that they must have been very intimate with them in former times,
especially with the Arikara, whom they call _K'át'á_, "biters,"
designating them in the sign language by a twisting motion of the closed
right band, with thumb extended, in front of the month, the allusion
being to gnawing corn from a cob. In the north the sign is sometimes
made with both hands, the right working against the left, the allusion
then being to shelling corn. The Arikara are preeminently distinguished
among the northern tribes as the corn-planting Indians, and are usually
designated in pictographs by the figure of a man with an ear of corn. It
is probable that they taught agriculture to the Mandan and Hidatsa. The
Kiowa further identify the K'at'a as being called _Paläni_ by the Dakota
and as speaking a language like that of the Pawnee. Stumbling-bear
claims to have met and talked with some of them on a former visit to
Washington. They have more to say of the Arikara than of the others,
probably because then, as now, they were the largest of the three
tribes, and also, as the Kiowa themselves say, because the Arikara
lived nearest, being probably located then, as at a later period, on Ree
or Grand river, in South Dakota, which is called by their name in the
various Indian languages. They describe the three tribes as living on
the Missouri (_Tsosâ P'a_) river, in earth-covered grass houses (really
log houses, filled in between the logs with grass and covered with
earth), and cultivating corn and tobacco, which they traded to the
Kiowa. One of the principal divisions of the Kiowa tribe, and the one to
which the great Dohásän and several other prominent chiefs belonged, is
the K`at'a or Arikara band, so called, the Kiowa state, on account of
their special intimacy with the Arikara in the old times, and not
because of Arikara descent. The name of the band must have originated,
of course, subsequently to the first acquaintance of the two tribes.
The Mandan they call _Dóhón_, "the last tipi," assigning as a reason for
the name that they lived farthest toward the east. The Mandan, unlike
the other tribes, did in fact have one of their villages on the farther
(eastern) bank of the Missouri. They also sometimes call them
_Dowákohón_, an older form of Dohon, and _Sabă´_, "stingy," perhaps from
some trade dispute. In the sign language the Kiowa designate them by
indicating tattoo marks, stating that the women, and sometimes the men,
tattooed the arms, breast, and around the lips. This agrees exactly with
Clark, who says that the proper sign for Mandan is intended to indicate
tattooing on the chin and lower part of the face. He states also, on the
authority of an old plainsman, that fifty years ago the Mandan women had
a small spot tattooed on the forehead, together with a line on the chin,
while of the men the chiefs alone were tattooed, this being done on one
side, or one-half of the breast, or on one arm and breast (_Clark, 4_).
It may be that the small tattooed circle on the foreheads of many Kiowa
women is an imitation from their Mandan sisters. Matthews says that he
has seen a few old men of the Hidatsa with parallel bands tattooed on
the chest, throat, and arms, but not on any other part of the body, or
on any young or middle-age persons in the tribe (_Matthews, 3_).
The Hidatsa or Minitari are known to the Kiowa as _Henóñko_, a name
which they can not translate. In this word the terminal _ko_ is the
tribal suffix, while _Henóñ_ is the root, possibly a derivative from
_Herantsa_, another form of Hidatsa, the Kiowa having no _r_ in their
language. To designate them in the sign language, they make a gesture as
if dipping up water with the hand, referring to their common name of
Minitari, "water crossers," or "water people." This sign is probably now
obsolete in the north, as it is not noted by either Clark or Mallery.
They say that the Henoñko called the Kiowa _Datûmpáta_. The Kiowa
describe the three tribes as about the same in regard to house-building
methods and the cultivation of corn and Indian tobacco. They have also a
distinct recollection of the peculiar "bull boats," tub-shaped and
covered with rawhide, used by the Mandan and their allies. They ascribe
these boats more particularly to the Mandan, from whom perhaps the
Arikara obtained them after moving up to the same neighborhood.
