Part 21

T'ené-badaí, "Bird-appearing," was killed. The figure shows a man shot through the body, with blood streaming from his mouth, while the bird above is intended to indicate his name. As there was no sun dance this year, the medicine lodge is omitted.

A part of the Kiowa tribe was south of the Arkansas, while the rest, with the Kwáhadi and other western Comanche, under the chiefs Täbi-nä´năkă (Hears-the-sun) and Ĭsä-hä´bĭt (Wolf-lying-down), were camped north of that stream, when one day the latter party discovered a large body of people crossing the river. Täbi-nä'năka went out to reconnoiter, and returned with the report that there were a great many of them and that they were probably enemies. The Kiowa and Comanche at once broke camp and fled northward, and on their way met the Cheyenne and Arapaho, to whom they told the news, whereupon the latter also fled with them. By this time it had been discovered that the pursuers were white soldiers, accompanied by a large body of Caddo, Wichita, Tonkawa, and Pénätĕka Comanche. As they fled, the Kiowa and their allies kept spies on the lookout, who one night reported their enemies asleep, when they turned and attacked them at daylight, killing a soldier, but losing a Comanche named Silver-knife (properly Tin-knife, _Hâ´ñt'aiñ-k`á_ in Kiowa), who was shot through the neck with an arrow, and a Kiowa named T'ené-badaí, "Bird-appearing," noted for his handsome appearance, who was killed by a Caddo. The engagement took place in Kansas, somewhere northward from Smoky-hill river (_Pe P'a_).

[Illustration: FIG. 127--Summer 1860--Bird-appearing killed.]

The Pénätĕka Comanche lived in Texas, near the settlements, and associated more with the Caddo, Wichita, and whites than with their western kinsmen, the Kwáhadi Comanche, against whom and their allies, the Kiowa and Apache, they several times aided the whites.

There is no direct notice of this engagement in the Indian Report, but the Commissioner states that peace had prevailed among the treaty tribes during the year, with the conspicuous exception of the Kiowa, whose increasing turbulence would seem to render military operations against them advisable. In another place he states that both the Kiowa and Comanche were known to be hostile, and that the army had been ordered to chastise them, as the only way to make them respect their engagements and to stay their murderous hands. In going to Bent's fort, he says:

Citizens of the United States in advance of me as I went out, and also on my return, were brutally murdered and scalped upon the road. It is a fact also worthy of remark that the murders were committed almost within range of the guns at Fort Larned. The Indian mode of warfare, however, is such that it is almost impossible to detect them in their designs. They cautiously approach the Santa Fé road, commit the most atrocious deeds, and flee to the plains (_Report, 85_).

WINTER 1860-61

This winter is known as _´dálká-i Dóha Sai_, "Crazy-bluff winter." While the Kiowa were encamped on the south side of the Arkansas, near the western line of Kansas, a man named Gaá-bohónte, "Crow-bonnet," the brother of the man who had been killed by the Caddo the preceding summer, raised a party for revenge. They went to the Caddo camp on the head of Sugar creek, in the present Caddo and Wichita reservation, where they encountered a Caddo looking for his horses. They killed and scalped him, and brought back with them the scalp over which the Kiowa held a scalp dance at a bluff on the south side of Bear creek (_T'á-zótă´ P'a_, "Antelope-corral river"), near its head, between the Cimarron and the Arkansas, near the western line of Kansas. From the rejoicing on this occasion the place took the name of Foolish, or Crazy bluff.

The picture represents a man with a scalp on a pole, while the projection at the upper end of the winter mark indicates the bluff.

[Illustration: FIG. 128--Winter 1860--1861--Crazy-bluff winter.]

About the same time a war party went into Texas, but lost three men.

