fire to the prairie to attract their attention. Two young men of the
Kiowa went out to learn the cause of the fire and found the Pawnee
party, who said that they had come with presents and goods to make peace
and to trade with the Kiowa. The young men rejoined their party with the
news, and the Kiowa, under chiefs Dohasän and Set-ängya, turned back to
meet the Pawnee band and escort them to a camping place. As the latter
were on foot, in accordance with their usual custom, they asked the
Kiowa to carry for them the skin bags which they said contained the
presents. The Kiowa took the bags upon their horses, but as they went
along, knowing well the tricky character of their ostensible friends,
they opened several of the bags and found them filled, some with buffalo
chips for fuel, and others with arrows, showing that the Pawnee force
had come to fight as soon as a favorable opportunity offered. Disgusted
by this treachery, they at once attacked and defeated them, killed the
chief, who wore a shell gorget, and captured a boy, who was taken by
Set-ängya himself. It was an expensive capture, however, as will appear
later. The Kiowa lost two prominent men, Set-äyaí, "Bear-on-trees," and
Tén-ät'ánte, "Little-heart." The fight occurred in Kansas, north of the
head of Medicine-lodge creek.
WINTER 1851-52
_Mä´ñyí Dó`gyähón-de Sai_, "Winter the woman was frozen." The figure
over the winter mark represents the woman, indicated by the dress and
belt with disks of German silver.
[Illustration: FIG. 109--Winter 1851-52--Woman frozen.]
During the winter the present chief, Zépko-eét-te, "Big-bow," then a
young man, stole a very pretty woman whose husband was away on the
warpath, and took her to his own home camp. On coming near his father's
tipi he concealed the woman among the trees and went into the tipi to
get something to eat before going on. His father, who knew what he had
done, held him and prevented his return to the woman waiting outside,
who remained there exposed to the extreme cold until her feet were
frozen.
To "steal" a woman is to elope with or take possession of her in a
manner contrary to tribal usage, i. e., secretly and without having made
the customary presents to her relatives by which the transaction becomes
ratified as a marriage.
SUMMER 1852
_Á`pätáte_ (_K`a-t'ógyä_ or _Hâñt'ógyä-k`ía_) _Ehótal-de Pai_, "Summer
that Touch-the-clouds (Knife-shirt, or Iron-shirt-man) was killed."
There was no sun dance this year. The Pawnee warriors killed a Cheyenne
chief who wore a cuirass. The cross marks over the human figure
represent the cuirass, and the tree with leaves shows that it occurred
during the summer.
[Illustration: FIG. 110--Summer 1852--Iron-shirt killed.]
At a great Cheyenne camp upon a stream, apparently in Kansas or
Nebraska, known to the Kiowa as _Hâ´ñtso P'a_, "Cannon-ball (literally,
metal rock) river," the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and some Dakota had made
medicine for a combined expedition against the Pawnee, to which they
invited the Kiowa and Apache, who were camped at the time on
_Koñyä´daldä P'a_, "Black-hill river," in Kansas, north of the Arkansas.
About half the warriors of the two latter tribes accepted the
invitation, and the united force, moving with all their women, children,
and tipi outfits, started against the Pawnee. They met the enemy, but
were defeated, with the loss of the Cheyenne chief Wóifdóĭsh,
"Touch-the-clouds," called by the Kiowa Á`pätáte, "Far-up," otherwise
known as Hañt'ógyä-k`ía, "Iron-shirt-man," from a cuirass which he wore
and which had probably been procured originally from Mexico, where the
Kiowa once captured another.
The official report for the year thus notices the encounter:
A war party of Osages, Kioways, and Kaws, consisting of about four
hundred warriors, went in pursuit of the Pawnees while out on their
last hunt. They overtook the Pawnees and attacked them, but, being
greatly outnumbered by the Pawnees, they ingloriously fled, leaving
on the ground one war chief killed, and having killed and scalped
one Pawnee woman (_Report, 81_).
WINTER 1852-53
[Illustration: FIG. 111--Winter 1852-53--Gúădal-tséyu stolen.]
The Pawnee boy captured by Set-ängya in the summer of 1851 escaped,
taking with him two horses, including the finest one in the tribe, a bay
race horse known as _Gúădal-tséyu_, "Little-red" or "Red-pet." The
figure above the winter mark shows the Pawnee boy, distinguished by the
peculiar headdress of his tribe, holding the bay (red) horse by the
halter. The importance of the horse to the equestrian Kiowa is shown by
the fact that this is recorded as the important event of the winter.
[Illustration: FIG. 112--Summer 1853--Showery
sun dance.]