RECOLLECTIONS OF OTHER NORTHERN TRIBES
The old men who have most knowledge of this northern residence and
alliance with the Crows and Arikara say, after the Indian style of
chronology, that it was in the time when their grandfathers were young
men, and when they still had but few horses and commonly used dogs as
pack animals in traveling. One of the mythic legends of the tribe
accounts for the origin of the Black Hills (_Sádalkañi K`op_, "manifold
mountains"), and another deals with the noted Bear Lodge or Devil's
Tower (_Tsó-aí_, "tree rock," i. e., monument rock), near Sun Dance,
Wyoming, which they claim is within their old country. Beyond the
Yellowstone (_Tsósâ P'a_) they say lived the Blackfeet (_Tóñ-kóñko_,
"blackleg people") and the Arapaho Gros Ventres (_Bot-k`iägo_, "belly
people"). They knew also the Shoshoni (_Sondóta_, "grass houses"), who,
they say, formerly lived in houses of interwoven rushes or grass; the
Flatheads, the northern Arapaho, and of course the Dakota. It is
somewhat remarkable that they knew also the small tribe of Sarsi, living
on the Canadian side of the line at the source of the North
Saskatchewan, whom they describe accurately as a tribe living with the
Blackfeet and speaking a language resembling that of the Apache. They
call them _Pák`iägo_, which they render "stupid people," indicating the
tribe in the sign language by a sweeping motion of the right hand across
the thigh, perhaps from a confusion with _paki_, thigh. It is possible
that the name is not really of Kiowa origin, but is derived from _Päki_
or _Päkiani_, the Shoshoni name for the Blackfeet themselves. The Kiowa
call the Brulé Dakota _Pakí-gudălkantă_, "red-burnt thigh" people, with
the same gesture sign as for the Sarsi. Several prominent men of the
Kiowa tribe, among whom may be mentioned Gaápiatañ and Pátádal, are of
Sarsi descent. The maternal grandmother of the noted chief Setäñgya,
killed at Fort Sill in 1871, was a Sarsi woman who married a Kiowa man
during an interchange of friendly visits between the two tribes. By
reason of this Athapascan blood, those of Sarsi descent, including
Gaápiatañ, who is Setäñgya's nephew, consider themselves in a measure
related to the Kiowa Apache.
From the beginning the Kiowa say that they were usually on friendly
terms with the Crows, Arapaho, Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa, and, so far
as they can recollect, with the Shoshoni and Flatheads, the friendship
being interrupted, however, by occasional quarrels more or less serious.
They were frequently at war with the Cheyenne, and always, from their
first acquaintance, with the Dakota, Pawnee, and Ute. Their relations
with the southern tribes will be noted hereafter.
ACQUIREMENT OF HORSES
Although the Kiowa had no horses until they came down from the mountains
and settled near the Crows, it is probable that they obtained some very
soon afterward, probably from their friends the Crows. La Salle, in
1682, states that the Gattacka (Kiowa Apache) and Manrhoat (Kiowa?) had
then plenty of horses, which he says they had probably stolen from New
Mexico (_Margry, 1_).
The notice in Villaseñor would indicate that they were able to mount
some of their warriors as early as 1748, as it is hardly probable that
they would have been able to attract attention by their inroads so far
south as the Spanish settlements if their warriors had been obliged to
travel entirely on foot. With some tribes, however, notably the Pawnee,
it was a frequent practice for the warriors to go out on foot,
returning, if successful, mounted on the horses taken from their
enemies. Horses must also have been taken by the Kiowa from the
Comanche, who lived south of them in the territory adjoining the Spanish
possessions, and with whom the Kiowa were then at war. In the beginning
of the present century we find the Kiowa mentioned as possessing large
herds of horses, which they traded with the Arikara and Mandan for
European goods.
Horace Jones, interpreter at Fort Sill, states that at a council held at
Fort Cobb in 1868, Ten-bears, an old Comanche chief, scored the Kiowa
for their constant raids into Mexico and Texas in spite of their
promises to the government to cease such practices, saying to the
assembled Kiowa, "When we first knew you, you had nothing but dogs and
sleds. Now you have plenty of horses, and where did you get them if they
were not stolen from Mexico?" This must be interpreted, however, from a
point of comparison of the Comanche, who have long been noted for the
number of their ponies. It was certainly a case of the pot calling the
kettle black, as the principal business of both tribes for generations,
until confined to a reservation, was that of raiding their southern
neighbors in order to obtain horses and captives. It is unnecessary to
dilate on the revolution made in the life of the Indian by the
possession of the horse. Without it he was a half-starved skulker in the
timber, creeping up on foot toward the unwary deer or building a brush
corral with infinite labor to surround a herd of antelope, and seldom
venturing more than a few days' journey from home. With the horse he was
transformed into the daring buffalo hunter, able to procure in a single
day enough food to supply his family for a year, leaving him free then
to sweep the plains with his war parties along a range of a thousand
miles.
