Chapter X: Part 10

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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_).

The engagement is described in detail by Lieutenant George H. Pettis, who had charge of the two howitzers during the fight. The expedition, which consisted of three hundred and thirty-five volunteer soldiers and seventy-two Ute and Jicarilla Apache Indians, was under command of Colonel Christopher ("Kit") Carson, the noted scout and Indian fighter, then holding a commission in the First New Mexico infantry. Starting from Fort Bascom, New Mexico, they proceeded down the Canadian, the intention being to disable the Indians by taking them by surprise in their winter camp, as Custer did on the Washita four years later. The first village, a Kiowa camp consisting of one hundred and seventy-six tipis, was discovered on the Canadian at the entrance of a small stream since known as Kit Carson creek, in what is now Hutchinson county, Texas, a short distance above Adobe Walls. The attack was made at daybreak of November 25, 1864. After some resistance the Kiowa retreated a few miles down the river, where there were other camps of the allied Kiowa, Apache, and Comanche. Reenforced from these, they returned and made such a desperate attack upon the invaders that Carson was glad to retire after burning the upper village, although the other camps against which the expedition was directed were in plain sight below. The battle lasted all day, the Indians disputing every foot of his advance and following up his retreat so closely that only the howitzers saved the troops from utter destruction.

In the early part of the engagement the soldiers corralled their horses in an old abandoned adobe building which Pettis calls the Adobe Walls, but which was probably the ruins of the trading post built by Bent twenty years before (see winter 1843-44). The Adobe Walls, where Quanah led his celebrated fight, were not built until 1873 or 1874 and were some distance down the river. Several white captives, women and children, were in the hands of the Indians at the time of the attack, but none of these was rescued. The Kiowa also saved all their horses, although most of their winter provision and several hundred dressed buffalo skins in the first village, together with the tipis, were destroyed by the troops.

Quite a number of the enemy acted as skirmishers, being dismounted
and hid in the tall grass in our front, and made it hot for most of
us by their excellent marksmanship, while quite the larger part of
them, mounted and covered with their war dresses, charged
continually across our front, from right to left and _vice versa_,
about 200 yards from our line of skirmishers, yelling like demons,
and firing from under the necks of their horses at intervals. About
200 yards in rear of their line, all through the fighting at the
Adobe Walls, was stationed one of the enemy, who had a cavalry
bugle, and during the entire day he would blow the opposite call
that was used by the officer in our line of skirmishers; for
instance, when our bugles sounded the "advance," he would blow
"retreat," and when ours sounded the "retreat," he would follow
with the "advance;" ours would signal "halt," he would follow suit.
So he kept it up all the day, blowing as shrill and clearly as our
very best buglers. Carson insisted that it was a white man, but I
have never received any information to corroborate this opinion
(_Pettis_).

It was most probably a Kiowa, possibly Set-t'aiñte himself, who was famous for a bugle, which instrument he blew as a signal on state occasions.

Deeming it unsafe to remain longer after destroying the first village, Carson formed the troops in marching order, with skirmishers in front and on the flanks and the howitzers bringing up the rear, and began the return march.

The enemy was not disposed to allow us to return without
molestation, and in a very few minutes was attacking us on every
side. By setting fire to the high, dry grass of the river bottom,
they drove us to the foothills, and by riding in rear of the fire,
as it came burning toward us, they would occasionally get within a
few yards of the column; being enveloped in the smoke, they would
deliver the fire of their rifles and get out of harm's way before
they could be discovered by us.

On the side of the troops, Pettis reports two soldiers killed and twenty-one wounded, several mortally, together with one Ute killed and four wounded. He puts the Indian loss at nearly one hundred killed and between one hundred and one hundred and fifty wounded. The official report, which he quotes, makes the number of tipis in the village destroyed about one hundred and fifty and the Indian loss in killed and wounded together only sixty. Among these were four crippled or decrepit old Indians, who were killed in the tipis by a couple of Ute squaws searching for plunder. A buggy and spring wagon belonging to Sierrito or "Little-mountain" (Dohásän) are also mentioned as having been destroyed.

A signal instance of Indian bravery is noted by Pettis:

At one of the discharges the shell passed directly through the body
of a horse on which was a Comanche riding at a full run, and went
some 200 or 300 yards farther on before it exploded. 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. This act
of the Indians in removing their dead and helpless wounded from the
field is always done, and more than a score of times were we
eyewitnesses to this feat during the afternoon (_Pettis_).

