“Circling the wagons” is an idiom that originated from Old West immigrants who formed a circle with their covered wagons to protect themselves from attacks. The phrase has evolved to also mean isolating oneself during a personal crisis or re-evaluating a company’s strategy. The original premise of the phrase, that Native Americans were a constant threat, is a myth perpetuated by western films. The true reason for forming a circle was to corral cattle at night. The settlers’ motivation was primarily economic, as livestock survival was essential to their success.
“Circle the wagons” is an idiom that usually suggests that a group of people must work together to protect themselves from some kind of external danger. The phrase is one of many English sayings that has origins in the distant past. It is believed to come from a practice in the migration of Old West immigrants to the United States from the East Coast, during the 1800s, who traveled in covered, horse-drawn wagons. At night, or when threatened during the day, these wagon trains would stop moving and form a circle on the frontier prairie as a means of protection against attacks by local Native Americans or outlaw bands.
Like many idioms with a long history, “circling the wagons” has taken on new meanings over time. It can also indicate an individual or a group of people such as a family who intend to stop communicating with outside society while dealing with their own personal crisis. Other groups have adopted the phrase as well, such as a company that can be said to be “hanging around the wagons” when it is losing its competitive edge and needs to re-evaluate its products and advertising strategy. All of these uses share the common theme of providing defense against circumstances that may seem overwhelming.
The meaning of idioms generally changes over time, but sometimes the original meaning is also based on a false premise. The idea that settlers to the west were often threatened by marauding Native American tribes and had to “ride around the wagons” for protection is something of a myth. This idea has been perpetuated by many western films which showed settlers in conflict with native tribes who would attack the circular caravans in their territory. In fact, however, many Native American tribes were friendly to the settlers and initially welcomed their presence.
When a caravan was formed into a circle, the most common reason for this was one that was rarely portrayed in popular cinematic depictions of the period. Wagon trains carried cattle with them as they moved across the American West in search of new lands to raise and farm. At night, this cattle would have to be corralled so they wouldn’t stray, and the simplest way to do this was to bring the wagons in a circle around the herd to keep them fixed in one place. This would protect them from getting lost or injured in unfamiliar terrain and being attacked by wild animals.
Over 500,000 settlers made the journey west to the United States in covered wagons before the railroads were completed in the late 1800s. The settlers brought all their belongings with them and could only begin the journey in the early spring, as it took from four to six months to complete and had to be done while the grass grew to feed the livestock brought along. The importance of livestock surviving the journey was essential to the success of the settlers once they arrived, so “turning the wagons” at the time had primarily an economic motivation. Because a business today may engage in a “circling the wagons” practice to ensure its survival, the settlers were doing the same thing for themselves when the idiom first came into being over 150 years ago.
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