SUMMER 1853
_Bíăsot K`ádó_, "Showery sun dance," so called because there were
continual showers during the dance. The figure above the medicine lodge
is intended to represent the drizzling rain descending from the black
clouds overhead, with occasional red flashes of lightning. Compare the
corresponding rain and cloud symbols given below. The dance was held at
the same place where the "dusty" sun dance was celebrated in 1851, near
the present Fort Supply.
This sun dance is distinguished for a deliberate violation of the
_taíme_ rules by Ten-píäk`ia, "Heart-eater," a noted warrior and
medicine-man, rival of Ansó`te, the _taíme_ keeper, and father of
Set-t'an, the author of this calendar. One of the strictest regulations
of the sun dance was the taboo against mirrors, which form part of the
toilet equipment of nearly every Indian, but which must not even be
brought near the _taíme_ of the Kiowa. Notwithstanding this, Tenpíäk`ia,
in defiance of the medicine and its priest, deliberately rode around
inside the circle with a small mirror while the _taíme_ was exposed, and
afterward tried to poison Ansó`te by scraping off the mercury from the
back and mixing it with some tobacco which he gave to the priest to
smoke. Ansó`te took one puff, but detecting something wrong, put away
the pipe, saying, "There is something there of which I am afraid." Soon
afterward Ten-píäk`ia, while hunting buffalo, was thrown from his horse
and killed, which was regarded as a speedy punishment of his sacrilege.
[Illustration: FIG. 113--Rain symbols (_a_ Chinese; _b_ Hopi; _c_
Ojibwa)].
Although Indian tradition records frequent instances of careless and
unthinking neglect of some of the numerous taboos and other regulations
in connection with sacred matters, such a deliberate defiance of their
ordinances is almost unexampled; more rare, indeed, than heresy in the
old days when Europe held but one religious doctrine. It is of interest
as showing that even among savages attempts are sometimes made by bolder
spirits to break away from the bonds of mental slavery. A somewhat
similar incident is recorded for 1861.
[Illustration: FIG. 114--Winter 1853-54--Pä´ñgyägíate killed.]
WINTER 1853-54
Soon after the last sun dance a war party went into Chihuahua
(_Toñhéñ-t'a`ká-i-dómbe_, "waterless Mexican country"), east of the
Sierra Madre, where they met and attacked a mule train. The Mexicans
made a circle of the wagons, with the mules on the inside, and prepared
to defend themselves. A distinguished warrior named _Pä´ñgyägíate_
succeeded in entering the circle and was striking the mules with his
bow, equivalent to putting his seal of ownership upon all thus struck,
when he was shot and killed by a Mexican who had approached him
unseen. No other Kiowa was killed. Pá-tadal was one of this party.
[Illustration: SAND MOSAIC OF THE HOPI ANTELOPE PRIESTS, (AFTER FEWKES)]
The man killed was one of the Kâ´itséñko (see summer 1846), as indicated
by the headdress and the red sash of the order pendent from his
shoulder. He is further designated by his shield--represented hanging at
his side--which was made by Äk`ódalte, "Feather-necklace," and the
picture of which is at once recognized by the old warriors of the tribe.
The name Pä´ñgyägíate may be rendered "Sacrifice" or "Sacrifice-man,"
from _pä´ñgyä_, a sacrifice or offering "thrown away" on the hills as a
gift to the sun.
SUMMER 1854
_Äyä´daldä´ P'a K`ádó_, "Timber-mountain creek sun dance." This dance
was held upon the creek upon which the most important treaty of the
Kiowa was afterward made (see winter 1867-68). The event of the summer
was the killing of Black-horse by the Sauk and other allied tribes.
[Illustration: FIG. 115--Summer 1854--Black-horse killed.]
The brother of Set-ĭmkía, "Pushing-bear," more commonly known as
Stumbling-bear, had been killed by the Pawnee, and at this dance he sent
the pipe around as a summons for a great expedition against that tribe.
Other tribes were invited to join the Kiowa, and a large war party set
out, consisting of several hundred warriors of seven tribes--Kiowa,
Apache, Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Osage, and some Crows. They crossed
the Arkansas and proceeded to the northeast until they reached _Gúigyä
P'a_, "Pawnee river" (Smoky Hill), where they met a small party of about
eighty _Säkíbo_ (i. e., Sauk and Fox), with a few Potawatomi, three
cognate tribes which had been removed from beyond the Mississippi to
reservations in eastern Kansas. The latter advanced against the Kiowa,
who summoned them to halt, but notwithstanding the great disparity in
numbers, the eastern Indians at once attacked the prairie warriors.
