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116 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY
applique tradition was the work of mixed bloods,
especially the Canadian Metis (Howard, 1972:16;
Brasser, 1976:37). Certainly the quality and
quantity of production of this style of decoration,
as well as the skillful creation of the garments
themselves, suggest highly acculturated craftsmen,
but whether they were Indian or mixed
blood is not clear. It is possible that the Saulteaux,
acculturated Chippewas in the employ of the
Hudson's Bay Company, played a role in the
development of this design tradition on the
Plains. They were relocated from the Great Lakes
to the Manitoba prairies, and their floral designs
may have caught the eye of the western frontiersman
and Plains Indian as well.
Since Cherokee and Canadian Indian items
were being marketed very early in St. Louis, they
could have influenced Plains designs. Still other
sources to consider, when discussing the western
floral tradition that still exists among the beadworkers
of the northern Rockies, are the Iroquois
and other eastern tribes who migrated westward.
For example, several Iroquois women and girls,
the wives and daughters of beaver trappers, were
taken prisoner by the Crows about 1822 and held
for several years, perhaps permanently (Paul Wilhelm,
1973:328). Could they not have taught
their beadworking designs and techniques to their
captors? We also note the specific remarks of J.
Goldsborough Bruff, a Forty-niner who visited
Abel, Annie Heloise
1932. Chardon's Journal at Fort Clark, 1834-1839. Pierre:
South Dakota Historical Society.
Barlett, John Russel
1965. Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas,
New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua during
the Years 1850-53. Chicago: Rio Grande Press.
Biddle, Nicholas
1922. History of the Expedition under the Command of Captain
Lewis and Clarke. Volume 1. New York: Allerton
Book Co.
Brasser, Ted J.
1976. Bo'jou, Neejee/ Ottawa: National Museum of Man.
Brooks, George R.
1964. The Private Journal of Robert Campbell. St. Louis:
Missouri Historical Society.
Literature Cited
the former Hudson's Bay Company factor at Fort
Hall, Idaho (Read and Gaines, 1949:102):
Grant is a Scotchman . . . and quite courteous, for an old
mountaineer. His wife is an Iriquois. . . Her handywork,—of
bead embroidered articles are very ingenious and beautiful;—pouches,
sashes, mocasins, etc. etc. adorn the apartment,
or office of her husband. I enquired if he had any of
them to dispose of, but he said no, all spare things of that
kind had been sold.
What influence did her work have upon the
Shoshones and Bannocks who were at Fort Hall
almost daily? How many other Iroquois women
went West and introduced new and important
ideas of craftsmanship to the Plains, Plateau, and
Mountain tribes?
In conclusion, the intercultural exchange of
clothing was virtually universal. The Indians saw
White garments as carrying social prestige and
economic status. Some Whites used Indian clothing
for practicality, but most wore it as a label of
individualism. Wearing buckskin was also an obvious
statement of sensationalism, and these reasons
were not really different from the reasons
Plains Indians wanted chiefs coats.
As an afterthought, one wonders how badly
artists, writers, and film makers have misportrayed
the Indian Wars. In reality, the fellows in
the Army clothes were the Indians, while the
chaps wearing buckskin were the soldiers. How
confusing it must have been!
Brown, Margaret Kinball
1971. An Eighteenth Century Trade Coat. Plains Anthropologist,
52:128-133.
Carroll, H. Bailey, and J. Villasuna Haggard
1967. Three New Mexican Chronicles. New York: Arno
Press.
Custer, Elizabeth B.
1961. Boots and Saddles, or Life in Dakota with General Custer.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Donnelly, Joseph
1967. Wilderness Kingdom: Indian Life in the Rocky Mountains
1840-47. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Ewers, John C.
1967. William Clark's Indian Museum in St. Louis,
1816-1838. In Walter Muir Whitehill, editor, A