In 2007, a small photo (a carte-de-visite) of a Cheyenne chief named Iron Shirt was donated to the Kansas Historical Society as part of a collection of photos and documents belonging to Colonel John Yard. Yard was commander at Fort Hays in 1868 when he was major of the 10th Cavalry and again in 1886-1889 when he was colonel of the 18th Infantry. Yard died on Feb. 17, 1889 while commander at Fort Hays.
According to The Fighting Cheyennes by George Bird Grinnell, a number of Native Americans in the Great Plains were known as “Iron Shirt.” The name referred to coats of mail (a garment of metal rings or plates that covered the chest) that Indians possibly acquired from the Spanish and reportedly wore during battle.
The exact identity of the man in the photo is unknown. Could he be the Northern Cheyenne leader noted for participating in the Battle of the Little Bighorn? According to Thomas Marquis in A Northern Cheyenne Album, this Iron Shirt was named after an uncle born in the late 18th century who wore a coat of mail.
The Iron Shirt photo was included among Yard’s family photos along with several other photos related to Cheyenne chiefs including a carte-de-visite of Cheyenne Chief White Shield’s daughter, and a carte-de-visite of the son of Cheyenne Chief Bull Thigh.
For additional primary sources on the Cheyenne in Kansas Memory, see People - American Indians - Tribes – Cheyenne.
George Bird Grinnell, The Fighting Cheyennes (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1915).
Thomas Bailey Marquis, Margot Liberty, John Woodenlegs, A Northern Cheyenne Album (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006).