The _zótă´_ or driveway for catching antelope was an open corral of upright logs, stripped of their branches, with an entrance, from which diverged two lines of posts set at short distances from one another and covered with blankets to resemble men. The antelope were surrounded on the prairie and driven toward the corral until they came between the converging lines of posts, when it was an easy matter to force them into the closed circle, where they were slaughtered. The _zótă´_ was used for catching antelope at any season of the year. It was not used for deer, as the deer could jump over an ordinary corral.

For a description of another method, the _ät'ákagúa_, or "antelope medicine," see Winter 1848-49. Antelope make regular trails from their shelter places to their grazing grounds, and the Indians sometimes caught them by digging a large pitfall along such a trail--an entire band assisting in the work--and carrying the excavated earth a long distance away, so as to leave no trace on the trail, after which the pitfall was loosely covered with bushes and grass. The hunters then concealed themselves until the herd approached, when they closed in behind and drove the frightened animals forward until they fell into the pit.

Wild horses also were sometimes taken in driveways called _t'á-tséñ-zótă´_ ("wild-horse driveway"), which were set up near the water holes in the Staked plain, usually in summer, when the streams were dry and the animals were obliged to resort to these places for water. A steep cliff was sometimes utilized to form one side of the corral or driveway. In hunting buffalo the Indians sometimes built converging leadways to the edge of a cliff and then drove the animals over the precipice.

SUMMER 1861

_T'óigúăt Äpäñ´tsep-de K`ádó_, "Sun dance when they left the spotted horse tied." The picture shows the spotted or pinto horse tied to the medicine lodge.

This dance was held near a canyon, on the south bank of upper Walnut creek, entering the Arkansas at the Great Bend in Kansas. The event recorded throws another curious light on Indian belief. At the sun dance no one but the _taíme_ priest must attempt any "medicine," but on this occasion a man called Dogúatal-edal, "Big-young-man," became "crazy" and committed sacrilegious acts, tearing off his feather headdress and throwing it upon the _taíme_ image, and afterward, when they were smoking to the sun, taking the pipe and throwing it away. No reason is given for these strange actions, except that he was temporarily crazy, as he had never acted strangely before, but the Indians believe that, as his conscience troubled him after he came to his senses, he gave this horse to the _taíme_ as an atonement. At the close of the dance he tied a spotted horse to one of the poles inside the medicine lodge and left it there, where it probably died. Such a thing as tying a horse to the medicine lodge had never before been heard of, although a horse was sometimes sacrificed to the sun by tying it to a tree out upon the hills and leaving it there to perish. The old war chief Gaápiatañ twice sacrificed a horse in this manner, once during the cholera of 1849, when he offered a gray horse as a propitiatory sacrifice for himself, his parents, and brothers and sisters; also again, in the smallpox epidemic of 1861-62 (see next year), he offered a fine black-eared horse, hobbling it and tying it to a tree, with a prayer to the spirit of the disease to take his horse and spare himself and his children and friends. On both occasions his faith appears to have been rewarded, as none of his relatives died. The horse offered on this last occasion was of the kind called _t'á-kóñ_, "black-eared," considered by the Kiowa to be the finest of all horses.

[Illustration: FIG. 129--Summer 1861--Pinto left tied.]

Dogúatal-édal afterward led a small war party, seven in number, including one woman, into Mexico. None of them ever returned, all the warriors having been killed, probably by Ute warriors, among whom the woman was found living by Big-bow and his companions when they visited that tribe in 1894. It was on this occasion that the Kiowa tribe gained the first intimation concerning the fate of the party. The woman was then the wife of a Ute and the mother of three of his children. Big-bow wanted her to return home with them, especially as her son by her Kiowa husband was still living, but her Ute husband was unwilling to come, and she refused to leave him and her three other children.

