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BRANDISHING THE GUN: REPRESENTATIONS IN EARLY
AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1500-1800
by
Jay Branagan Webb
APPROVED BY SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE:
______________________________________________
Dr. Pamela Gossin, Chair
______________________________________________
Dr. John Gooch
______________________________________________
Dr. Eric Schlereth
______________________________________________
Dr. Natalie Ring
Copyright 2019
Jay Branagan Webb
All Rights Reserved
For Claire
BRANDISHING THE GUN: REPRESENTATIONS IN EARLY
AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1500-1800
by
JAY BRANAGAN WEBB, BA, MA
DISSERTATION
Presented to the Faculty of
The University of Texas at Dallas
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN
LITERATURE
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS
December 2019
v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This dissertation has been a work in progress for quite some time. It began as a flicker of thought
as I was reading James Fenimore Cooper’s Deerslayer and noted that Natty Bumppo argued for
gun safety and expressed concern for lives mournfully taken by the American failure to respect
the gun. Reading this in wake of the Sandy Hook School shooting created a serious question:
How had early American literature addressed issues of gun culture, gun control and gun safety?
As I studied various accounts, I found more significant questions that overshadowed the
aforementioned and helped to remove presuppositions. I became more interested in ways in
which these texts turned to firearms to answer contextual sociopolitical issues. I am grateful to
my dissertation committee for granting me the opportunity to explore the roles that guns played
in Early American literature within a scope that extends over three hundred years.
I would like to give special thanks to my Dissertation Chair, Dr. Pamela Gossin, for her support
and thought-provoking news clippings. I appreciate her willingness to step up from co-chair to
“the” chair. She allowed me to work as a fulltime professor and on the dissertation. Her patience
as I strove to juggle family life, professional development, and my research and writing has been
overwhelmingly meaningful in my life. Her forbearance and understanding for over four years
has been invaluable.
I owe a great debt to my dad, Stanley J. Webb, and Melinda Webb, my mom, for help with edits
and revisions. Their persistence with difficult projects and help was infectious. I appreciate being
able to talk through major points with them and discuss ideas that did or did not come to fruition
in this work. For my father’s guidance and example, I am grateful. I owe my mother an extensive
backlog of babysitter fees for taking care of my daughters while I wrote.
vi
I have to include an indescribable heart-felt sense of indebtedness and appreciation to my wife,
Claire. She never complained when I depended on and requested so much from her.
I am grateful for many scholars within the field that have shown interest, sent me news clippings
and book suggestions, or have given me advice. I want to thank Dr. Wayne Franklin for his
advice and suggestions, his meeting with me at the 2015 MLA Convention, and his e-mail
correspondence regarding my chapter over Cooper’s Nathaniel Bumppo. I want to thank Dr. Jay
Terry Lees for news clippings and Becky Lees for her reassurance. I wish to thank Dr. Steven
Hahn for his exuberant encouragement. Ultimately, I owe deep appreciation to my family and to
my wife in particular for her inspiration.
October 2019
vii
BRANDISHING THE GUN: REPRESENTATIONS IN EARLY
AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1500-1800
Jay Branagan Webb, PhD
The University of Texas at Dallas, 2019
Supervising Professor: Pamela Gossin, Chair
This dissertation explores early American literary representations of firearms, both pistols and
rifles. Its primary purpose is to provide an overview of a few samples of early American
perceptions of guns and explore ways in which such perceptions were formed upon the American
frontier and helped create American culture and identity. Furthermore, it examines ways these
texts mythologize, interpret, and symbolize gun use. It shows how authors turn to the gun to
answer basic questions about acquiring food, safety, and future colonization. Firearms also
promoted the idea of cultural dominance and Manifest Destiny. The shooter’s actions were often
sanctioned by God or couched in heroic endeavors. Such depictions contribute to American
identity and the construction of the nation’s Gun Culture. As authors turn to the gun as a means
to answer their current sociopolitical issues, the complexities that Early America confronts are
disregarded or “tabled” for later debate or for future authors. This study asserts America has a
collective consciousness or understanding of gun use. It explores the political issues that early
explorers and Americans encountered concerning firearms and addresses in what manner these
anxieties or concerns are demonstrated. More specifically, these narratives reflect the attitudes
viii
early Americans had concerning gun use before, during and after the writing of the Second
Amendment. Ultimately it provides an account of how early American literature reflects,
questions, and employs values found within American identity and the American frontier.
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………..…………….... v
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………… …...……..vii
LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………….…...……….x
INTRODUCTION “SIGHTING-IN”: POSITIONING GUNS IN SCHOLARSHIP …................1
CHAPTER 1 “EXPEDITION GONE AWRY”: CABEZA DE VACA AND GUNS AMONG
THE NATIVES………………….……………………………………………………………….30
CHAPTER 2 “THROUGH A CHANCE SUPPOSED”: CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH STAGING
THE AMERICAN GUN………………………………………………..………………….…….53
CHAPTER 3 “GUN-TOTING WOMEN”: THE (RE)IMAGININGS OF MARY
ROWLANDSON…...…………………………………………..………………………………..85
CHAPTER 4 “PRESENT ARMS”: LEWIS AND CLARK AND THE OPENING OF THE
FRONTIER..............................................................................................................................…123
CHAPTER 5 “LE LONGUE CARABINE”: NATIONALISM IN COOPER, NATHANIEL
AND THE KENTUCKY RIFLE………………………………………………………..…...…175
EPILOGUE UNPACKING THE GUN IN EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE….…....…..223
BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………….……………………………..243
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH………………………………………………………………...…252
CURRICULUM VITAE.……………………………………….……………………. ………..253
x
LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Soldier Firing a Harquebus (1475).………………..………………………………………...43
3.1 Title Page for Mary Rowlandson’s Captivity Narrative (1682), Published in Cambridge....104
3.2 Title Page for Mary Rowlandson’s Captivity Narrative (1682), Published in London….....106
3.3 Female Soldier Woodblock Printing Repurposed for Mary Rowlandson (1770),
Published in Boston……………………………………………………………………...…109
3.4 Hannah Snell Performing Musketry Drills (1750)……………………………………...…..110
3.5 Mary Rowlandson’s Captivity Narrative Title Page (1773), Published in Boston ….……..114
4.1 Blunderbuss Guns on Swivel (1804)……………………………………………………….145
4.2 Giradoni Air Rifle (1803)…………………………………………………………………..147
4.3 Captain Lewis and Clark holding a Council with the Indians (1810)……………………...162
4.4 Meriwether Lewis Esq. in Native Regalia (1807)………………………………………….165
5.1 Sheet Music of The Hunters of Kentucky arranged by William Blondell (1824)………….180
5.2 Sketches of the Kentucky Rifle (1977)…………………………………………………….182
1
INTRODUCTION
“SIGHTING-IN:” POSITIONING GUNS IN SCHOLARSHIP
It is difficult to argue that gun culture does not exist in the United States. Statistics,
popular culture, and even common vernacular establish imperative connections between guns
and the United States. Internationally, the United States ranks well above any other country in
charting the number of guns per capita. The Small Arms Survey conducted in 2017 recorded that
the number of civilian-owned guns in America surpassed the population, documenting 393
million guns to 326 million people.1 As Christopher Ingraham reported, “Americans made up 4
percent of the world's population but owned about 46 percent of the entire global stock of 857
million civilian firearms.”2 Aside from current statistics that indicate a predominate gun culture
in America, recurring models of the frontier “gun-toting” hero occur throughout U.S. history and
literature, forming national mythology. Stories about the lives of Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone,
and the fictional character of Natty Bumppo, were integrated into the American narrative and
helped establish and maintain enduring values and characteristics of the American heroism.3 The
1 Small Arms Survey 2017 qtd. in Christopher Ingraham, “There are more guns than people in the
United States, according to a new study of global firearm ownership.” Washington Post, 19 June 2018,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/06/19/there-are-more-guns-than-people-in-the-
united-states-according-to-a-new-study-of-global-firearm-ownership/?utm_term=.93413bfe2d68.
Accessed 29 April 2019.
2 Christopher Ingraham, “There are more guns than people in the United States, according to a
new study of global firearm ownership.” Washington Post, 19 June 2018,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/06/19/there-are-more-guns-than-people-in-the-
united-states-according-to-a-new-study-of-global-firearm-ownership/?utm_term=.93413bfe2d68.
Accessed 29 April 2019.
3 For instance, by John Filson, popularizing the life of Daniel Boone in the late 1700s, which
many authors would continue. John Filson, The Discovery of Kentucke and the Adventures of Daniel
Boon. (Garland Pub. 1978).
2
American branding of the frontier hero continues in historical and even current mass
consumption and entertainment from American frontier dime novels to spaghetti westerns, and
even space cowboys. Gun clubs, gun museums, and popular debate over Second Amendment
rights—all reflect the prominence of gun culture in the United States. Indeed this sustained
interest affirms that guns have and continue to shape American culture.4 The gun is even
depicted (often unknowingly) in common vernacular, revealing telling influences in phrases like
“the right caliber,” “riding shotgun,” “going off half-cocked,” “setting your sights on,” “being a
big-shot,” “bringing out the big guns,” or even “having tickets to the gun show,” which all serve
as prevalent metaphors in everyday usage, integrating the gun’s power, authority, individuality,
and even violence into customary American speech.5
Though gun culture is undeniably present, modern understanding and contemporary
viewpoints regarding firearms often confuse (or are often read back into) more historical and
literary representations, framing firearm representation in favorable or unfavorable political
perspectives. Many historians and political scientists disagree as to what exactly the gun
4 See Michael Butler, “Sons of Oliver Edwards; or The Other American Hero” Western American
Literature vol 1: 12 (Spring 1977) 53: “Leatherstocking has traditionally been treated as the first fully
developed American hero, the type prefiguring later anti-types like the mountain man, cowboy, gangster,
soldier of fortune […]” and Mary Suzanne Schriber, Gender and the Writer’s Imagination: From
Cooper to Wharton. (Lexington: University of Kentucky,1987): “It’s a truism of literary criticism that
James Fenimore Cooper created the first distinctively American heroes. Natty Bumppo has long been
accepted as the prototype of American frontiersman grappling with American problems: Daniel Herman,
Hunting and the American Imagination (Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002) 276-8; Herman discusses
how middle class men during the Jacksonian market revolution began to idolize hunter folk heroes such
as Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and Big Mike Fink, creating an imagined American hunting legacy as
well as driving popular culture beliefs and myths about American identity and attitudes toward guns.
5 Robert Myers, “Gunspeak: The Influence of America’s Gun Culture on Everyday
Communication” Anthro-at-Large: Bulletin of the Federation of Small Anthropology Programs 12:1.
(Spring 2005) 12-16.
3
represented throughout American history. For instance, as Richard Hofstadter calls for more
scholarship exploring guns and gun rights in his article “America as a Gun Culture” (1970), he
asks why “intelligent Americans cling with pathetic stubbornness to the notion that the people’s
right to bear arms is the greatest protection of their individual rights?”6 The rhetoric with which
Hofstadter frames his question regarding “pathetic stubborn” gun rights enthusiasts and owners
does as much to betray his own political disposition as it serves to call for gun scholarship.
Furthermore, presuppositions about American gun culture are referred to on both sides of the
argument and end up begging the proverbial question. Hence, the argument becomes circular.
In response to Hofstadter’s question, Michael Bellesiles’ controversial Arming America (2000)
exposes a more deceptive dilemma that places historical scholarship in collusion with political
bias. Bellesiles challenges the idea that early America even had a well-defined gun culture. He
claims that few early Americans owned or even demonstrated much concern for guns, asserting
that only after the Civil War did American attitudes toward guns begin to change. Though
initially well received by scholars, his work underwent major scrutiny as falsified information
surfaced.7
6 Richard Hofstadter, “America as a Gun Culture” American Heritage 21. 6. (1970): 4. Hofstadter
is writing in the wake of (and makes direct reference to) the assassination of Martin Luther King and John
F. Kennedy as he calls gun rights into question.
7 “Forum: Historians and Guns,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser. 59 (January 2002), 201-68.
Bellesilles reprinted his text as Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture, 2nd ed.
(Brooklyn, New York: Soft Skull Press, 2003). Here, the fabricated evidence is taken out in attempts to
prove that his argument should still be viable. Bellesilles makes an effort to defend his thesis in and
distances the argument from his overt bias, claiming he did not write the text with current political debate
in mind. He also claims that the number of guns and other evidence that he fabricated in his prior book
was not the central argument of the entire text. He still maintains, however, that gun culture did not
culminate until the mid-nineteenth century in America. He does this by addressing the number of guns
accounted for as well as focusing on gun manufacturing. I attest that aside from gun ownership and
production, gun narratives in literature is an accurate indicator of gun culture.
4
In reaction to scholarship couched in anti-gun biases, many political and social scientists
have further clouded the issue with biased views of their own. For example, Clayton Cramer
strives to refute Bellesiles’s premise—that there was no gun culture until after the Civil War—
with his text Locked and Loaded: The Origins of American Gun Culture.8 Cramer does much to
assert that gun culture and dependence upon them has been crucial ever since early American
colonization. Much of his stance in the text relies upon refuting the argument that
industrialization and gun manufacturers did much to establish and propagate gun culture.
Additionally, Cramer also pens another text entitled Armed America: The Remarkable Story of
How and Why Guns Became as American as Apple Pie (2007). In it he maintains that firearms
not only were always an integral part of American life but also quickly became a symbol of
citizenship in early America (even before the Revolutionary war).9 Although Cramer levels
criticism at the predispositions or “political leanings” of a few historical scholars of gun culture
(mainly those of Bellesilles), his book’s own title and interpretations betray a contradictory but
complementary bias, in being overly reductionist and whiggish in his claim. In other words, he
works from his presumed historical perspective of an America well-accustomed to guns and to
gun culture and then reads this back into accounts to prove his perspective accurate. For instance,
8 Clayton E. Cramer, Lock, Stock, and Barrel: The Origins of American Gun Culture (Santa
Barbara: Praeger 2018).
9 Clayton E. Cramer, Armed America: The Remarkable Story of How and Why Guns Became as
American as Apple Pie (Nashville: Nelson Current, 2006). Clayton Cramer levels criticism at Bellesiles’s
Arming America as well as at historians with “political leanings” that influenced criticism (xiv). I find his
pro-gun views just as politically driven as the anti-gun control scholarship he critiques. Clayton Cramer,
as gun enthusiast, in Armed America offers, for the most part of the monograph, his rebuttal to
Bellesiles’s Arming America arguing the existence of a vibrant gun culture in early America. Cramer
takes liberties in interpreting a “pro-gun” American history.
5
even his title smacks of the “petitio principii” rhetorical fallacy, assuming the initial point, and
again, begging the question.10 What exactly makes apple pie or firearms “American?” More
explicitly, food history of apple pie predates American colonization and the Revolution
extending back to Swedish, Dutch, and English culture.
Similarly, one could argue that firearm history maintains comparable European roots. To
enter debate one must approach the matter with the already framed concepts of national identity.
For instance, what did the new nation do to Americanize guns? How does one define American
identity? Placing the historical and easily recognizable early American gun narratives under a
close reading offers critical insight. The benefit of such an approach is that it evades much of the
polemical and biased representations as current gun debates often read their own belief system of
gun-myths and understanding of gun culture in America back into debates—frequently this
occurs after school shootings and other atrocities that bring gun debate to the forefront. Rather,
turning to historical examples of gun narratives, perceiving ways in which guns were depicted
and exploring ways that authors used guns as a means to address political issues places attention
on the origins of gun perspectives (whether accurate or unfounded) within the context of then-
current historical issues.
Furthermore, other studies that have contributed to our understanding of gun culture in
America. Adam Winkler’s Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America (2013)
traces the various readings of the Second Amendment from the founding of American
10 Strangely, apple pie begins to become “Americanized” and part of the American persona in the
19th century, culture began to catch-up with the new nation creating new definitions. It is my argument
that like apple pie, firearms are just as similarly has been rewritten into the American history and has
already aided in establishing the nation’s self-definition.
6
democracy to the Jim Crow South and on to the Civil Rights movement and the Ronald Reagan
era.11 He addresses the political tightening and loosening regarding the legalities of gun
ownership. The monograph offers a perspective on how constitutional law varies concerning
social, economic, and political pressures. Much of his argument illustrates ways that the
American justice system is rather reactionary to social change and, as a consequence, traces a
series of pendulum shifts regarding gun control as opinion and policy respond to these social
pressures inherent in colonization, the need for an American identity, and Manifest Destiny—all
aspects that stress the value of guns upon the American public through its literature.
Another monograph that explores the economic factors in creating the American Gun
Culture is Pamela Haag’s The Gunning of America: Business and the Making of American Gun
Culture (2016). This text asserts that the creation of gun culture was commercially created by
Remington, Winchester, and other American gun barons. In advertising and political arenas these
manufacturers highly exaggerated ways in which the gun became inextricably linked to
American identity in terms of individualism, rugged masculinity, the creation of the war hero,
and Manifest Destiny. Haag’s argument offers valuable insights into the commercialization of
gun culture, claiming, “It was the gun business’s business to create them [both the demand for
and the product of guns].”12 The Gunning of America’s compelling thesis—that gun culture in
America was essentially manufactured by its gun manufacturers—evokes a captivating narrative
11 Adam Winkler, Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America (New York:
W.W. Norton & Co. 2013).
12 Pamela Haag, The Gunning of America: The Business and the Making of American Gun
Culture (Philadelphia: Basic Books 2016) xv.
7
of gun barons finding ways to tap into the civilian/domestic market after the Civil War and after
World War I. Similar to Haag’s text, this study acknowledges economic factors in the creation of
American gun culture, yet much of this study’s scope is predominantly pre-industrial America,
highlighting various themes that, later, gun businesses exaggerate. Yet, it is important to
underscore that much of the American palate for the heroic gun began to take shape well-before
as authors shaped positive gun narratives and the motifs. Early American literature uses the gun
to address issues of colonization, the dream of Manifest Destiny, and the demand to create a
national identity. Many authors offer their readership significant gun myths with dime novels and
the industrial era, dovetailing into Haag’s The Gunning of America, where economic factors
drive Gun Culture. I argue that American gun culture is not found within an “either/or” debate—
either economic factors (both Haag and Bellesiles’ argument) or enthusiastic pro-gun sentiment
from America’s inception (Cramer’s argument); rather, gun culture began to build within
America, and this is prevalent as this study traces gun themes and imagery within early
American literature. American gun myths occurred in literature for social and political reasons
and built upon one another, aiding in the creation of an American Gun Culture.
By turning to the literature of early American authors, those invested or interested in
current gun-debate can find some common ground in understanding American historical gun
perspectives and discover how they were politicized. In other words, performing a close reading
of guns in literature from the perspective the author presents provides a significant avenue into
contextual understandings of gun perspectives untainted by current polemical perspectives. Such
an understanding of cultural and political issues that arise in gun presentations in literature
allows for analysis with less obfuscation. Analysis of widely read early American literature,
8
rather than historical gun debates or accounts of gun ownership, permits insight into the cultural
perspectives and representations that both politicized the gun and helped build American gun-
culture. Before America’s inception, “gun” became a politically loaded term. It is my hope that
understanding how the gun became a symbol inherent in the fabric of the construction of
American identity, as seen in early American literature, can help inform current gun debates. I
argue that the gun was seldom perceived of in colonial and early America as a simple tool but
was always associated with various socio-political concerns, values, ethics, racial distinctions,
heroism, nationalism, Manifest Destiny, and anxieties. Studying the ways in which past authors
perceived and endorsed gun use may aid in creating a consensus on gun use and ownership in the
current debate.
A brief survey of firearm scholarship reveals that a majority of scholarly analyses were
devoted either to the defense of American firearms and their “established legacy” or to the
defense of social, cultural, and governmental parameters placed upon firearms. For instance, gun
rights attorney Stephen Halbrook’s That Every Man Be Armed (2000) favors populists’ (gun
enthusiasts’ or NRA advocates’) interpretations that stress the individual right to bear arms and
include hunting, personal protection, and the staging of a coup against corrupt governments as
accompanying political truths, making guns both necessary and “American.” Countering
burgeoning populist interpretations, many historians like Alexander De Conde’s Gun Violence in
America (2001), Joyce Malcolm’s Guns and Violence (2004), Richard’s American Violence
(1970), and Gary Wills’ A Necessary Evil (2002) claim that such a legacy of individualistic gun
rights had not yet come to conceptual fruition at the time of writing the Second Amendment
(1791), much less at the time of American colonization. These historians offer a few perspectives
9
of the Second Amendment, regarding it as a decree to organize a State militia rather than as a
declaration for the individualistic right for personal gun protection—namely, the “collective
rights” or “State’s rights” school of thought. Similarly, Saul Cornell’s A Well Regulated Militia
(2008) emphasizes that civic rights are of prime importance, claiming historically that the
Second Amendment required that each citizen supply the State his arms and service to the militia
rather than asserting his right to private ownership.13 While each of these perspectives is valid,
and welcomed, this study implies that the Second Amendment’s original interpretation was never
meant for individual arsenals for personal use and defense. Rather, it was meant to supply the
State with individuals’ firearms and service in the militia in defense of the State. Such a
perspective most likely would be lost on other political authors, such as Stephen Halbrook and
Clayton Cramer, and their readership who come to a different conclusion when examining the
same facts. American history often fuels current polemical disputes and purviews framed in
either/or arguments and creates a platform for caustic deliberation that overlooks the possibility
of an environment where political bias could be set aside and common ground and understanding
could take place. However, when turning to early American literature, fiction, and myth, rather
than political science and history, dialogue becomes less caustic or one-sided and shared
understanding regarding guns, their use, and historical perspectives allow for a broader
exploration of possibilities rather than reactionary confrontations.
13 Conversely, Saul Cornell traces Halbrook’s and Williams’ “individual right” interpretation as
stemming from nineteenth century thought, not the Revolutionary period. Saul Cornell, A Well-Regulated
Militia: the Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America. (Oxford University Press
2006).
10
Thankfully, historiography reflects that recent studies reject past tendencies to evoke an
either/or debate, instead replacing polarizing and altruistic accounts and interpretations of guns
and gun rights with more complex, multifaceted viewpoints and methodologies. For instance,
David C. Williams, a legal historian, offers his The Mythic Meanings of the Second Amendment
(2003) as a less personally biased and more comprehensive work in understanding the
interpretation of the Second Amendment. He refers to many of the aforementioned scholars as
being divided upon two major phrases within the Second Amendment. Specifically, he notes
ways in which some scholars stress the phrase, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed.” On the other hand, Weberian scholars (such as Dennis Henigan and Keith
Erhman) identify the preceding clause that stresses: “A well-regulated militia being necessary to
the security of the Free State,” explaining that a State could monopolize and control the
definition of a legitimate use of violence.14 However, what is most intriguing about this legal
study is that Williams frees scholarship from generalizing binaries, restructuring polemical
debate. The differing interpretations of The Second Amendment, he claims, are couched
significantly in myth and Willams affirms, “Neither offers a balanced account of the Second
Amendment.”15 Shaping oppositional interpretations as myths, Williams also is able to explore
ways the framers of the constitutions strove to maintain a balance of power to the people and
government. Williams brilliantly moves the stale scholarly debate away from either/or argument
14 Both Henigan and Erhman refute claims that the Second Amendment advocated individual
rights to stage an insurrection. David C. Williams, The Mythic Meanings of the Second Amendment:
Taming Political Violence in a Constitutional Republic. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003) 112.
15 David C. Williams. The Mythic Meanings of the Second Amendment: Taming Political
Violence in a Constitutional Republic. (New Haven: Yale University Press 2003) 7. Williams argues that
both differing perspectives “illuminate important political truths,” yet, both are “dangerously one sided.”
11
to worldviews, attitudes, and myth. Williams’ study highlights the value of understanding ways
that myth shapes attitudes and in turn shapes law and government. His study strives to explore
deeply seated modes of thought rather than to evoke deeply seated pro or anti arguments.
As historians have already noted the significance of gun and frontier myths, many studies
connect such myths to America’s national identity.16 This study aims to build upon such
understandings and lead readership toward a productive recognition of myth and the role it
played in American history and the creation of its gun culture. Richard Slotkin’s groundbreaking
trilogy explores ways in which much of “American culture” developed out of real anxieties over
wilderness and real or rumored threats from Native Americans. His Regeneration Through
Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier 1600-1870 (1973) couples a cultural-
historical approach with Joseph Campbell’s “power of myth” in order to explain how European
settlers expressed anxieties through violence—a fundamental ingredient in the creation of a
national myth and identity. In The Fatal Environment: The Myth of the Frontier in the Age of
Industrialization, 1800-1890 (1985) he continues to trace violence through the nation’s concept
of Manifest Destiny to its industrialization and imperial expansion eras. Lastly, his Gunfighter
Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in the Twentieth Century (1992) marks ways in which gun
affinity in popular culture—dime novels, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Shows, and Hollywood film—
16 Another text that addresses the issue of gender in the creation of gun culture and American
identity is Laura Browder’s Her Best Shot: Women and Guns in America (Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press 2006). This text argues that images of women’s relationships with guns serve as
lynchpins for broader cultural issues. Another text delves into ways in which race plays a factor in gun
culture and, in particular, gun ownership is Nicholas Johnson’s Negroes and the Gun: The Black
Tradition of Arms, (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books 2014). This text chronicles the African
American experience and relationship with gun ownership, cultural stigmas, and political rights. Though
much of its scope focuses upon the Jim Crow South and Civil Rights era, it does evoke multiple
perspectives on the issues of guns and the African American struggle to gain freedoms.
12
responded to and influenced American culture and politics. Slotkin explains his studies’
reasoning:
True myths are generated on a subliterary level by the historical experience of a people
and thus constitute part of that inner reality which the work of the artist draws on,
illuminates, and explains. In American mythogenesis the founding fathers were not those
eighteenth-century gentlemen who composed a nation at Philadelphia. Rather, they were
those who (to paraphrase Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!) tore violently a nation from the
implacable and opulent wilderness—the rogues, adventurers, and land-boomers; the
Indian fighters, traders, missionaries, explorers, and hunters who killed and were killed
until they had mastered the wilderness; the settlers who came after, suffering hardship
and Indian warfare for the sake of a sacred mission or a some desire for land; and the
Indians themselves, both as they were and as they appeared to the settlers, for whom they
were the special demonic personification of the American wilderness. Their concerns,
their hopes, their terror, their violence, and their justifications of themselves, as expressed
in literature, are the foundation stones of the mythology that informs our history.17
The historical experiences and anxieties that Slotkin highlights and which each artist “draws on,
illuminates and explains” consistently return to themes of violence as a form of regeneration or
remaking of America, reclaiming it as God’s country. Slotkin explains that framers of American
17 Richard Slotkin, Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier,
1600-1800. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 2000) 4.
13
myth and American history were the adventurers that “mastered the wilderness” and subdued the
Natives in both real and fictional narratives.
Just as Slotkin builds upon Joseph Campbell’s concept of myth (focusing more upon
ways in which American writers portrayed violence and took part in the mythogenesis of
American culture), I build upon Slotkin’s concept of violence with particular emphasis on the
role of firearms, tracing a few narratives of “rogues and adventurers” underscoring how
representations of firearms drew upon myth. More specifically, I am building on the manner that
he addresses myth created for the public to address their major “concerns, their hopes, their
terror, their violence, and their justifications of themselves,” as a means to answer significant
political, cultural, and economic questions. I argue that symbolism surrounding the gun has been
so solidified from the point of colonization to the present, and that meaning, myth, and
politicization of the gun have become so ingrained and rooted within language itself that critical
debate, either popular or scholarly, becomes problematic. Undoubtedly, any discussion of guns,
gun rights, and gun culture is infused right from America’s exploration and colonial inception
through myth that becomes indistinguishable from political agendas. Thus, by turning to close
reading and contextual understanding, looking at ways the authors (and illustrators) purposefully
staged the gun as American mythology serves as an answer to political and social issues,
particularly focusing upon various problems that the gun purportedly solves within the texts, one
can better understand ways in which authors have turned to evoking images of the gun as a
means to respond to current issues. In this manner studying ways in which gun terminology was
used in the past, we may be able to isolate instances of such mythologized and polemical
understandings of the American gun. This is where my approach somewhat differs from
14
Slotkin’s. This study follows his approach in uncovering Campbellesque archetypal
understandings of myth. Yet among these myths, it uncovers the underlying needs of individual
authors to turn to such guns myths, often revealing the ethical and political issues at stake. In
turning to a close reading of gun depictions, imagery and myth reveal political agendas.
What this study helps to uncover it that the gun, in literature, was seldom a simple tool or
machine; the myth of the gun is used to provide solutions to crucial problems and situations that
formed this nation, such as: how could Europeans eradicate such a large population in the
Americas? Also, by what means did colonizers set themselves as distinctly superior to the
Natives and, later over Europeans? How could colonials maintain a sense of protection and quell
the anxieties future immigrants maintained toward Natives and wilderness? And, how could the
gun imagery encourage men to enlist in the American Revolution, or later, to ensure peace and
trade among the Natives? Further, how did early American authors—acting as moralists—instill
a sense of ethics, natural law, and acute discernment within its citizenry?
A brief reading of William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Jean Michelet’s Histoire de France
1516 – 1547, and Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote offers a sense of how literary texts
conflate national patriotism with gun-use (Henry IV) and questions the ethics of gun-use in war
and battle (Histoire de France and Don Quixote). Hotspur’s monologue in Shakespeare’s Henry
IV pits two symbolic objects, spermaceti and saltpeter, at odds—arguing which object should
serve as the emblem of the sovereign man. As Hotspur is bloody and leaning on his sword, after
battle, he muses in his monologue, “came there a certain lord, neat and trimly dress’d” that “with
many holiday and lady terms […] talked so like a waiting –gentlewoman/ Of guns and drums
and wounds, —God save the mark—/And telling me the sovereign’st thing on earth/ Was
15
parmaceti18 for an inward bruise.”19 While Hotspur is covered with blood, his wounds “growing
cold,” this man is gingerly taking snuff claiming parmeceti is “the sovreign’st thing on earth” for
treating bruises. Here, Hotspur notes that this effeminate man is carrying on about spermaceti, or
sperm whale oil20 being the “sovereign’st thing.” The term sovereign takes on the meaning of
being “most notable” or “of superlative degree” for remedies. Sperm whale oil as material also is
being heralded as what makes Great Britain superior. Hotspur recalls how this gentleman as he
elevates the incomparability of spermaceti as he condemns saltpeter stating, “And that it was
great pity, so it was,/ That the villainous saltpetere should be digg’d/ Out of the bowels of the
harmless earth,/ Which many a good tall fellow had destroyed/ So cowardly; and but for those
vile guns,/ He would himself have been a soldier.”21 The fashionable gentleman is stating that
were it not for villainous guns and had military weapons maintained their decency, “he would
himself have been a soldier.”22 Just as a nation’s ability to produce sperm whale oil is
emblematic of its maritime and scientific superiority, the use of guns crosses some fashionable
line, proving it to be cowardly or vile to some Englishmen. Yet Shakespeare contrasts Hotspur
with this so-called “cowardly” character and defines Hotspur’s notion of the gun as a symbol of
sovereignty and as a test of bravery and manliness.
18 Spermaceti
19 William Shakespeare, Henry IV. (London: Penguin 1996) 59.
20 Spermaceti: oil that gave the most efficient light and also was used to treat bruises.
21 William Shakespeare, Henry IV. (London: Penguin 1996) 59.
22 Henry IV 59.
16
Within this juxtaposition of the two characters, the play Henry IV reveals ways in which
objects are fused to meanings of sovereignty. French history offers an example that echoes a
similar sentiment, building a national character and ideals of gentrification by rejecting the use of
guns. In Histoire de France 1516 – 1547 (1867), Jules Michelet explains,
No use has yet been made in France, in 1547, of that terrible weapon [the gun: both the
cannon and the harquebus] against men. The French used it with good effect against
some castles in 1338, but they would blush to employ it against their fellow-creatures.
The English, less humane, without doubt outstripped us, and made use of some at the
celebrated battle of Creçy.23
As Michelet calls into question the humane use of firearms and cannons, he uses othering to
define French sophistication and bravery in contrast to the “less humane” and well-armed
English. In both examples, material, myth, and othering all converge to create or support national
identity in its regard for firearms. Shakespeare’s Hotspur consents to the use of guns as a weapon
of nobility and English masculinity as opposed to the other gentleman that Hotspur paints as
“womanly.” And Michelet marks the English’s gun-use as barbarous or undignified. As we will
explore later, the Englishmen Captain John Smith uses a similar argument against the Spanish
conquistadores, condemning their treacherous use of the gun in contrast to that of the refined and
well-mannered English colonizers.
This argument regarding the gun’s early introduction as it reflects or negates national
civilized gentry is apparent in Spanish literature as well. Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote
23 qtd. in W.W. Greener, The Gun and its Development. 9th ed. (New York: Bonanza 1967) 55.
17
(first volume published in 1607) continually uses and critiques historical nostalgia as it pertains
to national character, humanity, and bravery as the knight-errant claims,
It grieves me to have undertaken this exercise of a knight-errant in this our detestable
age; for although no danger can affright me, yet […] I live in jealousy to think how
powder and lead might deprive me of the power to make myself famous and renowned by
the strength of my arm and the edge of my sword throughout the face of this earth.24
As Cervantes recognized the new technology of the gun challenged and changed perspectives of
bravery. For the most part, European nations esteemed their traditional perspectives of bravery
and humanity in their “assumed” hesitation to adopt this “treacherous saltpetre” while they
claimed other countries more brutish or less refined because of their quick adoption of such
technology that seemed to promote a concept that the soldier reliant on such a weapon is void of
skill or lacks bravery. Where Europe may have been the birthplace of gun debates over moral
issues and traditional concepts of bravery, America is the real battleground on which the debate
took shape. As European powers began to fight over land in the Americas and define this new
environment, the gun also took upon itself (or rather was given by early American authors) new
definitions that would later be adopted, adapted or discarded in order to frame American notions
of the gun.
Another study that provides scholarship with similar attention toward gun myth and gun
culture nostalgia is Daniel Herman’s Hunting and the American Imagination (2001). Herman
uses a cultural-historical approach to explore the roots of an Anglo-American ethnic identity as
24 Miguel Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of la Mancha. Translated by Thomas Shelton.
(London: David Nutt 1896) 140.
18
personified by the American hunter. In tracing various trends found from the writings of Captain
John Smith to Theodore Roosevelt, Herman, rather than praising or vilifying the hunter,
elaborates upon myths and values ascribed to the hunter.25 Herman focuses upon representational
myths in order to answer what makes hunting “American,” underscoring ways in which the
contested figure of the hunter has been adopted into American mainstream culture. Herman uses
myth in order to trace various trends in popular perspectives and representations of the American
hunter.
My study follows the trends of scholarly development exemplified by Slotkin, Williams,
and Herman, avoiding dangerous dichotomies, disagreements, and allegations of contemporary
understandings superimposed upon those of the past. However, I place particular focus upon
firearm representations. Though as both Slotkin and Herman remark, understanding violence and
hunting influences perspectives on the American gun, these two studies do not attend specifically
to other politicized uses of the gun and overlook many of the ways the gun was brandished as a
literary device before the Civil War.26 A narrowed focus upon literary depictions will serve to
illuminate ways in which symbolism of the gun changes and evolves from America’s
colonization to just before the Civil War.
“Firearms” itself is a broad term with many uses, makes, and models. Yet, for the
purpose of this study, I interpret firearms to mean weapons using gunpowder that can be carried
25 Daniel Herman, Hunting and the American Imagination. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian
Press, 2001) xi.
26 Richard Slotkin’s Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in the Twentieth Century
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1998) does this but his scope resides within the early nineteen
hundreds.
19
and used by one individual, such as muskets, rifles, pistols, and harquebuses. My focus on
American guns and their connections with myth engages additional discussion about national
identity, cultural iconography, values, and symbols—all crucial tools for gauging changes in
American culture. With these critical elements, I hope to discuss and gauge American gun
culture.
Many historians and legal and political scholars not only reference myth but also
continually refer to fictional narratives, yet it is surprising to note the lack of literary scholarship
in American firearm representation. Literary works are saturated with gun references and
methodological approaches steeped in myth, fiction, representation, and symbolism. A literary
study fully dedicated to gun myths will help fill this gap in research and uncover some
overlooked or unanticipated historical perceptions, meanings, origins, and insights built into the
literary construction of American gun culture.
Other scholarship that focuses upon the colonials’ apprehensions regarding the Natives
and the wilderness is Ian K. Steele’s Warpaths: Invasions of the North America (1994). Here,
Steele highlights early American struggles for survival and supremacy as being a major—and
often ignored—convention for Anglo-Americans as military exploits, trade, and diplomacy
became central features in the creation of American culture. Steele argues these clashes are
instrumental in creating a national identity. As the texts reaffirm “othering” as imperative in
creating a national identity, I continue this discussion as conflicts, clashes, and the natural
20
environment serve to generate both nonfiction and fictional accounts, establishing political roles
for the American gun.27
Clashes and conflicts between Europeans and Natives are central to my argument as
definitions and myths of the gun are created within this context. This conflict is what makes the
American gun different from that of the Europeans’ use of the firearm. These Euro-American
definitions are addressed and elaborated within each chapter. In general, the gun, within
narratives of conflict with Natives (and eventually the British), becomes a stand-in for
nationalistic pride, Eurocentrism, God’s will, providence, nature, predestined death, and an
appeal for peace and economic relations. Once Native peoples obtain and adapt the gun to the
wilderness, the gun yields more intricate definitions in the hands of the Euro-American. The gun
becomes Americanized by colonial perceptions when Natives use the weapon against the settlers.
Within these narratives, colonials and Americans adopt their perceived Native characteristics in
regards to the gun and claim then as their own. In such a way, colonials are able to turn to gun
myth in order to set themselves apart as superior to their enemies.
In building upon literary and historical scholarship that traces how the frontier created
American national identity, my study examines how early American authors defined the gun
through political staging—placing the gun in a situation where it serves a response to political
issues of the time. For example, as explored in Chapter 2, John Smith showcases—stages—the
27 Jeffery C. Alexander, Ron Eyerman, Bernhard Giesen, Neil J. Smelser, and Piotr Sztompka,
Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press
2004). A text that explores how national or collective identity is created through shared traumatic
experiences. In this study, as colonist clash with the Natives, in captivity narratives, colonial narratives,
and violent historical fiction, the United States grounds its identity in such trauma and the role of the
firearms becomes written into or intertwined with both the trauma and the foundation of a collective
identity.
21
gun as an effective tool against the Natives to assuage his readers’ New World anxieties. Thus,
the gun serves its newly conferred political agenda to increase immigration and colonial
expansion even if the gun, for the most part, is ineffective and often deficient against the Natives.
Yet, the gun myth is perpetuated. Each chapter will provide a more comprehensive
understanding, firstly, of the mythopoetics of the “American gun”28 (searching for how the gun
became staged as the tool that “won the west” through fiction and symbols) and lastly of the
ways that Native images coupled with the gun offer pivotal reflections in defining the American
gun and in turn American identity.
Within each chapter, I build upon Slotkin’s definitions of violence and its connections
with American mythopoetics with particular focus upon how the gun entered into and played a
part in nation-building. For instance, Slotkin argues that American culture emerges out of New
World anxieties of its early colonizers. Such anxieties solidify upon both the Natives and the
wilderness. Slotkin asserts American myths are created as these anxieties are manifest in violent
actions taken against these two entities. I shape this argument around perspectives of firearms in
early American literature. Lastly, I draw upon Tzvetan Todorov’s conceptual approach of
“otherness” found in The Conquest of the Other. Todorov explores how Spanish conquistadores’
rhetoric in narratives and myths “conquered” Natives culturally as they stripped Natives of their
own voice in history, becoming a mouthpiece for the Natives, creating myths and definitions for
“the other” in order to respond to political questions that the conquests raised. His definition of
otherness through rejection, internalization, and re-representation is not only significant in
28 Mythopoesis is the study of origins of myth or the making of myths. This study explores
narratives that connect firearms with various forms and archetypes of myths, that contributed to mythic
origins of the gun culture.
22
establishing a characteristic frontier and aborigine for Anglo-American identity but is also useful
in understanding the inextricable role the gun plays in that characterization. Early American
authors associated their proposed images and myths of American Natives with that of the gun,
rebranding the European gun as American. As new American heroes used the New World guns,
they also appropriated specific values, views, and perspectives, as they dominated the wilderness
and Natives themselves. Authors often misrepresent Natives throughout their narratives through
cultural misunderstandings and even intentional political purposes. Otherness aided in separating
Anglo-Americans from European and allowed for more opportunities for early American authors
to mythologize the gun as they spoke about and for Natives.
As previously mentioned, many historians, cultural critics, political scientists, and law
scholars have continually used past narratives from both fictional and non-fictional accounts.
Gun scholarship indeed merits a study that uses close reading of narrative in order to elicit more
understandings of attitudes toward guns answering why authors may tend to rely upon their
image or hyperbolize their accuracy and power. This study hopes to uncover past attitudes
regarding guns. It explores some of the rhetoric that continues to influence cultural attitudes,
revealing a manner in which guns become politically charged. I affirm that many of these
historical meanings, however timeworn they may be, are deeply-rooted in and continue to
influence and even manipulate current definitions of the gun. This study, in essence, is an
exposition of “how the sausage is made” or, in other words, how gun myth (mythopoeisis), gun
beliefs, and overall gun perspectives are made—offering a glance into how some of the
groundwork was laid for an American gun culture. Through an exploration of five major authors
writing over three hundred years of early American literature, deeper understanding of early
23
American gun symbolism, imagery and—overall—portrayal offers a potentially healthier
framework for gun debate and perhaps may even aid in the creation of improved public policies.
I reveal ways in which authors stage the gun and depict or “brandish” it in order to solve colonial
questions, political problems, and American issues of that time. Such a study is crucial, as it
uncovers a foundation to better understand how and why various gun perspectives and myths are
made, often revealing political and social issues and insecurities that created a dependence upon
guns and gun-myth. For instance, as explored in Chapter 3, Mary Rowlandson—who never fires
a gun in her narrative—soon becomes a mythical gun-toting woman as an answer to American
political revolutionary demands. Representational pairing of the gun and the woman serves as
significant revolutionary propaganda and bolsters the rallying cry for independence and
distinction from Britain. In this manner, literary studies exemplify how the gun aided in creating
a national identity. Past historians, playwrights, novelists, conquistadors, and colonists have
incorporated their own representations of the gun and its relationship with their nation, citizenry,
and militaristic exploits—all influencing the collective consciousness of their readers.
Each chapter develops ways in which a selection of authors imprint notions of
masculinity, citizenship, sovereignty, and other political elements that unify ideals and values
that create a national identity. This study offers examination of the rhetoric surrounding the gun
in a 300-year span in the United States, focusing on various trends, attitudes, and politically
driven representations. As these beliefs regarding firearms enter the literary public sphere,
concepts of the gun’s role begin to solidify. The gun, then, acquires deep historical ties with
political paradigms and national characteristics. Early American authors played an important role
24
in the creation of these gun myths that continue to permeate through American culture and aid in
the founding of gun culture in the United States.
Many historians intent upon delineating fiction from fact have turned to narratives to
answer probing questions regarding guns. What is problematic about this quest (and literary
analysis makes this even more evident) is that notions of the American frontier and certainly the
American gun from colonization onward have been distorted and politically driven. This changes
the often generalized definition of the early American gun perceived simply as a tool. As
Europeans instilled myths and symbols regarding their newfound firepower, the American
environment became the ideal operative stage on which to define its symbolic value, influencing
much of what gun culture has become today.
By tracing representations of the firearm within works by Cabeza de Vaca (1500s) to
James Fenimore Cooper (1800s), I will examine ways in which the gun was staged on the
fictionalized American frontier and show that firearms have a robust presence in sociopolitical
history throughout this period. By focusing on representative examples throughout these three
hundred years, one can better comprehend what attitudes of the past have been adopted or
discarded in order to create current definitions and multiple understandings of the “American
gun.”29 Through such works many early authors have mythologized the gun.
As Spanish explorers and conquistadors predate British colonization, Chapter 1 is
devoted to Spanish influence in gun perspectives on the new continent. It will explore ways in
which, first, Dryden’s Indian Emperor (1665) addresses Spanish firearms in historical retrospect.
29 I chose fiction and non-fiction texts that played a significant part of the literary public sphere.
Most were popularly read to understand and characterize the Americas.
25
I illustrate ways in which this play mythologizes accounts and turns to the gun to answer an
essential moral question regarding the destruction of the entire Aztec Empire. I contrast Dryden’s
play, which claims to be historically accurate, with historical accounts from Hernan Cortez,
focusing on the use of the harquebus and cannon. I then turn to Cabeza de Vaca’s Chronical of
the Narvaez Expedition (1537) to explore how powerless the harquebus was compared to the
Natives’ bow and arrow. As de Vaca is captured by the Natives, his narrative offers an initial
inside portrait of the American Native that will later play into (or be co-opted by) colonial
definitions of American identity in dealing with Natives and understanding the gun through other
captivity tales.
Chapter 2 will address the ways John Smith portrays the gun in his narratives (1580-
1631). In the genesis of the Jamestown colony, the gun proves useful as a means to gain food
primarily by trade with the Natives. Here Smith artfully enhances the Natives’ awe and desire
regarding the gun in order to mask the colony’s own vulnerability.30 He also turns to gun myth to
create a sense of security for his readers, potential immigrants to the new American colonies. In
the English’s first foray on the continent, the gun is used to establish order, ensure safety, and
also gain food (but mainly to demonstrate the colonies rhetorically as a “land of plenty”). John
Smith, accused by many—even his contemporaries—of too much self-promotion, also markets
30 This study is concerned with European and Anglo-American accounts misrepresenting or
misinterpreting Native American perspectives of firearm. Inherent in these misinterpretations reside
significant anxieties that aided in constructing Gun Culture. Yet, this study’s scope does neglect Native
American accounts. Another study focused upon these accounts could help delineate ways in which
narratives from the Native inhabitants influenced the inception of American gun culture and gun
perspectives.
26
the gun in propagandizing fashion as the answer to many concerns and anxieties early American
colonials harbored regarding such a precarious venture.
