Baggattaway.

This is coolbert:

Throughout history, various martial [warlike] societies have devised "games" as a means of preparing their young men for combat.

One such "game" was the American Indian game of baggattaway.

Baggattaway seems to be the province of American Indians living in the area from the North American Great Lakes eastward.

Baggattaway became the modern game of lacrosse. A popular American east coast game with many adherents. Liked because of the fast pace and rugged style of play. Lacrosse is today the national sport of Canada [not ice hockey].

[while playing football at the University of Syracuse, Jim Brown, one of the greatest football players of all time, also played lacrosse in the off-season as a means of keeping in shape for football. Brown was a dual all-American at both football and lacrosse. One might very well ask the question, is lacrosse an excellent means of keeping in shape for football, or is it the other way around, football being an excellent training device for lacrosse. Syracuse of course is located in the heart of the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York, the homeland of the Iroquois.]

Among such tribes as the Iroquois, baggattaway was used as a means of training the tribal young men for war. Teamwork, physical conditioning of a high level of development, and the rugged contact of the sport all made an excellent vehicle for war preparation. Indeed, among the Cherokee, the translation of their name for the "sport" translates best as THE LITTLE BROTHER OF WAR.

Click here to read about the importance of this "game" to the American Indian.

[there are several photos included as part of the above site. One shows what must be a regulation [by American Indian standards] type game. Note that several of the competitors seems to have been cold-cocked. The other photo shows a general melee type of game].

Developed in the highest form among the Iroquois.

A previous blog has mentioned the Iroquois as being one of the most warlike of American Indian tribes, waging war very successfully against their neighbors.

The Iroquois evidently had a standardized form of this game, with a set number of players per team, and a field of play that was of set dimensions.

But what I am talking about here is a form of the game that was suited and played with war preparations in mind.

We are talking about a form of the game that is almost apocalyptic in nature.

This form consisted of the entire male population of whole villages in competition with one another. There could be literally thousands of players on each side!! And the goals would be a long distance apart. Miles, perhaps even tens of miles would separate the goals!! Furthermore, participants were allowed to carry whips, knives, and tomahawks, and use them, if acceptable to both sides!! You could lose your life during one of these "competitions"!!

This was a "game" that had real merit as a training ground for war!!

[During the Pontiac Rebellion, American Indians, using a game of baggattaway as a ruse, gained entry to the British garrisoned fort at Michilmackinac [at the straits of Mackinac, where Lakes Michigan and Huron come join] by "accidently" throwing a ball over the fort's stockade fence. Warriors feigning to retrieve the ball proceeded to attack and overwhelm the garrison!!

"On June 2, 1763, King George Ill's 25th birthday, local Chippewas hon­ored him with a game of baggatiway (the precursor of modern lacrosse) out­side Fort Michilimackinac the site of present-day Mackinaw City, Michigan. The fort’s haughty commander and most of his 35 soldiers watched the game with bemused interest from outside the open gate, until one player threw the ball over the stockade and all the Indians rushed inside after it. There they slaugh­tered 16 British defenders and took the rest prisoner."]

Click here to see another stylized picture of a baggattaway melee involving hundreds of American Indian warriors.



Another society that practiced a "game" as a form of war preparation was the Mongols of the era of Genghis Khan.

This was the hulega. Best translated as circular hunt.

"Training for the Mongolian army took the form of the hulega, or Great Hunt, a slow, circular advance made at a steady pace which they called the wolf lope. It was conducted like a campaign and was designed to teach discipline, strategy and unity under command."

A Mongol unit of say touman size [divisonal size unit consisting of about 10,000 men] would initiate the hulega by riding in an enormous circular pattern, many miles in diameter, and do so as a unit. The hulega was a means for the Mongols to practice unit cohesion, tactics, strategy, etc. Any wild animals caught within the hulega became fair game for the Mongol riders. Using their horse bows, Mongol archers, firing from horseback while moving, would attempt to engage and kill a suitable wild game target with a single bowshot. Failure to make a "kill" would cause a Mongol archer to lose a lot of esteem among his compatriots!!

[two comments about the hulega. It is reputed that the horse bows the Mongol archers wielded had a draw [the force to pull the string of the bow back] of about 150 pounds!! This is just phenomenal. Modern hunting bows have a maximum pull of about 65 to 75 pounds of draw pull. Mongol riders also possessed stirrups that provided a platform for the rider to stand up and balance himself while shooting the horse bow. Made for a steady balance and a clean and accurate bow shot. Some of you may recall a previous blog entry mentioning a film I have seen of a modern day Mongol cavalry militiaman firing with a SKS semi-auto rifle at targets while standing up in the saddle of his horse which is racing toward the camera at full gallop. The horse has evidently been trained to gallop in such a manner that it does not bounce up and down, also assuring a steady platform for the shooter!! As I have said many times before, sometimes the old ways are the best ways!!].

Click here to see an interesting site about horse bows. These weapons are still available today!!

coolbert.