Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 97 Warrior art from the reservation period typically com- municated four facts about each exploit: the tribal and/or personal identity of the protagonist and his opponent, the outcome of battle, and the relative odds associated with that encounter. Ironically, it is sometimes more difficult to de- termine the tribal affiliation of the protagonist, especially if the artist emphasized idiosyncratic features, such as name glyphs or specific aspects of warrior-society regalia, as heral- dic devices. Six elements of the pictorial lexicon in biographical art were consistently employed to signify the ethnicity of Apsáalooke warriors. Medicine Crow's 1880 delegation por- trait illustrates the pompadour hairstyle, loop necklace, and panel leggings. Other traits, notably striped breechcloths, pitched hair extensions, and the application of red paint to the forehead, are represented on the White Swan robe and were used similarly by Lakota and Cheyenne artists to iden- tify their Crow adversaries. In Apsáalooke military tradition, attainment of four spe- cific honors was necessary to become a chief: leadership of a successful war party, theft of a horse picketed in an enemy village, seizure of an opponent's weapon in hand-to-hand combat, and the formal act of "counting coup," which in- volved physically touching or striking an enemy. Three of these four accomplishments are depicted on the White Swan robe and will be focal points of analysis. Two vignettes, located directly be- low the central and right rosettes of the beaded blanket strip, illustrate coup-strike and gun-capture exploits. In the upper vignette, White Swan reaches down from his horse to count coup on a fall- en foe, one clad in a split-horn bonnet that is trimmed with ermine pelts and a trailer of red trade cloth. This article of clothing may indicate elite warrior status. Catlin observed, in the early 1830s, that ermine-fringed, split-horn bonnets were exceedingly rare and worn only by the most distin- guished warriors. Indeed, the renowned Mandan, Mató- Tópe ("Four Bears"), was then the only tribal member enti- tled to wear this type of headdress. The significance of White Swan's gun-capture exploit, on the other hand, is communicated artistically by the exagger- ated size of his coup feather. White Swan minimized materi- al expressions of his adversary's ethnicity, perhaps, to focus the viewer's attention on the simple act of seizing his weap- on. The danger associated with this feat was heightened by the rapid approach of a mounted and armed enemy. War exploit robe, Apsáalooke (Crow), attributed to White Swan, ca. 1880. MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

• Cover