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The Kiowa
The Kiowa enjoy the distinction of constituting alone a linguistie family
of North American Indians. The name comes from their word Ka-i-gwu,
meaning “Principal People.” They lived first on the Yellowstone and the
Upper Missouri. From thence they began a southern movement which brought
them to notice in historic times along the Upper Arkansas and Canadian
rivers. At one time, in their migration, they were in alliance with the
Crows. They were at war with the Arapahos and Cheyenne until about 1840,
when they began to act in concert with those tribes. They are said by
plainsmen to be the most cruel and blood-thirsty of the Plains tribes.
They are supposed to have killed more whites than any other tribe in
proportion to their number. They were confederated with the Comanches,
and, with those American Arabs, raided far into Mexico.
The tribal divisions on which the social organization
rests are as follows:
1. Kata
2. Kogui
3. Kaigwu
4. Kingep
5. Semat
6. Kongtalyui
7. Kuato (now extinct)
Comanche The tribe is now in Oklahoma, between the
Washita and Red rivers. They ceded their lands in Kansas in a treaty to
which the Comanche were a party, and which will be noticed in connection
with that tribe.
The Comanche were of the Shoshonean linguistic stock.
They formerly dwelt with kindred tribes in Southern Wyoming. They were
driven south by the Sioux and other tribes with whom they warred. In the
early history of the plains they were known as Paduca, the name given them
by the Sioux. They lived at one time on the North Platte, which was known
as the Paduca Fork as late as 1805. They were said to have roamed from
that stream to Bolson de Mapimi, in Chihuahua. They were the finest
horsemen that rode the Great Plains, and as buffalo hunters none excelled
them. To the Americans they were usually friendly, but they were at war
with the Mexican Spaniards for more than two hundred years.
The clan system had ceased to exist in the Comanches.
They may, in fact, never have had it. The tribe is separated into
divisions or bands, as follows:
1. Detsanayuka, or Nokoni
2. Ditsakana, Widyu, Yapa, or Yamparika
3. Kewatsana
4. Kotsai
5. Kotsoteka
6. Kwahari, or Kawhadi
7. Motsai
8. Pagatsu
9. Penateka, or Penande
10. Pohoi
11. Tenima
12. Tenawa, or Tenahwit
On the 18th of October, 1865, at a camp on the Little
Arkansas River, in Kansas, the Comanches and Kiowa
made a treaty with the United States, by which they ceded all their lands
lying in Kansas, and other lands. The tract in Kansas was that part of the
State south of the Arkansas River immediately west of the Osage lands. The
line between the lands of the Osages and the Comanches and Kiowa ran from
a point on the Arkansas River about six miles west of Dodge City south to
the state-line.
The cession of the Comanches and Kiowa divested the
original Indian owners of the last acre of land they owned in Kansas. Much
of this land was given by the Government to other Indians. These were
known as the Emigrant Indian Tribes. They were moved to Kansas by the
United States as title to their lands were extinguished in the states east
of the Mississippi. Most of the Emigrant tribes were given land in Kansas
in exchange for their lands further east which the white man required for
settlement as he increased his numbers in his westward conquest and
occupation of American soil.
One of the reasons entertained by Jefferson for the
purchase of Louisiana was that it would afford land for the Indian tribes
east of the Mississippi. The English could never sit down and live in a
country with people of another nationality. They exterminated and drove
out the Gaelic tribes of Britain. They desired an exclusive possession of
the land. That was their policy in America. It was continued by the United
States.8
In the report of Lewis and Clark, 1806, to Jefferson,
this policy is mentioned in discussing the lands of the Osages. The report
says: “I think two villages, on the Osage River, might be prevailed on to
remove to the Arkansas, and the Kansas, higher up the Missouri, and thus
leave a sufficient scope of country for the Shawnee, Dillewar, Miame,
and Kickapoo.”
Footnote
8 This subject is well treated in the History of Baptist
Indian Missions, by Isaac McCoy, pp. 30 to 41.
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