Scalp Bounty The Wilderness War by Allan W. Eckert Because of the bounties placed on scalps, the taking of people of all ages and sexes soon became something of a business on the frontier. In some cases the colonists - or, later on, the Americans - offered bounties on Indian scalps, but the greatest trafficking in scalps came as a result of the wide range of bounties placed on them by the British. Because different age and sex scalps brought different prices, the scalps had to be marked for proper payment to be given. Such bundles of scalps ordinarily were shipped in large lots of eight to twenty bundles, comprised of eighty-eight to one hundred scalps per bundle, or no less that seven hundred scalps per shipment. Scalps taken for British bounties were ordinarily shipped in these bundles to the governor of Canada in Quebec. Each scalp was stretched on a painted willow hoop and further painted on the inside of the skin. The colors and markings were used in a wide combination so that all of the necessary information about any particular scalp could be had at a glance. The basic hoop and scalp markings denoted the following: Four-inch hoop painted black Soldier Four-inch hoop painted red Man other than soldier Four-inch hoop painted green Old person Four-inch hoop painted blue Woman Two-inch hoop painted green Boy Two-inch hoop painted yellow Girl Two-inch hoop painted white Infant Skin painted red Officer Skin painted brown Farmer killed in house Skin painted green Farmer killed in field Skin painted white Infant Skin painted yellow Girl Skin painted white with red tears Small boy Skin painted half white, half red Older boy Skin painted yellow with red tears Mothers Hair braided Wives Black spot in center of skin Killed by bullet Red hoe in center of skin Farmer Black ax in center of skin Settler Black tomahawk in center of skin Killed by tomahawk Black scalping knife in center of skin Killed by knife Black war club in center of skin Beaten to death Yellow flames in center of skin Tortured to death Black circle all around Killed at night White circle all around with yellow spot Killed by day Small red foot Died fighting Return The Wilderness War by Allan W. Eckert, page 450 Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1978 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lyn Sherwood" <Fawnette@worldnet.att.net> To: <ALBARBOU-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2000 12:32 PM Subject: Re: [ALBARBOU] Indian heritage and just what you don't know about it. > Well, Margie, I think I just must be plain stupid, but I wasn't able to figure out how to get to Olive Oatman's story on your site. Can you please help me out? > > Also, would like to comment on the "name calling" thing. We located a distant cousin not too long ago who's name is J. K. CARTER. We asked him what J.K. stood for and he said "nothing, it's just plain ole' J.K. I was named for a neighbor whose name was J.K." It just tickled us that this was his answer. He said that all the boys were named only with initials and the girls had names. It gave us a glimpse into the by gone days and there was no malice in our laughter, just appreciation of another time. It seems to me that sometime folks get their feelings hurt when there has not really been a slight involved. > > I've enjoyed learning about the different names, ways of living, religions, ethnic backgrounds, etc. of not only my ancestors but of my husband's. Believe you me, I have taken a lot of ribbing about one of my ancestor's name - Nimrod! There are lots more important things in the world to get one's back up about - poverty, child/spousal abuse, murder, etc. Let's keep genealogy FUN, that's what I like about it. > > Thanks for letting me use the soap box! :-) > > Lyn McIntosh-Sherwood > Winter Park, FL > > > ==== ALBARBOU Mailing List ==== > Check the Macon County Ga. web site for their newspaper listings. There are many listings for Alabama citizens including those in Barbour Co., > >