James Mooney

“ The horse, on being struck, went head foremost to earth, throwing his rider, as it seemed, 20 feet into the air, with his hands and feet sprawling in all directions, and as he struck the earth, apparently senseless, two other Indians who were near by proceeded to him, one on each side, and throwing themselves over on the sides of their horses, seized each an arm and dragged him from the field between them, amid a shower of rifle balls from our skirmishers. ”

“ The reader will readily perceive that when the Indians complain at every council of the decrease of the buffalo, such wanton waste of good meat could not be a pleasing sight to the greatest chief on the American plains. Satanta, never backward in speech, resented in strong terms the shooting of his game on his own ground. Said he, while his eyes flashed and his lips curled with scorn: "Has the white man become a child, that he should recklessly kill and not eat? When the red men slay game, they do so that they may live and not starve." ”

“ When the author returned to the Kiowa in the early summer of that year, the epidemic had nearly spent its force, although deaths were still occurring every day or two. The condition of the Indians was pitiable in the extreme; nearly every woman in the tribe had her hair cut off 363 close to her head and her face and arms deeply gashed by knives, in token of mourning, while some had even chopped off a finger as a sign of grief at the loss of a favorite child. ”

“ Other wonderful things were done for them by a supernatural boy hero, whose father was the son of the Sun and whose mother was an earthly woman. This boy afterward transformed himself into two, and finally gave himself to the Kiowa in eucharistic form as a tribal "medicine," which they still retain. Unlike the neighboring Cheyenne and Arapaho, who yet remember that they once lived east of the Missouri and cultivated corn, the Kiowa have no tradition of ever having been an agricultural people or anything but a tribe of hunters. ”

“ 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 Quaker Battey, a good friend of theirs, describes them as "the most fierce and desperately bloodthirsty tribe of the Indian Territory"—a people who had hitherto resisted all attempts to bring them into friendly relations with the government or to a knowledge of civilization, still continuing to commit depredations upon the white settlements, stealing horses and mules, murdering men and women and carrying their children into captivity. ”

“ At this critical juncture a young medicine-man named Ĭ ́sätaí arose among the Kwáhadi Comanche—the wildest and most intractable portion of the tribe—with claims of supernatural powers. He asserted his ability to cure all diseases and to restore the dead to life, and said that he had been taken up repeatedly into the home of the Father of the Indians, above the sun and far above the abode of the white man's God, and that there he had been given control of the elements, with power to send rain, wind, thunder, lightning, or drought upon the earth as he pleased. ”

“ The greatest of the Kiowa gods is the Sun; by him they swear, to him they make sacrifice of their own flesh, and in his honor they held the great annual k'ado or sun dance. Next to the sun the buffalo and the señi or peyote plant claim reverence, and these too may be reduced to the same analysis, as the buffalo bull in his strength and majesty is regarded as the animal symbol of the sun, while the peyote, with its circular disk and its bright center, surrounded by white spots or rays, is its vegetal representative. ”

“ These numerous and warlike Indians, pressed upon all around by the Texans, by the settlers of the gold region, by the advancing people of Kansas and from the Platte, are already compressed into a small circle of territory, destitute of food, and itself bisected athwart by a constantly marching line of emigrants. ”

“ On this occasion the old chief was accompanied by one hundred of the principal warriors of the Kiowa tribe; and immediately after its close, this tribe, as well as the Comanches, struck camp and left for the Cimarron River in the south. He spoke with a gravity and earnestness that added force to his words. "If," said he, "the treaty bring prosperity to us, we of course will like it the better. If it bring prosperity or adversity, we will not abandon it." He alluded delicately to the fact that the white man often forgot to keep his treaties with the Indian ”

“ Among the Kiowa the center pole must always be cut down by a captive woman. On account of the dread in which the taíme is held, by reason of the many taboos connected with it, they have also a captive, taken from Mexico when a boy and given to the taíme for this special purpose, to unwrap it and set it in place at the ceremonial exposure, so that should any regulation be inadvertently violated, the punishment would fall upon the captive and not upon the tribe. ”

“ Women had no voice in the government. From the evidences of tradition and the statements of old men, the chiefs in former times, before tribal customs were demoralized by the advent of the conquering race, must have exercised almost despotic powers and were feared as well as respected by their people. Their last great chief was Dohásän, who died in 1866, since which time no one has had the unquestioned allegiance of the whole tribe. The present officially recognized head chief is Lone-wolf, the adopted son of the hostile leader of the same name in the last outbreak. ”