Chapter 3 turns the focus away from secular and masculine explorers’ accounts to that of
the female Puritan. The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: Being a Narrative of the Captivity
and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson (1682) illustrates significant religious perspectives that
many early colonials shared. Her captivity implicitly counters Smith’s assertions about safety in
the English colonies. Rowlandson exposes a colonial militia lacking in skill and efficiency and
totally inept in providing any form of safety against Native attacks. Similar to both de Vaca’s
and Smith’s accounts, her captivity also offers valuable insights into Native culture and the
wilderness. She questions traditional European values and adapts to Native culture in order to
survive. In essence she negotiates between Native and traditional European values. Similar to
Dryden’s retrospective understanding of the gun, Mary Rowlandson’s character and the gun are
heralded in the context of the American Revolution. Colonial patriots turn to this gun-toting
woman for a simple yet significant image that promotes military enlistment, defense of
possessions and land, as well as revolutionary values, such as individuality, freedom, anti-
authoritarianism (especially anti-monarchy sentiment).
Chapter 4 follows the Lewis and Clark Expedition and revisits some of the major themes
addressed in previous chapters. The chapter explores how the Corps of Discovery’s narratives
began to shift American perspectives regarding hunting. It is also within this period that the gun
becomes inextricably linked to Manifest Destiny. The gun is also displayed to the Native nations
with pageantry, pairing it with concepts of sovereignty, the promise of peace and trade, order,
27
and protection of life and property. Also, the narrative warns of possible hazards regarding guns
and serves as a foreshadowing of future gun issues.
Chapter 5 will continue to trace the values envisioned in the image of the frontier hero
found in John Smith, Mary Rowlandson and the Corps of Discovery, as these values become the
foundational traits of one of the most quintessential fictional heroes of the frontier, Natty
Bumppo. This chapter first describes James Fenimore Cooper’s political leanings upon the
American gun. It then illustrates ways in which Natty Bumppo becomes the prototypical
American frontier hero with one foot placed in Native and the other in Anglo-American culture.
Such an image of the gun-toting frontier hero becomes considerably disseminated within
American culture and even now continues to express American principles. Natty, as one of the
principal primogenitors of this particular frontier hero, instills values in the gun and champions
important ethics of the American shooter. The hero and the gun, like many other protagonists
aforementioned, becomes a simple answer to many moral and political questions. Nathaniel and
his gun ensures safety, embodies an American (puritanical) work ethic, is beholden to his own
creed, shows disdain for unrighteous killing, and educates on proper gun care and gun safety. In
essence, he becomes the embodiment of the best of American values—according to Cooper—
and gun culture.
Lastly, the Epilogue places all the myths and values addressed in these chapters in the
context of current gun debates. The epilogue addresses how Nathaniel Bumppo becomes the
model for many subsequent American literary heroes. It also problematizes the ways in which
American literature has turned to the gun for simplistic answers to complex political problems
and current arguments regarding gun rights and policies.
28
Ultimately this work examines narratives that define early American gun consciousness
within its crucial literary and historical contexts, offering more concrete definitions and
understandings than early Americans had regarding firearms. By investigating both fictional and
nonfictional narratives of and references to early American gun use, I explore a related set of
questions that remain open in current scholarship. For example, did America have a collective
consciousness or understanding of gun use? What were the main political issues that early
Americans encountered and questioned concerning firearms? How were these anxieties or
concerns about gun use addressed? More specifically, what were the various attitudes early
Americans had concerning gun use before, during and after the writing of the Second
Amendment? How does gun use in early American literature reflect, question, and employ
values of manhood, American identity, and the American frontier?
In tracing representations of guns found in the literary public sphere from the Spanish
conquest in the 1500s to American gun novels of the 1800s, this study shows how the “American
gun” has been interpreted and celebrated. It also serves to delineate much of the misrepresented,
overlooked, and misunderstood historical national identifications found in the gun, as authors
have mythologized the gun in order to claim cultural values and attitudes. Gun narratives reveal a
sharper and at times more ambiguous image of the gun in its relation to the creation of—and
more importantly—the characterization of the United States.
Literary criticism provides a viable means of studying modes of firearm representation as
various forms of literary criticism focuses upon representations and affirmations of values,
morals, and particularly heroic narratives. Though there are many different attitudes and
approaches throughout American history regarding guns, this study does not claim that these
29
representative texts stand as the only touchstones of American collective consciousness. Such a
claim would be oversimplified. Rather, as printed texts operate to both mirror and transform
public attitudes, this literary approach serves first, to contextualize areas where the gun is
brandished in narrative form; second, to highlight various overlooked ideological backdrops for
intentional or unintentional political shaping of the gun in narratives as a nation began to form;
and third, to extrapolate from the texts specific literary modes that serve to establish the concept
of American identity as it relates to the gun. In short, this literary approach will highlight areas
where early American narratives have fused myths, values, and characteristics into the gun and
have deemed this object as particularly “American.”
As the creation of these myths takes part in the construction of cultural identity, a close
examination of how the firearm became the epicenter of many American frontier myths evokes
various values of a hero and culture as they are coupled with the gun. This study does not intend
to defend or attack American gun culture. Rather this literary analysis contemplates meanings of
gun depictions and strives to identify the author’s biases, concerns, and celebrations of the
American gun. In brandishing the gun upon the stage of the American frontier, these authors
offer valuable insight to the politically charged formation of American gun culture.
30
CHAPTER 1
“EXPEDITION GONE AWRY:” CABEZA DE VACA AND GUNS
AMONG THE NATIVES
In studying gun perspectives, many authors have emphasized their effectiveness in the
genocide of the indigenous peoples of America. In John Dryden’s heroic drama The Indian
Emporour [sic], or Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, first performed in 1665, Dryden
revisits Hernán Cortes’s battle with Montezuma to reinforce the popularized postcolonial
binaries of European supremacy over “primitive” Natives. Dryden’s play does much to
characterize Spain in conquest as it does the Aztecs in their captivity. Where Spain exhibits
militaristic strategy and might, technological progress, and jingoistic loyalty to God, Country,
and King, the Aztecs symbolize the American pagan wilderness and unsophisticated culture. In
introducing the play, Dryden’s “Connection & c.” shows concern for balancing theme with
dramaturgical accuracy:
I have neither wholly followed the Story, nor varied from it; and, as near as I could, have
traced the Native Simplicity and Ignorance of the Indians, in relation to European
Customs: The Shipping, Armor, Horses, Swords, and Guns of the Spaniards, being as
new to them [the Natives] as their Habits and Language were to the Chieftains.31
(emphasis added)
Dryden’s apology explains that although his historical precision may be limited in scope, he
follows the true accounts closely, “tracing” the apparent “Native Ignorance and Simplicity” as it
31 John Dryden, Works of John Dryden. Vol 9. (Berkeley: University of California Press 1966)
27.
31
is factually contrasted with the superiority and sophistication of “European Customs” that is
apparent in Spanish arms, habits, and language. Dryden allocates “European Customs” into
ships, “armor, horses, swords, and guns of the Spaniards,” placing militaristic might and
“advanced” materials in contrast with the “primitive natives.” Dryden reinforces cultural
superiority through keen attention to technological objects—Spanish guns included.
Dryden continues to emphasize this juxtaposition, reinforcing myths regarding the gun.
As Cortes’s men discharge their guns in battle, the Indians implore, “Oh mercy at thy feet we
fall,/ Before thy roaring gods destroy us all;/ See we retreat without the least reply,/ Keep thy
gods silent, if they speak we dye.”32 Dryden, in humorous yet tragic fashion, celebrates European
armament and ridicules the simple-mindedness the Indians had regarding Spanish firearms. Yet
these two couplets along with his own preface accounting for the way “things really were” offer
rich insight in answering the questions of: 1) how and why myths regarding firearms were
created;33 2) how Europeans use the Americas as a stage for creating national character; and 3)
what Natives’—“the others’”—role was in establishing national identities.
In answering these questions, it may be difficult to delineate one question from the other,
as theories, linguistics, myth, and “otherness” converge as they address art and artifacts.
However, such a conglomeration of theories and approaches assists in the telling of a significant
portion of the story of firearms on the American continent—particularly of the United States—
32 Works of John Dryden 40.
33 Mythopoetics
32
that has often been neglected.34 For instance, in The Conquest of America: The Question of the
Other, Tzvetan Todorov—both historian and structuralist literary critic—explores the ways in
which the Spanish linguistically dominate the Native culture both by placing a skewed judgment
upon the Natives and also placing themselves (the Spanish) in a position in which they also
select the criteria by which the Natives are judged.35 In other words, Todorov asserts, “they [the
Spanish] decide, for instance, that human sacrifice is the consequence of tyranny, but massacre
[which the Spanish make their own allowances for] is not.”36 This study offers linguistic
methods of Spanish conquest over the Americas. As guns are given a more metaphorical and
symbolical role (which this study will examine later within this chapter and throughout)
Todorov’s linguistic analysis becomes more apparent in highlighting the rhetorical promotion of
firearms as a means of both establishing a criteria judging one nation over another in terms of
“technological advancement” as guns are equated with the nation’s favor with God. In following
this approach we are able also to see ways in which firearms are coupled with national identity in
order to side-step many complex political and moral questions as European (and in later chapters
Euro-American) cultures exploit, eradicate, and relocate Native nations and colonize the Native’s
34 See Tzvetan Todorov’s concept of “otherness” and “subjugation of the other” predominantly
found in his The Conquest of the America: The Question of the Other, trans. Richard Howard (Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press 1999); also Richard Slotkin’s analysis of myth and violence in his
Regeneration Through Violence: the Mythology of the American Frontier 1600-1800 (Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press 2000). Though Slotkin’s approach predominantly focuses on historical
accounts, he does address—at times—significant literary texts (such as James Fenimore Cooper’s
Leatherstockings Tales). I follow Slotkin’s argument into other significant early American narratives,
addressing ways in which colonials adopt and accept influences of the Native culture as they violently
oppress this culture—in doing so they influence American national identity.
35 Tzvetan Todorov, The Conquest of the America: The Question of the Other. Trans. Richard
Howard (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1999).
36 The Conquest of the America 150.
33
former territory. Thus, Dryden’s focus on military might aids in the reader’s negotiating moral
ground affirming who God favors and also asserting an ethnocentric explanation of cultures,
using their own established set of criteria ex post facto.
As Todorov’s seminal monograph offers insight into the rhetorical analysis of firearm
narratives, Richard Slotkin’s Regeneration Through Violence delves into criticism of myth as it
is associated with national identity, particularly as colonials use violent means of supplanting
Native culture.37 To summarize Slotkin, colonials turned to myth in order to explain and
reconcile their own political and social actions to their God and ultimately to themselves—and
much of American identity is founded upon such myths.38
Dryden’s Mythopoetics of the Gun in the Americas
In Dryden’s heroic drama the poet attempts to answer an underlying moral question as to
why European powers “easily” dominated the New World through the use of myth and rhetoric.
The lines “Oh mercy at thy feet we fall,/ Before thy roaring gods destroy us all;/ See we retreat
without the least reply,/ Keep thy gods silent, if they speak we dye.”39 infuse various European
imperialistic jingoisms within the symbol of firearms. The Natives surrender to the animalistic
roars and European gods that speak death and keep the Natives from “replying” with arrows and
37 Richard Slotkin, Regeneration Through Violence: the Mythology of the American Frontier
1600-1800 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 2000).
38 Heike Paul’s, Myths That Made America: An Introduction to American Studies. (Bielefeld,
Germany: Transcript Verlag 2014) highlights the various myths that are often related with American
identity, namely, the promised land, the myth of the frontier, the myth of discovery, and the myth of
America as an imagined community.
39 John Dryden, Works of John Dryden. Vol 9. (Berkeley: University of California Press 1966)
40.
34
words—subjugation on multiple levels in both physical and ideological realms. First, Dryden
explains how the continued use of guns would render their population obsolete. Yet apart from
genocide, the defiant voice of these “thunder gods” overpower the “reply” from the Natives.40
Dryden’s perpetual allusions to the overpowering speech of the firearms hold a particularly
ironic turn as Dryden’s narration displaces the Native’s own narrative as he assumes the role
representing their “authentic” and “true” “Ignorant and Simplistic” character and voice. The gun
becomes a powerful metaphor that silences a nation and symbolizes the bellicose conquest found
in the Spanish confrontations of a foreign culture.
However, when one compares Dryden’s supposedly “accurate” depiction of the event
with Cortes’s own accounts, one discovers an entirely different picture where Dryden’s guns are
nowhere to be seen. Rather, Cortes speaks more of military tactics and his own Machiavellian
prowess than of technological superiority. In fact, many times when he mentions the harquebus
and crossbow he applauds not the power of his own armament but rather his own foresight in
choosing their most advantageous positions.41 Cortes explains, “And if I had not placed there a
strong force of harquebusiers and crossbowmen with some guns [cannons],42 they could easily
40 The term “thunder gods” is also an appropriation of Native concepts of deity.
41 A forerunner of the musket, yet often the terms were used interchangeably. The harquebus was
often too heavy to aim so oftentimes a stand with a hook accompanied its user. The shooter would place
the stand on the ground, steady the muzzle and shoot. It took close to a minute to reload and did not shoot
very accurately, yet its use confused many in combat with the sounds and smoke it made.
42 When reading texts regarding firearms particularly within the 16th and 17th century the word
“gun” or “ordinance” refers to the cannon, whereas handheld guns would be distinctly referred to as the
musket or harquebus or hand cannon or “hand gonne.”
35
have broken in without our being able to resist.”43 Aside from asserting his own militaristic
prowess, Cortez even overturns the generalization found in Dryden’s mythopoetics of Spanish
guns, the “roaring gods” that would “destroy them all.”44 Cortez continues, “Although the
artillery did much damage, for there were thirteen harquebuses besides the guns and some
crossbows, it seemed to make no impression, for where ten or twelve were killed by firing others
can immediately take their place, so that it was as if none had fallen.”45 Though Cortez concedes
the Spanish have the technological advantage the firearms seem “to make no impression” upon
the Natives, they do not exhibit any fear, they do not retreat and only around a dozen fall.46
Furthermore, Cortez’s account overturns Dryden’s voiceless Native.
They came across a large number of Indians who shot at them with arrows and wounded
twenty Spaniards […] When the captain of artillery read the requirimiento before a
notary to these Indians, telling them, through the interpreters, that we did not desire war
but only peace and love between us, they replied not with words but with a shower of
arrows.47
43 Hernan Cortes, Hernan Cortes-Letters from Mexico. Trans. Anthony Pagden. (New Haven:
Yale University Press 2001) 131.
44 John Dryden, et. al. Works of John Dryden. Vol 9. (Berkeley: University of California Press
1966) 40.
45 Hernan Cortes, Hernan Cortes-Letters from Mexico. Trans. Anthony Pagden. (New Haven:
Yale University Press 2001) 131.
46 Works of John Dryden 40.
47 Hernan Cortes, Hernan Cortes-Letters from Mexico. Trans. Anthony Pagden. (New Haven:
Yale University Press 2001) 131.
36
Cortez’s account opposes many of the myths, generalizations, and characteristics that Dryden
maintains as being accurate. Dryden’s gun became infused with mythic power dominating the
Native population, culture, and speech in order to help explain the easy conquest of European
nations in the New World. Dryden’s gun serves to characterize the bellicose Spaniards as
avaricious yet technologically favored by God or even history itself, representing the Natives as
an easy target with an inevitable demise.48 Gun ownership offers an explanation for indigenous
genocide.
Although Cortez’s use of firearms did not in actuality pose an extreme technological
imbalance, Dryden’s play aligns itself with other historical accounts from the late 1600s.49
Dryden reflects upon Cortez’s conquest with a sense of nostalgia and oversimplification to
promote the idea that Natives were inferior, and the technological advent of the gun proved a
distinct advantage. Also, Dryden is implicitly promoting the “English gentleman” and his more
diplomatic methods of colonization over the tyrannical use of violence found in the Spaniard’s
gun. To Dryden, as well as his contemporary historians, the answer surrounding images of
genocide lies in the superiority of European culture, physiology, and technology. From the early
48 Dryden’s introduction of Francisco Pissarro in Indian Emperour [sic] offers a way to
demonstrate the inhumane methods of conquest.
49 See: Sir William Devenant’s Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru (1658) and the writings of
Samuel Purchas, mainly Purchas, his Pilgrim (1629), also Dougald MacMillan’s, “The Sources of
Dryden’s The Indian Emperour [sic],” Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 13 No. 4 (August 1950) 355-
370, and Joyce E. Chaplin’s Subject Matter: Technology, Body, and Science on the Anglo-American
Frontier (1500-1676) (Cambridge: Harvard University Press 2003). All note that sixteenth and
seventeenth century writers associate explorers of the Americas as advocates technological advances and
such advanced culture must, naturally, take advantage of these advances for himself, his crown, and
country. All the above texts address that such advantages were often connected with God and allowed for
exploitation of these new found lands as they were granted new stewardship by God and the Crown.
37
1600s to the 1800s, Stefan Berger’s The Past as History explores “the way a nation was narrated
and communicated to people through history in an attempt to offer them identification and a
means of making sense of their lives.”50 In a similar way, Dryden’s literature offers his audience
a perspective of genocide, by turning to simple reductionist answers claiming such annihilation
of Native populations is inevitable. Such historical suppositions found within the literary sphere
purposely position the gun and characterize it in such a technologically advanced manner that the
populations and cultures assumed such violence was inevitable, and their owners were favored
by God. Even in his work, Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond concedes that the Spaniards’
prevailing weapons of horses, “swords, lances, and daggers,” were the most useful for
“slaughter[ing] thinly armored Indians.”51 Diamond further remarks that it was not until the
1700s that “guns replaced swords as the main weapon favoring European invaders over Native
Americans and other native peoples.”52 Nonetheless, in reading such early narratives of
American conquest and colonization, as exemplified by Dryden, one is able to find that a close
reading of firearms provides new overlooked contextual metaphors and new understanding based
upon significant socio-political influences. These influences change perceptions and create
myths of the gun in the American environment. From these themes one can gain substantial
50 Stafan Berger and Christoph Conrad, The Past as History: National Identity and Historical
Consciousness in Modern Europe (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan 2015) 9.
51 Jared M. Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies. (New York: W.W.
Norton & Co. 1997) 76.
52 Guns, Germs, and Steel 76.
38
insight into how the gun first enters the arena and informs the growing concept of American
national identity.
Like Dryden’s drama, Cabeza de Vaca’s Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition reveals
instances where political and social needs drive firearm symbols and myths. This account of the
Spanish conquest of the Narváez Expedition in the mid-1500s also provides a more Transatlantic
perspective in the development of firearms as they take the stage in the Americas.53 The
importance of the Spanish Conquest in charting America’s own history is noted by Thomas
Jefferson’s writings. He claims, “Next to this [French] the Spanish is most important to an
American. Our connection with Spain is already important and will become daily more so.
Besides this the antient [sic] part of American history is written chiefly in Spanish.”54 In
examining early Spanish accounts one uncovers foundational symbolic, linguistic, and cultural
aspects of American gun culture. The “invisible bullets” or metaphorical bullets found within
Spanish accounts are perhaps more culturally influential than the actual bullets that leave the
muzzle of the gun.55 In short, sifting through the past’s literary saltpeter, one can find political,
social, economic parts that made the gun in America a significantly loaded term and symbol.
53 National identity is created not only from within one’s own cultural history but also as a
Transatlantic platform.
54 “From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., 6 July 1787,” Founders
Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019.
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-11-02-0475. [Original source: Julian P. Boyd, The
Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 11, 1 January–6 August 1787 (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1955) 556–559. Accessed 30 March 2019.
55 “invisible bullets,” a phrase that Stephen Greenblatt uses as a chapter title for his seminal work
in introducing the significant theory of “subversion and containment.” Stephen Greenblatt,
Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England. (Berkeley:
University of California Press 1988).
39
Contextualizing De Vaca
In the wake of Cortes’ conquest (1518-1520), Spain maintained great prospects for
wealth, particularly gold, in the New World. The Narváez Expedition’s (1527-1536) objective
was to claim the gulf coast for Spain, build two towns and establish two garrisons, and obtain as
much gold from the Natives as possible. The Narváez Expedition began with six hundred men,
which soon dwindled to three hundred before they reached what is currently Florida. One of
Narváez’s crew and the narrator of Relacion (1542), Cabeza de Vaca, recounts the struggles as
these three hundred men contacted disease, were killed by hostile Natives, and were overcome
by starvation. Aside from reading the overarching thematic elements of “man versus nature,” as
many of these events hewed down the three hundred to only four survivors who eventually
arrived naked and starved in Mexico City, this account drastically transfigures the imperialist
perceptions, assessments, and representations of European superiority in technology, culture,
health, and military might. Such a perspective is a stark contrast to Hernán Cortes’s narrative—
an expedition led only a few years prior to the Narváez’s. De Vaca’s Rélacion diverges from
Cortes’ ethnocentric and nationalizing account. Yet cut from a different cloth, de Vaca’s Natives
are both ruthless and compassionate; moreover, the Natives far surpass the Spanish skills in both
military technology and survival. De Vaca illustrates the Spanish conquistadores as incompetent,
unintelligent, lacking the skills and technology necessary for their environment and more
importantly for their own survival. Throughout the text, the Spanish are encumbered with
worthless armor, burdened with the elements, and unskilled and ill-prepared in navigating
through new territory and constantly dependent on Native generosity for sustenance. In sum,
Spanish technology, physiology, and beliefs are mal-adapted for the New World. Narváez’s men
40
are deceived by the Natives, easily contact sicknesses, and are naked and starving throughout the
majority of de Vaca’s narrative. De Vaca’s account does much to extinguish the imperialist
vibrato found in Dryden’s play as well as Cortez’s own self-promoting Letters from Mexico and
eclipse notions of Eurocentric technological superiority found in the gun. As de Vaca introduces
the reader to the new territory, the bow and arrow are the most proven and reputable tool in
maneuvering and negotiating the wilderness in the New World.
As the gun in the mid-sixteenth century was sometimes represented as the weapon that
would tame or conquer the frontier, de Vaca’s Relation offers foundational perspectives on how
European firearms were first used in the territory which will eventually become the United
States. Differing from previously established accounts by other conquistadores, namely Hernan
Cortez, de Vaca’s account is one of survival and the unconquerable cunning of the Natives in the
indomitable American wilderness. As a soldier-turned-explorer, de Vaca calls for domination
through diplomatic means and politically strategic endeavors rather than through the brawn of
European technology—gunpowder. De Vaca first pleads with governing powers to be diplomatic
with the Natives rather than conquer them. De Vaca pleads with the Natives to flee, as he
becomes aware of a militaristic plot to conquer the tribe that has helped him in times of
starvation.
Historical Perceptions of de Vaca’s Firearms
De Vaca curiously dismisses firearms as a tool to conquer the frontier. In his section
entitled “How the Indians are ready at Armes” he begins, “These are the readiest people of arms
41
of all the ones I have seen in the world […]”56 De Vaca is astounded at how they acrobatically
“dodge and leap from one end to the other […] so well that in such places they receive little
harm from crossbows and arquebuses.”57 De Vaca becomes painfully aware of the Native’s
militaristic skill and marksmanship. He even notes the ways that the Natives mock the very
elements and tools that aided in laying the Aztecs under Spanish rule. He avows, “Rather, the
Indians laugh at those weapons because they are of no use against them on flat fields where they
roam freely.”58 Granted, de Vaca concedes that these tools are beneficial in choke-points, such as
waterways and narrow passes, yet within this concession, the firearm undergoes even more
scrutiny as it is only useful in very limited geographical areas, furthering the argument that the
bow was made for the entire territory rather than the gun. Furthermore, after deeming the
innovation of gunpowder “useless” and “laughable” among the Natives, de Vaca reports, “horses
are what will subdue them.”59 The irony becomes apparent as the account later unfolds that the
Narváez Expedition, in such dire straits (due to Native attacks, exposure, and starvation), end by
having to dismantle their armaments and eat their horses. Mary Docter asserts that this section of
la Relacion is pivotal:
Nowhere is this transformation more powerfully illustrated than in Chapter VIII, when
necessity forces the Spaniards to melt down the very instruments of conquest—armor,
56 Alvar De Vaca, Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition: A New Translation: Contexts, Criticism.
(New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2013) 58.
57 Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition 58.
58 Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition 58.
59 Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition 58.
42
harnesses, and weaponry—to make boats. The horse, another important tool of conquest,
is transformed into a crude instrument for survival: tails and manes become rope and
rigging, the legs are skinned and the hides are cured to make pouches to carry water. 60
Florida swamps were often difficult to navigate with their horses, the armor used is useless as
arrows effortlessly penetrate it, and the weaponry proved useless (even laughable). Hence,
repurposing tools of conquest into tools of survival appears a logical and pragmatic solution for
the expedition. Indeed such transformations reorient the conceptual frameworks for the conquest
of the New World. Here the so-called favored technological power seen in the material of the
harquebus is now replaced by nails, saws, and axes.61
Firearm historians correspondingly note, like de Vaca, the inefficiencies of harquebuses’
use in the Americas. These cumbersome arms required a tremendous amount of maintenance,
money, and training to fire properly. The arquebusier had to hold the gun on its mark until the
primer caught fire and entered into the main chamber. Depending on weather conditions as well
as the conditions of the powder, it may take more than a few seconds for this action to take
place—allowing Natives to jump quickly out of the way. Also, the harquebus’s success relied
upon multiple components working correctly, even outside the gun itself. In addition, the
arquebusier carried and had to manipulate the support or rest, which propped up the forearm of
the firearm. The shooter also uses a long fuse or “match,” to ignite the firing pan which then
would ignite the charge to send the bullet out of the barrel. The match was tied to the shooter's
60 Mary Docter, “Enriched by Otherness: The Transformational Journey of Cabeza de Vaca.”
Christianity and Literature, vol. 58, no.1 (Autumn 2008) 9.
61 Alvar de Vaca, Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition: A New Translation: Contexts, Criticism.
(New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2013) 21.
43
arm which allowed the shooter to let the match drop in order to load the firearm arm. Many times
these matches would go out or accidentally touch the firing pan or set off the gun powder.62 The
shooter also held fine powder for priming the pan in a flask, and another flask for coarse powder
for loading, and bullets in a pouch—all of which the shooter had to manipulate while loading and
often while under fire.63 Indeed, the arquebusier, even after being trained, could be easily lost in
all the operation of the harquebus as he opens and closes drawstrings, measures powder, keeps
his match aglow, primes, loads, fires, then repeats the process (see Figure 1.1). With all these
intricacies and inefficiencies found within the process, many historians affirm that such
processes discouraged the popularity of such weapons.64
Figure 1.1. Soldier Firing a Harquebus (1475)
62 (See Figure 1.1) W.W. Greener, The Gun and its Development. 9th ed. (New York: Bonanza
1967) 54.
63 W.W. Greener, The Gun and its Development. 9th ed. (New York: Bonanza 1967) 58.
64 W.W. Greener, The Gun and its Development. 9th ed. (New York: Bonanza 1967) 58. After
stating all the intricacies of the harquebus, Greener argues: “With all these encumbrances, it was not
surprising to find that for many years the bow was considered a superior weapon” (58). Also, for
instance, monographs like Alexander De Conde’s Gun Violence in America: The Struggle for Control
(Boston: Northeastern University Press 2001) claim the intricacies of firing the gun discouraged its use.
44
Cabeza’s Firearm Mythopoetics
The procedure for preparing and firing one’s weapon is so involved that in preparation
for battle the shooter must train in order to commit the steps to muscle memory, making the
function of the gun an integral part of himself. This connection pushes the routine of firing into
the realm of ritual. For instance, soldiers given the harquebus made symbolic preparations for
war that bonded the shooter to his weapon. Although these devices proved inefficient, the
Europeans continued to use them as many felt the loud blasts confused or disoriented the enemy.
Nonetheless, the user had an inextricably tedious process in operating the harquebus with flasks
containing explosive gunpowder hanging from their persons. Edward Davies’ History of the
English Army (1619) reveals the delicate and thoughtful deliberation involved in preparing the
harquebus to fire.
For a souldier must ever buy his powder sharpe in taste, well incorporate with saltpeter,
and not full of coal-dust (raw charcoal). Let him accustome to drie his powder, if he can,
in the sunne just sprinkling it over with agua vitæ or strong claret wine. Let him make his
tutch powder being finely sarsed and sifted […] at the powdermaker’s or the
apothecarie’s […]. This preparation will at first touch give fire, and procure a violent,
speedy, and thundering discharge.65
Davies provides an even deeper perspective on the necessary care and consideration, required for
firing a shot. The process requires much more labor than the crossbow from soldiers, generals,
captains, powder-makers, and even apothecaries. Also, the soldier becomes “accustomed” with
65 qtd. in Sibbald David Scott, British Army: its Origin, Progress, and Equipment. (London:
Cassel, Petter, and Galpin 1868) 291.
45
drying his powder in the sun, almost ritualistic sprinkling “water of life” on explosive powder
meant to inflict death, causing the powder to catch fire at the first touch of the match fuse. It is
not that these intricacies cause the harquebus or musket to become inferior or unpopular, rather
this new technology requires much more labor, thought, and consideration from its designers,
users, and managers. The arquebusier sifts, touches and tastes powder, becoming more involved
with the science of his weapon.66 By such detailed experimentation, the practitioner could
maximize the weapon’s usefulness.
Although this more technical way of killing greatly differed from the bow, it originally
shared peculiar similarities. First, the harquebus’s use parallels the bow’s militaristic practice in
long-distance barrages. Hernan Cortez often mentions the harquebus being used alongside the
crossbow in skirmishes and battles. Also, the romantic prefix “arc” continues to refer back to the
bow in terms of launching projectiles to encumber the enemy. From the Dutch term “haakbus,”
meaning “hook gun,” it derives its name from the hook used on the top of the support of the gun.
Later models became light enough to do without the support staff, and also the hook shape as the
stock curves down.67 The etymology of the gun’s name focuses upon the fact that the gun was
heavy, cumbersome and needed support, or that it functioned much like a crossbow.
66 Some harquebusiers and musketeers have even been known to use saltpeter as a seasoning for
their food.
67 Rev. Walter W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language 3rd ed. (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1898) 34.
46
The Bow and the Harquebus
In contrast, de Vaca consistently praises the bow, a tool fashioned from the hostile
wilderness for the hostile wilderness, over the ineffective European methods of killing. De Vaca
narrates one encounter as follows:
The Governor ordered the horsemen to dismount and attack them on foot […] In that
skirmish some of our people were wounded, since their arms and armor did not help
them; and there were men that day who swore they had seen two oak trees, each as thick
as a man’s lower leg, shot straight through by the Indian’s arrows; and that is not
something to marvel at, considering the force and skill at which they shoot, for I myself
saw an arrow stuck in the base of a poplar tree that it penetrated full span.68
Here, de Vaca’s rhetoric constructs the bow as the definitive tool of the American frontier. First,
he recounts others’ testimonies of Natives’ skill, as arrows “forcefully” split two oak trees as
thick as a man’s lower leg. De Vaca witnesses Native’s skill with the bow as an arrow goes
through the tree trunk of a poplar tree, alluding to a much thicker part of a tree rather than just
above an ankle, the thinnest part of a man’s leg. Furthermore, de Vaca’s pronouns add emphasis
upon what “he himself” witnessed.69 The arrow as a projectile appears to assert more mass and
force—in essence, damage—than that of the harquebus. For de Vaca, the arrow pierces right
through trees. His remarks continue mythologizing the bow and arrow as they devastate the very
material from which they are made. Furthermore, de Vaca strangely fixates upon the damage
68 Alvar De Vaca, Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition: A New Translation: Contexts, Criticism
(New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2013) 18.
69 Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition 18.
47
arrows can do to trees more than the casualties inflicted upon his own men. The trees in his
narrative seem to prove more sound and solid than the Spaniards, as the environment and Natives
whittle-down three hundred European men to only four survivors. Implicit in their accounts is
the underlying message that if these arrows can completely devastate such dense and resilient
hardwood penetrating it all the way through, then their armor is useless.
Aside from mythologizing the bow as a tool of destruction in the hands of skilled
Natives, the bow also affects a man’s prominence and stature in the wild. De Vaca ends his
statement, summarizing descriptions of all the Natives he has seen from various tribes from
Florida to Texas: “All the Indians we saw, from La Florida to here, are archers, since they are so
large in body and go about naked, from a distance they look like giants.”70 The image he creates
becomes a generalization, claiming every Native skilled archer is larger in stature than
Europeans and these bowmen “look like giants” at a distance. Throughout de Vaca’s account of
the bow continues to enforce the theme of Native dominance. Upon running into another
skirmish with the Natives, de Vaca states with trepidation, “And a half hour later, a hundred
other Indian archers joined them, and now, whether they were big or small, our fear made them
look like giants.”71 As if the bow could augment physiology, de Vaca’s “giant natives” dominate
the Spaniards, render armor useless, shatter trees, and increase the stature of its beholder. The
primal and simplistic weapon, made from and for the ungodly new territory, dominates European
ingenuity and metallurgy and mocks musketry and European military science.
70 Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition 18.
71 Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition 29.
48
Other early narratives echo de Vaca’s disdain for European gunpowder weaponry and
showcase Native skill and the effective efficiency of the bow and arrow.72 American weaponry
originates with Native chipped flint technology. “First encounter” narratives describe the bow as
the quintessential weapon of choice. Only later do accounts, such as Dryden’s play, describe the
harquebus as superior to the bow. The accounts of weaponry are tainted with political agendas
that smack of attitudes of Manifest Destiny, racial hierarchies, and both nationalistic and
religious superiority. However, as identified in later periods—more specifically during the late
seventeen and early eighteen hundreds—the aborigines’ mastery of the bow and arrow also
transfers to their use of the rifle.73
It is important to note that de Vaca’s account which does much to mythologize the bow
over the musket is not an isolated one. A literary analysis of English accounts written between
the 1500s to 1600s consistently emphasize spectacle and awe regarding Native bows over that of
European gunpowder and musketry. Early American historian, Joyce E. Chaplin asserts that the
English were, “Jealous of Spanish accomplishments [in colonization] in America […] scanned
Iberian accounts in order to learn how to catch up.”74 She claims,
72 For instance, John Smythe—cousin of Edward IV, not to be confused with Captain John Smith
of the Virginian colony—publishes Certain Discourses (1590) see chapter “Bow versus Gun in
Renaissance England” an expose on the new “divers sorts of weapons” namely that of the hand cannon,
harquebus, serpentine, and asserts that the longbow far outperforms any of novel implements of war. John
Smythe, “Bow versus Gun in Renaissance England,”Certain Discourses, Concerning the Formes and
Effects of Divers Sorts of Weapons, and Other Verie Important Matters Militarie, Greatlie Mistaken by
Divers of Our Men of Warre in These Daies (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press 1967) xli.
73 Native skill with the gun becomes a major theme in early American literature and is discussed
in more detail in all the chapters that follow.
74 Joyce E. Chaplin, Subject Matter: Technology, Body, and Science on the Anglo-American
Frontier (1500-1676) (Cambridge: Harvard University Press 2003) 18.
49
The English doubted that they had learning that made them superior to America’s
natives; they were too aware that they lagged behind their European counterparts […]
The uncertainty of English about their mastery over nature continued, even to the extent
that they did not believe that firearms guaranteed them success when they began invading
Indian communities from 1585 onward.75
Chaplin turns to cultural history, addressing the notes of Samuel Purchase’s Encyclopedia as he
discovers an American fashion among Virginian men. They shaved the right side of their hair
just as the Natives did in order to aim and shoot their bows without getting their hair tangled.76
This style expresses that early colonials often praised the indigenous culture and strove to adapt
to the environment welcoming (at times) influence from the county’s Natives. As colonists
finally gained a foothold in the Americas and the prospect of Manifest Destiny became more of a
possibility in the minds of these new immigrants, the spectacle of and admiration for the Natives’
bow diminished the cultural norms that used to pay homage to the Natives.
Captivity in Relation
In following suit with other conquistadores, the account of de Vaca addresses the use of
horses and lances as the ultimate cause of the Natives’ submission to Spanish rule.77 The
conquistador Alcaraz freed de Vaca from captivity but enslaved the Indians of Sinaloa in
75 Subject Matter 21.
76 Subject Matter 79.
77 Alvar de Vaca, Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition: A New Translation: Contexts, Criticism
(New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2013) 76.
50
Mexico. De Vaca sympathized with the Natives, yet his plea on their behalf is not heard. De
Vaca declares, “The Christians had invaded the land and had destroyed and burned the pueblos
and taken away half the men and all the women and children,” making them starved slaves and
Christians.78 Perhaps seeing his once own emaciated self in their countenance, de Vaca pleas
with the Lord and “His Imperial Majesty” that “good treatment” is the “surest way” to attract
Natives to Christianity, “the other is not.”79 De Vaca acquiesces to the Native’s captivity to save
his own life. His time spent with Natives educates him about their humanity, culture, and moral
creeds. In return he advocates a peaceful means of subjugating them.
Conversely, the Spanish did not return the favor but enslave the Natives, requiring them
to grow food to sustain more Christians who would come to conquer. The captivity which de
Vaca undergoes offers him insight and empathy for his captors. De Vaca even adopts Native
culture in his narrative as he situates days and people in terms of sunrises and sunsets.80 He
resents European culture and creates a code of ethics different from that of the Spanish. He even
questions those in authority. Much like many of the following captivity narratives of Captain
John Smith, Mary Rowlandson, and Cooper’s hero—Nathaniel Bumppo, these captives or
individuals act as cultural liaisons and are used to coopt or shape a new culture from the ashes of
the Native culture damaged by the Europeans. In this manner captivity narratives become
significant to understanding the gun’s role in the New World, as much of Euro-American culture
and literature derives from the confrontation between European and American Natives. These
78 Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition 77.
79 Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition 77.
80 Chronicles of the Narváez Expedition 80.
51
cultural clashes, as perceived in Cabeza de Vaca’s narrative and others, create an environment
from which American identity is created.81 For instance, European authors often advocated for
Native superiority in battle in an undermining way, labeling the culture Godless and bloodthirsty
savages—which explains and morally justifies European uses of the gun to demolish, scatter, and
eradicate many of their tribes. Even if the gun did not in actuality have a direct hand in these
accounts, myths regarding the gun did. Later Euro-Americans (which following chapters will
cover) turn to their own perceptions of Native identity to differentiate themselves from the
European culture. The gun both acts in violence towards the Natives—and such violence is
explained as morally necessary—and acts in violence through European accounts of the Natives.
These Euro-American narratives repurpose such violence and connect social and political
agendas and purposes to these accounts. For instance, the violence in Mary Rowlandson’s
narrative (as explained later) will be repurposed for the American Revolution as the oppression
she experienced from the Natives becomes refashioned into British tyranny.
From early American narratives that address clashes between European and Native
cultures, the gun reflects images, experiences, and characterizations from which certain symbols
arise. As this chapter highlights some foundational gun perspectives, in the next chapter I will
discuss Captain John Smith as his narratives mark a tipping point in branding firearms as a tool
for conquering the American frontier. In the following chapter we will see how Smith’s writings
and other narratives begin to alter the settlers’ perspectives on guns and Natives. These further
81 Tzvetan Todorov’s The Conquest of the America: The Question of the Other trans. Richard
Howard (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1999) 3-34; see also Richard Slotkin, Regeneration
Through Violence: the Mythology of the American Frontier 1600-1800 (Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press 2000) 3-7.
52
explorations will expose the gun not only as the prima facie weapon of colonization of the
American frontier, but as a vital actor in staging political performances in economic, political,
and cultural affairs.
53
CHAPTER 2
“THROUGH A CHANCE SUPPOSED:” CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH STAGES
THE AMERICAN GUN
On April 26th, 1606 a band of over one hundred men, exhausted from battling tempests
with their ship’s supply almost depleted, tacked their ships into the mouth of Chesapeake Bay
and set the anchor. About thirty men rowed ashore and were immediately assailed by Indians.
Two men, Captain Archer and Matthew Morton were shot with arrows; subsequently, Captain
Newport fired off a shot from his pistol, “to which the Indians little respected.”82 The Indians
continued firing until all arrows were spent; the Natives, then, “retyred without harme.”83 This
adventuresome opening scene of John Smith’s first narrative touches on several crucial themes
that Smith will address throughout: fear, intrigue, and hard work, even in seemingly futile
circumstances. This beginning captures the difficulties of colonizing Jamestown but also
foreshadows its momentous significance. While describing the scuffle and even within the same
sentence in which he speaks of the violence, Smith adds, “in that same place was the Box
opened, wherein the Counsell for Virginia was nominated.”84 Here, the first political institution
was established in the naming of those members on the council in charge of “erecting of a great
cittie.”85 Indeed, Smith’s first account of colonizing the Americas follows Richard Slotkin’s
82 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes, ed.
Philip L. Barbour. Vol. 1 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 5.
83 The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) 5.
84 The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) 5.
85 The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) 5.
54
thesis regarding violent themes and psychological anxieties as the English colonials struggle to
displace the Native Americans. Yet a question arises as Smith juxtaposes violent encounters
only moments before a political ritual of colonialism occurs: To what extent do depictions of
firearms factor into these themes of violence and the creation of a colony? Smith mythologizes
firearms here to obtain the political means necessary to establish the colony. Throughout his
narratives, just as he does in this episode, the gun is seen as the means of keeping Natives at bay
long enough to establish the formalized administrative beginnings of the colony. On several
occasions, it is the firearm that proves crucial for survival in establishing the colonizer’s
domineering presence among the Natives, in establishing order for the settlement, and also in
offering the promise and assurance of safety for future colonists. The musket’s utility in myth
surpasses by far its real functionality. One way in which Smith establishes significant roots in his
contemporary literary public sphere is by defining gun-myth as a substantial political tool in the
colonial expansion in Americas.
Smith’s American Firearm Mythopoetics
Similar to de Vaca’s account, Smith is astounded that Natives have such little regard
towards for the pistol, answering its sharp crack with even more arrows in unabated volleys. Yet,
Smith’s representation of the gun throughout his narratives does not wholeheartedly disparage its
use. Neither does Smith tout militaristic prowess as does Dryden in his retelling of Cortez’s use
of the gun. Rather, Smith’s depictions of the gun act as a central role in establishing a foothold in
Virginia, assuring diplomacy, trade, and colonial security. In order to accomplish such tasks,
Smith relies upon mythopoesis, incorporating traditional archetypes and creating new myths
55
more apt for a new environment. In short, Smith creates various myths for the gun in order to
solve political and social problems. He stylistically stages the gun, establishing it as spectacle,
connecting it to themes of legend, power, and intrigue, striving to gain dramatic respect for the
weapon from natives, settlers, and even prospective settlers. John Smith turns to the gun to evoke
a sense of safety for the colonists and future colonists and cultural supremacy among the Natives.
Smith’s gun myths gain diplomacy, treaties, and trade among the Natives. The myths created
here will be revisited by future authors that reproduce and influence American attitudes and
perspectives regarding firearms and their use, as will be explored in other chapters.
Smith: Mythologizing the American Frontiersman
Smith opens his first narrative about Virginia with an onslaught of arrows being fired
from the wilderness. But the reader soon finds out that this was not Smith’s first brush with
death—far from it. Further reading uncovers several other adventures, such as his escaping
slavery in Turkey, almost being put to death (more than a few times), and fighting three Turkish
soldiers in personal competitive duels—decapitating each man one-by-one,86 to name a few. No
doubt Smith, a short red-bearded man, had a knack for adventure, or at least a knack for the
telling of such heroic tales—especially those about himself. Smith creates an American epic by
relying on foundations (or archetypes) from ancient heroic tales. This once knight-errant makes
his début within the New World and repackages old myths within a new environment, creating a
new hero, the American frontiersman. Smith writes himself as an Aeneas-like quintessential
86 This story is inspiration for his coat of arms. His coat of arms contains a knight’s closed
helmet with a visor and ventail, under which is located three Turkish heads with turbans, representing
Smith’s heroic act.
56
hero. In fact, Smith does this in such broad strokes that many of his contemporaries criticized
what they deemed as his overblown boldness to spin tales. What is new to this American
narrative is rather than Robin Hood’s longbow, or King Arthur’s Excalibur, Smith’s new
environment proposes a new boon—the gun.87
Aside from many events of his narrative being criticized for being exaggerated,88 his
narratives were deemed useful by many eager to learn about colonization. Read from a literary
point of view, Smith’s myths are enthusiastically marketed to future colonizers. He offers details
about flora, fauna, Native villages and maps, and suggests possible profitable areas (likely far
from violent Natives). In sum, Smith’s plausible fiction coupled with fact establishes a serious
characterization of the Virginia colonizers preparing the reader for dangers in the wilderness,
resting answers to these anxieties upon the gun. Here Smith uses conflict, violence, terror, and
craftiness to illuminate and build new meaning for the colonial gun. He turns to myth to structure
his escapades and proceedings with the Natives. These myths reveal values that Smith strove to
instill or evoke from the new settlers he commanded, ideals that he believed would ensure
success in the colony. His accounts have been used by scholars to characterize the beginnings of
American identity and also to explore the beginning of hunting in America.89
87 Philip L. Barbour, “Captain John Smith and the London Theatre” The Virginia Magazine of
History and Biography, vol. 83, no.3, 1975 277-279.
88 John Smith was posthumously satirized as an armchair adventurer in drama and some
historians “branded him a braggart,” as stated in Frank E. Grizzard, and D B. Smith. Jamestown Colony:
a Political, Social, and Cultural History (Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO 2007) xxxv.
89 Alden T. Vaughan, American Genesis: Captain John Smith and the Founding of Virginia (New
York: Harper Collins Publishers 1975) and J.A. Lemay, The American Dream of Captain John Smith.
(Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia 1991). See also Daniel Herman, Hunting and the American
Imagination (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press 2001).
57
While Smith uses firearms as a mode of differentiating between the Natives and the
English colonizers, Smith also notes the difference in sovereignty with regards to the means of
wielding such weapons. Smith stereotypes Englishmen as gentlemen and the Spanish as more
carnal and prone to violence. Granted, Captain John Smith admired the more domineering
approach of the Spaniards and was not alone in placing esteem on such a portrayal. Before
England was the empire on which the sun never sets, the English—at least in their early stages of
colonization—approached occupation of new worlds with a sense of inferiority and doubt. A
major contributing factor was the fact that they entered into colonial expansion about one
hundred years after many neighboring countries. They were also concerned about their ability to
create substantial colonies or establish dominion over the Natives, at least long enough to keep
them at bay. Smith’s secular, militaristic and optimistic bravado served to bolster English
colonization and reassure those with vested interests in the success of the colony.
Along with Smith, many of the English admired the ways in which the Spanish were able
to quickly subdue Natives and acquire land. Yet, as the English began their colonial objectives,
they also began to regard the Natives as being more hostile and unconquerable, much like those
from Cabeza de Vaca’s account. Starting colonization much later than the Spanish, the English
struggle with anxieties about their insufficiencies and begin a struggle for dominance over the
wilderness as well as economic position within global markets. Within this environment of
English apprehensions John Smith does not portray firearms as the only answer or even one of
the foremost solutions, but as one of many multifaceted effective means to achieve colonization.
