Re: Robert Rogers

Posted by Petra on August 18, 1998 at 12:26:48:

In Reply to: Robert Rogers posted by Marcia on August 18, 1998 at 11:29:24:

: In watching this interesting show on Rogers and his Rangers, one of the narrator's sentences struck me rather forcibly, and I've been waiting to see if anyone else mentioned it in the Legends of the Northwest thread. Since no one has, I'm throwing it out here for consideration. The statement was made that one of Rogers' most earnest goals as a young lad was to have killed an Indian (any Indian, apparently) before he was 14. I know this has to be taken in the context of the thinking of the era & the way Rogers was raised, but it still strikes me as a very sad indictment of the times. It made me think of the line from the Ballad of Davy Crockett..."kilt him a b'ar when he was only three." As though killing an Indian were a rite of passage for men of the times, and of no more consequence than shooting an animal.

: Of course, I understand that this is an easy issue to take a stand against, coming from the safe perspective of this point in history, and I'm not saying that Rogers wasn't a brave or interesting figure who did some remarkable things. But it still sounded sad to me. Am I way off-base, here?

: Marcia

Marcia,
I was out of the room for a brief moment and my daughter repeated that sentence when I came in with a big question mark in her voice.
Of course it's sad. And maybe it was the same vice versa, young Indian boys dreaming about their first kill, I don't know. But that sentence didn't strike me as anything surprising at all, that's for sure. That attitude seems to have been widespread.
Petra

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• Re: Robert Rogers Marcia 13:36:02 8/18/98 (0)

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: : In watching this interesting show on Rogers and his Rangers, one of the narrator's sentences struck me rather forcibly, and I've been waiting to see if anyone else mentioned it in the Legends of the Northwest thread.  Since no one has, I'm throwing it out here for consideration.  The statement was made that one of Rogers' most earnest goals as a young lad was to have killed an Indian (any Indian, apparently) before he was 14.  I know this has to be taken in the context of the thinking of the era & the way Rogers was raised, but it still strikes me as a very sad indictment of the times.  It made me think of the line from the Ballad of Davy Crockett..."kilt him a b'ar when he was only three."  As though killing an Indian were a rite of passage for men of the times, and of no more consequence than shooting an animal.

: : Of course, I understand that this is an easy issue to take a stand against, coming from the safe perspective of this point in history, and I'm not saying that Rogers wasn't a brave or interesting figure who did some remarkable things.  But it still sounded sad to me.  Am I way off-base, here?

: : Marcia

: 
: Marcia, 
: I was out of the room for a brief moment and my daughter repeated that sentence when I came in with a big question mark in her voice. 
: Of course it's sad. And maybe it was the same vice versa, young Indian boys dreaming about their first kill, I don't know. But that sentence didn't strike me as anything surprising at all, that's for sure. That attitude seems to have been widespread.
: Petra


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