the only white captives known to be among them, and there is no
doubt that the present delegation, with the man at its head
acknowledged as the principal chief of the tribe, will make every
profession of friendship in the future and be anxious to cry quits
and begin anew on peace terms. Nevertheless, while I desire to give
this people all the credit they deserve, the opinion is very
positively expressed that these apparently friendly acts on their
part are no guarantees for the future, but simply repetitions of
their conduct every autumn, when it is highly important to them to
place themselves in position to receive during the winter months
the material aid in subsistence and clothing afforded by the
government. Gladly will they offer this fall certain terms of
peace, but these will be found wholly in their favor--entire
forgiveness for all past offenses, the possession of the greater
portion of their stolen property, and full restoration to the
rights and privileges of the plains Indians in general. But the
promises of future good conduct will be utterly worthless, and,
these terms granted, there will be every prospect of a renewal of
their depredations as soon as the early grass recuperates their
stock and they find themselves able to subsist on the prairies.
The present position of the Kiowas may not be exactly one of open
hostility, but it is certainly nothing less than the most offensive
insubordination. Their agent for the past three years, a sincere
member of the Society of Friends, a man who has proved himself
eminently fitted for the place, declares this tribe uncontrollable,
and states his belief that nothing less than military authority,
with perhaps some punishment by troops, will bring them into such
subjection as to again render the services of a civil agent of
benefit to them.
The Kiowas have no shadow of excuse for their conduct. For three
years they have received their annuity goods, of proper quantity
and quality; have drawn their rations regularly until their action
last spring compelled their agent to refuse them; and in no way
have they received any injury from the government troops or agents.
The arrest of two of their chiefs under due process of law, with
their subsequent trial and conviction in the state of Texas, must
not be forgotten; but the government at once interceded and secured
a commutation of their sentence, and the Kiowas were informed that
the fate of their chiefs depended on the future action of the
tribe. This can in no way be considered an excuse for them,
uncivilized as they are, and as a pretext it but makes their
conduct worse.
It is not only recommended, but strongly urged, that the United
States government no longer receive their proffer, but dictate to
this tribe its own terms of settlement, making sure guarantees of
safety to the lives and property of its citizens in the future.
I recommend that the representatives of the Kiowas now in
Washington be told, in the presence of the entire delegation, that
the government proposes to dictate its own terms to that tribe, and
that they be the following: The entire tribe to encamp before
November 30 at some suitable point near Fort Sill (for instance,
Crawford's creek), where every movement can be watched by troops.
All horses or mules found in their herds, undoubtedly taken from
the government and from private parties during the past two years,
to be given up within the same time, and the tribe to make good
from their other stock any such animals found with other tribes, by
them obtained from the Kiowas--and the tribe to surrender to the
proper authorities, for trial by United States courts, the three
most prominent men of those engaged in the greatest atrocities
during the past year. Also, that they be told that the recent
conduct of the tribe prevents all present hope of the release of
their two prisoner chiefs, and that the liberty of those and the
others to be given up will depend entirely upon future good
behavior. Also, that no annuity goods whatever be issued to them
for the present year, and that hunting parties be allowed to leave
camp only when accompanied by a proper detachment of troops.
It is recommended that the necessary arrangements be made at once
to have a sufficient body of troops in readiness to enforce
compliance with these terms. If such a force is known by the
Indians to be prepared to move by the 20th of November, it is
believed that the terms will be complied with on time. Otherwise
the movement should take place promptly on the 1st day of December,
and under a judicious officer the tribe can be reached and
compelled to yield with very little probability of an actual
conflict. As elsewhere suggested, it would be desirable to have a
proper representative of the Indian office accompany the troops.
Should these recommendations be approved, it would be well also to
notify them that, having come or been forced into camp as proposed,
they will be closely watched, and any movement, great or small, not
fully authorized by whoever has them in charge, will subject the
movers to immediate attack.
