Ghost Dance Shield , Crow Indians given to Cheyenne Chief White Buffalo !

Authentic Northern Cheyenne Dance Shield 

The Ghost Dance was Condemed by the US Calvery in fear of what it represented, (Calling Indian Warriors from the Grave for Battle.)

See Shield in Sioux Ghost Dance Photo with Authenticity Document

Given in 1896 as a gift from the Crow Nation to Chief White Buffalo of the Northern Cheyenne Nation.

Made of Deer Hide Face with buffalo hide backing plate the item measures 19" x 19" with a thick" rawhide armor plate Montana Native Artifacts Museum. 

Data written on shield: Given in 1896 Lodge Grass Crow Nation,  ..gift to Chief White Buffalo.

Face of Shield:

Token Symbolism:

Target in center and surrounding circle is blue resenting wisdom, confidence and magic, covered in red representing war, blood, strength, energy and power.

3 White Buffalo Horned Spirit Dance figures represent ghost brothers with red horns representing war, blood, strength, energy and power.

2 dragonflies representing transformation.

12 hoof prints- represents horses, 6 red with war, blood, strength, energy and power and 6 Blue with wisdom, confidence and magic.

Face is thin animal skin with wear from usage and age. It is not new and ready to use for a dance without the possibility of damaging it.It is an antiquity of a great time period of the past. A museum piece or factual wall hanging.

This shield was collected by the Crow indians during their support to the US Army.

Chief White Buffalo was from the Northern Cheyenne Nation and received the gift at the Lodge Grass Crow Reservation which is where The Battle of Little Bighorn took place. We are not sure if it was used in the Cheyenne Ghost Dance before the attack at Little Bighorn or the dancing grounds on the North Canadian border, some two miles from Darlington. Added interest was given at this meeting by the presence of Sitting Bull, and his influence on the structure of the dance..

The Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho as well as Caddo, Wichita, and Kiowa style Ghost Dance was to draw the dead spirits to battle with the live Warriors to overwhelm the enemy. The Dance later took on the names of Spirit Dance, Circle Dance etc.

This is a truly remarkable Native American Ritual Antiquity. 

The story tells of the Native American Indians being so plentiful combining the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes that Custer's men could not stand against them at Little Big Horn. Read below for more:

Ghost and Spirit Dances

"Ghost Dance" is a very general term that encompasses different religious revitalization movements in the Western United States. In 1870, a Ghost Dance was founded by the Paiute prophet Wodziwob, and in 1889–1890, a Ghost Dance Religion was founded by Wovoka (Jack Wilson), who was also  Northern Paiute. The Ghost Dance was meant to serve as a connection with traditional ways of life and to honor the dead while predicting their resurrection.[9]

In December 1888, Wovoka, who was thought to be the son of the medicine man Tavibo (Numu-tibo'o), fell sick with a fever during an eclipse of the sun, which occurred on January 1, 1889. Upon his recovery, he claimed that he had visited the spirit world and the Supreme Being and predicted that the world would soon end, then be restored to a pure aboriginal state in the presence of the Messiah. All Native Americans would inherit this world, including those who were already dead, in order to live eternally without suffering. In order to reach this reality, Wovoka stated that all Native Americans should live honestly, and shun the ways of whites (especially the consumption of alcohol). He called for meditation, prayer, singing, and dancing as an alternative to mourning the dead, for they would soon resurrect. Wovoka's followers saw him as a form of the messiah and he became known as the "Red Man's Christ."

Tavibo had participated in the Ghost Dance of 1870 and had a similar vision of the Great Spirit of Earth removing all white men, and then of an earthquake removing all human beings. Tavibo's vision concluded that Native Americans would return to live in a restored environment and that only believers in his revelations would be resurrected. This religion spread to many tribes on reservations in the West, including the Shoshone, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota). In fact, some bands of Lakota and Dakota were so desperate for hope during wartime that they strengthened their militancy after making a pilgrimage to Nevada in 1889 –1890. They provided their own understanding to the Ghost Dance which included the prediction that the white people would disappear. A Ghost Dance gathering at Wounded Knee in December 1890 was invaded by the Seventh Cavalry, who massacred unarmed Lakota and Dakota people.

The earliest Ghost Dance heavily influenced religions such as the Earth Lodge, Bole-Maru Religion, and the Dream Dance. The Caddo Nation still practices the Ghost Dance today.