Most "warlike" Indian tribe(s)?

Question:Hello. I have to do a big project over an Indian tribe of my pick. I have found several that I am interested in and I would really like to do this project over a "warlike" tribe; a tribe who did a lot of fighting, scalping, etc. (I know, sounds weird, but everyone in my class is going for the real "laid back" easy going tribes.) I was wondering, in your guy's opinions/knowledge/Internet, what was the most "warlike" Indian tribe? I have found several that were warlike in specific regions. Anyone know anything about the Mohawk Tribe? I've read that they killed and ate their captives. True? Thank you so much! I just need a little help, I have been doing research for ever! Thank you!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Hello. I have to do a big project over an Indian tribe of my pick. I have found several that I am interested in and I would really like to do this project over a "warlike" tribe; a tribe who did a lot of fighting, scalping, etc. (I know, sounds weird, but everyone in my class is going for the real "laid back" easy going tribes.) I was wondering, in your guy's opinions/knowledge/Internet, what was the most "warlike" Indian tribe? I have found several that were warlike in specific regions. Anyone know anything about the Mohawk Tribe? I've read that they killed and ate their captives. True? Thank you so much! I just need a little help, I have been doing research for ever! Thank you!

Sorry to disappoint you, but the Mohawks did NOT eat people. As to warlike, the Chiricahua Apaches were amongst the most warlike. Most of the plains Indians were very warlike.
Apaches or plains Indians (Cheyenne, Lakotas (called Sioux by their enemies), etc., they would stake out a captive, build a small fire near his head, and skin the captive alive, after cutting off his eyelids so he could not shut his eyes. When he jerked from the skinning, he would bump his head into the fire, catching his hair on fire.
In one of their games, they would shut a person full of arrows, aiming to keep the person alive for as long as possible.
Is that good enough for you? Just read about Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, or any of the other famous "explorers/Indian scouts".

My choice would be the Lakota Sioux, since it was they who defeated Custer at the Little Big Horn. The Chiricahua Apache would be a close second.

Rather than characterizing the Indians as savages, perhaps you should approach the question from a different point of view. The American tribe was by far the most warlike as evidenced by its record of conquest. The other North American tribes fought to keep their lands and homes. The American tribe fought to dispossess and in many cases to exterminate otherwise peaceful inhabitants of the lands they coveted.

I would go with the Lakota. There's a quote read by Charlotte Black Elk in Stephen Ives' The West that sums it up pretty well, spoken from the point of view of the Cree.

"When the Crow were coming we sent our little boys to fight, when the Mandan were coming we sent our old men, when the Lakota were coming we painted our faces for death and prepared to die".

Of course, the late Charlotte Black Elk was a Lakota, of Crazy Horse's kinship group no less.

the American army has a great "institutional memory" ie stories passed down from generation to generation of soldiers.

When it cane time for the US (Air) Calvary to name their attack and scout helicopters, they chose the name of the tribes that had fought hardest and meanest and longest.

so google attack helicopters and see what you get...

and if you want a scandalous, "politically incorrect as can be get you in a lot of trouble nowadays" .but absolutely dead on accurate history, see George MacDonald Frasier's "Flashman and the Redskins"