Yet, differing greatly from de Vaca’s attitude, when Smith does address firearms, he deliberately
58
mythologizes firepower among the Natives as a means of propaganda that can establish positive,
opportunistic and epic images of guns in order to promote colonization.
Furthermore, Smith’s militaristic background and more secular and pragmatic approach
prove critical in providing one of the most favorable accounts of guns place in the New World
within his lifetime. Smith’s accounts suggest several definitions and uses of firearms that will
serve as a foundation upon which many future authors and citizenry would later consider the
“American gun.” The gun becomes the predominant answer to the colonizers’, settlers’, and
citizens’ fears and anxieties and also a definitive means of marking differences between the
colonists and Natives. Smith is among the first to call for gun ownership as a means of ensuring
one’s protection. Admittedly there are many other proponents for the use of the gun; however,
Smith becomes one of the major mouthpieces for American colonial attitudes toward the gun
during his time and one whose voice contributed greatly to future gun perspectives.
Smith’s account proves essential in establishing a unique national character. His rhetoric
unabashedly resorts to national jingoistic values, especially in defining a country’s identity,
setting England’s methods of colonization apart from those of Spain. He criticizes Spain for only
exploiting the New World for its gold. Throughout his narrative he often returns to this criticism.
After attacking Spain’s greedy conquistadors, he lauds England’s more prominent economical
presence and also their intentions to remain and cultivate and settle the land—establishing a
different value system for English colonization. Smith explains that a firmly planted colony reaps
the benefits of the land in commodities long into the future. England’s approach offers many
years of riches rather than Spain’s quick grab for gold.
59
Aside from criticizing the Spaniards, Smith also sets the American colonist apart from
English gentry. He ridicules the eccentric, elegantly clothed “Tuftafaty humorist” whom he
deems as ill-suited for the hard practical labor of colonization, those who often complain about
conditions on the new continent and wish to return to England. Smith defines the model colonial
and frontier hero, one who is not greedy and warmongering like the Spanish, yet also not
malcontent or lethargic, like that of the stylish “sophisticated” Englishmen. The colonial frontier
to Smith is only hospitable to those willing to work, a more practical gentry that can cope with
tragedy but also capitalizes upon good fortune. Smith celebrates these characteristics of
American colonizers (particularly those characteristics found within himself), commending
daring endurance and adaptable industry of those who take an active hand in transforming the
wilderness into a “great cittie.” Smith consistently turns to “otherness” to remold meanings of
sovereignty and the new colonial citizen. More explicitly, in building an identity for “New
England” (a term Captain John Smith, himself, coined), he looks to Spain, the Natives, and even
dainty Englanders for necessary contrast to highlight the more practical and productive frontier
hero. This means of defining by differentiating also holds true with Smith’s definition of gun use
in the new colonies. Unlike the Spanish, the English handled their guns with more comportment,
dignity, and reserve, striving to build a colony rather than conquer the Natives or greedily
confiscate gold. Smith’s method of colonization supports diplomacy over conquest (at least upon
the surface); yet, he uses (both explicit and implicit) threats of gun violence as a viable means to
gain such diplomatic relations. And unlike the Spaniards, the gun—within Smith’s accounts—
becomes much more than a symbol of dignified gentry or conquest.
60
The Hunt and the Myth
For Smith, guns are seen as crucial for the survival of English colonization. Indeed,
Smith’s narratives romanticize as well as exaggerate the importance of the musket to the hunt.
For instance, after deeming the winters as the most effective season to go fowling, Smith
provides accounts that muskets could prove more effective than one might believe. He states,
“148 fowles the President, Anthony Bagly, and Edward Pising, did kill at 3 shoots.”90 The
extraordinary number of fowls becomes a major asset to the colony at a time of need. Such
accounts of plentitude and immense bounty mythologizes and commodifies the New World to
readers. The image of a country teeming with game evokes an environment that offers an
environment of abundance and wealth for the opportunist.
Similarly, J.A. Lemay, a scholar of Early American Literature, offers an important aside
in his biography entitled, The American Dream of Captain John Smith, claiming the use of the
musket as Smith’s first marked differentiation from American colonials to those staying in the
motherland. Lemay explains such differentiation as a means of reformation for Smith. Though
not particularly religious, Smith uses colonization of America to define English colonists as
braver, more self-asserted, and practical as individuals. In short, he wished the American
colonial to become more like himself. Lemay asserts,
No other founding colonist had as grand a secular view of what it meant to be an
American. Incidentally, Smith first expressed a special relationship with weapons, and he
explained it with a frontier thesis: most colonists were well armed, the militia held
90 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes ed.
Philip L. Barbour. 1 Vol. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 82.
61
holidays, and the men frequently went “hunting and fowling.” The result, Smith noted,
was that “most part of them are excellent marksmen.” The metamorphosis from English
to American would enable even gentlemen to transform themselves from discontented,
useless drones into workers with fulfilling roles.91
Smith does not only maintain differences between the Spanish and English colonial methods, but
more significantly, Smith strives to assert a difference from pawn-like Englishmen to
autonomous American colonials—marking the use of the musket (in hunting and drills within the
militia) and being an excellent marksman as a rite of passage from the old English customs to the
industrious colonial.
American colonial attitudes toward hunting and firearm use continue as a major
distinction. In England for those who did not own property, hunting was deemed poaching and
was a criminal offense committed mainly by those that were impoverished. However, wealthy
land-owning Englishmen considered hunting an act of recreation only reserved for the elite. In
fact, game laws practiced in England throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth-century report
the attentiveness that the Crown, aristocracy and landed gentry maintained in the protection of
“their monopoly on hunting.”92 Munsche, in his study of the history of England’s hunting laws,
remarks that repealing such laws, as the aristocracy assumed, would threaten the status of the
elite and cause the poor laborers to “soon sink into lives of crime and debauchery” and society
91 J.A. Lemay, The American Dream of Captain John Smith (Charlottesville: University
Press of Virginia 1991) 26.
92 Daniel Herman, Hunting and the American Imagination (Washington: Smithsonian Institution
Press 2001) 20.
62
would be in ruin.93 As hunting was perceived as a recreation, and work was perceived as
necessary to maintain social order, to give the lower class the rights to such recreation and
hunting would inevitably lead to immorality.94 Such reasoning influenced the Game Act of 1671
in which one’s property value had to reach a certain standard for one to own guns, hunting dogs,
snares, and other hunting equipment.95 Hunting, in this manner, became a mark of prominence
within society. Daniel Herman, notes that “hunting made elite Englishmen into a ‘venerable’
caste, superior to tradesmen, yeoman, and tenant farmers.”96 Overall hunting in England was an
exclusive practice reserved for the wealthy; whereas the poor hunter or poacher (hunting to
prevent starvation or gain money through the black market) was perceived as a disgrace.
In the New World hunting laws in the colonies were null and void where there were no
such restrictions on property and firearms. Yet Smith still had to fight against the old world’s
customs. If colonial men would not hunt, Smith strove to break such cultural norms
generationally, attempting to convince Jamestown farmers to “traine [sic] up their servants and
youth in shooting deere [sic], and fowle [sic],”97 For some, however, the gun was seen mainly as
93 P. B. Munsche, Gentlemen and Poachers: the English Game Laws, 1671-1831 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press 2008) 53-54.
94 Gentlemen and Poachers 53.
95 "Charles II, 1670 & 1671: An Act for the better preservation of the Game, and for secureing
Warrens not inclosed, and the severall Fishings of this Realme." Statutes of the Realm: Volume 5, 1628-
80 Ed. John Raithby, s.l: (Great Britain Record Commission, 1819), 745-746. British History Online.
Web. 10 April 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp745-746.
96 Daniel Herman, Hunting and the American Imagination (Washington: Smithsonian Institution
Press 2001) 20.
97 qtd. in Daniel Herman, Hunting and the American Imagination (Washington: Smithsonian
Institution Press 2001) 20.
63
a means to assert social status. Yet, colonists, particularly those coming from poverty, perceived
that hunting out of necessity was socially degrading—and the colonies were in dire need in their
infancy. In times of scant meals, the colonist outsourced hunting to the Natives, or traded with
them for game. In short, few took up Smith’s call to the hunt, as very little were trained in this
area or deemed the act prudent. Naturally, the colonies attracted opportunist unhappy with their
current financial status. Though some landed gentry may have invested in the Virginia colonies
or have been given governmental duties, much of the colonizers were interested in being the first
of their family increase in social status rather than be demoted to the designation of being a
“poacher.” What is readily apparent in Smith’s portrait of the newly found colony is shaped
around the tragedy of starvation, a tragedy that calls for all means that remedy this unfortunate
situation—all forms of obtaining victuals. Though Smith was a proponent of consuming swans,
geese, and ducks as well as a “diverse sorts of beasts as fat as we could eat them,”98 proving both
abundance and ease of harvesting game, the practice of hunting for immigrants—particularly for
English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, German, and French Huguenots—was uncommon.99 Yet, Smith
still stresses the ease of killing, the sharp eye of the militia, and the opportunities to train youth
and servants to hunt game, creating and building upon gunpowder myths as he asserts gun
ownership and use are not just for English aristocracy but also for the self-determined American
colonial.
98 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes ed.
Philip L. Barbour. Vol. 2 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 15.
99 Daniel Herman, Hunting and the American Imagination (Washington: Smithsonian Institution
Press 2001) 21.
64
Later colonial authors corroborate Smith’s attested perceptions of gun use, which
distinguishes the American colonial from the European. In seventeen hundred, John Lawson
claims,
Here [in the Americas] property hath a large scope, there being no strict laws to bind our
privileges. A qu[e]st after game being as freely and peremptorily enjoyed by the meanest
planter, as he that is the highest in dignity, or wealthiest in the province. Deer and other
game that are naturally wild, being not immured,100 or preserved within boundaries, to
satisfy the appetite of the rich alone. A poor laborer that is made master of his gun, & c.,
hath as good claim to have continued coarses [sic] of delicacies crowded upon his table,
as he that is master of a great purse.101
John Lawson’s excerpt in his diary affirms a promise that once the colonial American masters
his gun, he and his family will enjoy a table trimmed with delicacies fit for dignitaries. Such a
guarantee is offered to even the “meanest” or most average planter whose hunting grounds are
boundless. Lawson couples the large scope of property, not yet parceled out and privatized, with
the gun to promote a yeoman farmer to aristocracy. The gun offers access to freedoms and food
only accessible in the New World. Also, the gun offers him the status of a “master.” As
restrictions were placed upon guns and hunting in England, colonials were able to experience
newfound freedoms and the higher status of gun ownership and use. Though hunting was not
customary in early American colonies, the noticeable differences authors like Smith and Lawson
100 confined.
101 qtd. in Stuart A. Marks, Southern Hunting in Black and White: Nature, History, and Ritual in
a Carolina Community. (Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press 1991) 29.
65
assert serve to create American perceptions of the gun. Smith’s observations and assertions of
colonial firearm acumen, though inflated, add a distinguishing cachet to the American colonial—
one that other authors endorse. The American hunter adds further to this image via values of
industry, self-reliance, disdain for authority and regulations. These characteristics found in
abundance later in the nineteenth century American hunter—particularly in the character of
Natty Bumppo—have their origins in the gun perspectives of the seventeenth and early
eighteenth-century authors like Captain John Smith and John Lawson.102
Smith’s Gunpowder Myths
Aside from producing food, a primary purpose of firearms in Smith’s narratives is to
ensure safety, especially as the discourse of “Indian raids” upon the colonies escalated anxiety.
An early incident in his narrative serves to introduce the gun as a means for protection. In order
to map the area and in search of a possible northwest passage, Smith half-heartedly trusts two
Algonquin Natives to aid his little expedition as guides in rowing a canoe up a tributary of the
Chickahominy River. After Smith, Master Robbins and Thomas Emery finish eating, one Native
convinces Smith to explore the river a little further, separating their party. A little dubious of this
situation (observing that perhaps these Natives will divide and conquer), Smith urges the other
two in his party to prepare their pieces, and keep “their matches lit” in order to quickly discharge
them at any sign of trouble.103 As Smith is exploring, his guide suddenly grabs him. Smith then
102 As will be explored in Chapter 5, Nathaniel Bumppo asserts these “American” characteristics
as he claims the right to hunt during a time in which law forbids.
66
notices two other Natives with bows drawn upon him. Smith claims that as he is about to be shot,
“I prevented in discharging a French pistol.”104 Note that Smith does not describe the blood and
carnage that his French pistol produces.105 Rather, Smith’s use of terms in describing this life
and death struggle moves from a state of disregard to ceremonial adoration. His once, generally
termed “peece,” soon becomes a less unambiguous “pistol.” Then, as Smith’s life hangs in the
balance, his aforementioned “pistoll” exclusively becomes a well-fashioned “French pistol.” As
Smith rhetorically draws his readers into the intensity of his predicament, the description of his
pistol becomes more detailed. Smith then mentions that he hears war cries but “no warning peece
[sic],” or warning shot, from those in his company. Unfortunately, Master Robins and Thomas
Emery neglected to light their matchlocks. Unnerved by his predicament he takes his Indian
guide as a hostage. Smith announces, “presently I seazed [sic] him and bound his arme [sic] fast
to my hande [sic] in a garter, with my pistol ready bent to be revenged on him.”106 Smith’s
account changes tense from past to present, heightening the dramatic effect of immediacy, as
“presently seazed [sic]” “with my pistol ready bent” upon his deceiving guide, Smith attempts to
protect his own life. With heightened intensity, Smith finally establishes gun ownership of the
103 The matchlock was a musket that required a slow burning fuse, a match, to be clamped in the
position over the flash pan. Pulling a trigger or lever would allow the lit match to lower to the flash pan
and ignite powder that would discharge the gun.
104 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes ed. Philip L.
Barbour. Vol. 1 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 45.
105 Philip Barbour, editor notes that French pistols were deemed as considerably “leaders in pistol
making” qtd. in Smith John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes
ed. Philip L. Barbour. Vol. 1 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 102.
106 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes ed.
Philip L. Barbour. Vol. 1 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 45.
67
piece, calling it “my pistol.” Smith rhetorically equates preservation of one’s own life with the
need for ownership of a firearm. The early colonial period establishes an early origin of his
common American trope—that gun ownership equates to safety and security in a harsh and
unpredictable environment. This trope continues to become developed by other authors (which is
later explored in other chapters).
As Smith continues describing this struggle, it is the gun that maintains center stage in the
conflict. After being shot in the thigh with an arrow and discharging his pistol three or four
times, he is surrounded by two hundred men. These men lay their weapons upon the ground and
“the Indian importuned me not to shoot.”107As Smith backs away, he and his hostage fall into a
“low quagmire.” Indeed the protagonist is in dire straits. Smith’s turn of phrase emphatically
creates dual meanings: he is both in a hazardous, complex or awkward position as well as a
boggy marsh or swamp.108 It is within this quagmire that Smith perceives that the battle is lost.
He cannot retreat, he is outnumbered, and the wilderness together with the Natives is threatening
his life. Smith and his captive Native are sinking. He finally relents: “I resolved to trie their
mercies, my armes I caste from me, till which none durst approch [sic] me: being ceazed on me,
they drew me out and led me to the king.”109 Though the French pistol never makes a mark upon
Native flesh in this section of the narrative, it keeps the danger at bay—“none durst approch”
him as long as he held the pistol.110
107 The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes. Vol. 1 47.
108 Both meanings of quagmire were used in Captain Smith’s contextual vernacular.
109 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes ed.
Philip L. Barbour. Vol. 1 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 47.
68
Even within the fashioning of the narrative, Smith cannot keep from theatrics, positioning
his pistol as if it was Excalibur. Just as the Smith ingeniously piques Natives’ intrigue and regard
for his pistol, he continues to represent Native interest and fear of firearms. The Natives show
regard for the firearm by not approaching Smith, but also Smith implicitly elicits his readers’
underlying regard for his pistol as they witness its effectiveness in keeping Smith alive. In
contrast, it is Master Robins and Thomas Emery who neglect to keep their matches lit that perish.
Here Smith offers himself as an exemplary frontier hero, untrusting of the Natives, but coupling
this mistrust with being “ready at arms” ready enough to fire his pistol “three or four times.”
Smith offers himself the exemplary colonial—clearly, he is the only one that survives in his
group. He knows when to and when not to shoot. He is fierce enough to have Natives perceive
him as a threat, yet smart enough to find opportunities to survive. Smith assesses the curiosity
Natives maintain regarding this “new” technology and as he is brought to the chief where he
shares this knowledge of firearms and compass and is eventually set free. Smith fashions these
New World heroics upon several elements—skill with firearms, readiness, bravery, rules of
engagement, and cunning.
Though many of his readers did not own a pistol or a firearm, and often, for religious
reasons did not condone violence, Smith’s adventurous battles still promoted a sense of safety
through European firearms among his readership. If Natives were afraid of the simple noise
110 Later in A True Relation Smith recognizes that his pistol did kill a Native. But here, he omits
his violent act. Though he emphatically asserts firearms as a means of security, Smith’s approach in
earlier narratives is to advocate for diplomacy rather than violence in methods for colonization. The
colonizers are extremely outnumbered, and firearms are not up to the task, as Smith purposefully fails to
admit. Only after the Virginia colony has gained more colonizers and has braved more than a few
skirmishes, Smith offers a more violent account in his later works.
69
firearms emitted or feared their simple presence in the New World, a simple militia should prove
sufficient for protection for the colony to conduct its business. In a sense, his narrative builds
anxieties of the New World, yet assuages such anxieties with the gun. The circular pattern of
apprehension, distrust, and vulnerability is created with each battle for his life. Smith’s heroic
tales stimulate unease over the Natives’ presence and also attempts to mitigate such dread
through the use of firearms. In a sense, his method places political power within the firearms. For
one, he creates and harnesses anxiety to establish a hero; he promotes mistrust of and tenuous
relations with Natives. He also promotes values of preparedness for danger, asserting that a
vigilant colonial should always be ready to fire his weapon. He does this by contrasting his own
experience, with those of the now dead, Master Robbins and Thomas Emery, as they did not take
heed and “keep their matches lit.” After building fear, mistrust, and anxiety regarding the
Natives, he appeases some of it as he writes that as long as he held his pistol, “none durst
approach.” It is through mythic and legendary heroic storytelling that Smith capitalizes upon
such anxieties, using them to promote values that he deems necessary for colonization.
Smith stages firearms as the tool that offers protection and safety to those that look to them, care
for them, and “keep their matches lit.” The narrative implies a dogmatic decree: “take care of
your gun and it will take care of you.”
Though his narrative offers a simplistic answer, the psychology of fear is quite complex.
As Smith stresses preparedness he also exposes anxieties over dangers in colonization. Such
anxieties are answered with gun preparedness, yet the gun’s protection does not serve to mitigate
the anxieties, rather they feed them. Smith’s narratives create a psychological impasse. From
Smith, Colonials know they need guns and a militia for protection (as Captain John Smith uses
70
his pistol to keep harm at bay), but they also are aware that such dangers can occur before a
moment’s notice (as observed in the death of Robinson and Emery). It is true a well-regulated
militia can aid in staving off Native attacks, yet such preparedness does nothing to alleviate the
daily palpable vulnerability one has to endure within the colony.
As Smith reasserts prepared individuals with firearms as the sole means for protection
within the American colonies, much of his narrative undercuts this argument. He admonishes
everyone to “keep your matches lit” placing weight upon readiness. Such significant colonial
apprehensions filter into law in Virginia which, as recorded by William Stratchey (1612),
requires a watchman to “shoulder his piece, both ends of his match being alight, and his piece
charged, and primed, and bullets in his mouth […].”111 Such laws required the guard to always
be at the ready, having such a familiarity with his equipment that his mouth became storage for
bullets. Smith ultimately expresses a significant cultural understanding of training and
preparations regarding firearms. Even though his audience might not own guns, or think of
violence as a favorable option, Smith’s attempts to resolve their fears relying upon vigilance in
keeping firearms or the creation of a well-trained militia. Such an answer proves to be easily
stated but difficult to put into practice as Natives later ransack the Virginia colony multiple
times. Smith promotes the hero that is quick on the draw, but also smart enough when to decide
when not to shoot. Such heroic characteristics, however, are easily endorsed as an answer to
colonial protection, yet in reality—as later explored in Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative—
it is difficult to establish and maintain a well-organized militia fit enough to counter skilled
111 qtd. in Brian J. Given, A Most Pernicious Thing: Gun Trading and Native Warfare in the
Early Contact Period. (Carleton University Press 1994) 39.
71
Natives. In short, Smith stages the gun as a protective means within his narrative, however in
historical actuality, colonial fears and anxieties prevail: Militias prove unfit, and all self-
sufficient means for colonial protection from Natives continue to fail.112
Natives’ Mythopoeisis
Smith emphasizes his own discernment and keen ability to know how to convince the
Natives of his bravery and his technological superiority. These form a future mythical trope—
the frontier sharpshooter with a high level of acumen and righteous judgment. The spectacle
Smith creates around firearms allows him to survive and assume an air of bravery. His cunning
expertise explains why he chose to abandon his arms and “trie their mercies” or allow himself to
be captured.113 There are several such incidents that demonstrate the extent to which Smith is
willing to go to instill the Natives’ reverence for the gun. One such incident occurs when he is
being held captive. Throughout the narrative Smith strives to keep this technology a new
mystery, placing more faith in the myth of firearms than firearms themselves. Smith and his crew
make a point never to trade or allow Natives to procure guns. Chief Powhatan often makes
remarks to Smith that he wants to acquire this new technology, requests that Smith always
declines. Aside from dramatic demonstrations of power, Smith also knows when to withhold
information about this new technology in order to keep its status in its much-needed mythical
scope. Smith writes of this purposeful anticlimactic event: “The King with fortie Bowmen to
112 Thus British troops have to support the colonies in the French and Indian War.
113 Brian J. Given, A Most Pernicious Thing: Gun Trading and Native Warfare in the Early
Contact Period (Carleton University Press 1994) 47.
72
guard me, intreated me to discharge my Pistoll […] with a mark at six score to strike therewith
but to spoil the practice I broke the cocke, whereat they were much discontented though a chance
supposed.”114 In order for the Natives to gauge the effectiveness of this curious device, Smith
was given the difficult feat of striking a mark at 360 feet—“six score.”115 In reality, the
colonists’ pistols were accurate only within 100 feet, as were the Natives’ arrows. Here, Smith
knows that the Natives believe his pistol is powerful, but cannot quantify this power. If he goes
through with the demonstration, he will reveal the pistol’s limitations. It takes more time to ready
than a bow and is just as, if not less, accurate. The Natives have already killed two of Smith’s
compatriots who did not ready their firearms. Here in a desperate situation, Smith provides a
sleight of hand, “through a chance supposed.” The currently overlooked meaning for Smith’s
“chance supposed” (emphasis added) is “pretended or fictitious”116—the meaning that Smith
intends. At a crucial moment Smith feigns that he “broke the cocke,” claiming that the weapon
cannot shoot, rendering the Natives unable to understand the limited range of the pistol. The
Natives become “discontented,” but still Smith preserves that aura of the indomitability of the
gun that he continuously strives to generate among Natives in the New World and the future
New Englanders.117 Here the firearm serves as a device that commands power in killing massive
amounts of fowl, and in claiming a pistol cannot shoot evading Native reconnaissance of
114 Brian J. Given, A Most Pernicious Thing 51.
115 120 yards or paces (360 feet)
116 “supposed, adj. 2.a”. OED Online, Oxford University Press, March 2019,
www.oed.com/view/Entry/194695. Accessed 11 April 2019.
117 “New England” a term that Smith coins.
73
European weaponry. As elected cape merchant and appointed “Commissioner for Indian
Economic and Military Affairs” of the Virginia Colony, Smith uses this created myth to sustain
peaceful relations long enough to perform valuable trade.118
In the Americas the gun is clearly seen as a way of staving off hunger—a primary means
of survival. In similar fashion, Smith again uses firearms as an integral means of fostering better
economic relations with the Natives. One of the ventures that push subsistence hunting to the
background is trade. As the acquisition of sustenance quickly becomes the foremost demand as
colonists landed, Smith and others risk hostile environments to trade with the Natives. Smith’s
first published narrative, A True Relation, begins with Captain Archer and Matthew Morton
being shot by hostile Native arrows. Even after these setbacks, John Smith and a few others
explore a navigable river in order to establish trade with the Natives settled along its shore.
Smith recounts from the beginning of the narrative that circumstances were dire: “God (being
angry with us) plagued us with such famin [sic] and sicknes [sic], that the living were scarce able
to bury the dead.”119 Often, they have only rotting sturgeon left in their storehouse, which had to
be guarded against greedy colonists. He, again, asserts himself as the exemplary colonist. In such
grim conditions, John Smith is able to use firearms to impress Natives into trade agreements.
A Captain’s Captivity
Whereas much of John Smith’s later narratives serve the purpose of ensuring colonial
118 Phillip L. Barbour, “Captain George Kendall: Mutineer or Intelligencer?” The Virginia
Magazine of History and Biography 70.3 (1962): 299
119 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes. Ed.
Philip L. Barbour. Vol. 1. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 33.
74
expansion and immigration, his earlier text maintains themes of threat and conflict—both
necessary for Smith to achieve heroic status. Overall, Smith has proven brave enough to be taken
as a prisoner and also knowledgeable enough to understand when it is necessary to use his
firearms. But it is at this point that the narrative takes an unusual twist. It is not his gun, but the
compass that he uses to engage King Powhatan. Amazed at Smith’s knowledge of the earth and
stars and at the needle within the compass—forever divining the direction of North, Powhatan
grants him his life. Smith is freed because he astounds the Natives with his country’s scientific
advancements. It is through this technological connection that Smith is able to bridge the gap
between the two societies. Implicitly, however, Smith understands that Powhatan’s primary
motivation is to establish trade with the strange newcomers. Powhatan wishes to trade with the
colony for guns in order to conquer their enemies. Smith, unfailing in his industrious manner,
then opens substantial lines of trade with Powhatan with some promises of this new ballistic
technology. Smith follows through with a few of them such as giving a gift of a large cannon
(ordinance) to King Powhatan. Due to Smith’s aptitude for bravery and capacity for restraint, he
is better able to understand the Natives’ culture and make promises of gun trade. The purported
promise of trade, according to Smith, entices Powhatan to respect the settlement’s boundaries
and not pose a threat. Smith, as narrator for the Chief, makes the gun one of the most desirable of
weapons, and one of the weapons that set apart the colonizers from the natives.120 However,
Smith’s captivity and economic connections with the Natives that allow the colony room to
120 Inflating Native interest in the gun becomes a theme that continues even in Lewis and Clark’s
expedition. Also, it is within the economic interest of the colony to establish Native intrigue in weaponry
that is not readily available to them. The more astounded natives are to firearms, the more safe colonials
can become.
75
grow. It is the gun or the promise of gun trade, that is one of the foundations for which
Virginia—one of America’s first colonial settlements—is allowed some immunity from Native
attack. Trade relations are what undoubtedly keeps the Virginia colony from starvation and
failure. In continuing the trend established with de Vaca’s narrative, Smith’s captivity offers
significant insights that inform economic and somewhat peaceful relations. Yet, here, the gun
plays a more significant role in maintaining these relationships of power and peace.
Smith’s Gunboat Diplomacy
Throughout his narratives, Smith displays the musket and gunpowder in dramatic fashion
as a spectacle to increase Native curiosity, obsession, and dread. A telling incident occurs as
Smith’s trade party is leaving Mamanahunt. The Natives ask to witness the report of their
muskets, and Smith and his crew willingly comply by shooting their arms in the middle of the
river to create a reverberating echo. Smith delights in astounding the Natives:
At my departure they requested me to hear our pieces, being in the midst of the river,
which in regard of the echo seemed a peale [sic] of ordnance.121 Many birds and fowles
[sic] they see us dayly [sic] kil [sic] that much feared them […], so desirous of trade wer
[sic] they, that they would follow me with their canowes [sic], and for anything give it
me, rather than return it back, so I unladed again 7 or 8. Hogsheads at our fort.122
Here the musket is not used as a tool in hunting, but rather as a harbinger of power to create a
121 or cannon.
122 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes. Ed.
Philip L. Barbour. Vol. 1. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 41.
76
sense of shock and awe with their feared neighbors. As long as the Natives respect their guests,
the network of trades can continue. In fact, more food is gained by shooting muskets in the air in
the midst of a crowd than by firing them at wild game. Just after creating the smoke-filled
cacophony in the middle of the river, Smith describes the Natives as so desirous for trade that
they follow them as they exit their village to “give it me, rather than return” empty-handed.
Smith’s cunning theatrics represents the musket as a major difference that allows colonists the
upper hand and characterizes the Natives perceiving these guns as an underlying threat and
something they covet—which then motivates Natives desire for trade with colonists. Such
difference asserts—as explored in the first chapter— that colonists are privileged and maintain a
major advantage over the Natives due to their gun ownership. Though the Natives are portrayed
as fearful of the gun, even within Smith’s own narrative, there is cause for doubt. The Natives
wish to test the efficiency of Smith’s pistol. Firearms do not dissuade the Natives from attacking
Smith or the Virginia colony. Also, when the crew first landed, shots are fired which “the Indians
little respected.”123 Ultimately, the Natives outnumber colonists. Yet, Smith insists upon the
power residing in gunpowder technology which is (at this point) only possessed by the colonists.
The high regard that Smith builds from the Mamanahunt visit through his orchestrated
“peales of ordnance” and haphazard killing of birds produces, according to Smith, a “desire for
trade” so much so that the Natives follow Smith after his grand exit to do more trading. Intrigue
built upon gunpowder soon leads to the trade of beads, hatches, and copper, but never guns.
Smith’s cunning use of sound and ostentatious killing are able to procure 7 or 8 more
123 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes, ed.
Philip L. Barbour. Vol. 1 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 5.
77
hogsheads,124 saving the colony from a few more days of starvation. Smith claims that trade with
the native was instigated with astounding gun use and demonstrations.
Smith’s crucial passage connects the violence portrayed by the sound of the musket to
cultural submission and associates firearms with the Natives’ subservient economic relations as
well. Almost incongruously, Smith transitions from the echoes of guns across the water to a
portrayal of his crew shooting birds and fowl before they left the village as if the dramatic
account of the “peale of ordnance” reminds the author of a previous and significant occurrence
or another incident that he neglected to address. Smith asserts, “Many birds and fowles they see
us dayly kil that much feared them […]”125 It is important to note here that once again Smith is
not mentioning the muskets or pieces used in fowling. However, unlike the earlier account where
the firearm is not present or implicitly implied in hunting, the sentence establishes the unspoken
presence of firearms. As Smith’s crew daily eradicate birds and fowl, the Natives—witnessing
the event—become horrified or unnerved. The objective is clear. Smith’s crew kills both small
birds (swallows, robins, etc…) and large fowl, which serve as target practice for the men and
also serve to intimidate the Natives. The colonists quickly acquire such a considerable amount
of birds and fowl that it “much feared them […]”.
As Barbour addresses in his footnotes, there is clearly a deleted section from Smith’s
original accounts. The missing section leaves the printed version in significant ambiguity.
Smith’s reference of “them” leaves an open referent alluding to the Natives’ fear of firearms or
124 large barrels or casks
125 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes. ed.
Philip L. Barbour. Vol. 1. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 41.
78
the colonial men who wield these weapons. Whatever the referent, the aggressive, innovative and
mechanized killing machine, or the vulnerable Natives, the “them” in Smith’s printed texts lacks
the significant elaboration that his editors or Smith himself cut. What remains in print is the
deleterious unspoken conflict between the clashing cultures. The Natives acknowledge the power
the English settlers brought. The muskets convey major competition over resources and land,
easily killing many birds and fowl—and, just as easily implying killing the Natives as well.
The Native intrigue, however, is filtered through colonial perspectives. Some scholars
purport that the natives were not as astounded with gunpowder weapons as the colonist may
stress.126 Granted, firearms did make a large report when fired, something the natives would not
covet in hunting or their gorilla-like warfare. As bow and arrows are more accurate and efficient
than firearms, Smith elevated or even purposefully misrepresented the power and impression the
gun maintained over Native tribes. The bow and arrow, being more proficient in hunting and in
battle seem as if it would always have the upper hand among Natives. The bow and arrows
seldom misfire. Also, the time it takes to load and shoot is drastically shorter than firearms.
Though firearms may have maintained a sense of novelty among the Natives, many early
American historians agree that colonial accounts of Native firearm intrigue served to mitigate
colonial anxieties. For instance, Robin Fisher, a Native American historian, argues, “European
captains relied on the assumed superiority of their firearms over Indian weapons. They thought
that the ‘terror’ which these arms inspired constituted their strength and security ‘against the
126 Brian J. Given, A Most Pernicious Thing: Gun Trading and Native Warfare in the Early
Contact Period, (Carleton University Press, 1994), and Robin Fisher, Contact and Conflict: Indian-
European relations in British Columbia, 1774-1890, (Vancouver: UBC Press 1992).
79
multitude.’”127 The colonial assumptions regarding Native attitudes towards firearms become the
status quo in perceiving much-needed fear and intrigue from the Natives. In his study, Contact
and Conflict, Robin Fisher addresses that even in the early eighteen hundreds, American traders
put on gun demonstrations (such as those of the Lewis and Clark expedition, which will be
addressed in a later chapter) by which, “Such displays [of a cannon or gun] were possibly more
for the benefit of the whites than the Indians. They were reassuring, particularly if the Indians
appeared to be suitably impressed.”128 Though the scope of Fisher’s study is more than one
hundred years after that of Captain John Smith, Smith’s account significant origins of colonials
relying upon firearms to command a sense of superiority over the indigenous population. Smith
turns to firearms in order to assuage the compulsory fears and anxieties dealing with the
differences of race, religion, and essentially culture; thus, the gun and gun ownership become a
symbol of superiority and safety. It served, in early American literature, as an emblem of
supremacy foreshadowing dominance over territory and the Natives.129
In essence, the gun myth that Captain John Smith creates among the Natives invariably is
established solely for his intended audience—colonists and future colonists. The colony at its
inception is starving, vulnerable, and reliant upon the aid of the natives for survival. As the
future appears bleak, Smith turns to the image of the gun to answer such adverse conditions.
127 Robin Fisher. Contact and Conflict: Indian-European relations in British Columbia, 1774-
1890, (Vancouver: UBC Press 1992) 16.
128 Contact and Conflict 39.
129 Becoming inextricably linked to Manifest Destiny before the concept even arose.
80
These gun performances—gun demonstrations, gun promise of trade, gunboat diplomacy, and
even heroic gun narratives of bravery—all assert the necessary English authority that is absent
upon the new continent. In his article, “The Colonial Stage: Risk and Promise in John Smith’s
Virginia,” Joseph Fichtelberg explores Smith’s “authoritarian command” and “swaggering
dominance” as he purposefully performs so that the “English public who must be made to
believe in the Virginian adventure, and his performances attempt to restore the colonial authority
that seemed so tenuous in 1612.”130 Fichtelberg stresses such ends were a means to give the
appearance of colonial order and inevitable commercial success. As Fichtelberg asserts such
staging was executed through Captain John Smith’s tone, rhetorical ploys, and plotlines, the
image and symbol of the gun also deserve a prominent position in proclaiming England’s
cultural dominance upon the New World. In Smith’s cultural expressions, Native gun
astonishment, fear, and desire for trade, continually make manifest underlying colonial
vulnerabilities in the struggle to maintain order, assert authority, and demonstrate power. Smith
evokes the power found in the gun in this brave new world in order to assure English command
and the colony’s profitable position in the marketplace.
Colonial Mythopoeisis
In the new colony, firearms are used to establish control not only over the Natives but
also over the colonists as well. After proudly asserting his cunning way to use firearms to gain 7
or 8 hogsheads’ worth of more food, Smith then states, “Having thus by God's assistance gotten
130 Joseph Fichtelberg, “The Colonial Stage: Risk and Promise in John Smith’s Virginia,” Early
American Literature, vol. 39, no. 1, Mar. 2004 12.
81
good store of corn […] Gods providence grew mutinous.”131 Smith introduces the readers to
Captain Kendall, one of Smith’s compatriots on the council, who was condemned for mutinous
acts.132 A few of Kendall’s most mutinous complaints, as historian Philip Barbour addresses, are
his expressing concern to better fortify their colony from an Indian attack.133 Just as Kendall, the
blacksmith, would be hanged for mutiny, “being upon the ladder,”134 the authorities and the Jury
change their sentence. Rather than being hanged, the jury recognizes Kendall’s rank and status
and sentence him to be shot by firing squad. Though many of Smith’s crew who are accused of
mutiny are often let go, possibly because the colony needed able bodies,135 this time the Jury and
the colony acted out their sentence. Smith laments the death sentence but affirms that “God’s
providence” cannot be arrested by mutinous acts. Smith’s accounts reaffirm the status quo as the
death sentence by firing squad is brought to American colonies. Firearms are the means used to
discipline and punish colonists.
Rhetorical Device for Future Colonials
Although Smith’s first narrative, A True Relation (1608) begins with heroic adventures
(Smith’s battles, captivity, and critique of the idle colonizers), his later narratives read more as
131 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes ed.
Philip L. Barbour. Vol. 1. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 41.
132 The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes. Vol.1 41.
133 Phillip Barbour, “Captain George Kendall: Mutineer or Intelligencer?” The Virginia Magazine
of History and Biography 70.3 (1962) 301.
134 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes ed. Philip L.
Barbour. Vol. 1. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 41.
135 Captain John Smith himself was accused of mutiny.
82
explicit advice to the prospective colonial. In 1626, Smith noted several journalists had given a
negative picture of America calling it a “wasteland and impoverished.” Smith thus writes The
True Travels to counter the denigrating picture. Smith’s text, here, serves to promote strong
defensive measures rather than promote firearms as a means of attaining food. He emphasizes,
“For Armes [sic], there is scarce any man but he is furnished with a Peece [sic], a Jacke [sic], a
Coat of Maile [sic], a Sword, or a Rapier; and everie [sic] Holy-day, everie Plantation doth
excersize [sic] their men in Armes [sic], by which meanes [sic], hunting and fowling, the most
part of them are most excellent shots.”136 Here, Smith includes in his list of Arms, “a Jacke” (a
strong hardened leather jacket), chain mail, and swords evoking the well-developed defense
along with a piece or “Peece.”137 Additionally, the hunt—as explored earlier—serves as both a
means of providing food and a means to train those in charge of defending the Plantation,
reassuring prospective colonizers of their ultimate safety (more of Smith’s New World
propaganda). Later in The True Travels, Smith explores the fruitful gardens and abundance of
domesticated animals. He asserts, “They are able to feed three or foure [sic] hundred men more
than they [the colonists] have.”138 In such a setting Smith’s use of firearms fosters the image of a
well-fed and well-protected colony.
Yet, more importantly, Smith uses images of firearms as propaganda that ensures
“peaceful” relations and essential channels of trade with the Natives. It is through the presence of
136 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes ed.
Philip L. Barbour. Vol. 1. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 217.
137 A portable firearm.
138 John Smith, The Complete Works of John Smith (1580 -1631) in Three Volumes. Ed.
Philip L. Barbour. Vol. 1. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1986) 217.
83
firearms that colonizers are able to create a sense of trepidation among the Natives, a deterrent
from attacks which enables lines of communication and trade to be established. The “peace”
between the colonizers and Natives, formed out of mutual economic interests, is always tentative
at best. All the festivities and ceremonies seem to portray a tranquil and stable relationship
between the two societies, but the façade ineffectively masks suspicions and uncertainties each
group held. Within these relations, Smith uses firearms to portray the colonists as the dominant
party, in spite of the fact that colonizers were economically dependent upon the Natives and
continued to struggle for survival. Firearm ownership and demonstrations sustain colonists’
ethnocentric world view and also quells the distress that colonizers confronted as they feared
“the other” of the New World.
The Complete Works of Captain John Smith provides a significant example of the early
formation of American gun culture.139 Smith rhetorically stages the firearm through myth mainly
for political purposes, surrounding it with symbolic intrigue and thrilling enchantment for the
purposes of psychological warfare. Smith strives overall to redefine labor, complaining about
idle colonizers or aristocrats that cannot adapt to new means of labor. In this setting, firearms
provide a means of protection and of providing food—one factor within Smith’s rebranding of
“colonial labor.” Also, as Smith became more considerate of his readership, who were primarily
religious settlers, he tones down the violence and heroic endeavors and turns more towards
descriptions of the land and Natives. A half a century later, the balance of power between
139 Namely: A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Happened in Virginia
(1608); The Proceedings of the English Colony in Virginia (1612); The Generall Historie of Virginia,
New-England, and the Summer Isles (1624); and The True Travels, Adventures and Observations of
Captain John Smith (1630).
84
colonists and Natives will be considerably altered when Natives obtain more firearms. The
reverence Smith (and many other colonials) gave the Anglo-American concept of the gun went
through a marked change as Native-American tribes also acquired firearms. Such a shift takes
place roughly sixty years later, around the time of the publication of Mary Rowlandson’s
captivity narrative in 1682.
85
CHAPTER 3
“GUN-TOTING WOMEN:” THE (RE)IMAGININGS OF MARY ROWLANDSON
Of the various narratives that served to shape and represent American identity within the
American colonies, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: Being a Narrative of the Captivity of
the Restoration of Mary Rowlandson (1682), not only has maintained significant readership but
also offers noteworthy perspectives on firearm use within the New World. Mary Rowlandson’s
narrative has been described by many historians as the first bestselling narrative in the American
colonies and continued to attract readership for over five decades after its first publication, which
was six years after the end of King Phillip’s War (1675-1678).140 Early American historian,
Michelle Burnham, describes its “extraordinary popularity” citing “the fact that no first edition
survives simply because it was literally read into decay and oblivion.”141 Though the first
printing was one thousand copies, the readership and circulation of these editions are
incalculable as copies loaned to others became so tattered that four consecutive editions were
printed within its first year of publication.142 The narrative’s popularity reveals valuable cultural
insight into a wide array of colonial perspectives as most scholars focus on its various topics—
such as Native American culture, Puritan evolution within the new American frontier, and
140 Kathryn Zabelle Derounian, “The Publication, Promotion, and Distribution of Mary
Rowlandson's Indian Captivity Narrative in the Seventeenth Century.” Early American Literature, vol.
23, no. 3, 1988 239.
141 Michelle Burnham, “The Journey between: Liminality and Dialogism in Mary White
Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative.” Early American Literature, vol. 28, no. 1, 1993 65, 72.
142 Kathryn Zabelle Derounian, “The Publication, Promotion, and Distribution of Mary
Rowlandson's Indian Captivity Narrative in the Seventeenth Century.” Early American Literature, vol.
23, no. 3, 1988 239.
86
aspects of the female colonial experience.143 Yet, what is most compelling for this study is the
much overlooked female perspective on the American frontier and its associations with firearms.
Rowlandson’s narrative offers significant positions on early American colonial sentiment as it
establishes foundations for later conceptions of the frontier hero and the place of the gun,
exemplifying a shift from European to “American” perspectives and definitions of firearms.
Similar to Captain John Smith’s narrative which emphasizes more approving perspectives of
firearms concerning the colony’s specific economic and political demands, Rowlandson’s
captivity narrative also engages similar concerns within the Lancaster colony, placing Protestant
values—namely, feminine virtue and maternal aspects—in jeopardy. Mary Rowlandson’s
narrative provides a significant understanding of her contemporary cultural acumen perceiving
the gun in terms of Providence using the language of fear and terror among the Natives, insights
of nature, and perceptions stressing individual rights. After 1776, her narrative and gender are
reimagined by politically driven American Revolutionaries into a “gun-toting American Patriot,”
which demands a more radical reading of the text that insists upon an American national identity
rooted in taming the wilderness, challenging authority, and defending individual rights and
property with a gun in hand.
Overall, Rowlandson’s narrative provides female viewpoints that were widely distributed
and consumed by the colonial population, and the various “American definitions” of the gun that
Captain John Smith established become filtered through feminine, religious, and economic
perceptions in a “life and death” circumstance all through which Rowlandson masterfully
143 Denise Mary MacNeil, The Emergence of the American Frontier Hero 1682-1826: Gender,
Action, and Emotion (New York: Palgrave MacMillian 2009) 4.
87
exhibits a will to adapt and survive. Since most of the text’s readership spans from 1682 to 1776
many publishers rebranded Rowlandson’s account as a nationalistic endeavor that politicizes her
narrative and thus creates a major leitmotif from which the American frontier hero emerges.144
Yet, unlike Smith’s writings which provide a cut and dried perception of firearms, Mary
Rowlandson’s original narrative, and its politically charged subsequent editions offer a much
more protean set of possible interpretations.
Mary Rowlandson as Frontier Hero
Rowlandson’s text—as many scholars note—is complex. She opens by disparaging
Native culture and violence, and praises the Puritanical view of God’s condemnation as it is
attributed to the Natives and the wilderness, yet (and many times within the same breath) she
challenges such initial, absolute statements. For example, she asserts that after she is taken,
Natives are “bloody heathens,” “merciless heathens” and “barbarous creators,” but in the
following paragraph she emphasizes her dependence upon their mercy as she cries and, “one of
them asked me why I wept? [sic]” and Rowlandson, answers “they could kill me.” She is then
given “two spoonfuls [sic] of meal (to comfort me) and another gave me a pint of peas.”145 This
odd juxtaposition of extreme violence and astonishing generosity obscures the primary (and
often one-dimensional account) of the Puritanical view regarding Native characteristics. This
writing style challenges the status quo and dominate world view of Natives, authority, the
144 MacNeil, The Emergence of the American Frontier Hero 1682-1826 9.
145 qtd. in Richard VanDerBeets, Held Captive by Indians: Selected Narratives, 1642-1836.
(Knoxville, Tenn: University of Tennessee Press 1973) 58.
88
wilderness, and governmental powers. Many times Rowlandson may begin piously recounting a
horrific event, yet by the end of the sentence she will deconstruct her own faith-based claims and
open a completely new vista demanding reconsideration (or even nullifying) her previous faith-
promoting statement. From these contradictory perspectives—Puritan and Pagan, civilization and
wilderness, and European and Native—Rowlandson forms a synthesis of values, codes, or
cultures. What ties all these seemingly disparate threads of her ordeal together is one overarching
idea: survival. Rowlandson’s narrative consistently stresses an ability to bend one’s code of
ethics (if need be) to adapt in order to survive. It is under this extremely harsh life or death
condition that the American imaginations, mythos, and understanding of the gun emerge and
begin to solidify. In fact, survival—the common denominator of Rowlandson’s disparate
approaches to her own story—is also a foundational concept reflected in colonial sentiment and
anxieties that influences understandings of American identity and American firearms.
