Part 5

In his volume published a few years later the explorer, Zebulon M. Pike, states that the Kiowa, estimated by him to number 1,000 men, had in 1803 been driven by the Dakota into the mountains on the heads of the Platte and Arkansas and north of the Comanche, where they were then wandering. They owned immense herds of horses, were armed with bows, arrows, and lances, hunted the buffalo, and were at war with the Dakota, Pawnee, and "Tetau" (here meaning the Ute). In another place he mentions both Ute and Kiowa as living in the mountains of northern Mexico--the present Colorado and New Mexico--the former being more civilized from contact with the Spaniards. He speaks also of meeting, in 1807, a party of Kiowa and Comanche returning from a trading expedition to the Mandan (_Pike, 1_).

EXPLANATION OF "ALIATAN" AND "TETAU"

As the names Aliatan and Tetau here quoted from Lewis and Clark, with their variants, have been the cause of much confusion in our western tribal nomenclature, some explanation will not be out of place. Although so unlike in appearance, these appellations are really but different forms of the same word. The Ute of the mountain, region at the headwaters of the Platte and the Arkansas, being a powerful and aggressive tribe, were well known to all the Indians of the plains, who usually called them by some form of their proper name, _Yútawáts_, or, in its root form, _Yuta_, whence we get Eutaw, Utah, and Ute. Among the Kiowa the name becomes _Íătä_(_-go_), while the Siouan tribes seem to have nasalized it so that the early French traders wrote it as Ayutan, Iatan, or Ietan. By prefixing the French article it became L'Iatan, and afterward Aliatan, while by misreading of the manuscript word we get Jatan, Jetan, and finally Tetau. Moreover, as the early traders and explorers knew but little of the mountain tribes, they frequently confounded those of the same generic stock, so that almost any of these forms may mean Shoshoni, Ute, or Comanche, according to the general context of the description.

UNSUCCESSFUL OVERTURES OF THE DAKOTA

As an incident of the war in progress during this period between the Kiowa and the Dakota, we find it recorded on a calendar of the latter tribe, under date of 1814-15, that a party of their people visited the Kiowa camp on Horse creek for the purpose of making peace, but their benevolent purpose was defeated by the occurrence of a sudden quarrel between one of their own men and a Kiowa, which ended by the Dakota sinking his tomahawk into the Kiowa's head, thus bringing the peace negotiations to an abrupt close (_Mallery, 3_). The story, which well illustrates the uncertainty of Indian temper, has a striking parallel in Grinnell's story of "The Peace with the Snakes" (_Grinnell, Blackfoot, 1_). The Kiowa camp was at the junction of Kiowa creek with Horse creek, which enters the North Platte from the south in Nebraska, just east of the Wyoming line.

SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC OF 1816

In 1816 the smallpox made terrible ravages among all the tribes in the region of the Red and Rio Grande, being probably communicated from the Spanish settlements. The Comanche especially lost heavily (_Morse, 1_). The Kiowa suffered in proportion, and their old men speak of this as the first epidemic of smallpox within the memory of their tribe. It is probable, however, that they had suffered in the same way some years before, for we know that in 1801 a Pawnee war party, returning from New Mexico, brought the smallpox home with them, with the result that it spread among the tribes from the Missouri to the coast of Texas. The prairie tribes are said to have lost more than half their population at this time, while the Wichita, Caddo, and others in the south suffered almost as severely (_Morse, 2_; _Lewis and Clark, 4_).

THE KIOWA IN 1820

In the account of his expedition up the Arkansas in 1820, Long speaks of the Kiowa as wandering with the Arapaho and others over the prairies of Arkansas and Red rivers, and having great numbers of horses, which they traded to the Cheyenne and other northern Indians, who were not able to rear them so easily in their colder and more barren country. He describes a great gathering of tribes in 1815 on the South Platte, apparently about the junction of Kiowa creek in Colorado, a region which he mentions as frequented by the Kiowa, when the Cheyenne came down with goods from the traders on the Missouri to meet and trade for horses with the Kiowa, Arapaho, and "Kaskaia or Bad Hearts," and a party of traders from St Louis (_James, Long's Ex., 1_). This appears to be the first notice of the Kiowa as living on Red river--which, however, may here mean the Canadian--and is evidence that they were at this time on friendly terms with the Arapaho and Cheyenne, with both of which tribes they were soon after at war. We learn also from this notice that the St Louis traders had already begun to come out to trade with them on the Arkansas, although none were regularly established in their territory until some years later. The "Kaskaias" are probably the Kiowa Apache, or possibly the Wichita.