It is deemed especially important that the decision of the
department as to the course it will pursue toward the Kiowas be
fully explained to them, and to the Apaches and Comanches, before
the present delegation returns to the territory, and that all the
other tribes be warned that, in case of any resistance on the part
of the Kiowas, any Indians found aiding or communicating with them
will be summarily dealt with (_Report, 31_).
[Illustration: Photo by Soule, about 1870
FIG. 49--"Ka-ati-wertz-ama-na--A brave man, not afraid of any Indian"[2]]
[Footnote 2: The name given is a Comanche corruption.]
RELEASE OF SET-T'AIÑTE AND BIG-TREE, 1873
[Illustration: Photo by Soule, about 1870
FIG. 50--T'ené-angópte or Kicking-bird]
The principal event of 1873 was the release and return to their people
of the chiefs Set-t'aiñte and Big-tree, who had been imprisoned in Texas
under jurisdiction of the state authorities (see the calendar). On the
assurance given to the delegates in Washington that their chiefs would
be restored to them in the spring, provided the tribe remained peaceably
on the reservation in the meantime, the Kiowa had conducted themselves
properly through the winter. With spring, however, came the Modok war,
with the killing of General Canby, which created such a distrust of
Indians in general that the people of Texas were unwilling to surrender
the prisoners, whom they regarded as hostages for the safety of the
frontier. Notwithstanding their disappointment, the Kiowa remained
quietly at home, patiently waiting until the government should bring
influence to bear on the governor of Texas to redeem its promise. The
prisoners, accompanied by Governor Davis of Texas and the Indian
Commissioner, were at last brought to Fort Sill, where a council was
held with the Kiowa in October. At the opening of the council the
governor of Texas made a number of hard demands as preliminary to the
surrender of the chiefs, although the government had already promised
their unconditional release in consideration of the good conduct of the
tribe during the last year. Some of these conditions were practically
impossible, and for a time it seemed as if the whole purpose of the
negotiations would be defeated, Kicking-bird, the leader of the friendly
element, declaring that the government had lied and that the white man
was no longer his friend, while Lone-wolf threatened war even though it
should mean the destruction of their people. It became evident that
there would be a desperate encounter if the chiefs were not now set free
as promised, and on the earnest representations of the Indian
Commissioner the governor finally yielded in his demands, and
Set-t'aiñte and Big-tree were released from custody on October 8, 1873,
subject, however, to rearrest by the state of Texas whenever it should
appear that any of the Kiowa had again been raiding there. Although this
condition was in violation of the promises made by the government, the
Indians were compelled to be satisfied. An unsuccessful attempt was made
by the governor to force the Comanche, by the delivery of hostages, to
similar conditions. To show their good will, however, a party of
Comanche volunteered to assist a detachment of troops in bringing in any
of their young men who might then be raiding in Texas. During their
absence on this errand a party of Texans visited the reservation and ran
off two hundred horses and mules _(Report, 32_; _Battey, 1_).
The Quaker teacher, Battey, who was present during the council, thus
describes the release of the chiefs:
Satanta and Big Tree, after embracing the governor, proceeded to
embrace the chiefs present, and immediately returned with them to
the agent's office, from whence they went to their rude home in
their camps. The reunion of these chiefs with their tribe and
families was impressive and affecting in the extreme. Joy beamed
upon every countenance, and their happiness was exhibited, as might
be expected, in the most wild and natural manner.
Reports continued to fill the newspapers of renewed raids into Texas by
Set-t'aiñte and Big-tree, when Battey asserts--
To my certain knowledge the latter was at home, sick in his lodge,
and the former enjoying, after two years' confinement in prison,
the pleasures of the buffalo chase, on territory assigned for the
purpose (_Battey, 2_).
