Wild West

Medicine Flower

By the early 1880s encounters with eastbound American Indian delegations arrayed in furs, buckskins and eagle-feather warbonnets had become rather commonplace, their arrival in Washington, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston and other big cities provoking curious glances and photo ops. Easterners might spot Sac and Foxes on museum visits, Osages sharing lobster with congressmen or Sioux entering the White House grounds to speak with the “great white sachem.”

One cool night in March 1882 at Harvard’s Hemenway Gymnasium gathered New Englanders watched with rapt attention as Zunis filed out from beneath the balcony to center stage. Turbaned heads held high, clad in moccasins, leggings and navy pullover shirts bound with red sashes and dripping with shell-and-turquoise necklaces,] and dime-novel scalp taker.”

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