What was the first instance of native Americans using gunpowder weapons in battle and did they ever make their own powder?
Upvote:5
In what became the USA, the Dutch West India Company began trading in what became New York State, building fort and trading post in 1614 at what became Albany. The Dutch traded with the Iroquois for furs, and traded them guns and ammunition.
It is possible that other Indian groups in what later became the USA acquired guns from the Spanish earlier than 1614.
In Mexico, native groups used guns and gunpowder during the Chichimec war of 1550-1600, according to the answer by John Strachan.
In South America, Incas used guns during the Inca Revolt led by the vassal Inca ruler Manco Inca from 1536-1544. Spanish expeditions were ambushed in the mountains and the Incas acquired Spanish guns and made prisoners teach them how to use them. Manco Inca was seen wearing spanish armor and riding a horse in one battle.
The Spanish had been dealing with various native groups since 1492. Columbus founded the first Spanish settlement in the New Wold at La Natividad in Hispaniola in 1492. When Columbus returned in 1493 he found that the settlers had quarreled with the natives and had been massacred. So if the settlers left by Columbus had any canons or personal hand guns, the natives acquired them, but might not have learned how to use them.
Thus it seems certain that the first use of any guns by New World Native Americans or Indians would have been sometime between 1493 and 1536.
The Powder River in Montana has black sand that looks like gunpowder, giving the river its name. I have read that Sioux Indians kept trying to turn the sand into gunpowder.
One thing which the Sioux allegedly did develop was a way to reload used cartridges. Old fashioned muskets used lead balls and cheap gunpowder which was sold in containers. Modern rifles used preloaded cartridges which were expensive. The Sioux learned how to reload used cartridges with bullets and cheap gunpowder sold for muskets, thus producing their own cartridges cheaper than they could buy.
John Strachan's answer has the only example of US Indians who allegedly learned how to make gunpowder that I have ever read.
Upvote:15
Chichimec war 1550/1600
According to the book American Indian Quarterly published by University of Nebraska Press, gunpowder weapons were first used by native americans during the Chichimec war which lasted from 1550 to 1600ad.
Gunpowder mostly obtained via trade
It would appear that native americans mostly obtained their gunpowder via trade, though according to the Lipan Apache website, the Lipan Apache's had learned how to make their own gunpowder by 1800.
The Official Website of the LAT
There is also some evidence which indicates that the Lipans had learned how to make gunpowder by 1800, although they obtained most of their gunpowder and ammunition through trade or by force (such as the 1790 attack on Laredo, where an entire warehouse full of gunpowder was looted).
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