War Paint and Tattoos

Although the painting of their bodies and faces led to the term “War paint”, the use of paint by the early Indians was not only for war.  They mixed various natural ingredients together with bear grease, and applied it to themselves very creatively.  This paint protected them somewhat from the stings and bites of insects and many became quite skilled at creative designing.  The design chosen could be changed according to the whims of the user and whether it was applied for war, celebration, mourning or many other reasons.  Sometimes certain striping patterns or shapes denoted tribal or clan affiliations and the users rank or standing in secret societies.  A man was not considered to be a warrior until he distinguished himself in battle, consequently, much of the subject matter of his painting pertained to his acts of valor.  The meaning of certain colors varied between tribes, but generally, red meant war and black meant death or mourning.  Frequently a warrior used what he considered to be his lucky color, and when painting for war, he tried to make himself look as fierce as possible.  The Moravian missionary, John Heckewelder, who lived among the Delaware for nearly thirty years, gives us a vivid account of the importance of paint.  “As I was once resting in my travels at the house of a trader who lived at some distance from an Indian town, I went in the morning to visit an Indian acquaintance and friend of mine.  I found him engaged in plucking out his beard, preparatory to painting himself for a dance which was to take place the ensuing evening.  Having finished his head dress, about an hour before sunset, he came up as he said, to see me, but I and my companions judged that he came to be seen.  To my utter astonishment, I saw three different paintings of figures on one and the same face.  He had, by his great ingenuity and judgment in laying on and shading the different colours, made his nose appear, when we stood directly in front of him, as if it were very long and narrow, with a round knob at the end, much like the upper part of a pair of tongs.  On one cheek there was a red round spot, about the size of an apple, and the other was done in the same manner was black.  The eye-lids, both the upper and lower ones, were reversed in the colouring.  When we viewed him in profile on one side, his nose represented the beak of an eagle, with the bill rounded and brought to a point, precisely as those birds have it, though the mouth was somewhat open.  The eye was astonishingly well done, and the head, upon the whole, appeared tolerably well, showing a great deal of fierceness.  When we turned round to the other side, the same nose now resembled the snout of a pike, with the mouth so opened, that the teeth could be seen.He seemed much pleased with his execution, and having his looking-glass with him, he contemplated his work, seemingly with great pride and exultation.  He asked me how I liked it?  I answered that if he had done the work on a piece of board, bark or anything else, I should like it very well and often look at it.   But, asked he, why not so as it is?  Because I cannot see the face that is hidden under these colours, so as to know who it is.  Well, he replied, I must go now, and as you cannot know me to-day, I will call to-morrow morning before you leave this place.  He did so, and when he came back he was washed clean again.”

Tattooing was practiced by most of the Indian tribes throughout North America.  It was originally done with sharp flint or fish teeth but after contact, the white man’s needles quickly became the preferred tool.  Most dyes were made with combinations of charcoal paste and gunpowder with natural colors occasionally added.  Men generally tattooed more elaborately than women, and particularly in the southeast, it was common among the Creeks and Cherokees to begin tattooing children when they were first named.  Geometric designs, animals, clan symbols and heroic deeds were common.  John Long, who traveled extensively among the northern tribes between 1768 and 1788 leaves us with this detailed description of the tattooing process.  “Being extended on his back, the chief draws the figure he intends to make with a pointed stick, dipped in water in which gunpowder has been dissolved; after which, with ten needles dipped in vermilion, and fixed in a small wooden frame, he pricks the delineated parts, and where the bolder outlines occur he incises the flesh with a gunflint.  The vacant spaces, or those not marked with vermilion, are rubbed in with gunpowder, which produces the variety of red and blue; the wounds are then seared with punk-wood to prevent them from festering. The operation, which is performed at intervals, lasts two or three days.  Every morning the parts are washed with cold water in which is infused an herb called Pockqueesegan, which resembles English Box, and is mixed by the Indians with the tobacco they smoke, to take off the strength.  During the process, the war-songs are sung, accompanied by a rattle hung round with hawk-bells, called chessaquoy, which is kept shaking to stifle the groans such pains must naturally occasion.  Upon the ceremony being completed, they give the party a name; that which they allotted me, was Amik, or Beaver.”            

The model in this painting has Cherokee ancestry and exemplifies how a mid-eighteenth century warrior would present himself.

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