THE OSAGE MASSACRE AND THE DRAGOON EXPEDITION--1833-34

We come now to the period covered by the Kiowa calendars, the first important event of which is the massacre of a large number of the tribe by a war party of Osage in the early spring of 1833. This led indirectly to the expedition of the First dragoons in 1834, by which the Kiowa, Comanche, Wichita, and associated tribes were first brought into official relations with the United States. The massacre and the expedition will be found treated at length in the proper place. When the troops returned to Fort Gibson, in the eastern part of Indian Territory, in August, they were accompanied by a party of one Waco, one Comanche, three Wichita, and fifteen Kiowa chiefs or headmen, of whom the artist Catlin says they were undoubtedly one of the most interesting groups that had ever visited the frontier. Invitations were sent out to the chiefs of all the neighboring tribes to come in to Fort Gibson and meet their visitors from the west. A number responded, and a council lasting several days was held under the auspices of Colonel Dodge of the Dragoons, Indian Agent Major Armstrong, and Indian Commissioner General Stokes, which paved the way for a friendly understanding between the eastern and western tribes, and for both with regard to the United States (_Catlin, 1_).

A year later, in August, 1835, as a result of the friendly relations thus established, the chiefs of the Comanche and Wichita met the United States commissioners at Camp Holmes, about 5 miles northeast of the present site of Purcell, Indian Territory, and made their first treaty with the government. The principal stipulation was that there should be peace and friendship between the Comanche and Wichita on the one hand, and the United States, Creek, Cherokee, and other immigrant tribes, and the Osage on the other (_Treaties_).

THE TREATY OF 1837

Owing to a delay in the negotiations, the Kiowa who had attended the meeting became impatient and returned home and consequently were not

## parties to this treaty, but two years later a full delegation of Kiowa,

Apache, and Tawakoni went down to Fort Gibson, where the first treaty between the United States and these tribes was made on May 26, 1837, and was formally ratified the following year. In the document the three tribes are called "the Kioway, Ka-ta-ka, and Ta-wa-karo nations of Indians." The general terms of the treaty are the same as in that previously made with the Comanche and Wichita, namely, peace and friendship, with forgiveness of past injuries, and satisfactory settlement of future disputes that might arise between these western tribes and the Osage, Muscogee (Creek), and citizens of the United States. All the tribes concerned were to have equal hunting rights on the southern prairies as far west as the jurisdiction of the government extended, and citizens of the United States were to have free right of travel to and from Mexico and Texas through the Indian hunting grounds.

There was also a stipulation that if "any of the red people belonging to the nations or tribes of Indians residing south of the Missouri river and west of the states of Missouri and Arkansas, not parties to this treaty," should be found in the country of the Kiowa, they should be kindly treated by them. This was probably intended to refer only to the immigrant tribes removed from the east, as it was hardly to be expected that the Kiowa would act very hospitably toward any stray Dakota or Pawnee who might occasionally visit the Arkansas in search of Kiowa scalps or ponies. There was also a distinct understanding that it was the desire of the government that perfect peace should exist between the Kiowa and their allies and the republics of Mexico and Texas. The usual presents were then distributed and everybody was happy (_Treaties_).

The peace thus made with the Osage and Creeks was never broken, although in after years relations with the Osage were somewhat strained in consequence of their serving as scouts against the allied southern plains tribes. The promised friendship was also kept with regard to the citizens of the United States until after the annexation of Texas, which the Kiowa and Comanche never ceased to regard as a distinct and hostile government, making a clear distinction between "Americans," i. e., settlers and emigrants from the north or Kansas side, and "Texans," whom they regarded as a different nation and their enemies, in having driven them from their best hunting grounds in violation of treaties and without compensation.