SUMMER 1865

_Pihó K`ádó_, "Peninsula sun dance." It is so called because held in the peninsula or bend of the Washita on the south side, a short distance below the mouth of Walnut creek (_Zódăltoñ P'a_, "Vomiting-water river") within the present reservation. The Set-t'an calendar represents the medicine lodge in the bend, indicated by a curved line. In the Anko calendar the peninsula is more rudely indicated by a circle around the base of the medicine pole.

WINTER 1865-66

In this winter the Set-t'an calendar records the death of the noted war chief, Tä´n-kóñkya, "Black-warbonnet-top," on a southern tributary of the upper South Canadian. The war-bonnet is made conspicuous in the figure to call attention to his name.

The Anko calendar notes the death of the celebrated chief Dohásän, "Little-bluff," the greatest and most noted chief in the history of the tribe, who died on the Cimarron in this winter. The event is indicated by the figure of a wagon, he being the only Kiowa who owned a wagon at that time. For more than thirty years from the massacre by the Osage in 1833, he had been the recognized head chief of the Kiowa. His death left no one of sufficiently commanding influence to unite the tribe under one leadership, and thenceforth the councils of the Kiowa were divided under such rival chieftains as Set-t'aiñte and Kicking-bird until the unsuccessful outbreak of 1874 finally reduced them to the position of a reservation tribe and practically put an end to the power of the chiefs.

This winter is notable also for the arrival of a large trading party from Kansas under the leadership of a man named John Smith. He traded also among the Cheyenne, whose language he spoke, and was called by them _Póomûts_, "Gray-blanket," or "Saddle-blanket," these articles forming a part of his trading stock; this name the Kiowa corrupted into _Pohóme_. The party visited all the various camps of the Cheyenne and Kiowa, trading blankets and other goods for buffalo hides. Smith died among the Cheyenne after having lived more than forty years in the Indian country, and was buried in the sand hills near the present agency at Darlington, Oklahoma. His name appears in the official reports as government interpreter for the Cheyenne, and he rendered valuable assistance at the Medicine Lodge treaty in 1867.

SUMMER 1866

_Hâñ-kopédal K`ádó_, "Flat metal (i. e. German silver) sun dance," was held on Medicine-lodge creek, near its mouth, in Oklahoma. It was so called because a trader brought them at this time a large quantity of German silver, from which they made headdresses, belts for women, bracelets, and other ornaments. German silver is known to the Kiowa as "flat metal," because it is furnished to them in sheets, which they cut and hammer into the desired shapes. On both calendars the event is recorded in the same way, by the figure of a head pendent with silver disks placed near the medicine lodge. Such pendants were attached to the head of the scalplock, and consisted of a strip of buffalo hide reaching nearly to the ground and covered along the whole length with a row of silver, copper, or German-silver disks, gradually decreasing in size toward the bottom, which was usually finished off with a tuft of bright-colored horsehair. They were called _góm-â´dal-hâ´ñgya_, "back-hair-metal," and were highly prized by the warriors. This was not the first time the Kiowa had obtained German silver. In the old days these ornaments were made for them, of genuine silver, by Mexican silversmiths near the present Silver City, New Mexico.

Charles W. Whitacre (or Whittaker), the trader who brought their supply of metal on this occasion, together with sugar and other goods, had some knowledge of the Kiowa language, as well as of Comanche and Caddo, and is familiarly known to the older Kiowa as _Tsâli_, i. e., Charley. He was present at the Medicine Lodge treaty the next year, and afterward kept a trading store on the north side of the Washita, near the place where the Wichita school is now located, a short distance from the agency at Anadarko. He was killed by accidentally shooting himself about 1882.

WINTER 1866-67

_Ä´pämâ´dal Ehótal-de Sai_, "Winter that Ä´pämâ'dalte was killed." The name signifies "Struck-his-head-against-a-tree." The same event is recorded on both calendars, the figures being sufficiently suggestive. He was a Mexican captive among the Kiowa, and was killed, in an encounter with troops or Texans, while with a party led by the present Big-bow, at a small creek on the main emigrant road to California (_Hóan T'a`ká-i_, "White-man's road") in southwestern Texas. When killed he was trying to stampede the horses which the Texans had left a short distance away. There is no official notice of this encounter in the reports, beyond general references to continual Kiowa raids into Texas.

