales:  small and large.  Typical confrontations between warring tribes were actually more like deadly games of hide-and-seek – one war-band, numbering between twenty and one hundred, would go out at sunset in the direction of the enemy settlement.  If they were lucky, the other would have known the attack was coming and sent out pickets to locate the attackers.  When on the march Woodland tribesmen would travel in single-file lines, stepping in one another’s footsteps, so as not to reveal their numbers to enemy scouts or trackers.  Once contact was made between the two warring parties they would split up in predetermined directions to fight as individuals.  On the large scale, large numbers of warriors would be called up to fight – at the height of its power in 1600, the Iroquois Confederacy was estimated as being able to muster 2500 warriors from a population of 20,000 in total; in perspective, the main enemy of the Iroquois – the Hurons – could only raise 2000 out of 30,000.  Whenever these hosts were drawn up against one another, the commanders (veteran war-chiefs) would gather at the place of battle to decide who was to fight whom and how.  In the nature of regular tactics, there was not much variety; separate units of missile-armed and melee-fighting warriors were organized by type, with the prior crouching behind the large two-man shields and volleying fire and latter slowly progressing within fighting-distance to break cover and charge the enemy to fight as individuals.  Additionally, the Iroquois were recorded as being great siege-fighters; time and again European expeditions found great trouble in taking native settlements, even with advanced gunpowder weapons.  All Woodland population centers were situated on strategic hills near waterways, with many being surrounded by tall wooden palisades, moats, and trenches.  All in all, it seems right to give the Iroquois four (4) of five (5) points here.  They would get more if they had more advanced or varied tactics, but alas, they don’t.

~Training; like all Native American societies, Iroquois warriors were trained in the methods of war through necessity – they learned to fire the bow and to stalk and kill the prey through hunting, and to wield axes and knives in day-to-day chores.  Knife-fighting and more advanced fighting skills were taught through friendly sparring matches.  Other than that, there was no proper training and conditioning.  A large amount of combat was instinctive, not methodical, for the Iroquois, and that shortcoming nets them a simple two (2) of five (5) points.

This is a reenactment of the Battle of Newtown, a conflict from the American Revolution.
This video demonstrates the techniques of irregular Native American-style combat and
 how effective they would be on the enemy.  The video was not uploaded by me, and is
used without permission from http://www.youtube.com/.

~Motivation; Iroquois warriors were motivated to fight through the knowledge that if they failed in their mission, that their families would be destroyed or assimilated into the tribes of their enemies.  The small war-parties were organized by hot-blooded young men who had already seen combat and were attempting to procure more resources for their tribe from those that opposed them.  Iroquois birth rates were very low, and so great pains were taken to ensure that they would do all that they could to preserve their own lives but to take many of their foes’ in turn.  To that end, retreat was not seen as cowardice, but as strategy:  living to fight another day.  If a conflict could be settled without bloodshed while still accomplishing the objectives, then all the better.  One reason that the Iroquois Confederacy (and later Six Nations) worked so well was that inter-member conflicts were settled through massive games of lacrosse, not active combat.  Whichever side won the game was judged to be in the right, and that was the end of it.  All in all, the Iroquois get three (3) points here.

~Innovation; here is where the Iroquois really shine.  They were excellent “copycats”, quickly adapting to the introduction of gunpowder to the New World by abandoning their old armor and tactics in favor of guerrilla-warfare and adopting these new weapons themselves.  Though they did not fight in the popular style of ordered firing ranks, the Iroquois came up with something better – sharpshooters.  Picked men accurate in the use of the rifle would place themselves in good positions to kill enemy officers and leaders from a safe distance without endangering themselves.  This idea served as the inspiration for much combat in the American Revolutionary War, when both British and American units such as Roger’s Rangers and Marion’s Men found incredible success through these irregular tactics.  But before they did that, the Iroquois were well-known as one of the best-organized and powerful tribes in the Woodlands, if not all of North America.  They get a well-deserved perfect score (all five (5) points) in this category.