Sheridan to release Lone-wolf and Set-t'aiñte when the tribe had been
brought to the reservation in December, 1868, the Kiowa had never
ceased their raids into Texas, and had constantly behaved in the most
insolent manner toward the agent and military commander on the
reservation. On May 17, 1871, a party of about one hundred warriors, led
by Set-t'aiñte and Set-ängya, attacked a wagon train in Texas, killed 7
men and captured 41 mules. Shortly afterward Set-t'aiñte had the
boldness to avow the deed to the agent, Lawrie Tatum, who at once called
upon the commander at Fort Sill to arrest Set-t´aiñte and several other
chiefs who had accompanied him, viz: Set-ängya, Big-tree, Big-bow,
Eagle-Heart and Fast-bear. The officer promptly responded and arrested
the first three; Eagle-heart escaped and the other two were absent at
the time. On May 28, the three prisoners were sent under military guard
to Fort Richardson (Jacksboro), Texas, to be tried for their crimes,
when Set-ängya attacked the guard and was killed in the wagon (_Report,
89_; _Record, 11_; _Battey, 19_; _Tatum letter_). The fate of the other
prisoners is noted elsewhere.
According to the Kiowa account, which is correct in the main incidents,
the prisoners having been disarmed, Set-ängya was placed in a
wagon, accompanied by a single soldier, and Set-t'aiñte and Big-tree
were put into another wagon with other guards, and an escort of cavalry
and Tonkawa scouts rode on either side. Leaving Fort Sill, they
started toward the south on the road to Texas, when Set-ängya began a
loud harangue to the two prisoners in the other wagon, telling them
that he was a chief and a warrior, too old to be treated like a little
child. Then pointing to a tree where the road descends to cross a small
stream about a mile south of the post, he said: "I shall never go beyond
that tree." As he spoke in the Kiowa language, none but the prisoners
knew what he was saying. Then raising his voice, he sang his death
song, the song of the Kâitséñko, of whom he was chief:
I´ha hyo´ o´ya i´ya´ i´ya' o i´ha ya´ya yo´yo´
A´he´ya ahe´ya´ ya´he´yo´ ya e´ya he´yo e´he´yo
Kâ´itseñ´ko änä´obahe´ma haa´-ipai´-degi o´ba´-ikă´
Kâi´tse´ñko änä´obahe´ma hadâ´mga´gi o´ba´-ikă´
_I hahyo, etc._
_Aheya, etc._
O sun, you remain forever, but we Kâitse´ñko must die.
O earth, you remain forever, but we Kâitse´ñko must die.
The song ended, he suddenly sprang upon the guard with a knife which he
had managed to conceal about his person, and had cut him seriously when
the soldiers following behind fired and he fell dead in the wagon. He
was buried in the military cemetery at Fort Sill, but there is nothing
to distinguish the grave. The Kiowa statement of his singing his death
song is corroborated by Battey and by agent Tatum.
Although a noted warrior and a chief of the Kâitséñko, Set-ängya was
generally feared and disliked by the tribe on account of his vindictive
disposition and his supposed powers of magic. It was believed that he
could kill an enemy by occult means, and that he had in this manner
actually disposed of one or two who had incurred his displeasure. The
knife with which he attacked the soldier is reputed to have been a
"medicine knife," which he could swallow and disgorge as demanded by the
necessity of concealment or use; several stories are told by the Indians
to confirm this belief. His paternal grandmother was a woman of the
Sarsi (_Pákiägo_, a small tribe incorporated with the Blackfeet,) who
had married a Kiowa when the latter tribe lived in the far north. Unlike
Indians generally, he habitually wore a mustache and straggling beard.
He left two children; the elder, a son, was adopted into a white family
under the name of Joshua Given, was educated in the east, married a
white lady, afterward returned as a missionary to his people, and
died of consumption about four years ago. The younger child, Julia
Given, was until recently employed in one of the mission schools on the
reservation.