In this winter, also, Andres Martinez, the most influential captive among the Kiowa, was bought by them from the Mescalero Apache, who had captured him a few months previously near Las Vegas, New Mexico. He was then seven years of age, and was adopted by the Kiowa, and at once taken by them on a raid into Mexico. His purchaser was Set-dayá-ite, "Many-bears," who was killed by the Ute in 1868.

SUMMER 1867

_T'á-kóñ Ä´semtse-de K`ádó_, "Sun dance when Black-ear was stolen. This dance was held on the north bank of the Washita, near the western line of Oklahoma. The Cheyenne also attended. While the dance was in progress a party of Navaho stole a herd of Kiowa ponies, including a fine white racer with black ears, the kind most highly prized by the Indians. The Kiowa had no idea that the horses had been stolen by lurking enemies, but supposed that they had simply strayed, until after the dance was over, when the three tribes organized an expedition against the Navaho, at that time upon a reservation in eastern New Mexico, and there captured a number of horses, including the stolen herd. The event is recorded on the Set-t'an calendar by means of the figure of a white horse with black ears above the medicine lodge.

This dance is also designated as _Kâ´itséñko Edópäñ-de K`ádó_, "Sun dance when the _Kâitseñko_ were initiated" (and further distinguished from similar occasions by describing it as _"Ä´guntä P'a-gya_, "on Washita river"), from the fact that on this occasion the members of this order made new sashes for themselves. Some who had acted in a cowardly manner were degraded at the same time, their sashes stripped from them and given to others more worthy (see summer 1846). The event is indicated on the Anko calendar by means of a figure above the medicine lodge representing a man with the _Kâitseñko_ headdress and sash.

WINTER 1867-68

_Ä´yä´daldä Sai_, "Timber-hill winter," so-called on account of the famous treaty made this winter with the confederated tribes on Medicine-lodge creek, Kansas, known to the Kiowa as "_Ä´yä´daldä P'a_, Timber-hill river." The picture on the Set-t'an calendar is highly suggestive. It represents a white man, who appears to be a soldier, grasping the hand of an Indian, the locality being shown by the figure of a tree-covered hill above the winter-mark.

The Anko calendar has no reference to this treaty, which is the leading event in Kiowa history of the last thirty years, but records instead a minor occurrence, the killing by the Kiowa of a Navaho, indicated below the winter mark by the figure of a man with his hair bunched in Navaho fashion, wearing the characteristic black leggings and moccasins and carrying a quiver. He was killed near _Gúădal Dóhá_, on the upper South Canadian, by a party under White-horse, of which Anko was a member. On examining the body of the dead man they found that he had no ears, having probably been so born. For this reason the winter is sometimes known as _T'á-bódal Ehótal-de Sai_, "Winter that Spoiled-ear was killed." Several parties went against the Navaho on the Pecos this year (that tribe being still at the Bosque Redondo), particularly a large expedition, including nearly all the Comanche and about half of the Kiowa and Apache, which started immediately after the sun dance, defeated the Navaho in an important engagement, and returned in time for the treaty.

The treaty of Medicine Lodge has already been discussed at length in another place. According to the statement of the Kiowa they were camped on the creek where they had held their sun dance, when they were summoned to Fort Larned. Set-t'aiñte, Set-ängya, Set-ĭmkía, and the other chiefs, with all their people, at once moved to that point, where they met an officer who, they say, was called _Gánúän_, "General" by the whites, and whom the Indians called _Pasót-kyä'tó_, "Old-man-of-the-thunder," because he wore upon his shoulders the eagle or thunderbird. This was General Winfield S. Hancock, then in command in that section. By his direction they camped on the river near the post, where they were supplied with rations for some days until the purpose of the government was explained to them. They then returned to Medicine-lodge creek and prepared a council house among the trees, ready for the arrival of the commissioners. The medicine lodge and Kiowa camp were on the south (west) side of the creek, while the council house in which the treaty was made was on the opposite (northeast) side, 12 miles above, or about 3 miles above the junction of Elm creek and near the present site of Medicine Lodge, Barber county, Kansas. It is described in the treaty itself as "the council camp on Medicine Lodge creek, 70 miles south of Fort Larned, in the State of Kansas." The low, timbered hill, from which the stream takes its Kiowa name of _Ä'yä'daldä P'a_, "Timber-hill river," is on the east side, opposite the medicine lodge of the last preceding dance, from which the stream derives its present name. It was a favorite dance headquarters, as several other dances had already been held in the same vicinity.