Securing a sheltered position, and being all well armed with rifles with
which "they hit every time," while the Kiowa and their allies were in
the open prairie and armed chiefly with bows, the Sauk not only kept
them off but defeated them with the loss of about twenty killed, among
whom were twelve of the Kiowa, including _Tseñ-kóñkyä_, "Black-horse," a
prominent war chief.
This is the story as given by the Kiowa themselves, who ascribe their
disastrous defeat by a comparative handful of men to the rifles in the
hands of the Sauk warriors. This battle occurred either on Smoky-hill or
Saline river, in Kansas, about midway between the present Fort Harker
and Fort Hays.
Although Set-ĭmkía says that the expedition was originally organized
against the Pawnee to avenge the killing of his brother by that tribe,
other informants state that it was organized and led by Tseñ-kóñkyä, the
man who was killed, for the special purpose of exterminating the
immigrant tribes, and this statement agrees with the official accounts.
The Indian Report for 1854 contains an extended notice of this great war
party, which went after wool and came back shorn.
In the summer of that year the agent for the southern plains tribes
started for the Indian rendezvous near Fort Atkinson, on the Arkansas,
with a large train of goods for distribution in accordance with the
terms of the treaty made at that point in the previous year, having
first sent messengers ahead to inform the Indians of his approach.
The Indians were encamped on Pawnee fork, at the crossing of the
Santa Fé road, where they were collected in larger numbers than had
ever been known to assemble on the Arkansas before. Old traders
estimate the number at twelve to fifteen hundred lodges, and the
horses and mules at from forty to fifty thousand head. The entire
Kiowa and Prairie Comanches were there; several hundred of Texas or
Woods Comanches had come over; the Prairie Apaches, one band of
Arapahoes and two bands of Cheyennes and the Osages composed the
grand council. They had met for the purpose of forming a war party,
in order, as they in their strong language said, to _wipe out_ all
frontier Indians they could find on the plains. Two days previous
to my arrival they broke up camp and started north. As soon as I
heard that they were gone I sent two runners to try and bring them
back. They, however, declined coming, and sent word that they would
soon return, as it would take but a short time to clear the plains
of all frontier Indians. They were doomed to be disappointed, as
other nations, great in their own imaginations, have been. At some
place near Kansas river they met about one hundred Sac and Fox
Indians and the fight commenced, and from their own account lasted
about three hours, when, to their great surprise, the combined
forces were compelled to retreat, leaving their dead on the field,
which Indians never do unless badly whipped. They report their loss
at about sixteen killed and one hundred wounded. From the best
information I can get, the Sacs and Foxes were as much surprised at
the result as the others, for there is no doubt but that they would
have run too if they could have seen a hole to get out at. They had
taken shelter in a ravine and were for a long time surrounded. The
prairie Indians were armed with the bow and arrow, while the others
had fine rifles. One is a formidable weapon in close quarters, but
worthless at more than about fifty yards. The rifle told almost
every shot. It is easily accounted for why one hundred whipped
fifteen hundred. The former had a weapon to fight with; the latter
had none at the distance they were fighting. I learn that the Sacs
and Foxes lost six killed, but they were killed with the rifle. The
Osages have fine guns, and they must have shot them, for I am
certain the other Indians have nothing in the shape of guns, except
a few Northwest shotguns, and they are of but little use. The Sacs
and Foxes are satisfied that the Osages did them the only damage
they received, and as an evidence I learn that war has been
declared between the nations, and already some scalps have been
taken. This may save the government from whipping them (the
Osages), as it is certain somebody will have it to do soon
(_Report, 82_).
In his report for the same year the Indian superintendent says:
I am officially advised that on the arrival of Agent Whitfield at
Fort Atkinson, on the Arkansas river, with the annuity goods for
the Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches, in July last, he found that
they had all gone on a war party against the tribes of the north,
confident from their numbers, estimated at fifteen hundred, to gain
an easy victory over any tribes they should encounter. In the
vicinity of Smoky Hill they came up with a party of Sacs and Foxes
and a few Pottawatomies, the whole not exceeding two hundred
[_sic_] in number. The Comanches, believing, to use the words of
one of their chiefs, that they could "eat up" so small a force in a
few minutes, made a general charge. The Sacs allowed them to
approach until within a hundred yards, when they opened upon them a
well-directed fire from their rifles, which, being unexpected,
appalled, and for the moment checked, their assailants. Three times
these charges were repeated, and each time with a like fatal
result. The Comanches at length retired, crestfallen and
dispirited, having twenty-six killed and over one hundred wounded.