Rowlandson masterfully melds both thesis and antithesis into her captivity narrative in a
manner that many scholars refer to as a “double sense” 146—a blending of points of opposition,
creating new rhetorical spaces through which she is either able to transition between Native and
European cultural aspects and dogmas or blend or blur the two seemingly opposing world views
(Native and European) that offer her survival or the most positive outcome.147 Rowlandson’s use
of double sense positions herself in such a way that she is able to cross-culture, gender, and class
boundaries. Her rhetoric reaffirms European order and perspectives in the wilderness and adapts
146 Denise Mary MacNeil, The Emergence of the American Frontier Hero 1682-1826: Gender,
Action, and Emotion. (New York: Palgrave MacMillian 2009) 5.
147 The Emergence of the American Frontier Hero 1682-1826 9.
89
to new freedoms, even while captive, that the new environment allows. Such a new space, as
many scholars argue, became a fundamental aspect of Rowlandson’s popularity and later became
a cultural force that was instrumental in defining many attributes of the American Frontier
hero.148 Rowlandson’s American values were especially reimagined and interpreted into her
account which resulted in a more heroic characterization especially as the narrative was read
during the American Revolution, eight decades after it was originally published. In tracing
multiple renditions and different readings of Mary Rowlandson’s narrative, one can uncover
several crucial political roles that the gun plays. First, the gun becomes a means of
accomplishing providential edicts (such as God’s deliverance of death). Second and conversely,
the gun is portrayed as a source of fear and panic especially when it becomes adopted within the
Native’s superior war and raiding tactics. Ultimately, firearms are offered as a tool of economic
progress.
Mary Rowlandson’s Firearm Mythopoesis: Providence and Native Terror
Rowlandson’s portrayal of firearms and weapons first emerges in a metonymical sense, a
stand-in for Providence. Providence is read—and written—into Rowlandson’s narrative through
sensory perception—godly fear, use of nature, and biblical references. For instance, the first
editions responded to a religious readership and highlighted belief in and connection to God
through trials—just as it states in the title page, “The Sovereignty and Goodness of God.” In
order to convey this, she often resorts to attaching a parallel scripture to her trials. For instance,
148 Derounian, Mott, and Fliegelman. See also Denise Mary MacNeil, The Emergence of the
American Frontier Hero 1682-1826: Gender, Action, and Emotion. (New York: Palgrave MacMillian
2009) 5.
90
when she is weeping by the river before a Native offered her corn-meal and another offered her a
half of a pint of peas, she is caught up in remembrance and refers to Psalms 137:1, “By the
Rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.”149 It is within
this vein that Rowlandson initially offers a religious perspective of her trials, as if they were
God-given. She places a religious lens upon firearms as well as their use, the lives they take or
injured was directed by the hand of God. Her providential viewpoints differ greatly from John
Smith’s secular treatment. Yet, similar to John Smith’s accounts, her narrative is read as a
Jeremiad, a warning—words like those of the Old Testament Jeremiah who prophesied of God’s
vengeance on those who were not conforming to His holy writ. She admonishes Colonials that
there are consequences for pride and sin. Hence, Rowlandson perceives the massacre to be a part
of God’s reprimand. She sees God’s castigation in the Natives’ bullets. In this sense guns serve
to deliver Providential demands of death, delivering colonials from evil, horror, and the toils and
tribulations of life on earth. This can be seen in her depiction of her sister’s death at the hands of
the Natives. Rowlandson exclaims, “My eldest sister being yet in the house, and seeing those
woful [sic] sights […] and her eldest son telling her that her son William [sic] was dead, and
myself wounded, she said, ‘Lord, let me die with them;’ which was no sooner said but she was
struck with a bullet, and fell down dead over the threshold.” 150 Rowlandson describes this scene
significantly at the threshold of the house which is also at the threshold of life and death, as God
delivers her, immediately responding to her exclamation, with the lethal placement of a bullet.
149 Rowlandson’s own emphasis. qtd. in Richard VanDerBeets, Held Captive by Indians: Selected
Narratives, 1642-1836. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press 1973) 57.
150 Denise Mary MacNeil, The Emergence of the American Frontier Hero 1682-1826: Gender,
Action, and Emotion. (New York: Palgrave MacMillian 2009) 60.
91
The bullet is shown as answering prayer or foreordaining the end of her sister’s life. To be sure
in the Puritanical mythos, the end of one’s life is never coincidental or haphazard. Thus,
Rowlandson not only shows the colonials as powerless, lacking skill with the gun, and deficient
in militaristic wisdom but also portrays —even in the Wampanoag band’s raid—the ensuing
violence from these firearms as a colonial Jeremiad. Rowlandson’s audience and political
purpose are much different from Captain Smith’s political propaganda in which he addresses the
continual practice and impeccable skill of the Virginia militia, ensuing safety for future
colonials. Here Rowlandson’s anguished tone suggests an answer as to why such a horrific scene
took place: “The Lord hereby would make us the more to acknowledge his hand, and to see that
our help is always in Him.”151 By addressing the power of God, the gun is perceived as a clear
instrument of God’s reprisal. Through a Puritanical lens Rowlandson offers a more religious
reading of the desecrations wrought by guns and bullets. It is the work of an angry God
demanding subservience.
Yet, the narrative—again—reflects “double-sense” of the atrocities. Just as Rowlandson
assures the reader that “our help is always in Him,” affirming all will be well through faith in
God, she then evokes terror, “But out we must go, the fire increasing, and coming along beside is
roaring, and the Indians gaping before us with their guns, spears and hatchets, to devour
us.”152 In this passage, Rowlandson first establishes a Puritanical perspective that violence and
death are dealt with by God’s castigating hand while, at the same time, his other hand offers
deliverance and aid. Again, Rowlandson’s pious outlook on the scene quickly turns to pragmatic
151 The Emergence of the American Frontier Hero 1682-1826 60.
152 The Emergence of the American Frontier Hero 1682-1826 60.
92
affirmations necessary for survival—undercutting her previous godly perspective. Here it is no
longer a reflection of the fear of God, but fear of the Natives. The active agent quickly is
transferred from God to the Wampanoag band which maintains the power to “consume” all of
Lancaster. This is the first overt retreat of the various “removes” that Rowlandson stylistically
expresses.153 Although God is present in her apologetic rhetoric, she also (and often quickly)
turns to practical ways either of staving off violence or of finding ways to survive. The guns,
here, become the tool of violence that forces Rowlandson to recognize the power of both God
and the Natives. She transitions at this point in her narrative from addressing the power of God
found in gunfire to an emphasis upon Native skill in contrast to the ineptness of the colonials
with their firearms (and not John Smith’s preferred references to a well-organized and practiced
militia).
Rowlandson sets a stage in which guns maintain an overpowering presence in the graphic
massacre. She asserts the cunning in the atrocious killings that these “murderous wretches”
exemplify with the use of the once predominantly white colonial technological advantage—the
musket. Within Rowlandson’s third sentence, the dread is clearly apparent. Rowlandson
describes the colonists’ panic: “Hearing the noise of some guns, we looked out; several houses
were burning, and smoked ascending to heaven.”154 The atrocity she accounts for is first
153 Rowlandson divides her text not into chapters but into twenty “Removes” into the wilderness
with the Natives. Organizing the text geographically rather than temporally (her entire captivity lasted 11
weeks) impresses upon the reader the significant divide between colonies and Indian Territory. With each
remove she is drawn further into the wilderness until her final “remove” from the wilderness (her
twentieth remove) where she is purchased for twenty pounds and brought back to her family.
154 Mary White Rowlandson and Horace Kephart, The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other
Indian Captivity Narratives. (Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications 2005) 58.
93
perceived through auditory experience, not offering a visual image directly with the clatter of
munitions. As Jasmine Lellock states, Rowlandson does “ascribe the work of the guns […to an]
immaterial force: Providence.”155 Indeed, Rowlandson’s narrative not only offers guns as a
significant emblem of Providence, nature, and her trial, but reveals how guns are key agents
within horrific scenes. The very type of armaments that the colonials pridefully wielded in
Captain John Smith’s narratives which marked their superiority, now transfer that superiority to
the Natives. In this context, Rowlandson places the gun in both colonial and Native hands and
“dolefully” (her word) attests that the Natives’ skills far surpass the entire militia and garrison
that Lancaster is able to muster, laying the colony to waste.
Rowlandson continues by describing the Natives’ superiority with firearms. As she hears
the noise of guns in the distance, panic ensues. Her next paragraph places the violence within
their own backyard. Rowlandson exclaims, “There were five persons taken in one house. The
father and mother, and a sucking child, they knocked on the head; the other two carried away
alive.”156 Her accounts of the Lancaster atrocities continue; a man running away is shot down,
stripped naked with his bowels split open. Another man running away is quickly shot down.
Rowlandson pauses to explain such killing is made effortless as the Natives shot from higher
ground, overtaking the roof of the barn, shooting “down upon them over their
fortifications.”157 Next, the Natives fire upon the Rowlandson household from various
155 Jasmine Lellock, “Of Guns and Other Weapons in Mary Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative.”
Early Modern Women, vol. 4, 2009 199.
156 Mary White Rowlandson and Horace Kephart. The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other
Indian Captivity Narratives. (Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications 2005) 58.
157 The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives 59.
94
advantageous bunkers and highpoints. Natives shoot from the barn, a hill, and “anything that
would shelter them.”158 From these various positions, Natives swiftly appear, as if from the
wilderness itself. By moving without transition from one scene to the next, Rowlandson
immerses the reader in the quickly delivered terror. It is as if the terror is springing up from
nature itself as both Providence and the Natives conspire against the colonials. The Natives’
mastery over musket use, their strategic positions, and what would be later called their “skulking
way of warfare”159 all leave the colonizers “wallowing in blood.”160 Rowlandson highlights the
expertise with which these Natives exercise dominion over the Lancaster colony. From the
Puritan perspective, these heathens took the technological advantage once predominantly
maintained by the colonizers and desecrated “all before them.”161 Playing off the colonists’
anxieties, Rowlandson shows there to be no reprieve or sanctuary. Although Rowlandson offers
a Puritanical interpretation, conceding their “help is always in Him [the Lord]”; she concludes
that the pragmatic source of survival is moving further into the wilderness—“out we must go.”162
Ultimately, within the first few episodes of violence, Rowlandson affirms the expertise the
158 The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives 59.
159 A phrase later used by colonist to denigrate or the “underhanded” ways in which the Natives
plundered the colonies, yet later—especially in the early 1800s—American citizenry claimed their militia
adopted such an artful and evasive way to wage war. Such a transition, discussed in later chapters,
illustrates how American citizenry adopts the idea of Native prowess in order to build their own mythical
might.
160 Mary White Rowlandson and Horace Kephart. The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other
Indian Captivity Narratives. (Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications 2005) 59.
161 The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives 59.
162 The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives 60.
95
Natives have over Lancaster through their knowledge of the terrain, their speed in attack, and
their skill with the musket. It is noteworthy in her narrative that there is not one account of a
successful colonizer fighting back. Any effective violence is presented fully from the
Wampanoag band’s point of view. Seemingly at every turn Rowlandson overwhelms the reader
with graphic scenes as she finds sons, and daughters, and dear neighbors “bleeding out their
heart’s blood upon the ground.”163 Natives (as they had previously done with Spanish horses)
take a weapon that was once a sign of “advanced” European culture and technology and reinvent
or refashion it to fit within the new geopolitical location. Colonists render the Native use of
firearms in a more hostile manner. Natives’ fire at will from several different locations,
confusing colonials. In such a commotion, Rowlandson publicizes Natives’ firearm prowess,
emphasizing the anxiety and fear within victims, underscoring the British colonials’—and
Europeans’ for that matter—failure to meet these Natives with equal or greater skill.
Mary Rowlandson’s Firearms as Natural Catastrophe
In addition to using the gun as a means of portraying Providence’s and the Native’s role
in violence, Rowlandson also describes the gun in terms that suggest its relation to Nature’s
power, redefining the Puritanical perspective on the wilderness. She refers to the bullets as a
“handful of stones […] rattling against the house,” another volley as if it were “bullets that
seemed to fly like hail,” wounding one man after another. Such metaphors and similes seem to
reference Nature’s hand in the affair. As Jasmine Lellock states, in these indications the subject
163 The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives 60.
96
of such action is unclear.164 Yet, Rowlandson clearly shows that the colony is at the mercy of
those demonstrating the most power and renders the Natives, God, and nature as the acting
agents. In contrast, the colonials’ only role is that of the direct object. Passive voice,
supplication, and petitions to higher powers are the most common colonist responses. The
description of the ruthless Natives, Providence’s hand, and the force of nature establishes the
hellish state within which Rowlandson shocks her reader. Rowlandson depicts firearms as being
of limited use in the hands of colonials and also describes their collective acceptance of their
predetermined fate. Such supplication effectively mirrors many of their communal and pious
thoughts. Culturally, early colonials perceived successes as indicators as being God’s chosen,
and atrocities (such as Indian massacres) as being under God’s condemnation as God’s elect
were understood as being called to repent. The underlying cause of God’s condemnation of His
people is their failure to develop an organized and active militia skilled in musketry.
Consequently, the path for repentance and being granted God’s favor is to maintain a more
trained, skilled, and well-regulated militia.
Within Rowlandson’s narrative the gun is professed metonymically.165 As it is initiated in
her retreat, the gun comes to symbolize Native supremacy, God’s authority and also embodies
the threat she must overcome. Because of the gun, she must “remove” or escape into the
wilderness. There she acquiesces as the passive participant, in order to survive she must become
an active protagonist. She demonstrates within the wilderness incredible fortitude within a place
164 Jasmine Lellock, “Of Guns and Other Weapons in Mary Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative.”
Early Modern Women, vol. 4, 2009 195-196.
165 A figure of speech that offers an item or thing that is taken for another. For example “the
crown” often means the monarchy in Great Britain.
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that is defined by her culture as a “lively resemblance of hell” as she endures “merciless
enemies.”166 Rowlandson consistently identifies the culprit in these violent episodes—the
“prevailing” Natives. Grammatically, it is generally the Natives who are the active subjects as
they wield firearms while colonists assume the position of direct objects. The Wampanoag no
doubt have a dramatic presence, and the narrative reflects the disorienting effects of the raid.
They do not offer directions about where the attack is coming from, nor place a comprehensive
time frame upon the raid. So the unsuspecting victims die on the thresholds of their own homes
or run one way only to be caught by another section of the raiding band. The lack of transitions
in Rowlandson’s account within her first remove blurs any notion of temporal or spatial
sequencing. Rowlandson is out of the house only to be back in the house in the following
paragraph. The invaders are at the barn, on a hill, then at the very door ready to “devour
us.”167 Bullets shower the victims from everywhere and nowhere as these “skulking” or
seemingly invisible warriors’ tactics evoke panic. The gun—illuminated by the imagery of God,
Native, and nature—gives credence to Rowlandson’s explanation of her “removes” and her
submission to the Natives is made more acceptable to her readership. In short, the horrific
presence of the Native gun justifies her surrender to “those black creatures in the night.”168
As in her sister’s death, it is the gun that is highlighted when Rowlandson herself
contemplates whether to accept death or captivity. At the moment of her capture, Rowlandson
166 Mary White Rowlandson and Horace Kephart. The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other
Indian Captivity Narratives. (Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2005) 61.
167 The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives 60.
168 The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives 61.
98
asserts, “I should rather be killed by them than taken alive; but when it came to the trial my mind
changed; their glittering Weapons so daunted my Spirit, that I chose rather to go along with those
(as I may say) ravenous Bears, than that moment to my end my daies [sic].”169 She positions the
“glittering Weapons” as the item that evokes enough fear for her to suddenly change her resolve
to die. At this point, though, Rowlandson quickly manipulates Protestant tropes of Providence in
seeking death. Rather than submitting to the Natives, her sister piously chose death, which God
granted with a bullet at that very moment. Yet, Rowlandson must submit to the “ravenous
Bears.” At this crucial moment, the entire narrative hangs in the balance.170 Rather than
requesting death from God, Rowlandson is captured and must resolve to survive. Rowlandson
undercuts the fastidious, austere Puritanical creed and develops a new adaptable dogma as she
opts to “go along” with the Natives. Because of the violence the reader has just witnessed, the
author gains his/her consent to join in with the protagonist in this new trial that Providence has
prepared. It is her trial to go with these godless creatures, putting feminine virtue at risk,
accepting a fate different from her sister’s, favoring life and survival. Rowlandson’s grit and will
to survive sets her at odds with traditional perspectives and Puritanical world views as she
acquiesces to new influences from Native cultures and the wilderness.
Intense fear and the will to survive together open a new vista of perspectives in
Rowlandson’s narrative. Indeed this turning point poses several complex questions regarding
free will. In Puritanical typology, the will of the individual must be turned over to the community
169 The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives 61.
170 Had Mary Rowlandson not been in fear of the glittering weapons, and chose death just as her
sister had, this best-selling captivity narrative would not have existed.
99
and God. In a sense, this is what her sister does and is delivered from a captive life with these
Natives by the bullet. Rowlandson, rather than going along with what appeared to be mandated
by God with regards to her sister, chooses a different path—to live with such godless creatures—
and then redefines this experience (her own choice) as God-given as well. However, initially,
where it is the bullet that symbolizes the path provided by Providence, it is the glinting guns and
knives—that “so daunted her spirit” which helps her audience accept her choice of survival with
the Natives. In the following chapters, Rowlandson asserts that this path is also one that
Providence has asked her to bear. Yet, at the point of her decision, it is the fear and daunted
spirit evoked by those impressive weapons that demand surrender to the Natives. Her individual
will to survive, here, is elevated above the community. Providence is not at present a part of her
decision-making process although, much later, with the advantage of hindsight, the protagonist
does assert that Providence willed her to live and survive such trials and removes. Such a
rhetorical positioning of the gun is crucial in understanding how Rowlandson strategically gains
the reader’s acceptance of the narrative itself—a story of an unpretentious Puritan woman who
opts to live among a godless community rather than to die with God. Rowlandson uses the shiny
weapons in her initial and most significant “remove.” She addresses the fear of death as guns,
knives, and hatchets impress upon her a new understanding. Though she must live with these
perceived heathens, she is alive and faithfully submits herself to these new trials of God. With
Rowlandson, as with many of American Wilderness narratives, the gun is invariably linked with
the theme of tenacious survival.
Aside from Rowlandson’s noteworthy scare-tactics, firearms play a significant role not
only at the beginning of her heroic journey into the wilderness as a captive but also in a vital
100
economic role in possible negotiations for peace. Lellock notes that after more than a few
removes into the wilderness, Rowlandson’s fear regarding the weapons subsides, and she later
describes firearms in a “matter-of-fact” manner preserving them as “objects of exchange.”171
Lellock maintains that Rowlandson rhetorically positions her narrative to favor individual action
over offering one’s will to the community and God—precursors to American values. Though
Rowlandson does indeed perceive firearms in pragmatic and economic terms, the fear
established in previous incidents still lurks behind these economic definitions. The gun is still an
object that conjures fear and respect.
This double role of the gun can be seen in the moment of hope in which Rowlandson is
about to be traded for gun-powder. On March 14, 1676—in her eighth remove—the Wampanoag
return from raiding Northampton, bringing with them “horses and sheep and other things.”172 In
such a weak and wretched state, she declares, “I desired them that they would carry me to
Albany upon one of those horses, and sell me for powder; for they had sometimes discoursed. I
was utterly helpless of getting home on foot, the way that I came. I could hardly bear to think of
the many weary steps I had taken to this place.”173 Perceiving her own life as an economic
commodity to the Natives, she, after languishing in hunger, quickly begins to establish herself
within the Native community through knitting. She trades her knitwear to neighboring families
for food and is treated better by the natives as her skills in handicraft make her an asset to her
171 Jasmine Lellock, “Of Guns and Other Weapons in Mary Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative.”
Early Modern Women, vol. 4, 2009 197.
172 Mary White Rowlandson, and Horace Kephart. The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other
Indian Captivity Narratives. (Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2005) 70.
173 The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives 70.
101
Native family and tribe. She becomes so renowned for her knitwear that King Phillip requests
her to make a shirt for his own son.174 It is because of her particular skill, she soon realizes that
her Native owner took much more pride in her usefulness, so much so that his wife became
jealous of Rowlandson. Through these and other means, she quickly perceives ways in which the
Natives measured her life in terms of other useful commodities—specifically of gun-powder
kegs. Her ability to perceive her own value in terms of kegs of powder reveals ways in which her
Puritanical paradigm shifts to the perspectives of what the Natives revere. Anxious to end her
trials in the wilderness, she adopts social customs of economy cajoling them to trade a weary and
starving knitter for more gunpowder—which presumably translates as more plausible raids and
more provisions for the Natives. The current government highly stressed that no trade be done,
“either guns or gunpowder […], which might come to be used against ourselves.”175 Whether or
not Rowlandson was aware of such laws makes little difference. Her proposing such a trade
shows what lengths she is willing to take. Rowlandson weighs her horrors, hunger, and
ungodliness and asserts her individual concerns over those of the community or government.
Although Natives can use traded gunpowder to wreak havoc upon other colonies, like her
own, the reader becomes invested in the protagonist in such a way that he or she understands the
justification of such a trade. Rowlandson pits individual freedom against possible future
destruction of the community. In this manner, Rowlandson continually challenges Puritanical
norms in which the individual must acquiesce to the greater good of the community. She asserts
self and survival within the wilderness against the needs of the larger community. She survives
174 Metacomet, the Wampanoag chief.
175 “An Abstract of Laws of the New England, 1641,” reprinted in Force, Vol. III, No. 9 10.
102
in the wilderness—not by conquering it, but by domesticating it with her knitwear and finding an
economic position within an ungodly community. Such a narrative challenges masculine
authority and places greater merit upon experience and adaptability. She opposes the very
precedent Captain Smith established by not trading guns to the Natives.176 Though she does not
wield a gun, her experiences in crafty financial negotiations reflect her basic will to survive. Like
the other themes of Providential imposition and Native superiority, the elevation of the
individual over the community is once again focused upon the use of firearms. As will be
explored in the remaining chapters, the central role of the gun is apparent throughout the
development of the American frontier hero in which the value of the individual is given legal
priority over the community.
Rowlandson, the American Patriot
For a considerable period, Rowlandson’s narrative found extended interest within the
public.177 Thus various perspectives and interpretations of the narrative continued to be molded
according to the political contexts of its readerships. The shift from a religious to a political-
based readership is readily apparent in promotional presentations placed upon the narratives’
covers. Throughout various reprinted editions, Rowlandson’s book’s marketability increased as
176 By this time (1675), most of the tribes on the fringe of the colonies were well-equipped with
muskets, especially during King Phillips War. At this time all the colonists leveled criticism at other
nationalities accusing them of trading firearms to the Natives. In reality, as Brian Given’s reveals in his A
Most Pernicious Thing, as most all colonials participated initially in the trade ban (prior to 1640), then—
circa 1670—many relented and traded. He asserts that many Natives possessed flint-locks muskets (58-
59). See Brian J. Given, A Most Pernicious Thing: Gun Trading and Native Warfare in the Early Contact
Period. (Ottawa: Carleton University Press 1994).
177 As aforementioned the narrative sold many copies and was published many times, especially
in the mid and late eighteenth centuries.
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her character shifted from being a passive victim to that of an active American hero, in
particular, a gun-toting woman, though strangely enough in her account she never wields a
musket. Yet, to drive sales responding to the ideological demands from the public, editors
revised the titles of the narrative and used more heroic—dare I say “American” and patriotic—
art upon its cover as seen in Figures 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.5. “The Sovereignty of the Goodness of
God” (Figure 3.1) was published in Cambridge in 1682.178 The second edition (as its title page
notes) promotes faith in God and His goodness. Corrections and an amendment are also
included—in particular, the sermon by her husband. In order to combat difficulties within the
printing market of New England, many publishers repackaged “steady sellers.”179 To increase
the pool of consumers, many reprinted texts were marketed in “impersonal and ideologically
neutral modes of transaction.”180 As a means to make the text more marketable to those that are
less religious, Joseph Poole’s re-printed the narrative, elevating the “True History of the
Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson” as seen in Figure 3.2. Figure 3.3 is published in
1770, which depicts Mary Rowlandson as a female soldier with a musket and powder-horn. Note
how firearms are accorded a central position. Figure 3.5 depicts Mary Rowlandson, even as she
is outnumbered, defending her home as she levels her musket at the Natives. These images mark
178 The first edition was compiled within another text. This first account was only around eight
pages in length.
179 Both New England and England’s texts were “limited geographically and socially,” as stated
in Kathryn Zabelle Derounian’s “The Publication, Promotion, and Distribution of Mary Rowlandson's
Indian Captivity Narrative in the Seventeenth Century.” Early American Literature, vol. 23, no. 3, 1988
239–261. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25056730.
180 Stephen Botein, "The Anglo-American Book Trade Before 1776: Personnel and Strategies." In
William L. Joyce et al., eds. Printing and Society in Early America. (Worcester, Mass.: American
Antiquarian Society 1983) 48-82.
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prominent transitions of gun perspectives and how their power as symbol and image
progressively takes a greater role in providing answers to many early American political
problems as publishers connect Rowlandson’s narrative to the gun.
Figure 3.1. Title Page for Mary Rowlandson’s Captivity Narrative 1682, Published in Cambridge
At its first 1682 publication, Rowlandson’s narrative establishes various cultural
underpinnings of the colonial Puritan (see Figure 3.1). From the first seven words of its title,
“The Sovereignty and Goodness of GOD,” with the word “GOD” placed in all caps in the largest
font upon the front cover, the editor highlights the major figure of the narrative. The common
belief within the colonies was that they would found a city upon a hill which would stand as an
example to all other cities and nations—as stated in the New Testament’s Gospel according to St.
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Matthew. As such, unity and order should receive what follows in the next phrase of the title,
being, “Together in Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed.” No mention is made of the
protagonist within the first few phrases as the publication, ensuring that God would be read as
having the leading role of the narrative. Indeed, the faithful reader will note the episodes where
Rowlandson testifies of Providence’s hand in flying bullets and piously establishes God in His
major role. As has already been argued, much of her narrative—through the rhetorical means of
“double sense”—does much to counter significant premises found in traditional European
Puritanical epistemologies which include the passive acceptance of God’s will as well as the
prime importance of the community over the individual. After acknowledging the predominant
role God plays in the narrative, the title claims that the promises and goodness of God will be
read in the faithful, “Narrative of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.” The font size highlights her
“Narrative” and her name, which of course is less than half the size of “GOD” in the title. The
heading minimizes the role that Rowlandson plays in the narrative. Rowlandson’s experience is
showcased as another witness of God’s goodness, stating, “Commented by her to all that desire
to know the Lord’s Doings to & Dealings with her; especially to her dear Children and
Relations.”181 Starting such a subtitle with passive structure—“commented by”—serves to
highlight Rowlandson’s virtuous role in submitting to all the “Lord’s Doings and Dealings.” It is
as if she were merely the conduit through whom the Lord was revealing His will to the colonist
who has ventured out in the wilderness of the New World. The subtitle concludes by stressing
community, as it affirms her role, not as an individual who successfully or heroically negotiated
the wilderness and her own survival, but one who fulfills a Puritanical role as part of the
181 See Figure 3.1.
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community: the mother to her “dear Children” and a member of the community of “dear
Relations.”
Figure 3.2. Title Page for Mary Rowlandson’s Captivity Narrative 1682, Published in London
Due to the success of the Cambridge edition, Joseph Poole reprinted the narrative in that
same year (1682) under a different title page, “A True History of Captivity and Restoration of
Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. A Minister’s Wife” (Figure 3.2.), perhaps attracting a less pious
audience. God is not boldly declared at the forefront of this edition’s title. Rowlandson’s
passivity and submission again are rhetorically on display, as it is a History “of Mrs. Mary
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Rowlandson” (italics added), after which her role within the community is underscored as “A
Minister’s Wife.” This edition’s subtitle, differing from the aforementioned edition, stresses
“The Cruel and Inhumane Usage she underwent amongst the Heathens.”182 Again, the selling
points of the narrative sensationalize the harsh conditions she endured and exhibits the Natives of
America as immoral creatures. Though God is not nearly as prominent within the title as in the
other edition, God is still present because the cover also advertises Mary Rowlandson’s
Minister’s Sermon in the appendix of the book and stresses her position in society as a Minister’s
wife. The later 1682 title page continually requests that the reader interpret the text as being set
forth by Providence, valuing submission to God and the community. It highlights the foresight of
God, communal roles and experiences, and the ability to survive.
In a 1770 edition of the narrative, eighty-eight years after the text’s first publication—
Boston publisher and author—Nathaniel Coverley reworks the title page of Mary Rowlandson’s
text, surprisingly, to display her with a musket in hand. The wood-carved image was not so new
to the public. It originally appeared in a children’s adventure story entitled, “Life and Adventures
of a Female Soldier”183 that appeared in 1762 (fig. 3.3.). This other account regards Hannah
Snell as the protagonist as she donned a man’s uniform and served in 1750 in the British Royal
Marines (see fig. 3.4.). Twenty years after the adventures of this British female hero, Nathaniel
Coverley repurposes the image used in the publication of Snell’s story, deletes the title and all
written accounts that would connect the figure to Hannah Snell, renames and Americanizes the
182 their italics
183 Neal Salisbury, (ed.) The Sovereignty and Goodness of God by Mary Rowlandson with Related
Documents. (Boston: Bedford and St. Martins 1997) 52.
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figure into Mary Rowlandson. Though there is no evidence given in Rowlandson’s account of
doing so, Coverley visually recreates Rowlandson as a gun-toting female hero. Although the
image was British in its original context, its new use to depict Rowlandson is seen not in terms of
a woman defending the colonies from the Natives (significantly not present in the wood carving),
but rather as her defending the colonies from the unrighteous tyranny. As Mary Rowlandson’s
narrative enters the public sphere of the 1760s and 1770s, the narrative’s Puritanical
interpretations have evolved considerably into revolutionary sentiments. Later these are
christened a factor in American identity.
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Figure 3.3. Female Soldier Woodblock Printing Repurposed for Mary Rowlandson in 1770,
Published in Boston
110
Figure 3.4. Hannah Snell Performing Musketry Drills (1750)
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The preceding images show how Nathaniel Coverly’s woodcarving reuses or coopts
Britain’s Hannah Snell into America’s Mary Rowlandson. Here, Rowlandson is depicted
wearing a tricorn hat (see fig. 3.3) holding a musket that is equal to if not more than her height
while her other hand, extended toward the musket, is clutching a powder horn. The tricorn hats
were often specifically styled with the left edge angled and higher than the right to allow the
musket to be more easily shouldered without knocking off the hat. In such a way, fashion
designated influence, power and a mark of prestige in those that were trained to fire muskets.
Such fashion parallels that of shaving one’s side of the hair as the Natives did in order to
facilitate an easy release of the bowstring.184 The British fort in the background is flying the
Union Jack and becomes Lancaster’s garrison; which should have been better protected and
better provisioned by those whom the flag represents. Within this new political arena,
Rowlandson’s plight, rather than aiming criticism towards the inept members of her own
community, is pointed towards the King and country. She stands as a solitary figure in the
foreground. The idea of the community is placed only within the background.
Furthermore, Rowlandson’s gender bending alters the readerships’ impressions of her
character. She is no longer the submissive and pious protestant. She is more assertive in her
stance. The female body is transformed into a persona that will rise to the occasion to defend her
family’s and her community’s as well as her own life. She will do everything possible to survive
regardless of the dictates and traditions being passed down from authority figures, even breaking
from British cultural ties. This updated version of Mary Rowlandson stands as a figure that
informs readers that she can survive and adapt in the wilderness—American fortitude found even
184 As explored in Chapter 1.
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in a colonial female. Yet, such imagery is not fully female as she adopts the masculine dress and
cultural roles as protector of her domain. Ironically, the following year after its publication, King
George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, prohibiting colonial expansion past the
Appalachian Mountains. Reading Rowlandson’s account within such a political environment in
where King George’s court limits colonial freedoms, Rowlandson’s own assertiveness, will to
survive, and industrial ingenuity become a clarion call for independence. Furthermore,
Rowlandson’s narrative carries an underlying message of American colonial distinction from
cultural norms found in the European continent. An American colonial woman who survived in
the wilderness defied all other atrocities and also challenged the status quo (precisely, much of
the sentiment leading to the American Revolution) easily became appropriated into new creeds
of independence and freedom in defiance of British tyranny.
Also highlighted in this altered cover art is Rowlandson’s image as a defier of authority.
At the time of her capture, the law forbid any trade of guns and gunpowder with the Natives.
Rowlandson rebels against that regulation when it might have reduced her chances of survival,
and she instead advocates for gun trade with the Natives. It is interesting to note that much like
Rowlandson, colonials collectively resisted the 1763 Royal Proclamation.185 Rowlandson’s
narrative is used to illustrate a rejection of impractical or irrational law mandated by out-of-touch
officials, which is often reflected in the American idealism of the period. As is often the case
with many other historic women of this era, their efforts are mythologized as they become
185 Figure 3.3. is also repackaged as another American patriot, “Miss Fanny’s Maid” (1770).
American patriots rallied around female embodiments of liberty. The American Revolution was often
times conceived through the female body. A work that explores this sentiment more is Katharina Erhard,
“Rape, Republicanism, and Representation: Founding the Nation in Early American Women's Drama and
Selected Visual Representations.” American Studies, vol. 50, no. 3, 2005 507–534.
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embodiments of revolution, freedom, and liberty—as well as other revered values. Similarly, this
occurs in the case of Rowlandson’s stalwart religiosity, which when perceived through the lens
of revolution and patriotic nationalism becomes altered considerably.186 The Puritanical
Minister’s wife undergoes a metamorphosis into a gun-toting metaphor for revolutionary
America.187
186 This text and artwork on the title page stirs American Revolutionary sentiment. Similar to
Paul Revere’s depiction of the Boston Massacre, and the “Take Notice” parchment that depicts a soldier’s
differing stances as he drills with a musket, Mary Rowlandson’s narrative fueled a the thoughts of the
revolt, rejection of the English monarchy and its statutes, and reasserts the difference of colonist with
England’s citizenry. Within these propagandist images, the musket becomes a significant tool for insisting
upon action. In Revere’s Boston Massacre the muskets are leveled at defenseless colonials. In the “Take
Notice” parchment and Rowlandson’s cover art, the musket is placed within the hands of American
colonials in drill, preparation, and defense of one’s property and rights.
187 Katharina Erhard’s texts highlights other works that expound upon the significance of
feminine symbols of the American Revolution. For instance, Mary P. Ryan explains the female body as a
“transitive semiotic device” (27); nineteenth-century maternal figure "was not only conflicted but also a
site of politicized, aesthetic contention” (26); Frost asserts that "the image of the vulnerable female was
essential to patriotic Revolutionary discourse" (127); Jasinski substantiates how “Americans employed
the imagery of feminized liberty to justify their revolution” (158); Samuels expounds on how “national
identity became attached to female bodies” (19); Cleary demonstrates how post-Revolutionary Americans
“yoked the identity of the nation to that of women” (60); M. Burnham proposes that “the republic was [...]
constructed in the image of a woman” (69); Richards attests to “women's centeredness in the figuration of
the republic” (“Politics of Seduction”). qtd. in Katharina Erhard, “Rape, Republicanism, and
Representation: Founding the Nation in Early American Women's Drama and Selected Visual
Representations.” American Studies, vol. 50, no. 3, 2005 508.
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Figure 3.5. Mary Rowlandson’s Captivity Narrative Title Page,
Published in Boston in 1773
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Another more telling representation of Mary Rowlandson is found within the John
Boyle’s printing house in 1773 (see Figure 3.5.). Markedly different from the first two cover
pages of 1682, any allusions to God have been deleted, and in their place Mary Rowlandson
stands, a lone figure, at the threshold of her home with her musket leveled at her pursuers. Rather
than a tricorn hat, her head is piously covered. Her pursuers are wearing long coats and wielding
hatches and guns, outnumbering her four to one.
Placing the 1773 publication in context establishes Rowlandson as an original American
hero. In this image she is converted into an icon for the American Revolution. Since the 1763
publication of her narrative, colonials experienced the Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Tea Act, and
the Boston Massacre. The following year (1774), the first meeting of the Continental Congress
convened. At this time, many of Rowlandson’s readers’ are concerned not with the fear of the
Natives or the foreboding wilderness. The French and Indian War is now a decade in the past.
Rather, their concerns are transferred from fearfully looking west to looking towards the
northeast colonies and their greatest threat: Great Britain. In subtle distinction, John Boyle
reproduces the growing revolutionary sentiment of fear for colonial safety and against British
threats. The Natives of Rowlandson’s text are no longer wearing loincloths, but long coats. They
are also not depicted in the manner Rowlandson described in her narrative. Rather than hiding
behind cover or crouching just below a hill (as aforementioned), they are shoulder to shoulder,
pursuing Mary Rowlandson in uniform—British militaristic—maneuvers: some wielding
tomahawks, while other combatants aim and fire their muskets in disciplined unison. John
Boyle’s woodcarving depicts the transition of colonial anxieties once directed at the Natives,
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now toward the antagonistic redcoats. The revulsion toward the Natives—caste as brutish, evil,
devilish, and inhumane—is easily transferred to a new enemy.
Within captivity narratives, American colonials were able to establish a dominant
historical rift between themselves and European culture. Mary Rowlandson’s narrative, once
heralded for its supplication and piety, gives way to new cultural myths—myths of initiation into
(or the appropriation of) Native American culture, triumph over the wilderness, individualism,
independence, and a declaration of inalienable rights in the face of tyranny. All these myths
implied within her text are underscored by Boyle when his lone character levels a musket at
British redcoats, attempting to masquerade as vicious Natives, but not altogether pulling it off.
Many historians, such as Richard Slotkin, Greg Siemenski, and Rebecca Faery highlight the
popularity of Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, noting the significant new editions as pivotal in
establishing an American culture distinct from that of the British. As Siemenski maintains, such
works “transform[ed] a captivity narrative into a potent metaphor for the Revolution.”188
Additionally, such narratives easily entered into the revolutionary literary public sphere as they
were published in Boston, not like previous editions assembled in the publishing houses of
London.189 Mary Rowlandson’s revitalized edition, replete with Boyle’s expressive
woodcarving, was one of these newly reprinted narratives. In his article, “The Puritan Captivity
Narrative and the Politics of the American Revolution,” Siemenski focuses upon ways in which
188 Such as Regeneration Through Violence, and Cartographies of Desire: Captivity, Race and
Sex in the Shaping of an American Nation. Greg Siemenski, “The Puritan Captivity Narrative and the
Politics of the American Revolution.” American Quarterly, no.1, 1990 52.
189 Richard Slotkin, Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology and the American Frontier,
1600-1860. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000) 96.
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Boyle’s image coupled with Rowlandson’s text naturally appealed to the revolutionary resolve
that produced the Boston Massacre. In this manner, the atrocities that colonials experienced
(whether a massacre in Lancaster or Boston) served to unite them against violent forms of
tyranny. In addition, as Siemenski notes, captivity narratives such as that of Rowlandson aided
colonists in creating a culture distinctly different from their homeland. Colonists were able to
tout and even flaunt the hardships, new skill sets, and adaptability found in these captivity
narratives. It is the captivity narratives that give the colonies a history of their own and sets
colonists apart from the British populace. Captivity narratives became a source of strength for
patriots claiming a distinctly different culture, adopting different colonial issues, and requesting
different treatment and laws than those that were enforced. Ultimately, these narratives promoted
a readymade framework for patriots who wished to assert a culture and history of their own
nation, highlighting elements of tenacity, endurance, and adaptability.190
As scholarship establishes that “Puritan captivity narratives were well-suited to support
the revolutionaries’ cause,”191 so was the gun depicted in John Boyle’s woodcarving of Mary
Rowlandson (see Figure 3.5.). In the same manner that some historians perceive captivity
narratives as giving birth to a national identity and revolutionary exclamation, Boyle’s image of
Mary Rowlandson is a harbinger of revolutionary sentiment and also a forerunner of a type of
nationalistic hero. In adding weight to these scholars’ argument, Boyle transforms a passive yet
pious minister’s wife into a gun-toting hero. On one level the narrative in connection with the
190 Greg Siemenski, “The Puritan Captivity Narrative and the Politics of the American
Revolution.” American Quarterly, no.1, 1990 52.
191 “The Puritan Captivity Narrative and the Politics of the American Revolution” 44.
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woodcarving delivers a significant gender shift compelled by an active female protagonist. Such
gender-bending presents a feminine figure as advocating for men enlisting in the patriot cause
and also infers a right to own and bear arms against tyranny. In particular, the colonists’ general
understanding of feminine characteristics—their so-called fragility, domesticity, and requested
silence in political issues—dominate social consciousness. Yet Rowlandson’s narrative and
image imply bravery and advocates for the defense of individual rights, protection of the home,
vehement social and political freedoms and change, and adaptability. Boyle submits Rowlandson
as a figurehead for the American Revolution to patriots, relying upon myth and heroine
archetypes—such as Ancient Greece’s Athena or France’s Marianne. He reimagines her
narrative within the new context of the Revolution, expressing and publicizing a bravura that is
typically American—as this woman wields a gun in defense of her home and family.
Rowlandson’s gender plays an important role, as her narrative promotes republican virtue.
Historian Ruth Bloch offers Rowlandson’s piety, individuality, independence, industrious
domestic talents, and the fact that Rowlandson did not prove to be weaker than a man, as
explanations as to why the American Revolutionary period turned to her as a remarkable female
icon.192 Boyle’s portrayal of Rowlandson makes particular use of her femininity, giving
prominence to the eve of the American Revolution.
The image of Rowlandson reimagined within this polemic context places a strong
emphasis upon her challenging of traditional norms and aristocratic rule by calling upon her
colony to break laws of gun trade and free her. Her figure requests the service of male colonials
192 Ruth H. Bloch, “The Gendered Meanings of Virtue in Revolutionary America,” Gender and
Morality in Anglo-American Culture, 1650–1800. (University of California Press, Berkeley; Los Angeles;
London 2003) 141.
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for the revolutionary cause. After all, if a mere female can stand against tyranny and bravely defy
repression, so can they. To the 1770 reader, significant parallels can be effortlessly drawn from
Rowlandson and Lancaster’s atrocities which inform the revolutionary sentiment. The Boston
massacre is also the Lancaster massacre, Rowlandson’s captivity is also the patriots’ captivity,
and her freedom is American freedom. Boyle’s woodcut does not, however, portray the massacre
as it was: houses are not burning and there is no death. In turning to the woodcut, Siemenski
asserts,
The Boyle woodcut of a militantly defiant Rowlandson contradicts this portrayal [of the
massacre], of course, but herein lies the virtue of the captivity as a metaphor for
revolution; the story of affliction becomes a rallying cry for defiance. If the Boyle cut
subverts a key lesson in Rowlandson’s narrative, it does so only in the service of a higher
law—the inalienable right of liberty.193
Rowlandson’s image becomes a herald for those who wish to join in her protection and defense,
defying tyranny and proclaiming the right of liberty. Such an image disgraces those that do not
take up a gun, as she has, to defend their home. The text together with Boyle’s representation
chastises these colonials who neglect to participate in their militia. The depiction of Rowlandson
in the revolutionary context also exploits the timidity found among the colonials when facing the
daunting task of defying the crown, reaffirming boldness in the acquisition of freedom and
liberty.194 The resolution of this conflict, according to Boyle’s image of Rowlandson, is
193 Greg Siemenski, “The Puritan Captivity Narrative and the Politics of the American
Revolution.” American Quarterly, no.1, 1990 52.
194 The following scholarship addresses reasons as to why many Americans would turn to the
Mary Rowlandson as an exemplary figure for the American Revolution, highlighting characteristics such
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accomplished by placing confidence in the gun—again reaffirming the fear and resolve Captain
John Smith established in his accounts.
Additionally, Rowlandson’s account—similar to that of Cabeza de Vaca’s—required her
to rely upon Natives for survival. Yet, different from de Vaca, her ability to knit distinguishes
her and establishes her within economic relations among the Native community. This economic
status transforms her and grants her a position within the Wampanoag community. This entrance
generates a budding cross-cultural identity in which colonizers coopt Native culture (often
through violence) to propose an American culture separate and independent from British
culture.195 The cross-cultural identity allows patriot colonists to magnify elements of Native
culture (filtered through the colonists’ perspective)—such as characteristics of prowess,
adaptability, and solidarity, gained from combat. These characteristics, many colonists perceive
as inherent in Native culture are also found in Rowlandson’s image and narrative through her
associations with her captive tribe. Rowlandson, just as many American colonials have subdued
the wilderness and the Native enemies. If this is so, the American revolutionaries can, no doubt,
subdue the British tyranny and establish independence. Rowlandson’s narrative reflects
fundamental socio-economic relations with the Natives: yet at the same time that it adopts or
as her defiance, anti-authoritarian perspectives, and virtue. Also her fact that many people knew of her
story facilitated Revolutionary America in raising her narrative as an icon—culturally uniting the
colonies. Teresa Toulouse, The Captive's Position: Female Narrative, Male Identity, and Royal Authority
in Colonial New England. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.), Greg Siemenski, “The
Puritan Captivity Narrative and the Politics of the American Revolution.” American Quarterly, no.1,
1990. and Ruth H. Bloch, “The Gendered Meanings of Virtue in Revolutionary America,” Gender and
Morality in Anglo-American Culture, 1650–1800, (University of California Press, Berkeley; Los Angeles;
London, 2003) 141.
195 Richard Slotkin’s most quintessential argument in Regeneration Through Violence: The
Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600-1800. (Norman: Oklahoma University Press 2000).
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becomes accepted into Native culture, it condemns it. As Rowlandson stands with her musket
leveled at Natives, she demonstrates the will power and resolution she obtained at the end of her
trials and removes into the wilderness. The gun is made alive and is taken from the Natives and
placed within her hands. In a similar way, American culture—in its infancy—establishes Native
skill with the rifle, placing it in the colonial’s skillful hands, especially (as we will see in a later
chapter) when Andrew Jackson’s army deftly wields their Kentucky rifles against the Natives as
well as the British.
