229. T'águñótal P'a Sän--Cheyenne dance 379 · Part 6

SUMMER 1848

_Ópäñ K`ádó_, "Kâ´itséñko initiation sun dance." This dance was held on Arkansas river near Bent's fort, in Colorado, and was distinguished by the initiation of several Kâ´itséñko (see summer 1846). The figure represents an initiate with his (red) body paint and _ópämyaípo_.

[Illustration: FIG. 101--Winter 1848-49-Antelope drive.]

WINTER 1848-49

The Kiowa were camped on Arkansas river near Bent's fort and made "antelope medicine" (_ät'á´kagúa_) for a great antelope drive. Compare the figures from the Dakota calendars of Mallery (figure 102).

The antelope drive was made only in seasons of scarcity, when the supply of buffalo meat was insufficient, and only in the winter, at which season the antelope are accustomed to go in herds, while in the spring and summer they scatter. Such a drive was an event so rare that one informant over 60 years of age had seen but one in his lifetime.

When it has been decided to have an antelope drive, the "antelope medicine-man" builds a special tipi and remains in it all night, singing his medicine songs until daylight. In the morning he starts out in the probable direction of the antelope, carrying in each hand a rod about two feet long decorated at each end with eagle feathers and in the center with a wheel from which depend the feathers of other carnivorous birds, his face is painted white, a buffalo robe is thrown over his shoulder, and a whistle hangs from his neck. He is accompanied by the whole tribe, mounted and on foot--men, women, and children. On arriving at the place selected for the hunt, he sits upon the ground, facing the direction in which the antelope are supposed to be; in most other Indian ceremonies the priest faces the east. Beside him sit some of the principal men, while behind stand several women. The two men chosen to sit next him on each side must be men known as successful in the hunt and on the warpath. He plants the two decorated sticks in the ground in front of him, lights his pipe, and begins to smoke; after smoking a little while he hands the rods to the men sitting next him, crossing his right hand over his left as he does so, and giving their hands a peculiar pressure four times. These two men then rise, put their hands upon his head--a gesture of prayer or invocation--step across each into the place of the other so as to again reverse the position of the rods, and then, after the same four hand pressures, again plant the rods in front of the priest.

[Illustration: FIG. 102--Antelope drives (from the Dakota calendars)]

Two other men, noted war chiefs, then take their places beside the priest, while the first two sit next them. Grasping the upright sticks at the top, the priest now sings the first antelope song, blowing upon the whistle at intervals, while all the surrounding men and women join in the song, and the four men sitting beside him beat time on the ground. Four different songs are sung in this manner, the sticks being grasped lower down at each song, until at the last song the priest pulls them out from the ground, and, holding them by their lower ends, pushes them out alternately in front of himself, while the whole company--mostly women now, as the men have gone on ahead--swell the chorus, waving their arms with a sweeping motion, as if grasping at the antelope. Then the two war chiefs place their hands upon his head as before, and he gives them the sticks, with four other hand pressures. Taking the rods, the two chiefs run forward on foot at full speed on diverging lines until they meet two horsemen, to whom they deliver the rods, and then return to the place where the priest is sitting with the women and children. In the meantime the hunters have ridden far out in a semicircle, so as to inclose a large area of country. The two hunters who have taken the rods now also ride far out on diverging lines, then turn, cross each other's paths, and return to the priest. The four songs "draw the minds" of the antelope to the priests, and the crossing of the paths typifies the surrounding of the game by the lines of hunters.

The horsemen now begin to close in toward the center, driving before them the antelope and any other animals that may be within the semicircle; as they approach, the women close in from, the opposite side, and as the circle contracts, with the frightened animals running about within it, they seize them with their hands or with reatas. It is said that once, in such a drive, a woman caught a coyote by throwing her arms about its neck. No shooting is allowed within the circle, but any antelope that break through are pursued and shot outside (for other methods, see winter 1860-61).

[Illustration: FIG. 103--Summer 1849--Cholera sun dance.]

SUMMER, 1849

_Mayíagyă´ K`ádó_, "Cramp (i. e., cholera) sun dance." The figure beside the medicine lodge represents a man with his limbs drawn up by the pangs of cholera, which the Kiowa name "the cramp," from its characteristic feature. Compare the corresponding figure (104) from the Dakota calendar for the same disease.