On their return to Fort Atkinson their appearance and deportment
were quite changed. They seemed humble and dejected, and quietly
and submissively received their annuities and retired. The loss of
the Sacs and Foxes is reported to be very inconsiderable (_Report,
83_).
[Illustration: FIG. 116--Winter 1854-55--Gyaí`koaóñte killed.]
The agent for the Sac and Fox tribes gives a sequel which illustrates
Indian vengeance:
On the second of August, by the request of the chiefs and head men
of the Sac and Fox tribe of Indians, I reported to the honorable
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, through your office, an account of
an attack made on the Sacs and Foxes by the Comanches, Arapahoes,
and Osages, about the tenth of July, one hundred miles west of Fort
Riley. Some five or six days ago a Sac Indian, who had a brother
killed in that battle, left here by himself, went within four
hundred yards of an Osage encampment, met two Osage men, shot one
down and went up and scalped him; could have killed the other, but
wished him to live to carry the news of what he had done to the
Osage camp; waited until he had done so; heard the cries and
lamentations of those in the camp for their dead kinsman, mounted
his horse and returned with his scalp. The nation immediately upon
his return moved to within a mile of the agency, where they are now
dancing with joy and triumph over the trophy brought back in this
warlike achievement to them (_Report, 84_).
Whirlwind, the famous war chief of the southern Cheyenne, who died in
1895, had every feather shot away from his war bonnet in this
engagement, which he always declared was the hardest fight he had ever
been in. Notwithstanding this, he was not wounded, owing to the
protecting power of a medicine hawk which he wore upon his war bonnet!
He said:
When all the feathers were shot away the hawk was not hit. Balls
went to the right and left, above and below me. I was mounted and
the Sacs and Foxes were on foot in a hollow like a buffalo wallow.
It was the Great Spirit and the hawk which protected me (_Clark,
15_).
WINTER 1854-55
Gyaí`koaóñte "Likes-enemies," is killed by the _Ä´lähó_. He is
identified in the picture by his shield, which is recognized as one made
by Set-pate, "He-bear," and by the collar of the Kâitséñko, to which
order he belonged. The zigzag stroke touching his breast is intended to
show that he was killed by a bullet.
According to one statement, the Kiowa warriors had gone against the
Osage on Arkansas river and found their camp with a number of horses
hobbled near by. They waited until night and then made an attempt to
steal the horses, but were ambuscaded by the Osage and this man was
killed. Another informant states that the Indians concerned were not the
Osage (_K`apä´to_, "Shaved-heads,") but the _Ä´lähó_ (Kwapa? Omaha?),
described as a tribe living to the northward of the Osage and similar to
them in language and costume. As the Kiowa generally state that they
have been friends with the Osage since the peace of 1834, and more
particularly as they had been allies against the Sauk only a few months
before this occurrence, the latter story is probably correct.
[Illustration: FIG. 117--Summer 1855--Sitting summer.]
SUMMER 1855
_Toñgúayo Paídă_, "Summer of sitting with legs crossed and extended."
For some reason the word for summer is here used in the plural form. The
figure is sufficiently suggestive. There was no sun dance this summer.
The weather was extremely hot and the grass dried up, in consequence of
which the horses became so weak that when traveling the Kiowa were
frequently obliged to halt and sit down to allow the animals to rest.
WINTER 1855-56
´daltoñ-édal, "Big-head," the brother of Gyaí`koaóñte, who had been
killed by the _Ä´lähó_ (? see ante) in the preceding winter, after
having cried all summer, went this winter for revenge, met an _Ä´lähó_
(or an Osage?) hunting buffalo, and killed him.
The figure with a bow above the winter mark represents A´daltoñ-édal,
indicated by the head above the head of the figure, while in front of
him is the Osage (?), with the arrow in his breast and the blood pouring
from his mouth. The headdress is like that hitherto used to indicate a
Pawnee, both tribes wearing the head shaved, leaving a crest. During
this winter also a war party went into Chihuahua and brought back a
large number of horses, but lost one man, "Going-on-the-road."
[Illustration: FIG. 118--Winter 1855-56--Big-head kills an Ä´lähó.]
SUMMER 1856
_Séñ-äló K`ádó_, "Prickly-pear sun dance." The prickly-pears or tunas
(_Opuntia tortispina ?_) are shown above the medicine lodge. This dance
was held at a place where there was an abundance of prickly-pears, at
the mouth of a small creek, probably Caddo or Rate creek, entering
Arkansas river about 10 miles below Bent's fort, in Colorado. It was
held late in the fall, when the prickly-pears were ripe, instead of in
midsummer, as usual, and the women gathered a large quantity. This
circumstance has given the distinctive name to the _k`ádó_. The sweet
fruit of the tuna is much prized by the Indians, who eat it raw, while
the fleshy leaves are used as a mordant in their painting upon buckskin.