WINTER 1861-62

_Tä´dalkop Sai_, "Smallpox winter." The smallpox, like the measles, is indicated by a human figure covered with red spots (see 1839-40 and 1892). The Kiowa were camped for the winter about the Arkansas, in the vicinity of _Âdalka-i Doha_, in southwestern Kansas, and a party went into New Mexico to trade. They stopped at a town in the mountains at the head of the South Canadian, where smallpox was prevalent at the time, and the people warned them of the danger; they therefore left, but one Kiowa had already bought a blanket, which he refused to throw away, although requested to do so. On returning to their home camp, about New Year, he was attacked by the disease and died, and the epidemic spread through the tribe; many died, and the others scattered in various directions to escape the pestilence. The Cheyenne, Arapaho, Dakota, and other tribes also suffered greatly at the same time, as appears from the official report (_Report, 86_). It was in consequence of this epidemic that the Arikara abandoned their village lower down the Missouri and removed to their present location near Fort Berthold, North Dakota.

[Illustration: FIG. 130--Winter 1861-62--Smallpox.]

It will be noticed that for several years the Kiowa appear to have been drifting eastward from their former haunts on the upper Arkansas. Although no definite reason is assigned for this movement, it may have been due to the influx of white men into Colorado, consequent upon the discovery of gold at Pike's peak in 1858, which would have a tendency to drive away the buffalo as well as to disquiet the Indians.

SUMMER 1862

_Tä´dalkop Kyäkán K'ádó_, "sun dance after the smallpox," or sometimes simply _Tä´dalkop K'ádó_, "smallpox sun dance." It was held a short distance west of where the sun dance had been held in 1858, on Mule creek, near the junction of Medicine-lodge creek with the Salt fork of the Arkansas. No event of importance marked this summer, which is indicated only by the medicine lodge.

[Illustration: FIG. 131--Summer 1862--Sun dance after smallpox.]

WINTER 1862-63

_Ä´pätsä´t Sai_, "Treetop winter," or _Tséñko Sápän Étpata Sai_, "Winter when horses ate ashes." This winter the Kiowa camped on upper Walnut creek (_Tsodal-héñte-de P'a_, "No-arm's river"), which enters the Arkansas at the Great Bend, in Kansas. There was unusually deep snow upon the ground, so that the horses could not get at the grass, and in their hunger tried to eat the ashes thrown out from the camp fires.

In the early spring a large war party, accompanied by women, as was sometimes the custom among the Kiowa, started for Texas, along the trail which runs south through the Panhandle, crossing the North Canadian near Kiowa creek and passing on by Fort Elliott. While singing the "travel song" on a southern head stream of Wolf creek the tree tops returned the echo. The phenomenon was a mystery to the Indians, who ascribed it to spirits, but it may have been due to the fact that just south of the camp was a bluff, from which the sound may have been echoed back. The figure over the winter mark is intended to indicate the sound above the tree tops.

When a man wishes to gather a small war party he sends around to invite those who may desire to join him. On the night before he intends to start he sits alone in his tipi, having previously bent a long stick, like a hoop, around the fire hole; then he begins the _Gua-dagya_ or travel song, beating time upon the hoop with another stick which he holds in his hand. When those who intend going with him hear the song, they come in one by one and join in it, beating time in the same way with sticks. The women also come in and sit behind the men, joining in the song with them, but without beating time; after some time the leader invites them to come outside, to a buffalo hide, which the men surround and each holds it up with one hand while they beat time upon it with the sticks. The women and those who can not reach the hide stand behind and all sing together. The song is sung at intervals during the march. It has words with meaning and is different from all their other songs; the first singing by the leader is the signal that he intends to start the next day; the pipe was sent around only for a very large war party.

[Illustration: FIG. 132--Winter 1862-63--Treetop winter.]