This was during the great cholera epidemic that swept the country in the spring and summer of 1849, which was carried to the plains by the California and Oregon emigrants and by some of the tribes then in process of removal from the east. The Kiowa remember this as the most terrible experience within their history, far exceeding in fatality the smallpox of nine years before. It was a disease before entirely unknown to them, and was particularly dreaded on account of its dreadful suddenness, men who had been in perfect health in the morning being dead a few hours later. The disease appeared immediately after the sun dance, which was held on Mule creek (_Ädóä P'a_, "Tipi wind-break river"), between Medicine-lodge creek and the Salt fork of the Arkansas, and, like the previous smallpox, it was brought by visiting Osage who attended the dance. During the performance a man became inspired or "crazy," as in the ghost dance, and prophesied that something terrible was about to happen after the _taíme_ had been returned to its box. Hardly was the dance over and the _taíme_ put away when a man was attacked by this strange disease and died in a few hours; then another became sick and died as suddenly, and another, until in a few days the epidemic spread through the tribe, killing great numbers, including an unusual proportion of medicine-men. The Kiowa say that half their number perished during its prevalence; this is probably an exaggeration, but whole families and camps were exterminated and their tipis were left standing empty and deserted. Many in their despair committed suicide, but the survivors saved themselves by scattering in different directions until the disease had spent its fury.

The tribes of the lake region and those which had been recently removed to Indian Territory generally escaped the disease, but among the wild tribes of the plains, from the Dakota to the Comanche, the ravages of the cholera during this season were as awful as among the white population of the eastern states. The western Dakota, who suffered severely, believed that the disease had been deliberately introduced by the whites for their more speedy extermination (_Report, 78_). The agent for the Pawnee states that up to June of 1849 twelve hundred and thirty-four persons, or nearly one-fourth of the tribe, had already died, and the disease was still making fearful ravages among them, while the survivors were in such dread of the terrible scourge that no persuasion could induce them to bury the dead, and within a short distance of the agency it was not unusual to find the unburied corpses partially devoured by wolves (_Report, 79_).

[Illustration: FIG. 104--Cholera (from the Dakota calendars).]

In the spring of 1850 an attempt was made to assemble the tribes of the southern plains for the purpose of making treaties with them to insure the safety of the emigrant roads. The Comanche, however, declined to attend on account of the cholera, which they said their medicine-men had predicted would be communicated to them again by the whites unless they kept at a proper distance until the grass had died in the fall, when the cholera would die out with it, and they would no longer be afraid to meet their white friends (_Report, 80_). This caused a postponement of the negotiations, which resulted later in the treaties of Fort Laramie in 1851 and Fort Atkinson in 1853.

WINTER 1849-5O

The Kiowa killed several of the Pawnee and were received by their friends with a dance on returning to camp. The figure over the winter mark (figure 105) represents a Pawnee, as shown by the peculiar shaving of the head, with two long scalp-locks or "horns." In this connection Dunbar says:

The name Pawnee is most probably derived from _páriki_, a horn, and seems to hare been once used by the Pawnees themselves to designate their peculiar scalp lock. From the fact that this was the most noticeable feature in their costume the name came naturally to be the denominative term of the tribe (_Clark, 18._ See also summers 1841 and 1851, and winter 1852-53).

The half circle above represents the circle of dancers opening in the direction from which the warriors are returning, and the cross in the center represents a fire made of a pile of buffalo chips around which they danced.

The Kiowa were camped in two divisions near the Salt fork of Arkansas river when a war party of Pawnee stole the horses of the first camp, whose warriors at once started in pursuit. In the meantime another party of Pawnee stole a number of horses from the Kiowa at the other camp, who also sent their warriors in pursuit of the thieves. The first Kiowa party overtook the Pawnee warriors, dismounted, and attacked them, killing one. While this was transpiring the other band of the Pawnee came up in the rear and stole the horses from which the riders had dismounted to fight. The second Kiowa party, coming up behind the Pawnee, at once attacked them, killed four, and recovered nearly all the horses.

As the victorious Kiowa warriors approached their home camp after this double pursuit and encounter, they imitated the cry of a wolf, to let their friends know that they had killed some of the Pawnee--designated as "Wolf-people" in the Kiowa language and in the sign language of the plains--and their friends at once formed the circle and began the dance to receive them, as indicated in the figure. The dance performed on this occasion is a peculiar one, with a particularly pleasing song accompaniment.

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. They enter the camp running, to imitate a charge, firing their guns and discharging arrows, to show how they had met and struck the foe; if they approached in silence, they might be mistaken for enemies. Their friends run out to meet them, shouting "_Ĭmkágyä´gya!_" ("They are coming in triumph!"), and at once commence preparations for the dance. The entry is generally made in the morning, or perhaps just after noon, in order to give plenty of time to prepare for the dance; should they reach the camp late in the evening, the entry is postponed until the next morning.

The warriors take the women up behind them on their horses and ride around the circle singing, while the scalps, stretched over hoops and painted red on the inside, are carried at the ends of poles about 6 feet long by other women in the dance; at night a fire is built in the center of the circle. As the interpreter said, in his quaint English, "Everybody very happy time like picnic." No men excepting those of the returned war party engage in the dance, but all the women take part. The dance may continue every afternoon and night for a month, after which the scalp is usually "thrown away" in some unfrequented spot by fastening it to the branch of a tree, or to the end of a pole planted on the hillside, with a prayer offering it to the sun. This act of sacrifice was called _pä´ñgun_, a word signifying "to give by throwing away."

