Page 190 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

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dress or lack of it. In 8 59,Joseph Camp judged some Pawnee Indians
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to be "very degraded" because "some of them are almost naked and most
of the men wear nothing but a tattered blanket and a breechclout. . . .
women wear short petticoats and leggins."43
When American Indians emulated white clothing styles, women,
who saw themselves as civilizers, applauded their attempts to look like
whites, but men f o und it amusing. During the I 840s, a military officer
who encountered an "old savage" who had tried to make himselflook
"as respectable as possible" by dressing in a green f r ock coat "not of the
latest cut," an old pair of epaulets, leggings, and a cap of grizzly bear skin
topped by a red f e ather," declared that "it did afford us a little
amusement."44 Another on his way to California observed that emigrant
trains had so influenced Pima Indians that most wore "a shirt, coat or a
pair of Pants-though never an entire suit." He added that he was "much
diverted" at the sight of a tall, good-looking Indian with a stovepipe hat
on his head, a heavy blue blanket coat covering the upper portion of
his torso, and absolutely nothing on his "lower extremities."4s A Utah­
bound traveler of 1 8 59 was similarly entertained by the sight of
Cheyenne and Sioux Indians dressed in white-style clothing. "I was
quite amused," he remarked, "to see some of the Indian women dressed
so neatly in calico and crinoline, and some of the boys had on pants,
suspenders, calico shirts, and straw hats, but these were rare cases."4 6 And
a male emigrant of the 1 8 6 0s, on meeting some Dacotah Indians, stated
that o ur indians are evidently somewhat civilized as they have trowsers"
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and "soldiers blouses" and "one gay chap had on a caloco shirt."47
When men turned their attention to Indian homes and villages,
they seldom saw them as picturesque, concentrating instead upon the
manner of construction involved.48 Men's writings were f illed with
detailed accounts of building techniques, materials, styles, and dimen­
sions of native dwellings. A typical journal entry read: "This morning I
examined the lodge referred to yesterday . It was of a conical f o rm made
of dressed buffalo hides nicely stretched over sixteen cottonwood
poles."49 Another male migrant commented on wigwams that were
made of "dressed bufaloe skins sewed together" and "are round in shape
with a pole passing through the top."So A T e xas settler of the 1830S
offered more details: "They sew together a number of hides, making a

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