A contributor to the Montana Historical Society gives a humorous account of a rawhide dance by a party of packers on Columbia river, in 1858, when the tribes of that region had combined against the whites. The account is of interest as showing that the dance was found from the Columbia to the Rio Grande:

About dark some seven or eight canoes loaded with Yakima warriors landed near our camp. They were painted and rigged up in first-class war style and just spoiling for a fight. Our few Indian packers and the interpreter took the situation in and suggested that we bluff them. So we built a large camp fire out of sage brush and greasewood, and all of us, the Major included, formed a circle, and with one hand holding a rawhide, with a stick in the other, batted that rawhide and yelled and danced until we were nearly exhausted. This act, the interpreter said, was intended to show these Yakimas that we were not afraid of them and were ready to give them "the best we had in the shop," and to my utter surprise when I turned out in the morning not a canoe was to be seen. It was a complete bluff. They had taken the hint and gone away during the night. I must confess I felt pleased, and so would anyone, from the fact that there is less danger in thumping the rawhide as a bluff than trying to dodge their bullets (_Montana, 2_).

SUMMER 1863

_Tsodalhéñte-de P'a K`ádó_, "No-arm's river sun dance." The figure near the medicine lodge shows a man with his right arm gone.

This dance was held on the south side of Arkansas river, in Kansas, at the Great Bend, a short distance below the mouth of upper Walnut creek, called _Tsodalhéñte-de P'a_, "Armless man's creek," from a trader, William Allison, who kept a trading store at its mouth, on the east side, and who had lost his right arm from a bullet received in a fight with his stepfather, whom he killed in the encounter. From this circumstance the Kiowa knew him as Tsodalhéñte, or sometimes Man-héñk'ia, "Armless man" or "No-arm." He had as partners his half brother, John Adkins, known to the Kiowa as Kábodalte, "Left-handed," and another man named Booth. Fort Zarah was built in the immediate vicinity of Allison's trading post in 1864.

[Illustration: FIG. 133--Summer 1863--No-arm's-river sun dance.]

WINTER 1863-64

_Âdaltoñ-édal Hém-de Sai_, "Winter that Big-head died." The Set-t'an figure is sufficiently suggestive. Âdaltoñ-edal was the uncle of the present chief Gomä´te (Comalty), who has taken the same name. He died while the Kiowa were in their winter camp on the North Canadian, a short distance below the junction of Wolf creek at Fort Supply.

The Anko calendar begins with this winter, the first event recorded being the death of Hâ´ñzephó`da, "Kills-with-a-gun." He is represented below the winter mark, holding a gun to indicate his name, while the irregular black marking above his head is intended to show that he is "wiped out" or dead.

[Illustration: FIG. 134--Winter 1863-64--Big-head dies; Hâñzephó`da dies.]

SUMMER 1864

_Ä´sâhé K`ádó_, "Ragweed sun dance," so called because held at a place where there was a large quantity of this plant growing, at the junction of Medicine-lodge creek and the Salt fork of the Arkansas, a short distance below where the dances had been held in 1858 and 1862. On the Set-t'an calendar the medicine lodge, instead of being painted black, as usual, is blue-green, to show the color of the plant (_ä´-sâhé_, literally "blue or green plant"), and is surmounted by a blue-green stalk of _ä´-sâhé_ or ragweed.

In this summer the Anko calendar records a fight between the Kiowa tribe and soldiers, at which Anko himself was present. In the figure the ragweed is indicated by irregular markings at the base of the medicine pole, while the fight is represented in the conventional way by means of bullets at the ends of wavy lines.

The encounter occurred at Port Larned, Kansas, called by the Kiowa "The soldier place on Dark (i. e., shady)-timber (_ai-koñ_) river." The Kiowa had camped outside the post and were holding a scalp dance when Set-ängya and his cousin approached the entrance but were warned away by the sentry. Not understanding his words, they continued to advance, whereupon the soldier made a threatening motion with his gun, as if about to shoot. Upon this Set-ängya discharged two arrows at the soldier, shooting him through the body, while another Kiowa fired at him with a pistol. A panic immediately ensued, the Indians mounting their horses and the garrison hastily preparing to resist an attack. It so happened that the soldiers' horses were grazing outside the post and the Indians stampeded and ran them off, abandoning their camp, the soldiers being unable to follow on foot. The Indians did not risk an attack on the post, but remained satisfied with the capture of the horses. No one was hurt excepting the sentry. Whether his wound proved fatal or not the Kiowa are unable to say. They state that this was their first hostile encounter with United States troops.

