Historic Woodland People

Clothing/ Trade Goods

Ojibwa, Ottawa, Forest Potawatomi, Huron, Missasaugua, Menominee, Ho Chunk, among others of the northern Great Lakes were involved in the fur trade early.  Frenchmen such as La Salle, Perrot, and Champlain were some of the first  Europeans to make contact with the Woodland Indians through trade and commerce.  They learned their language and many took notes, kept  journals, and some even made sketches or had someone in their party do the same.  I have decided to compile a few samples from pre-historic clay figurines to material culture and paintings from the 1840 circa. Just click on the Ojibwa couple to the left and a photo page will open.  Each photo can be clicked to enlarge and their is a very brief caption describing each picture.

Appearance: What Did the Woodland Indians Look Like?  We think we know, most people assume all the Indians in primitive prehistoric days wore nothing but deerskin, crudely made and could barely utter the words ugh or how.   Well, my fellow educators, nothing could be further from the truth.  I specialize in knowing a bit about the past and I also try to see what we can learn from it, extract from it and apply to our everyday lives.  Here is a glimpse of styles, practical application of items found in their environment and items from the trade

Miami, Potawatomi, Huron, Illinois and others that had been displaced from their homes may have had to survive in a more northerly climate than what they had come from during the 17th century and even during the beginning of the 18th century.  Their clothes may reflect that environment.

When Nicholas Perrot and Jesuits first saw and interacted with these people, much of their clothing was made from deer, bison, and elk skin.

That may indicate that either they were too far north  or did not  have access to those plants they were accustomed to or some chose not to utilize them or trade or for them. In a subsequent lesson plan, I have outlined the steps for processing and tanning a deerhide.  In still another lesson, I have outline the steps for collection, processing, and beginning the manufacture of twine/cordage and twining it into a bag or cloths. The two tasks are very different and require different resources, different muscles, and skill sets.

In this section I will show the clothing through time with just a general description.

Woodland Indians wore deerskin, and other animal hides by tanning them with brains, then they were often smoked to add a water repellant and dyed or painted, embellished with quillwork or shells, and other ornaments, cut and stitched by hand with sinew and bone needles and an awl to punch holes. Much of it was beautiful and sewn with nearly 16-20 stitches per inch

Twined textiles were used for clothing, moccasins, sashes, burden straps and mats.  The plants most often chosen were nettle, milkweed, and dogbane, along with some bison and rabbit fur.  They dyed the cordage or raw strands and “twined” them on two sticks or from strands hanging from a tree branch.  They also made soft baskets or bags which was an art that survived into the 20th century to some extent

Europeans arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries and immediately begin offering wool blankets, wool cloth, linen, cotton, silk, and silver brooches, ear rings, and gartering.  The mid 18th century trade lists are filled with requested items such as scarlet hose with clocking (embroidery); and types of wool cloth that are no longer produced today because it would be cost prohibitive.

Trade silver- Brooches, ring brooches, arm bands, gorgets, ear wheels, ear cones, and nose rings all reflect light and remind at least some of the Native Woodland Indians of ornaments they once made from materials such as Mica, copper, and shell which also were worn to reflect or deflect bad spirits, disease, and bad luck. These were worn from the top of their heads, on their ears, nose, on shirts, bags, moccasins, breechclouts, skirts, and blankets.  

European Goods Were Superior to Native Made Goods -This is a Big Mistake Made by Many-

Iron - though may seem sharper and can be sharper than some stone tools, if left outside for any length of time, rusts. Stone tools do not. Stone tools can be and were often resharpened and reworked into new ones. Obsidian is the one of the sharpest tools and was used extensively in Native cultures, and if fact it is used today in delicate surgery. This is due to the fact the edges can be made sharper and smoother than most steel instruments

European wool, cotton, and linen were better quality than Native made twined textiles and leather.