INTERCOURSE AND WAR WITH THE COMANCHE
While the Kiowa still occupied the Black Hills their nearest neighbors
toward the south were the Comanche, whose language and traditions show
them to be a comparatively recent offshoot from the Shoshoni of Wyoming,
and whose war parties formerly ranged from Platte river to central
Mexico. In 1724 Bourgmont describes them, under the name of Padouca, as
located between the headwaters of Platte and Kansas rivers. Like the
other prairie tribes, they drifted steadily southward, and about the
middle of last century were established chiefly about the upper Arkansas
and its principal tributaries. Long before this time, however, the
_Pénätĕka_ division had separated from the main body and gone down
into Texas. Pádouca, the name used by Bourgmont, is one form of the name
by which the Comanche are known to the Osage, Dakota, and related
tribes, and is probably derived from _Pénätĕka_.
As the Kiowa pressed southward before the advancing Dakota and Cheyenne,
they encountered the Comanche, resulting in a warfare continuing many
years, in the course of which the Comanche were gradually driven south
of the Arkansas. The war was finally terminated and a lasting peace and
alliance effected between the two tribes through the good offices of the
Spaniards of New Mexico.
PEACE WITH THE COMANCHE
Now the Kiowa tradition becomes clear and detailed. According to the
story which the old men had from their fathers, who were contemporary
with the events, the Kiowa advanced along the base of the mountains and
pushed the Comanche from the northern head streams of the Arkansas. When
both sides were about worn out with fighting, it happened that a small
party of Kiowa on a friendly visit to a Spanish settlement southwestward
from that river--perhaps Las Vegas or possibly Santa Fé--stopped to rest
at a house, which they particularly state was not a fort or trading
post. The house was a large one with several rooms, and by a curious
coincidence a party of Comanche had arrived shortly before and were then
talking in the next room, all unaware of the near presence of their
enemies. Hearing the voices and recognizing the language, the Kiowa at
once prepared for battle, and another bloody encounter was about to be
added to the long list, when their Mexican host, friendly to both sides,
interposed and represented to the Kiowa that now was their opportunity
to establish a lasting peace with their foes, offering his own services
as mediator. After some debate the Kiowa accepted his proposition, and
the kindly Mexican, going into the next room, informed the astonished
Comanche that a party of their hated enemies was outside waiting to talk
of peace. Being assured that no treachery was intended, they came out
and the leaders of the two parties saluted each other. The Kiowa leader,
whose name was Guik`áte, "Wolf-lying-down," and who was next in
authority to the principal chief of the tribe, assuming to speak for his
people, then expressed their desire for peace. To this the Comanche
leader, Päréiyä, "Afraid-of-water" (_Toñpeto_ in the Kiowa language),
replied that as this was a matter of grave importance, it would have to
be considered by the whole tribe, and invited the Kiowa to go back with
them to the Comanche country in order that the business might there be
fully discussed. The Kiowa hesitated, not yet being quite willing to
trust themselves in the lion's den, when Guik`áte, anxious to spare
further bloodshed, said, "I am a chief. I am not afraid to die. I will
go." A Comanche captive among the Kiowa volunteered to go with him.
Turning then to his followers, he said to them, "Go home and tell our
tribe that I am gone to make peace with the Comanche. Return for me to
this place when the leaves are yellow. If you do not find me here, know
that I am dead and avenge my death." He then dismissed them, and the
Kiowa started homeward, while he, with the captive and one or two
Mexicans accompanied the Comanche to their camps on _Gañta P'a_, the
Double-mountain fork of the Brazos, in Texas.
