Northern Cheyenne Ledger-Kansas State Historical Society

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ANIMAL, ELK; WARRIOR on a Blue Horse Carries a Saber

Ethnographic Notes

56 A bull elk runs from right to left across the page (extended legs show motion). The red smudge on the image is from the warrior's headdress on the opposite page. The elk has dark shoulders and yellow body. He has a small rack of antlers (three by three points), and his round eye is created by an outlined circle of unpigmented paper, contrasting with the dark hide around it. Penciled details include antlers, ears, beard, split hooves, dewclaws, genitalia, midsection (ribs ?), and tail. Composition of the drawing resembles the same right-to-left, full-page orientation of human warrior portraits. Twelve nearly identical images of this male elk appear in this ledger (plates 19-23; 30, 32, 37-41).See plate 19 for further discussion. 57 A warrior on a blue horse rides from left to right across the page. He wears a single-trail eagle feather bonnet, with immature golden eagle feathers attached to red trade cloth�the edging shows. He wears a dark shirt (lead pencil fill), with blue blanket wrapped around his waist (see previous plate). German silver armbands are above each elbow, as well as other markings on his shoulders. Each of his blue trade cloth leggings has a single stripe running vertically up the front, made from sewing trade cloth together at the undyed selvedge (see plate 9). His breechcloth of blue trade cloth with undyed selvedge edging is the same color as his leggings and blanket. He carries a saber with two streamers (see plate 13 for discussion and references). This particular warrior is repeated in this ledger, wearing the same distinctive war bonnet. See Plate 9 for further discussion. The blue horse has lowered forelegs to show motion. He wears a silver or German silver headstall; the uncolored face may be white markings. His tail, crowded into the right-hand side of the page, is clubbed and tied with red trade cloth.


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Drawn in 1879 by one or more Northern Cheyenne prisoners in the Dodge City jail held for trial after breaking ...

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Document Info
Plate No: 30
Page No: 56-57
Media: Lead pencil outline, detail, and fill; yellow crayon; Lead pencil outline, detail, and fill; blue crayon; red watercolor
Dimensions: 3.25 x 5 in (8.5 x 12.75 cm)
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