[Right Wing Professor]

First, their uncritical acceptance of the entymology of "redskins", without checking primary sources themselves, is suspect.

Agreed. The OED lists the first use of 'redskin' in 1699. While scalping went on before that - after all, the Indians themselves invented it - the first bounty, as far as I know, wasn't offered in English America until 1703, and the practice really didn't take off (so to speak) until the French and Indian War. The guy who first proposed the 'scalp' theory dates the word to 1800, which is way too late.

[drjoe]

The actual site informs us: 1. A North American Indian. (Not the preferred term.) 1699 S. Smith in H. E. Smith Colonial Days (1900) 49 Ye firste Meetinge House was solid mayde to withstande ye wicked onsaults of ye Red Skins. 1823 E. James Longs Exped. I. 160 The whites will not harm the red-skins when they have them thus in their power. 1851 Dixon W. Penn xxiii. (1872) 205 A strong believer in the native virtues of the Redskins, when these savages were treated well. 1890 Times 27 Dec. 3/2 After dark the whole band..renewed the attack, Kicking Bear himself leading the redskins. attrib. 1699 S. Smith in H. E. Smith Colonial Days (1900) 49 My Honoured Father was as Active as ye Red?¡skin Men and sinewy. 1871 Lubbock in Jrnl. Anthrop. Inst. (1872) I. 3 Though the Redskin family is constituted in a manner very unlike ours [etc.]. 1883 Athenum 20 Jan. 81/1 A picture of redskin life.