ABSTRACT
Warfare between Indians and whites in the Americas demanded certain qualities of the combatants, chiefs and warriors alike.1 Indian leaders had to be brave but at the same time sparing of the blood of their warriors. They also had to be, as Napoleon liked his generals to be, ‘lucky’. But luck among Indian peoples had less to do with the chance blessing of Fortuna than with powers bestowed by the spirit world: imperviousness to bullets, the ability to ‘see’ enemies across great distances. The chiefs of the white armies, the generals and colonels, also believed that leaders should lead from the front, but they knew as well that their civilian masters cared more about results than glory. Generals had to be good managers of resources and men, and if they were, the absence of dash and pluck might easily be overlooked.
