Part 25

At the close of the outbreak, a number of warriors were selected and sent to confinement at Fort Marion, Florida. The figure on the Anko calendar is intended to represent Fort Sill, with the imprisoned Kiowa warriors confined before being sent to Florida.

[Illustration: FIG. 157--Winter 1874-75--Gi-edal killed; Kiowa imprisoned.]

[Illustration: FIG. 158--Summer 1875--Love-making spring sun dance.]

SUMMER 1875

_K`ioñ-Toñ K`ádó_, "Love-making spring sun dance." It was held at a spring in a bend on the north (reservation) bank of North fork of Red river, a few miles from _K`ób-akán_, "Last mountain" (Mount Walsh, in Greer county). As conditions were yet unsettled on account of the outbreak, the Kiowa were escorted on this occasion by a body of troops.

The spring takes its name from the fact that on one occasion, while the Kiowa were encamped there, some young men "stole" two girls who had gone to the spring for water. On the Anko calendar the place is identified by a figure of a woman above the medicine pole.

WINTER 1875-76

In this instance the same event is recorded on both calendars by means of the figure of a ram or goat in connection with the winter mark.

[Illustration: FIG. 159--Winter 1875-76--Sheep and goats issued.]

In the various engagements during the last campaign and at the final surrender, several thousand ponies and mules had been taken from the Indians. These were sold under direction of Colonel Mackenzie, who determined to invest the proceeds in sheep and cattle for the benefit of the Indians, with the idea of changing their habits from hunting to pastoral. A detachment of troops, accompanied by several Kiowa and Comanche, was sent to New Mexico, where they purchased thirty-five hundred sheep and goats, with which they returned in November, 1875, the flock being driven by Mexican herders. Many died on the journey, and the remainder arrived in poor condition, but recuperated in the spring, when they were distributed to those Indians deemed most deserving. Stumbling-bear received one hundred, and others smaller flocks. Six hundred cattle were also purchased from the same fund and distributed in the same manner (_Report, 92_).

Just previous to the outbreak the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, with the few of the Delaware tribe living among them, were officially reported to have over sixteen thousand horses and mules. At the close of the troubles they had only six thousand remaining, having lost ten thousand within a little more than a year. They had also a small number of cattle before the outbreak, but no sheep (_Report, 93_).

This was the first general attempt by the Kiowa to raise stock (except horses). Although at the start the experiment promised well, the herds were soon reduced by neglect, killing for food, etc., and in a few years the last animal was gone. It is said that some of the sheep escaped to the Wichita mountains, where for several years they roamed wild.

SUMMER 1876

[Illustration: FIG. 160--Summer 1876--Horse-stealing sun dance.]

_Iyúgúa P'a Pähä´dal K'ádó_, Sun dance at the fork of Maggot (Sweetwater) creek, or _Paí-tälyí-de Tseñko Edásémk`opa-de K`ádó_, "Sun dance when Sun-boy's horses were stolen." This dance was held at the junction of Sweetwater creek and the North fork of Red river, on the western line of the reservation. While it was in progress some Mexicans stole all of Sun-boy's horses. After the dance the Kiowa pursued the thieves, but their horses gave oat, and they failed to recover the stolen animals. On both calendars the event is indicated by means of figures representing horse tracks near the medicine lodge.

Dó-héñte, "No-moccasins" ("Tohaint" of Battey) had died in the preceding fall and had been succeeded as _taíme_ priest by Set-dayá-iti, "Many-bears," who made this dance. He was the uncle of Set-dayiá-iti, who was killed by the Ute, and the cousin ("brother") of Taímete, who afterward had charge of the _taíme_.

WINTER 1876-77

This winter is distinguished on the Set-t'an calendar by the killing of the woman A`gábaí, "On-top-of-the-hill," by her husband Íăpa, "Baby," in the Kiowa camp, which at that time was a short distance below Fort Sill. The figure shows the woman above the winter mark, with a character intended for a cliff beside a river (the wavy line) to indicate her name. Although the killing occurred in summer, it was some time after the sun dance, and hence is marked as happening in winter. The woman was sick and promised Íăpa, who was considered a doctor and was then unmarried, that if he would make her well she would marry him; he succeeded in curing her and she married him, but soon after left him, and for this he stabbed her.

