As part of the treaty-making process, the Indian Peace Commission distributed gifts to the headmen of each tribe. In addition to items such as foodstuffs, ammunition, and cloth, the commissioners distributed surplus military uniforms, overcoats, and hats requisitioned at the end of the Civil War. Often misidentified as “Indian policemen,” the Native American men wearing uniforms in Alexander Gardner’s Laramie photographs are in fact the recipients of treaty gifts, including the unidentified Cheyenne man at the left wearing a U.S. Army mounted great coat.