329. The Killjoys, "Everything" #CanCon 🇨🇦 youtu.be/VEiKRe_Fzsc?...

The Killjoys - Everything

@uxmark

Vraiment! 😀 But this time he could do it on the trail of the man who killed his father … 😛

#DueSouth
#CanCon
#TV

Apologies for social silence of late: too busy with stuff and health stuff and other stuff and so forth … stuff it. 😬🙄😂

Recent news about the new cross-border bridge has prompted me to pop up and suggest that this is a ***FAB*** opportunity for #Canada to assert our #Arctic #Sovereignty by producing our first-ever #ScandiNoir series set on OUR bridge!

#ColmFeori for the lead detective, perhaps?

#TheBridge
#Broen
#CdnPoli
#USpoli
#GordieHoweInternationalBridge
#border
#BorderCrossing
#ON
#MI
#DGC
#IATSE
#ACTRA
#Teamsters
#WGC
#ICG
#television
#CanCon
#CRTC

328. Amelia Curran, "The Mistress" #CanCon 🇨🇦 youtu.be/_Y3HKnjok60?...

The Mistress

327. The Nylons, "Heavenly Bodies" #CanCon 🇨🇦 youtu.be/5LMxoosVOMk?...

Heavenly Bodies

326. The Parachute Club, "At the Feet of the Moon" #CanCon 🇨🇦 youtu.be/nibFxj_uj8M?...

The Parachute Club - At The Fe...

325. Kate Weekes, "Time by the Moon" #CanCon 🇨🇦 youtu.be/n6g93Ht8rOc?...

Time by the Moon

324. Bass is Base, "Funkmobile" #CanCon 🇨🇦 youtu.be/ctKAwgxpASQ?...

Funkmobile

This week…well…this is the week Brenda looses it.

Read the whole article at: https://countyfencemagazine.com/reason-greater-napanee-is-greater-3-family-values/

@bookstodon #books #writing #writingcommunity #reading #Ontario #Comedy #Author #Writer #WritersofMastodon #Readers #IndieAuthor #AuthorsofMastodon #FridayReads #BookLovers #YGK #FreeBooks #WeekendReads #EasternON #KingstonON #CanCon

323. Mir, "Invisible Science" #CanCon 🇨🇦 youtu.be/--8RHcaS3pU?...

Mir - Invisible Science

Very excited to listen to this when the podcast comes out #CanCon

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:zivafxyd4qecgvqg3bozligg/post/3mdzzzdvitk2n

322. Mae Moore, "Coat of Shame" #CanCon 🇨🇦 youtu.be/JwzuEuhBXF0?...

Mae Moore - Coat of Shame (199...

Operation Manatee #477

11 – Midnight CST. 91.3 FM in Regina and cjtr.ca around the world. #liveradio #radio #metal #newmusic #cjtr #popmusic #punk #electronicmusic #cancon #canadian #communityradio

https://operationmanateecjtr.wordpress.com/2026/02/03/operation-manatee-477/

321. Susan Aglukark, "O Siem" #CanCon youtu.be/nS7e3A4Z8bE?...

Susan Aglukark - O Siem 1995

@wlonk Just listened to a few songs. They're really good, but also really morose. Definitely not for the emotionally fragile.

What's #CanCon? Something to do with Canada, I'm guessing

@davidnjoku That one’s great. One Voice, Heaven When We’re Home, Bird Song, their version of Saucy Sailor… 40 Days and Firecracker are probably my fav albums.

They’re #CanCon too.

New Metric! youtu.be/u1JmNsRymzY?... #CanCon 🇨🇦

Victim Of Luck

Two Battles Among the Piikani

Some of the nations of North America fought with bows, arrows, spears, and shields before the gun. The following is a story from Saukamappee of the Peigan or Piikani Nation in the northern Great Plains. He passed it to David Thompson the fur trader and surveyor who wintered in his lodge around 1787/8 (Thompson had lost track of the years by the time he wrote down his memories). Thompson thought that Saukamappee looked 75 or 80 years old, so he would have been sixteen around 1725 or 1730. Saukamappee said that at this time neither his people nor the Snake Indians had horses.