[Illustration: FIG. 161--Winter 1876--1877--A'gábaí killed; scouts enlisted.]

The incident is thus noted by Agent Haworth in his official report:

A young man in a mad fit killed his wife. On hearing of it, I called a council of Kiowa chiefs and asked them to take some action about it. I explained to them the penalties the white man's law inflicted for such terrible crimes. After a short consultation they decided they would do with him whatever I said--kill him, if I said so. They said, however, that he was young and foolish and did not know the white man's laws or road, but they would arrest him as soon as he could be found and bring him to me, and I could do with him as I desired. Two of their number, Dangerous-eagle and Big-tree, about nine oclock the same evening brought him to my house, having made the arrest themselves. I sent them on with him to the guard-house, where he was confined for several months, most of the time with ball and chain, working around the garrison in full view of his people. After his arrest they made the request that, in consideration of his ignorance of the white man's laws, his life be spared. I told them he would not be hurt, but the arrest was made without any promises of mercy being exacted or made, no soldiers being required, and done simply on my suggestion or request (_Report, 94_).

Anko's calendar commemorates the fact that he, with about twenty other Kiowa braves, enlisted as scouts this year at Fort Sill, remaining in the service two or three years. The figure below the winter mark shows a man holding a gun and wearing a peculiar variety of hat then used by the scouts. The first Kiowa scouts were enlisted at the time of the surrender in 1875.

[Illustration: FIG. 162--Summer 1877--Measles sun dance.]

SUMMER 1877

_Dä´-mä´tánä´ P'a K`ádó_, "Star-girl-tree river sun dance," or _Á`gat-hódal K`ádó_, "Measles sun dance." This dance took place within the present Greer county, Oklahoma, on Salt fork of Red river, called by the Kiowa the "Star-girl-tree river," from a noted tree which originated from a sapling used in a medicine sacrifice to the "Star girls" or Pleiades. On this occasion the troops accompanied the Kiowa on their buffalo hunt and afterward escorted them to the place selected for the dance.

This summer is noted for an epidemic of measles, which is said to have killed more children in the tribe than the measles epidemic of 1892. It is represented on both calendars by a human figure covered with red spots, above the medicine lodge. Strangely enough there is no notice of this epidemic in the report of the agent for this year, which may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that he was himself prostrated by sickness which occasioned his retirement in the following spring. From the report of the agent for the Cheyenne and Arapaho, however, we learn that the epidemic broke out among the latter tribes in April, and in spite of the best efforts of the physician, killed two hundred and nineteen children, so that almost every family was in mourning. In happy contrast to the more recent experience of the Kiowa, the government school was temporarily turned into a hospital, with the teachers for nurses, so that although seventy-four children were sick at the same time, not one died (_Report, 95_).

WINTER 1877-78

_K`op-taíde-do-tsédal-de Sai_, "Signal-mountain winter." During this winter a part of the tribe camped near Mount Scott, while the remainder camped west of Fort Sill, at the foot of Signal mountain, called by the Kiowa "the mountain with a house built upon it," referring to a stone lookout station built during the last Indian outbreak. The figure on the Set-t´an calendar is sufficiently suggestive of a house upon a mountain.

[Illustration: FIG. 163--Winter 1877-78--Camp at Signal mountain; hunt on Pecan creek.]

Anko records the fact that he hunted buffalo this winter on Elk creek (on upper Red river), called by the Kiowa _Dónä´-i P'a_, "Pecan river." The rounded figure below the winter mark is intended to represent a pecan nut.

