only the best remembered of many Americans of the colonial and early national eras who rebelled against authority in Indian costume. A few groups evolved into political organizations, such as the Tammany societies of Philadelphia and New York, named for a Lenape [Delaware] chief named Tamanend. (The New York society became the powerful New York City Democratic Party organization known as Tammany Hall. It referred to its leaders as "sachems," a practice imitated by Michigamua.) Other Indian-themed groups were purely fraternal, such as the Society of Red Men and its successor, the Improved Order of Red Men. Members found community and camaraderie in gatherings that partook of secret rituals, names, hierarchies and costumes drawn from European-American depictions of Native American life — all elements that would characterize Michigamua from its origins until the late 20th century. For inspiration, members of Michigamua's founding "tribe" searched the university library for ethnographic research and imaginative literature about indigenous peoples. Many such writings embraced the white image of Native Americans as "noble savages" living in harmony with nature and representing the inherent goodness of human beings untainted by European-American civilization. Other writings emphasized Indians' supposed courage and fierceness. Both sets of ideas informed Michigamua's ethos. Early activities and traditions "Playing Indian" formed the core of Michigamua's identity. Members took faux-Indian nicknames betokening some physical or personal trait (for example, "Heap Chatter" for a talkative member) or activity ("Thunder Arm" for a baseball pitcher). They were expected to use the pidgin English (for example, "me heap big chief") that had evolved in early transactions between English-speakers and Native Americans, then was absorbed and modified in the "western" novels and movies of white popular culture. Linguists called the dialect "Native American Pidgin English" and "Hollywood Injun Pidgin." It bore little if any relation to the actual languages of Native American nations. Each cadre elected a "sachem" (president), "sagamore" (vice president), "keeper of the wampum" (treasurer), and "wiskinski" (secretary). Titles were drawn from New York's Society of St. Tammany (better known as Tammany Hall) and the Improved Order of Red Men. Members defined the group's mission as to "fight like hell for Michigan and Michigamua," which meant simply that Michigamua regarded itself as an embodiment of "school spirit," to use the expression then coming into vogue. As on other campuses, allegiance to one's university or college as a whole was promoted as a corrective to the rancorous