The Peeagans were always the frontier Tribe, and upon whom the Snake Indians made their attacks, these latter were very numerous, even without their allies; and the Peeagans had to send messengers among us to procure help. Two of them came to the camp of my father, and I was then about his age (pointing to a Lad of about sixteen years) he promised to come and bring some of his people, the Nahathaways with him, for I am myself of that people, and not of those with whom I am. My father brought about twenty warriors with him. There were a few guns amongst us, but very little ammunition, and they were left to hunt for the families; Our weapons was (sic) a Lance, mostly pointed with iron, some few of stone, A Bow and a quiver of Arrows; the Bows were of Larch, the length came to the chin; the quiver had about fifty arrows, of which ten had iron points, the others were headed with stone. He carried his knife on his breast and his axe in his belt. Such was my fathers weapons, and those with him had much the same weapons. I had a Bow and Arrows and a knife, of which I was very proud. We came to the Peeagans and their allies. They were camped in the Plains on the left bank of the (Bow -ed.) River (the north side) and were a great many. We were feasted, a great War Tent was made, and a few days passed in speeches, feasting and dances. A war chief was elected by the chiefs, and we got ready to march. Our spies had been out and had seen a large camp of the Snake Indians on the Plains of the Eagle Hill, and we had to cross the River in canoes, and on rafts, which we carefully secured for our retreat. When we had crossed and numbered our men, we were about 350 warriors (this he showed by counting every finger to be ten, and holding up both hands three times and then one hand) they had their scouts out, and came to meet us. Both parties made a great show of their numbers, and I thought that they were more numerous than ourselves.

After some singing and dancing, they sat down on the ground, and placed their large shields before them, which covered them: We did the same, but our shields were not so many, and some of our shields had to shelter two men. Theirs were all placed touching each other; their Bows were not so long as ours, but of better wood, and the back covered with the sinews of the Bisons which made them very elastic, and their arrows went a long way and whizzed about us as balls do from guns. They were all headed with a sharp, smooth, black stone (flint) which broke when it struck anything. Our iron headed arrows did not go through their shields, but stuck in them; On both sides several were wounded, but none lay on the ground; and night put an end to the battle, without a scalp being taken on either
side, and in those days such was the result, unless one party was more numerous than the other. The great mischief of war then, was as now, by attacking and destroying small camps of ten to thirty tents, which are obliged to separate for hunting (pp. 328-330)

Joseph Burr Tyrell, ed., David Thompson’s Narrative of his Explorations in Western America, 1784-1812 (Greenwood Press: New York, 1968) https://archive.org/details/davidthompsonsna00thom/page/328/mode/2up

Ancient Babylonians also carried both spear and bow. Robert Gardner also noticed that Papuans were rarely killed or disabled by an arrow, but more often wounded.1 While a bow for war will easily shoot through a man and send the arrow out the other side at close range if its drawn to the length of the shaft and loosed smoothly, many shots were not at close range, and many were not drawn properly or were shot from trembling hands. Armour and shields also stopped or slowed many arrows. Saukamappee noted that stone arrowheads broke when they hit anything hard, and some nations used armour of wooden or bone slats and splints until they encountered guns and iron-headed arrows. Since arrows only travel about 40-70 metres per second, someone a hundred meters away has a whole second to see them coming and step aside or duck behind a shield. One of the insidious aspects of firearms is that gunshot and shell fragments fly too fast to see and dodge, so the only defense is to be small or take cover.

Saukamappee tried to guess which army was larger. Greek writers like Thucydides were also very interested in the relative size of armies, although there was also a strong tradition that a hundred good soldiers could easily beat a thousand faint hearts.

Saukamappee mentions that some bows were backed with sinews. These were common in many cultures although less famous than bows with horn on the belly (the side towards the archer’s body which compresses) and sinew on the back (the side away from the archer’s body which stretches). Even some Scythian bows may have just been sinew-backed but not horn-wood-sinew composites.2

Saukamappee does not explain how the shields were supported when they rested on the ground. Were they propped up by the lance stuck in the earth, or held by the warrior? If so how did the warrior managed both shield and bow? Were they also used in hand-to-hand combat?

Saukamappee seemed to think that the main line of shields was men side by side but not in files behind each other. These armies were small and rarely moved quickly or came to close quarters. Large armies, armies which move quickly across the field and armies that fight in close quarters usually find that the line breaks up if everyone is in front. He does not explain whether some warriors waited behind the shields, perhaps men who were tired, wounded, or looking for new arrows.

