The Absaroka, or Crow Indians, generally paint the forehead red when on the war-path. This distinction of the Crows is also noted by the Dakota in recording pictographic narratives of encounters with the Crows. See page [62], and [Figures 124 et seq.]
Haywood, Nat. and Aborig. Hist. of Tennessee, 1823, p. 228, says of the Cherokees:
“When going to war their hair is combed and annointed with bear’s grease and the red-root [Sanguinaria canadensis?], and they adorn it with feathers of various beautiful colours, besides copper and iron rings, and sometimes wampum or peak in the ears. And they paint their faces all over as red as vermillion, making a circle of black about one eye and another circle of white about the other.”
When a Modoc warrior paints his face black before going into battle it means victory or death, and he will not survive a defeat. See Bancroft’s Native Races, I, p. 333.
The Los Angeles County Indian girls paint the cheeks sparingly with red ocher when in love. (Bancroft, I, 403.) This prevails, to some extent also, among the northern bands of the Sioux, and among the Arikara at Fort Berthold, Dakota.
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey reports that when the Osage men go to steal horses from the enemy they paint their faces with charcoal.
The same authority gives the following description of the Osage paint for war parties:
Before charging the foe the Osages warriors paint themselves anew. This is called the death paint. If any of the men die with this paint on them the survivors do not put on any other paint.
All the gentes on the Tsi[c]u side use the “fire paint” or i[k]aman, which is red. It is applied by them with the left hand all over the face. And they use prayers about the fire: “As the fire has no mercy, so should we have none.” Then they put mud on the cheek below the left eye, as wide as two or more fingers. On the Hañ[k]a side this mud is put on the cheek, below the right eye. It is the young buffalo bull decoration (Tse-[t]ú-[c]iñ´[k]a kínŭn itáa[p]i aú). With reference to it, a man says, “My little grandfather (the young buffalo bull) is ever dangerous, as he makes attempts. Very close do I stand, ready to go to the attack” (Witsí[k]u [c]iñ´[k]a wáckŭn nŭn´pewá¢ĕ ehnun[p]i aú. Ecŭnqtsita wa[k]an´¢a [p]¢é atqan´hi aú!) The horse is painted with some of the mud on the left cheek, shoulder, and thigh.
For the corresponding Hanka decorations, substitute the right for the left wherever the latter word occurs above.