How to Keep Warm on the Plains: 

Coat Stories, #1

On display at the Nebraska History Museum is an irresistibly beautiful coat.  It's made of the lush, impossibly warm mane of the bull bison.  I desperately wanted to comb my fingers through it.   It's also a coat that illuminates an interesting sliver of the American experience...

Buffalo Soldier coat 

Coats such as this one were worn by African American cavalrymen in the 1870s-1890s.  American Indians called the men "Buffalo Soldiers" as a sign of respect or because their hair resembled that of a bison, although the term's origin is not known definitively. 

In 1866 Congress authorized the recruitment of African American soldiers to staff isolated outposts on the western frontier.  Ultimately more than 10,000 African American troops moved west as part of the U.S. Army 9th and 10th cavalry regiments.  

Coat Stories, #2

Louise Jacobs, a distant cousin in the U.K. and fellow historian/genealogist, recently visited the Whitney Blanket Hall in Oxfordshire where she saw a replica of the coat featured in the photo below.  According to the museum owner, the tassels on the wrists and arms of typical American Indian and cowboy coats were designed to drain off rainwater before it caused hands to slip when handling horse reins.

The coat shown is bold, almost modern in design.  Whitney blankets are still made; you can buy one at: http://www.cotswoldwoollenweavers.co.uk/blankethall.html.

Red Cloud, Mahpiya Luta, Ogalala Lakota Sioux Chief (1821-1909), buckskin tassels at wrist