The Kiowa say that the white man, Philip McCusker, who interpreted the treaty to the three confederated tribes, spoke only Comanche, and his words were translated into Kiowa by Bä'o ("Cat"), alias Guñsádalte, "Having-horns," who is still living. They sum up the provisions of the treaty by saying that the commissioners promised to give them "a place to go," to give them schools, and to feed them for thirty years, and hoped that they would then know how to take care of themselves. Only a part of the Comanche were represented, most of the Kwáhadi band being then on an expedition against the Navaho. According to contemporary notices, there were present at the treaty over eight hundred and fifty tipis, or about five thousand souls, of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, together with about six hundred whites, including the commissioners and attachés, a large detachment of the Seventh infantry, and miscellaneous camp followers, the various groups and bands being scattered for a distance of several miles along the stream, forming probably the largest Indian gathering that had ever been held on the plains.

SUMMER 1868

_Íătä'go Dahótal-de K'ádó_, "Sun dance when the Ute killed us," or _Ä'yädaldä P'a K'ádó_, "Timber-hill river (Medicine-lodge creek) sun dance." The dance this summer was held on Medicine-lodge creek, near where the treaty had been made, this, as has been said, being a favorite place for the purpose. The Cheyenne and Arapaho also frequently held their sun dance in the same neighborhood, but not in connection with the Kiowa, although they always attended the Kiowa dance in large numbers. The Comanche had no sun dance of their own, but sometimes joined with the Kiowa. On one occasion they tried to get up such a dance, but the attempt was a failure.

This summer was signalized by a disastrous encounter with the Ute, in which two of the three _taímes_ of the Kiowa were captured. On the Set-t'an calendar this battle is indicated by the figure, above the medicine lodge, of a man holding out the red stone war-pipe, which was sent around as an invitation to the warriors to join the expedition. On the Anko calendar it is indicated by flying bullets about the medicine lodge.

This battle was the most disastrous in the history of the Kiowa tribe since the memorable massacre by the Osage in 1833. The impression made was perhaps even greater, for the reason that their sacred palladium captured on this occasion has never since been recovered.

In the previous winter Pá-tadal, "Lean-bull" (alias Poor-buffalo), who is still living, had led a small party against the Navaho beyond the head of the South Canadian. On reaching the salt beds on that river, near the line between Texas and New Mexico, they met some Navaho coming on foot to steal Kiowa horses. A fight ensued, resulting in the death of one Navaho and one Kiowa, the latter being Pá-tadal's stepson. The father thirsted for revenge, and at the next sun dance he sent around the pipe to all the warriors of the tribe to enlist them for a great expedition against the Navaho. A large number responded, perhaps two hundred, including some of the Comanche, and placed themselves under his leadership. Among these was Set-dayá-ite, "Many-bears," the son (nephew?) of Ansó'te, the medicine keeper. To render victory more certain and complete, he asked and obtained permission from his father to carry with the expedition the two smaller _taíme_ images, viz, the small "man" figure and the "bear kidney." These were sometimes carried to the field, but the larger one, the "woman," which the tribe still retains, was never allowed to leave the home camp. Set-dayá-ite carried one and intrusted the other to his friend Pá-guñhéñte, "Hornless-bull." According to another story, Pá-guñhéñte's medicine was one which belonged to himself and had no connection with the _taíme_, although it was a smaller image of similar appearance. However, Pá-guñhéñte was killed and his medicine captured, together with the other.

They set out for the Navaho country, but the omens were unpropitious from the start. Among the numerous things tabooed to the _taíme_ are bears, skunks, rabbits, and looking-glasses, none of which must be permitted to come near the sacred image or be touched by the taíme keeper. Almost at the start the warriors were alarmed by seeing a skunk cross their path, and soon afterward it was discovered that the Comanche had brought with them their looking-glasses, which they refused to break or throw away, but wrapped them up and concealed them at one of the camping places to await their return. Farther on, at a place where the warriors had halted for the night to prepare supper, the wind carried to the nostrils of the Kiowa the smell of burning grease. On investigating the cause they found that their sacrilegious allies had killed a bear and were broiling the flesh over their fire. Realizing that nothing but defeat could now be in store for them, many of the warriors turned back, but Set-dayá-ite, trusting to his medicine, persisted in going forward, while Pá-tadal, although he foresaw disaster, as the organizer and leader of the expedition felt bound in honor to proceed.