The treaty commissioners on behalf of the government were General Montfort Stokes and A. P. Chouteau, the latter being a member of the noted pioneer trading company. Clermont and Roly McIntosh, head chiefs of the Osage and Creeks, signed, with others, for their respective tribes. Among the witnesses were a number of officers, stationed at Fort Gibson, including, among others, the commanding officer, Colonel Whistler, the noted Captain Bonneville, and Colonel R. L. Dodge, who had led the dragoon expedition. The treaty was signed by ten Kiowa chiefs and principal men, three Apache (whose Kiowa names only are given), and four Tawakoni. Below are given the names of the Kiowa and Apache, as the earliest on record from these tribes, excepting those given by Catlin, together with the proper forms and translations of those which can be identified.

_Kiowa_

Ta-ka-ta-couche, "Black Bird" (_Couche-kóñigya_, "black"?). Cha-hon-de-ton, "Flying Squirrel." Ta-ne-congais, "Sea Gull" (?) (_T'ené-kóñigyă_, "Black Bird"). Bon-congais, "Black Cap" (_Bohón-kóñigya_, "Black Cap"). To-ho-sa, "Top of the Mountain" (_Dohá-sän_, "Little Bluff"). Sen-son-da-cat, "White Bird." Con-a-hen-ka, "Horned Frog" (_Séhänk`ia_, "Horned Toad Man"?). He-pan-ni-gais, "Night." Ka-him-hi, "Prairie Dog" (_Tséñhi_ ? "Dog"). Pa-con-ta, "My Young Brother."

_Apache_

Hen-ton-te, "Iron Shoe" (_Hâñ-doti_, "Iron Shoe, or Moccasin"). A-ei-kenda, "One who is Surrendered." Cet-ma-ni-ta, "Walking Bear" (_Set-mänte_, "Bear Above? or Walking Bear"?).

At this time the Kiowa were located on the upper waters of Arkansas, Canadian, and Red rivers, in friendship with the Comanche and Wichita, who occupied much of the same territory, but usually ranged more to the east and south. They continued to occupy the same general region until confined to their present reservation. Their war parties extended their raids far beyond these limits, particularly toward the south.

CATLIN'S OBSERVATIONS IN 1834

Catlin, who saw them in 1834, describes them as a much finer race of men than either the Comanche or Wichita, being tall and erect, with an easy graceful gait, long hair reaching often nearly to the ground, with a fine Roman outline of head, of a type common among the northern tribes, but entirely distinct from that usually found in the south (_Catlin, 2_).

TRADERS AMONG THE KIOWA

From the statement of Lewis and Clark already noted, it appears that in 1805, while still located on the North Platte, the Kiowa had as yet no communication with traders, but obtained supplies indirectly through the tribes living farther east. From Pike's narrative, however, we learn that James Pursley, "the first American who ever penetrated the immense wilds of Louisiana," spent a trading season with the Kiowa and Comanche in 1802 or 1803, under engagement with a French trader operating from the Mandan country, and remained with them until the next spring, when the Dakota drove them from the plains into the mountains at the heads of the Platte and Arkansas (_Pike, 2_). From Long's statement, also previously quoted, we learn that in 1815, the Kiowa having drifted farther south in the meantime, traders from St Louis had begun to ascend Arkansas river to trade with the Kiowa, Cheyenne, and other tribes near its headwaters. From other sources it is apparent that before this time they had had dealings also with the Spaniards of New Mexico. The first regular American trading expedition to the Kiowa country was made in 1834 when, on the return of the visiting chiefs from Fort Gibson, a company of eighty trappers and traders went back with them to their homes on the upper Washita and Red rivers (_Catlin, 3_). In 1835, shortly after the treaty with the Comanche at Camp Holmes, Colonel Auguste Chouteau built on the same site a small stockade fort, where a considerable trade was carried on with the Comanche, Kiowa, Wichita, and associated tribes until his death three years later, when the place was abandoned (_Gregg, 1_). The exact location of Camp Holmes and Chouteau's fort was at a spring on a small creek, both still bearing the name of Chouteau, on the east or north side of South (main) Canadian river, about 5 miles northeast of where now is the town of Purcell, Indian Territory. It was a favorite Indian camping ground and was the site of a Kichai village about 1850.

