Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

102 Dueling
tribal level of sociopolitical complexity (ca. 1800) they engaged in “dueling
battles”:
When conflict arose between tribes, a day and a place were arranged for settling
the dispute by combat. On that day the rival tribes marched to battle,
the warriors drawing up in lines at a distance of about 100 yards apart. Behind
the lines stood the remaining members of each tribe, who during the battle
cheered their kinsmen on to greater effort. The warriors carried five-foot
tall, oval shields and two or three light javelins. These rawhide shields, when
hardened by dipping in water, could not be penetrated by the missiles. Chosen
warriors, who would advance to within 50 yards of each other and shout
insults, opened the combat by hurling their spears. Eventually more and more
warriors would be drawn into the battle until one side ceased fighting and
fled. (Otterbein 1994, 30)
The criteria for dueling seem to be met. Prearranged, challenges by individual
warriors, matched weapons, same culture and social class. However,
when more warriors join in and a general battle ensues, the duel is over.
Zulu “dueling battles” just make it to Stage Two.
Plains Indians of North America provide a better example of dueling.
These Native Americans belonged to military societies and were
deeply concerned with honor and personal status. The following duel between
a Mandan and a Cheyenne warrior recounted by Andrew Sanders
tells it all:
Formal single combats between noted warriors or between champions of
groups are reported from warrior societies around the world. They are frequently
reported for nineteenth-century Plains Indians. Sometimes they involved
behavior comparable to the medieval European idea of chivalry, at least
under the proper set of circumstances. A classic example is the American artist
George Catlin’s account of a duel between the noted Mandan leader Mato-
Topé (“Four Bears”) and a Cheyenne war chief. When a party of Mandans met
a much larger Cheyenne war party, Mato-Topé made towards them and thrust
his lance into the ground. He hung his sash (the insignia of his position in his
military association) upon it as a sign that he would not retreat. The Cheyenne
chief then challenged Mato-Topé to single combat by thrusting his ornate lance
(the symbol of his office in his military association) into the ground next to
that of Mato-Topé. The two men fought from horseback with guns until Mato-
Topé’s powder horn was destroyed. The Cheyenne threw away his gun so that
they remained evenly matched. They fought with bow and arrow until Mato-
Topé’s horse was killed, when the Cheyenne voluntarily dismounted and they
fought on foot. When the Cheyenne’s quiver was empty both men discarded
bow and shield and closed to fight with knives. Mato-Topé discovered that he
had left his knife at home, and a desperate struggle ensued for the Cheyenne’s
weapon. Although wounded badly in the hand and several times in the body,
Mato-Topé succeeded in wresting the Cheyenne’s knife from him, killing him,
and taking his scalp. Consequently, among his war honors Mato-Topé wore a
red wooden knife in his hair to symbolize the deed, and the duel was one of
the eleven war exploits painted on his buffalo robe. (1999, 777)