They went up the north bank of the South Canadian until they reached the salt beds in the vicinity of Red-river spring, near where they had encountered the Navaho the preceding winter. Here they met a much smaller party of Ute, said to have numbered only thirty or forty, and the battle at once began. For some reason, perhaps because the Kiowa felt that their gods had deserted them, they did not fight with their accustomed dash, and the battle soon became a flight, the Ute pursuing them for some miles down the river and killing seven, including Set-dayá-ite and his adopted son, a Mexican captive. Set-dayá-ite on this occasion rode a balky horse, which became unmanageable, so that he dismounted and met his fate on foot, telling his comrades that there was his place to die. His adopted son might have saved himself, but on seeing his father's plight he returned and was killed with him. Pá-guñhéñte, who carried the other medicine, was also among the slain.

Set-dayá-ite had the _taíme_ bag tied upon his back, where it was found by the Ute after the fight. They readily recognized it as some great "medicine," a conjecture which was made certain if it be true, as some say, that the dead man had cut (painted?) upon his body sacred emblems similar to those painted upon the image itself, viz, a crescent upon each breast, the sun in the center, and upon his forehead another crescent. Stumbling-bear, who was in the fight, as was also Anko, went back shortly afterward to bury his remains. He found a beaten circle around the skeleton of Set-dayá-ite, as though the Ute had danced around his dead body.

The Ute carried the _taíme_ with them to their own country, but misfortune went with it. The son of its capturer was shortly afterward killed in a fight with the Cheyenne, and soon after that the custodian himself was killed by a stroke of lightning. Afraid to keep longer such "bad medicine," they brought both images down to the trader Maxwell, in New Mexico, who placed them on a shelf in his store, where they remained in plain view for a long time, but were finally lost. The Ute left word with Maxwell that the Kiowa, if they came for the images, might have them, on payment of a specified number of ponies. For some reason the Kiowa did not come--perhaps because they were afraid to trust themselves so far in their enemies' country.

While the sacred images were on Maxwell's shelf they were seen by a brother of George Bent, of the noted pioneer trading family, from whom the author obtained a description of their appearance. They were two small carved stones or petrifactions, the _taíme_ proper having the shape of a man's head and bust, and was decorated and painted. The other resembled in form a bear's kidney. While in New Mexico some years ago the author made diligent inquiry among Maxwell's former business associates concerning the images, but found no one who could throw any light upon their whereabouts. In 1893 Big-bow and some others of the tribe visited the Ute, chiefly for the purpose of ascertaining the fate of the _taíme_, not knowing that it had passed out of their possession. They learned nothing, however, as they asked no direct questions concerning it and the Ute volunteered no information. This was the first friendly meeting between the two tribes, although as early as 1873 the Kiowa chiefs in council had made an urgent request to the agent that some good white man should be sent with them to make peace with the Ute (_Battey, 18_).

When the news of the defeat reached them, the Kiowa were encamped on the Arkansas, near Fort Larned, where at that time they drew their government issues. They at once moved down to the Washita and encamped adjoining the Cheyenne village under Black-kettle, on the western border of Oklahoma. This village was soon after destroyed by Custer. About this time steps were taken to confine the confederated tribes to the reservation assigned them by the late treaty, which was soon after accomplished, and as a people the Kiowa never again went back to the neighborhood of Arkansas river.

The only official reference to this fight, if indeed it does refer to it, is the incidental mention in a letter of about June 20 that an appointment by the agent for the Ute and Jicarilla Apache had been postponed in consequence of the absence of Kaneatche, who was away and had had a fight with the Kiowa and Comanche (_Report, 88_). Kaneatche, Kanache, or Conyatz (_Kanats_ according to Major Powell) was the head chief of the confederate Ute and Jicarilla band of Apache, and on his death was succeeded by Ouray.

