Cheyenne War Shirt

Description

Cheyenne beaded war shirt with fringed elk or deer hide. Circa 1870’s. Native brain tanned hide having traces of green paint in poncho style, with panels of buffalo hide having worn opalescent glass beading in bear claw design. Decorated with red white hearts, green and greasy yellow, pink, cobalt blue and white in pony beads running down the length of both sleeves. Panels of buffalo hide fully beaded strips with a background of blue beads and a bear claw design. The front and back triangle yokes have fringe and beaded bars of pink, yellow and dark blue sewn on brown and red wool trade cloth. Beads are Venetian with the design being ”Bear Claw.” Beads are all Mid-1800. 16” fringe on arms. Orange dyed horsehair drops at shoulders. Self-hide fringe trims the bottom length of the shirt. Neck tabs are of earlier design. Mountain Sheep was an ideal hide, but buffalo preferred as heavier and more protective. Two or four beaded ”panels” were designed to tell a story. 17” shoulder, 30” long. r r Cheyenne were a people indigenous to the Great Plains. They were a horse culture. Mainly living in the Black Hill and Montana. Their traditional enemy were the Crow Nation and the US Army. Warrior’s earned the rite to become “Shirt Wearers.” To have a War Shirt, warriors earned the right to wear the War Shirt through great acts of bravery and those deeds were often incorporated into the shirt design. They were then awarded the “Rite” to wear that specific shirt. Shirts were never traded and often the warrior might have more than one shirt as deeds accumulated over a lifetime. Some “shirts” were thought by the wearer to have an intrinsic spiritual “protective” value. More documentation available.

PERIOD: Mid 19th Century

ORIGIN: Great Plains – Cheyenne, Native American

SIZE: 17” shoulder, 30” long.