War Bonnet
The war bonnet, or eagle-feather headdress, is the grand plume of upright golden-eagle feathers worn by honoured leaders of the Plains nations such as the Lakota, Cheyenne, Blackfoot and Crow. Each feather had to be earned, given for an act of bravery, a coup counted in battle, or received through a vision, and the bonnet itself was assembled with ceremony. The straight-up bonnet with its long trailer familiar from photographs became prominent in the nineteenth century; earlier and regional forms varied widely, including buffalo-horn bonnets and feather roaches. Feathers could be awarded for p