An almost identical headdress to the ones shown in Bodmer's painting is in the collection of the Museum of the American Indian in New York City. This headdress, collected in 1907 by ethnographer Gilbert Wilson, is Hidatsa rather than Mandan and is said to be the hide of an albino buffalo. When not in use, the headdresses were hung on the western or southern side of the tipis, the direction from which the buffalo came. The Bodmer painting gives some insight into the frequency of white buffalo. Although they were presumably rare, there were at least enough killed by the Mandans to make the required regalia for all of the women of the society. And the Mandans, it was reported, killed only white calves that were two years old or younger.
Another artist who achieved renown illustrating the Indians of the West was George Catlin. A portraitist from Philadelphia, he, too, documented the Mandan and other tribes during the 1830s. His journal writings included the following account of a white buffalo hide.
This beautiful and costly skin, when its history is known, will furnish a striking proof of the importance which they attach to these propitious offerings. But a few weeks since, a party of Mandans returned from the Mouth of the Yellow Stone, two hundred miles above, with information that a party of Blackfeet were visiting that place on business with the American Fur Company; and that they had with them a white buffalo robefor sale. This was looked upon as a subject of great importance by the chiefs, and one worthy of public consideration. A white buffalo robe is a great curiosity, even in the country of buffaloes, and will always command an almost incredible price, from its extreme scarcity, and then, from its being the most costly article of traffic in these regions, it is usually converted into a sacrifice, being offered to the Great Spirit, as the most acceptable gift that can be procured. Amongst the vast herds of buffaloes which graze on these boundless prairies, there is not one in a hundred thousand, perhaps, that is white; and when such a one is obtained, it is considered great medicine or mystery.
On the receipt of the intelligence above-mentioned, the chiefs convened in council, and deliberated on the expediency of procuring the white robe from the Blackfeet. At the close of their deliberations, eight men were fitted out on eight of their best horses, who took from the Fur Company's store, on the credit of the chiefs, goods exceeding even the value of their eight horses; and they started for the Mouth of the Yellow Stone, where they arrived in due time, and made the purchase, by leaving the eight horses and all the goods which they carried; returning on foot to their own village, bringing home with them the white robe, which was looked upon by all eyes of the villagers as a thing that was vastly curious, and containing (as they expressed it) something of the Great Spirit. This wonderful anomaly laid several days in the chiefs lodge, until public curiosity was gratified; and then it was taken by the doctors or high-priests, and with a great deal of form and mystery consecrated, and raised on the top of a long pole over the medicine-lodge; where it now stands in a group with the others, and will stand as an offering to the Great Spirit, until it decays and falls to the ground.
Catlin's account bespeaks the sacredness of the white robe. Disposing of the robe was also an important event. Allowing the hide to decay naturally was common in many tribes. The owner of a robe might be buried in it. Or the robe might be cut up into pieces to be given or traded away. Although the robes were valued for their sacredness, they were also highly valued in trade.
As early European explorers followed their native guides into Indian camps and villages for rest and food during their long journeys, they learned about the white buffalo and the prized white robe. In 1806, Alexander Henry wrote that the Hidatsa would part with a first-rate horse trained in war or buffalo hunting for a white hide. In 1851, Rudolph Friederich Kurz recorded that one white buffalo robe was traded for two good racehorses. Although there is no date for his source, Douglas E. Branch wrote that a white buffalo hide was worth ten to fifteen horses to the Mandans.
Most of the written history of the Indians comes from explorers and early ethnographers, as well as from the personal journals of frontiersmen and pioneers, and later from articles in prairie presses. The Indians did not have a written language. Their history was preserved in story and paint.
One of the most fascinating visual histories of the Plains Indians was the winter count robe. Winter count robes recorded the passing of the years. Tribal elders would decide upon the most memorable event of the year, and an image representing that event
would be painted on a tanned buffalo hide. It was like a calendar in which the only notation for the year was made once each winter. It might chronicle a cosmic event, an important death, or contact with white menwhatever the elders considered most significant. The quality of the illustrations varied from artist to artist, though most of the drawings were simple in style, lacking the exacting detail of color and design found in Plains Indian quill- and beadwork. This was a form of record keeping.
One of the most impressive winter count robes was kept by Big Missouri, a member of the Sioux tribe. This extraordinary time line began in the winter of 1795–1796 and continued until 1926a span of 131 years. The anthropology collection of the Denver Museum of Natural History has a muslin reproduction of the original hide. Kills Two, the Sioux medicine man who added the last illustration to the robe, interpreted the simple yet often enigmatic drawings, providing the following accounts of the five times when white buffalo appear.
1830
Indians believed the rare white buffalo sacred and the white hides were sacred possessions. Pompadour secured one and consecrated it in the name of his deceased son. Where such a hide was kept, the home was said to have good will for all men.
1831
Four white buffalo were killed. Largest number in history. Swift Bear owned the only horse fast enough to capture one.
1848
Indian, Yellow Spider, custodian of sacred white buffalo hide.
1858
Sacred white buffalo cow killed by Swift Bear's band. They had the fleetest horses among the Sioux.
1873
Standing Cloud made keeper of the sacred white buffalo robe and master of ceremonies accompanying it.
The white buffalo was revered by the Plains tribes because it represented all buffalo, the very basis of the Indians' existence. Buffalo provided their human brothers with nearly everything they needed to survive. Rawhide, strong and durable, was used to make shields, trunks, parfleches (envelope-like cases for packing belongings), moccasin soles, knife sheaths, snowshoes, bridles, stirrups, saddles, and saddlebags. Tanned hides with the hair removed were sewn together to make tipi covers, summer clothing, and pouches. Hides with the hair left on became buffalo robes and blankets.