“ On one occasion, during the distribution of the annuity goods on the Arkansas, when fifteen hundred lodges of Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache were encamped along the river, the agent took the opportunity to tell the Kiowa as plainly as possible that if they did not cease their depredations the government would not only withhold their presents but would send troops to punish them. ”

“ Having become so old and enfeebled in mind and body as to be a continual source of trouble and anxiety, his unfeeling relatives deliberately abandoned him. Shortly before this the old man asked Dohasän, who was of his own family, where they intended to camp next winter. The chief brutally replied, "What is that to you? We shall not take you with us." The poor old man, thinking it a joke, laughed and said, "How can you leave me behind? There are not many chiefs, and you can't afford to lose one." ”

“ In religion the Kiowa are polytheists and animists, deifying all the powers of nature and praying to each in turn, according to the occasion. Their native system has no Great Spirit, no heaven, no hell, although they are now familiar with these ideas from contact with the whites; their other world is a shadowy counterpart of this. There is an indistinct idea of transmigration, owls and other night birds being supposed to be animated by the souls of the dead, with a general belief in ghosts, witches, and various sorts of good and bad "medicine." ”

“ While on a march the remains were always put upon the saddle of a led horse, as when first brought home, the tipi and the horse thus burdened being a matter of personal knowledge to all the middle-age people of the tribe now living. He continued to care for his son's bones in this manner until he himself was killed at Fort Sill about a year later, when the Kiowa buried them. Although a young man, Set-ängya's son held the office of Toñhyópdă ́, the pipe-bearer or leader who went in front of the young warriors on a war expedition. ”

“ As the Kiowa were constantly moving about this summer, no sun dance was held. The Arapaho met and attacked a party of Pawnee at T'aíñ Dóhá, "White bluff," on the upper South Canadian, near the line of New Mexico, and killed all of them. The Pawnee threw up breastworks, but, according to the Kiowa account, an Arapaho medicine-man who knew the proper medicine song sat down facing the breastworks and sang the song, moving his hands as in the hand game, and thus "drove them out," when they were killed in line one after another as they ran. ”

“ Each moon or month is represented by a crescent, above which is a pictograph to indicate the event, or the name of the moon, and sometimes also straight tally marks to show on what day of the month the event occurred or the picture was drawn. So far this is the only monthly calendar discovered among North American tribes, but since the original was obtained, Anko has made another copy for his own use and continued it up to date. His young wife being far advanced in consumption, he spends most of his time at home with her, which accounts in a measure for his studious habit. ”

“ Nearly every important tribe, excepting perhaps those aboriginal skeptics, the Comanche, has or did have a tribal "medicine" equivalent to the taíme, around which centers the tribal mythology and ceremonial with which the prosperity and fate of the tribe is bound up. With the Cheyenne this is a bundle of sacred arrows, now in the keeping of one of the southern bands near Cantonment, Oklahoma. With the Arapaho it consists of a pipe, a turtle, and an ear of corn, all of stone, wrapped in skins, and kept by the hereditary priest with the northern branch of the tribe in Wyoming. ”

“ The scalp dance is called  ́daldá-`gúăn, literally "hair-kill dance." Should one of the war party have been killed, all the others go into mourning (dóát) and do not rejoice or paint themselves as they return, even though bringing back a scalp. In this case they hold no dance, but sacrifice the scalp to the sun by "throwing it away" on some hillside. If, on the contrary, they have taken one or more scalps without the loss of one of their own party, they return to camp in full war dress, including their war-bonnets, and with faces painted black, to show that they have killed an enemy. ”

“ There appears to be no fixed rule of inheritance, but shield, tipi, and band name usually descend in the male line. The husband avoids the mother-in-law, but not to the same extent as among other plains tribes. Polygamy is allowed, but is not frequent, only a few of the Kiowa now having two wives, and none more than that number. In the old times it was more common, in consequence of the surplus of women resulting from the killing off of the men in their constant wars. The father of T'ebodal is famous for having had ten wives; Quanah, the present head chief of the Comanche, has six. ”

“ Sometimes the old warrior, having outlived the need of a name and not regarding any younger man as worthy to bear it, deliberately "throws it away" and is henceforth nameless. Should he die without having bestowed his name upon a successor, the name dies with him and can not be revived. The name of the dead is never spoken in the presence of the relatives, and upon the death of any member of a family all the others take new names—a custom noted by Raleigh's colonists on Roanoke island more than three centuries ago. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Kiowa and Comanche Indians have for two years appeared in full numbers and for long periods upon the Arkansas, and now permanently occupy the country between the Canadian and Arkansas rivers. This is in consequence of the hostile front opposed to them in Texas, by which they are forced toward the north, and is likely to continue perpetual.... A smothered passion for revenge agitates these Indians, perpetually fomented by the failure of food, the encircling encroachments of the white population, and the exasperating sense of decay and impending extinction with which they are surrounded.... ”