Ultimately, Rowlandson defies most of the contextually assumed vulnerabilities of her
sex and in turn challenges and opposes European femininity.196 Moreover, if colonial women are
capable of taming the wilderness, questioning authority, and withstanding tyranny, then
Rowlandson’s text and imagery implicitly engage colonial men in a call to arms. The gun
became a major cultural difference as Revolutionaries emphasized American experience with the
gun and touted skill, need, and familiarity in drills, pamphlets, and Rowlandson’s title pages. The
gun is so prevalent that an early American female, allegedly held Natives at gunpoint, something
that distinguished an American experience which is contrasted with English gun ignorance. The
reimagined Rowlandson account serves to establish an American identity rooted in the need for a
well-armed and well-trained militia. Her femininity both undercuts past male passivism—as the
196 David S. Field’s and Fredrika J. Teut’s “The Republican Court and the Historiography of
Women in Domain in the Public Sphere” explores ways in which American females at the time of the
revolution began to experience more freedom within the public sphere than females within Britain and
France. By using Jurgen Habermas’s theory of the public sphere they assert American women were able
to speak more toward public concerns and were granted more political freedoms that their European
counterparts who had to secretly strive to operate., David S. Shields and Fredrika J. Teut’s “The
Republican Court and the Historiography of Women in Domain in the Public Sphere.” Journal of the
Early Republic, vol. 35, no.2, Summer 2015 160.
122
Lancaster militia failed her—yet also serves to bolster male participation in the Revolution
(perhaps these future patriots and militia-men may redeem her). As Rowlandson was once
economically equated with gun-powder, she is later associated with firearms in a more active
sense. Rather than being passively bought and sold for powder, her activity and resilience among
the Natives are traded for political salt-peter as she is adopted for the American Revolutionary
cause. The popularity of Rowlandson’s story culturally unites the colonies and depicts an early
nation with a budding gun culture. Rowlandson’s narrative rests upon the ability to defend one’s
home, protect one’s rights, and resist tyranny. Her presence in the wilderness brings it to order,
her domestication of the wilderness denotes a will to survive and future developments of the
frontier.197 The imagery and symbolism of firearms become even more deeply rooted in
American culture as Lewis and Clark explore the western frontier and attempt to make peace
with the Natives.
197 Kaythryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola argues in her article “The Indian Captivity Narratives of
Mary Rowlandson and Olive Oatman: Case Studies in the Continuity, Evolution, and Exploitation of
Literacy Discourse” Studies in the Literary Imagination. Georgia State University: vol. xxvii no. 1. 1994
33-46. The racial ways in which Rowlandson—and mainly the ministerial involvement in preparing her
text—depicted the Natives with such retribution that the past images of violence encouraged the concept
of Native genocide and embolden later American political agendas in the promotion of Manifest Destiny.
Political attitudes exploited the captivity and sensationalized the violence within these narratives which
contributed to the stigma that Natives could not co-exist with the colonies and therefore must be either
exterminated or pushed out of their territory.
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CHAPTER 4
“PRESENT ARMS:” LEWIS AND CLARK AND THE OPENING OF THE FRONTIER
As captivity narratives, such as Mary Rowlandson’s Captivity and Restoration (1682)
and Cotton Mather’s The Captivity of Hannah Dustin (1696-1697) continued to circulate and
inform the literary public sphere, so did interest in westward expansion and exploration. With the
result of the “Royal Proclamation of 1763” that defined all colonization to the east of the
Appalachian Mountains as null and void after the colonies’ successful revolution, the notion of a
new American frontier was pushed to the political forefront.198 With the completion of President
Jefferson’s Purchase (1803), the interest in this new territory became a governmental priority.
Though many narratives of fur trappers and traders filtered into public discourse, there had never
been an exploration or a narrative specifically sanctioned by the newly formed American
government regarding the state of the western territory. In 1804 Thomas Jefferson enlisted
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to travel, observe, and report on the newly acquired land
and officially to explore what was deemed by many as the “unexplored.”199 Though
Merriweather Lewis delayed publishing his findings, many—including Thomas Jefferson—
praised the outcomes of the expedition, touting the company’s success in establishing peace and
trade with the Natives, in discovering the most accessible route to the Pacific, and in
198 As the American Revolution is within the scope of this study, I acknowledge the chosen
primary texts do not explicitly address ways in which the American Revolutionary war directly influences
gun culture; rather, this study as addressed in the previous chapter reveals the more implicit manner in
which gun culture enters into significant literary works.
199 Though Thomas Jefferson’s first choice to head the expedition was French botanist, André
Michaux, the plans failed and Jefferson relied more upon the federal government and called American
citizenry to lead, making the journey a more nationalistic endeavor.
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documenting the scientific discoveries of flora and fauna of the territory. What is also apparent in
Lewis and Clark’s narratives is that the gun is portrayed in a manner that parallels and reaffirms
its practical and symbolic functions as found in previous narratives and more importantly proves
to be a dynamic contributor to the Expeditions’ official and unofficial objectives. Narratives
produced from this expedition offer insight into the primary values and myths associated with the
frontier and, more importantly, reveal ways in which guns act within this new frontier as
sanctioned by the federal government. In a sense, the Lewis and Clark expedition models the
first governmentally approved firearm narrative, offering its citizenry examples of conduct
around firearms, attitudes toward hunting, as well as cultural bearing regarding the style and
archetype of the gun carrying frontiersman.
These accounts, similar to Smith’s and Rowlandson’s narratives, were extremely popular.
Many citizens followed the political and economic interest in the westward expansion. Just as
other nations such as Spain, Great Britain, and France gained and colonized territory, for the
United States the concept of building an empire began to take shape after the Louisiana
Purchase. By such a means, the United States validated itself within the international arena. Yet,
the Louisiana Purchase also brought promise, dreams, and hopes to the American public. The
push westward unleashed promises of expanded business, trade, Christianity, and overall
opportunity. For the most part, the territory in the nineteenth century meant power. The “measure
of personal status, economic opportunity, and stability” all were derived from land ownership. 200
It is in this vein that many read the Corps of Discovery’s narratives of what they unpretentiously
200 Such a tour “began in a swirl of dreams, schemes, illusions, and expectations.” James P.
Rhonda “‘So Vast an Enterprise:’ Thoughts on the Lewis and Clark Expedition,” Voyages of Discovery:
Essays on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. (Helena: Montana Historical Society Press 1998) 3.
125
entitled their “western tour.” Just as many readers looked to the narratives of Captain John Smith
for opportunistic endeavors in settling the new territory, many readers also sought after the
Expeditions’ texts with similar optimism and economic interests. In order to take advantage of
this interest, one unknown author published The Travels of Lewis and Clark, in 1809, under the
pseudonym Hubbard Lester. The text was embellished from newspaper articles, and, was in all
actuality, a fictionalized account. In attempts to pass this text off as official—taking advantage of
the public’s fascination with the Expedition—the publication sold for one dollar and sixty-two
cents—upstaging the official historical account by five years.201 It was Nicholas Biddle that
started and Paul Allen Esquire that finished and compiled the History of the Expedition Under
the Command of Captains to the Sources of the Missouri, Thence Across the Rocky Mountains
and Down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean Performed During the Years 1804—5—6 By
the Order of the Government of the United States (1814). These “historians” did not stint in
highlighting the heroic endeavors of the Corps. The text sold for six dollars (approximately
seventy dollars in our current market).
Additionally, the texts involving the Lewis and Clark Expedition had no other precedent
within the American nineteenth-century reading public as this was the first governmentally
sanctioned exploration. As a standard to understanding the level of economic interests that many
citizens held toward the newly purchased territory, many of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
explain that areas that had not been populated on their exit began to thrive as towns on their
return, just a few years later. Not only was economic interest a major factor, but also the public
201 Doug Erickson, “First Accounts of the Expedition” Discovering Lewis and Clark, July 2008,
http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/3028#footnote5_beiuktz. Accessed 29 March 2019.
126
continued to crave captivating and thrilling tales of excursions in the wilderness among the
Natives. While such interests began with Mary Rowlandson’s and other captivity narratives, they
escalated with further westward exploration.
But as previously noted, the Lewis and Clark Expedition narratives, differing from other
accounts, stress the authorization of and support from the American government. It is with this
respect that these accounts serve in some official capacity to provide the nation's citizenry with a
sense of the Nation’s identity in relationship to the American frontier and guns’ participation
within this new environment. Cultural conflicts found within the narratives of Cabeza De Vaca,
Captain John Smith, and Mary Rowlandson are reiterated and readdressed in the official
accounts of the Lewis and Clark voyage. Yet different from these other accounts, the Expedition
wrote about the events shortly after, and even during, their occurrence. Such journal entries offer
more immediate descriptions, impressions, and explanation of circumstances. By journaling—
rather than providing accounts from memory (many years after the events took place)—the
authors are able to express directly the unknowns, conflicts, and possible failures of the
excursion. The reader experiences the journey along with the author. Not only is this account an
official government expedition, but it is also written as the narrative unfolds. Other texts
examined were written from recollection, at times, many years after the stated events occurred.
Differing from such accounts, the published diaries and correspondences of the Lewis and Clark
expedition offer readers a place among their crew. Such a standpoint asks the readers to adopt
perspectives of the gun as the journey develops, allowing their readers a more organic and less
contrived set of perceptions/ influence of their gun perceptions.
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Also, in the Lewis and Clark accounts scientific discovery (geography and natural
history) is intertwined with firearm images offering a more solid definition of the gun’s place in
westward expansion and the overall National Identity. In following the exploration
chronologically, significant trends and transformations of the gun create a comprehensive
observation that ultimately describes ways in which an American Identity began to take shape as
the concept of Manifest Destiny pervaded the public sphere. Lewis and Clark’s Expedition
couples America as a gun nation with Manifest Destiny. More specifically, the nation’s Corps of
Discovery’s accounts of the expedition reveals the American gun as a harvester of meat, a
“peacemaker,” and a significant diplomatic symbol. The gun is also portrayed as a frontrunner in
establishing Native relationships of economy, taming the wilderness, and establishing a frontier
hero and culture. Yet to complicate matters, gun portrayals also offers narratives that lack resolve
and end in ambiguity, as gun accidents and gun misuse occur.
The Allure of the Frontier
The event of the first governmental expedition into the west inspired and captivated many
Americans’ interest. One historian argues, “American fascination with Lewis and Clark had
begun almost as soon as the explorers departed.”202 For instance, Thomas Jefferson
acknowledges in correspondence to Paul Allen, editor of The History of the Expedition Under
the Command of Lewis and Clark (1814), “Never did a similar event excite more joy thro’ the
United States […] The humblest of it’s [sic] citizens had taken a lively interest in the issue of this
202 Daniel J. Herman, Hunting and the American Imagination. (Washington D.C: Smithsonian
Institution Press 2001) 84.
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journey and looked forward with impatience for the information it would furnish.”203 What is
even more significant is the basis in which the writings were received. In a somewhat differing
perspective from that of Captain John Smith’s sometime exaggerated account where readers may
have needed to take the narrative with the proverbial grain of salt,204 the journals from the Lewis
and Clark expedition were regarded as factual. Gary Moulton asserts, “What sets this romantic
and stirring event apart from other western epics is the true and undisputed evidence upon which
it is based.”205 Even though these men wrote with bias and even romantic flair (as we will
address later within this chapter), the narratives were understood as objective, accurate
information. Consequently, couched within the scientific data of flora and fauna, weather
patterns, cartography, the idealistic and even mythic elements ascend into the foreground and
reflect budding perspectives of frontier culture, a culture which is decidedly influenced with the
mythic power of the gun. Here the gun is employed in a crucial time when “the nation itself was
turning increasingly to its sense of identity with the western lands to justify its authority.”206 As
accounts of the expedition provided answers to Americas’ self-conscious quest for national
identity, the Corps of Discovery’s narratives defined such national identity—particularly upon
203 qtd. in Daniel J. Herman, Hunting and the American Imagination. (Washington D.C:
Smithsonian Institution Press 2001) 84-85.
204 Posthumously these narratives were parodied in theatre due, often making fun of Captain John
Smith’s overblown heroic dramatic deeds and accomplishments. See Philip L. Barbour, “Captain John
Smith and the London Theatre.” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 83, 1975 277-279.
205 Gary E. Moulton, “On Reading Lewis and Clark: The Last Twenty Years” Voyages of
Discovery: Essays on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. (Helena: Montana Historical Society Press 1998)
48.
206 Bruce R. Greenfield, Narrating Discovery: The Romantic Explorer in American Literature,
1790-1855. (New York: Columbia University Press 1992) 88.
129
the frontier— as being replete with trappings of patriotism, underscored by a governmental
authority, but also ideals of individualism. They include romantic hunting expeditions, as well as
an epic bear attack. They demonstrate principles of standing ones’ ground and protecting one's’
property, but also heroically escaping antagonistic Natives. In all of these events, the gun was not
merely present but played a crucial role.
The Expedition Begins
Almost from the beginning of their journey the gun is used to secure an air of legitimacy
for the Expedition, especially among the Natives.207 In May 1804, the Corps of Discovery depart
Camp Dubois and encounter the Lakota, or the Sioux, a nation that Lewis deemed as “warlike”
and “violent miscreants of the savage race.”208 As described in Captain John Smith’s violent first
encounter, the Expedition faces a similar altercation which serves as a warning to the Corps to
always be on guard. Though the Expedition’s flintlock guns were considerably more advanced
than the match-lit firearms used by Captain Smith and his men, the flash pans the Expedition
used still had to be primed with dry powder. Consequently, the leaders’ admonitions to be
constantly on guard in hostile territory paint their narrative with a sense of urgency and danger.
As seen in Clark’s warning:
207 It is significant to note that although today the term Native often an overgeneralized term,
grouping many different Native cultures into one simple assemblage of people differing from the Euro-
American culture. Yet for this study, the narratives and especially the readers followed suit often placing
the Natives into dichotomous categories—the “noble” and the “malevolent savage.”
208 qtd. in James P. Ronda, Lewis and Clark among the Indians. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska
Press 1984) 27.
130
In a notherley [sic] direction […] in this quarter is Suppose to be the residence of Deavels
[Devils] that [sic] they are in human form with remarkable large heads, and about 18
Inches high, that they are very watchfull [sic] and are arm’d [sic] with Sharp arrows with
which they Can Kill at a great distance; they are Said to kill all persons who are So hardy
as to attempt to approach the hill.209
Though the Expedition was under order to establish peace with the natives, they knew that
conflict could quickly arise in hostile territory. A primed gun was the means of safety and
answered to the fears and anxieties of the Corps. Many of the Corps (including Lewis and Clark)
came from militaristic backgrounds where such a response was second nature. As the Corps
enters hostile territory—such as with the Sioux at the beginning of their journey—they prepare
clothes and the peace medal as gifts, hoping to soften any antagonistic threats. Yet as Clark notes
in his entry on September 24th, 1804: “[we] prepared all things for Action in Case of
necessity.”210 They armed the pirogue (a large open boat propelled by oars and sail) with the
blunderbuss and other larger guns on a swivel just in case conflict arose. John Ordway (a former
sergeant of the United States Army, and often organized guard duty in the Corps of Discovery),
gives the account of this first altercation of their journey with the Sioux and chief Black Buffalo.
The Corps began with their customary giving of gifts, gun demonstrations,211 and reading of the
certificate of peace, and presentation of the peace medal and began to prepare to continue their
209 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Bernard Voto. The Journals of Lewis and Clark.
(Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 1953) 22.
210 The Journals of Lewis and Clark 31.
211 explored later in this chapter
131
journey. Some Sioux men boarded the pirogue and chief Black Buffalo held on to the cable to
keep the Corps from leaving. Ordway asserts, “They then began to act Intoxicated.”212 Within
this power struggle, as Ordway continues to exclaim, Captain Clark and Captain Lewis both call
the men to arms. Ordway asserts, “the Large Swivel [was] loaded immediately with 16 Musquet
[sic] Balls in it the 2 other Swivels loaded well with Buck Shot [and] each manned.”213 The
Corps stood their ground. Ordway continues:
Clark used moderation with them [and] told them that we must and would go on and
would go. that [sic] we were not Squaws. but [sic] warriers [sic]. the chief Sayed he had
warriers [sic] too and if we were to go on they would follow us and kill and take the
whole of us by degrees to that he had another party or lodge above this [and] that they
were able to destroy us. then Capt. Clark told them that we were Sent by their great father
the president of the U.S. and that if they misused us that he of Capt. Lewis could by
writing to him have them all distroyed [sic] as it were in a moment.214
Within this encounter the expedition is able to use the firepower that they have already
demonstrated to a certain extent to the Sioux to intimidate them into submission. Captain Clark
then affirms the power of the “great father,” the president of the United States. This is all done as
he holds the aggressive Natives at gunpoint. This struggle for power and demonstration
emphasized with guns leveled at the Sioux illustrates what most scholars agree was one of the
212 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Bernard Voto. The Journals of Lewis and Clark.
(Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 1953) 37.
213 The Journals of Lewis and Clark 37.
214 The Journals of Lewis and Clark 37.
132
main objectives of the Expedition—to impress upon the Sioux and the hundreds of other Native
Nations that they would encounter the power, authority, wealth, and overall dominion of the
“great white father” (the president of the United States) and the new nation. By means of this
power they could create a safer environment between the Natives’ nations and Americans in
order to conduct trade.215
In the winter of 1804-1805 the Corps of Discovery establishes Fort Mandan in the
Mandan Nation’s Territory. Here, the Corps uses the gun to establish a peaceful coexistence that
many scholars would later argue as most crucial for the party’s success.216 Though the Corps was
comprised of many seasoned soldiers, the crew lacked complete or updated knowledge of the
surrounding territory and many of the necessary survival skills and necessary to live in the bitter
conditions. Yet partly out of curiosity, partly due to the promise of future trade, partly to engage
the Natives to form an alliance with the “great white father” and partly to gain sufficient
firepower to protect themselves from the Sioux, the Mandan admirably portray their own cultural
values and took the Corps under their protective wing. In this incident the Expedition parallels
the opening scenes of Captain John Smith’s narrative. Just as Powhatan wishes to establish
diplomatic relations in order to obtain guns from Captain John Smith in order to keep his
enemies at bay, the Mandan nation also hopes such relations would allow for future gun trade to
help them stave off the “warlike” Sioux. Each winter the Mandan were forced into hiding into a
cold canyon to stay away from the Sioux, as the Sioux claimed their hunting ground during
215 The Journals of Lewis and Clark 25.
216 James P. Ronda, Lewis and Clark among the Indians. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
1984), and Thomas P. Slaughter, Exploring Lewis and Clark: Reflections on Men and Wilderness.
(New York: Knopf Distributed by Random House 2003).
133
winter months. So the expedition was forced to share this difficult camp with scant resources
with their hosts. Though the Mandan relationship with Lewis and Clark’s band can be attributed
to a plethora of motives, it must be noted that the Mandan opened their villages to the strangers,
exhibiting compassion not unlike that found when Cabeza de Vaca’s comrades were
shipwrecked near Galveston Island.
Before the Corps had begun their journey into the so-called “unexplored,” they heavily
relied upon information gathered by native nations. Their knowledge of territories, hunting lands,
geographical characteristics—all came from natives during the brutal, yet, significant winter they
spent with the Mandan. One major element that leads to the Corps of Discovery’s success, which
many scholars agree upon, is the winter that the Corps spend with the Mandan nation. In Lewis
and Clark among the Indians, James Rhonda writes,
Although visiting and trading were important parts of life shared by Indians and explorers
during the long winter months, few activities bound the men of the fort to the villagers as
did hunting. Both cultures valued the hunter for his skill in a dangerous pursuit.
Throughout the winter there were many joint hunting parties. Those trips, often in bitter
cold and through deep snow, served to increase the sense of sharing a common life on the
plains.217
In other words, where it is true that trade, council, and oratorical promises of peace established a
premise for the two nations to maintain a peaceful future, it was the active pursuit of hunting that
provided a basis of friendship among the villagers (natives) and the men from the fort (the
217 James P. Ronda, Lewis and Clark among the Indians. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press
1984) 105.
134
Corps). Furthermore, as these cultures shared in this activity, the Corps was able to learn from
the thousands of years of experience that the Natives had attained, and while it is true “Both
cultures valued the hunter for his skill in a dangerous pursuit,”218 these different cultures valued
each other’s hunting styles for different reasons. Where the Natives were depicted as valuing the
Corps’ firearms, the Corps offers many accounts valuing, and witnessing with awe, the Native’s
hunting skills. For instance, during the hunt, the Corps killed ten buffalo, yet were not able to get
to half of them as they were shot over the broken icy ground. The Corps watched with veneration
as, “the mounted Indian hunters guided the buffalo heard away from broken ground and on to a
level plain where each man cut out an animal [breaking it away from the herd] for the kill.”219
This style of breaking buffalo away from the herd allows for a clean shot and a more efficient
way to harvest the animals. The Corps watches in admiration. Yet such admiration, as Lewis
narrates, was mutual due to the Corps skillful use of firearms. On January 24, 1806, Lewis
writes,
Drewyer and Baptiest La Paage returned this morning in a large Canoe with Comowooll
and six Clatsops. They brought two deer and the flesh of three Elk & one Elk's skin,
having given the flesh of one other Elk which they killed and three Elk's skins to the
Indians as the price of their assistance in transporting the ballance [sic] of the meat to the
Fort; […] the Indians remained with us all day. The Indians witnessed Drewyer's
shooting some of those Elk, which has given them a very exalted opinion of us as
218 James P. Ronda, Lewis and Clark among the Indians 105.
219 James P. Ronda, Lewis and Clark among the Indians 105.
135
marksmen and the superior excellence of our rifles compared with their guns; this may
probably be of service to us, as it will deter them from any acts of hostility if they have
ever meditated any such.220
The camaraderie shared in a hunt builds diplomatic relations as the Native remains with them all
day. Also, a successful hunt builds the morale and unity among the hunting party as they share in
taking life in order to give or sustain life. The canoes were so full of harvested meat that the
waves of the river almost overtook them. No doubt, as addressed by Ronda, the men sharing in
experiences of hunting successes, failures, and fighting the cold, built a strong diplomatic
relationship. The admiration and adoption of hunting skills also placed the men into a space
similar to that narrated by Mary Rowlandson, in which they cast aside Eurocentric perspectives
and traditions and adopted Native customs, clothing, and hunting tactics, that would (like for
Mary Rowlandson) best suit them for survival in the frontier. Perhaps the factors most crucial to
the expedition’s survival that took place that winter among the Mandan would be in securing the
promise of future trade and alliances, in promoting joint hunting expeditions with the natives that
both impressed and taught the Corps much-needed hunting skills. Furthermore, it was in this
extended stay that the Corps of Discovery secured the scouting services of the Shoshone-
slave/wife of the French trapper Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau—Sacagawea.
There is, however, another important benefit of the joint hunting parties which Lewis
explicitly refers to in the previous quotation. The hunt ensured security. Lewis claims that being
220 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Bernard Voto. The Journals of Lewis and Clark.
(Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 1953) 315.
136
an excellent shot “will deter them from any acts of hostility.”221 Just as Captain John Smith kills
birds (some, possibly, not even edible) to impress the Natives with their skill, so does the Corps
maintain the same regard for their firearms—either implicitly or explicitly taking a page from
early colonists’ rhetoric regarding their weapons. Brian Given, in his study The Most Pernicious
Thing (1994), clarifies the use of this rhetoric in the United States, pronouncing that colonists
and explorers were constantly surrounded by dominant tribes that, “could, if united, have easily
destroyed them.”222 Thus—as argued in a close reading of Captain John Smith’s and the Corps
of Discovery’s narratives—the colonists and explorers, “needed to develop an image of
militaristic superiority to act as a symbol of security.”223 Yet, as Natives begin to possess these
firearms,224 Euro-Americans lose this once upheld distinction and self-proclaimed advantage.
The Lewis and Clark expedition is a crucial case-study as technological advances make firearms
more accurate and reliable, at the same time as Natives begin to possess them. Narratives from
the Corps, then, mark an insightful transition period regarding gun-demonstrations and gun trade.
Gun Trade
The Expedition’s promise of gun trade established a means of developing diplomatic
relationships among Natives. Unlike the time of Captain John Smith’s colony where the gun was
221 The Journals of Lewis and Clark 315.
222 Brian J. Given, A Most Pernicious Thing: Gun Trading and Native Warfare in the Early
Contact Period. (Ottawa, Canada: Carleton University Press 1994) 116.
223 A Most Pernicious Thing 116.
224 As Lewis and Clark’s Expedition reach the Pacific coast they find that many Native Nations
already have a significant gun collection.
137
a newly emerging weapon, early 1800s firearms were not only familiar but, in some instances,
already in use among the Natives. When arriving at the Pacific coast, Lewis notes that trade is
already established, “on the coast of America south West of this place of which little is but yet
known to the world […] traffic of part of the whites consists of vending, guns, (principally old
British or American muskets) powder, balls, and Shot, […]”225 The list continues—kettles, hats,
coats, tobacco, knives, beads, and other accouterments. However, the items regarding the gun are
marked as more important (at least in Lewis’s perspective) as they are listed first.226 In such a
way the accounts, whether accurate to Native culture or interests or not, provide the Euro-
American readership with the image of the Native as heavily involved and intrigued by the
technology of firearms (as addressed later).227 Overall, the promise of trade—particularly of
guns—encourages the help of Native nations. Furthermore, it is the promise of gun trade that
emphasizes the presence of firearms in the American frontier, making it into a gun nation. It is
not this study’s aim to assert that the Corps perspectives (particularly regarding Natives) are
correct or incorrect; yet as earlier stated, the accounts of the Corps of Discovery were extremely
influential in forming public sentiment since they were taken by their readers to be “true and
225 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Gary E. Moulton. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An
American Epic of Discovery. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2003) 316.
226 The Natives attained their firearms through French, Spanish, British, Dutch or American trade.
227 Historians debate both the gun availability to Native Nations throughout the Midwest and west
of the United States. Brian Givens’ Most Pernicious Thing (1994) counters what is deemed a historical
bias that Natives became dependent upon gun trade with whites. Though this chapter functions outside of
Given’s scope, I assert that such accounts of Native gun trade dependence derives from European and
Euro-American anxieties and fears toward Native nations. As the Lewis and Clark expedition states that
Natives effectively hunt with the bow, the narratives do place Native interests in the gun—particularly the
rifle—as a driving factor for peaceful relationships.
138
undisputed evidence.”228 Attention to the creation of myth within the narratives of Lewis and
Clark expedition may offer valuable insight into the ways Euro-American’s perceived and
represented Native affinity, intrigue, wonderment, and desire for guns and gun trade.229
Aside from the promise of trade, Lewis also addresses what he deems to be the Natives’
primary interests in Euro-American culture in regard to their attention to the English language.
Speaking of the Chinook, Lewis explains, “the Indians inform us that we speak the same
language with ourselves and give us proofs of their veracity by repeating many words of English,
as musquit [musket], powder, shot, nife [knife], file, damned rascal, son of a bitch &c.”230 Here,
Lewis claims whether these influences are from, “the U’ of States or Great Brittain [sic], I am at
a loss to determine.”231 It is significant to note some of the first English words the Natives learn
from their contact with Europeans and Americans deal with firearms. As these narratives address
the opening up of the west, in terms of trade, diplomacy, cultural connections, and exploration,
the gun here proves to be a dominant instrument central not only in its practical elements of
hunting and protection, but also as cultural currency, marking the influence European and
American culture as it extends further and further into Native territories.
228 Gary E. Moulton, “On Reading Lewis and Clark: The Last Twenty Years” Voyages of
Discovery: Essays on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. (Helena: Montana Historical Society Press 1998)
48.
229 Another study devoted to gun trade arrangements and rhetoric particularly from the 1700s to
the 1800s could fill this gap in literary scholarship.
230 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Gary E. Moulton. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An
American Epic of Discovery. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2003) 316.
231 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 316.
139
This symbolic role of the gun, discovered in accounts of Captain John Smith and Mary
Rowlandson appears to be a significant element in the colonists’ experience. Yet, as previously
pointed out, working firearms were hard to come by and difficult to maintain. In both instances,
however, their immediate concern was to keep guns out of the hands of the Natives. The
colonists rightfully feared Native threats and plunder, which they felt would most likely be
directed at them rather than at other Native tribes. Within the 1600s and early 1700s, the demand
to keep these firearms (although practically inferior to the Natives’ skill with the bow) served as
a symbol of cultural superiority.232 Such rhetoric serves ultimately to emphasize European and
Euro-American hegemony over the Natives—which in turn supports the notion of their moral
superiority as well. In these scenarios, the gun provides the newcomers an answer to the many
moral questions of dealing with colonization as well.
The accounts of Lewis and Clark are much in line with previous narratives in regards to
gun trade.233 The gun’s importance is perhaps even more heightened because of the
technological advances the gun made from Cabeza de Vaca’s time to the time of Lewis and
Clark. As the flintlock mechanism replaced the more rudimentary matchlocks, the shooter no
longer needed to keep his match lit, a problem particularly when the air was humid or while
running through the brush. Also, flintlocks can be easily maintained if one makes sure the
powder is dry in the flash pan. If not, one must simply dump the soiled powder and add new dry
232 The gun also serves as a symbol and marks a psychological differentiation which the colonists
craved, offering a sense of safety, protection, and militaristic superiority.
233 However, technological advance began to slowly narrow the gap of between the efficiency of
the bow and arrow and the flintlock muskets or rifles.
140
powder to keep the gun ready to fire. In such a manner, flintlocks used by the Corps become
more efficient to use within the frontier environment.
Additionally, a member of the Corps, John Shields, was a trained gunsmith and
mechanically inclined. Lewis asserts that if it was not for the “ingenuity of John Shield, most of
our guns would at this moment be unfit for use; but […] they are all in good order.”234 Shield
was able to trade his skill to the Natives many times for much-needed provisions. In this manner,
having extra equipment, spare parts, and qualified gunsmith, the Corps was able to be more self-
sufficient in gun maintenance and promote gun use and reliance upon guns more than in the early
colonial period. In short, due to technological advances and more access to gun parts, the crew
establishes a more sufficient and reliable image of the gun, one that the colonial period (John
Smith’s narratives in particular) would often feign or mythologize over in their parley with
Natives and in their propaganda to future colonizers.
With more proficient arms, the Corps maintained similar colonial attitudes of militaristic
superiority and cultural supremacy. This assumed elevated status in their connections with the
Natives is noted in the Corps experience. Many of the Natives, Lewis asserts, considered their
weaponry “great medicine,”235 a term that Lewis assumed meant that the Native’s interpreted
something as enigmatic and incomprehensible. For instance, after Lewis demonstrated his air-
gun, he notes, “I also shot my air-gun which was so perfectly incomprehensible that they
234 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Gary E. Moulton. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An
American Epic of Discovery. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2003) 344.
235 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Gary E. Moulton. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An
American Epic of Discovery. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2003) 222.
141
immediately denominated it the great medicine. the [sic] idea which the indians [sic] mean to
convey by this appellation is something that eminates [sic] from or acts by the influence or
power of the great spirit […] by its incomprehensible power of action.”236 In this manner Lewis
evokes a sense of superiority in the advanced status that Euro-Americans maintain, as they
comprehend and create a tool incomprehensible to the Natives. Bestowing such a mythic
significance upon this tool no doubt prompts the readers to make a similar connection as well.
Yet, in similar fashion Euro-Americans were just as amazed at the new technological
advances in firearms. Many times Americans project their own excitement within Native
accounts. After Lewis demonstrates his air-gun to Colonel Thomas Rodney, Colonel Rodney is
so impressed that he records the occurrence in his journal, declaring:
In perfect order she fires 22 times in a minute. All the balls are put at once into a short
side barrel and are then droped [sic] into the chamber of the gun one at a time by moving
a spring; and when the trigger is pulled just so much air escapes out of the air bag which
forms the britch [sic] of the gun as serves for one ball. It is a curious piece of
workmanship not easily described and therefore I omit attempting it. 237
The Colonel, no doubt accustomed to firearms, is so impressed with the air-gun that he attempts
to describe its mechanics but soon is at a loss for words. As someone who maintains command of
his county’s militia and being a veteran of the Revolutionary War, Colonel Rodney cannot even
comprehend or describe its “curious workmanship.”238 In order to maintain a distinct cultural
236 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 222.
237 qtd. in Dwight L. Smith and Ray Swick, A Journey Through the West: Thomas Rodney's 1803
Journal from Delaware to the Mississippi Territory (Athens: Ohio University Press 1997) 50.
142
superiority from the Natives, accounts from the Lewis and Clark Expedition may inflate their
observations of the Natives’ shock and awe. In doing so, firearms become a major source of
status-building in the frontier.
As Euro-American writers and readers also began to consider the gun a status symbol, so
did the Natives. Natives desired guns for hunting and protection but also as a means of owning a
tool of “great medicine” and harnessing its power. The Corps understood that gun trade would
bring help from the Natives, maintain peace, ensure future trade and therefore, along their
journey they reserve some firearms to be given as gifts—most were pistols—yet many Natives
perceived these handguns as ceremonious gestures toward peace and diplomacy. According to
the Expedition, Native gun owners—just as in terms of other items such as beads—often
considered the weapon as a talisman, token, and/or status symbol. For this reason, the Corps uses
the gun to ensure success. Lewis and Clark also offer detachment orders, stating the standard
procedures regarding guns, “the Indians have been dismissed, both gates shall be shut, ad [sic]
secured […] Any individual selling or disposing of any tool or iron or steel instrument, arms,
accouterments or ammunicion [sic], shall be deemed guilty of a breach of this order, and shall be
tryed [sic] and punished accordingly.”239 The priority of keeping the guns away from the
Natives, aided in the Corps’ security, and ensured future success. Psychologically, it allowed for
a significant distinction. In accordance with the Corps, Lewis and Clark found that the Spanish
also operated in the same vein,
238 qtd. in A Journey Through the West: Thomas Rodney's 1803 Journal from Delaware to the
Mississippi Territory 50.
239 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Gary E. Moulton. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An
American Epic of Discovery. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2003) 307.
143
I can discover that these people are by no means friendly to the Spaniards. Their
complaint is that the Spaniards will not let them have firearms and ammunition, that they
put them off by telling them that if they suffer them to have guns, they will kill each
other, thus leaving them defenseless and an easy prey to their bloodthirsty neighbors to
the east of them, who, being in possession of firearms, hunt them up and murder them
without respect to sex or age and plunder them of their horses on all occasions.240
The strong desire that Natives (in this case the Shoshone) have for gun trade is readily apparent.
It is, even more, telling that the Spaniards argue that the Natives are not capable of discerning
when to use the gun—in a sense reflecting themselves onto the Natives as a means of escaping
the moral judgment of their own violent actions. The Spaniards did not think the Natives capable
of understanding social contracts. The Spanish conclude that if guns were distributed to Natives,
they would be uncontrollably bloodthirsty and that they (the Native nations) would eradicate
each other. For the European and Euro-Americans the gun is evidence of their authority and
explains their dominance, allowing them to overlook questions of morality in negotiations with
the Natives. Nonetheless, it is in this promise of gun trade the Corps feel they are able to secure
Native nations’ compliance and respect, and from this promise they are able to notify all Natives
that they are now under the domain of the great white father.
240 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, The Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 1804-1806. ed. Ruben Gold Thwaites, (New York: Dodd Mead Company 1904) 383.
144
Gun Presentations
As Lewis and Clark make their way into various Native encampments the gun plays a
central role in the introductory ceremony. Similar to the themes uncovered in the study of
Captain John Smith’s narratives, the gun represents the assurance of peace, the promise of future
trade, and aid gained from the Natives. As gun trade became perceived by the Expedition as an
enticement to Native nations to enter peace treaties with the United States, gun demonstrations
became a customary ceremony in meeting different tribes. The Corps of Discovery’s narratives
rhetorically promote gun demonstrations as a display of authority and power of the American
government. Routinely, when officially meeting the Native tribe, the Corps would dress in their
military attire and parade into the Indian camp accompanied by fifes and drums. After gaining
onlookers in this manner and before the ceremonial council with the chief, the Corps would often
turn to firing demonstrations of two specific guns, both the Blunderbuss and the Giradoni Air
Rifle, to serve as an overture before peace talks occurred.
The Blunderbuss was a weapon effectively used at short range and it received its nom de
guerre for the extremely loud noise it makes when firing. It is distinctly shorter than a musket
and contains a bell-shaped muzzle, which made it easier to funnel shot (see Figure 4.1).241 One
other significant commonality between Captain John Smith’s narratives and the journals of The
Corps of Discovery is a similar motive for promoting their firearms as spectacle—trade. One of
its best-suited uses was not necessarily its accuracy—it was a short-range weapon. The noise it
made “blundered” or confused many of those who heard its spectacular report. Just as Captain
241 Michael Carrick, “Blunderbusses” Discovering Lewis and Clark. May 2005.
https://www.lewis-clark.org/article/2360. Accessed 25 March 2019.
145
John Smith orders his men to shoot their muskets by the river to amplify the noise in order to
bewilder and amaze the Natives, so too the Corps shoots their loudest gun in their arsenal.
Simply put, the blunderbuss offers an impressive blast that, according to the Corps, impresses
and confuses on-looking Natives.
Figure 4.1. Blunderbuss Guns on Swivel
The second firearm that the Corps relied upon for their demonstrations was at the time
relatively obscure—the Giradoni Air Rifle. Most likely built in Philadelphia by Isaiah Luken, a
clockmaker and gunsmith, the Giradoni Air Rifle contains a cylinder air chamber that doubled as
the stock. The shooter, with a hand pump, would pump air into the chamber, often taking fifteen
146
hundred strokes to fill the chamber. Lead balls (most likely at .31 caliber) were placed in the
magazine, and the gun could fire roughly twenty shots repeatedly within a minute,242 and be
fired up to forty times before the chamber needed to be reloaded with compressed air (see Figure
4.2).243 In The Journals of Lewis and Clark, the air rifle is mentioned around twenty times. Of
those twenty instances, sixteen were in direct correspondence to gun demonstrations intended to
impress the Natives.244 It was quiet, it could be quickly reloaded and shot, and moreover, did not
require powder to shoot—meaning no smoke or noise to give away a position. This fairly low
maintenance gun, which required no gunpowder, was as Lewis asserts considered, “great
medicine.”245 He exclaims, “My Air-gun also astonishes them very much; they cannot
comprehend it’s shooting so often and without powder; and think that it is great medicine which
comprehends everything that is to them incomprehensible.”246 Even Lewis, himself is astounded
at the accuracy and ease of firing: “I went on shore and being invited by some gentlemen present
to try my air gun which I had purchased brought it onshore, charged it, and fired it myself seven
242 qtd. in Joseph Mussulman, “Lewi’s Air Gun” Discovering Lewis and Clark. September 2003.
https://www.lewis-clark.org/article/1827#footnote5_d4ty2fs. Accessed 25 March 2019.
243 Frederick J. Chiaventone, “Lewis and Clark’s Girandoni Air Rifle” Warfare History Network,
7 December 2018, https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/military-history/lewis-and-clarks-girandoni-
air-rifle/. Accessed 25 March 2019.
244 qtd in. Joseph Mussulman, “Lewi’s Air Gun” Discovering Lewis and Clark. September 2003.
https://www.lewis-clark.org/article/1827#footnote5_d4ty2fs. Accessed 25 March 2019.
245 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, The Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 1804-1806. ed. Ruben Gold Thwaites, (New York: Dodd Meed Company 1904) 361.
246 Lewis, Meriwether, William Clark, ed. Bernard DeVoto. The Journals of Lewis and Clark.
(Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 1997) 315.
147
times 55 yards with pretty good success.”247 Note that the italics Lewis adds in both of these
statements focus an emphasis on the air gun and how unique a machine it is calling it great
medicine. No doubt, Lewis is excited to demonstrate this to the Natives, just as much as he is
excited to try it out for himself. Whereas the blunderbuss uses mainly the principle of shock and
awe, based upon a magnificent reverberating report (especially out on the plains), the air rifle’s
demonstration offers a more stealthy and surreptitious gunshot. Both demonstrations help
convince the Native population to honor the United States of America and agree to peaceful
relations and trade.
Figure 4.2. Giradoni Air Rifle
After gun demonstrations, the Corps—at times—arranges gifts of shot and powder, while
reserving gifts of pistols for the most prominent Nations they encountered. During the diplomatic
ceremony, oftentimes after they smoke and pass the peace pipe, the Corps would take part in
“distributing Some [sic] powder & lead” and upon leaving the crew, would salute the Nation,
“with a gun and Set out.”248 In such a way, the Corps would provide significant “bookends” with
247 qtd in. Joseph Mussulman, “Air Gun Accident” Discovering Lewis and Clark. March 2004.
https://www.lewis-clark.org/article/1825. Accessed 25 March 2019.
248 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Gary E. Moulton. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An
American Epic of Discovery. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2003) 442.
148
their encounters with the Natives—asserting difference, magnifying their guns and their own
status as gun owners as “great medicine,” often ending their visit with the promise of gun trade.
For example, Lewis recalls an encounter with Cameahwait, Shoshone chief and Sacagawea’s
brother. The Chief is suspicious of the Corp thinking them to be “in league with the Pahkees and
had some order to decoy them [the Shoshone] into an ambuscade.”249 In order to control the
situation Lewis, “told him [Cameahwait] if they [the Shoshone] continued to think thus meanly
of us that they might rely on it that no whitemen [sic] would ever come to trade with them or
bring them arms or ammunition and that if the bulk of his nation still entertained this opinion.”250
Such encounters are common throughout the Corps’ journey. Lewis and Clark continually use
the promise of gun trade to diffuse situations and to gain the upper hand. It is intriguing that
Lewis does not first consider using Sacagawea’s relationship with her brother as a means to
dispel the Shoshone’s suspicion but rather his prompt recourse resorts to emphatically placing
the promise of gun trade in jeopardy. This threat is understood to resolve the impasse.
The gun also becomes the means by which the Corps attempts to establish peace among
warring Natives. Lewis earlier notes the Mandan were extremely desirous to gain guns and notes
this provision would open up the tribe to hunting buffalo. For two-thirds of the year their tribe
had been living on fish, berries, and roots due to their trouble with the Sioux. The Mandan
quickly surmise that the gun would also enable them to wage war against enemy tribes. But
Lewis states that they, “must desist from making war,” just as their enemies have promised the
249 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, ed. Bernard DeVoto. The Journals of Lewis and Clark.
(Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 1997) 196.
250 The Journals of Lewis and Clark 196.
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Corps to “desist from making war on them.”251 Lewis concludes by making a promise to the
Mandan, claiming that, “after our finally returning to our homes towards the rising sun, white
men would come to them with an abundance of guns and every other article necessary to their
defense and comfort, and they would be enabled to supply themselves with these articles […] in
exchange for the skins of beaver Otter and Ermin.”252 To that the Mandan reaffirm that “they had
been long anxious to see whitemen that traded guns; and that we might rest assured of their
friendship and that they would do whatever we wished them.”253 Lewis gives more consideration
to the Natives—in regards to reasonable gun use—than do the Spanish, yet still he addresses
them with a considerable air of superiority, stopping just short of having the Mandan grovel.
The promise of gun trade reaffirms that though the Corps are significantly outnumbered, the two
Nations do not meet on equal grounds. The United States and the “great white father” naïvely
promise they will bring peace to all Native nations. Unfortunately, there are few Native primary
sources to help historians determine the Native attitudes toward firearms and gun trade.
Communication between the tribes and the Corps had to pass through different interpreters
which employed multiple languages—allowing for many messages to be misconstrued or even
lost in translation. Yet, what holds congruent throughout Lewis and Clark’s accounts is that the
Natives were enthralled with the gun, amazed at the Corps skill in shooting, wanted them for
251 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Gary E. Moulton. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An
American Epic of Discovery. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2003) 215.
252 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 215.
253 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 215.
150
their own protection and survival, and entered into peace treaties and honored “the great white
father” in order to obtain them.
The Hunt
In Captain John Smith’s narrative the gun serves only as one of many means to provide
food for the starving colony. In Lewis and Clark expedition, the gun becomes the primary means
of obtaining food through the hunt. The journal entries of Lewis wax poetic as he, at times,
describes the frontier as a land of plenty, full of wild beasts ripe for the picking. For instance, on
September 17, 1804, Meriwether Lewis tops a hill almost two hundred feet high. From that
vantage point he offers a cinematic composition of the countryside: “the country breaks of[f] as
usual into fine leavel [sic] plain extending as far as the eye can reach […] This scenery already
rich pleasing and beautiful” is filled, “by the immence herds of Buffaloe deer Elk and Antelopes
which we saw in every direction feeding on the hills and plains.”254 In this governmentally
funded excursion, readers are introduced to a plentiful country that dazzles one’s imagination.
It is easy to establish the Expedition’s reliance upon the gun for substance, which is
almost a daily prerogative. Lewis and Clark’s journals routinely record the number of species
they kill. Their diet consists mainly of meat, and they use many of the skins to make clothes as
well (a skill they developed from the Natives). On November 19th,1804, Clark recorded, “our
Perogue of hunters arrive with 32 Deer, 12 Elk & a Buffalow [sic], all of this meat we had hung
254 Gary E. Moulton, ed. The Journal of Lewis and Clark Expedition vol. 3 (Lincoln: University
of Nebraska 1987) 80-81.
151
up in a Smoke house, a timely supply…our men move into their huts.”255 Not only does this
entry underscore the amount of meat they need, and a “timely supply” it was as well, but it also
emphasizes the support provided by the Natives to prepare and store the foodstuffs they acquire
because of the tribe’s skill in hunting, tanning, and preserving.
Sustenance
Throughout, the narratives of the Lewis and Clark consistently substantiate how much the
Expedition relies upon hunting to sustain itself. On the third of February (1805), Clark notes,
our provisions of meat being nearly exorsted [sic] I concluded to Decend the River on the
Ice & hunt, I Set out with about 16 men 3 horses & 2 Slays Descended nearly 60 miles
Killed & loaded horses back, & made 2 pens which we filled with meat, and returned on
the 13th [10 days later] we Killed 40 Deer, 3 Bulls 19 Elk, maney [sic] So meager that
they were unfit for use.256
It is of little worth to state the explicit, that simple ownership of the gun does not guarantee a
harvest; yet what is even more noteworthy from these instances is that the crew, famished,
reflects an important mirror image of meager winter game. As wildlife survives with scant food,
the men do also. Such inextricable links between the available game and the crew’s plight
consistently appear throughout their narratives. Similar to Captain John Smith’s narrative as the
colonials starve and fight over food rations and live off of rotting sturgeon, these dire
255 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Gary E. Moulton. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An
American Epic of Discovery. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2003) 131.
