Warrior braves
The great Plains warriors valued bravery above all other traits in a man. Warriors gained social status by performing feats of great daring against an enemy, sometimes this involved getting close enough to touch them, with hand or stick, called 'counting coup'. This act often outranked killing an enemy as a heroic deed.
Warriors used symbolic ornamentation to show honours gained in battle, Crow warriors attached wolf tails to the heel of their moccasins, Blackfoot warriors attached white weasel skins to their clothes and many other tribes used Eagle feathers for each brave deed.
Most plains tribes had military societies like the 'dog soldiers' 'fox soldiers' and kit foxes. A warrior, after winning many honours, could become a war chief, the Kiowa called them 'Toyopki' the Sioux 'blotahunka'. Perhaps the best known blotahunka in history was the great "crazy Horse" of the Oglala band of Lakotas.