Give thanks and pass the ammunition -- Geronimo's rifle at NMAI

November 10, 11:23 PMNY Museums ExaminerBen DiMatteo

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the NY Museums Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Photo courtesy NMAI

While we all have different things to be thankful for and to this Thanksgiving, it's important to remember who those first  wide-eyed, ill-equipped European settlers had to be thankful to -- the helpful native peoples who saw them through the first brutal winter at Plymouth.

The native Americans, in those days before manifest destiny and smallpox blankets, could likewise be thankful to the early pioneers for two gifts that became essential to their way of life -- rifles and horses.

You'll find both featured at the National Museum of the American Indian this month, which is incidentally National American Indian Heritage Month, in an exhibit opening Saturday, Nov. 14.

"A Song for the Horse Nation" pays tribute to the horse and its influence on the lives of native Americans, from their reintroduction to the continent  by early European explorers to the revered position they hold in native lore today.

along with everyday items and ritual artifacts like the Cheyenne quilted horse mask pictured here, the exhibit will feature three rifles used by three of history's most famous native American leaders and legends of horseback.

There's a .55 caliber Springfield rifle owned by the Apache warrior called Geronimo by the Spanish because surprised soldiers cried out prayers to Saint Jerome when he attacked. Geronimo successfully led raids and evaded capture by both Spanish and U.S. troops from 1858 to 1886. He now resides at Fort Sill, Okla. and Yale University, concurrently.

Additionally, "Song for the Horse Nation" will display a Winchester Model 1866 .44 caliber "Yellow Boy" owned by  the Nez Perce peacemaker Chief Joseph, and a Sharps .45 caliber that belonged to Rain-in-the-Face, a Lakota chief who fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn. You'll want to recite this poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow at the Thanksgiving table, preferably right after grandma's benediction.

In lieu of buckled hats and paper-bag buckskins, there's nothing like saddle leather and cold steel to put you in the holiday mood.

"Song of the Horse Nation"
opens November 14, 2009
The National Museum of the American Indian, Lower Manhattan
http://nmai.si.edu/