Traders and Raiders by Natale A. Zappia

Author:Natale A. Zappia
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2014-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Andrews’s comment reflected a critical relationship between the U.S. Army and the Gila River societies. The army heavily depended upon Native wheat in their campaigns against the Apaches and Yavapais. In 1865, the explorer Charles D. Poston also recognized this in his encounters with the O’odhams and as a member of Congress lobbied to protect their land: “They deserve the highest consideration of this Congress. It would have been impossible for the Government troops in that Territory to have subsisted there but for the supplies furnished by these Indians. They are, in fact, the laboring population of that Territory. They produce supplies for both the Army and the miners.”24

The decision to feed and assist the U.S. Army granted Akimel O’odhams great latitude in maintaining territorial boundaries and political autonomy. By 1860, there were more than 600 farms on Akimel O’odham land, averaging five acres for each family. An 1864 account in Harpers magazine reported on this commercial success of Akimel O’odhams:

Availing ourselves of the friendly professions made by the chiefs and people, we signified that two pumpkins for our journey across the desert would be a most acceptable return for the laborious services we had rendered the great cause of civilization; whereupon over a dozen pumpkins were immediately dragged forth. . . . We gracefully thanked them and proceeded to pick up our vegetables. “Dos reals,” said the Indians. We gave them two bits. “Quatro reals,” they observed. We offered them four bits. We offered a dollar for two. They coolly demanded two dollars. We indignantly showed them the way out of camp. . . . Our cook, Dr. Berry, was in favor of seizing a choice pair of pumpkins as a military necessity, but that proposition was overruled as beneath the dignity of our official position. Have them however, we must. They were indispensable to our health. I left it all to Poston, whom I knew to possess a high order of genius for trade. He traded for two hours; he was calm and violent by turns; he reasoned and raved alternately. I fell asleep. When I awoke triumph sat perched upon his brow. The Indians were gone. Success had crowned his efforts. Two pumpkins, the spoils of victory, lay at his feet. “What did they cost?” was my natural inquiry. He looked a little confused, but quickly rallied, and replied, “Oh, not much—for this country! Let me see—five, ten, eighteen, twenty-two . . . about twenty-two dollars in trade.”25

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