Plains Indian Studies - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 30 109
On the other side of the ledger, the White men
had a fascination for the Indian's suit of snowy
buckskin garnished with beads and quills. Americans
and Canadians who happened through Indian
country readily bought coats, jackets, gloves,
and moccasins. True Indian clothing on the back
of a White man was, however, rare. Meriwether
Lewis posed for his portrait in authentic Nez
Perce dress. George Custer did likewise for a
photographer at Fort Abraham Lincoln. Lt. Stephen
Mills, commander of a company of Chiricahua
scouts, donned genuine Apache shirt,
breech cloth and tall boots to help establish his
affinity, and Frank Gushing of the Bureau of
American Ethnology (Figure 9) was often photographed
in Indian clothing as he added to the
romance of anthropology. Generally, however,
the White customer wanted something dashing,
elegant, and well-fitting, but still "frontiersy."
The result was a garment following the current
White pattern, even to pockets and lining, and
then handsomely decorated by Indian methods.
A survey of specimens in museum collections
indicates that the buckskin garments for White
consumption generally followed contemporary
White fashions (Figure 10). Thus, coats made
before the Civil War have long, full, knee-length
skirts and fitted waists similar to the frock coat of
the period. Three early collar styles were: the
regular suitcoat type with lapels, a shirt-type
collar with rounded points (both of which copied
civilian fashion), and a straight stand-up collar
style, which probably was derived from military
coats.
After the Civil War, vests became popular. The
jackets became shorter and buckskin shirts (actually
light jackets) came into vogue. The regular
shirt collar and shirt yoke are frequently encountered
as are the bibbed "fireman's shirt" popular
at that time. Some coats during this period have
shoulder-length capes, which may be an adaptation
of the eastern hunting shirt design, or more
probably, an inspiration from the cape used on
the army overcoat.
The post-Civil War outfits exhibit other interesting
design characteristics. Many show exten­
sive use of pinking irons and shears to decorate
edges. Pockets are frequently sewn on the outside,
using the shape as decoration. Instead of fringe
being located as a welt in seams, it appears on
yokes, around collars, sleeves, pockets, and cuffs,
a vast increase over its use in the earlier days.
Brass military buttons are also very common.
Some frontiersmen swore by buckskins, while
others swore at them. Rudolph F. Kurz felt that
leather was far superior to cloth for roughing it.
He found it "more serviceable for life in the bush
and on the prairie and . . . better protection
against sun and mosquitoes when one is on horseback"
(Hewitt, 1937:134).
To the contrary, the English sportsman John
Keast Lord who spent twenty years, beginning in
the 1840s, on the Plains and in the Rockies, said:
"This style of dress is decidely showy and picturesque,
and having said so much of it, I have
exhausted everything that it is possible to say in
its praise." He stated that buckskin was heavy
and not warm. When wet it was like "damp
tripe," and drying it was laborious with the stiff
result being akin to armor. Buckskin was impossible
to clean, and shrinkage always occurred,
even from perspiration. The leather "steals away
from wrists and feet"; pants became knee
breeches and "the sleeves modestly retire to the
regions of the elbow. . . . Never wear leather if
you can help it." Such was the snobbery of an
English Lord. He finally admitted: "if nothing
better can be obtained, there is no other course
left open than that of wearing leather or going
a la sauvage. . . . Buckskin ... is the material most
hunters, trappers, and traders, whether white or
red men, use for their suits of clothes" (Lord,
1867:139).
Perhaps this writer's personal experience will
resolve this dichotomy. Buckskin clothing is very
uncomfortable when damp; but if heavily
smoked, sewn with welted seams, and greasy from
long use, it is relatively water repellent. It does
become stiff and brittle, and it shrinks and
stretches to a remarkable degree. However, high
winds and insects do not penetrate it. It is superb
for an outer garment in really frigid temperatures