This winter is noted for an epidemic of fever, which is mentioned in the report for 1878. In the fall of 1877, under Agent Haworth, as an inducement to the Indians to abandon their roaming habit, the government built houses for ten prominent chiefs of the three tribes, including Stumbling-bear, Gaápiatañ (Heidsick), Guñsádalte (Cat), and Sun-boy, of the Kiowa, and White-man and Taha, of the Apache. These were the first Indian houses ever built upon the reservation, excepting two erected by the military. At first the new owners continued to live in the tipis, which they preferred from long usage, but by the further gift of beds and chairs they were induced to go into the houses. An attempt to get the Indians to cut the logs and do a part of the work themselves under instruction seems to have been a failure. The houses were reasonably good frame structures of three rooms, having doors, glass windows, and substantial double fireplaces and chimneys of stone; they cost $600 each (_Report, 96_). In 1886 there were nine Kiowa families living in houses (_Report, 97_), but a few years later most of these dwellings were vacant or occupied by white renters, the Indian owners being again in the tipis.

SUMMER 1878

_Adăldä K`ádó_, "Repeated sun dance." This is the second recorded instance of this kind, the first having occurred in 1842. On the Set-t´an calendar it is indicated by the figure of two adjoining medicine lodges, and in the Anko calendar by a double-forked medicine pole. The two dances were held on the North fork of Red river. Part of the Kiowa had gone to the plains on the western part of the reservation to hunt buffalo, while the others remained at home. Each party, unknown to the other, promised to make a sun dance, in consequence of which one dance was held at the regular period, after which the leaves were renewed and another dance was held for another four days. On this occasion also the buffalo hunters, who made one sun dance, were escorted by a detachment of troops as a protection and as a precaution against their committing depredations (_Report, 98_).

[Illustration: FIG. 164.--Summer 1878--Repeated sun dance.]

WINTER 1878-79

The event noted for this winter on both calendars is the killing of Ä´to-t'aíñ, "White-cowbird," the man to whom Set-t'aiñte had given his medicine lance five years before, thus resigning his chieftanship to him (see summer 1874). On the Set-t'an calendar it is indicated by a human figure painted red and with the red headdress, both characteristic of Set-t'aiñte, above the winter mark, and with the medicine lance or _zébat_ in front. On the Anko calendar it is indicated by the figure of the arrow-lance below the winter mark. By a curious coincidence Set-t'aiñte himself committed suicide in a Texas prison about the same time.

[Illustration: FIG. 165--Winter 1878-79--Ä´to-t'aíñ killed.]

Ä´to-t'aíñ was the brother of the chief Sun-boy, and on account of his relationship and the dignity conferred upon him by Set-t'aiñte, if not for his personal merits, was a prominent man in the tribe. On account of having this lance he was also known as Zébä-dó-k`ía, "Man-who-has-the-arrows," i. e., "Arrowman." He was killed by Texans while with a party who had gone, by permission of the agent and accompanied by an escort of troops, to hunt buffalo on upper Red river in what is now Greer county, Oklahoma; the Texans shot him through the body and both arms, scalped him, and cut off a finger upon which was a ring. The hunt occurred in the winter season, but the buffalo were now so nearly exterminated that it was practically a failure and the Indians suffered much in consequence. The killing with its sequel is thus noted in the official report:

Captain Nolan, commanding the company of troops who were escorting the Indians while on the hunt, had, in view of the scarcity of buffalo, allowed parties, each accompanied by a squad of soldiers, to go off from the main camp to points where it was said straggling droves of buffalo could be found. While a Kiowa man was one day a short distance from the camp of one of these parties and alone he was run onto by a company of Texas state troops, shot down, killed, and scalped. A few moments after this grand military feat was performed the little Indian camp was discovered, and they were just in the act of covering themselves with additional glory by charging it and butchering the squaws and pappooses when the squad of colored troops presented themselves, mounted on the bare backs of their horses, having had no time to saddle them, and the warlike band disappeared. Upon the return of the Indians to the agency a request was made that the Texans who murdered the Kiowa should be arrested and punished by the authorities, expressing at the same time no intention of avenging his death themselves. It seems that after waiting some time and concluding that nothing could or would be done by the authorities, a party of young Kiowas, headed by the brother of the murdered man, quietly left their different camps, dashed hurriedly across the line into Texas, killed and scalped a white man they met in the road, and returned as secretly to their camps, apparently feeling that they had avenged the death of their brother and friend by this taking of one scalp.