[Illustration: FIG. 150--Set-t'aiñte in prison (from _Scribner's
Monthly_, February, 1874)]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXXVIII
PHOTO BY SOULE (1) 1872
LAWRIE TATUM, FIRST KIOWA AGENT, WITH GROUP OF RESCUED CAPTIVES]
Bearing on the subject of the arrest of the three chiefs and the death
of Set-ängya, we quote at length from a letter written by Lawrie Tatum,
the first agent for the Kiowa and associated tribes, from whom the
author has obtained much valuable information in response to letters of
inquiry. Mr Tatum, who is now (1896) living in Springdale, Iowa, at the
advanced age of 75 years, is a member of the Society of Friends, and was
appointed, on their recommendation, in accordance with the "Indian peace
policy" of President Grant, soon after the tribes were brought upon the
reservation. He took charge, as he states, July 1, 1869, and resigned
March 31, 1873, in consequence of the release of Set-t'aiñte and
Big-tree, a measure which he opposed, as it was on his motion that these
men were originally arrested. During his incumbency he rescued a number
of white captives without ransom--a thing before unexampled. On this
point he states, in a letter of March 31, 1896:
I recovered fourteen white captives from the Indians, two of whom
had forgotten their names and every word of English. I advertised
for their parents and found them. I also recovered twelve Mexicans.
I was the first agent, I think, that those Indians had, who
obtained captives of them without paying a ransom. A part of them
were procured by withholding rations from the band that had them,
and a part were obtained by means of the leverage that Colonel
Mackenzie gave by taking a hundred women and children from a
raiding camp to Texas.
His stringent measures at times brought him into disfavor with his
co-religionists, but had great influence in bringing these unruly tribes
under effectual control. He writes, under date of April 7, 1896:
General Sherman called at my office, Kiowa and Comanche agency,
Indian Territory, fifth month, 23, 1871, to see if I knew of any
Indians having gone to Texas lately. He said that a party of
Indians, supposed to number about one hundred and fifty, had
attacked a train of ten wagons about 17 miles from Fort Richardson
and killed the trainmaster and six teamsters. Five others escaped.
Being at the fort at the time, he gave orders for the available
troops to follow them with thirty days' rations and report at Fort
Sill.
I told the general that I could not then tell what Indians they
were, but thought that I could ascertain in a few days. Four days
later the Indians came after their rations. Before issuing I asked
the chiefs to come into the office, and told them of the tragedy in
Texas, and wished to know if they could tell by what Indians it had
been committed. Satanta immediately arose and said:
"Yes; I led in that raid. I have been told that you have stolen a
large amount of our annuity goods and given them to the Texans. I
have repeatedly asked for arms and ammunition, which have not been
furnished, and made other requests which have not been granted. You
do not listen to my talk. The white people are preparing to build a
railroad through our country, which will not be permitted. Some
years ago they took us by the hair and pulled us here close to
Texas, where we have to fight them. When General Custer was here
some years ago he arrested me and kept me in confinement several
days, but that is played out now. There are never to be any more
Kiowa Indians arrested. I want you to remember that.
"On account of these grievances a short time ago I took about one
hundred of my warriors, whom I wished to teach how to fight, to
Texas, with the chiefs Satank [_Set-ängya_], Eagle-heart, Big-tree,
Big-bow, and Fast-bear. We found a mule train, which we captured,
and killed seven of the men. Three of our men got killed, but we
are willing to call it even. It is all over now, and not necessary
to say much more about it. We don't expect to do any raiding around
here this summer. If any other Indian claims the honor of leading
that party he will be lying to you, for I led it myself."
Satank, Eagle-heart, and Big-tree were present, and assented to the
correctness of the statement made by Satanta. That they were guilty
of murder in the first degree I had not the shadow of a doubt, and
thought that forbearance in the case had ceased to be a virtue and
would become a crime. I told the men to go to issuing and I would
go to the fort (Sill). I went to Colonel Grierson's quarters and
requested him to arrest Satanta, Satank, Eagle-heart, Big-tree,
Big-bow, and Fast-bear on the charge of murder. Scarcely had the
order been given when, to the surprise of all of of us, Satanta
took the post interpreter into Colonel Grierson's quarters. He had
heard that there was a big Washington chief there (General
Sherman), and he probably wished to measure up with him and see how
they compared. When I started to the agency he said he would go
with me, but some soldiers stepped in front of him with their
revolvers and ordered him back, and he quietly obeyed. The colonel
sent for Satank and Eagle-heart to go to his quarters. Satank went
and was arrested. Eagle-heart got nearly there and saw Big-tree
being arrested, and he turned and fled. Kicking-bird pled
eloquently for the release of the three prisoners, although he
entirely disapproved of their raiding.
