The Manly Side of It

Since pioneer men were not as literary as their women folk, we don't have the journals or records like those of women.  Their records were direct and short like the one who recorded his daughter's birth and death:

Feb 25, 1868 Wife had a baby daughter at 6:30 AM
Mar 7th Went to Salem, paid Dr. Siveter $10, expected to pay $5.
May 3 Baby Died.

Men were strong providers, not expressing deep emotions.  They were more concerned about matters of survival which is why most of their records concerning the Indians were concerned about number and strength, types and number of weapons, and quantity and quality of their horses. 

Men told of Indian military techniques as "warlike and fight on horseback, drilling themselves and the horses on the prairie, the mode of fight is to form a circle around the enemy,  keep riding around like circus riders.  They draw their arrows and commence attack, still keeping their circular gallop."

Men's records were especially curious about the manner in which Indians treated their dead and where they extended the greatest respect.  Eventually their attitudes towards Indian marriage customs became more respectful as well.  

Indian housing, and housing of any kind were a common topic of men- how they were constructed, techniques used, materials used to build them. They noted the Sioux lodgings were well laid out in patterns with lances and shields in front of each home. 

Some men tried to reach out to Indians hoping to alleviate some of the bitterness that had grown between the cultures.  They exchanged gifts, smoked the pipe, discussed questions of trade, land ownership, and passage.  Often these conversations were rather stiff because most men had little motivation or opportunity to learn how an Indian thinks or sympathy to do so.

Frontier men remained rigid and inflexible in their views, while women's ideas altered considerably.  Men were convinced of their own strength, the right to the land inhabited by other people, and the inferiority of those people.  Not a good start to building relationships!

Next...the Government's intervention and conclusion.