Ledger Book Drawing

ca. 1890

Beginning in the 1860s, Plains warriors illustrated their battle exploits in ledger books and on ledger-book paper acquired through trade and as gifts or booty. This practice continued a long Native visual tradition of depicting individual and tribal histories on hide shirts, robes, tipis, and tipi liners. Native artists often depicted warfare between tribes, as well as between tribes and the U.S. Army. Here two warriors in war bonnets attack a third man wearing a single eagle feather.