A day or two after the arrest, Colonel Mackenzie, in command of the
troops from Fort Richardson, arrived at Fort Sill and reported that
the heavy and continued rains had obliterated the tracks of the
raiding Indians so that they could not be followed. After remaining
a few days, the colonel with his troops took charge of the
prisoners to convey them to Texas for trial. Satank was so
refractory that he was put into a wagon with two soldiers, and
Satanta and Big-tree were put into another wagon. George
Washington, a Caddo Indian, rode alongside of the wagons as they
left Fort Sill. Satank called to him and said: "I wish to send a
little message by you to my people. Tell them that I am dead. I
died the first day out, and my bones will be lying on the side of
the road. I wish my people to gather them up and take them home."
Satanta also sent a message, saying: "Tell my people to take the
forty-one mules that we stole from Texas to the agent, as he and
Colonel Grierson require. Don't commit any depredations around Fort
Sill or in Texas."
When about a mile from the post Satank sang his death song, and
with his back to the guard drew the shackles off his hands by
taking some of the skin with them. Then with a butcher knife which
he had secreted, he started for the guard in the front part of the
wagon, cutting one of the soldiers slightly in the leg. They both
jumped out, leaving their guns. Satank picked up one of them and
commenced loading it, wanting to kill one more man. Before he got
it loaded he received several shots, and in twenty minutes died in
much agony, gritting his teeth. Colonel Grierson had him buried at
Fort Sill. He gave the Indians permission to take him up and convey
him to their camp for interment, which they declined to do.
Mr Leeper, my interpreter, who has since been a practicing
physician in Chicago, and Horace P. Jones, the post interpreter,
attended the trial of Satanta and Big-tree at Jacksboro. The jury
brought in a verdict of murder in the first degree, and sentenced
them to be hung on the 1st of the following September. I had
requested that they be not executed, and gave my reasons for
thinking that such a course would have a better effect upon the
Indians of the reservation. The judge wrote me that he approved of
my request and would ask the governor to commute the sentence to
life imprisonment, which was done. The Kiowas delivered to me the
stolen mules, as Satanta requested.
Although Set-ängya was a bad Indian and deserved punishment, it is
impossible not to admire the grim courage of the old man, as, true to
his warrior oath to despise death, though laden with chains and
surrounded by armed troops, he boldly sang his death song, and then,
wrenching the manacles from his bleeding wrists, drove the guards from
the wagon, picked up their abandoned guns, and coolly prepared to kill
one more enemy of his race before he fell, shot to death.
WINTER 1871-72 (1872-73)
A part of the Kiowa camped during this winter on _Ä´-gíăni P'a_,
"Long-tree creek," a branch of Elk creek of upper Red river. The name is
indicated on the Anko calendar by the figure of a tree below the winter
mark. The remainder of the tribe camped on the Washita, near Rainy
mountain. During this winter the Kiowa were visited by a large party of
Pawnee, who came to make peace. They came on foot and remained a long
time, returning with many horses given them by their hosts. On the
Set-t'an calendar the event is indicated by a representation of three
characteristic Pawnee heads above the winter mark.
This was the first friendly meeting within the memory of the two tribes.
The Pawnee first came to the Wichita, their near relatives, and then
announced their intention to visit the Kiowa to make a treaty of peace.
The Kiowa debated the matter for some time, but finally agreed, and
after the visit dismissed their guests with many presents of horses. The
older men describe the identical horses which were given. In the fall of
1873 another large party of the Pawnee visited the Wichita and remained
some time. On their return home they gave such an account of their
experience that the entire tribe decided to remove to the south from
Nebraska, where they were constantly harassed by the Dakota. The matter
was brought to the attention of the government and a new reservation was
selected for them in Indian Territory (Oklahoma), to which they removed
in the spring of 1875 (_Report, 90_).
[Illustration: FIG. 151--Winter 1871-72 (1872-73)--Pawnee visit; camp on
Long-tree creek.]