An instance of the employment of buffalo chips among the Crows in ceremonial dances of a warlike character is noted by an officer concerned in the Dakota campaign of 1876. Several officers and men had left camp for a short hunting trip--

They were sighted by the Crow scouts at some distance below and mistaken for Sioux, whereupon the latter made a tragical rush for our camp to give the alarm. As they appeared in view across the valley running in single file at a lively speed, occasionally deviating from a direct line to describe a small circle indicating that they had seen an enemy, quite an excitement was aroused in the camp. The soldiers gathered in throngs, while the Crows formed in line, shoulder to shoulder, behind a pile of buffalo chips placed for the purpose and stood there swaying their bodies and singing while the scouts approached. As the leader of the scouts came up he paused to kick over the pile of buffalo chips, which was equivalent to a solemn pledge to tell the truth, then sat down surrounded by his fellow Crows, and after resting a minute or two, told what he had seen (_Montana, 1._)

[Illustration: FIG. 105--Winter 1849-50--Dance over slain Pawnee.]

SUMMER 185O

_Ä´`gótä K`ádó_, "Chinaberry sun dance," so called because held near a thicket of these trees on Beaver creek (_P'o P'a_) or upper North Canadian river, a short distance above the junction of Wolf creek at Fort Supply, Oklahoma. In the figure the tree above the medicine lodge represents the chinaberry tree with its leaves and berries. No other event is recorded in connection with this summer.

[Illustration: FIG. 106--Summer 1850--Chinaberry sun dance.]

WINTER 185O-51

_Tañgíapá Ehótal-de Sai_, "Winter that Tañgíapa was killed." The bust above the winter mark represents the man killed, whose name, signifying a male deer, is indicated by the connected figure of a male (horned) deer.

[Illustration: FIG. 107--Winter 1850-51--Buck-deer killed.]

He had led a small war party into Tamaulipas or the adjacent region beyond the Rio Grande. They overtook a party of Mexicans, and Tañgíapa, who was mounted, was pursuing a Mexican on foot and was just about to stab him with a lance when the Mexican turned and shot him through the body, and was himself immediately killed by the Kiowa warrior. Tañgíapa was carried into the mountains, where he died the same evening. No other Indian was killed.

SUMMER 1851

_Paiñ K`ádó_, "Dusty sun dance." It was held on the north bank of the North Canadian, just below the junction of Wolf creek, near where the last sun dance had taken place. It is so called on account of a strong wind that prevailed during the ceremony, which kept the air filled with dust.

When the dance was over and the Kiowa had left the spot and gone northward toward the Arkansas, a band of the Pawnee came to the place and stole from the center pole of the medicine lodge the offerings which had been hung upon it as a sacrifice, including a number of blankets and a flag which had been given by the Kiowa to the Osage when the two tribes had made peace in 1834. The figure over the medicine lodge represents a Pawnee--indicated by the peculiar scalplock, as already described--holding a flag in his hand.

[Illustration: FIG. 108--Summer 1851--Dusty sun dance; flag stolen.]

The Pawnee followed the trail of the Kiowa, and on coming near them set fire to the prairie to attract their attention. Two young men of the Kiowa went out to learn the cause of the fire and found the Pawnee party, who said that they had come with presents and goods to make peace and to trade with the Kiowa. The young men rejoined their party with the news, and the Kiowa, under chiefs Dohasän and Set-ängya, turned back to meet the Pawnee band and escort them to a camping place. As the latter were on foot, in accordance with their usual custom, they asked the Kiowa to carry for them the skin bags which they said contained the presents. The Kiowa took the bags upon their horses, but as they went along, knowing well the tricky character of their ostensible friends, they opened several of the bags and found them filled, some with buffalo chips for fuel, and others with arrows, showing that the Pawnee force had come to fight as soon as a favorable opportunity offered. Disgusted by this treachery, they at once attacked and defeated them, killed the chief, who wore a shell gorget, and captured a boy, who was taken by Set-ängya himself. It was an expensive capture, however, as will appear later. The Kiowa lost two prominent men, Set-äyaí, "Bear-on-trees," and Tén-ät'ánte, "Little-heart." The fight occurred in Kansas, north of the head of Medicine-lodge creek.

WINTER 1851-52

_Mä´ñyí Dó`gyähón-de Sai_, "Winter the woman was frozen." The figure over the winter mark represents the woman, indicated by the dress and belt with disks of German silver.

[Illustration: FIG. 109--Winter 1851-52--Woman frozen.]

During the winter the present chief, Zépko-eét-te, "Big-bow," then a young man, stole a very pretty woman whose husband was away on the warpath, and took her to his own home camp. On coming near his father's tipi he concealed the woman among the trees and went into the tipi to get something to eat before going on. His father, who knew what he had done, held him and prevented his return to the woman waiting outside, who remained there exposed to the extreme cold until her feet were frozen.