256 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 97.
152
circumstances found within these gun narratives serve to emphasize even more the necessity of
both game and guns. Whereas Captain John Smith’s guns were used to facilitate trade with the
Natives for crucial food, the Corps of Discovery uses the gun directly in the act of hunting to
deliver themselves from dire starvation. Patrick Gass demonstrates how much they relied upon
hunting as he provides the running total of game killed in his journal, stating, “I made a
calculation of the number of elk and deer killed by the party from the 1st of Dec. 1805 to March
1806, which gave 131 elk, and 20 deer.”257 Within three months, one could estimate the total
amount of meat the party harvested was around thirty-two thousand pounds of meat from elk and
approximately a thousand pounds of deer meat.258 This yields around ten pounds of meat each
day for each member of the crew.259 Again, both narratives (Captain John Smith’s and the Corps
of Discovery’s) rely upon the gun to deliver them from starvation—the very sections of the text
that enforce upon the reader that success is hanging upon the proverbial thread. Also, both
narratives provide astounding numbers of game taken from the frontier. The records of both
accounts (mainly that of the Corps of Discovery) also demonstrate the plentiful game and the
areas that were most profitable for future expeditions and settlements. Like John Smith’s hopes,
their exploration delivers a future in which settlers could later exploit the land. Where the gun
257 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 344.
258 The basis of these calculations are considering that the average elk killed weighed around five
hundred pounds and the average deer was one hundred pounds, then the total factors fifty percent of the
animal as edible and harvestable meat. These calculations are by no means exact yet offer a fairly
conservative estimate of meat availability during these three months.
259 Granted the number of the crew vacillates as French fur trappers join the expedition at
different times. The above estimate was configured for thirty-seven members.
153
answered to Captain John Smith’s moments of survival in an indirect manner, the Corps of
Discovery more actively places the guns within their own hunters’ hands to remedy the matter.
During the colonial years, hunting was considered a means of supplying food primarily
associated by Natives (as aforementioned in Chapter 2 as John Smith strove to change this public
image). Lewis and Clark serve to gentrify the hunter, greatly elevating the hunting image and
persona for Americans. In his study of the image of hunting in the American public sphere,
Daniel Herman marks the Lewis and Clark expedition as a pivotal event in which the negative
persona of the poor hunter begins to swing significantly toward a more exemplary American
figure. In doing so, the public image of the Lewis and Clark expedition also begins to couple
Native American imagery with images of the American hunter. As the Corps continued their
journey, the dress standard became more conducive to Native accouterments and their natural
environment. For example, many of the Corps abandoned the use of their soldier boots for
moccasins. In doing so, they also learned Native customs for tanning and needlework.
Moreover, these Native styles of leather, skins, hunting shirts, and fur caps become the mode of
fashion for the recognized American frontier hero. Again, European perceptions of American
indigenous culture was coopted in order to create a Euro-American culture.260 The Corps’ Native
adoptions began to push the American heroic imagery away from the European norms toward the
Native-like frontiersman.
260 Richard Slotkin, Regeneration Through Violence: the Mythology of the American Frontier,
1600-1860. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 2000).
154
The Proto-Darwinian Corps
Historian of American hunting, Daniel Herman, traces the trends of American
perceptions of hunting and marks the Lewis and Clark Expedition as the beginning of a major
shift of American popular opinion toward the use of guns in sport hunting as a common practice
that solidifies into the mid-to-late nineteenth century. He deems literature that came from the
Lewis and Clark Expedition as providing some of the most influential hunter stories that served
to both initiate and reflect such a shift in perception. Specifically Herman perceives that the
Lewis and Clark Expedition’s manuscripts (journals and correspondence) influenced Americans
upon two significant ontological fronts—both running upon “separated ideological tracks” yet,
“both became conduits for the popularization of sport hunting.”261 One of these was the hunt as a
test of skill, prowess, and intelligence where the winner gains the dominant position within the
food chain—a position he terms “the proto-Darwinian perspective.”262 The other ideological
track is Rousseauian thought, in which hunters regard themselves as “men of virtue” and humane
stewards of nature, killing for scientific discovery, population maintenance, and to honor the
species rather than dominate it. Upon both suppositions, the literature coming from the William
and Clark Expedition does much to reflect the proto-Darwinian perspective, regarding the hunt
as pitting one’s wit, stamina, and overall skill against wild beasts, which influenced Euro-
Americans to take up the practice of hunting.
261 Daniel J. Herman, Hunting and the American Imagination. (Washington D.C: Smithsonian
Institution Press 2001) 84.
262 Hunting and the American Imagination 84.
155
Examples of the proto-Darwinian perspective run rampant within many of the hunts the
Expedition recorded. What is more noteworthy for this study is the gun’s presence and overall
firearm testimonials that establish a connection between the gun and the man to form an image of
a gun-toting frontiersman taming the unruly wilderness. At times, in the expedition, the hunters
were hunted, and firearms offered a means of protection from wildlife. Such stories served as
proof of the proto-Darwinian approach and the role of the man connected with the gun offered a
sense of dominance over the environment. For instance, as the crew canoes through what would
later become Garfield county Montana, they encounter a brown bear. Lewis describes the event:
“In the evening the men in two of the rear canoes discovered a large brown bear lying in the
open grounds about 300 paces from the river, and six of them went out to attack him, all good
hunters; they took the advantage of a small eminence which concealed then and got within 40
paces from him unperceived.”263 Again, Lewis although stating facts, rhetorically involves the
reader on the hunt—concealment, crouching, using the layout of the land to their advantage—all
elements that build upon adrenaline-pumping pursuit. These men are attempting to take down a
ferocious animal. Their success or failure, without a doubt, would be recorded. Four of them
engage the bear where the other two agreed beforehand not to shoot just in case an emergency
ensued. The four hit the bear, but “the balls pass through the bulk of the lungs, in an instant this
monster,”264 Lewis continues, “ran at them with an open mouth, the two who had reserved their
fires discharged their pieces at him as he came towards them, boath [sic] of them struck him, one
263 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Gary E. Moulton. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An
American Epic of Discovery. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2003) 130-131.
264 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 130-131.
156
only slightly and the other fortunately broke his shoulder” yet still the bear, undaunted, “only
retarded his motion for a moment only.”265 Such an account highlights the strength of the bear
countering the men’s skill, prowess, and the overall dependability of the men’s firearms. The
hunters’ lives are now at stake.
The hunt quickly becomes a tangible conflict between man and beast, as Lewis
proclaims, “the men unable to reload their guns took to flight, the bear pursued and nearly
overtaken [overtook] them before they reached the river. Two of the party betook themselves to a
canoe and the others separated and concealed themselves among the willows.”266 As the bear
approaches nearer, the men quickly, “reload their pieces, each discharged his piece at him as they
have an opportunity they struck him several times again but the guns served only to direct the
bear to them.”267 As men’s lives hang in a dangerous balance, it is their skills with the gun that
become the determining factor. But ironically, the sounds and smoke from their guns cause the
bear to identify their vulnerable location. In such a dire situation, those that can steady their
nerves, aim, and fire in a more composed manner and have more of a chance to hit the bear with
a fatal shot. Again, the very tools that could deliver them from death become the very tools that
betray their position—accuracy becomes crucial, and shooting skill is placed against the bears’
natural characteristics. This enthralling hunt becomes a symbolic image of a greater conflict
which will decide which species is able to conquer the other—again, man and beast are pitted
against each other, a conflict in which the American public of nineteenth-century develops more
265 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 131.
266 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 131.
267 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 131.
157
of a fascination and also more of a cultural taste for through literary narrative.268 As the episode
unfolds, on equal grounds, the bear charges after the men give away their position. Also, Lewis
refers to the bear with a personal pronoun, “him,” creating a sense of the equal status of the bear
to his contenders—the men in the hunting party. The bear then pursues two of the men, “so close
that they were obliged to throw aside their guns and pouches and throw themselves into the river
atho’ the bank was nearly twenty feet perpendicular.”269 In such a cinematic action sequence, “so
enraged was this animal that he plunged into the river only a few feet behind the second man he
had compelled to take refuge in the water.”270 As the bear drops twenty feet into the river and
lands only a few feet from another man, that man dives into the water and swims away from the
bear. Then, within this heroic sequence, “one of those who remained on shore shot him through
the head and finally killed him,” ending the pursuit and the story that smacks of western dime
novels told in a later time.271 Finally, they, “took him [the bear] on shore and butchered him
when they found eight balls had passed through him in different directions.”272 A bear, having
been shot seven times, required the eighth bullet precisely placed through his skull to be stopped.
In later reflecting upon the experience, Lewis asserts, “These bears being so hard to die rather
268 This will be explored heavily in the next chapter with James Fenimore Cooper’s
Leatherstocking Tales (1823-1841), as the character of Nathaniel Bumppo, Daniel Boone, and Davey
Crocket emerge as quintessential American frontier heroes, all have significant run-ins with ferocious
wildlife and prove their skill and masculinity with such conflicts.
269 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Gary E. Moulton. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An
American Epic of Discovery. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2003) 131.
270 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 131.
271 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 131.
272 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 131.
158
intimidates us all. I must confess that I do not like the gentleman and had rather fight two Indians
than one bear.”273 Lewis here, again, offers an appellation to the bear that places it on equal
ground to a man, addressing it as a “gentleman.” Furthermore, Lewis understands that in order to
take down a bear, “There is no other chance to conquer them by a single shot but by shooting
them through the brains, and this becomes difficult in consequence of the two large muscles
which cover the sides of the forehead and the sharp projection of the center of the frontal bone,
which is also a pretty good thickness.”274 The shot would have to be accurate. The bear’s
genetics create an even more difficult shot as both bone and muscles have been developed to the
point that they protrude, protecting Lewis’s proclaimed kill shot, the brain. Ultimately, the
excursion’s discussion of the bear attack places a central focus on man versus beast and
furthermore, such a pursuit and perspective pits beasts against man’s gun—the most acclaimed
technological device for delivering death. This proto-Darwinian approach couples man and gun
in a significant manner and publicizes firearms in such a way that man living in the frontier (or
conquering the frontier) must own and operate a gun in a skillful level in order to survive and be
placed at the forefront of the most dominant species. In this way gun ownership becomes
symbolic of man maintaining the highest place on the food chain. No doubt, ego also becomes a
fundamental aspect to this claim and to access this dominant role, man must have a gun at his
side.
273 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 129.
264 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 130.
159
In following the theme of man versus nature, the narrative continues to add to the theme
of conquering nature. Just as the party escapes the bear attack, more “horror,” and “upmost
trepidation” occurs to others of the party as a pirogue was upset and emptied much of their
provisions, into the water. Just after fighting off a bear, the Corps suffers more conflicts with
nature as many of the articles in the boat that were “indispensably necessary to further the views,
or insure [sic] success of the enterprise” were damaged or lost.275 Ultimately, the narrative
addresses the raw struggle of man in nature and draws from its simplicity the finality of its
success or ultimate failure.276 The Corps consistently addressed anxieties over the possible
failure of their voyage. Yet, what remains, as a simple answer to these apprehensions caused by
bear attacks, Native conflicts, and hunger is their gun. It is the gun that allows the Expedition’s
deliverance from most of their adversarial environments and agents.
Rousseau in the American Frontier
Lewis’ daring accounts fill the reader with wonder, excitement, and promise. Yet another
objective Lewis maintained throughout the journey was scientific discovery, particularly
cataloging new species of flora and fauna—hunting in the name of science. One of Lewis’ goals
was to collect a pronghorn. He meticulously maps out the hunt in his journal. Each time he
approaches within three miles of the herd, they bolt. Lewis then figures ways in which he could
outsmart the fastest animal he has seen on the prairie. Spending the rest of the day, eager to get a
275 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 131.
276 Such a simplistic conflict becomes quickly coopted into American definitions of masculinity.
Something that James Fenimore Cooper instills in his protagonist Natty Bumppo as Natty saves women
from a panther attack.
160
specimen to bring back to President Jefferson, Lewis crouches behind a shallow ridge and
accidentally spooks the herd. Though he is unsuccessful in obtaining his specimen, he continues
with his hunting story, “I beheld the rapidity of their flight before me […] it appeared reather
[sic] the rappid [sic] flight of birds than the motion of quadrupeds. I think I can safely venture to
ascertion [sic] that this speed of this animal is equal if not superior to that of the finest blood
courser.”277 As Lewis narrates the account of such a majestic animal getting away, it is not the
simplistic duality of man versus nature that is found within Lewis rhetoric but it is the splendor
of nature and the desire to capture and account for such splendor. Such an approach is often
referred to as “Rousseauian,” meaning that men glean virtue, empathy, and deeper understanding
of the world through nature.278 Lewis, here, values the hunt not because he had to prove man’s
status over nature but because he perceived the beauty and majesty of the wildlife itself. As
Lewis appreciates the splendor of the herd’s movement and the poetic superiority of the herd's
movement. Though Lewis fails, this time, to capture the animal for scientific cataloging, he
strives to capture the essence of the magnificent animal in words. Lewis’s account reflects the
Rousseauian ideology of mankind gaining knowledge and virtue through the observation of
nature. In this romantically scientific manner, Lewis promotes hunting as virtuous. Although he
did not capture a pronghorn, he values the exhilarating experience of the hunt.
In differing from such an impetus for hunting, Lewis and other participants of the crew
regarded the hunt as a necessity to fill starving bellies. Yet, Lewis’ aforementioned account
277 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Gary E. Moulton. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An
American Epic of Discovery. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2003) 81-82.
278 Daniel Herman, Hunting and the American Imagination (Washington: Smithsonian Institution
Press 2001) 83.
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addresses spotting, tracking, and ambushing the magnificent pronghorn. Lewis also idolizes the
stealthy maneuvers and poetic movement of the pronghorn, relating to the hunting experience in
a Rousseauian manner. Also, aside from the simple utilitarian approach, filling empty stomachs,
or the Rousseauian approach, finding virtue and knowledge in observing nature, Lewis and his
crew esteemed hunting as a means of proving one’s self, placing value on a steady trigger finger
outsmarting dangerous game—the proto-Darwinian perception. The Corps exemplified and
promoted many nuanced perceptions of hunting, changing American understandings of the sport.
Both Captain John Smith and Lewis record the numbers of wild game killed, considering
it useful to quantify or record the number of the game killed. Such strategies lead their readers to
reflect on the plethora of game within the territory—implicitly making an argument for the
prosperity inherent in the explored land. The number of animals becomes propaganda for
American colonialism and Manifest Destiny. Lewis’ records affirm the brilliant political
acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase, often describing a hunt with the specific numbers,
assessing land value through fauna. Yet, differing greatly from Captain John Smith, Lewis
positions himself with humane virtue, acting as a steward for nature as he collects, categorizes,
and studies specimens. Then, on the other hand, Lewis also portrays the hunter in a different
light as he heroically pits his men against a bear attack, or stealthily tracks and “gets the jump
on” the fastest animal on the American prairie. Lewis and Clark’s expedition asserts the hunt
with more flair and appeal. The crew become expert hunters and reflect a skill that is both
heroically masculine on one hand and virtuously humane cultivating thoughtful scientific interest
in the fauna on the other.
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Native cultures continue to influence the Corps and, in turn, influenced the perspectives
of many Americans, as many of these soldiers-turned-explorers become heroic figures in the
public eye. These figures brave bear attacks, Native ambushes, and rely upon hunting for
sustenance. Furthermore, Lewis views hunting through a heroic lens and in turn American public
opinion of hunting began to shift as Americans read of the Corps’ journey. The Corps promotes
hunting in two very different frames of thought: the Corps advance the popularization of guns
and their role found in hunting, issuing hunting as sport acceptable for Americans.
The Expedition’s Images of the Gun
Figure 4.3. Captain Lewis and Clark holding a Council with the Indians
Journals and other manuscripts regarding the Expedition also mark a strong
transformation of gun imagery. In 1810, Patrick Gass, the first of the Corps to publish his
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journal, depicts an image of Lewis and Clark and members of the Corps holding council with the
Natives (see fig. 4.3).279 These iconic figures sport European fashion and bring civilization
among the territories, each furnished with a European top hat or a militaristic bicorn hat,
captain’s uniform, and each equipped with an overcoat with buttons and coattails. Also, lounging
in the foreground is a member of the expedition, resting the butt of his rifle on the ground with
the tip of the barrel pointing skyward. As noted earlier, the gun becomes an integral part of the
expedition’s “council” and overall diplomatic relations with the Natives. Additionally, this early
image represents the expedition in terms of a European taming of the wilderness, a “pilgrim’s
progress” replete in its European fashion equipped with European firepower. This image
promotes views similar to those established in Captain John Smith’s narrative. Note, the natives
do not have guns. They enter the council circle with the bow and the peace pipe, whereas, Lewis
and Clark enter the council with a hand of friendship (and ultimately a promise of trade)
extended and a rifle at rest looming in the foreground, reaffirming the similar type of “gun-boat
diplomacy” established within the narratives of Captain John Smith. Guns are present in the
image but not active, yet maintain a preeminence.
As the accounts of Lewis and Clark circulate, the gun later becomes transformed as its
image becomes enhanced with its connections to Native culture. These images reconstruct
American ideals, culture, and overall identity as it relates to its gun culture. As earlier noted, the
Corps focuses on practicality rather than pomp. They gained influence from Native populations
that lead to their use of moccasins, hunting shirts, and other clothing made with skins. Through
279 Stephen D. Beckham, et al. The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Bibliography
and Essays. (Portland, Or: Lewis & Clark College 2003).
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these changes, the gun culture they promoted no longer becomes an entity that reaffirms a
Eurocentric attitude of superiority (as depicted in Figure 4.3); rather it affirms an adaptation and
adopting of both Native culture (or the American perception of what Native cultures are) and
European cultures, as Lewis and Clark wield their guns not in the European fashion but as part of
an American Frontier hero’s ensemble. In stark contrast to Patrick Gass’s aforementioned
depiction (fig. 4.3) another image, published by William Strickland in 1816 depicts Meriwether
Lewis donning a head-dress, buckskin, a tippet (a sash made from otter and ermine skins), and—
of course, a powder-horn and long-barrel rifle that is almost up to Lewis’s armpit (see fig.
4.4).280 Just as Mary Rowlandson culturally becomes more and more a part of the Native
community, so does the Lewis and Clark expedition. Men realize that the boots issued originally
are not conducive to their environment; therefore, they adopt moccasins, buckskins, and hunting
shirts. Their uniforms (particularly their coats) go into packs and only come out on rare
ceremonial occasions. The crew adapted into a peculiar combination of European and Native
dress which places the gun into a new American fashion.
280 Stephen D. Beckham, et al. The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Bibliography
and Essays. (Portland, Or: Lewis & Clark College 2003).
165
Figure 4.4. Meriwether Lewis Esq. in Native Regalia
In artistic representations of “The Expedition” the gun became placed within this new
environment and became coupled with the new wardrobe which distinctly fashioned a new
identity—one that Euro-Americans could assert, adopt, and appropriate as their own. Restyling
of the gun, as filtered through Native culture, crafts a newly authoritative stance for the gun.
Rather than asserting the gun in a Eurocentric fashion, the gun takes upon itself a new image.
Different from the European, it is repurposed in such a way that the frontiersman and his gun
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begins to contribute to a “gallery of stock figures and melded them into a composite image of the
American hero” since the late 1700s.281 The new nation repurposed or refashioned the European-
made gun through buckskin, leather straps, carvings of buffalo or fur trades, or even natives on
the butt-stock. It is the Lewis and Clark expedition that began to mix with the native culture to
create the buckskin—or even leather-stocking-wearing hero. It is within the Lewis and Clark
Expedition that a significant pivot into creating the native-like frontier hero occurs. Through
such fashions the European gun becomes reintroduced into the frontier—refashioned to the ways
in which Euro-Americans wish to envision the new American hero.
Defense
For most of the journey the Corps was able to avoid firing any shots with the intent to kill
any Natives. After Lewis and Clark separated to explore the river systems on their way back to
the east, Lewis’ group encountered a small Blackfoot war party. One morning on July 27th 1806,
J. Fields—who was standing guard—carelessly left his gun further than an arm’s reach. Nine
young Natives stealthily take his and other’s guns. As one was taking Drewyer’s, Lewis wakes
up, instinctively reaches for his own rifle only to find it had also been stolen. Lewis goes for his
second firearm, his pistol, as Fields tries to retrieve his gun from a Native who will not let it go.
Fields stabs the Native in the heart and gets possession of his gun. The stabbed Native “ran 15
steps and fell dead.”282 Lewis then pursues the Native, who has his gun, and yells at him to lay it
281 Richard Slotkin, Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier,
1600-1800. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 2000) 311.
282 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Gary E. Moulton. The Lewis and Clark Journals: An
American Epic of Discovery. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2003) 41.
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down. As the Native is in the process of placing the gun on the ground, Drewyer raises his gun
to shoot the Native. Lewis forbids Drewyer from shooting as, according to Lewis, “he [the
Native] did not appear to be about to make any resistance or commit any offensive act, he
dropped the gun and walked off slowly.”283 The Native’s life was spared. The other Natives on
their way out of the Corps’ camp drive off the horses. Lewis follows two into a bluff and
exclaims, “I would shoot them if they did not give me my horse and raised my gun.”284 As one
of them jumps behind a rock, the other armed with an old British musket turns around and
“stoped [sic] at the distance of 30 steps from me and I shot him through the belly, he fell to his
knees and on his wright [sic] elbow […] raised himself up and fired at me.”285 The bullet flies
over Lewis’ head so close that he feels the wind from it. Then, the shot Native crawls behind a
rock. Needing to reload his pistol, Lewis returns to the Camp to get his shot-pouch. He realizes
that rushing at the Natives without a loaded weapon would be futile. The Corps then rounds up
all horses they can find, as well as the captured Natives. The one that lay dead has the peace
medal that the Corps given him the night before, around his neck, offering a grave sense of irony.
They take all the firearms from the Natives and burn their bows and arrows. The Corps assume
that the Blackfeet will pursue them once the tribe hears of the encounter and travel until two in
the morning the next day.286
283 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 414.
284 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 414.
285 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 414.
286 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 416.
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This incident foreshadows future encounters between the whites and the Natives and
highlights important gun values such as self-defense and vigilance. As the Corps make it out
safely, firearms are accented at the end of their journey as frontier weapons necessary for
defense. These unfortunate events depict the Natives in an untrusting manner. When the Corps’
lack the discipline at the end of their journey to stand guard in the manner Captain Lewis and
Clark order, young men from the tribe that wished to gain a name for themselves find an
opportunity. This event serves to impress upon the readership the importance of always being
ready and alert and having a secondary firearm at the ready. Though the Corps must quickly put
distance between themselves and the possibly pursuing tribe, the firearms and knife that the
Corps did have on hand prove successful—none of the Corps were lost in the fight and they were
able to drive off the raid, get their horses, and defend the camp. But this event also serves to trace
a significant evolution of the gun’s importance. Where guns were once considered ineffective
against the bow and arrow in Cabeza de Vaca’s account, they are now regarded as one of the
most prized possessions in the frontier. Where the militia was once a subject of scoff ridicule and
implicit criticism in Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, the skillfulness of the Corps
redeems the gun in American imagery. Lewis also practices discretion in asserting that it is
immoral to shoot someone who is not a threat. Such practices become central characteristics of
the fictional hero, Natty Bumppo.
Gun Accidents
As the Expedition influenced public acceptance concerning hunting, accounts also serve
to showcase some of the first shooting accidents. Lewis illustrates one such accidental shooting
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in his journal as the Corps is hunting elk. Lewis reports how he shoots and kills one elk and
wounds another. Lewis and Cruzatte track the elk down into the willows. Lewis gets the
wounded elk in his sights and is just about to fire when, “a ball struck my left thye about an inch
below my hip joint, missing the bone it passed through the left thye and cut the thickness of the
bullet across the hinder part of the right thye; the stroke was very severe.”287 The bullet cuts
through his flesh and misses the bone and the femoral artery. Had these vital areas had been
damaged, Lewis would not have healed as quickly. In such a case the outcome of the Corps of
Discovery may have differed greatly. In pain, he calls out to Cruzatte but gets no answer. Lewis
then “instantly supposed that Cruzatte had shot me in mistake for an Elk as I was dressed in
brown leather and he cannot see very well.”288 Partially concealed in the willows and wearing
buckskin, he assumes that he has been shot accidentally. Yet after calling out to Cruzatte so
loudly and discerning that the shot “did not appear to be more than 40 paces from me.”289 Lewis
then assumes that he is surrounded by “Indians […] concealed in the bushes.”290 He then
retreats, limping toward the pirogue as he called out for Cruzatte to retreat as well. Lewis
continues, “I prepared myself with a pistol, my rifle and air-gun.”291 Startled by the possibility
of an ambush, he turns to three different firearms as the first line of defense and skillfully knows
a retreat by boat will “sell my life as deerly [sic] as possible.”292 It is in the boat that he waits, “in
287 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 422.
288 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 422.
289 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 422.
290 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 422.
291 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 422.
170
this state of anxiety and suspense” for “about 20 minutes.”293 Then the rest of the party returns
with Cruzatte accompanying them. Cruzatte confesses “in a state of alarm” that there “were no
indians [sic]” and “that if he shot me it was not his intention, that he shot an Elk in the willows
after he left or separated from me.”294 As to Lewis’s shouts of warning, Cruzatte claimed, “he
did not hear me when I called to him so frequently which he absolutely denied.”295 Sargent Gass
pulls out the lead ball from Lewis’s thigh which Lewis estimates to be the size of the bullet
matching the caliber of Cruzatte’s gun. Lewis later asserts, “he had shot me” and “was anxious to
conceal his knowledge of having done so.”296 He confirms Cruzatte, with poor sight, denied
hearing any indication of Lewis shouting. Rather than rush to Lewis’s aid, Cruzatte runs away
from his mistake to join the crew. The accident left Lewis with a high fever and pain to the
extent that he must turn the responsibility of journaling to Captain Clark. Since the incident
could have been tragic for the expedition it seems to merit considerable criticism, yet Meriwether
in a matter-of-fact manner states the facts and asserts that the journey must continue. Here the
readers have just witnessed the dependence the Corps has upon guns and are also introduced to
the dangers inherent in their misuse as well as the severe consequences of these mistakes.
Captain Lewis could have been seriously wounded or killed in the first expedition sanctioned by
the newly formed government, which could have challenged, even more, the budding gun culture
292 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 422.
293 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 422.
294 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 422.
295 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 422.
296 The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery 423.
171
in America. Yet, Lewis’s own account takes the mistake in stride and does not pontificate upon
the event any more throughout his journal. What is even more intriguing is that the
governmentally sanctioned account written by Nicholas Biddle and Paul Allen, published in
1814, completely overlooks this significant accident. Perhaps to save face for Pierre Cruzatte and
to provide a more honorable account in favor more of the heroic endeavors of the Expedition, the
authors chose to omit the blunder from the official record.
There are other reported incidents of accidental shootings. One such incident occurs at
the beginning of the journey. Lewis is familiarizing himself with the air-gun, and Mr. Blaze
Cenas becomes interested in the firearm, asks to hold the weapon and accidentally shoots a
woman. Lewis states,
Mr. Blaze Cenas, being unacquainted with the management of the gun, suffered her to
discharge herself accidentally. The ball passed through the hat of a woman about 40
yards distant, cutting her temple about fourth of the diameter of the ball. She fell instantly
and blood gushing from her temple, we were in the greatest consternation and supposed
she was dead.297
Just out of Mr. Cenas’ curiosity, he asks to shoot the gun. Meriwether Lewis obliges. Yet
because Cenas was unfamiliar with how the mechanisms work, he shot an innocent passerby.
Then Lewis in an almost dumbfounding manner reports, “But in a minute she revived, to our
inexpressible satisfaction, and by the examination we found the wound by no means mortal or
even dangerous; called the hands aboard and proceeded to a ripple of McKee’s rock.”298 Yet, the
297 qtd in. Richard H. Dillon, Meriwether Lewis: A Biography. (New York: Coward-McCann
1965) 59.
298 qtd in. Richard H. Dillon, Meriwether Lewis: A Biography 59.
172
curious expression of the accident is that there is no more thought given to the matter. Here, the
life of a simple passerby is placed in jeopardy because of Mr. Cena's unfamiliarity with the
weapon and Lewis’ failure to recognize his guest’s ineptitude. The entry simply ends, remarking
that the wound was not “even dangerous,”299 and does not even end the sentence there but
continues in a different vein, “called the hands aboard and proceeded to a ripple of McKee’s
rock.”300 Before the woman’s head-wound even clots, Lewis and the crew make their way back
to the river, giving an air of disregard to the incident without any further comment. The popular
historian Stephen Ambrose writes in his Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas
Jefferson and the Opening of the American West, that “Never again did he [Meriwether Lewis]
pass the air gun around when it was pumped up and loaded;”301 Nonetheless, Lewis comes off as
rather indifferent to the accident. Perhaps this early incident influenced him to be more
understanding of Pierre Cruzatte’s negligence in the later accident. In both scenarios the ending
could have been much worse. And in both incidents the participants apparently fail to take
responsibility and move on with minimal consideration of the possible seriousness of such
carelessness. As we will later see in the next chapter, James Fenimore Cooper provides
additional insight and political commentary on such melancholy events.
Gun Incidents
299 qtd in. Richard H. Dillon, Meriwether Lewis: A Biography 59.
300 qtd in. Richard H. Dillon, Meriwether Lewis: A Biography 59.
301 Stephen E. Ambrose, Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the
Opening of the American West. (New York: Simon & Schuster 1996) 108.
173
Yet another significant misuse of firearms occurs a few years after the completion of the
journey. In 1809, Lewis is found bleeding over his buffalo skin blanket in an inn called Grinder’s
Stand—located southwest of Nashville, Tennessee. He had been shot in his head—as part of his
skull was missing and there was another shot below the breast. Miss Grinder—who provides
many contradictory accounts which complicate the event—heard the two shots and finds
Meriwether still alive. She calls for Lewis’s servant and according to James Neely’s letter to
Thomas Jefferson, Lewis says as he is dying, “I have done the business my good Servant give
me Some water.”302 James Neely, Thomas Jefferson, and William Clark all mourn the loss of
their friend and accept the death as suicide—even though the Lewis family contests that it was
murder. Nonetheless, the newspapers publish the correspondence of those that state suicide as
the factor, often acknowledging Lewis’s depressive state describing him as “deranged in
mind.”303 The letter from James Neely to Thomas Jefferson begins, “It is with extreme pain that I
have to inform you of the death of his Excellency Meriwether Lewis […] and I am Sorry to Say
by Suicide.”304 The letter was published in Tennessee’s The Democratic Clarion nine days after
Lewis died. Whether influenced by depression, malaria, or post-traumatic stress of the
Expedition,305 this morose incident provides the public with a remarkable bookend to the
302 James Neely to Thomas Jefferson, Nashville Tennessee 18 October 1809. Founders Online.
National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-01-02-0478#D26110ID8. Accessed 26 March
2019.
303 James Neely to Thomas Jefferson, Nashville Tennessee 18 October 1809. Founders Online.
National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-01-02-0478#D26110ID8. Accessed 26 March
2019.
304 James Neely to Thomas Jefferson, Nashville Tennessee 18 October 1809.
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episodic journey. Three years after his return from the Expedition, placing his life in peril on
behalf of the United States, Meriwether Lewis’s final gun-narrative involves him pressing one of
his pistols against his head and the other against his heart and pulling both triggers. Though the
news coverage never states the occurrence this explicitly, the underlying message to the public
that read of his adventures hunting, shooting bear, astounding Natives with his firearms,
promoting peace through the promise of gun trade, and protecting his provisions and life with
guns, perceive a more sobering side of gun use. Lewis leaves his contemporaries in a state of
uncomfortable ambiguity. Many unanswered questions are often coupled with suicide, for
instance, if he did not have his pistol would he have died. Such questions obscure the simplistic
narratives of guns in the frontier and—for a moment—the public may question these areas of
gun misuse. Yet as disturbing as the topic of suicide is and as unsettling as the ambiguity of the
story becomes, much of the public returns to the simplistic and straightforward narratives
aforementioned and overlook the severe issues of misuse that arise in gun narratives. Just as
Meriwether Lewis, himself, overlooked or minimalized the accident with the air gun and even
undermined the severity of the gun accident to which he himself becomes a victim and just as the
official governmentally sanctioned history omitted Lewis’ air gun accident, elk shooting
accident, and his own suicide, the frontier gun becomes romanticized and is established as a
necessity in heroic efforts of protection, sustenance, demonstrations of power and authority. The
more sobering side of gun misuse is marginalized until the gun narratives of James Fenimore
Cooper come to fruition.
305 These are the most common theories that explain Meriwether Lewis’s suicide, many of these
theories are address in Thomas Danisi, Uncovering the Truth about Meriwether Lewis. (Amherst, New
York: Prometheus Books 2012).
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CHAPTER 5
“LE LONGUE CARABINE:” NATIONALISM AND JAMES FENIMORE COOPER’S
NATHANIEL BUMPPO
Just as previously explored literary writers used the gun to fulfill political objectives, later
authors continued in that same vein, presenting the gun itself as ultimately American. Captain
John G. W. Dillin’s history, The Kentucky Rifle (1924), the gun is portrayed as embodying
American values and becomes a symbol for America itself. In the dedication he writes:
From a flat bar of soft iron, hand forged into a gun barrel; laboriously bored and rifled
with crude tools; fitted with a stock hewn from a maple tree in the neighboring forest;
[…] an unknown smith, in a shop long since silent, fashioned a rifle which changed the
whole course of world history; made possible the settlement of a continent; and
ultimately freed our country of foreign domination. Light in weight; graceful in line;
economical in consumption of powder and lead; fatally precise; distinctly American; it
sprang into immediate popularity; and for a hundred years was a model often slightly
varied but never radically changed.306
In this description, one cannot help but perceive the patriotic overtones of this “distinctly
American” rifle. The “home-grown” rifle, having a “stock hewn from a maple tree in a
neighboring forest,” is curiously made from the frontier itself. Dillin, here, emphasizes the act of
“reordering” or “reorganizing” the raw material of the maple from the forest into a tool that, in
turn, serves to civilize the very frontier from which it was made, “making possible the settlement
306 John G.W. Dillin, The Kentucky Rifle 5th ed. (York, Pennsylvania: George Shumway 1967) xi.
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of a continent.” The Kentucky rifle is coupled with the industrious character professed in the
American settler.307 In creating Dillin’s Kentucky rifle one turns a “neighboring” maple into the
tool that would take part in the actual and—just as significantly—mythical, conquering of the
American frontier.
Elements of Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis are found in the account of The
Kentucky Rifle, meaning, the body politic turns to the fringe or outskirts of the nation for its
defining characteristics. Within this framework, those negotiating American wilderness/frontier
take on legendary roles and contribute to the nationalistic definition of “American character.”
Note that Dillin’s industrial fashioning of the barrel is made “laboriously” by “unknown” skilled
hands, praising the work of a common gunsmith that, through Dillin’s sense of nostalgia, not
only fashioned gun barrels but also aided in fashioning American ideals. The ideals and events
that Dillin references in conjunction with the Kentucky rifle are democracy built by opposing a
tyrannical force and freeing “our country of foreign domination” and Manifest Destiny, which
made “possible the settlement of a continent.” These standards become intricately conflated or
even synonymous with the rifle as if the unknown gunsmith forges these ideals into the metal of
the gun at the time of its fabrication. As Dillin adjoins these ideals and events with the Kentucky
rifle, the rifle is endowed symbolic value as the harbinger of democracy, Manifest Destiny the
307 David Nye, America as Second Creation: Technology and Narratives of New Beginnings.
(Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004). This study addresses ways in which Americans restructure their past
through technology and myth. Nye asserts the myths of the axe, the log cabin, and the mill, as a
proclaimed identifiers of the self-made man. These tools became mythologized in order to place in
industry within “God’s country.” My study asserts the gun as among these items Nye chose. The gun,
however, promotes differing literary tropes, as established by the authors this study visits. These authors
stage the gun as a means of safety, difference, and status for political purposes.
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revolutionary war, and westward expansion. Dillin captures the essence of nostalgia, which is
invested in this object. The Kentucky rifle, thus, becomes much more than a tool as the respected
political actions that have contributed to American characteristics are also inherent in its firing,
exhibition, and pageantry. Through these exaggerated claims, Dillin pairs American democracy,
nationalistic pride, American war heroes, and nostalgia for unnamed common frontier settlers
with the Kentucky rifle.
The gun, much like the colonies, comes from “crude” beginnings; as the stock comes
from the wilderness; and the barrel is painstakingly crafted, much like democracy. Dillin’s
depiction of the construction of the Kentucky rifle easily becomes conflated with constitutional
rights “forged” by founding fathers, and also serves to defend those rights that free America from
“foreign” oppression. Nostalgic narratives in American ballads, historical accounts, and—
overall—literature have continued to show the Kentucky rifle as most “distinctly American.” As
accounts regarding the Kentucky rifle accumulate, the gun is coupled with aspects of American
nationalism, xenophobia, wisdom of the American frontier, and the virtues of its citizenry that
allow for democracy to prevail. Although Dillin’s text applauds the Kentucky rifle, he coupls its
praise with aspects such as xenophobia, ethnocentrism, and jingoistic nationalism.
Additionally, Dillin reveals other significant aspects of the rifle’s political and cultural
associations. Much like the newly heralded political system, the rifle is practical, economical and
has rapidly gained popularity and approval from the American citizenry. It is difficult to
distinguish the exact time where Dillin is discussing the rifle or America’s foundational
democratic principles as, “it for a hundred years was a model slightly varied but never radically
changed” (emphasis added). Similarly, the political system forged by American forefathers,
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aside from its few ratifications and alterations (amendments), has given the world a democracy
founded upon secure principles. Here, Dillin that asserts the Kentucky rifle, which has “never
radically changed” (and is much like many citizens’ perspectives of American democracy) has
also “changed the course of world history.” In essence, Dillin’s America and the Kentucky rifle
become exemplary political system and weapon.
Yet, Dillin is but one of the many authors who tout the significance of the Kentucky rifle
as an American symbol. In fact, there are several often-overlooked American textual
representations which define the Kentucky rifle in a similar fashion. Roughly one hundred years
prior to Dillin’s text, Samuel Woodworth wrote a ballad called The Hunters of Kentucky (1821),
which also pays homage to the American weapon of the frontier. The song represented Andrew
Jackson as a national hero along with America’s celebrated “sharp-shooters,” all armed with the
Kentucky rifle. The song was widely used along with Jackson’s 1824 and 1828 presidential
campaign trails. In this song these sharpshooters fight on both western and eastern frontiers,
against and the British (“John Bull”). They protect the nation, its citizens’ property, as well as
the virtue of American women (safeguarding “girls and cotton bags”). Jackson and his men are
alert and attentive as they, with their Kentucky rifles, advance with the speed of horses and
attack with the ferocity of alligators.
But Jackson was wide awake, and wasn’t scared of trifles,
For well he knew what aim we take with our Kentucky rifles;
So he led us down to Cyprus swamp, the ground was low and mucky,
There stood John Bull in martial pomp, and here was old Kentucky,
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A bank was raised to hide our breast, not that we thought of dying,
But then we always like to rest unless the game is flying;
Behind it stood our little force, none wished it to be greater,
For everyman was half a horse and half an alligator.308
Figure 5.1. Sheet Music of The Hunters of Kentucky arranged by William Blondell
The ballad’s use of the first-person plural includes both the singers and the audience within the
308 Samuel Woodsworth, “The Hunters of Kentucky or The Battle of New Orleans and Half Horse
or Half Alligator” ed. William McCarty The American National Song Book: Songs, Odes, and Other
Poems on National Subjects. (Philadelphia: Mm. McCarty 1842).
180
gun-toting throng. They are the “Hunters of Kentucky,” and act under the direction of Jackson.
The second verse describes how every man waited for the British to be near enough until “we
thought it time to stop them” fighting and they were proud to attest to how quickly the
“Kentuckians drop’em.” The song asserts an air of prowess, oneness with and knowledge of the
environment, and the expertise of a small band of soldiers pitted against the well-trained British
army. The ballad most significantly celebrates expertise with the Kentucky rifle and the lauded,
“typical,” American style of warfare. Gun, man, and methods of war are radically differentiated
from those of the British. Americans are economical, connected with the environment and
discerningly accurate, as are the Kentucky rifles.
In the early 1800s, the Kentucky rifle was deemed a superior weapon to the musket.
Different from the musket, its rifled or grooved barrel would spin the bullet which in turn
allowed for it to cut the air with a more precise trajectory. The gun was known for its
proficiency, economy, and practicality. Rifle shooting acquired sharpened senses and keen
judgment to discern the favorable moment to shoot. The faster reloading time also became
attractive to the colonial. But for many of the British and European, soldiers were outfitted with
the less costly European smoothbore musket, as bulk manufacturing and distribution made it an
easier choice for arming the troops. The costly process for grooving (rifling) the inside of the
barrel as found in the Kentucky rifle was deemed unnecessary. Furthermore, many Europeans
believed the larger caliber bullet (most smoothbores averaged .65 of an inch where others
achieved .75 up to .80 of an inch) would cause more damage. For large European troops,
generals favored the possibly greater ballistic damage of the smoothbore as well as its rapid
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production.309 In contrast, the Kentucky rifle used about a third smaller caliber, averaging .45 to
.50 of an inch.310 The smaller caliber required less powder (about the size of a woman’s
thimble)311 and also the smaller mass allowed the bullet to achieve greater velocity, increasing
range and accuracy. The lighter weight allowed the shooters to carry more bullets, be more agile
on the battlefield, expend less powder, and achieve three times the velocity of the European
musket. Economy, especially in the American frontier, was essential. It was never certain when
the shooter or hunter could be resupplied.
Figure 5.2. Sketches of the Kentucky Rifle (1977) 312
309 This is not to insinuate that the American troops did not use the European musket, they did.
However, the American military began to employ a few snipers or sharp shooters that often owned their
Kentucky rifle.
310 American Rifle a Biography. (New York: Bantam Dell 2008) 18.
311 George Hanger, qtd. in American Riflemen, “never put more powder than is contained in a
woman’s thimble.” 18.
182
While European armies employed the use of the cheaply produced muskets that could
throw massive volleys of lead at a sizable opposing force, the American settlers, trappers,
hunters, and militiamen became more devoted to the Kentucky rifle, especially as the public
literary sphere began to tout its success.
Also since the rifle and its accompanying equipment were much lighter, many gun
makers began to experiment by stretching the barrel, extending the range and accuracy of the
weapon.313 As civilization moved westward with more distant lines of sight on the plains, such
improvements on range and accuracy became paramount, pushing the use of the weapon
westward and pushing the frontier westward as well. Just as Dillin expressed, the rifle made
“possible the settlement of a continent.” The Kentucky rifle not only came to symbolize the
American Revolution but also Manifest Destiny, useful in eradicating both foreign interests and
American Natives. This dual role is perhaps best seen in the nostalgic literature of this period and
perhaps best reflected in the works of James Fenimore Cooper where the political currency of the
Kentucky rifle is clearly showcased.
The Kentucky Rifle: Cooper’s Heroic Boon
Of James Fenimore Cooper’s many literary accomplishments deserving of consideration
is his ability to introduce the Kentucky rifle within the American literary sphere by using it
symbolically to stress themes of American exceptionalism, nostalgia, melancholy, and loss.
Cooper “presents arms” as a significant political agent for the American public and establishes
312 Figure 5.2 Edith G. Cooper, The Kentucky Rifle and Me. 1st ed. (Cooper 1977).
313 Edith G. Cooper, The Kentucky Rifle and Me. 1st ed. (Cooper 1977).
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the Kentucky rifle as the image of the American gun, accompanied with values he writes into its
mythos. In his political texts, The American Democrat and his well-known Leatherstocking saga,
Cooper mythologizes the American gun and in many ways fashions it into concepts of American
culture. The role that Cooper plays in the literary realm is most significant in assisting in the
inauguration and development of the American gun’s association with ideals and its sacrosanct
“gifts.” Before Cooper fully enters the role, an American author, Walter Channing in 1815 issues
a call in the North American Review to promote American culture and establish “a literature of
our own.” Emerson responded with a transparent eye (1836); Thoreau, a cabin and a pond
(1854), Melville, a white whale (1851), and Margaret Fuller answered with The Dial (1840).
Before many of these established authors renowned works, however, Cooper (from 1823 to
1841) offered the report of a Kentucky flintlock long rifle called “kill-deer” as an answer to
Channing’s request. Cooper crafts Hawk-eye’s rifle meticulously, connecting it with American
history, with myth, and—in particular—with Cooper’s idea of “American” ideals, characteristics,
and archetypes, all contrasted with those represented by European muskets and pistols. Cooper,
also, assigns the Kentucky rifle to his particular brand of American nationalism by employing
elements of nostalgia (the combination of melancholy and admiration),314 placing these firearms
in specific American spaces and events, and demonstrating their success and superiority in
arenas of major conflicts exclusive to American history.
314 Wayne Franklin, New World of James Fenimore Cooper. (Chicago and London: The
University of Chicago Press 1982) 3, 12, and 27. Franklin marks the year of 1825 that, “for more than a
year the United States experienced a wave of nostalgia—the first ever on these shores—centered in
idealized heroic past [… celebrating] a man whose selfless devotion to liberty (and America) was
proverbial long before he arrived” (42).
184
Aside from employing firearms upon the historic stages of the French and Indian War,
westward expansion, early settlements, and conflicts with “skulking” Natives, Cooper also places
firearms in relation to the natural environment. He judges the firearm as many judge aesthetics
by gauging how well its form matches its function and how well that knowledge of function is
utilized by its shooter. Such a cohesive relationship of man and gun to their environment
establishes a significant foundation of a character from which Cooper is able to build what he
deems should be American values and ethics. Natty exemplifies gun etiquette, correct customs,
and what American gun culture should be. Cooper juxtaposes Nathaniel’s gallant ideals and
creeds with archaic European dogmas or naïve inferences. In short, as Cooper establishes one of
his most prolific heroes, he is also defining and instituting an American gun culture this is
distinct from European standards and values. Cooper sets these new customs as practical and
more advantageous for the growing new nation. Cooper’s American Kentucky flintlock and the
American frontier establishes national myths, characteristics, and jingoistic ideals.