From the concurrent notices by Battey, Grinnell, and the Indian
Commissioner, together with the statements of a number of Indians, it is
plain that in this instance the author of the calendar has made an error
in the date, which should be the winter of 1872-73. As the Indians tell
it, the Pawnee came late in the fall, after the Kiowa had left _Ä´gíăni
P'a_. The explanation may be in a confusion between the visit of the
Pawnee and that of the Pueblos (see winter 1872-73).
In regard to this Pawnee visit, which led to the removal of the tribe to
Indian Territory, Grinnell says that in the summer of 1870 Lone-chief
led a large party of the Pawnee southward to visit the Wichita. Again in
the winter of 1871-72, the same chief, with a party, started on another
visit to the Wichita, but for some reason turned back. The next winter
(1872-73) in consequence of renewed inroads of the Dakota, the Pawnee
were thrown into an unsettled condition and the question of removal to a
safer situation began to be seriously discussed. It was finally decided
to send a small party under Lone-chief and one or two others to the
southern tribes to learn how these would look upon a general Pawnee
migration into Indian Territory. The delegates visited the Oto, Kansa,
Wichita, Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache, and were everywhere received in a
friendly manner. The Pawnee then invited the chiefs of the various
tribes to meet them at the Wichita camp, where the Pawnee speaker
broached the proposition, stating that his people wished to be at peace
and had made up their minds to come and live with their friends in the
south.
They received a cordial invitation from all the chiefs of the
different tribes, who said that they had good land and plenty of
buffalo for them, and the result was that in 1873 the first party
moved south and was followed by others, until in 1875 the whole
tribe had removed from Nebraska to the Indian Territory (_Grinnell,
Pawnee, 1_).
Grinnell is not entirely consistent with himself, but in another place
says that the first expedition under Lone-chief took place "the
following summer in August" of 1869 or 1870, and that it was on that
occasion that the Pawnee visited and made peace with the Kiowa, and
afterward visited the Comanche (_Grinnell, Pawnee, 2_).
The Quaker teacher, Battey, was with Kicking-bird in the Kiowa camp on
Cache creek on the arrival of the Pawnee dancers, numbering forty-five,
in March, 1873. He gives an extended account of their reception and
performance:
A party of Pawnees came in last evening, giving notice of their
arrival by their headman and two or three others coming into camp,
while the main body remained 2 or 3 miles distant. This morning a
public reception was given them.
The party was seen coming over a ridge in single file, bearing a
white flag. Approaching to within 20 rods, they planted their flag,
upon which was painted the single letter P, and sat down in a line
on each side of it, facing the village. After sitting in this
manner for perhaps half an hour, during which they maintained
entire silence, and preliminary arrangements for their reception
were made in the camp, the chiefs, followed by most of the headmen,
and these by the young men, women, and children, went forth to
welcome them. Upon drawing near to them, the Kiowa chiefs walking
with a slow step and dignified mien, some of the old women set up a
chant in a shrill voice, whereupon the head chief of the Pawnees
and two or three others, perhaps the nearest in rank, arose, and
with a quick, firm step approached the Kiowa chiefs, and after
embracing them retired to their former position.
Others of the Pawnees came forward, a few at a time, until all had
embraced and been embraced by the Kiowa chiefs and headmen. The
women, remaining some distance behind, renewed their shrill chant
from time to time. Some of the Pawnees occasionally placed a shawl
or embroidered blanket upon the shoulders of a Kiowa, while several
of the old men passed along in front of the whole line of the
visitors, shaking hands with them. After this the Pawnees set up a
weird song, during the continuance of which Kiowa fathers, each
carrying a small child in his arms, bearing a piece of stick in its
little hands, young girls, and occasionally a woman, would
approach the Pawnees, and selecting someone, would present
themselves before him, holding out the stick. Thereupon he would
arise, place his hands upon the donor's head in a solemn,
reverential manner, as if blessing, pass them down the sides,
following the arms, take the stick, and sit down. Each stick thus
given was a pledge from the giver to the receiver for a pony, to be
given when the visitors are ready to return to their country. Old
men, from time to time addressing the Kiowas, urged them to
liberality, to show the largeness of their hearts and the warmth of
their friendship by giving ponies to these poor Pawnees, who had
come so far to see them and renew their friendship, and not allow
them to return on foot, as they came. I know not how many ponies
were thus pledged to them, but there must have been many.