“ It is the first and last moon of the Kiowa year, the old year and the summer being considered to end with the full moon of this period, after which the winter and the new year begin; by the time this moon ends the leaves are off the trees; in talking with Anko on September 23 (1895) he said: "This is Gákiñăt'o P'a, but it is still summer. After the moon is full and again begins to wane, then winter has begun, and we are in the winter half of Gákiñat'o P'a." Snow sometimes comes in this moon. ”

“ It is probable that scarcity of game or severity of climate had much to do with their original removal from the head of the Missouri, but it is worthy of note that in all their wanderings the Kiowa have never, for any long period, entirely abandoned the mountains. After making friends with the Crows, they established themselves in the Black Hills until driven out by the invading Dakota and Cheyenne, and now for seventy years or more they have had their main headquarters in the Wichita mountains. ”

“ Fast as they could mount horses a party of some fifty of our men dashed off toward the scene of strife, while the wagons were drawn up in square, the cattle and horses brought inside, and every preparation made to resist an attack, which was now considered certain. The first impression was that the scouting parties had been entirely cut off and that these successes would induce the Indians to attack our main body. ”

“ I don't want any of the medicine lodges [schools and churches] within the country. I want the children raised as I was. When I make peace, it is a long and lasting one—there is no end to it. We thank you for your presents. All the headmen and braves are happy. They will do what you want them, for they know you are doing the best you can. I and they will do our best also. When I look upon you, I know you are all big chiefs. While you are in this country we go to sleep happy and are not afraid. I have heard that you intend to settle us on a reservation near the mountains. ”

“ The Arikara are preeminently distinguished among the northern tribes as the corn-planting Indians, and are usually designated in pictographs by the figure of a man with an ear of corn. It is probable that they taught agriculture to the Mandan and Hidatsa. The Kiowa further identify the K'át'á as being called Paläni by the Dakota and as speaking a language like that of the Pawnee. Stumbling-bear claims to have met and talked with some of them on a former visit to Washington. ”

“ With some tribes, however, notably the Pawnee, it was a frequent practice for the warriors to go out on foot, returning, if successful, mounted on the horses taken from their enemies. Horses must also have been taken by the Kiowa from the Comanche, who lived south of them in the territory adjoining the Spanish possessions, and with whom the Kiowa were then at war. In the beginning of the present century we find the Kiowa mentioned as possessing large herds of horses, which they traded with the Arikara and Mandan for European goods. ”

“ 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. ”

“ According to the story the Kiowa, apparently nearly the whole tribe together, were attacked by an overwhelming body of the Dakota. Finding resistance hopeless, they fled, but the chief of the K'úato urged his people not to run, "because if they did their relatives in the other world would not receive them." Inspired to desperate courage by his words, the K'úato faced the enemy and were all killed where they stood, excepting one woman who had fled with the others. ”

“ As already stated, the Kiowa obtained their present tai-me or sun-dance medicine from the Crows, and the sacred arrow lance of Tängúadal's family came originally from the same source. For a long time after removing from the north it was a frequent occurrence for Kiowa fathers to make visits to the Crows and leave with that tribe their young children for two or three years in order that they might learn the Crow language and thus help to preserve the old friendship. There are still several old people among the Kiowa who have a considerable Crow vocabulary acquired in this way. ”

“ Our own calendar system has been of slow growth, and more than one hundred million Europeans still refuse to accept it. The list here given is that obtained from Anko, the best calendar authority in the tribe, and is that generally accepted by the Kiowa. By means of tally dates from his picture calendar their periods can be pretty closely assigned, although, as will be noticed, even he varies a month in some instances in the course of three years. Some of the old men put another moon, Pai Ka`gúăt P'a Sän (see number 5) , between Pai Gáñhíña P'a and T'águñ ́ótal P'a Sän. ”

“ After waiting a sufficient time, Governor Evans of Colorado issued a proclamation in the summer of 1864 designating all Indians remaining out as hostiles, whom all persons were authorized to kill and destroy as enemies of the country, wherever they might be found (Report, 9) . In August the agent at Fort Lyon, 177 Colorado, for the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, wrote that "the orders are to kill every Indian found in the country, and I am inclined to assist in carrying the orders into effect" (Report, 10) . ”