Cooper’s basic perspectives of American gun culture are most candidly apparent in some
of his more overtly political writings. In his Notions of the Americans (1828), for instance,
Cooper contrasts European gun culture (or lack thereof) with that of American gun’s fascination,
allure, and practical use, noting that the American wilderness is likely the cause of this major
difference. Unlike in Europe, personal gun ownership and skill are deemed as more integral and
crucial for an American’s defense, protection, and sustenance. It is primarily by means of the gun
that one maintains the order and democratic ideals of the nation. Cooper emphasizes that
America’s gun-skilled citizen provides a significant advantage to counter the power and threat of
Europe’s large standing armies. He states,
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The present Military condition of the United States though far from imposing, is
altogether more respectable than it has ever before been. One who is accustomed to see
kings manœuvre large bodies of household troops as their ordinary playthings, might
smile to be told that the whole army of this great republic contains but 6000 men. […]
But he who estimates the power of this people to injure or to resist by the number of its
regular troops makes a miserable blunder. The habit of discipline and the knowledge of
military details are kept alive by the practice of this small force. They are chiefly
employed on the western frontier, or they garrison, by companies, the posts on the sea-
board. They answer all the objects of preserving order on the one, and the guarding of
public property on the other […] But the vast improvement in the Country, is in the
progress, […] of professional knowledge rigid military educations, tempered by a
morality and deference to the institutions of the land [largely speaking of Europe], that
are elsewhere little cultivated, and which tend to elevate the profession by rendering a
soldier strictly the support and not the master of the Community.315
Here, Cooper touts that American soldiers gain and maintain their “discipline and knowledge of
military details” from the western frontier—where they are actively involved in the practice of
national defense. Furthermore, targeting any possibility of another war with calculating
European kings, he uses a smug jingoistic style of delivery, substantiating that this American
“small force” could easily out-maneuver large bodies of European troops, as they have
developed skill in quickly negotiating this new territory, “keeping alive” their marksmanship and
315 James Fenimore Cooper. Notions of the American: Picked Up by a Traveling Bachelor.
(Albany: State University of New York Press 1991) 201.
186
developing a new form of warfare more congruent with the landscape. Cooper builds upon the
novel design of skulking warfare tactics coupled with the Kentucky rifle in Samuel Woodworth’s
“The Hunters of Kentucky.” In this differentiation of tactics, Cooper also hypothetically places
the American military at odds with an unspecified European army (uniting Americans in
anxieties regarding European threat).316 Yet, in this conflict, Cooper is also pitting democratic
ideals instilled in American soldiers against those employed by Kings. The American army
acquires these democratic ideals upon the frontier as they “answer all the objects of preserving
order on the one, and the guarding of public property on the other” in contrast to the conniving,
“smiling,” tyrants that have little regard for the lives of their troops, perceiving them as “ordinary
playthings.” Cooper’s American army reveres the lives and interests of its people, as opposed to
European armies who are merely the King’s commodities. Cooper also highlights differing ends
and means whereby the American gun performs necessary acts of violence protecting,
“preserving,” defending, and “guarding,” not only property but also the nation's ideals. As
Americans hone their skills with the rifle on the frontier, they are freeing themselves of any fear
and anxiety of being inferior to the Europeans in matters of military might or governmental
influence.
Cooper continues by addressing the economic and practical approach to militaristic duties
of this “small army” of the citizenry of this “great republic:”
It is not probable that the jealousy of Americans will ever admit of the employment of a
very large regular force in time of peace. They prefer trusting to the care of armed
316 The War of 1812 had ended thirteen years prior to when this text was written.
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Citizens. Though the militia never can be, compared with its numbers, as formidable as
disciplined troops, it is certainly sufficient to maintain order, and to resist invasion.317
Once again, Cooper offers the American jingoism of a new nation whose military might is built
upon a citizenry whose skills in combat are acquired through the labor of settling territory
(gaining and protecting possessions and ensuring order). He maintains this might is equal—if not
superior—to any other countries in the global theatre. Cooper, much like Samuel Woodworth,
promotes a militaristic narrative favoring American quality over European quantity.
In a sense, Cooper’s appeal to the people’s self-protective and defensive sentiment in
addressing real or fictitious threats serves as a means of uniting Americans through such shared
anxieties. In this appeal the American rifle and the skills gained in its use in the wilderness are
positioned as the means to assuage the fears he conjures—pitting American pride and skill found
in even ordinary American citizenry against menacing, jealous, greedy or indifferent European
dictators. The tool that alleviates terror is not cannon-fire; it is the personal firearm, a tool that
can be operated independently by an individual rather than by a collective group. Even though
many military scholars assert that cannons were instrumental in the Revolutionary War and the
War of 1812, many times serving as the deciding factor of the battles’ outcome, here Cooper
mythologizes a tool that any Americans could own and operate. He further commends a
“trusting” government that sees the wisdom in ensuring its citizens the access to firearms:
It is scarcely fair for Governments to refuse to give a population the necessary degree of
intelligence, and then to say it will be dangerous to entrust them with arms. We know that
317 James Fenimore Cooper, Notions of the American: Picked Up by a Traveling Bachelor.
(Albany: State University of New York Press 1991) 201.
188
a child may do mischief with a weapon, but we also know that Nature has decreed that
the time shall come when it may be made highly useful to him. For my part I firmly
believe, that if Europe would put the school book into one hand, the other might be safely
trusted with the musket. It is commonly the interest of the vast majority in every nation to
preserve order; and they will certainly do it best, if the means are freely furnished. When
the interests of the majority are in favour of a change, there is something very like true
wisdom and justice in permitting it.318
Here Cooper defends the Second Amendment. Any “mischief” done by youth regarding
inappropriate gun usage is of little consequence. Any unnecessary gun violence should be
minimal if the overall population is educated. In building upon patriotic boldness, Cooper is
turning the table upon Eurocentric ideals and perspectives. Rather than perceiving ways in which
America measures up to European military, culture, norms, governance, and structural and
institutional hierarchies, he uses America as a model for European countries, particularly in
addressing the military benefits of the Second Amendment. Cooper asserts that many domestic
and international disputes could have been averted had the government entrusted arms to its
gentry. Cooper also affirms that by conferring firearms to the vast majority, unnecessary
violence will be limited and governing forces will be kept in check. Revolutions, wars, and
campaigns will occur only when they are in the best interest of the “majority.” Cooper also
places the unnecessary violence caused by despots in direct contrast with the “mischief” of a few
young boys, asserting that such violence and wars caused by greedy despots have destroyed
larger portions of the populace than children using firearms do mischief. In short, Cooper
318 Notions of the American 201-202.
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stresses that if many European countries promoted America’s more liberal gun laws, they would
have had a much less bloody history.
Cooper constructs a simple argument that infuses the voice of the people with the power
inherent in firearms. Yet Cooper’s argument is far from being specific, as he refers to justified
violence as a “natural” occurrence, with a nod to the reader as if the author and reader are in
implicit agreement regarding what constitutes these justified violent occurrences. This
significantly reaffirms ways in which Cooper, as well as the American public, turn to the
firearms, or the symbolism found within its image, as simplistic responses to complex contextual
issues. This study traces this concept as Dryden turns to firearms to explain colonization and
Native eradication. Captain John Smith turns to firearms to evoke a sense of security for the
anxious future colonials. Publishers of Mary Rowlandson’s narrative turned to the image of the
gun-toting woman in order to inspire revolutionary sentiment and enlist men in the war.
Furthermore, Lewis and Clark turn to firearm demonstrations to conjure a sense of
nationalistic authority and dominance over the newly purchased territory. Similarly, Cooper
offers firearms as an answer to what differentiates and distinguishes American culture over
European and such distinguishing factors of responsible moral judgment qualify the American to
know when insurrection or violence is justified. This very complex philosophical conundrum is
resolved with America’s gun use. Cooper makes no mention of upon what grounds a revolution
or violence might occur. He only offers the vague statement that these will occur, “When the
interests of the majority are in favor of a change.”319 Cooper indeed looks to the American
Revolution as well as Jeffersonian principles as support for his views on arming the populace.
319 Notions of the American 202.
190
The bloody French Revolution offers an interesting assertion of Cooper’s faith in the American
public. According to Cooper, had the French properly educated their children placing a “school
book in one hand and a musket in the other,” Cooper insinuates that the French possibly would
have been able to control their bloodlust. Nonetheless, the European—unlike the American—
was never entrusted with the gun, therefore, only the American contains the knowledge,
comportment, and judgment needed to own and operate firearms. He also charges his readers to
become cognizant of how the gun can be used both in preserving democracy and in ensuring that
the government does not neglect its duties to uphold the interests of the majority.
For valid use of the gun, Cooper offers nothing beyond that of when it is in the “interest
of the majority” or when “Nature’s decrees.” Similar to Captain John Smith, Lewis and Clark,
and publishers such as Boyle, Cooper turns to the gun as a viable answer to political issues, yet
he does so more overtly—precisely calling upon gun use to solve political ills. Like the
aforementioned authors and publishers, Cooper also neglects to define these terms. Again the
gun is the answer to wrongs, and the shooter will know when to use the gun: when Nature
decrees it or when the populace approves. In short, readers must rely on their own sentiment and
interpretation to know when gun violence is warranted. Cooper’s ambiguity, in a sense, applies a
principle of assumed consensus, offering Americans their right to interpret when gun use can
right their significant wrongs. But dangers lurk in this ambiguity. Such loosely defined terms
allow Cooper to unify the American citizenry (mainly white landed gentry) in gun ownership and
usage—proposing that a gun-owning citizenry is high-minded enough to know when violence is
and is not the means to an end.
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Furthermore, Cooper praises the government for entrusting its citizenry with the means of
establishing a coup if the government itself goes awry. In fact, he holds that both gun ownership
and democracy are “natural[ly]” coupled. In his essay The American Democrat, he states,
“Democracies are less liable to popular tumults than any other polities, because the people,
having legal means in their power to redress wrongs, have little inducement to employ any other.
The man who can right himself by a vote will seldom resort to a musket.”320 Cooper claims a
democracy leads to fewer “tumults” as citizens can choose the “ballot before the bullet.” Though,
exclusively, Cooper places democratic vote before gun violence, the dichotomy Cooper endorses
rhetorically is hazardous—if the ballot does not settle the issue, gun violence is the next resort,
knowingly, and most likely will be used to right perceived wrongs. Also, inexplicitly, the
presence of guns in the American household allows the citizenry to support their political voice
with gun violence. This “either/or” mode of thought does little to allow the democratic process to
render guns obsolete; rather, it promotes the violent backing of one’s political opinion or to
defend one’s social status, in the gun duel. In his later fiction, Cooper will revise and refine much
of this vague gun-use in his value system.
Nathaniel and his Gun
In developing his protagonist Natty Bumppo, Cooper introduces similar principles to
those he establishes in Notions of the Americas and The American Democrat and includes more
320 James Fenimore Cooper, The American Democrat and Other Political Writings. ed. Bradley
J. Birzer and John Wilson. (Albany: State University of New York Press 1991) 406.
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specific examples in proper gun use. Through Natty, Cooper sets the quintessential American
hunter apart from European gentry and customs. Also, Cooper asserts substantial principles and
values in his hero to establish and revise American gun culture. Through Natty Bumppo, Cooper
reflects a nationalistic fascination with guns and continues to construct an American myth that
fosters nostalgic depictions of the American gun and its shooters. First, Cooper establishes the
rifle—particularly the American-made Kentucky (also known as “Pennsylvania”) flintlock long
rifle—as the weapon of choice on the American frontier. Cooper contrasts these “superior”
armaments with those used by Europeans on the frontier. Second, Cooper weds his protagonist to
his own Kentucky rifle—Killdeer—by giving Bumppo various sobriquets and by positioning
these two characters (hero and gun) as almost inseparable. Throughout his adventures, both
Natty and Killdeer are given the highest regard. Third, he heralds Nathaniel (Natty) as America’s
gun expert, asserting that his knowledge transfers into other crucial areas necessary to sustain life
on the American frontier. Cooper uses Natty as a means to establish a set of principles and gun
ethics for a democratic nation that chooses to entrust firearms to the people.
Cooper fuses Natty’s identity with that of his rifle. Throughout the Leatherstocking
series, Natty is described constantly as leaning upon his rifle, reloading it just after firing, and
praising its secrets and legendary precision—which he does often in the heat of battle. Even in
appearance Natty’s gun matches his long and slender physique. Cooper reminds his readers that
Natty has an “upright iron frame”321 (and another image of stature, an “iron-like inflexibility of
his frame”)322 as the Kentucky rifle’s barrel is made of soft metal that, barely reaches “the top of
321 James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales. Vol. 1 (New York: Viking Press 1985)
814.
193
his fox-skin cap” when the stock is placed on the ground.323 Additionally, Killdeer uses a
greased leather (deerskin) wad to envelop its bullets as Natty wears deerskin leather stockings.
Natty’s articulations, judgments, and authority are often paralleled by the “reports” (or what
Natty calls “speech”) of Killdeer. Many of Nathaniel’s interjections emphatically make major
impacts upon his audience (and readers) as he places judgment and declares the truth. Both are
the rugged product of the wilderness; both represent the simple, the pragmatic, the economic
depictions of manners, and both represent true and accurate judgment.
The sobriquets used for Natty are often those that point to his keen sight, accuracy, and
judgment (all characteristics necessary for survival—a common theme throughout most of
Cooper’s texts). Names such as Hawkeye, the Pathfinder, and the trapper, all favor sharp
observation and a keen awareness of dangers, advantages, and the signs that nature offers. These
names also explore the various ways Bumppo evolves and adapts with his environment. These
furnish Hawkeye the “gift” of foresight and skills necessary to discover what Natty deems are
“its secret vartues [sic].”324 Other names unify Natty with the rifle itself. For instance, while he is
called “the hunter,” his rifle is nicknamed “Killdeer” which parallels his other appellation “The
Deerslayer.” His enemies, the Mingos, have given him the name of “Le Longue Carabine,”
which Natty adamantly rejects, not on the basis that this name was delivered to him by his
enemies but solely based upon his knowledge on parts and names of the gun. To Nathaniel,
322 The Leatherstocking Tales 528.
323 The Leatherstocking Tales 22.
324 James Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer: or, the First War-path. (London: Routledge, Warn,
and Routledge 1862) 306.
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accuracy both of appellation as well as the accuracy of a rifled gun matter immensely. In an
English context “carbine” refers to a smoothbore short-barreled firearm, not his preferred
Kentucky rifle. He claims, “But I do not admit the right of Mingoes to bestow a name on one
[…] especially, as their title is a lie, ‘kill-deer’ being a grooved barrel, and no carabyne.”325
Nathaniel does accept names from his kin as well as from the Delaware, but the name he is given
in French by his enemies he considers a vile falsehood—contrasting Bumppo and Killdeer’s
truth and certitude with that of the Mingos’ false notions. This reinforces Cooper’s own theme as
he also depicts the Mingos as speaking with a forked tongue or striving to deceive various
characters. Moreover, Cooper ascribes to Nathaniel a dialectically different “back-woods”
pronunciation of the “carabyne” which to him lacks proficiency and accuracy. Yet, in reality, the
French term for “rifle,” “fusil de rayé” or simply “fusil,” is a term that is used synonymously
with that of the “carbine,” “gun,” or could even mean “shot gun”—all non-rifled barrel guns.326
Nathaniel is emphatic in correcting the French term (which is almost comical), emphasizing the
weapon’s name they give him is an inaccurate misconception. Whether Cooper is aware of this
blunder or not, Natty’s intentional or unintentional misunderstanding is useful in underscoring
the comical turn in Last of the Mohicans. Natty’s objection to his name occurs when he is tied to
a tree and about to be shot. His obsession over this almost insignificant detail of semantics
occurs while he is in such dire straits; his concern over such detail features both a comical
apprehension over a seemingly insignificant feature in such frightful circumstances and also
325 The Deerslayer 814.
326 Westly R. Burrell, “James Fenimore Cooper and the ‘Long Rifle.’” Michigan Alumnus
Quarterly Review 60.10 (1953) 142.
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reflects the courage Natty maintains under fire. The situation nonetheless provides more gravitas
to Natty’s own consternation. He takes substantial insult at the appellation even when his life
hangs in the balance, as he obsesses over what he deems is the correct terminology. He interprets
the appellation specifically through an American lens (rather than through the French language
or the Mingo’s semantics). As both the French and Mingos are enemies, he would not acquiesce
to the name. He refuses to bend to his enemy’s idioms, only accepting English or Mohican gun
definitions and appellations. This humorous episode reveals a nationalistic control over gun
definitions and characterizations. Even if the French “carabine” is sensibly appropriate, Natty
will have none of it. He is adamant, even in the face of death, to enter a tirade about what
appellations will and will not identify him. The American hero and his gun stubbornly preserve,
engender, and honor the only characteristics and titles that Natty perceives as true—even if, in an
unsophisticated manner. As the definition of the gun is at stake, for Natty, so is his own identity.
The correction of this false naming plays a role in Heyward’s heroic attempt to assume
Natty’s identity and accept his punishment. After Natty objects to the “Le Longue Carabine”
title, the Delaware believe that they have captured their nemesis, “Le Longue Carabine.”
Heyward, in an attempt to save Nathaniel’s life, professes to be that man. However, Natty cannot
allow this kindness. To establish his identity, Natty proposes a shooting competition, an event
that occurs in many of the Leatherstocking Tales. First, Natty makes an astounding shot without
aiming down the barrel. Heyward calls it sheer luck. Then, Natty nicks the bottom of a gourd just
enough to make it appear untouched by a bullet, knowing that upon closer observation the
incredible accuracy of the shot will be revealed. Cooper describes Natty as he fires as becoming
almost inextricably merged to his gun: “without tremor of variation, as though both man and rifle
196
were carved in stone.”327 Anticipation builds each time Hawkeye fires. At times, Cooper traces
the bullet’s course, and other times he follows the action of Hawkeye. In either case, the action
of man and gun become one. The authentic American man and gun cannot be counterfeited
This unifying description of man and gun is common throughout Nathaniel’s saga. For
instance, in The Pioneers (1823) at yet another shooting competition, “an ancient amusement”—
the traditional Christmas turkey-shoot—Natty discharges Killdeer and smoke fills the scene. In
this commotion, the audience is uncertain of the result. Natty, in a quiet and dignified manner,
places Killdeer’s stock on the snow and opens, “his mouth in one of his silent laughs, and then
proceeds very coolly to recharge his piece” having full knowledge of his accomplishment.328
Throughout the episode, Nathaniel maintains an intimate connection discerning his gun’s actions
and secrets before they can even be confirmed. The turkey, as well as his reputation as the best
shot in the territory, has once again become his prize. Within this scene and many others, Cooper
instills within the American rifle a sense of certainty, skill, and a quiet sense of superiority.
Nathaniel gains his titles and defends them through the gun, not in a European style duel, but in
an all-American turkey-shoot. Cooper crafts these characteristics of simplicity, certainty,
practicality, and veracity as American—a sense of masculinity that is something to be sought
after and proven with the gun.
From the moment Natty obtains his rifle, he and his gun are almost inseparable. He holds
it as he swims and climbs cliffs, causing him at times to lag behind others. But in dire
327 James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales. Vol. 1 (New York: Viking Press 1985)
18.
328 The Leatherstocking Tales 216.
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circumstances, it proves well worth its constant heft as it serves a significant role in resolving
central conflicts throughout Cooper’s chronicles. In The Pioneers Nathaniel uses Killdeer to
dispatch a panther pursuing Elizabeth and Louisa. In Last of the Mohicans (1826), Nathaniel
finally removes the antagonist, Magua, with one final gunshot from Killdeer. And, in The Prairie
(1827) Nathaniel uses Killdeer to save his crew without even firing his weapon. After the Tetons
set fire to the prairie grass to capture or kill members of his crew, Nathaniel uses the flash pan
from his rifle to start a backfire, preventing them from being scorched. Through such a variety
of methods, Nathaniel judiciously uses his “gifts” and knowledge of his rifle to preserve life,
offset violence, and establish the more moral and ethical means of using firearms as it is often set
against characters that typify the violent Native Americans, the rash and naïve white colonists,
and the “trigger happy” soldiers, who do not apply themselves in as correct a manner as Natty
and become one with their gun and the creeds for which it stands.
At one point in the Leatherstocking series, Nathaniel offers to separate himself from
Killdeer. In The Last of the Mohicans Natty strives to bargain his life for Cora’s, asserting, “I
will throw ‘kill-deer’ into the bargain. Take the word of an experienced hunter, the piece has not
its equal atween the provinces.”329 Adding, “if I should teach your young men the real virtue of
the we’pon, it would smooth the little differences in our judgments.”330 Natty is willing to
deliver up himself along with his weapon in order to maintain peace and protect Cora. Natty
volunteers to part with Killdeer (and offers shooting lessons to the young men) if it will save a
life. Though Natty is most always connected with his rifle, he does in few occasions part with
329 The Leatherstocking Tales 835.
330 The Leatherstocking Tales 836.
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Killdeer. In one instance he stashes Killdeer before he enters into an Indian village, laying it
aside as he—at the moment—realizes the gun is safe and he needs to cover ground more quickly.
In another instance, he sheds himself of his rifle in order to hint to David Gamut, the traveling
musician captured by the Mingo, that he is close by and plotting to save them.331 He does so in
order to move quickly and in order to keep himself from being identified by the other Mingo. In
one other instance, he stashes it as well as Uncas’s firearm under a bush before he goes into the
Delaware village. Yet, for the most part of the Leatherstocking Tales, when Natty is present so is
Killdeer.
As the quintessential American frontier weapon, Killdeer seems unstoppable in the hands
of Natty—“Sertain death,” as Natty says.332 Nathaniel claims it as a character or living/conscious
entity on its own, which contains mystical secrets and virtues to those penitent enough to
perceive them. It symbolizes the authority to advocate life and death. It speaks, just as Natty
does, with assertive exclamations. As Cooper strives to establish an American hero, he is also
establishing an American gun, made in America, from American maple, which is more effective
than the English shot-guns, or what Natty calls a “pop-gun,” or English muskets, or even the
French “carabine,” fitting naturally within the particularities of the American frontier.
It is through Nathaniel that Cooper is able to show that peaceful, diplomatic processes,
are the values behind quintessentially American gun proprietors. One must maintain an
331 James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales. Vol. 1 (New York: Viking Press 1985)
846-847.
332 James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales. Vol. 2 (New York: Viking Press 1985)
922.
199
understanding and judicious mind and use caution before gun use is allowed. Many times, it is
Nathaniel who first offers an olive branch to the enemy before turning to gunfire. Cooper
continually asserts a restrained, moderate temperament and even goodwill and respect for all life,
through Nathaniel—all of which rests within his appeal for sympathy. The power of compassion
and sensitivity in his frontier hero is apparent in Deerslayer (1841). When Nathaniel and Hurry
Harry (also known as “Henry March”) argue over the value of life with respects to one’s race,
Hurry asserts, “White is the highest colour, and therefore the best man” and that an Indian is,
“counted as more than half human”333 and almost goes as far as claiming the only good Indian is
a dead one. Furthermore, Hurry is astounded that Deerslayer has not yet killed a Native and is
almost ashamed for him. Furthermore, Hurry tries to win Deerslayer over into esteeming his
business of taking and selling scalps for money. Cooper asserts, “Hurry had all the prejudices
and antipathies of a white hunter, who generally regards the Indian as a natural competitor, and,
not unfrequently, as a natural enemy. As a matter of course, he was loud, clamorous, dogmatical,
and not very argumentative [meaning his ideas were rigid and narrow enough to not allow for
argument].”334 As with many of Cooper’s stereotypes of white hunters, Hurry Harry is
characterized as blatantly prejudiced, bigoted, and inflexibly brash. These knee-jerk reactionary
thoughts follow him as his character mirrors the cliché to shoot first and ask questions later.
Harry’s unquestionably stubborn ideas are often fueled by economic competition and taken to
the extreme and used to justify manslaughter for money. Not so for Nathaniel Bumppo.
333 The Leatherstocking Tales 527.
334 The Leatherstocking Tales 527.
200
Cooper contrasts Hawkeye with Hurry. Rather than being too quick to judge,
“Deerslayer, on the other hand, manifested a different temper; proving, by moderation of his
language, the fairness of his views, and the simplicity of his distinctions, that he possessed every
disposition to hear reason, a strong, innate desire to do justice.”335 Though, as already explored,
Cooper maintains that rights to gun ownership are almost exceptionally “American,” Cooper also
maintains the basic requisites of a high moral character that must be found within any gun
owner. Through Hurry, Cooper not only questions judgments, personal philosophies, and
motives, but also demonstrates mistrust, and even foreboding over Hurry’s conduct in killing and
scalping Natives. It is this calamitous act, which Natty vehemently opposes, that all the lives of
those in Natty’s party are placed in jeopardy. As Natty and Hurry argue over what is ethical or
as they state, “lawful and onlawful [sic],” Cooper draws the reader into the debate, favoring the
more “Christian” perspective of his heroic shooter. The young hunter, Natty, affirms, “When the
Colony’s laws, or even the King’s laws, run ag’in the laws of God, they get to be onlawful, and
ought not to be obeyed. I hold to a white man’s respecting white laws, so long as they do not
cross the track of a law comin’ from a higher authority [...].”336 Here, Cooper offers a deeper
understanding of Nathaniel, also known as “The Pathfinder,” for Natty God’s as well as “the
man without a cross.”337 Nathaniel, rather than assuming the socially accepted epistemological
postulations of his older, more experienced companion, Hurry, Natty squares himself with both
natural and Divine laws, choosing the path dictated by a higher authority. Nathaniel, unlike
335 The Leatherstocking Tales 527.
336 The Leatherstocking Tales 25.
337 The Leatherstocking Tales 25.
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Hurry, weighs life before he takes it and does not (at least tries to not) cross or go against the
laws, or path God has given. Granted, Pathfinder, as “a man without a cross,” is not “crossed”
with Indian blood, which Cooper continually reminds his readers, to reassert that Nathaniel
Bumppo—though well-versed in Native languages and customs—is not an “Indian.” Ultimately,
Natty (as the Pathfinder) constantly attempts to read or discern from nature and reason which
(including cross-cultural understanding) path to take. Once discerned, he does not oppose—or
cross—what God or Nature has designated.
Cooper reflects upon morals and discipline even in the wardrobe of these two characters.
Nathaniel, though younger and less experienced than Hurry, is dressed, “more particularly to the
part connected with his arms and accoutrements.”338 Nathaniel has powder horn, knife, shot
pouch, and knife, placed meticulously about his body. As noted before, Nathaniel is one with his
rifle, so is his dress; this is “connected with his arms [firearms].” Hurry, on the other hand, is
“careless, slovenly” and “reckless.”339
The Ethics of the Kentucky Rifle Compared to “European” Weaponry
Throughout The Leatherstocking Tales, Cooper defines a marked difference between the
transplanted European ethics in gun culture and that of the Kentucky rifle. The very first chapter
338 The Leatherstocking Tales 499.
339 The Leatherstocking Tales 499.
202
of The Pioneers demarcates this difference in Natty and Judge Temple. Judge Temple stops his
sled, hearing the hunter’s dogs howl as they track a deer, in hopes of gaining bragging rights by
bagging the animal before Natty has a chance. Temple pulls out his shotgun and fires twice as
the animal leaps into the path before him. Just after Temple fires, two other shots are heard and
the buck falls. Natty and Oliver instantly emerge from behind two tree trunks—as if from the
landscape itself. To Natty’s surprise, Judge Temple boasts of his excellent shot and claims to
have killed the deer, himself. The claim is in question and leads a jovial argument between Judge
Temple and Natty.
The Judge declares,
“Ha! Natty, had I known you were in ambush, I should not have fired,” cried the
traveller. [...]
“No—no—Judge,” returned the hunter, with an inward chuckle, and with a look of
exultation, that indicates a consciousness of superior skill; “you burn your powder, only
to warm your nose this cold evening. Did ye think to stop a full-grown buck […] with
that pop-gun in your hand? There’s plenty of pheasants amongst the swamps; and the
snow birds are flying round your own door, and shoot them at pleasure, any day; but if
you’re for a buck, or a little bear’s meat, Judge, you’ll have to take the long rifle, with a
greased wadding, or you’ll waste more powder than you’ll fill stomachs, I’m thinking.340
The conversation is more of a contest of hunting knowledge and experience, one in which the
reader begins to question the Judge’s own strength of discernment. The Judge claims that he had
340 James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales. Vol. 1 (New York: Viking Press 1985)
19.
203
killed a deer with the shotgun once before and that he packed one barrel with buckshot and the
other with birdshot. Where the first barrel may have stood a chance to take down the deer, the
contents of the other barrel would have been best not to shoot—this act proves precarious and
destructive. Yet, the Judge still fires. Natty laughs “inwardly” at the tenderfoot mistake the Judge
is making in trying to shoot a deer with lightweight shot meant for birds. The Judge continues,
“Here are two hurts; one through the neck, and the other directly through the heart. It is by no
means certain, Natty, but I gave one of the two.”341 Again the Judge misinterprets the actions
that had taken place. Natty sets the Judge straight, explaining the two holes were made by rifle
bullets rather than the Judge’s smoothbore filled shot. It is Natty’s bullet that wounded the deer
in the neck, and the last shot “was sent from a younger truer and a younger hand, than your’n and
mine ‘ither.”342 Natty claims that Oliver maintains the right to the deer and that the hunter that
made the shot that killed the game is always entitled to the deer, holding to practical and natural
laws of the hunt. Natty holds to these traditional laws of the wilderness even though he is afraid
that the Judge, who owns the land, may be attempting to exercise new-fangled laws just now
taking over the territory. Natty represents “free country liberty” in contention with Temple’s “old
world” dogmas. Though Natty’s concern here is disregarded, Cooper offers a glimpse at the
novel’s major conflicts as Natty’s character, simple, practical, and idealistic, is in direct contrast
with British abstract law and customs. It was the rifle that brought down the deer, and the
European scattergun was only effective in haphazardly shooting Oliver as he (Oliver) was
341 The Leatherstocking Tales 19.
342 The Leatherstocking Tales 19-20.
204
hunting the deer on the other side of the road. The Judge, here, is ironically not judicious,
precise, or accurate. He shoots the wrong type of gun, he shoots Oliver instead of the deer, and
he adjudicates that he has shot the deer and should have the rightful claim. When Natty states
Oliver has the rightful claim, the judge even attempts to bribe the two hunters to say that the
Judge was the one that shot the deer. In this introductory meeting, the Judge—old British law—
is not only useless, but is corrupt, worthless, and even harmful within this new environment.
Copper demonstrates these antiquated customs through gun etiquette—the hunters are right and
the Judge is erroneous in more ways than one.
Not only are Natty’s gun ethics at odds with the old world’s antiquated laws designating
the aristocratic ownership of all game, but they are also at odds with the new laws dealing with
hunting seasons, which Natty regards as unnatural. If any regulation should be placed upon
hunting deer, Natty asserts, shooters should only be allowed to hunt with a rifle rather than a
smoothbore. Once again, Natty who knows the territory is able to discern more than the
sophisticated Judge. Natty is making a case for using the right tool for the job. Furthermore, the
gun regulation Natty proposes has proper evidential support, as the scattergun wounded a fellow
hunter. After the hunting season is instituted, Natty speaks out against such tyranny, asserting
natural, God-given laws instead. In this fashion, his rifle, and title of Deerslayer becomes
couched in a political issue and his bullet becomes ballot, practicing civil disobedience.
Nathaniel’s act of poaching reaffirms the name of his rifle, Killdeer, and stresses Natty’s act of
noncompliance and refusal to be subjugated. Here, as on many other occasions, Killdeer
becomes his political voice.
205
Cooper’s rejection of old-world gun culture is apparent in Natty’s view of pistols as well.
In The Deerslayer, Nathaniel, Chingachgook, and Judith uncover items in Tom Hutter’s
mysterious chest to reveal,
a pair of pistols, curiously inlaid with silver. Their value would have been considerable,
in one of the towns, though as weapons, in the woods they were a species of arms seldom
employed; never, indeed, unless it might be some officer from Europe, who visited the
colonies, as many were then wont to do, so much impressed with superiority of the
usages of London, as to fancy they were not to be laid aside on the frontier of America.343
Cooper’s passage first takes issue with the pistol’s value. Though in a town, these intricately
designed dueling pistols could catch a fair price, particularly due to the craftsmanship of their
inlaid silver. Cooper makes a crucial distinction between aristocratic European fashions and the
more rugged and simplistic style of the Kentucky rifles. Cooper asserts that these pistols really
belong in London where their usage is connected more with fashion and distinction of rank and
family name—“superiority,” whereas in America, such intricate pistols hold little distinction and
even less usefulness. However, in contrast to how a British officer would perceive them useful in
London as a means of preserving the honor of the family name, he would assume they held even
more importance in the American frontier. The guns mirror the essence of their nation. As
Killdeer is true, accurate, efficient, made from the frontier for the frontier, the European dueling
pistols are designed to designate distinction in society, meant to settle disputes and offenses
against family honor rather than to gain food, or defend political rights. On the banks of the
343 James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales. Vol. 2 (New York: Viking Press 1985)
698.
206
Susquehanna such a social placeholder becomes laughable. Even the wilderness conspires
against their intricate design as the elements corrode them over time. The author pulls the reader
in to share a quiet laugh with Natty who sees the folly of bringing such uselessly intricate pistols
into the American frontier.
Gun Dangers and Etiquette
The two pistols not only symbolize Europe’s inept perceptions of firearms and ultimately
useless gun customs (dueling) when transported to America, but they also demonstrate the
dangers inherent in treating them without due respect. After Natty discovers the two intricate
European pistols in the chest, he lays out particular issues of gun safety. From the look of the
pistols, Chingachgook deems these weapons, “Child gun” and begins handling the instrument,
“as if it had been a toy.”344 Natty perceives this blunder and quickly intervenes, “Not it, Sarpent;
not it—t’was made for a man and would satisfy a giant, if rightly used. But stop; white men are
remarkable for their carelessness in putting away fire arms, in chists and corners. Let me look if
care has been given to these.”345 Natty takes the pistols to show that they were loaded.
Chingachgook looks on in amazement at the old caked priming on the piece, after years of
inattention, “for he was in the practice of renewing his priming daily, and of looking into the
piece, at short intervals.”346 Cooper, here, reveals the care and respect that Natives give to
firearms and compares that to “white culture.” Cooper underlines that the Native Americans’
344 The Leatherstocking Tales 698.
345 The Leatherstocking Tales 698.
346 The Leatherstocking Tales 698.
207
awareness and veneration for firearms are always accompanied by proper care and consternation.
According to Chingachgook, these pistols, with over-embellished design, yet discarded and
neglected in the chest, could not be practical weapons, but a child’s playthings. Cooper
constructs a Native American Native perspective and respect for firearms and contrasts it with
“white man’s neglect.” Chingachgook highlights the indignity white culture has assumed
concerning gun use, taking for granted the power and hazards that come with them.
Understanding this recklessness Natty proclaims,
This is white neglect,’[...] shaking his head, ‘and scarce a season goes by, that some one,
in the settlements does n’t suffer from it. It’s extr’ornary too, Judith—yes, it’s downright
extr’ornary that the owner shall fire his deer, or some other game, or perhaps at an inimy,
and twice out of three times he’ll miss; but let him catch an accident with one of these
forgotten charges, and he makes it sartain death to a child, or a brother, or a fri’nd!347
Cooper underscores the deplorable inexperience and naiveté of American settlers/citizens, as
Natty morosely recounts the “white neglect” these settlers have in regard to guns. Natty recalls
that almost every season some accident involving firearms occurs. Partly in jest and partly in
solemn melancholy, he reminds—more the reader than Chingachgook—that American
settlers/citizens are more accurate at shooting their own children, brothers, or friends than they
are at shooting game or enemies. Just as in The Pioneers, Judge Temple does just that, as he is
shooting at a deer, his aim slips and he unintentionally shoots Oliver. Although The Deerslayer:
The First Warpath predates The Pioneers chronologically, Natty’s sobering words of caution
347 The Leatherstocking Tales 698.
208
were published eighteen years after Judge Temple’s blunder. Yet, rather than offering a comical
comparisons of expert hunters—Natty and Oliver—with that of unfit settlers such as Judge
Temple, Cooper uses a darker sense of irony to underscore what he and Natty deem a major
growing problem in America, arguing against the deadly effects of neglected guns and gun
accidents caused by Americans’ delinquent consideration of gun-safety. Within these negligent
practices, Natty argues against the lack of gun etiquette that many settlers exhibit. Nathaniel
distinguishes between the expert and the dabbler who pretends to be skilled. Also, as the
settlements push the frontier boundary, Natty seems to imply a time may come when the gun’s
usefulness may be considerably limited. Nathaniel, like Frederick Jackson Turner implies in his
Frontier Thesis, believes that there is always space between wilderness and civilization. He and
his gun navigate between war-like Natives and the obsolete laws and ills of society. Natty
effectively uses his gun against the latter yet shows concern when the gun becomes part of
societal ills or cultural problems.
Though esteeming gun use, interest, and skill as nationalizing tropes in his literature,
Cooper expresses caution for the gun aficionado. As Cooper is placing the gun as spectacle in his
tales, he also exhibits concern that one must consider such power with respect, establishing gun
etiquette and principles through Natty Bumppo (as well as many of his other protagonists).
Returning to the pistols found in the chest, Natty, after examining the caked priming and neglect,
believes these pistols to be dangerous and they need to be discharged. Natty bases much of his
prophetic assertions as warnings, couching his tone in nostalgic melancholy and marvel or
irony—often in the heat of battle. Natty is constantly striving to make the correct judgment call
before firing, holding trigger-happy individuals with deep disdain. Natty also touts much of his
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knowledge as he laughingly smiles at the frontiersmen’s and settlers’ naivety regarding hunting
and guns. As Cooper, the gun moralist, develops Nathaniel, his character is also conditioning and
directing readership toward correct gun etiquette and safety.
The warning that Cooper gives Nathaniel regarding gun safety is accompanied by an
even more stringent warning regarding the inherent violence evident in guns’ use in war. In The
Pathfinder (1840) as Nathaniel and Chingachgook are accompanying Master Cap and Mabel
down the river in hostile Iroquois territory, Nathaniel and Master Cap begin to discuss the
consequences of the recent war. Cap addresses his expertise in the war as the coast and how trade
routes need his service for defense. Pathfinder (Natty) in a more morose manner, addresses the
unfortunate violence caused by the war, as he declares,
None can tell better than we who dwell in the woods […] I have often followed their [the
English and the French] line of march by bones bleaching in the rain, and have found
their trail by graves, years after they and their pride had vanished together. Generals and
privates, they lay scattered throughout the land, so many proofs of what men are when
led on by their love of great names, and the wish to be more than their fellows.348
Natty, as he takes upon himself the appellation of Pathfinder, describes the sullen path he finds in
the country. In the wake of many battles of The Seven Years’ War, the heroic protagonist that
we perceived in Last of the Mohicans and The Deerslayer develops even more disdain for
violence, greed, and even the quixotic adventurer, “led on by the love of great names,” and
rebukes the heroic endeavors and notions of superiority that the soldiers maintain. Pathfinder,
348 James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales. Vol. 2 (New York: Viking Press 1985)
99.
210
Nathaniel, becomes a voice for the woods of the American frontier, witnessing the destruction
and unnecessary loss of life upon his path. Master Cap, astonished at such a dolorous account
rejoins, “I must say, Master Pathfinder, that you sometimes utter opinions that are a little
remarkable, for a man who lives by the rifle; seldom snuffing the air but he smells gunpowder, or
turning out of his birth but to bear down on an enemy,”349 to which Natty quickly retorts,
If you think I pass my days in warfare against my kind, you know neither me, nor my
history. The man that lives in the woods, and on the frontiers, must take chances of the
things among which he dwells. For this I am not accountable, being but humble and
powerless hunter and scout and guide […] No—no—bloodshed and warfare are not my
real gifts, but peace and marcy.350
Master Cap., surprised at the character and ideals that Pathfinder portrays, assumes that one who
“lives by the rifle” would maintain an ultimate goal to constantly live in pursuit of battle, war,
and the kill. Though Pathfinder does, at times, foresee an enemy needing to be killed when the
time is right, he asserts he does not live by the rifle, “bloodshed and warfare” are not his gifts,
but rather “peace and mercy.”
Cooper, here, reasserts the key features of his renowned character, features he may have
perceived as being in jeopardy in the new-fangled frontier heroes that came to fruition after Last
of the Mohicans was published (1826). Novels, such as John A. McClung’s Camden, a tale of
“Western Adventure” (1830), depict frontier heroes as being drawn to violence and anxious to
remove Native Americans from the territory. McClung, for instance, features Daniel Boone
349 The Leatherstocking Tales, Vol. 2 99.
350 The Leatherstocking Tales, Vol. 2 99.
211
moving westward trading the security of a village for “the more thrilling excitement of savage
warfare.”351 Indeed, Cooper’s text envisions an America that transcends the simplistic villainous
perspectives of the Native, depicting peace, temperance, and judicious discernment at the heart
of his prized protagonist and within the core values of the nation.
Cooper’s Captivity
Aside from creating a protagonist who is at the same time European and Native
American, Cooper is able to capitalize on this confrontation of the two cultures by tapping into
the captivity narrative in the Leatherstocking Series. Indeed, it is captivity in Last of the
Mohicans that provides the plot with a motive of Native revenge. Colonel Munro has whipped
Magua for coming into their camp drunk, his status as chief is now gone. Also, Magua learns that
in his absence, his wife has married another. For this, he blames Colonel Munro and seeks to kill
him, capture, marry and impregnate his daughter, Alice. In this act, Magua feels that Colonel
Munro’s bloodline would end and his will survive. At the epicenter of this battle for supremacy
between Anglo-Americans and American Natives is Nathaniel, the composite of the two cultures
and the prototype of Cooper’s ideal American. Yet it is Natty who must put an end to Magua’s
malicious plot for revenge by killing him. Within this final dénouement, a bullet from Killdeer
ends Magua’s life. His death fulfills a substantial conflict-resolution that began to build ever
since Magua’s first deceitful act of violence. The conniving, bloodthirsty Magua will not have
351 John Alexander McClung, Sketches of Western Adventure: containing an Account of the Most
Interesting Adventure connected with the Settlements of the West from 1755 to 1794. (Covington: Richard
H. Collins 1872) 85.
212
any descendants, yet, ironically, neither will the Mohicans. Before Magua dies, he kills the
faithful Uncas, unfortunately terminating their bloodline as well. 352
Through these violent means, Cooper offers American readers a window into Native
eradication and expulsion that had been successively occurring since the sixteen hundreds—a
subject that was becoming even more contentious political issue at the time of The Last of the
Mohicans’ publication (1826).353 Cooper applauds the end of the bloodthirsty Natives, through
the Anglo-American Natty. Yet he laments the annihilation of the Mohicans, placing the blame
upon another Native. The termination of Magua’s and the Mohican bloodline are portrayed as
anticipated and inevitable, as Cooper’s title implies. In such a way, Cooper places Americans in
a position concurring with political issues regarding Native American relocation. For instance, in
1825 (the year before The Last of the Mohicans was published), President Monroe requested the
creation of the Arkansas and Indian (what would become most of Oklahoma) Territories from
the Senate. The proposal would request the various nations (the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee,
and many others) to exchange their lands for territory west of the Mississippi. After the Senate’s
approval, the bill was rejected by the House of Representatives. In 1830, four years after the
publication of The Last of the Mohicans, Andrew Jackson revisited the “issue” proposing the
Indian Removal Act. Within this political context, readers of Last of the Mohicans could
perceive the removal as both necessary and inevitable. The death of Magua is necessary and the
death of Uncas: inevitable. As both evil and noble “savages” are removed from Cooper’s
352 The theme of continuing one’s tribe, bloodline and progeny in The Last of the Mohicans
supports Richard Slotkin’s Regeneration through Violence (2000).
353 During the Presidency of James Monroe, John C. Calhoun, the secretary of War, created plans
for Native removal.
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narrative, Natives are being removed, predominantly from the Southern States to federal land
west of the Mississippi River. Cooper’s text offers readers a backdrop for processing current
moral ramifications for political actions. Though The Last of the Mohicans laments the death of
Uncas and many other Natives, the removal is perceived as predictable and even unavoidable.
For instance, Tamenund, the sage and chief of the Lenni-Lenape, discusses the past promise of
peace from the white men, and then proclaims, “I know that the pale-faces are a proud and
hungry race, I know that they claim, not only to have the earth, but the meanest of their colour is
better than […] the red man. […] They have entered the land at the rising, and may yet go off at
the setting sun!”354 Tamenund foresees colonization as a threat to the Natives and forecasts
Manifest Destiny. He even refers to white men as locusts devouring trees and even addresses that
when the white men colonized along “every brook,” the Native tribe had to retreat, “following
the deer back to the river of our nation.”355 Cooper, through the sage, reveals the Native and
Anglo-American conflict as unavoidable and the Native retreat, removal, or demise would be the
eventual solution.
In such a manner Nathaniel’s Killdeer fulfills the mythical role that early American
colonists (such as John Smith) bestowed upon the gun. The Natives fear Killdeer. The gun and
its shooter’s reputation precedes them and Natives demonstrate nervousness if they hear the
report of Killdeer or perceive Nathaniel coming. It is the gun that upholds women’s virtue,
colonial presence, and eradicates deceitful Natives, such as the prowling “Renard Subtil” (the
354 James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales. Vol. 1 (New York: Viking Press 1985)
825.
355 The Leatherstocking Tales, Vol. 1 832.
214
Wiley Fox) another appellation for Magua. In the wake of such Native removal and eradication,
the Anglo-Americans create a culture and establish a nation of their own—an adaptation of both
Native and European values and characteristics, regenerating and rechristening the territory as
their own.
The Last of the Mohicans serves as a capstone in conflating both Native and European
elements into an American culture and within representations the American rifle. In Cabeza de
Vaca’s narrative, the gun is deemed useless against the Natives. Though the hurricane certainly
hurried the outcome, the Spanish who survived are made captives by the Natives. The Spanish
are portrayed as pathetic and on the brink of starvation. But through his captivity, De Vaca learns
survival skills and develops a relationship with the Natives that help him cross a large portion of
the continent where he comes in contact with the conquistadors who are making slaves of the
Natives. He writes to the governor proposing a new model for dealing with the Natives as
equals. Similar to Cooper’s protagonist, De Vaca, lived among indigenous people, felt their
compassion, and witnessed both their loyalty and treachery. Yet as Uncas, the remaining Last of
the Mohicans dies, the reader’s eye turns to Nathaniel, the Anglo-American character who has
adopted and understands the Mohican culture.356 If regeneration of the race’s qualities is to be
achieved in Last of the Mohicans, it is through the cultural adaptability found within the
protagonist and not biological reproduction.
