Table of Contents
History In Their Words reads Sarah Winnemucca. The title speaks of a red haired tribe of giants, but the passage never says giant. It remembers a small people along the Humboldt River who ambushed travelers, dug pits in night trails, and ate both enemies and their own dead. She puts their number near 2,600 and the war at about three years. Her people took some into their families, then made war when those captives would not change. Survivors were driven into brush above Humboldt Lake. The brush was fired, and boats of bulrush kept the watch until the rest entered a cave. Asked to stop eating people, they gave no answer. Wood was packed into the entrance and lit. Days later only a terrible smell remained, and neighbors called her people both conquerors and enemies. She adds that the dead had reddish hair, kept from father to son and sewn on a family dress she meant to wear while lecturing. The video presents her people’s story, not a chart of living nations.
Key points
- Winnemucca describes a Humboldt River group that, in her account, killed people and ate them.
- She says the fighting lasted about three years and that the other camp numbered about 2,600.
- Her people burned the brush above the lake, then watched the survivors from boats until they entered a cave.
- They called for an end to eating people, packed the entrance with wood, and lit it when silence followed.
- She says the dead had reddish hair, kept in her family and sewn onto a dress.
Short quotes
War lasted a long time their number was about 2600.
Sarah Winnemucca, Sarah Winnemucca on a red haired people
In the passage being read, the fight was long and the other camp was put in the thousands. Watch at 1:29
this tribe was called people eaters
Sarah Winnemucca, Sarah Winnemucca on a red haired people
She gives the name her people used for the group after the cave was burned. Watch at 3:55
Video by History In Their Words. Watch on YouTube.