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Counting coup was the winning of prestige against an enemy by the Plains Tribes of North America. Warriors won prestige ...
06/10/2026

Counting coup was the winning of prestige against an enemy by the Plains Tribes of North America. Warriors won prestige by acts of bravery in the face of the enemy, which could be recorded in various ways and retold as stories. Any blow struck against the enemy counted as a coup, including killing, but the most prestigious acts included touching an enemy warrior with the hand, bow or coup stick and escaping unharmed. Touching the first enemy to die in battle or touching the enemy's defensive works also counted as coup, as did, in some nations, simply riding up to an enemy, touching him with a short stick and riding away unscathed. Counting coup could also involve stealing an enemy's weapons or horses tied up to his lodge in camp. Risk of injury or death was required to count coup.
Escaping unharmed while counting coup was considered a higher honor than being wounded in the attempt. A warrior who won coup was permitted to wear an eagle feather. If he had been wounded in the attempt, however, he was required to paint the feather red to indicate this.
After a battle or exploit, the people of a band would gather together to recount their acts of bravery and "count coup". Coups were recorded by putting notches in a coup stick. Some of the Pacific Northwest tribes would tie an eagle feather to their coup stick for each coup counted but many nations did not do so. Among the Blackfoot nation of the upper Missouri River Valley, coup could be recorded by the placement of "coup bars" on the sleeves and shoulders of special shirts that bore paintings of the warrior's exploits in battle. Many shirts of this sort have survived to the present.
Joe Medicine Crow (1913–2016) is credited with achieving the feat while serving with the US Army during World War II, as on one occasion he overpowered and disarmed a German soldier, and later stole horses from an SS unit.
Joe Medicine Crow

WHITE BULL (Ho-tu-a-hwo-ko-mas, a/k/a Ice and Ice Bear), 1901. White Bull, a Northern Cheyenne medicine man, had fought ...
06/09/2026

WHITE BULL (Ho-tu-a-hwo-ko-mas, a/k/a Ice and Ice Bear), 1901. White Bull, a Northern Cheyenne medicine man, had fought at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. I used Photoshop to sharpen details and present the first-ever close view. Now you can see White Bull’s dust goggles and his intricately decorated moccasins, fringed pants, leather vest, and wrist guards, garments worn only for special occasions. Click to enlarge and better examine details.
Miles City (Montana) photographer L.A. Huffman accompanied historian Olin D. Wheeler as he interviewed battle participants for the 25th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. ‘Old Bill’ Rowland, who had married into the Cheyenne tribe decades earlier, served as interpreter. Circa 1880, Huffman had previously photographed White Bull.

In the final months before his surrender in 1877, Crazy Horse retreated alone to the Powder River country and pleaded fo...
06/08/2026

In the final months before his surrender in 1877, Crazy Horse retreated alone to the Powder River country and pleaded for a vision that would show him how to preserve his people and their homeland.
Compounding the Lakota war chief’s grief during that long winter was the ill health of his wife, Black Shawl. As he fasted and prayed in the hills near the present-day Montana-Wyoming line, a red-tailed hawk, his spirit helper, descended with an eagle.
Crazy Horse took the eagle’s message to holy men and together they created a healing ceremony. Although Crazy Horse was killed within months of his surrender, Black Shawl — thought at the time to have tuberculosis — lived to be an old woman.
The eagle, chief of birds — the one who could fly the highest and carry messages to and from First Maker — was intricately woven into life on the Northern Plains.
Two Leggins, a chief of the River Crow in the last of the buffalo days, was protected by the medicine of an eagle feather painted with six white spots. It gave him the power to direct the wind, he said in his dictated autobiography.
“After the proper ceremony, the wind would blow from the direction pointed by the feather in my hair,” he said. “The six spots meant the owner could cause a sudden hailstorm between myself and a pursuing enemy. Later I used the feather many times and it always worked.”
Who could doubt the spiritual power of such a magnificent bird?
Once, on a hunting trip in the Bighorn Mountains, Cheyenne warrior Wooden Leg watched as an eagle swooped down on a buffalo calf and carried it far up a cliff to its nest.
“Ordinarily a capturing eagle would drop its prey from high in the air, so that it would be killed by the fall to the ground,” Wooden Leg told his biographer Thomas Marquis. “But this did not happen in this case. As long as we stayed there watching, we could see the buffalo calf standing up there on the cliff and wiggling its tail.”
In 1875, at the end of his grueling vision quest on Otter Creek in sou

