Belden, the white chief- apishamore saddle circa 1870

 Salvete Omnes,

George P. Belden, native of Ohio, was a cavalryman in the Nebraska Cavalry and then got his Lieutenant's commission in the regular army as as 2nd Lt US 2nd Cavalry , serving in Dakota Territory and Wyoming Territory. He was cashiered from the Army in Nov 1869, and died in 1871. 
He wrote and published his experiences as Belden, The White Chief; or Twelve Years Among the Wild Indians of the Plains (Vet pub, NY- 1870), with illustrations based on his and fellow soldier, Mr. Innman, drawings.

Within his book there is a short chapter on the 'apishamore'  or soft pad saddle made for  White Bear by his wife.

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to be continued

Salvete

Back to George Catlin's Warriors

 Salvete Omnes,

there is war in Europe, as we all know, and Ukraine is the epicenter of it, the current escalation is a year old today.
I hope the war will end soon, the suffering and blood letting of the Ukrainian people.
Peace must prevail in Ukraine...

Long gone warriors from the Great American Plains will illustrate this post - all painted and drawn by Catlin's masterful hand
The Pawnee, Crow, Blackfeet, Mandan, Hidatsa and Sioux (Lakota):

 

 

Nowadays it is the time of scalp taking in Ukraine, but let us hope perhaps soon they will celebrate their acquired honors and stop the war, burring the war hatchet, and leaving this war in the past and for the historians, giving peace a chance.

let us hope the parties to this conflict will sit down and parley, like these Sioux in the Dog Feast Ceremony

and things will go back to normal, and  their peace and tranquility will be closer to the image of  the horses in this print

all images come from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Gallery of Art.
Valete