Auguste Chouteau, the descendant of one of the early French founders of St Louis, was the pioneer organizer of the Indian trade in the upper Red river country, as were the Bents, also of French origin, on the upper Arkansas. Under the name of _Soto_, Chouteau is still held in affectionate remembrance by the Kiowa.

Chouteau's fort on the Canadian was considered to be in Comanche territory. Shortly after the treaty with the Kiowa in 1837, he established what they regard as the first trading post within their own country, on the west bank of Cache creek, about 3 miles below the present Fort Sill, Oklahoma. _Tomé-te_ (Thomas?) is the name by which the Kiowa remember the trader in charge, who, however, did not remain long. Another store was established nearly on the same ground by William Madison (_Sénpo-zédalbe_, "Terrible-beard") in 1869, after the tribes had been assigned to a reservation. In 1844, William Bent began building trading posts on the South Canadian, in the Texas panhandle, near the principal Kiowa trails. They also traded extensively at various points on the Arkansas until their final removal to Indian Territory.

FIRST VISIT TO FORT GIBSON

With the treaty of 1837 and the building of the first trading post in their country, the modern history of the Kiowa may be said to have fairly begun. Their first introduction to American civilization was in 1834, when Dohásän and the other chiefs accompanied the troops back to Fort Gibson, and again in 1837 when they went to the same place for the purpose of making the treaty. Soon afterward arrangements were made by Colonel Chouteau to have a delegation of Kiowa, Comanche, and their associated tribes visit Washington and other eastern cities. A party of chiefs visited Fort Gibson for this purpose in the summer of 1839, but Colonel Chouteau having died during the previous winter, and the season being then far advanced, it was deemed best to abandon the trip, and accordingly they were given some presents and returned to their homes (_Report, 1_).

SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC OF 1839-40--PEACE WITH THE CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHO

In the winter of 1839-40 the Kiowa again suffered from the smallpox, which had broken out in the north in the summer of 1837, nearly exterminating the Mandan, and then swept the whole plains to the gulf. In 1840 they made peace with the Arapaho and Cheyenne, with whom they have ever since been on terms of intimate friendship (see the calendar). They had already made peace with the Dakota, so that they were now on good terms with all the tribes of the plains excepting the Pawnee and Tonkawa, who seem always to have been outlawed tribes, without friends or allies.

TEXAN SANTA FÉ EXPEDITION

In 1841 the Texan Santa Fé expedition passed through the country of the Kiowa. Kendall, the historian of that ill-fated undertaking, describes the tribe as occupying the prairies near the headwaters of Colorado, Brazos, Wichita, and Red rivers, and incorrectly supposes that their hunting grounds had never before been visited by white men. He says that they seemed to be a powerful people, hitherto but little known, owing to the fact that their range was south of the line of the Missouri traders and north of that portion of the Comanche country with which the Texans were acquainted. He speaks of their extraordinary horsemanship, and credits them with the feat, ascribed also to other plains tribes, of throwing themselves to one side of their horses while riding parallel with their enemies in such a way as to conceal and protect their bodies while discharging their arrows directly under their horses' necks. They had then but few guns, and these were ineffective in their hands, but were surprisingly expert in the use of shields, bows, and lances (_Kendall, 1_). The disastrous encounter of the Texans with the tribe is narrated in the proper place.

CHOLERA EPIDEMIC OF 1849

The next notable event in Kiowa history is the cholera epidemic of 1849. It was brought from the east by California emigrants, and ravaged all the tribes of the plains. The Kiowa remember it as the most terrible experience in their history, far exceeding in fatality the smallpox of nine years before. Hundreds died and many committed suicide in their despair (see the calendar).