A pair of Nez Perce queens. Amy Tilden, great-grand niece of Chief Joseph of Nez Perce War fame. She is wearing the cere...
06/06/2026

A pair of Nez Perce queens. Amy Tilden, great-grand niece of Chief Joseph of Nez Perce War fame. She is wearing the ceremonial dress worn by her aunt at the last big council between Chief Joseph and Gen. Howard prior to the outbreak of war. She is aboard Bonnie, Grand Champion Mare of 1947 & 49, one of C.H. Ralston's registered Appaloosa horses.

The name Ojibwa—also spelled Ojibwe or Ojibway—has an origin tied to the language of the people and a very concrete imag...
06/05/2026

The name Ojibwa—also spelled Ojibwe or Ojibway—has an origin tied to the language of the people and a very concrete image of their everyday life. The most accepted explanation comes from an Anishinaabe word meaning “those who frown or wrinkle.” This refers to the traditional technique with which they made their moccasins, whose edges were sewn or "wrinkled" around the toes to give them more resistance.

That simple detail became such a distinctive cultural mark that other peoples began to call them that. The French adopted the term and wrote it according to their pronunciation, giving rise to “Ojibwa” and its variations.

They themselves, however, are called Anishinaabe, meaning “the original people” or “real human beings.” “Ojibwa” is a name that came from outside, but that over time also became part of its historical identity.

Tȟatȟáŋka Hokšíla (aka Buffalo Boy, aka Conrad Buffalo Boy), on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota & South Da...
05/26/2026

Tȟatȟáŋka Hokšíla (aka Buffalo Boy, aka Conrad Buffalo Boy), on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota & South Dakota - Hunkpapa Lakota - 1911 Conrad Buffalo Boy was born in 1845

Slow Bull—also recorded as Slow Buffalo Bull—appears in the historical record as an Oglala Lakota man photographed aroun...
05/25/2026

Slow Bull—also recorded as Slow Buffalo Bull—appears in the historical record as an Oglala Lakota man photographed around 1877, during a period of intense upheaval for the Lakota people and other Plains nations. The late 19th century was a time when traditional lifeways were being disrupted by military conflict, forced relocation, and the increasing presence of reservation systems imposed by the United States government.

As Slow Bull, he is part of the broader history of the Oglala Lakota, one of the seven bands of the Lakota Nation. By the 1870s, the Lakota were navigating the aftermath of major confrontations on the Plains, alongside rapid changes to land use, movement, and governance. Photographs from this era often captured individuals in moments of transition, preserving visual records of people living through a turning point in their history.

While detailed personal accounts of Slow Bull’s life are limited in surviving records, his image represents more than a single individual—it reflects a people enduring profound transformation while maintaining identity, community ties, and cultural continuity. And it leaves a quiet reflection: how many names in history remain only as brief captions, yet still carry entire worlds of experience behind them?

My little man at the 575 Celebration this past weekend. Share our Culture and celebrating our Federal Recognition!!! Day...
05/24/2026

My little man at the 575 Celebration this past weekend. Share our Culture and celebrating our Federal Recognition!!! Daylon Jay Hunt

Captured in 1948 by photographer Leonard McCombe, this black and white photograph documents a tender moment of a Navajo ...
05/23/2026

Captured in 1948 by photographer Leonard McCombe, this black and white photograph documents a tender moment of a Navajo man having his long hair brushed by his wife within the Navajo Nation in Arizona. Sitting on a blanket outdoors alongside their young child, the family participates in a traditional daily ritual of hair care, which carries deep cultural and spiritual significance in Diné heritage.

This intimate family portrait preserves an authentic slice of mid-20th century Indigenous life. It beautifully illustrates the enduring strength of familial bonds and everyday domestic traditions.

I enjoyed your responses yesterday when I just let the photo speak for itself. What stands out to you in this detail of...
05/22/2026

I enjoyed your responses yesterday when I just let the photo speak for itself. What stands out to you in this detail of men on a monitor’s deck?

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