War Shield
date: label: Accession Date
content: 18 Feb 1869
label: Collection Date
content: March 6 -7, 1868
name: label: Collector
content: Maj. Gen. Adna R. Chaffee
label: Collector
content: Dr. Henry McElderry
label: Donor Name
content: Army Medical Museum
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "B.: SHIELD, THICK ROUND PIECE OF BUFFALO HIDE, BORDERED WITH A STRIP OF RED FLANNEL FROM WHICH HANG A NUMBER OF WHITE FEATHERS. COVER, DECORATED ON BOTH SIDES: IN MIDDLE OF INNER SIDE IS A MANY-POINTED YELLOW STAR WITH GREEN CENTER; NEAR CIRCUMFERENCE ARE TWO ANIMALS WITH LONG CLAWS AND SNOUTS (ONE MAY BE ARMADILLO?), AND ONE "TARANTULA" (MAY BE BUFFALO HEAD?). THE OUTER SIDE HAS RED CENTER, YELLOW EDGE, AND VARIOUS COLORED CROSS-LINES; A BUFFALO'S TAIL HANGS FROM EDGE. SMALL CIRCLE W/ RADIATING LINES INSIDE A LARGER CIRCLE SAID TO REPRESENT PEYOTE BUTTON. SHIELD IS CALLED WOH-KWEH TOHP, PEYOTE SHIELD, PER JOE ATOCKNIE 4/1976 (WOKWE TOP, PER T. KAVANAGH 6/1991.) Reference: Jones, William K. 1968. "Three Kwahari Comanche weapons captured by the Army at Paint Creek, Texas, March 6, 1868." Great Plains Journal, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 31-47.
label: Notes
content: Reverse of shield cover is illustrated (under # 8443B) Fig. 4, p. 13 in Ha¨ma¨la¨inen, Riku. 2010. Bear power motifs on Plains Indian shields = Ba¨renmotive in Schildbemalungen der Plainsindianer. Wyk auf Foehr, Germany: Tatanka Press. Objects are described on p. 12 of this publication: "The front surface of the shield ... is undecorated, but on the reverse side is attached an animal tail. The cover of this shield is rare since it has painted designs located untypically on both the front and reverse sides. The surface facing out has a central circle in red. The background is green, and on that appear four radial stripes in red, and four zigzag lines in blue. At the top of this surface are four concentric circles forming a face-like motif with eyes and mouth. The design on the reverse surface is more complicated .... At the centre is a large green circle. Around the central circle is an area in yellow, which is outlined with a blue zigzag line broken both at the top and bottom. At the top of the surface is a bison [buffalo] head, and to the right of it is a male bear outlined in blue. The front half of the bear is solid green and the rear half is spotted in blue. On the left side of the bottom is another multicoloured male bear upside down. At the very bottom are two concentric circles in blue, and these two circles are connected with several curved lines."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 7 Jul 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: Paint Creek / Fort Griffin, Near, Haskell County, Texas, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Comanche (Numunuu)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 416140
label: USNM Number
content: E8443-1
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Shield