The encounter is thus noted by a contemporary author:

During the previous summer [1868] a war party of Ute left their
haunts in New Mexico, and after marching on foot a distance of over
500 miles fell upon a band of Kiowa, completely routed them,
captured a number of ponies, took many scalps, and, more calamitous
than all, got possession of the "medicine" of the band. As might be
inferred, the Kiowa had a superstitious dread of the very name Ute
(_Keim, 2_).

The action and the grief of the Kiowa over the loss of their medicine are further described by a writer in a contemporary Kansas newspaper, who evidently speaks with exact knowledge:

About the 10th of July [1868] the Kiowa had a battle with the Ute,
in which the chief Heap-of-Bears and seven other Kiowa braves were
killed. Heap-of-Bears had on his person the medicine of the Kiowa,
which was captured by the Ute, who still retain it. This medicine
consists of an image about 18 inches in length, carved to represent
a human face, and covered with the down and feathers of the eagle
and other birds and swathed in wrappers of different materials of
value. Although I have been conversant with Indian habits and
customs for a long time, I was surprised to find the value these
people attach to this medicine. They begged and implored Colonel
Murphy to recover it for them, and promised to pay the Ute as many
horses as they wanted, and also to make a permanent and lasting
peace, not only with the Ute, but also to refrain from further
depredations on the Texas border, if this should be restored.
Colonel Murphy promised to endeavor to recover it, but I think his
success in the matter will be doubtful, as the Ute also attach
great importance to their capture, believing that while they retain
it the Kiowa will be powerless to do them harm (_Abbott, 1_).

WTNTER 1868-69

_Tän-gúădal Ehótal-de Sai_, "Winter that Tän-gúădal was killed." _Tän_ is the name of a particular variety of headdress, also of an edible root resembling a turnip; _gúădal_ signifies red. Shortly after the removal to the Washita, a small raiding party went to Texas. In an encounter with a white man and boy both parties fired simultaneously and Tän-gúădal was killed. Although a young man, he was a noted warrior and the hereditary owner of a medicine lance or _zebat_, shaped and adorned like an arrow. The event is indicated on the Set-t'an calendar by the figure, above the winter mark, of a man holding the arrow lance. On the Anko calendar it is indicated by the rude figure of the medicine lance.

This medicine lance, which was hereditary in Tän-gúădal's family, came originally from the Crows. The one carried by him on this occasion, as described by Set-k`opte, who was with the party, had a Mexican-made steel blade and was left sticking upright in the ground at the place where they rested before the encounter, the owner not having taken it into the fight. Set-t'aiñte claimed the hereditary right to this medicine lance, through marriage into the family of one of Tän-gúădal's ancestors. Despite the protest of Tän-gúădal, he made a similar lance, which he carried for several years (see summer 1874). This lance of Set-t'aiñte is said to have had a separable ornamented wooden point, which was inserted on ceremonial occasions, while an ordinary steel blade was substituted when it was to be used in actual service. Similar "medicine" lances for ceremonial purposes were used also among other tribes.

While this expedition was in Texas another party, under Stumbling-bear, went up the Canadian to bury the bones of those killed with Set-dayá-ite in the encounter with the Ute.

SUMMER 1869

_Ä´tahá-i Gyä´`gan-de K`ádó_, "Sun dance when they brought the war-bonnet." On both calendars this sun dance is designated by the figure of a war-bonnet (_ä-tahá-i_, "feather crest") above the medicine lodge.

The dance was held on the north side of the North fork of Red River, a short distance below the junction of Sweetwater creek, near the western line of Oklahoma, the Kiowa having been removed during the preceding autumn from Kansas and the north to their present reservation, but still ranging outside the boundaries, under the hunting privilege accorded by the late treaty. While the dance was in progress, Big-bow, who had gone with a large party against the Ute to avenge the death of Set-dayá-ite the year before, returned with the war-bonnet of a Ute whom he had killed in the mountains at the head of the Arkansas, in Colorado. By a curious chance this Ute was one whom the Cheyenne or Arapaho had wounded and scalped on a former expedition. The Ute had taken their wounded comrade to the Mexicans of New Mexico, who cured him, only to die soon afterward by the hand of a Kiowa. The facts in the case were learned by Big-bow on his friendly visit to the Ute in 1893.

WINTER 1869-70

_Dómbá Etpé-de Sai_, "Winter when they were frightened by the bugle." The circumstance is indicated on both calendars by means of a bugle in connection with the winter mark.