HAWORTH'S ADMINISTRATION--1873-78
At this time the various agencies were in charge of agents nominated by
different religious bodies in accordance with the "peace policy"
inaugurated by President Grant. The agent for the Kiowa, Comanche, and
Apache was J. M. Haworth, nominated by the Society of Friends, of which
body his acts show him to have been a consistent member, who held charge
for five years, from April, 1873, to April, 1878, including the
troublous period of the outbreak and subsequent readjustment. In spite
of the many difficulties at the time, he soon gained the confidence of
these wild and warlike people, and conceived and successfully
inaugurated the first substantial work of civilization among them in the
way of schools, farming and stock raising, and the building up of
friendly relations with the whites. He is held in grateful memory among
the Kiowa, who know him as _Sénpo gúadal_, "Red-beard." An extract from
his first report shows the spirit in which he met them and their quick
response:
When I took charge, I told the Indians in council that I had come
among them as their friend and desired us to live together as
friends. As a proof of my confidence in them, I had the soldiers
whom I found on duty removed, and relied upon them to conduct
themselves in a peaceable and friendly manner; told them with their
help we could make this a peaceable country to live in. I desired
them to refrain from raiding or stealing. The chiefs promised me
assistance; said if their young men would not listen, but ran off
and stole horses, they would bring in to me all they brought back,
and I could restore them to their owners. A short time ago I
reminded the Comanches of their promise--told them I had heard some
of their young men had been in Texas and brought back a number of
horses. Within two weeks from the time I spoke to them fifty-two
head of horses and mules were delivered to me as having been stolen
from Texas since I came in charge as agent. I did not make any
threats of stopping rations, or anything of the kind; simply
reminded them of their promises and appealed to their better
natures, with the very satisfactory result referred to (_Report,
33_).
FIRST SCHOOL ESTABLISHED BY BATTEY
Early in 1873 also, another Quaker, Thomas C. Battey, attempted the
first school work among the Kiowa, as already noted. Although a
conscientious worker, the force of their wandering habits and Indian
beliefs was still too strong, and the effort in its direct purpose was a
failure. He remained with them some months, however, and the good
impression he made had much to do with keeping the larger portion of the
tribe from the warpath in the subsequent outbreak. He thus sums up his
school experiment:
Having erected a tent and fitted it up, I commenced a school with
twenty-two children in attendance, which continued for something
over a week, during which time the children manifested their
aptitude to learn by the progress they made. The elder people also
manifested much interest in it by their frequent visits, their
attention to the exercises, and their encouraging words to the
children. About this time, much sickness prevailing among the
children in the camp, some superstitious Caddoes who happened there
attributed the sickness among them to me, telling them I was a bad
medicine man and had made some of their children sick when I was
with them, two of whom died. This had the effect to entirely break
up the school, though I continued my efforts to renew it for nearly
two months. Sometimes when I would get a few children collected,
they would be driven out by their old men. Sometimes young men
would come in, laugh at them, and abuse them until they would
leave. After about two months they became more unsettled, moving
from place to place almost continually, searching for better grass
for their stock, better water, more wood, to get buffalo, etc. As
we were seldom but a day or two in a place, I gave up all effort to
sustain a school (_Battey, 3_).
THE OUTBREAK OF 1874-75
CAUSES OF THE DISSENSION
But events were steadily drifting toward war again and the truce was of
brief duration, the unrest culminating in the general revolt commonly
known as the outbreak of 1874. As this was the last, and will forever
remain the last, combination of the southern plains tribes against the
power of the white man, resulting in their complete and final
subjection, it merits somewhat detailed attention.