To "steal" a woman is to elope with or take possession of her in a manner contrary to tribal usage, i. e., secretly and without having made the customary presents to her relatives by which the transaction becomes ratified as a marriage.

SUMMER 1852

_Á`pätáte_ (_K`a-t'ógyä_ or _Hâñt'ógyä-k`ía_) _Ehótal-de Pai_, "Summer that Touch-the-clouds (Knife-shirt, or Iron-shirt-man) was killed." There was no sun dance this year. The Pawnee warriors killed a Cheyenne chief who wore a cuirass. The cross marks over the human figure represent the cuirass, and the tree with leaves shows that it occurred during the summer.

[Illustration: FIG. 110--Summer 1852--Iron-shirt killed.]

At a great Cheyenne camp upon a stream, apparently in Kansas or Nebraska, known to the Kiowa as _Hâ´ñtso P'a_, "Cannon-ball (literally, metal rock) river," the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and some Dakota had made medicine for a combined expedition against the Pawnee, to which they invited the Kiowa and Apache, who were camped at the time on _Koñyä´daldä P'a_, "Black-hill river," in Kansas, north of the Arkansas. About half the warriors of the two latter tribes accepted the invitation, and the united force, moving with all their women, children, and tipi outfits, started against the Pawnee. They met the enemy, but were defeated, with the loss of the Cheyenne chief Wóifdóĭsh, "Touch-the-clouds," called by the Kiowa Á`pätáte, "Far-up," otherwise known as Hañt'ógyä-k`ía, "Iron-shirt-man," from a cuirass which he wore and which had probably been procured originally from Mexico, where the Kiowa once captured another.

The official report for the year thus notices the encounter:

A war party of Osages, Kioways, and Kaws, consisting of about four hundred warriors, went in pursuit of the Pawnees while out on their last hunt. They overtook the Pawnees and attacked them, but, being greatly outnumbered by the Pawnees, they ingloriously fled, leaving on the ground one war chief killed, and having killed and scalped one Pawnee woman (_Report, 81_).

WINTER 1852-53

[Illustration: FIG. 111--Winter 1852-53--Gúădal-tséyu stolen.]

The Pawnee boy captured by Set-ängya in the summer of 1851 escaped, taking with him two horses, including the finest one in the tribe, a bay race horse known as _Gúădal-tséyu_, "Little-red" or "Red-pet." The figure above the winter mark shows the Pawnee boy, distinguished by the peculiar headdress of his tribe, holding the bay (red) horse by the halter. The importance of the horse to the equestrian Kiowa is shown by the fact that this is recorded as the important event of the winter.

[Illustration: FIG. 112--Summer 1853--Showery sun dance.]

SUMMER 1853

_Bíăsot K`ádó_, "Showery sun dance," so called because there were continual showers during the dance. The figure above the medicine lodge is intended to represent the drizzling rain descending from the black clouds overhead, with occasional red flashes of lightning. Compare the corresponding rain and cloud symbols given below. The dance was held at the same place where the "dusty" sun dance was celebrated in 1851, near the present Fort Supply.

This sun dance is distinguished for a deliberate violation of the _taíme_ rules by Ten-píäk`ia, "Heart-eater," a noted warrior and medicine-man, rival of Ansó`te, the _taíme_ keeper, and father of Set-t'an, the author of this calendar. One of the strictest regulations of the sun dance was the taboo against mirrors, which form part of the toilet equipment of nearly every Indian, but which must not even be brought near the _taíme_ of the Kiowa. Notwithstanding this, Tenpíäk`ia, in defiance of the medicine and its priest, deliberately rode around inside the circle with a small mirror while the _taíme_ was exposed, and afterward tried to poison Ansó`te by scraping off the mercury from the back and mixing it with some tobacco which he gave to the priest to smoke. Ansó`te took one puff, but detecting something wrong, put away the pipe, saying, "There is something there of which I am afraid." Soon afterward Ten-píäk`ia, while hunting buffalo, was thrown from his horse and killed, which was regarded as a speedy punishment of his sacrilege.

[Illustration: FIG. 113--Rain symbols (_a_ Chinese; _b_ Hopi; _c_ Ojibwa)].

Although Indian tradition records frequent instances of careless and unthinking neglect of some of the numerous taboos and other regulations in connection with sacred matters, such a deliberate defiance of their ordinances is almost unexampled; more rare, indeed, than heresy in the old days when Europe held but one religious doctrine. It is of interest as showing that even among savages attempts are sometimes made by bolder spirits to break away from the bonds of mental slavery. A somewhat similar incident is recorded for 1861.

[Illustration: FIG. 114--Winter 1853-54--Pä´ñgyägíate killed.]

