Kiowa Apache Indians. The name is derived from that of the Kiowa and from the circumstance that they spoke a dialect related to those of the better-known Apache tribes, though they had no other connection with them. Also called:
- Bad-hearts, by Long (1823). (See Kaskaias.)
- Cancey or Kantsi, meaning “liars,” applied by the Caddo to all Apache of the Plains, but oftenest to the Lipan.
- Essequeta, a name given by the Kiowa and Comanche to the Mescalero Apache, sometimes, but improperly, applied to this tribe.
- Gáta’ka, Pawnee name.
- Gǐnä’s, Wichita name.
- Gû’ta’k, Omaha and Ponca name.
- K’á-pätop, Kiowa name, meaning “knife whetters.”
- Kaskaias, possibly intended for this tribe, translated “bad hearts.”
- Kǐsínahǐs, Kichai name.
- Mûtsíănă-täníu, Cheyenne name, meaning “whetstone people.”
- Nadíisha-déna, own name, meaning “our people.”
- Pacer band of Apache, H. R. Doe. Prairie Apaches, common name.
- Sádalsómte-k’íägo, Kiowa name, meaning “weasel people.”
- Tâ’gugála, Jemez name for Apache tribes including Kiowa Apache.
- Tagúi, an old Kiowa name.
- Tágukerish, Pecos name for all Apache.
- Tashǐn, Comanche name for all Apache.
- Tha`ká-hinĕ’na, Arapaho name, meaning “saw-fiddle man.”
- Yabipais Natagé, Garc6s Diary (1776).
Kiowa Apache Connections. The Kiowa Apache belonged to the Athapascan linguistic family, their nearest relatives being the Jicarilla and Lipan (Hoijer).
Kiowa Apache Indians Location. They have been associated with the Kiowa from the earliest traditional period. (See also Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.)
Kiowa Apache History. The first historical mention of the Kiowa Apache is by La Salle in 1681 or 1682, who calls then Gattacka, the term by which they are known to the Pawnee. As intimated above, their history was in later times the same as that of the Kiowa, and they occupied a definite place in the Kiowa camp circle. For 2 years only, 1865-67, they were at their own request detached from the Kiowa and adjoined to the Cheyenne and Arapaho, on account of the unfriendly attitude of the Kiowa toward the Whites.
Kiowa Apache Population. Mooney (1928) gives an estimate of 300 Kiowa Apache as of 1780, adopting the estimate made by Lewis and Clark in 1805. In 1891 their population was 325, but like the associated tribes they suffered heavily from measles in 1892 and in 1905 there were only 155 left. The census of 1910 returned 139, that of 1930, 184, and in 1937 they appear to have increased to 340 but other Apache may be included.
Connection in which the Kiowa Apache Indians have become noted. The Kiowa Apache are remarkable merely as an example of a tribe incorporated into the social organism of another tribe of entirely alien speech and origin Miami. In 1832 the Miami subdivisions known as Piankashaw and Wea were assigned lands along with the Illinois in Eastern Kansas. In 1840 the rest of the Miami were granted lands in the immediate neighborhood but just south, and all but one band removed there from Indiana. In 1854 they ceded part of this territory and in 1867 accompanied the Illinois to the present Oklahoma. (See Indiana.)
See Further: Kiowa Tribe