In late raids into Texas several of the Comanche had been killed by the
hated Tonkawa, a small cannibal tribe, in their capacity of government
scouts (see the calendar, 1873-74). The wailing laments of the Comanche
women for their dead, and their appeals for vengeance, urged the
warriors to go down once more into Texas and exterminate the remnants of
the man-eaters who had escaped the massacre of twelve years before. To
add to their discontent, a lawless band of hunters organized in Dodge
City, Kansas, had, in the spring of 1873, established an adobe fort,
known as the "Adobe Walls," on the South Canadian, in the panhandle of
Texas, from which headquarters they were making inroads on the
guaranteed hunting grounds of the Indians and were slaughtering the
buffalo by thousands, in defiance of the government promises that such
intrusion would be prevented. It was also charged that they directly
incited disorder by selling whisky, arms, and ammunition to the Indians
in return for stolen stock. In his official report on the outbreak,
General Pope states emphatically that the unlawful intrusion and
criminal conduct of the white hunters were the principal cause of the
war (_War, 1_). This is confirmed by the testimony of white men employed
at the Cheyenne agency at the time, who stated to the author that just
before going out the Cheyenne chiefs rode down and assured them that
they need have no fear, as the Indians considered them as friends and
would not molest them, but were compelled to fight the buffalo hunters,
who were destroying their means of subsistence. "Then they shook hands
with us and rode off and began killing people."
Shortly before this the son and nephew of Lone-wolf, the principal chief
of the Kiowa, had been killed in Mexico. He went down with a party in
the summer of 1874 and buried their bodies, making a solemn vow at the
same time to kill a white man in retaliation, and thus communicating to
his people the bitterness which he felt himself (see the calendar,
1873-74). Lone-wolf is described by Battey about this time as being
several years older than Kicking-bird, not so far seeing, more hasty and
rash in his conclusions, as well as more treacherous and cunning, but
with less depth of mind. He was the acknowledged leader of the war
element in the tribe.
While lawless white men were thus destroying the buffalo, the Indians
themselves were suffering for food. The agent for the Cheyenne
reports that for nearly four months preceding the outbreak the rations
had fallen short, and expresses the opinion that if there had been a
full supply he could have held the tribe from the warpath. At the
same time they were being systematically robbed of their stock by
organized bands of horse thieves. The immediate cause of the outbreak
by the Cheyenne in May, 1874, was the stealing by these men of
forty-three valuable ponies belonging to the chief, Little-robe. In
attempting to recover them Little-robe's son was dangerously wounded,
in revenge for which the Cheyenne soon after killed a member of a surveying
party in the Kiowa country and at once began open hostilities
(_Report, 34_; _Battey, 4_).
[Illustration: Photo by Bell, 1888
FIG. 51--Gui-pägo or Lone-wolf, present head-chief of the Kiowa]
Agent Miles thus tersely sums up the provocation:
The lack of power to administer the law--to remove improper
characters from this reservation, to break up the various bands of
dissolute white men, horse and cattle thieves, known to be
operating in our vicinity--is the prime cause that may be assigned
for the serious outbreak among the Cheyennes on this reservation.
As elsewhere stated, the Cheyennes and Arapahoes were assured by
the President, on their recent visit to Washington, that improper
white men and buffalo hunters should be kept from their country at
all hazards, and they very naturally expected that some effort
would be made to keep that promise; but they have looked in vain,
and the Cheyennes, being the most restless of the two tribes, grew
tired and endeavored to avenge their own wrongs. The result of such
a proceeding could have but one ending, and that was to bring them
into conflict with the general government (_Report, 35_).
THE COMANCHE MEDICINE-MAN
At this critical juncture a young medicine-man named Ĭ´sätaí arose
among the Kwáhadi Comanche--the wildest and most intractable portion of
the tribe--with claims of supernatural powers. He asserted his ability
to cure all diseases and to restore the dead to life, and said that he
had been taken up repeatedly into the home of the Father of the Indians,
above the sun and far above the abode of the white man's God, and that
there he had been given control of the elements, with power to send
rain, wind, thunder, lightning, or drought upon the earth as he pleased.
What was most to the purpose, he promised to protect all who should
believe in him, as he could produce cartridges in unlimited quantities
from his stomach for his friends, and could so influence the guns of the
whites, and particularly of the soldiers, that they would not shoot
Indians, even though the latter stood in front of the muzzles. It was
the old story of the Indian medicine-man that has been familiar from the
time of the Shawano prophet to the messiah of the ghost dance.