WINTER 1853-54

Soon after the last sun dance a war party went into Chihuahua (_Toñhéñ-t'a`ká-i-dómbe_, "waterless Mexican country"), east of the Sierra Madre, where they met and attacked a mule train. The Mexicans made a circle of the wagons, with the mules on the inside, and prepared to defend themselves. A distinguished warrior named _Pä´ñgyägíate_ succeeded in entering the circle and was striking the mules with his bow, equivalent to putting his seal of ownership upon all thus struck, when he was shot and killed by a Mexican who had approached him unseen. No other Kiowa was killed. Pá-tadal was one of this party.

[Illustration: SAND MOSAIC OF THE HOPI ANTELOPE PRIESTS, (AFTER FEWKES)]

The man killed was one of the Kâ´itséñko (see summer 1846), as indicated by the headdress and the red sash of the order pendent from his shoulder. He is further designated by his shield--represented hanging at his side--which was made by Äk`ódalte, "Feather-necklace," and the picture of which is at once recognized by the old warriors of the tribe. The name Pä´ñgyägíate may be rendered "Sacrifice" or "Sacrifice-man," from _pä´ñgyä_, a sacrifice or offering "thrown away" on the hills as a gift to the sun.

SUMMER 1854

_Äyä´daldä´ P'a K`ádó_, "Timber-mountain creek sun dance." This dance was held upon the creek upon which the most important treaty of the Kiowa was afterward made (see winter 1867-68). The event of the summer was the killing of Black-horse by the Sauk and other allied tribes.

[Illustration: FIG. 115--Summer 1854--Black-horse killed.]

The brother of Set-ĭmkía, "Pushing-bear," more commonly known as Stumbling-bear, had been killed by the Pawnee, and at this dance he sent the pipe around as a summons for a great expedition against that tribe. Other tribes were invited to join the Kiowa, and a large war party set out, consisting of several hundred warriors of seven tribes--Kiowa, Apache, Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Osage, and some Crows. They crossed the Arkansas and proceeded to the northeast until they reached _Gúigyä P'a_, "Pawnee river" (Smoky Hill), where they met a small party of about eighty _Säkíbo_ (i. e., Sauk and Fox), with a few Potawatomi, three cognate tribes which had been removed from beyond the Mississippi to reservations in eastern Kansas. The latter advanced against the Kiowa, who summoned them to halt, but notwithstanding the great disparity in numbers, the eastern Indians at once attacked the prairie warriors. Securing a sheltered position, and being all well armed with rifles with which "they hit every time," while the Kiowa and their allies were in the open prairie and armed chiefly with bows, the Sauk not only kept them off but defeated them with the loss of about twenty killed, among whom were twelve of the Kiowa, including _Tseñ-kóñkyä_, "Black-horse," a prominent war chief.

This is the story as given by the Kiowa themselves, who ascribe their disastrous defeat by a comparative handful of men to the rifles in the hands of the Sauk warriors. This battle occurred either on Smoky-hill or Saline river, in Kansas, about midway between the present Fort Harker and Fort Hays.

Although Set-ĭmkía says that the expedition was originally organized against the Pawnee to avenge the killing of his brother by that tribe, other informants state that it was organized and led by Tseñ-kóñkyä, the man who was killed, for the special purpose of exterminating the immigrant tribes, and this statement agrees with the official accounts. The Indian Report for 1854 contains an extended notice of this great war party, which went after wool and came back shorn.

In the summer of that year the agent for the southern plains tribes started for the Indian rendezvous near Fort Atkinson, on the Arkansas, with a large train of goods for distribution in accordance with the terms of the treaty made at that point in the previous year, having first sent messengers ahead to inform the Indians of his approach.

The Indians were encamped on Pawnee fork, at the crossing of the Santa Fé road, where they were collected in larger numbers than had ever been known to assemble on the Arkansas before. Old traders estimate the number at twelve to fifteen hundred lodges, and the horses and mules at from forty to fifty thousand head. The entire Kiowa and Prairie Comanches were there; several hundred of Texas or Woods Comanches had come over; the Prairie Apaches, one band of Arapahoes and two bands of Cheyennes and the Osages composed the grand council. They had met for the purpose of forming a war party, in order, as they in their strong language said, to _wipe out_ all frontier Indians they could find on the plains. Two days previous to my arrival they broke up camp and started north. As soon as I heard that they were gone I sent two runners to try and bring them back. They, however, declined coming, and sent word that they would soon return, as it would take but a short time to clear the plains of all frontier Indians.

They were doomed to be disappointed, as other nations, great in their own imaginations, have been. At some place near Kansas river they met about one hundred Sac and Fox Indians and the fight commenced, and from their own account lasted about three hours, when, to their great surprise, the combined forces were compelled to retreat, leaving their dead on the field, which Indians never do unless badly whipped. They report their loss at about sixteen killed and one hundred wounded. From the best information I can get, the Sacs and Foxes were as much surprised at the result as the others, for there is no doubt but that they would have run too if they could have seen a hole to get out at. They had taken shelter in a ravine and were for a long time surrounded. The prairie Indians were armed with the bow and arrow, while the others had fine rifles. One is a formidable weapon in close quarters, but worthless at more than about fifty yards. The rifle told almost every shot. It is easily accounted for why one hundred whipped fifteen hundred.