On arriving there with his escort, the Comanche were at first disposed
to regard him as an enemy and made a show of preparing to revenge upon
him the losses they had suffered at the hands of his people, but finding
that he was a brave man not to be easily frightened, they changed their
purpose and gave him a friendly welcome. He remained with them all
summer, being well entertained by them on the hunt and at their social
gatherings, and when at last the leaves began to turn, the tipis were
taken down, and the whole band, having long ago decided on peace, moved
off to meet the Kiowa at the appointed rendezvous. They had not long to
wait, for Indians observe the season changes closely, before the whole
warrior body of the Kiowa tribe appeared in sight, prepared either to
make a treaty of perpetual friendship or to avenge the death of their
chief, as the case might be. As they approached, the Comanche chief and
Guik`áte rode out to meet them, somewhat to the surprise of the Kiowa,
who had hardly hoped ever again to see their kinsman alive. He told the
story of his kind treatment at the hands of the Comanche and their
earnest desire for peace, and the result was a treaty of friendship and
alliance which endures to this day, the two tribes, with the
Kiowa-Apache, having ever since occupied a common territory and acted
together on all important occasions, notwithstanding radical differences
in language, ceremonies, and temperament. The former condition of
hostility is clearly shown by the fact that the common name of the Kiowa
for their present allies, the Comanche, is _Gyái'ko_, "Enemies."
This treaty with the Comanche must have been made toward the close of
the last century, probably about 1790. As there is no tally date in
Kiowa history until we come to "the year when the stars fell," i. e.,
1833, a description of the manner in which we arrive at this conclusion
may be of interest as a specimen of the ordinary methods of Indian
chronology.
Among the oldest men of the tribe are T'ébodal, "One who carries a
buffalo's lower leg," Gaápiatañ, "Feathered lance," (commonly known as
Heidsick, from his Comanche name of Haí-tsiki), and ´dalpepte,
"Bushy-hair" (Frizzle-head), all being prominent men and noted warriors
when in their prime. T'ébodal is the oldest man in the tribe, and as he
was "a well grown boy when the stars fell," is consequently now just
about 80 years of age, as the Indians consider a boy a young warrior at
17 or 18. Gaápiatañ is a few years younger, and ´dalpepte was "old
enough, to ride a horse when the stars fell," so that we may assume him
to be now (1896) about 70 years of age. It will be noted that, contrary
to general opinion, Indians are not remarkably long-lived.
Graápiatañ's estimate seems to place the event farthest back in point of
time. He fixes it by "a very old woman," who died eleven winters ago
(1885), and whose father had told her that the treaty with the Comanche
was made thirty-three years before she was born. Âdalpepte states that
it was made "when his father was a young man." T'ébodal says that it was
before he was born, but that his father knew both leaders who negotiated
the peace, and that he himself knew the Comanche leader, Päréiyä, as a
very old man, who was afterward killed by the Cheyenne at a time when
T'ébodal was grown to manhood and had already been to war. According to
the Kiowa calendar, the allied tribes made peace with the Cheyenne about
1840, so that the chief who negotiated the treaty for the Comanche must
have been killed shortly before that time, the Kiowa leader, Guik`áte,
being already dead. Balancing all the statements, we get 1790 as the
most probable approximate date. The principal chief of the tribe at the
time of the treaty was Políakyă, "Hare-lip," alias Kágiätsé,
"Thick-blanket." He was succeeded by Tsóñbohón, "Feather-cap," who was
succeeded by A'dáte, "Island-man," who was deposed in 1833 in favor of
Dohásän, who thenceforth ruled the tribe until his death in 1866.
CONFEDERATION OF THE TWO TRIBES
The peace thus made between the two tribes has never been broken, in
which fact there may be a sermon for those who regard the Indian as
faithless, when we consider how few European alliances have endured as
long. The Pénätĕka Comanche, who lived far down in Texas, were not
included in this compact and had very little connection even with the
northern bands of their own people until brought together under the
reservation system. Immediately after the treaty the Kiowa began to move
down and make their camps along and south of the Arkansas, which, until
that time, had been considered the northern boundary of the Comanche
country and the southern limit of the Kiowa range. In the territory
which they thenceforth held in common the Kiowa usually made their home
camps more to the northwest, about the Arkansas, while the Comanche kept
near to the Staked plains and the Texas frontier. Strengthened by their
alliance for war and defense, the confederated tribes were now able to
make a successful stand behind the Arkansas against further invasion
from the north. The raids of the Kiowa on the Mexican settlements,
hitherto desultory and ineffective, now became constant and destructive
and continued until both tribes were finally subjugated and confined to
their reservation after the outbreak of 1874. In these raiding
expeditions they frequently made headquarters in the Sierra Madre,
whence they descended upon the lower country on each side. Old men are
still living in the tribe who have raided as far south as the city of
Durango (which they know by this name) and southwest through Sonora and
Sinaloa to the Gulf of California. These war parties would sometimes be
absent two years. To the west they reached the great Colorado river and
tell of killing some Havasupai in their canyon home. In the east they
made captives on Matagorda bay, Texas.
