Mushroom
Gold Member
The thing is, most tribes had very distinct "ranges" that they normally stayed within. This was by choice, and most stuck to it rather seriously as wandering outside of your tribal range could result in a war.
But even the wars were largely bloodless, and not like people think of them today. The population densities were nowhere near enough to have actual "wars" like seen in Africa and Eurasia, so the ones between tribes was largely symbolic. Which is exactly where the "coup stick" and "counting coup" comes from. Hitting the enemy while not hit yourself or stealing their weapons was considered a "victory", as much as in Europe one side killing the enemy. And the side with the most "coup" in a battle was considered the winner. And while "coup" was a standard way of fighting in the Great Plains, the Lakota did not follow that rule as that was not their culture. They fought to kill.
They also never settled down into one area, and had a pretty bad reputation among other tribes. Even the Cheyenne and Crow often sided with the US in fighting the Lakota. Just as a century earlier the Apache sided with the Spanish against the Comanches.
