A word about polyamorous marriages in Plains Indian cultures.

A Shoshone family in native dress - photographed in 1895. 

I am so grateful to any of my readers who post reviews of my books, even those who didn’t like my stories and gave me bad reviews.  Davidpizzarro wrote, “The idea that Native Americans in the 19th century accepted homosexuality is absurd. The author is trying to rewrite history, changing the morality of the times to fit his personal modern bias.”  I wish amazon.com had a way for me to respond directly to him.  The Plains Indians certainly did have homosexuals in their culture.  The French called them 'berdache' in the 1700s.  Gay natives have been documented in over 155 tribes, each having their own names and customs for same sex (two-spirit) men and women.  In Crow, a male two spirit was called boté, in Lakota (Sioux) winkte, in Zuni lhamana, in Navajo nádleehí, and in Shoshone tangowaip.

Plains Indians marriage traditions were predominantly polyamorous with both men and woman taking multiple husbands and multiple wives.  This leads me to believe they were polysexual or pansexual as well in their sex play and lovemaking.  In this way, the Plains Indians managed to overcome infant mortality and keep families together even if one or more spouses succumbed to warfare, white man diseases, accidents and old age.  It also provided spouses to share the hard work of survival in bleak lands. 

One Cheyenne woman had five wives and was a great Chief who led her tribe to victories in battle.  Sitting Bull (Custer, 1876, Battle of Little Bighorn) had five wives. 

There is a ton of anthropological material documenting multiple spouses in Indian cultures.  It was the rule rather than the exception, although a few only had one spouse.  Some stayed together for life while many divorced.  Since men and women are sexual animals, I submit they made love as it pleased them.  They did not look at the world through the lens of our Judeo-Christian morality.  

Gender fluidity, polygamy and polyandry were huge problems for white America in the 1700s, 1800s and even in the 1900s.  So, what did they do?  Congress passed laws against it in 1862, 1882, 1887, 1890 and 1892.  Starting in 1890 the Office of Indian Affairs began suppressing plural marriage - and most other aspects of traditional Indian culture, insisting one husband and one wife constituted the only legal marriages.  

Great Salt Lake

Great Salt Lake, the largest salt water lake in our Hemisphere, is a remnant of Lake Bonneville that used to cover most of Utah until about 14,500 years ago.  Since its only outlet is evaporation, it is saltier than seawater.  The lake is approximately 75 miles long and 35 miles wide.  It averages 33 feet deep.  It's coastline, size and depth change over time depending on weather.

In 1776 a Franciscan missionary and explorer of the Southwest, Silvestre Velez de Escalante, was the first white man to note the existence of the lake in his journals.  In 1824 Jim Bridger explored the lake.  John C. Fremont led the first scientific expedition to the lake in 1843.  Howard Stansbury, a major in the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, made the first survey of the lake in 1849.  He published his report and map in 1852.  The local Indians referred to the lake as Pi'a-pa, meaning "big water", or Ti'tsa-pa, meaning "bad water."  In 1847 when Brigham Young entered the valley and laid out the plan for their new city, he named the city Great Salt Lake City after the neighboring lake.  On January 29, 1868 the city council officially dropped the name 'Great' from the city's name.  

A contemporary map of Great Salt Lake by Justin Morris.  Used by permission.  morris.justin@gmail.com  

A major feature of the lake, Antelope Island, could be seen from nearly all the original Mormon Colonies.  

Sunsets over Antelope Island are often dramatic.