The former had a weapon to fight with; the latter had none at the distance they were fighting. I learn that the Sacs and Foxes lost six killed, but they were killed with the rifle. The Osages have fine guns, and they must have shot them, for I am certain the other Indians have nothing in the shape of guns, except a few Northwest shotguns, and they are of but little use. The Sacs and Foxes are satisfied that the Osages did them the only damage they received, and as an evidence I learn that war has been declared between the nations, and already some scalps have been taken. This may save the government from whipping them (the Osages), as it is certain somebody will have it to do soon (_Report, 82_).

In his report for the same year the Indian superintendent says:

I am officially advised that on the arrival of Agent Whitfield at Fort Atkinson, on the Arkansas river, with the annuity goods for the Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches, in July last, he found that they had all gone on a war party against the tribes of the north, confident from their numbers, estimated at fifteen hundred, to gain an easy victory over any tribes they should encounter. In the vicinity of Smoky Hill they came up with a party of Sacs and Foxes and a few Pottawatomies, the whole not exceeding two hundred [_sic_] in number. The Comanches, believing, to use the words of one of their chiefs, that they could "eat up" so small a force in a few minutes, made a general charge. The Sacs allowed them to approach until within a hundred yards, when they opened upon them a well-directed fire from their rifles, which, being unexpected, appalled, and for the moment checked, their assailants. Three times these charges were repeated, and each time with a like fatal result. The Comanches at length retired, crestfallen and dispirited, having twenty-six killed and over one hundred wounded. On their return to Fort Atkinson their appearance and deportment were quite changed. They seemed humble and dejected, and quietly and submissively received their annuities and retired. The loss of the Sacs and Foxes is reported to be very inconsiderable (_Report, 83_).

[Illustration: FIG. 116--Winter 1854-55--Gyaí`koaóñte killed.]

The agent for the Sac and Fox tribes gives a sequel which illustrates Indian vengeance:

On the second of August, by the request of the chiefs and head men of the Sac and Fox tribe of Indians, I reported to the honorable Commissioner of Indian Affairs, through your office, an account of an attack made on the Sacs and Foxes by the Comanches, Arapahoes, and Osages, about the tenth of July, one hundred miles west of Fort Riley. Some five or six days ago a Sac Indian, who had a brother killed in that battle, left here by himself, went within four hundred yards of an Osage encampment, met two Osage men, shot one down and went up and scalped him; could have killed the other, but wished him to live to carry the news of what he had done to the Osage camp; waited until he had done so; heard the cries and lamentations of those in the camp for their dead kinsman, mounted his horse and returned with his scalp. The nation immediately upon his return moved to within a mile of the agency, where they are now dancing with joy and triumph over the trophy brought back in this warlike achievement to them (_Report, 84_).

Whirlwind, the famous war chief of the southern Cheyenne, who died in 1895, had every feather shot away from his war bonnet in this engagement, which he always declared was the hardest fight he had ever been in. Notwithstanding this, he was not wounded, owing to the protecting power of a medicine hawk which he wore upon his war bonnet! He said:

When all the feathers were shot away the hawk was not hit. Balls went to the right and left, above and below me. I was mounted and the Sacs and Foxes were on foot in a hollow like a buffalo wallow. It was the Great Spirit and the hawk which protected me (_Clark, 15_).

WINTER 1854-55

Gyaí`koaóñte "Likes-enemies," is killed by the _Ä´lähó_. He is identified in the picture by his shield, which is recognized as one made by Set-pate, "He-bear," and by the collar of the Kâitséñko, to which order he belonged. The zigzag stroke touching his breast is intended to show that he was killed by a bullet.

According to one statement, the Kiowa warriors had gone against the Osage on Arkansas river and found their camp with a number of horses hobbled near by. They waited until night and then made an attempt to steal the horses, but were ambuscaded by the Osage and this man was killed. Another informant states that the Indians concerned were not the Osage (_K`apä´to_, "Shaved-heads,") but the _Ä´lähó_ (Kwapa? Omaha?), described as a tribe living to the northward of the Osage and similar to them in language and costume. As the Kiowa generally state that they have been friends with the Osage since the peace of 1834, and more particularly as they had been allies against the Sauk only a few months before this occurrence, the latter story is probably correct.

[Illustration: FIG. 117--Summer 1855--Sitting summer.]

SUMMER 1855

_Toñgúayo Paídă_, "Summer of sitting with legs crossed and extended." For some reason the word for summer is here used in the plural form. The figure is sufficiently suggestive. There was no sun dance this summer. The weather was extremely hot and the grass dried up, in consequence of which the horses became so weak that when traveling the Kiowa were frequently obliged to halt and sit down to allow the animals to rest.