Wayne Lee has written about war as ethnic cleansing in The Cutting-Off Way. After Europeans arrived, warfare in much of North America was about suddenly attacking isolated communities and killing or taking everyone in them so their neighbours would move away and the attackers would have new hunting grounds. This was a very different type of warfare than in Europe or Mexico where riches came from forcing the enemy’s peasants to pay rent and taxes to you. Most nations in North America did not know how to subjugate people and use them that way, although they took slaves in small numbers and sometimes adopted captives.

Saukamappee describes a later battle where his people had a few muskets and the enemy had none. This passage mentions some numbers.

Our eyes were all on the tall Chief and his motions, which appeared to be contrary to the advice of several old Chiefs, all this time we were about the strong flight of an arrow from each other. At length the tall chief retired and they formed their long usual line by placing their shields on the ground to touch each other, the shield having a breadth of full three feet or more. We sat down opposite to them and most of us waited for the night to make a hasty retreat. The War Chief was close to us, anxious to see the effect of our guns. The lines were too far asunder for us to make a sure shot, and we requested him to close the line to about sixty yards, which was gradually done, and lying flat on the ground behind the shields, we watched our opportunity when they drew their bows to shoot at us, their bodies were then exposed and each of us, as opportunity offered, fired with deadly aim, and either killed, or severely wounded, every one we aimed at.

“About the strong flight of an arrow” or “a bowshot” is a practical measure. Any two armies might be able to shoot different distances depending on the wind, the weather, and the skill of the archers, but as soon as they can reach each other they have to be cautious. It does not matter exactly how many yards that is.

These shields were about as large as a Viking Age shield, an Agive shield, or a Roman round shield from Dura-Europos, and much smaller than the great Mesopotamian siege shields made from bundles of reeds. They were bigger than the pavises used by crossbowmen in late medieval Bohemia. Saukamappee does not mention shooting through the shields with bows or guns. A gunshot might penetrate, but without the ability to see the man behind the shield it could easily miss. Before the 20th century, armies could not provide soldiers with hundreds of projectiles each, so they had to use each shot carefully or run out. Canada conquered the Metis of Batoche when they ran out of ammunition and could no longer defend their firing pits. One reason that many shields were not very thick may be that a thin shield still provides concealment.

Saukamappee’s people shot their guns while lying on the ground, while their enemies had to stand up behind their shields to shoot their bows. While its hard to load a muzzle-loading gun while lying on the ground, its easy to shoot one while prone, supine, or kneeling. It is hard to shoot a long bow in the same positions, so gunners can use cover which bowmen cannot. In a battle between two static lines, gunners will make smaller targets than bowmen, especially bowmen with simple wooden or sinew-backed bows. This is one reason why crossbows and guns were very popular in sieges.

Many sources remark that guns were more deadly than bows. A bow is limited by the strength of the archer’s muscles, but firearms can be as powerful as the shooter wants. Most of the nations of North America were skeptical of matchlocks and their smelly, easily extinguished matches but very excited by guns which made their own fire such as flintlocks.

In other posts I have written about battles in medieval Europe and nineteenth-century Afghanistan.

Saukamappee has many things to tell us about another way that battles with bows and arrows could work.

Don’t let me get cut off or replaced by new technology! If you can, please support this site on Patreon or elsewhere.

Further Reading

• Wayne E. Lee. The Cutting-Off Way: Indigenous Warfare in Eastern North America, 1500–1800 (University of North Carolina Press, 2023)
• Joseph Burr Tyrell, ed., David Thompson’s Narrative of his Explorations in Western America, 1784-1812 (Greenwood Press: New York, 1968) https://archive.org/details/davidthompsonsna00thom/page/328/mode/2up
• Bow vs. Musket (Blog) https://bowvsmusket.com/

1. This is best known from the documentary Dead Birds (1963) but there is also a book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjZCTGnrjf4 ↩︎
2. Godehardt, Erhard et al., “The Reconstruction of Scythian Bows.” In Barry Molloy ed., The Cutting Edge, Tempus: Stroud, 2007, pp. 112-133 ↩︎

Rewatching #HeatedRivalry tonight #ShaneHollander #IlyaRozanov #HudsonWilliams #ConnorStorrie #hockey #CanCon #Canada

320. PS I Love You, "Facelove" #CanCon 🇨🇦 youtu.be/a6Sw7lkP1Gs?...

PS I LOVE YOU 'Facelove' [OFFI...