... I am a bit worried that a few photographs were used to make the color plates. Using photographs to show what people wore for everyday wear is problematic. Did the people in the image wear their very best clothing for the photograph? If I look at Civil War era photographs of men to predict what workers or other common men would have worn hunting or working, I would guess men wore nice suits to hunt in. Any thoughts?
This is of course a problem, and in the case of Indian Territory and its occupants would likely have to be considered on an individual basis, then extrapolating that into something like a general consensus. In the case being considered here, there are of course few actual photographic resources available, but here are a few. A couple of decades ago, a once-annual publication called the
Confederate Calendar published in Austin, Texas, by Lawrence Jones reproduced a couple of what were said to be then-recently discovered CDV's of two Cherokee officers who were believed to have been photographed in or near Doaksville, I.T. following soon after the surrender of the last Confederate general, Stand Watie. These are probably included in the book you picture, but here they are:
These men are Chilly McIntosh on the left and George W. Brewer on the right; it will be observed that although nominally Cherokee, they were in fact mixed-bloods, many of whom supported the Confederacy - and were slave-owners - while the pure-bloods tended to be Unionists, following their 7/8ths white Chief John Ross. From the cuff which appears to be a different color than the sleeve, Brewer *might* be wearing a Confederate military coat of some sort, but since the collar is rolled over it's difficult to tell. McIntosh, of Irish-Cherokee ancestry, is wearing a military belt buckle, but that may be all.
While searching for the above, I found the subject at left pictured in a period ambrotype identified as another Cherokee, one
Jim I., who was supposedly killed in the Battle of Honey Springs, I. T. (Oklahoma) and other than his revolver looks to be in completely civilian attire. The leader of the Confederate Cherokee, Brig. Gen. Stand Watie is seen in his usual post-war portrait at right, but likely looked more like his undated photo at center during the war. Tribes within Indian Territory other than the Cherokee, both Union and Confederate, likely wore their everyday civilian clothes; Union Indians closer to supply centers like Fort Scott, Kansas, were probably clothed at lest in part from stocks of Federal uniforms.
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