Nez Perce bows

[randman]

I've seen a lot of great postings of tribal bows so I have to contribute this which I ran across doing research on tribes local to the area where I grew up.
This bow and quiver of arrows was picked up after the Battle of Big Hole in the Nez Perce War and has an amazing tragic story attached to it.

http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/nepe/exb/contact_change/1877War/BIHO623_Bow.html


Museum listing:
Bow
Palouse
This bow belonged to Five Fogs or Dark Cloudy Days Five Times Repeated. He was the son of the Palouse headman Hahtalekin. A participant in the Nez Perce war, he was killed at the Battle of Big Hole on August 9, 1877. Yellow Wolf reports that Five Fogs, “did not understand the gun. He was good with the bow, but had only a hunting bow . . . . He was just in front of his own tepee ... He stood there shooting arrows at the enemies. The soldiers saw, and fired at him ... Three times those soldiers fired and missed him. The fourth round killed him”. (page 119 Yellow Wolf)
Wood, sinew. L 113.4, W 3 cm
Nez Perce National Historical Park, BIHO 623

[randman]

Here's more links to another pic of the same bow and the quiver of arrows and more of the story

http://kaga.wsulibs.wsu.edu/cdm-lv_mcwhorte/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/lv_mcwhorte&CISOPTR=42&CISOBOX=1&REC=4

http://kaga.wsulibs.wsu.edu/cdm-lv_mcwhorte/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/lv_mcwhorte&CISOPTR=41&CISOBOX=1&REC=12

http://content.wsulibs.wsu.edu/cdm-lv_mcwhorte/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/lv_mcwhorte&CISOPTR=39&CISOBOX=1&REC=2


I tried to post some of the pics but apparently doesn't pass the security (licensing?) for PA.

The arrows are interesting because all of the points are different instead of all similar as you would expect. The 5 wood pointed shafts that were part of the 10 that were with the quiver are surmised to be unfinished but are they really? Could they not be small game self pointed shafts maybe? The are flattened on one side but I don't see how a point can be hafted onto the points the way they look.

[randman]

This story fascinates me. It has captured my imagination and thoughts since I first read about it a week or so ago. Here is a man defending his people and his way of life, valiantly standing in front of his home firing arrows at his attackers.
We know his name (great one too) and the story of his death. We can attach a name to this bow and quiver. How many of the other museum specimens we love to look at have the same kind of story. Many of them untold. Of course we know about the provenence of the Sudbury bow and there are many others out there that would probably tell some great stories if they could.

Anybody care to make a guess as to the type of wood in the bow? It looks like dark aged wood but if you look at the belly edge of the grip, it looks like flaking or scraped paint of some sort with a white looking wood underneath.

[jwillis]

That's pretty interesting that he just stood there until a bullet hit him. It was a disrespectful tragedy that the white man came and killed the native Americans and stole their land. Jim

[crooketarrow]

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