At the conclusion of the ceremony the Pawnees arose in a body,
ceased their song, took up their flag, and a part following one
Kiowa chief and a part another, accompanied them to their lodges to
partake of their hospitality. The head chief, with four or five
others, including the flag bearer, accompanied Kicking-bird to his
lodge, thus becoming his guest.
In the afternoon the visitors gave a Pawnee war dance, of which Battey
wisely remarks:
I shall not render myself ridiculous by attempting to describe that
which is indescribable.... Individuals occupied the intervals
between the dances by narrating their own former valorous exploits,
not even omitting that their victims were in some instances Kiowas,
concluding by throwing their war implements upon the ground with
such force, in case of tomahawk or hatchet, as to cause the metal
to ring. Then, with gesture of covering it up, they would go away,
leaving it to lie there; thus intimating that, though they had been
foolish and fought, they now rejoiced in the beams of peace and
hoped that the red men everywhere might live in peace one with
another; all of which was received by the Kiowas with the loud
response of "How! how! Yes! yes!" (_Battey, 20_).
SUMMER 1872
This summer there was no sun dance, and in consequence the medicine
lodge does not appear on either calendar.
[Illustration: FIG. 152--Summer 1872--Viejo shot.]
For this summer the Anko calendar has two connected human figures,
together with what he explains as a "mule's head" above the medicine
pole. Between the forks of the pole is another human head, where he
commenced to draw the first figure, but found that he had no room. The
joined human figures refer to a drunken fight between Sun-boy and
T'ené-zépte, "Bird-bow" (?), growing out of some whisky smuggled in by
Mexicans, in which Sun-boy shot his antagonist with an arrow. The mule's
head indicates a raid into Kansas, in which the Kiowa captured a large
number of mules. This may have been the same raid in which Bíako was
shot.
The Set-t'an calendar has a picture of a man wounded in the chest, with
a tree above his head to show that the event occurred in summer. This
has reference to a skirmish with the whites in which a Mexican captive
named Bíako (Viejo) was shot, but afterward recovered. He was one of
those selected for confinement in Florida a few years later, and is
still living and with the tribe. The fight took place in the course of a
raid into Kansas by a small party of Kiowa under T'ené-'taide,
"Bird-chief," which was undertaken against the protests of the other
chiefs, who desired to be at peace with the Americans. Near
Medicine-lodge creek, not far from the Kansas line, they were joined by
some of the Osage, and soon afterward met a party of white men in
wagons, whom they thought were surveyors; a skirmish ensued, resulting
in the wounding of the captive and one of the Osage.
WINTER 1872-73
_Téguăgo Tsän-de Sai_, "Winter that the Pueblos came." In this winter,
while most of the Kiowa were encamped on the Washita near Rainy
mountain, a party of Pueblo Indians and Mexicans visited them to trade
_biscocho_, or Pueblo bread, and eagle feathers for horses and buffalo
robes. The Kiowa were very fond of this bread and willingly gave a pony
for a small bag of it. The figure on the Set-t'an calendar represents a
Pueblo Indian, with his hair tied in a bunch behind, driving before him
a burro (donkey) with a pack upon his back. The Kiowa say that the
Pawnee visited them late in the fall, while the Pueblo party came in the
winter, stopping south of Stumbling-bear's present camp. From an early
period the Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande had carried on a trade with
the southern plains tribes, with which they appear to have been always
on friendly terms. This was the next to their final visit.
[Illustration: FIG. 153--Winter 1872--1873--Pueblo visit; battle tipi
burned.]
The Anko calendar records the accidental burning of a noted heraldic
tipi, hereditary in the family of the great Dohásän. It was known as the
_Dó-gíägyä gúăt_, "Tipi with battle pictures," being ornamented with
battle pictures on the northern side and horizontal stripes of black and
yellow alternating on the southern side; it occupied the second place
from the entrance in the camp circle on ceremonial occasions. A small
facsimile model has been deposited by the author in the National Museum.
Plate LXXIX shows the appearance of the buckskin model when open and
spread out.
The Kiowa, like the plains tribes generally, had an elaborate system of
heraldry, exemplified in the painting and decoration of their shields
and tipis. Every prominent family had its heraldic tipi, which had its
appointed place in the great camp circle of the tribe and descended by
inheritance from generation to generation. The system may form the
subject of a future study by the author.
SUMMER 1873