Indian Oratory Author:W.C. Vanderwerth, compiler Around the council fires tribal affairs were settled without benefit of the written word, and the young men attended so that they could hear the speeches, observe their delivery, and consider the weight of reasoned argument. Speakers at tribal councils were men of eminence in war or council or both...Their speeches, which would do credit to any... more » Athenian orator, should dispel for all time the myth of the Indian as ignorant savage.« less