WINTER 1855-56

´daltoñ-édal, "Big-head," the brother of Gyaí`koaóñte, who had been killed by the _Ä´lähó_ (? see ante) in the preceding winter, after having cried all summer, went this winter for revenge, met an _Ä´lähó_ (or an Osage?) hunting buffalo, and killed him.

The figure with a bow above the winter mark represents A´daltoñ-édal, indicated by the head above the head of the figure, while in front of him is the Osage (?), with the arrow in his breast and the blood pouring from his mouth. The headdress is like that hitherto used to indicate a Pawnee, both tribes wearing the head shaved, leaving a crest. During this winter also a war party went into Chihuahua and brought back a large number of horses, but lost one man, "Going-on-the-road."

[Illustration: FIG. 118--Winter 1855-56--Big-head kills an Ä´lähó.]

SUMMER 1856

_Séñ-äló K`ádó_, "Prickly-pear sun dance." The prickly-pears or tunas (_Opuntia tortispina ?_) are shown above the medicine lodge. This dance was held at a place where there was an abundance of prickly-pears, at the mouth of a small creek, probably Caddo or Rate creek, entering Arkansas river about 10 miles below Bent's fort, in Colorado. It was held late in the fall, when the prickly-pears were ripe, instead of in midsummer, as usual, and the women gathered a large quantity. This circumstance has given the distinctive name to the _k`ádó_. The sweet fruit of the tuna is much prized by the Indians, who eat it raw, while the fleshy leaves are used as a mordant in their painting upon buckskin.

[Illustration: FIG. 119--Summer 1856--Prickly-pear sun dance.]

WINTER 1856-57

_Dó-gyäkódal-de Sai_, "Winter that they left their tipis behind." The two tipis above the winter mark are intended to convey the idea.

After the last sun dance, while the Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Arapaho were still camped near Bent's fort, a Kiowa war party under Big-bow and Stumbling-bear went against the Navaho, while the rest, men and women, under old Lone-wolf, went after buffalo, leaving their tipis rolled up in care of Bent. On their return they found the Cheyenne in possession of their tipis, and on complaining to Bent he said, "I have given them to my people" (i. e., the Cheyenne). A quarrel ensued, in which the Cheyenne shot Lone-wolf's horse and slightly wounded one Kiowa and drove the others away, retaining possession of the tipis. This appears to have been the most serious break between the two tribes since they had made peace in 1840.

[Illustration: FIG. 120--Winter 1856-57--Tipis left.]

SUMMER 1857

_Ä´potó Ek`iädă´-de K`ádó_, "Sun dance when the forked stick sprouted." The figure (121) represents a forked stick, with leaves, growing out from the side of the medicine lodge.

This dance was held on the north side of Salt fork of the Arkansas (_Ätäntaí P'a_, "Salt river") at a small creek, probably Elm creek, a considerable distance below upper Mule creek (_Ädóä P'a_) in Oklahoma. A Kiowa named K`ayä´ñte, "Falls-over-a-bank," owned a sacred _ä´poto_, or two-pronged stick of _ä`gótä_, or chinaberry wood about four feet long, trimmed with wild sage, which had been given him by his uncle Kóñabíñate or Kóñate, "Black-tripe." It was his medicine, which he carried publicly only in the sun dance, and no one else had such a stick. He carried it on this occasion, keeping time to the dance with it, and at the end of the ceremony planted it, with the fork down, inside the medicine lodge as a sacrifice. On returning to the place next year the Kiowa found that it had been reversed by someone and had taken root and put forth green leaves. This was the more remarkable, as it had previously been stripped of its bark. The news of the phenomenon spread through the tribe and confirmed the previous impression concerning the mysterious powers of the _ä´poto_. Ten years later, on the occasion of the treaty of Medicine Lodge, the Kiowa visited the spot and found that the rod had grown into a tree and was still alive. It is just possible that K`ayä´ñte, who is still living, could explain the matter.

After this dance two war parties started out, one against the _Pä´sûñko_ (_Paseños_, Mexicans of El Paso), and another, consisting principally of Comanche under the chief Mäwi, against the Sauk and Fox tribes, who had so badly punished them three years before. They met the Sauk northeast of the scene of the former battle and had an engagement in which several of the Sauk were killed. Gaápiatañ was one of this party. No mention of these expeditions occurs in the official reports.

[Illustration: FIG. 121--Summer 1857--Forked-stick-sprouting sun dance.]