FORT ATKINSON TREATY IN 1853

For years the Kiowa and their confederates had been carrying on a chronic warfare against Mexico and Texas, although generally friendly toward Americans on the north. For the protection of the advancing settlements and the traffic over the Santa Fé trail, now amounting to over $2,000,000 annually (_Report, 2_), it was deemed necessary to end this anomalous condition of affairs. Accordingly, on July 27, 1853, a treaty was negotiated by agent Thomas Fitzpatrick, at Fort Atkinson, on the Arkansas, in Kansas, with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, by which these tribes agreed to remain at peace with both the United States and Mexico, and conceded the right of the government to establish roads and military posts within their territory. In return for these concessions, they were to receive an annuity of $18,000 for a term of ten years, subject to a further extension of five years (_Treaties_). It is somewhat remarkable that this treaty is not noted on the calendar, neither does it seem to form a subject of conversation among the older men.

DEPREDATIONS IN MEXICO--MEXICAN CAPTIVES

Although for obvious reasons the Indians were opposed to the establishment of roads and military posts in their country, the chief difficulty in the way of a treaty was their unwillingness to cease war on Mexico. The proposition to restore their Mexican captives met a prompt and decided refusal. As the Mexican captive element forms so large a proportion of the blood of these three tribes, the remarks of agent Fitzpatrick in this connection are of interest:

The chief difficulty which occurred in negotiating the present treaty was not, however, presented in the article embracing the foregoing points, but in that which contemplates a cessation of hostilities against the neighboring provinces of Mexico and the restoration of prisoners hereafter captured. For a long time these tribes have been in the habit of replenishing their caballadas of horses from the rich valleys and pasture lands which border upon the Rio Grande. Yearly incursions have been made by them far into the interior of Chihuahua and Durango, and they but seldom return without having acquired much plunder, as well as many captives, from the defenseless inhabitants of that country. The name of the Comanche and Apache has become a byword of terror even in the villages and beneath the city walls of those fertile provinces. The consequences of those expeditions are twofold, for while they serve to sharpen the appetite for pillage and rapine, they also tend to keep up the numbers of the tribe. The large herds driven off produce the former result, and the prisoners captured contribute to the latter. The males thus taken are most commonly adopted into the tribe, and soon become the most expert leaders of war parties and the most accomplished of marauders. The females are chosen as wives and share the duties and pleasures of the lodge. In fact, so intermingled amongst these tribes have the most of the Mexican captives become that it is somewhat difficult to distinguish them. They sit in council with them, hunt with them, go to war with them, and partake of their perils and profits, and but few have any desire to leave them. Upon this account the chiefs of the nations refused positively and distinctly to entertain any proposals or make any treaties having in view giving up those captives now dwelling amongst them. They stated very briefly that they had become a part of the tribe; that they were identified with them in all their modes of life; that they were the husbands of their daughters and the mothers of their children, and they would never consent to a separation, nor could any persuasion or inducement move them to abate this position. All that could be accomplished was to make a provision for the future (_Report, 3_).

Even this much, seems to have amounted to but little, for in the next year we find the same agent-reporting that "so far as I can learn, they have faithfully complied with the treaty stipulations, save one. It is a difficult matter to make them understand that New Mexico now belongs to the United States. They deny ever having consented not to war on Mexicans. They say that they have no other place to get their horses and mules from" (_Report, 4_).

DEFEAT OF ALLIED TRIBES BY SAUK AND FOX, 1854

In the summer of 1854 the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Cheyenne, and others of the plains tribes, organized a great expedition for the purpose of exterminating the immigrant tribes in eastern Kansas, whose presence was beginning to be felt in an ominous decrease of the buffalo. Although this was perhaps the largest war party ever raised by the plains Indians south of the Sioux country, being estimated to number 1,500 warriors, they were ingloriously defeated with heavy loss by a party of Sauk and Fox numbering hardly a hundred, the result being due to the fact that the latter were armed with long-range rifles, while their enemies had only bows and arrows. Almost every old man of the Kiowa now alive was in this battle, which is famous among all the tribes of the southern plains (see the calendar).

In the same year, according to Clark, a party of 113 Pawnee was cut off and slaughtered almost to a man by an overwhelming force of Cheyenne and Kiowa (_Clark, 19_). There is no record of this engagement on the calendars, although several minor encounters with the Pawnee are noted about this time.

HOSTILE DRIFT OF THE KIOWA