The happy hunting ground is a concept of the afterlife associated with the Native Americans in the United States. [1] The phrase most likely originated with the British settlers' interpretation of the Indian description. [2]
The phrase first appears in 1823 in The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper:
"Hawk-eye! My fathers call me to the happy hunting-grounds." [3]
Historian Charles L. Cutler suggests that Cooper "either coined or gave currency to" the use of the phrase "happy hunting ground" as a term for the afterlife. [4] The phrase also began to appear soon after in the writing of Washington Irving. [5]
In 1911, Sioux physician Charles Eastman wrote that the phrase "is modern and probably borrowed, or invented by the white man." [6]
The happy hunting ground is a concept of the afterlife associated with the Native Americans in the United States. [1] The phrase most likely originated with the British settlers' interpretation of the Indian description. [2]
The phrase first appears in 1823 in The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper:
"Hawk-eye! My fathers call me to the happy hunting-grounds." [3]
Historian Charles L. Cutler suggests that Cooper "either coined or gave currency to" the use of the phrase "happy hunting ground" as a term for the afterlife. [4] The phrase also began to appear soon after in the writing of Washington Irving. [5]
In 1911, Sioux physician Charles Eastman wrote that the phrase "is modern and probably borrowed, or invented by the white man." [6]