A party of troops was sent after this avenging party immediately on learning of this last killing, but so quietly had they proceeded that no trace of them could be found or any definite information procured on which to base measures for their punishment. The white man killed was named Earle, and the agent expresses his belief that if proper satisfaction had been made in the first place by punishing the murderers of the Kiowa or making presents to his family according to the Indian custom, the avenging party would not have entered Texas on their deadly mission (_Report, 99_).

[Illustration: FIG. 166--Summer 1879--Horse-eating sun dance; Boy shot.]

SUMMER 1879

_Tséñ-píä K`ádó_, "Horse-eating sun dance." It is indicated on the Set-t'an calendar by the figure of a horse's head above the medicine lodge. This dance was held on Elm fork of Red river, and was so called because the buffalo had now become so scarce that the Kiowa, who had gone on their regular hunt the preceding winter, had found so few that they were obliged to kill and eat their ponies during the summer to save themselves from starving. This may be recorded as the date of the disappearance of the buffalo from the Kiowa country. Thenceforth the appearance of even a single animal was a rare event. The official report says:

In the month of June last a portion of each band was permitted to go to the western part of the reservation to subsist themselves awhile on buffalo, deer, etc, as the supplies for the year had been so nearly expended it was not seen how they could all be fed until those for the next year were received. But again they failed to find game sufficient to feed themselves, and the Kiowa, who while out were engaged in their annual medicine dance, suffered some with hunger. I think their failures in finding buffalo the past year, and their consequent suffering while out, will have a good effect in causing them to abandon their idea of subsisting in this way and to look to their crops and stock for a support. It is a fact worthy of note that the reports of the agents show the value of the robes and furs sold by the Indians now belonging to the Kiowa, Comanche, and Wichita agency for the year 1876 amounted to $70,400; for 1877, $64,500; for 1878, $26,375; while in 1879 only $5,068 was received, showing that buffalo hunting is not a thing of profit as it once was; and, besides, the most serious drawback to the Indians is the lack of the buffalo meat which at one time helped to subsist them, and which, added to the insufficient rations furnished by the government, kept them partly comfortable. As that supply is cut off, the Indian must go to work and help himself or remain hungry on the rations furnished (_Report, 100_).

The Anko calendar records the fact that while the Kiowa were driving away their issue of beef cattle some mischievous boys, shooting at the cattle with their arrows, accidentally shot another boy in the shoulder, but not fatally. In giving this explanation it was evident that Anko did not want to mention the boy's name, probably because he was now dead.

[Illustration: FIG. 167--Winter 1879-80--Eye-triumph winter.]

WINTER 1879-80

_Tä´kágyä Sai_, "Eye-triumph winter." The name and story furnish a curious illustration of Indian belief. Káäsä´nte, "Little-robe" (or Little-hide), with two or three others, had gone to the North fork of Red river to look for antelope. According to another story they went to look for their old enemies, the Navaho, who, it seems, although now removed to their former reservation in western New Mexico, still occasionally penetrated thus far. Among them was a man named Pódodal (a variety of bird), who claimed to understand the language of owls, a bird believed by the Kiowa to be an embodied spirit. While resting one night in camp this man warned Little-robe not to go to bed, but to round up the ponies and keep watch over them, for an owl had told him that the Navaho would try to steal them that night. During the night Pódodal fired at something in the darkness, and on looking in the morning they found the trail of a man, and blood drops, which they followed for a long distance, but at last gave up the pursuit. That night the owl again came and told Pódodal that the wounded Navaho was lying dead beyond the point where they had turned back, and that he (the owl) would go and fetch him.