This was a winter of chronic alarm, as the Cheyenne, the neighbors and friends of the Kiowa, were on the warpath and were being hard pressed by Custer. The Kiowa had made their winter settlement in two camps on Beaver creek, near the junction of Wolf creek, in the vicinity of the present Fort Supply, in Oklahoma. It was reported that soldiers were in the neighborhood, and a party of young men went out to look for them. On returning, about daylight, one of them, who carried a bugle, blew it to announce their approach, with the result that the whole camp, thinking that the troops were about to attack them, fled precipitately several miles before the truth was discovered.

According to another account, the bugle was blown by Set-t'aiñte, who for many years carried on ceremonial occasions a bugle which he had probably obtained from some army post. He had been on a visit to the Arkansas, and blew it on his return in order to locate the camp.

SUMMER 1870

_É`gú Gyäk`íädă-de K`ádó_, "Plant-growing sun dance," or _K`ádó Paíñyoñhä´-de_, "Dusty sun dance." The former is the more common designation. This sun dance, like the last, was held on the North fork of Red river, but on the south side, in what is now Greer county, Oklahoma, near where the reservation line strikes the stream. During the dance the traders brought corn and watermelons to sell to the Indians. The seeds were thrown away, and on returning to the spot in the fall the Kiowa found that they had germinated in the sandy soil and developed into full growth; hence the common name of the dance, indicated on the Set-t'an calendar by a stalk of green (blue) corn beside the medicine lodge. On the Anko calendar it is distinguished as the "Dusty sun dance," on account of the high winds which raised clouds of dust during the dance and which are rudely indicated by close black lines across the medicine pole. No other event is recorded, the dance serving merely as a chronologic point.

WINTER 1870-71

_Set-ä´ngya Ä´ton Ágan-de Sai_, "Winter when they brought Set-ängya's bones."

For this winter the Set-t'an calendar records the bringing home of the bones of young Set-ängya, indicated by a skeleton above the winter mark, with a sitting bear over the head.

In the spring of 1870, before the last sun dance, the son of the noted chief Set-ängya ("Sitting-bear"), the young man having the same name as his father, had made a raid with a few followers into Texas, where, while making an attack upon a house, he had been shot and killed. After the dance his father with some friends went to Texas, found his bones and wrapped them in several fine blankets, put the bundle upon the back of a led horse and brought them home. On the return journey he killed and scalped a white man, which revenge served in some measure to assuage his grief. On reaching home he erected a tipi with a raised platform inside, upon which, as upon a bed, he placed the bundle containing his son's bones. He then made a feast within the funeral tipi, to which he invited all his friends in the name of his son, telling them, "My son calls you to eat." From that time he always spoke of his son as sleeping, not as dead, and frequently put food and water near the platform for his refreshment on awaking. 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.

The Anko calendar records two incidents. The first was a drunken fight between two Kiowa, in which one killed the other, indicated by the rude representation of two heads with a bottle between them. The other event was the killing of four or five negroes in Texas by a party led by Mamä´nte ("Walking-above)," who brought back the scalps with the woolly-hair attached. It is shown on the calendar by means of a figure with bullet and arrow wounds, drawn below the heads and the bottle. An attempt has been made to indicate the peculiar woolly hair of the negro; the trousers are blue, like those worn by soldiers, Anko thinking they were probably soldiers, because, as he says, "Negroes can't go alone."

In this winter Ansó-gíăni or Anso`te, "Long-foot," the great medicine keeper, died of extreme old age. He had been in charge of the _taíme_ for forty years; consequently there was no sun dance for two years until his successor was selected.

SUMMER 1871

For this summer the Anko calendar records the death of Koñpä´te, "Blackens-himself," who was shot through the head in a skirmish with soldiers. He was the brother of the noted raider, White-horse. The event is indicated by the rude representation of a head struck by a bullet. As there was no dance this summer, the medicine lodge is not represented on either calendar.

The great event of the summer was the arrest of the noted chiefs and raiders, Set-t'aiñte, Set-äñgya and Ä´do-eétte, "Big-tree." The figure on the Set-t'an calendar shows the soldier arresting Set-t'aiñte, distinguished by the red war-paint which he always used.

Notwithstanding the promises of good conduct which had induced General 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.

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.