NEUTRAL ATTITUDE OF NEW MEXICANS
According to the Kiowa and Comanche, whose statements are confirmed by
abundant testimony from other sources, the inhabitants of New Mexico,
from mercenary motives, usually held themselves neutral in this war on
their brethren to the south. New Mexican _Comancheros_ and domesticated
Pueblo Indians carried on a lucrative trade among these tribes at the
same time that Kiowa or Comanche war parties were ravaging the southern
provinces or selling horses and mules, taken in these raids, to the
inhabitants of Las Vegas and neighboring towns. The lances and tomahawks
used by their warriors were of Mexican manufacture, more slender and
graceful in design than those supplied to the northern tribes by English
and American traders. It was only by such tacit connivance or active aid
from the people of New Mexico that these tribes were able to carry on an
unceasing warfare of extermination as far south as Tamaulipas and
Durango in Mexico.
RELATIONS WITH OTHER SOUTHERN TRIBES
Subsequent to the treaty with the Comanche, and as a consequence of it,
the Kiowa made peace with the Mescalero Apache (_Ĕ´sikwita_), with whom
they had formerly been at enmity, having driven them from the Staked
plains into the mountains west of the Pecos. The friendship, however,
was somewhat precarious. They were also on friendly terms with the
Wichita and their associated tribes, the Waco, Tawákoni, and Kichai.
With the Caddo and the cannibal Tonkawa to the east, and with the Navaho
and Ute and presumably also the Jicarilla Apache on the west, they were
always at war. They usually carried on a friendly trade with the
neighboring Pueblos. Their relations with the Apache of Arizona were too
casual to be of a definite nature. They were at war with the Osage until
1834. To all these tribes the confederated Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache
held but one and the same relation after the alliance of about 1790.
FIRST OFFICIAL AMERICAN NOTICES, 1805--1807
The earliest official account of the Kiowa is given by the explorers
Lewis and Clark, who ascended the Missouri in 1804 and wintered among
the Mandan, before proceeding onward across the mountains and down to
the mouth of the Columbia. They do not appear to have met any of the
Kiowa, but heard of them from the tribes living on the river. By that
time the Kiowa, whom the explorers erroneously supposed were distinct
from the "Wetepahatoes," had been driven out of the Black Hills, which
were then in possession of the Cheyenne, while the Dakota held the
country to the eastward. The Kiowa were then on the Padouca or North
Platte. This agrees with the statements of old men of the Dakota
confederacy, who informed the writer that within their early
recollection that tribe had lived between the North Platte and the
Niobrara, having been expelled from the Black Hills by the Dakota of the
preceding generation.
The official report of Captain Lewis describes the Kiowa ("Kiawas" and
"Wetepahatoes") as living in 1805 on the North fork of the Platte, and
numbering 70 tipis, 200 warriors, and 700 souls, while the Kiowa Apache
("Cataka") lived somewhat farther north, on the headwaters of the two
forks of Cheyenne river, and are estimated at 25 tipis, 75 warriors, and
300 souls. While the figures thus given for the Apache are probably
nearly correct, those for the Kiowa are much too low, unless we assume
that they had been so greatly reduced by the war with the Dakota. The
alliances and wars of the two tribes, Kiowa and Apache, were the same,
they carrying on a defensive war with the Dakota and being at peace with
all the other tribes of the region, particularly with the Arikara,
Mandan, and Hidatsa. The account continues:
They are a wandering nation, inhabit an open country, and raise a
great number of horses, which they barter to the Ricaras, Mandans,
etc, for articles of European manufactory. They are a well-disposed
people, and might be readily induced to visit the trading
establishments on the Missouri. From the animals their country
produces, their trade would no doubt become valuable. These people
again barter a considerable proportion of the articles they obtain
from the Menetares, Ahwahhaways, Mandans, and Ricaras to the
Dotames and Castapanas.... Neither these people ("Kiawas"), the
Wetepahatoes, nor the Chyennes have any idea of exclusive right to
the soil (_Lewis and Clark, 1_).