Regarding guns: As a Ph.D. in American Studies, I am ashamed to be so ignorant of
esoteric but still equally significant details about such crucial
matters as comparative weaponry and survival techniques. That the
multiple musketry gave British soldiers an imperial advantage surprised
me as much as the nimble Indian’s multiple arrows putting the one-shot
white man at risk.
The Indians’ ignorance of horticulture and animal raising was a
serious weakness against the eventual triumph of 9 million farmers,
savvy enough to bypass the overused Eastern lands for the richness of
the Mississippi basin. It was an exciting exercise in History 101.
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