19th Century Cheyenne.

During the last quarter of the 19th Century the Northern Cheyenne and Northern Arapahoe were closely aligned with their Sioux neighbors in and around Dakota Territory. The Cheyenne fought with the Sioux against the U.S. Cavalry in many important battles during the Plains Indian Wars, including the famous battle against Custer and the 7th Cavalry at Little Big Horn. During this period, these tribes camped together, inter-married, and greatly influenced each other's material culture.

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This pair of Cheyenne Moccasins beaded in the "buffalo track" * design layout could easily be mistaken for a Sioux pair. In fact for more than 30 years, there was a single moccasin on display in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History's Native American Collection which was beaded in this same design, was clearly of Northern Cheyenne origin, and unfortunately clearly miss-labeled as being Sioux. The Smithsonian Collection of Plains material came mostly from the collection of V.J. Evans, a prominent D.C. Lawyer, and not a serious scholar of Native American cultures. Many of the attributions in this collection are in error, so I would be very careful when studying material culture in this collection. You may also have noted that when publishers reprinted William Orchard's "Quill and Beadwork of the Western Sioux", the moccasins shown on the new cover sporting the same "buffalo track" design are also Cheyenne and not Sioux at all! Once mistakes are made in attribution by Scholars or Institutions errors take on a life of their own, and are difficult if not impossible to correct.

Just to reinforce this theme with another example, during the same timeframe when the moccasins discussed in this article were made, Otis Mason, the famous Curator of the Museum of Ethnology wrote a famous article on Aboriginal Cradles in use by 19th century Native Americans. The article is supported by text and engravings, and the classic Sioux cradle is depicted being held by a Brule Sioux Woman. The only problem is that the cradle being depicted is a classic Cheyenne example, being a fully beaded hide sack mounted on lattice boards. The classic Sioux cradle of this period would have been just the beaded sack, and would not have been mounted on boards! Mason fell into a rather common trap, believing that because he was in a Sioux camp, speaking with a Sioux woman, the cradle she was holding would have been Sioux! I guess no one told him that the Cheyenne and Sioux had long before this time, inter-married, and that cradles were usually made by relatives, not mothers! This cradle exists today, and can be found in the Smithsonian Collection.

A few years ago, a British author named Colin Taylor who published several great photo books on Native American cultural material, made the same mistake as Mason. He assumed that because the museum collection provenance said the cradle was acquired from the Sioux, that it must have been a Sioux cradle. Colin missed the fact that early museum attributions are not always accurate, and in the case of his book, he perpetuated the attribution error, showing the very same classic Cheyenne cradle as being Sioux.

So, returning to our discussion of moccasins, this is definitely a Cheyenne pair, and let me now remind you just why I believe this to be so. The sole shape, construction details, partially unsewn heel seem creating a rather obvious "V", and consistent lanes of beadwork at instep and heel seam are classic Cheyenne traits. The bead colors, white core rose, greasy yellow, navy blue, white, and dark clear green, were used by both the Sioux and Cheyenne, but the steep triangle patterns at the moccasin sides are clearly Cheyenne. Most importantly, there are seven perimeter design elements arranged around the moccasins, with one design centered precisely on the toe. When one looks at all of the characteristics, and considers the chalk white background, clear green "tracks", and strong boldly contrasting design elements outlined with navy blue, and with lighter contrasting greasy yellow over white core rose centers, one can only be led to a Cheyenne attribution.

While you may see many Northern Plains moccasins beaded in what most contemporary bead workers think of as a "buffalo track" design layout, I hope the brief analysis presented here will help you do a better job in differentiating between Sioux and Cheyenne moccasins, and prevent you from perpetuating errors of the past!

* If you were wondering where the term "buffalo track" derives from, I would offer the following: If you look down at the vamp of this style of beadwork layout, and observe the area known as the "tracks" (which are almost always beaded in either blue or green), the net visual appearance is that of a buffalo hoof imprint which has subsequently filled with water. I am not sure who first made this observation, and have no idea if the Sioux or Cheyenne woman who originated this design layout thought the same, but I always use this term to describe moccasins which look to be in this class.

From the Collection of General and Mrs. Kostelnik