[Illustration: FIG. 119--Summer 1856--Prickly-pear sun dance.]
WINTER 1856-57
_Dó-gyäkódal-de Sai_, "Winter that they left their tipis behind." The
two tipis above the winter mark are intended to convey the idea.
After the last sun dance, while the Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Arapaho were
still camped near Bent's fort, a Kiowa war party under Big-bow and
Stumbling-bear went against the Navaho, while the rest, men and women,
under old Lone-wolf, went after buffalo, leaving their tipis rolled up
in care of Bent. On their return they found the Cheyenne in possession
of their tipis, and on complaining to Bent he said, "I have given them
to my people" (i. e., the Cheyenne). A quarrel ensued, in which the
Cheyenne shot Lone-wolf's horse and slightly wounded one Kiowa and drove
the others away, retaining possession of the tipis. This appears to have
been the most serious break between the two tribes since they had made
peace in 1840.
[Illustration: FIG. 120--Winter 1856-57--Tipis left.]
SUMMER 1857
_Ä´potó Ek`iädă´-de K`ádó_, "Sun dance when the forked stick sprouted."
The figure (121) represents a forked stick, with leaves, growing out
from the side of the medicine lodge.
This dance was held on the north side of Salt fork of the Arkansas
(_Ätäntaí P'a_, "Salt river") at a small creek, probably Elm creek, a
considerable distance below upper Mule creek (_Ädóä P'a_) in Oklahoma. A
Kiowa named K`ayä´ñte, "Falls-over-a-bank," owned a sacred _ä´poto_, or
two-pronged stick of _ä`gótä_, or chinaberry wood about four feet long,
trimmed with wild sage, which had been given him by his uncle Kóñabíñate
or Kóñate, "Black-tripe." It was his medicine, which he carried publicly
only in the sun dance, and no one else had such a stick. He carried it
on this occasion, keeping time to the dance with it, and at the end of
the ceremony planted it, with the fork down, inside the medicine lodge
as a sacrifice. On returning to the place next year the Kiowa found that
it had been reversed by someone and had taken root and put forth green
leaves. This was the more remarkable, as it had previously been stripped
of its bark. The news of the phenomenon spread through the tribe and
confirmed the previous impression concerning the mysterious powers of
the _ä´poto_. Ten years later, on the occasion of the treaty of Medicine
Lodge, the Kiowa visited the spot and found that the rod had grown into
a tree and was still alive. It is just possible that K`ayä´ñte, who is
still living, could explain the matter.
After this dance two war parties started out, one against the _Pä´sûñko_
(_Paseños_, Mexicans of El Paso), and another, consisting principally of
Comanche under the chief Mäwi, against the Sauk and Fox tribes, who had
so badly punished them three years before. They met the Sauk northeast
of the scene of the former battle and had an engagement in which several
of the Sauk were killed. Gaápiatañ was one of this party. No mention of
these expeditions occurs in the official reports.
[Illustration: FIG. 121--Summer 1857--Forked-stick-sprouting sun dance.]
The story of the origin of the _ä´poto_ staff is romantic, and throws
light upon several interesting points of Indian belief and custom.
Eighteen years before this sun dance (i. e., in 1839) a small party of
about twenty Kiowa warriors led by Gúădalóñte, "Painted-red," started
against the _Pä´sûñko_, already mentioned. The old chief Dohasän
accompanied the party, but not as leader. It should be noted that
usually every war party had a substitute leader or lieutenant, who took
command in case of the death of the leader. For some reason they made no
attack upon El Paso, probably because they found it too vigilantly
guarded, but stayed only one night and started the next day on their
return. In the desolate Jornada del Muerto, between the lower Pecos and
the Rio Grande, they halted for the night at a spring coming out of a
cave since known to the Kiowa as _Tsó-dói-gyätä´dă´-dée_, "the rock
house (cave) in which they were surrounded." None of the Kiowa can
define its exact location, but they describe it as a deep rock well with
a large basin of water, and on one side of it a cave running under the
rock from the water's edge. Pope's statement shows it to have been the
Hueco Tanks, in western Texas, just south of the New Mexico line. While
resting there they were surrounded by a large force of Mexican soldiers,
who killed several of their horses and forced them to take refuge in the
cave. The Mexicans had with them several Mescalero Indians (E´sikwita),
who, however, were rather doubtful allies, as one of them, who spoke
Comanche, shouted to the Kiowa in that language, encouraging them to
hold out.