NOT- Actually European cotton, linen, and in many cases wool soaked up the water, molded and wore out sooner than more durable plant fiber textiles and leather.  The Native made materials were just about as colorful with the use of dyes, quills, and ornaments -- so bright colors were not that difficult to obtain.

Iron, Brass, Tin, Pewter, and Copper Kettles were definitely more durable than clay pots and bark containers, but they were often heavier than bark containers and some of the bales (where handles or straps are attached) were cut off and made into ornaments by Native Woodland Indians.

Weapons:  A well trained warrior could fire 10-15 arrows a minute if he needed to. A trade rifle or flintlock musket took about a minute to load with many steps. With the rifle barrel made to shoot a lead ball more accurately, this weapon had advantages over the shorter distances and arrow could be fired.  Muskets were notoriously inaccurate but could fire long distances. Native men did adapt quickly to the rifle and added that to their arsenal.

So, if the trade goods were not all that superior to Native made ones, then why did the Indians seem so easily accepting of them?

The Traders were on their doorsteps, literally, giving, trading, handing out goods. Military officers, clergy and explorers all had their reasons for showering gifts and goods on the Natives. To gain favors, their allegiance, their business, their help, their protection, their friendship, their loyalty, and finally, their land.  It was impossible to turn down gifts.  Native culture dictated that to refuse a gift was one of the worst kind of offenses.  The French traders had the market cornered for decades until the British wanted in on that market. The British cut prices and offered better quality goods, forcing the French to find other ways to entice their customers to stay.  The British promised forts, guns, protection, and more freedom than the French, so entire villages, and in some cases, entire Nations relocated to be near outposts and forts.

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The clothing and artifacts from the Woodland Indians  housed in museums today for the most part is a very tiny fraction of what should be there.  If more had been collected and preserved earlier, we would have a better understanding of the Woodland cultures.  European museums have an immense collection of Woodland items that were taken by European traders and military back home with them. Some of it is still in back rooms and has never been published or put on display.

Most items in museums date from the 19th century.  There are some shirts, moccasins, bags, knife cases, and other items from the 18th century.  The only surviving items that date from the 17th century come from the Northeast or are simply labeled as pre-contact.  Very few pieces of clothing from the Ottawa, Shawnee, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Illinois, Ojibwa, or Lenape Delaware survived.  One of the largest amount of material culture that  does survive has come from the Miami.  There were deliberate and successful attempts made by major museums to collect items from surviving members of the Miami both in Indiana and in Oklahoma.  The Miami that were allowed to stay in Indiana often kept some of the items that had belonged to their more famous relatives such as Frances Slocum.  Although she was not a Miami by blood, she was adopted by Lenape Delaware at an early age after being kidnapped and then married a Miami and lived among them for decades. She did not even remember her own language and knew only that her last name had been Slocum. During the early 20th century and especially during the Depression, the Miami reluctantly parted with items that ended up in places such as Cranbrook Institute in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan,  National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. and NYC; and the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. There are other smaller collections in dozens of museums and cultural centers.  (I have a list of those in a book called:”Miami: Giving Our Hearts Away.” See Books on this website.

Items that are found in burials are, today, controversial. Native groups wishing to have their ancestors rest in peace, prefer strongly that scientists and archaeologists leave them alone.  The scientists often get a call when a site has been disturbed or is slated for development and there is no choice but to go in and get what they can, as carefully as they can, and take it back to the lab for identification, preservation and for further research.

Much of what we know about pre-contact Native Woodland Indians has come from the science of archaeology.  The examination of pottery shards and copper that sometimes have actual pieces of textile attached to them can be a gold mine of information about the people and the item.

*****More information on making Woodland Clothing can be found in the book section of this site.  There is a  book still on the market that I wrote in 1987 and was published by Eagle View in Utah “Indian Clothing of the Great Lakes, 1740-1840.”  This has patterns and some background information beyond the scope of this website for those seriously interested in making reproduction woodland clothing.