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: "A. MADE OF RAWHIDE AND COVERED WITH BUCKSKIN; PAINTED IN CEREMONIAL SYMBOLS; FOUR HAIR PENDANTS..." 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. Shield cover is illustrated (under # 8443A) Fig. 3, 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 shield ... has four animal tails attached to the reverse side, but is other wise undecorated. The cover of this shield has a complex design ... . The background is blue, and the surface is divided into three vertical areas by multicolour stripes. In the centre is a circle inside which appears a bird in blue. At the top is another blue bird surrounded by red zigzag lines, in a probability representing the mythical Thunderbird. On the right third of the cover surface is a bull, and under it appers a rectangular motif, apparently a building. Since each of the upper corners of this building features a cross, it thus seems to represent a church resembling Spanish churches in the southwest. On the left third is a bear painted in yellow. All around the upper edge is attached a band of red woolen cloth in which are attached several golden eagle and bald eagle feathers."
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: E8443-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Shield