Scalping

In many Native American societies the removal of a scalp served as a symbol with military and religious significance.

A 1789 engraving entitled An Indian Warrior Entering His Wigwam with a Scalp (Library of Congress)

It, the power of the individual’s spirit was transferred from the victim to the conqueror. The removal of the scalp did not always coincide with actual death, but survivors were considered to be spiritually dead. The religious significance of scalping was evident in the elaborate rituals surrounding the cutting of the scalp and in the careful attention to its subsequent display. The scalps also served as visible evidence of a warrior’s martial prowess. Public display of the trophies offered a daily reminder of the courage and skill of the possessor.

When Europeans arrived in the Americas, they displayed a mixture of fascination and repulsion over the practice of scalping. Visions of bloody scalps haunted terrified colonists on the frontier, who saw nothing but savagery in the ritual. Other accounts described in almost clinical detail the methods of removal and preservation. Colonial governments quickly set aside their supposed shock at scalping and encouraged the practice through the institution of scalp bounties. As early as the 1630s, authorities in New England offered money for the scalps of their Indian enemies. When the intercolonial wars between France and England broke out in the late 17th century, each side offered financial remuneration not only for Indian scalps but for European scalps as well. The bounties continued into the Revolutionary War despite the protests of some colonists that the practice was morally suspect and militarily ineffective. As Americans pushed westward in the 19th century, scalping continued to be a significant component of the Anglo-Indian conflict, especially in border regions.

Further reading: James Axtell, The European and the Indian: Essays in the Ethnohistory of Colonial North America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981).

—Melanie Perreault

Although some scholars have suggested that Europeans introduced scalping to the Americas, archaeological and other evidence offers convincing proof that scalping was widespread throughout North America before the European arrival. While the particular rituals varied by tribal group, the ceremonial removal of a defeated enemy’s scalp was a common feature of Indian warfare.

The scalplock, a long lock of hair typically located on the top of the head, was a source of pride for Indian men. While European visitors often derided the Indian men’s apparent obsession with braiding, decorating, and occasional painting of their hair, they failed to recognize the religious significance of the scalplock. Especially for men, the scalplock represented the soul or spirit; elaborate dressings and styles were not so much signs of vanity as they were statements of spiritual power.