His words created great excitement among the Comanche, nearly all of
whom believed him. Some of his deluded followers asserted that they had
themselves seen him ascend into the sky and again descend to earth, and
at another time had seen him produce from his stomach nearly a wagon
load of cartridges. Finally he commanded the tribe to assemble in May,
1874, at the junction of Elk creek (_Donä´i P'a_, "Pecan river") with
the North fork of Red river, to see the proofs of his mission and to
hear his message to the people. So great an impression had his fame
produced by this time that even the friendly chiefs attended, as well as
the main body of the Cheyenne and a part of the Kiowa. This was a new
departure for the Comanche, who, according to all authorities, had never
before "made medicine" as a tribe (_Report, 36_; _Battey, 5_).
On assembling at the designated spot the Indians were harangued by
the medicine-man, who told them that their god commanded them to
avenge their murdered kindred. Accordingly a party was made up to
go to Texas and kill the Tonkawa, who, as has been stated, were
cannibals, for which reason, and for the additional one that they
constantly served as scouts against the other Indians, they were
regarded with common hatred by all the tribes. Learning of the
proposed expedition, Agent Haworth warned the commander of Fort
Griffin, near which post the Tonkawa were located, who had them
removed to the post for safety. This being reported to the
confederate tribes by their spies, they changed their program and
decided to go out on the plains and kill the buffalo hunters at
Adobe Walls.
Finding that the whole purpose of the gathering was warlike, those
who desired to avoid trouble determined to return to the agency,
but found that such a move had been anticipated by the hostiles,
who declared that they would prevent any return, even if they had
to kill the ponies of the friendlies to do it. Notwithstanding, a
number of the Comanche, chiefly of the Penätĕka band, made the
attempt and succeeded in getting away to the agency. The main body
of the tribe, the warlike Kwáhadi, and all the Cheyenne, decided
for war (_Report, 37_). A few of the Kiowa were also among them,
but as yet only one chief, Woman-heart, had smoked the war-pipe
with the Comanche and Cheyenne, the rest of the tribe being still
near the agency (_Battey, 6_). During all the subsequent troubles
the Apache remained quiet and peaceable in the friendly camp at
Fort Sill.
APACHE AND ARAPAHO FRIENDLINESS
During the whole period of the outbreak the Arapaho also remained loyal
and friendly, in accordance with their treaty pledges and their general
character, although the Cheyenne, with whom they were confederated, were
the most determined of the hostiles. As soon as it became manifest that
trouble was at hand, the Arapaho came in to the agency of the two tribes
at Darlington to warn the agent and his employés, and, as a proof of
their friendship, furnished an Indian police force, who stood guard over
the agency every night until all danger was past. The sole exception to
their uniform friendly conduct was the assassination of an employé named
Frank Hollowell (or Holloway), in July, 1874, by two young Arapaho, the
principal of whom was afterward convicted of the crime and died in
prison. This was the only hostile act committed at the Cheyenne and
Arapaho agency during the outbreak (_Report, 38_).
FURTHER DEFIANCE
The hostile Comanche and Kiowa now began to steal stock from around the
agency at Fort Sill, and in response to a message sent to their camp by
the agent, defiantly replied that they would not return the stock now,
but would keep it to make peace with when they came back in the fall.
They added that they would not molest the agency further if not
interfered with by the soldiers, but if the soldiers came upon them they
intended to come in and kill anyone they met (_Battey, 7_).
One or two trifling encounters occurred in May between the troops and
Indians, presumably Comanche and Kiowa, in western Texas, and others
more serious in June farther north, in Indian Territory and the
adjoining part of Kansas, the Indians concerned being probably chiefly
Cheyenne.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXI
PHOTO ENG CO. N.Y.
PHOTO BY LANNEY 1892
QUANAH PARKER, PRINCIPAL CHIEF OF THE COMANCHE]
BATTLE OF ADOBE WALLS