Henry Hopkins Sibley gained fame as a Confederate cavalry officer during the Civil War. But one of his inventions was widely used by the other side.
He developed and patented the Sibley tent in the mid-1850s. The conical structure was based on the Plains Indian teepee—it was about 12 feet high and 18 feet in diameter and could hold up to 12 men.
The Union produced about 44,000 Sibl

True West May/June 2025
In This Issue:
Features
- Historic Hotels of the American West
- A Journey Through Wyoming’s Outlaw History
- A Journey Through Washington’s Wild Frontier
- Blazing The Oregon Trail
- Journey Through Time
- Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre?
- Mountain Meadows Scapegoat John D. Lee VS. A Firing Squad
- Mormons in the Movies
- An Indigenous Consultant Ensures Accuracy
- The Battle Axe And A Raw Deal
- Showdown: Bridger VS. Brigham
- The Mountain Man and the Mormon Moses
- The Ghosts of Mountain Meadows
- The War Before the War
- Mountain Meadows