356 Much of James Fenimore Cooper’s inspiration for Natty Bumppo’s moral compass and
ancestral heritage is found with his contact with Moravian missionaries that converted many Delaware.
Natty’s hybridity of European and Middleastern descent is further explored in Lindsey Claire Smith,
“Cross-Cultural Hybridity in James Fenimore Cooper’s ‘The Last of the Mohicans.” American
Transcendental Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 3, Sept. 2006 547.
215
Cooper stresses similar aspects through the capture of his protagonist. Captivity becomes
pivotal for both the hero and the gun. Captain John Smith is able to assess the economic
relationship as he shows off his pistols, muskets, and makes false promises as a means of
furthering trade with Powhatan. Smith’s captivity narrative finds a means to establish trade,
diplomacy, and a peaceful means of coexistence. Later, in eighteenth and nineteenth-century
renditions of his adventures, authors created a narrative where he and Pocahontas become
romantically involved, by which the two cultures experience becomes connected unified. Mary
Rowlandson, in like manner, experiences a new cultural understanding as she finds herself
“removed” from original Puritanical perspectives. Lewis and Clark adapt and adopt Native
customs and styles. In a similar fashion, Cooper’s economic, political, and epistemological views
undergo considerable changes due to his perception of what he deems valuable in the Native
experience. As Nathaniel becomes a foundational character for the American frontier hero, his
rifle, Killdeer, becomes the Campbellesque “hero’s boon.” Cooper constantly places the plight of
his protagonist in this environment where he encounters both the noble and the savage inherent
in the indigenous European populations. Though Nathaniel is not a captive, he has, in his
knowledge and adopted manners of the Native language and customs, captured the essence of the
Native assimilation of wilderness.357 As already discussed, his characteristics link both European
and Native culture to make an American identity, in a manner similar to Lewis and Clark, and
also Mary Rowlandson’s image during the Revolutionary War. Nathaniel is able to meld the
values of these two cultures in Native dress and Killdeer in hand.
357“We hear two young Men” The Boston Gazette 20 Aug. to 27 Aug. 1733 3.
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Cooper’s Mishaps and Misfires
Cooper, as a moralist, references ever-increasing statistics of shooting accidents in
America. In addition to one of the first well-known accidents from early settlement, news articles
broadcast many of these unfortunate narratives within their pages. For instance in 1733,
approximately the same time period of Deerslayer, “We hear two Young Men went west to shoot
Pidgeons in the Narragansett Woods, and by Accident shot the other in the Forehead, and lodged
many Shots there insomuch that his Life is in great Danger.”358 Then further down upon this
same page of The Boston Gazette, a man stopped by the Smith’s shop and placed a rifle on the
ground,
charge[d] with Powder and Shot, and the Barrel in his Hand, holding towards him almost
perpendicular, a spark flew Accidentally from the Forge into the Pan of his Gun, which
dischar’d it so near his Face, that Shot has blown off his Chin, the tip of his Tongue and
most Part of his Nose and Forehead, and made him a frightful Spectacle. He is under the
Cure of a Skilful Surgeon. It was supposed if the Barrel of the Gun had inclined one Inch
nearer he would have blown his Brains out.359
These mournful events happened with such frequency that they establish a niche within the news
that unfortunately still continues today within the United States. These reports appear often in
newspapers, with headings like “Most Melancholy Accident” or “Dreadful Accident from
358“We are inform’d” The Boston Gazette 20 Aug. to 27 Aug. 1733 3.
359 “We are inform’d” The Boston Gazette 20 Aug. to 27 Aug. 1733 3.
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Careless Use of Firearms.”360 Another, report which occurred three years before Cooper
published Deerslayer, informs readers,
Mr. Christian Winter […] accidentally shot his eldest son, a promising boy about 8 years
of age, through the head. The ball entered on the left side, a little in front of the ear, and
passed out the back of the head, carrying a portion of the brain and skull along with it.
The child continued to breathe for fifteen or twenty minutes, when it expired. Mr. W. was
examining a pistol, which accidentally went off, the ball passing through his own hand,
through the child’s head, slightly wounding a young man in his employment in the arm,
and lodged in a portion of the room in which the accident occurred.361
The image of this boy, almost eight, with his brains blown out of his skull, still breathing for
close to fifteen minutes and suffering such a violent and unnecessary death, begs pathos from the
reader and the question why.
News of these events must have influenced Cooper in some way to critique the
lackadaisical manner in which many Americans treated the power of life and death placed within
the loaded gun. Cooper demonstrates major concerns with Americans disregarding proper gun
etiquette, gun storage, and gun use. He expresses major apprehensions toward the American,
“false pride and frontier boastfulness,”362 and in the way Euro-Americans treat both the Natives
360 Peter Manseau, Melancholy Accidents: Three Centuries of Stray Bullets and Bad Luck.
Brooklyn, London: Melville House, 2016. Peter Manseau traces three hundred years of gun fascination,
highlighting the accidental shootings and trends in dark, poetic reports.
361 “Melancholy Accident” The Sun, 24 November 1838, (qtd. in) Peter Manseau. Melancholy
Accidents: Three Centuries of Stray Bullets and Bad Luck. (Brooklyn, London: Melville House, 2016) 85.
362 James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales. Vol. 2 (New York: Viking Press, 1985)
522.
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and their guns haphazardly. In the finale of his Leatherstocking series, Cooper turns to his
quintessential hero, positioning Nathaniel in his youth, and reinforces the same creeds he has
always done within his well-known protagonist. Nathaniel does his best to keep “blood off of the
conscience.”363 Within the first three chapters of Deerslayer, Hurry emphatically argues with
Natty, accusing Nathaniel of being overly cautious with his rifle. Hurry claims that hunting “four
footed beasts” is not heroic and that if he is to make his mark as a well-known frontier hero he
must practice his rifle on the Delaware.364 Nathaniel is proud that he has never shot anyone in his
life—which will soon change as he kills a Native in defense of his life. Hurry in favor of
shooting the Natives and then scalping them for money even implicitly accuses the tenderfoot of
being “chicken” and faint-hearted.365 In his earnest retort, Nathaniel, argues, “I’m not
quarrelsome; and that goes a great way towards keeping blood off the hands, among the hunters
and redskins; and then, Harry March, it keeps blood off the conscience, too.”366 In situating
thoughtfulness and an appeal to truth, life, and the allowance of life, instilled in Nathaniel, at
odds with the values of Harry Hurry, a character who reflects false pride and frontier
boastfulness, Cooper emphasizes the traits he deems necessary in American portrayals of frontier
heroes and their cautious, conservative, attitudes towards guns and guns’ use.
363 The Leatherstocking Tales. Vol. 2 522.
364 The Leatherstocking Tales Vol. 2 501.
365 The Leatherstocking Tales Vol. 2 522.
366 The Leatherstocking Tales Vol. 2 522.
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Cooper’s Gun Culture
Cooper establishes an atmosphere that blends both Native American and European
(particularly British) cultural values as he melds them both into the character of Nathaniel
Bumppo. From the mid-eighteenth century on, as explained in the previous chapter, colonials
and Americans constantly returned to the captivity narrative as an answer to the burgeoning
conundrum of a national identity. Pauline Strong states that it is in these captivity narratives—
both factual and fictitious—that Americans found a “compelling representation of an emerging
American Self undergoing a transformation.”367 As Cooper latches on to such a prevalent theme
in which America has a vested public interest, other authors resurrect John Smith’s captivity
narrative and offer several fictional accounts of his rescue by Pocahontas which begin to travel
through the public literary sphere. Strong notes that after the publication of The Last of the
Mohicans (1824), the captivity theme began to pervade even more and “expanded from print to
drama, public sculpture, children’s games, film, and television, remaining today an implicit
model for representations of threatening otherness.”368 It is proposed that these early Americans
turned to such narratives as a response to the problem of a lack of an American national
identity.369 What Cooper is able to do is use the captivity trope to mix and meld identities
originally perceived as opposites, creating a merger of race, creeds, and cultures which pervade
the text, and more importantly define the character of Natty Bumppo. He is civil, but lives in the
367 Pauline Strong, Captive Selves, Captivating Others: The Politics and Poetics of Colonial
American Captivity Narratives. (Boulder: Westview Press 1999) 2.
368 Captive Selves, Captivating Others 2.
369 Richard Slotkin, Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier,
1600-1860. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 2000) 466.
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wilderness; he is deadeye but seldom shoots, he is white but spends most of his time with
Natives—particularly Chingachgook, and he speaks in both the Delaware and English tongue.
In his Regeneration Through Violence (2000), Slotkin argues that Americans of the
1800s turned to the symbolic frontier hero as a response to their contextual issues, “reducing the
complexities and ambiguities of the American situation to a simple, satisfying formula.”370 I
argue that the gun functions in early American literature in a similar way to Slotkin’s frontier
hero. On one side, one expects American literature to address the errors of a government that
would enforce the Trail of Tears (1838-1839) and recognize other atrocities against Native
massacres.371 On the other, one also expects a literary response to reflect the overall political and
cultural zeitgeist or sentiment that advocates Manifest Destiny and evitable control over the
entire North American continent. Such concepts regarding Native removal and Manifest Destiny
all become conflated within the image of the American gun. The gun emblematically reduces
complex narratives of political and moralistic anxieties. For instance, the gun that Natty Bumppo
wields strangely and heroically serves that function. Killdeer collapses into simplistic binaries as
if there will always be a right and wrong time to kill. Here, Cooper, in a similar way, avoids
complex philosophical debate as to when violence is justified in his Notions of the American.
Just as Cooper argues that any person raised with a schoolbook in one hand and a musket in the
other will make correct decisions when pulling the trigger or even assumes that citizens will
know the correct time to stage an insurrection of the government, Cooper also side-steps issues
370 Regeneration Through Violence 466.
371 Due to many of the trumped-up accounts of Natives threating settlers, multiple Indian
massacres occurred throughout the nineteenth century; a few are: Battle of Bad Axe (1832), Cutthroat
Gap (1833), Indian Creek (1832), and the Amador Massacre (1837).
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by returning to Natty’s notion of natural laws and Killdeer’s precision. Cooper offers these two
characters as well-established myths that have been in construction since the American colonial
period; the American hero and his gun become the simplistic answer to intricate issues and
anxieties.
Ironically, as Cooper strove to use the gun and Nathaniel Bumppo to assert American
values of discernment, individuality, natural law, and correct principles, the gun also serves to
conflate questions of ethics, natural law, Native genocide and removal. Guns as myth permit
citizens to ignore notions of Anglo-American hypocrisy in regards to their treatment of the
Natives and duplicitous deeds similar to the British tyranny they experienced. Overall, Cooper
portrays firearms as an integral part of the American frontier, hero, and culture. In his novels,
guns ensure food and protection. They are beneficial in creating a sensible and practical citizenry
and teach responsibility to young men. To Cooper, gun ownership ensures government by the
majority. Their use differentiates the United States’ citizenry and governmental structures from
Europe’s and other tyrannical nations. Though the shooter should be disciplined, like Natty,
Cooper warns readers that many gun owners neglect and disregard accurate and thoughtful
judgment, like Judge Temple and Hurry Harry. In following the promotion of American values,
much of Killdeer’s use also combat governmental tyranny, fights authoritarianism, and offers a
political voice to the hunter (a practical common man). Cooper’s gun gives power to the general
public and becomes a symbol of self-reliance.
Yet, many times, Cooper acts as an American gun moralist, warning readers of the
dangers of misuse and misapplication. As a model gun owner he asserts Natty (dedicated to both
practicality and moral values) as being in tune with the “natural law”—a vague notion—as a
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model for knowing the correct times to shoot and not to shoot. Cooper makes other assumptions,
such as addressing that the majority will “know” when the time is right to take up their guns and
oppose governmental oppression. The line between protection and murder is never blurry for the
literary hero. Cooper’s gun provides much-needed political and societal answers to his public,
yet dangerously conflates complex questions within the gun; questions such as when is violence
justified, or when is staging a governmental coup appropriate, and ultimately, when is killing
another person vindicated. Though these issues easily find a resolute answer within the fictional
gun-toting Natty, more complex issues arise for the United States nations’ gun-toting citizenry
and gun-culture.
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EPILOGUE
UNPACKING THE GUN IN EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE
In this study, I have attempted to unpack ways in which early American literary
representations provided clues to the origins of America’s present-day gun culture. I have traced
the evolution of symbolic images of the gun and gun hero. Within the natural and cultural
environment of the New World, representations of the gun differ greatly from those the Old
World. The gun itself was used in literature to mark that difference. As the gun enters the
American wilderness and encounters Natives, the gun hero becomes a salient figure attached to
significant values and myths that are portrayed as unique to the American environment and its
history. These values play a significant role in the creation of American identity. Guns are
connected with and promote individuality, anti-authoritarianism, self-reliance, self-distinction,
and Anglo-American superiority. In this land of abundance, firearms provide a means of
sustenance and self-reliance. They assuage social anxieties caused by the threats of fierce
animals and hostile Natives. They offer distinction and a sense of superiority for those who
possess this new technology. This feeling of superiority serves as justification for removal and
even the eradication of the original inhabitants of the New World that might oppose their
“progress.” One might say the gun was used to further both the conceptual and actual
development of Manifest Destiny and was also inherent in war propaganda in the Revolutionary
era.
Along with distinguishing Euro-Americans from Natives, the gun was portrayed as
something unique to the colonial experience. The skills developed to stave off aggressive Natives
allegedly set colonials apart from other Europeans. Such purported skills were used to foster
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abstract notions of independence. The colonials were skilled enough to fight Natives, on their
own, no longer dependent as they once were during the French and Indian war—upon the crown
to send British troops for their protection. Furthermore, the gun expertise developed among
colonials while fighting against the Natives could easily be shifted to political conflict against the
tyranny of England and toward battles against the redcoats. Through these early narratives, gun
myths offer a generalized, yet, functional response to early American challenges such as war,
independence, safety and protection, American identity, self-reliance, freedom, revolutionary
propaganda, American heroes, appropriation of land, confiscation of Native territory, and
Manifest Destiny.
Cabeza de Vaca’s account serves as one of the first narratives to introduce the gun to
America. At this point the gun, however, proves to be ineffective. It does little to keep the
Natives at bay. Native skill with the bow far outweighed the Spaniard’s use of the unwieldy and
cumbersome harquebus. The bow is much better suited for frontier conditions. It is much more
maneuverable yet powerful enough to split tree trunks and pierce armor. The accuracy of these
earliest guns was uncertain as the harquebus relied upon dry conditions to be most effective, the
weight of the weapon needed support, and its reloading could take minutes. Through his
captivity, Cabeza de Vaca, who must rely upon the Natives for survival, gains a new appreciation
for this “other” culture. Ultimately his experiences cause him to call into question the Spanish
methods of conquest. He points towards a more diplomatic and humane manner of settling the
New World—in such a method Cabeza’s gun has little clout.
When the English make their first forays into colonization nearly a century later, the
gun’s role grows significantly. Captain John Smith does much to establish the gun in the New
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World. Although gun technology is not much more advanced from de Vaca’s epoch, John Smith
stages the gun, drawing attention to it, embellishing the Native’s reactions to its power. He also
elevates the militia’s skill in the colonies, ensuring peace and also the future success of his
colony. In doing so, he reinforces the view that Natives were incapable, uneducated, and
primitive. Smith’s gun gives colonists a sense of preeminence, though in reality the colonists
heavily rely upon both Natives and European supplements to survive. By using scare tactics
(leveled at the Natives), he is able to create a gun-hero who could supply the colony with
protection and sustenance while they were in dire straits. Admittedly, the Natives were much
more knowledgeable about the land. They knew ways to obtain food and also knew of other
Native Nations’ languages, customs, and alliances. Overall, they were much more adept at
surviving. On the other hand, for colonizers, survival was a constant struggle. But in fact, Smith
brandishes the gun as a means to establish the colonists in a position of cultural superiority over
the Natives in the late fifteen and early sixteen hundreds.
While many Natives surely perceived the gun with interest, the impracticality of such a
weapon in the fifteenth and sixteenth century was overwhelming. Aside from the need for
constant trade for powder and lead, the intricate design of the weapons required much
maintenance and time to simply load and shoot. The blast frightened animals and gave away the
shooter’s position, which ultimately did not fit their hunting or combative style. Yet, the theme
continues through much of early American literature. The presence of the gun causes awe and
fear among the Natives—ensuring safety and preparing the way for more immigration to the
American colonies. These colonists, though migrating for various reasons, received literature
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preparing them for the Americas that assured them that their anxieties could be set aside because
of the inherent protection provided by the gun.
Differing greatly from Smith’s knight-errant style of bravery within the frontier, Mary
Rowlandson evokes a more pious understanding of the gun. The gun, in the hands of the Natives,
does God’s bidding, calling the colony to repentance. Rowlandson implicitly laments that the
military skill that Smith boasts of, did not exist in Lancaster. In the late sixteen hundreds to early
seventeen hundreds, Rowlandson’s narrative places her at the mercy of the Natives and God; yet,
she evokes principles countering such subordination. She becomes industrious within Native
society, barters for sustenance, and stresses individualism, adaptability, survival at all costs, and
hints toward anti-authoritarian thought and action. These values are later, during the American
Revolution, visually appropriated. In the new cover art Rowlandson is represented as defending
her life, family, home, and possessions with a gun leveled at the Natives. Such cover art conveys
an image that the public effectively understood. Within these images of Rowlandson, the gun
serves as a cultural tool which answers political and social issues (like home defense and
colonial independence) that Rowlandson never depicted in her account—as she never held any
weapon nor did she defend her home with a gun. Such a peculiar pairing of the well-read account
of Mary Rowlandson with the gun at the threshold of her home, clearly resonated with its
readership, and the gun myths that pervaded throughout the colonies became usurped for
political agendas in the mid to late seventeen hundreds.
After the Revolutionary war, the gun again became a symbol for authority and political
power as the Lewis and Clark expedition made its trek west providing readers with a narrative in
which the gun’s importance is clearly defined on the American frontier. The Expedition
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reinforces the myth John Smith established as the Corps showcased their firearms through gun
demonstrations to impress the Natives. Both the blunderbuss and the Girandoni Air-rifle are
paraded into several Native Nations. After these staged shows the Natives were asked to pledge
allegiance to the “great white chief.” Here the gun serves to secure both trade with various
Nations as well as offer a tentative peace agreement. The gun also proves to be useful in
supplying the crew with game. The flint-lock Kentucky rifle proved a successful technology in
the frontier, and the crew relied heavily upon the meat their firearms procured. Lewis and Clark
numbered the animals they killed and cured, offering the image of a man with the gun and some
sort of animal roasting over the fire pit. The Lewis and Clark era mark a significant paradigm
shift from hunting being something poor Europeans or Natives did out of necessity to something
of a sport that American gentlemen could do. The hunter in the 19th century was a custodian of
nature. This perception of the hunter highlights man’s admiration of animals, stresses an accurate
and ethical kill and addresses population management of game—a Rousseauian concept. Another
common perspective of the 19th-century hunter that the Lewis and Clark expedition advanced
was the Darwinian aspect of hunting. This perspective pits man against animal and stresses the
hunter’s cunning decisions, skill in tracking, and overall knowledge with his gun. Lewis and
Clark reinforce the idea that gun ownership is coupled with social distinction and superiority.
They popularized hunting and melded the two cultures, British and Native American, into an
alluring American frontier hero.
Similarly, Cooper perpetuates this same bravura within his character Natty Bumppo.
Those quick on the trigger, well-armed and well-trained in firearms are the ones to prevail. A
loaded gun becomes a simple answer to threats both real and imagined. Natty Bumppo continues
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to popularize and mythologize the American hunter. His names “Deerslayer,” “Hawkeye,” and
“Pathfinder,” all evoke skill in hunting. Like Lewis and Clark, Natty is a buckskin-clad
American hunter living off his own kill navigating at the edge of the wilderness and civilization
and encountering “good and bad” Natives. In addition to being a crack-shot, who combines
aspects from both Native and British culture, Natty also (like Rowlandson) evokes a sense of
individualism, claiming not to be “subject” to much at all besides natural law. It is this
combination of traits that defines the American persona that this new literature creates.
There is yet another attribute to Cooper’s gun hero that differs from those of the earlier
authors. Cooper becomes a gun moralist and provides somber and frank words of caution. Where
de Vaca asserts guns to be powerless, Rowlandson critiques the lack of skill, and Smith asserts
that guns wield great power; none strictly caution their readers of erroneous gun use nor do these
narratives request restraint. Rather, they propose the opposite. Smith asks for more firearms in
the colonies, Rowlandson asks the community to disregard the legal stipulations placed upon gun
trade. Captain John Smith, even after being wounded in his upper inner-thigh in a gun-powder
accident,372 does not draw attention to such a traumatic and life-changing event. Due to the
gravity of his wound, Smith returned to England and continues to advocate colonization by his
pen rather than through actual participation.
Lewis and Clark, on the other hand, begin to suggest restraint in the practice of hunting.
Lewis realizes over-hunting is not morally sound and advocates for a scientific (Rousseauian)
approach to managing the wilderness and game populations. They also wish to never violently
372 Smith neglect this matter, perhaps out of embarrassment, personal image was of a deep
importance to Smith, much of this account come from other sources rather than Smith’s own narratives.
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attack the Natives and use firearms (with implicit overtones of violence) to promote diplomatic
relations. Nonetheless, there were a few shots—at the end of the Expeditions—fired at young
Natives. However, the press and government, perhaps out of respect for his family, neglected to
report or address Meriwether Lewis’s gun suicide. As in Smith’s account, accidents—such as
with the Girandoni Air-rifle on the riverbank—did occur, yet the authors disregarded the
seriousness of these issues. For these authors, the gun is regarded as an answer to many serious
social dilemmas and political questions of their time (such as safety, colonial distinction, racial
supremacy, etc…).
Conversely, when the gun itself might be seen as the contributing cause of the problem,
these authors seem to direct their readers’ attention elsewhere. For instance, none of the sad
irony is addressed as the very gun once used to protect Lewis himself is used to take his own life.
Ultimately, these authors simplify and mythologize the gun to respond to current issues, yet they
fail to address or purposefully overlook erroneous gun use as it complicates matters and threatens
their own positioning of the gun as a promising solution to political and social issues.
James Fenimore Cooper, however, forthrightly addresses some of the issues that arise
within America’s gun culture. He creates a space where he both advocates for gun use, turning to
many of the motifs previously established, yet also critiques gun negligence. Through Nathaniel
Bumppo, Cooper provides America with a gun moralist. Heroically, he illustrates a right and
wrong time to shoot and advocates that reason and rationality must always govern the shot.
Cooper issues a more explicit warning through his character Nathaniel, as Natty pressures
readers to not romanticize the gun to a point where it is not perceived with reverence. Nathaniel,
the gun moralist, requests gun etiquette that is considerate, careful, and restrained.
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Yet, during the mid-eighteen hundreds, popular American gun myths did not follow
Cooper’s lead. Rather, as Cooper promoted a protagonist that advocated gun ethics, gun safety,
and as his hero consistently contemplates the value of each life he took, many authors began to
portray versions of the frontier hero that focus less on gun ethics and more on what sold books—
gun violence. Daniel Boone became characterized by many of these authors in this manner.
Michael Lofaro tracks the various authorial depictions of Daniel Boone often depicting him in
ways reminiscent of Nathaniel Bumppo. For instance, Lord Byron’s poem Don Juan, depicts
Boone in 1823 as “an idealized example of Rousseau's natural man to demonstrate that spiritual
purity, serenity, freedom, simplicity, and good health are the results of a life lived in the
wilderness.”373 Yet other authors, particularly those ascribing to the mechanisms of the dime
novel wrote more of Boone’s violent exploits. Lofaro highlights the characterization of
Alexander McClung who was a “devotee of ‘the only good Indian is a dead Indian’ school of
thought, [and] gave his readers a Boone that pined away for the ‘thrilling excitement of savage
warfare’ after Kentucky had become too thickly settled.”374 Additionally, Burke Brentford
depicts violent scenes in which Boone, “grasped the redskin’s windpipe with a grip of iron
before a sound issued from it, the other dashed the uplifted tomahawk aside, and the next instant
the knife of the hunter passed through the man's heart, cleaving downward from the shoulder-
blade.”375 Such a character contrasts with Natty’s judiciousness and concern in giving every
373 Michael A. Lofaro, “Tracking Daniel Boone: The Changing Frontier in American Life.” The
Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, vol. 82, no. 4, 1984, pp. 321–333. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/23380399 326.
374 “Tracking Daniel Boone” 330.
375 qtd in. Burke Brentford, The Thunderbolt of the Border; or, Daniel Boone on the Warpath
(New York 1891) 3.
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Native, even Magua, the benefit of the doubt with his keen, quick eye. Also, such a character as
McClung’s and Brentford’s Boone, becomes more like that of Hurry Harry, anxious to kill as
many Natives as possible. Especially within the dime novel violence toward the Natives was
celebrated.
In a sense, as he was Revolutionary War veteran and an elected Statesmen, Daniel
Boone’s narratives—like the narrative of Lewis and Clark—employs an ethos of American
authenticity and elevates Boone into a national icon. Yet, as Boone’s narrative became more
fictionalized and was placed into a simplistic and sensational dime novel framework, the more
complex and moralistic manners that Cooper illustrates become overlooked or over-turned by the
new sensationalist writing.
Another character that opposed Cooper’s moral Natty, is Robert Montgomery Bird’s Nick
of the Woods (1837). Bird’s protagonist is a Quaker, who should obey the religion’s edicts to
oppose all violence, yet Nick, (the more aptly named Nathan Slaughter), begins a killing
rampage to revenge the death of his family. Bird’s Natives are depicted as cruel savages and
Nathan Slaughter vehemently rids the world of many Shawnee, carving crosses in each of the
bodies he leaves in his wake.376 Though Natty also demonstrates his share of violence, Cooper
praises him for his restraint. Cooper’s Nathaniel kills only if it means other lives will be spared
regardless of race. Bird’s Nathaniel, on the other hand, follows McClung’s adage laying the
Natives to waste.
376 Christine Bold, Selling the West: Popular Western Fiction, 1860-1960, (Bloomington and
Indianapolis: Indiana University Press 1987) xii.
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This new type of fiction portrays Natives differently from Cooper. Wayne Franklin
argues that Cooper “was not imagining or wishing their [the Native’s] displacement. At the same
time that Cooper seemingly accepted their fate, he complicated the plot by including the Native
Americans at the center of his story—and giving them a kind of voice that no one had yet given
them in American fiction.”377 Cooper, in The Last of the Mohicans even reveals a budding
Romance between Uncas and Cora,378 promoting a blending of races, advocating for peace and
progressive views of racial relations. Yet, many of the protagonists in the budding dime novels
served to “legitimate American imperial violence,”379 and the voice of reason used by Cooper’s
cautious and careful Nathaniel Bumppo began to be drowned out by blood-thirsty Indian killers.
Particularly in the wake of the Civil War, gun representation in dime novels romanticized
the man and his gun in more simplistic ways. These romanticized perspectives coupled with
industrialization marks a shift toward commercialization of gun perspectives which promoted
sales of gun fiction and guns. The dime novel became propaganda for the gun industry.380 Gun
manufacturers turned to literature to promote gun myths. Within many novels after the Civil
War, themes such as masculinity, killing natives, security, and advocating a man with a gun—all,
377 Wayne Franklin, James Fenimore Cooper: The Early Years (New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 2007) 481.
378 Cora is perceived and racially classified in the text as a quadroon (one quarter African and
three quarters European ancestry). Her mother was mixed race and her father, Colonel Munro, was
English.
379 Kathy Lavezzo and Harilaos Stecopoulos, “Leslie Fiedler's Medieval America.” American
Literary History, vol. 22, no. 4, 2010 868.
380 “In a saturated market after the war, gun manufactures looked for novel ways to boost sales,
and marketing strategies became more sophisticated.” Karen R. Jones and John Wills, “‘The Gun That
Won the West.’” The American West: Competing Visions, by and, Edinburgh University Press,
Edinburgh, 2009 65 JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1s473v5.7
233
previously promoted by James Fenimore Cooper, John Smith, and Mary Rowlandson, became
exaggerated. For instance, in 1989, C.C. Post claimed, “while there is really far less lawlessness
and disregard for human life among the cattlemen and cowboys along our frontiers than the
blood and thunder stories told of them would lead people to suppose, in the case of Indian attack
or ‘reckless characters,’ ‘of course, they had to go well armed.’”381 The image of the gun on the
frontier became so well-established in American literature that those participating in settling the
west felt it was a necessary item. Karen R. Jones and John Wills, American historians, in their
article, “The Gun That Won the West,” suggest that where the gun really excelled was in its
storytelling potential. As American citizens purchased guns, they also purchased these common
American myths associated with it, stories of individualism, anti-authoritarianism, racial
supremacy, and self-sufficiency. The hard steel body came to embody other values of Manifest
Destiny, self-determination, precise judgment, and unchecked authority.382
As these scholars recognize, the gun as a tool becomes laden with myth and an
overarching sense of Americanness. Dillin’s Kentucky Rifle represents self-defense and
resistance to tyranny and was built from the American wilderness (with a stock cut from a
“neighboring tree”), the Kentucky rifle advocates American ideals and democracy. Similarly,
Jones and Wills perceive the myth as etched into the gun casing. They advocate that the gun and
gun myth become so intertwined that the simple presence of the gun promotes concepts “self-
381 qtd. in Karen R. Jones and John Wills, “The Gun That Won the West.” The American West:
Competing Visions, by, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2009 68. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1s473v5.7
382 Karen R. Jones and John Wills, “The Gun That Won the West.” The American West:
Competing Visions, by, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2009 60–86. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1s473v5.7
234
reliance, individualism, and self-determination.”383 Gun manufacturers capitalized upon these
conceptual aspects as gun myths permeate American novels and films. William Hosley asserts
the commercialization of such integral myths in American culture, “What Colt [the gun
manufacturer] invented was a system of myths, symbols, stagecraft, and distribution.”384 In
essence, the staging of the gun that began with Captain John Smith in American literature to
assuage his readership of their anxieties and concerns continued into the industrial and
commercial era of the early nineteen hundreds and even today. Gun myth, representation, and
imagery became an integral part of dime novels, film, and television, all serving to advertise and
promote gun myths and gun sales. Such perspectives were of particular interest to American gun
manufactures. Pamela Haag describes how gun capitalists have endorsed gun myths to create
more demand for guns in commercial America, opening the gun manufacturers market to
civilians. The gun, in the marketplace became a symbol of American exceptionalism.385 In this
manner, gun manufacturers could serve a wider consumer base.
Other media, such as film, perpetuate various ideals. American films such as The Great
Train Robbery (1903), Robert Redford’s Jeremiah Johnson (1972), and Alejandro González
Iñárritu’s Revenant (2015)386 grace American media and portray multiple gun images and
disseminate many themes that early American texts established such as concepts of self-reliance
and individualism. Television series such as Gunsmoke (1952-1961 as radio production and
383 “The Gun That Won the West” 71.
384 William Hosley, Colt the Making of an American Legend, (University of Massachusetts, 1996)
54.
385 Pamela Haag, The Gunning of America: Business and the Making of American Gun Culture.
(New York: Basic Books, 2016) xii, 8.
386 Hugh Glass, like Nathaniel Bumppo, is cautious about taking life.
235
1955-1975 as a television series), Davy Crockett (1954-1955), The Rifleman (1958-1963), and
Have Gun Will Travel (1957-1963) promoted the gun as essential and powerful. The gun
throughout these various media was the ultimate answer to various social and cultural problems.
In many ways, the mechanistic and regimented production of western dime novels, mass-
produced and mass-distributed, resolved most plot conflicts with the gun. The style of much
dime-novel writing, in response to the consumer culture, functioned as an astounding equivalent
to the mass-produced and mass-distributed manufacturing of guns.
The utilitarian images and myths of the gun bled into American politics. A year after the
1999 Columbine shooting the NRA anticipated more rigid talk political about gun control. The
incident deemed “the deadliest high school shooting” would need a masterful declaration to
recuperate lost political ground. The president of the National Rifle Association and former
actor, Charlton Heston, knew how to make the much-needed theatrical entry to the already
vehement political environment. Heston delivered what is now known as one of the most
acclaimed NRA speeches. He dramatically raised a Kentucky Flintlock rifle and declared in a
vigorous tone that any opposed to Gun Rights should come and attempt to pry this rifle, “from
my cold, dead hands!”387 In this instance, the Kentucky rifle gave a significant political
performance. It was held as a spectacle to serve a specific agenda in which it became a
commanding multifaceted symbol to all Americans. Rather than judiciously wielding his weapon
like that Nathanial Bumppo to his enemies in the preservation of another’s life, Heston fights for
his gun, no matter how many others’ “divisive forces” die in the process. His speech references a
387 Jared Law, “2000.07.26 – 2000 NRA Convention – Charlton Heston – From My Cold, Dead
Hands!” Online video clip. You Tube. YouTube, 12 May, 2012. Web. 26 April, 2016.
236
threat to “rights” and natural “God-given” privileges; it alluded to brave Revolutionary war
soldiers that used it; it referenced gun ownership and use as a patriotic right and duty. Heston
also used the rifle to indicate a clear enemy—the “oppressive forces” attempting to limit these
firearms. His demonstration enlisted all gun owners as combatants against these “divisive
forces.”
Aside from Heston’s spectacle, much of the effectiveness of his speech is owing to the
preceding political displays throughout American history and literature, that established the
Kentucky rifle firmly in the American imagination. Rich history, traditional imagery, and
nationalistic pride have crafted myths with this particular firearm. In this simple declaration,
Heston’s rifle promotes various values as well as xenophobic perspectives to best serve the
purposes of the NRA. In other words, the “divisive forces” to which he alluded (those requesting
gun regulation), are deemed “unAmerican” and a threat to the pure “unadulterated” American
history—particularly the Revolutionary war, the war that won America’s rights. Heston’s
Kentucky rifle eloquently serves as an emblem that emphasizes threat, tension, and an ultimate
resolution—an axiomatic procedure for firing the weapon: a threat is perceived (tension), the
enemy is targeted, the trigger is pulled and the threat is eliminated (resolution) and the American
hero succeeds. Such a rhetorical structuring of a rifle, at times, becomes more effective as a
political tool than as a practical tool. Heston cannot take full credit for such a politically and
rhetorically dynamic use of the rifle. As noted by this study, many authors relied upon literary
gun performances, and they did little (save Cooper) to address the issues guns raise.
In much of early American literature guns are presented as the solution, not the problem.
In many ways guns are perceived in the present-day in the same manner and function even more
237
deeply as myths, metaphors, and symbols because more literature and media have acted to
further provoke readers into understanding the gun as an integral part of American society. In
other words, many current gun myths or gun perspectives echo early American literary myths in
extremely personalized discursive ways. These originary myths have become intertwined in
religious, political, and emotional and physical aspects of American life and become imbedded
into individual value systems through ideological means.388 In this study, we have seen the gun
interpreted through colonial power structure from the earliest narratives on. Many institutions
and corporations continue to propagate these gun myths in a very personal manner, a manner that
emotionally places one’s physical existence as being entirely reliant upon the gun. For instance,
Major William Henry Rupert’s Rifleman’s Creed promotes gun use in a manner similar to that of
Nathaniel Bumppo.
This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It
is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my rifle is useless.
Without my rifle, I am useless. […] I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its
accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am
clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will ... Before God, I swear this
creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy.
388 The term “ideology” I refer to here is based upon Myra Jehlen and Sacvan Bercovitch’s
Ideology and Classic American Literature. (Cambridge University Press 2004). 5. Ideology is defined as
focusing on ways in which one’s “class and a [social] conventions are intimate components of individual
behavior.”
238
We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy,
but peace!389
The above asserts elements that Natty Bumppo illustrated. Both he and his rifle are unified. He
knows the integral parts of it and is rarely seen without it—Killdeer is Natty’s best friend. He
depends upon his rifle to live as a hunter it is a means to sustain or protect life, similar to a
soldier. Furthermore, Natty maintains a sense of readiness with his gun and also keeps it clean
and keeps himself clean as he follows his moral compass. With it, he defends his friends and
country—the frontier. Overall, Nathaniel is victorious over his enemy and always uses it to
maintain peace. As soldiers ritualistically repeat the Rifleman’s Creed they reassert these ethical
and moralistic metaphors that stress cleanliness, accurate judgments, vigilance, protectors of
peace all depend upon the rifle. The creed provides just one example of the ways that guns are
perceived today as they were perceived in early America. Currently the Marines continue to
teach and recite the Rifleman’s Creed, offering its soldiers a ceremony in which they recite
fundamental ways to conceptualize their weapon, making its mass production and mass
distribution more personal. In uncovering ritualistic metaphors regarding weapons, Jerrod
Whitaker furthers the discussion of how such an ideology has become propagated into American
gun culture:
Given the increased militarization of parts of American culture (particularly the police
force) over the past few decades, it would be worthwhile to analyze critically how
civilians adopt many of the same deeply felt interpretations of their weapons as members
389 Major General William H. Rupertus, “My Rifle: The Creed of a U.S. Marine.” qtd. in Marion
F. Sturkey, Warrior Culture of the U.S. Marines (Plumb Branch: Heritage Press International 2010) 114.
239
of the military, especially since a generation has been at war and is reintegrating back
into civilian life. Clearly, making a weapon become an intimate part of an owner’s sense
of him/herself is a potent strategy that may contribute to an individual’s desire to protect
the weapon, rather than the other way round. And surely campaigns seeking to keep guns
legal and ubiquitous can capitalize on the embodiment of such an ideal.390
In a sense what Whitaker—and I am hoping this study as well—is bringing to light, is the detail
that as some segments of the American public advocate for gun rights, they are not merely
advocating their own right to gun ownership but vehemently advocating and defending vital
metaphors found within various gun narratives. In the heart of issues regarding guns is not only
the right to self-preservation or self-defense but also the values placed within the gun through
early American gun narratives such as individualism, self-reliance, elevated distinction, and
antiauthoritarianism. It is also the gun activist, much like the colonist, who maintains anxieties
regarding tyranny and oppression, just as many gun rights enthusiasts emphasize the unexpected
dangers are lurking around the corner and promote concealed carry. Institutions wishing to
maintain the ease of gun distribution and ownership are well aware of these myths—and just as
Charlton Heston’s raised Kentucky Rifle—use them, as Whitaker states, to “capitalize on the
embodiment of such an ideal.”391
As representations of early American literature show, many authors did little to evoke the
sense of danger and foreseeable threats of gun accidents, violence, and suicides. As argued
390 Jarrod Whitaker, “I Boldly Took the Mace for Might: Ritually Weaponizing a Warrior’s Body
in Ancient India.” International Journal of Hindu Studies, vol. 20, no. 1, Apr. 2016 79.
391 “I Boldly Took the Mace” 79.
240
earlier, James Fenimore Cooper perceived guns more as a threat later in his writing career and
then made Nathaniel into more of a gun moralist. Yet, even while Cooper argues for gun ethics
through his major character, other authors and publishers realized sensationalized gun violence
would sell better on the popular market.
By recognizing several gun perceptions found in early American literature (from the mid-
sixteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century) we can see how gun myths formed around
American attitudes towards guns, and how they still promote gun use and gun ownership.
Through the literary origins of gun culture we can also perceive how these myths served social or
political purposes, such as: advocating for the removal of Natives, promoting colonization,
asserting colonial rights against tyranny, encouraging enlistment patriot in the Revolutionary
war, or asserting one’s own individuality over authority. The creation of American gun culture
was also heavily influenced by economic incentives.
Current debates over gun regulation reveal that nothing much has changed. Gun myth and
cultural values remain interwoven with political ideologies and agendas. In short, guns are never
just a simple tool found on the American frontier. Guns, for many, are synonymous with the
meaning of America itself. Today, pro-gun myth continues to be propagated in support of gun
rights, even in the wake of hundreds of mass shootings.392 Furthermore, pro-gun institutions have
successfully lobbied the U.S. Federal government to pass the Dickey Amendment, ensuring that
392 According to a 2015 study conducted by Adam Lankford of The University of Alabama.
“Americans make up about 4.4 percent of the global population but own 42 percent of the world’s guns.
From 1966 to 2012, 31 percent of the gunmen in mass shootings worldwide were American.” qtd. in Max
Fisher and Josh Keller, “What Explains U.S. Mass Shootings? International Comparisons Suggest an
Answer.” New York Times. Nov. 7 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/world/americas/mass-
shootings-us-international.html Date Accessed 4 Aug. 2019.
241
no government funding can support gun use research that might involve support for gun control.
Under these conditions, pro-gun storytellers gain additional control over gun myth by building
upon pro-gun attitudes that pervade early American literature. New, more cautionary
perspectives and more safety-driven literary representations of guns might change American
attitudes regarding guns by providing a balance to pro-gun narratives that facilitate positive
changes in gun law, gun use, and gun etiquette. However, to effectively reach large and diverse
audiences, these narratives must now circulate across multiple media platforms (including
novels, film, television, movies, video games), as much traditional news and politics are
primarily delivered by politicized media organizations to audiences who already hold similar
views.393 In the wake of ongoing gun atrocities,394 the type of sobering approach offered by
James Fenimore Cooper could reach a broader audience (perhaps even pro-gun activists) to
promote some gun regulation and healthy gun-use education. Ironically, present and future
American gun narratives might well find it effective to respond just as early American literature
did in turning to gun narratives to address their fears about the kind of political and social issues
393 A few artist and authors have begun to provide new narratives or reject roles that promote gun
violence. For instance, Jim Carrey has rejected roles in films that contain gun violence and even parodies
Charlton Heston’s popular NRA speech. See “Jim Carrey Speaks Out to Support Gun Control: Again
Actor Says Hatred and Threats Have Been Directed at Him.” The Record. (The Canadian Press:
Cambridge, ON). Accessed 4 Aug. 2019. Other comedies have parodied gun affinity in the United States
in television shows such as South Park see Ryan Parker, “South Park Takes on Gun Control in Season
Finale.” The Hollywood Reporter 7 Dec. 2015. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/south-park-
takes-gun-control-846572 Accessed 4 Aug. 2019. And also The Simpsons, see Alan Siegel, “When
Homer Simpson Bought a Gun, and the NRA Didn’t Get It.” Slate. 3 June 2014.
https://slate.com/culture/2014/06/simpsons-gun-episode-the-cartridge-family-was-kind-to-the-nra-but-
they-didn-t-get-it-video.html Accessed 4 Aug. 2019.
394 Since the beginning of my work on this dissertation there have been multiple mass shootings
that have occurred in the United States—from the Sandy Hook School Shooting (Dec. 2012) to the
Dayton Ohio Mass Shooting (Aug. 2019).
242
they saw as potentially arising with gun use and ownership, with one major difference: unlike
early American literature, today’s gun narratives must address the political and ethical
implications and personal pain and loss caused by actual (not fictional) gun violence, mass
shootings, and harmful neglect.395
395 Future studies should address ways in which current American gun narratives challenge past
popular gun myths and attitudes. A current study that begins to do this is Pamela Haag’s The Gunning of
America: The Business and the Making of American Gun Culture, (Philadelphia: Basic Books, 2016).
Furthermore, narrowing the scope to specific regions will most likely highlight various themes and
illustrate gun culture particular to a particular region, particularly since much of early American identity
developed regionally.
243
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Jay Branagan Webb—from Bainbridge, Georgia—completed his schoolwork at Bainbridge High
School in 1998. He received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in English in May 2005 at Weber
State University, and a Master of Arts in Humanities in May of 2007 at Florida State University.
In Spring 2010, he entered the graduate program in Literature at The University of Texas at
Dallas. He is currently teaching English and Humanities full-time at Abraham Baldwin
Agriculture College, in his hometown—Bainbridge, Georgia.
253
CURRICULUM VITAE
Jay Branagan Webb, PhD
Education
The University of Texas at Dallas PhD - Literature Dec. 2019
Florida State University M.A. - Humanities May 2007
Weber State University B.A.- English May 2005
Dissertation
Brandishing the Gun: Representations in Early American Literature, 1500-1800
Teaching Experience
Instructor, Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College (May 2016
-Present)
ENGL 1101: Composition I
ENGL 1102: Composition II
ENGL 2112: World Literature
ENGL 2132: American Literature (From 1865-Present)
HUMN 2221: Ancient Civilization to the Renaissance
HUMN 2222: Baroque to Modernity
HUMN 2002: Baroque to Modernity (Study Abroad Central Europe)
HUMN 2700: International Film Studies
STAB 2003: Study Abroad Central Europe
PRSP 1020: Perspectives in Film
RSCH 1100: Research and Documentation
Online Instructor, eCore (July 2019
-Present)
ENGL 1102: Composition
Adjunct
Instructor, Richland College (Aug. 2013-Dec. 2014)
254
Presentations
“Ticket to the Gun Show: Captain John Smith’s Spectacle of the
Gun”
Critical Voices—University of Northern Texas
March 2015
“The Genesis of Gun Culture in Captain John Smith”
Research, Writing, and Art Conference
—University of Texas at
Dallas
March 2015
“‘Breaking Bad’: Transcending Habit in Emerson”
Research, Writing, and Art C
onference—University of Texas at
Dallas
March 2013
"Red Badge of Courage Under Fire”
Research, Writing, and Art Conference
—University of Texas at
Dallas
March 2012
“Thoreau’s
Arrowheads”
March 2011
ENGL 1301: Composition I
Teaching Assistant, University of Texas at Dallas (Aug. 2010
–May 2015)
LIT 2341: Literary Analysis
RHET 1302: College Writing
Adjunct Instructor, Salt Lake Community College (Jan. 2008
-May 2009)
HUM 1100: Introduction to Humanities
Adjunct Instructor, Utah Valley University (Jan. 2008
-May 2008)
PHIL 2050: Ethics and Values
Teaching Assistant, Florida State University (May 2005
-May 2007)
HUM 3321: Multicultural Film Studies
255
Research, Writing, and Art Conference—University of Texas at
Dallas
Affiliations/Memberships
Phi Theta Kappa
—Advisor
Modern Language Association
American Studies Association
Phi Alpha Theta: History Honors Society
—Vice President
University of Texas at Dallas
May 2016-
present
Jan. 2014-
present
Jan. 2014-
present
March 2014-
May 2016
Program for Instructional Excellence
—Coordinator
Florida State University
Student Involvement and Leadership
—Student Activities
President Weber State University
May 2006-
May 2007
June 2003-
June 2004
Student Government
—Freshmen Representative
Bainbridge College
Sept. 1998-
May1999