[Illustration: FIG. 135--Summer 1864--Ragweed sun dance; soldier fight.]

At the time of this occurrence there was a general Indian war in progress on the plains. The encounter is thus referred to by Agent Colley in a letter to the governor of Colorado, dated July 26, 1864:

When I last wrote you I was in hopes that our Indian troubles were at an end. Colonel Chivington has just arrived from Larned and gives a sad account of affairs at that post. They have killed some ten men from a train and run off all the stock from the post. As near as they can learn, all the tribes are engaged in it. The colonel will give you the particulars. There is no dependence to be put in any of them. I have done everything in my power to keep peace. I now think a little powder and lead is the best food for them.

In another place he states that "while the war chief of the Kiowa tribe was in the commanding officer's quarters at Fort Larned, professing the greatest friendship, the young men were running off nearly all the horses, mules, and cattle at the post" (_Report, 87_).

WINTER, 1864-65

_Tsenhó Sai_, "Muddy-traveling winter," so called because the mud caused by the melting of heavy snows made traveling difficult. The Kiowa and Apache, with a part of the Comanche, made their winter camp on the South Canadian at _Gúădal-dóhá_, "Red bluff," on the north side, between Adobe Walls and Mustang creek, in the Texas panhandle. While here early in the winter they were attacked by the famous scout Kit Carson, with a detachment of troops, assisted by a number of the Ute and Jicarilla Apache. According to the Indian, account, five persons of the allied tribes, including two women, were killed. The others, after a brave resistance, finally abandoned their camp, which was burned by the enemy. One of those killed was a young Apache warrior who wore a war-bonnet. He was shot from his horse and his war-bonnet was captured by a Ute warrior. An old Apache warrior, who was left behind in his tipi in the hurry of flight, was also killed.

In the Set-t'an calendar the attack upon the camp is indicated by conventional bullets and arrows around two tipis above the winter mark. In the Anko calendar it is indicated by a picture of the captured war-bonnet.

[Illustration: FIG. 136--Winter 1864-65--Ute fight.]

According to the Kiowa statement, most of the younger men were away on the warpath at the time, having left their families in the winter camp in charge of the old chief Dohásän. Early one morning some of the men had gone out to look for their ponies, when they discovered the enemy creeping up to surround them. They dashed back into camp and gave the alarm, and the women, who were preparing breakfast, hastily gathered up their children and ran, while the men mounted their horses to repel the assault. The Ute scouts advanced in Indian fashion, riding about and keeping up a constant yelling to stampede the Kiowa ponies, while the soldiers came on behind quietly and in regular order. Stumbling-bear was one of the leading warriors in the camp at the time and distinguished himself in the defense, killing one soldier and a Ute, and then killing or wounding another soldier so that he fell from his horse. Another warrior named Set-tádal, "Lean-bear," distinguished himself by his bravery in singing the war song of his order, the _Toñkóñko_, as he advanced to the charge, according to his military obligation, which forbade him to save himself until he had killed an enemy. Sét-k`opte, then a small boy, was there also, and describes vividly how he took his younger brother by the hand, while his mother carried the baby upon her back and another child in her arms, and all fled for a place of safety while Stumbling-bear and the warriors kept off the attacking party. The Kiowa escaped, excepting the five killed, but the camp was destroyed.

The engagement is thus mentioned in the testimony of an army officer a few months later:

I understand Kit Carson last winter destroyed an Indian village. He had about four hundred men with him, but the Indians attacked him as bravely as any men in the world, charging up to his lines, and he withdrew his command. They had a regular bugler, who sounded the calls as well as they are sounded for troops. Carson said if it had not been for his howitzers few would have been left to tell the tale. This I learned from an officer who was in the fight (_Condition, 1_).