On rising in the morning Pódodal saw some strange-looking object lying on the ground in the lodge, and on examining it it proved to be the eye of a dead Navaho. On the advice of Pódodal they then abandoned the hunt and returned to the Kiowa camp, on a small branch of Apache creek (_Sémät P'a_), an upper branch of Cache creek. They carried with them the eye, hung at the end of a pole after the manner of a scalp, and danced over it as over a scalp on arriving at the camp on the small stream, since called _Tä´-kágyä P'a_, "Eye-triumph creek" from this circumstance.

It should be added that there were some skeptics who laughed at the whole story and declared that the eye was that of an antelope which Pódodal had secretly shot.

On the Set-t'an calendar the event is indicated by a figure intended to represent a scalp at the end of a pole, carried by a man wearing a striped robe to indicate his name, Little-robe. On the Anko calendar there is a representation of a scalp on a pole under the winter mark.

SUMMER 188O

This summer there was no sun dance, perhaps on account of failure to find buffalo, and instead of the medicine lodge the summer is indicated on the Set-t'an calendar by the figure of a leafy tree above a square figure, which is explained as meaning that the author of the calendar stayed at home, the lines being intended to show a space inclosed in a fence after the manner of a white man's farm. A similar device is several times used for the same purpose in later years. Under date of September 1, 1881--a year later--the agent says:

[Illustration: FIG. 168--Summer 1880--No dance; Päbóte died.]

Last year I was encouraged in the belief that the Indians under my charge were rather disposed to lay aside these ideas and ceremonies, from the fact that very little was heard of their medicine men during the year, and the Kiowas failed to hold their annual "medicine dance." The latter part of this year, however, from some cause, their medicine men have been unusually active, as I learn has been the case at other agencies, and the Kiowas have recently returned from the western part of their reservation, where they held their annual dance (_Report, 101_).

The Anko calendar records the death of a chief named Päbóte, "American-horse." He was a man of unusual height and size, hence his name, which signifies literally an animal taller than the average. He was buried in a coffin by the whites at the agency nearly opposite Fred's store. On the calendar the square figure below the picture of the man, and connected with it by a line, is intended to represent the coffin.

On first explaining the calendar, in 1892, Anko evaded the mention of this man's name, in accordance with the Kiowa custom which forbids naming the dead, but three years later consented to do so. The same objection was frequently encountered, but finally overcome in regard to other names on the calendars.

WINTER 188O-81

For this winter the Set-t'an calendar has a house over the winter mark, but he could not remember whose house it was intended to represent. In Captain Scott's notes it is said to be Paul Set-k'opte's new house, but Set-k'opte did not return from the east until 1882. It is probably intended to represent a new house built for another, Paul Zoñtam, who returned from the east in 1881 as an ordained Episcopal minister.

The Anko calendar records the visit of a large party of Pueblo Indians from New Mexico, indicated by a human figure below the winter mark with the hair bunched up in Pueblo fashion. There were about a hundred of them and they stopped at various camps of the Kiowa and Apache, remaining some time. This was the last time the Pueblos ever visited these tribes. In the following fall Big-bow returned their visit.

[Illustration: FIG. 169--Winter 1880-81--House built; Pueblo visit.]

SUMMER 1881

_K`ádó Sä' lä´ti_, "Hot-sun dance," or _Dóguătal Sáomhäpä-de K adó_ "Sun dance when blood came up from the young man." It was called the "hot sun dance" from the fact that it was held late in August, instead of in June as usual, the delay being due probably to the difficulty of finding a buffalo for the purpose; after a long search a solitary bull was found. The dance was held on North fork of Red river, a short distance beyond the end of the mountains.

The close upright lines between the forks of the medicine pole on the Anko calendar he explains to indicate the heat, probably from the Indian gesture sign for fire, made by holding the hand with thumb and fingers together pointing upward, and separating them with a quick motion, the concept being the upward motion of the sparks and smoke.

[Illustration: FIG. 170--Summer 1881--Hemorrhage or hot sun dance.]