Indigenous Ability

[The following is part of a loose series on Rough ‘n’ Tumble combat kicking starting with “Kicking in the Wild West .” Look for physical demonstration on upcoming RAWs.] The Americas, particularly what were to become the United States, were a true melting pot of peoples, cultures, ideas, cui sines, manners, morals, mores, quirks and, to our facet of focus—combat stylings. In any port-city you had vast influxes of all of these comingling into a motley stew and, of course, those intrepid enough to push further into rugged frontiers were likely, in many cases, hardy enough [or disreputable enough] to have more than a passing familiarity with the native cultures’ ways of throwing hands, feet, people, and weapons. Along the way they met other like-minded lusty, hearty, and ofttimes violently active souls. This is how author Joseph Alexander Altsheler, writing in 1911 described the atmosphere of the port city of New Orleans, just after the War of 1812. “ The basis of the...

The American Frontier was an ever-expanding loose boundary of westward expansion that began with the coastal exploration along the Atlantic and then made inroads into the thick forests of the east. It is tough to imagine now, but, at one time, practically the entire Appalachian and Ohio valleys were so thick with woodland single-track traces [trails] through thick forest was about all that could be managed.  Once the Mississippi was crossed The Great American Desert [The Great Plains] with perspective skewing grasslands stretching from horizon to horizon was encountered. And, of course, the vast fastnesses of the Rockies, Sierra Madres, boiling deserts from the Sonoran to the Mojave, unforgiving lands from the Malpais to the Llano Estacado [Staked Plains] saw remarkably different terrains and environments from territory to territory. Within these varying terrains isolated by the natural features themselves entire cultures and traditions would spring up, and all cultur...