The story of the origin of the _ä´poto_ staff is romantic, and throws light upon several interesting points of Indian belief and custom. Eighteen years before this sun dance (i. e., in 1839) a small party of about twenty Kiowa warriors led by Gúădalóñte, "Painted-red," started against the _Pä´sûñko_, already mentioned. The old chief Dohasän accompanied the party, but not as leader. It should be noted that usually every war party had a substitute leader or lieutenant, who took command in case of the death of the leader. For some reason they made no attack upon El Paso, probably because they found it too vigilantly guarded, but stayed only one night and started the next day on their return. In the desolate Jornada del Muerto, between the lower Pecos and the Rio Grande, they halted for the night at a spring coming out of a cave since known to the Kiowa as _Tsó-dói-gyätä´dă´-dée_, "the rock house (cave) in which they were surrounded." None of the Kiowa can define its exact location, but they describe it as a deep rock well with a large basin of water, and on one side of it a cave running under the rock from the water's edge. Pope's statement shows it to have been the Hueco Tanks, in western Texas, just south of the New Mexico line. While resting there they were surrounded by a large force of Mexican soldiers, who killed several of their horses and forced them to take refuge in the cave. The Mexicans had with them several Mescalero Indians (E´sikwita), who, however, were rather doubtful allies, as one of them, who spoke Comanche, shouted to the Kiowa in that language, encouraging them to hold out.

On being driven into the cave the Kiowa found themselves cut off from both food and water. They were watched so closely by the Mexicans that they could only venture out to the edge of the water under cover of darkness to get a hasty drink or cut from the dead horses a few strips of putrefying flesh, which they had to eat raw. One man was shot in the leg while thus endeavoring to obtain water. From the stench of the dead horses, and the hunger, thirst, and watchfulness, they were soon reduced to a terrible condition of suffering.

On exploring the cave to see if there might be any means of escape, they found that it extended a considerable distance, and at the farther end was a hole opening to the surface. One of them climbed up and thrust his head out of the opening, but was seen by the soldiers, who at once effectually closed the hole. It was evident that the Mexicans were afraid to attack the Indians and were determined to keep them penned up until they were starved. To add to their distress, the decaying carcasses of the horses soon made the water unfit to drink. After ten days of suffering they realized that a longer stay meant dying in the cave, and it was resolved to make a desperate attempt to escape that night.

The sides of the well were steep and difficult, but they had noticed a cedar growing from a crevice in the rock, the top of which reached nearly to the height of the cliff, and it seemed just possible that by its means they might be able to climb out. That night, after dark, they made the attempt and succeeded in gaining the top without being discovered by the soldiers on guard. One only, the man who had been shot in the leg, was unable to climb. He implored his comrades to take him with them, but finding that impossible, they answered that it was his life against theirs and if they remained with him or lost time in trying to get him out they would all perish together. They urged him to have a strong heart and die like a warrior; he calmly accepted the inevitable, saying only; "When you get home, tell my comrades to come back and avenge me." Then he sat down by the side of the well to await death when daylight should reveal him to his enemies. His name, Dágoi, deserves to be remembered.

Dohasän was the first to reach the top; he belonged to the Kâitséñko, and it is said that before leaving the cave he had sung the song of that warrior order in which they bid defiance to death, the same which Set-ängya afterward chanted before he sprang upon the guard and was riddled with bullets by the soldiers.

As they emerged they saw the fires of their enemies burning in various directions about the mouth of the cave. The Indians were sheltered by the darkness, but some of the soldiers heard a slight noise and fired at random in that direction, and seriously wounded Koñate, who was shot through the body. The Kiowa succeeded in making their escape, probably helping themselves to some of the Mexican horses, and carried with them their wounded comrade until they reached a noted spring, perhaps on the edge of the Staked plain, known as _Pai-k`op tóñtep_, "Sun-mountain spring," from its circular shape and its situation on the top of a mountain. By this time Koñate's wounds were in such condition that it seemed only a question of a few hours when he would die. Finding themselves unable to carry him in his helpless condition across the desolate plains, his friends reluctantly decided to leave him to his fate. Placing him within reach of the water, they raised over him an arbor of branches to shield him from the sun, and rode away, intending on reaching home to send back a party, in accordance with their custom, to bring back his bones for burial.

Deserted by his companions, his wounds putrefying under the hot sun, Koñate lay stretched out by the spring silently awaiting the end. The sun went down and day faded into night, when far off on the hillside he heard the cry of a wolf; the wounded man roused himself from his stupor and listened; again he heard the cry of the wolf, but this time from another direction and evidently near; despair seized him as he realized that the coyotes had scented their prey and were gathering to the feast, and now he heard the patter of the light feet and the sniffing of the animal as a wolf prowled around him; but instead of springing upon the helpless man and tearing him in pieces, the wolf came up and gently licked his wounds, then quietly lay down beside him.

Now he heard another sound in the distance, the _tsó dal-tem_, or eagle-bone whistle of the sun dance; it approached, and he heard the song of the _k`ádó_, and at last the spirit of the _taíme_ stood before him and said: "I pity you, and shall not let you die, but you shall see your home and friends again." The _taíme_ then sent a heavy rain to clear out his wounds and afterward talked long with him, giving him instructions for a new shield and conferring upon him mysterious powers of medicine, of which the proof and emblem should be the _ä´poto_ staff, which he instructed him to make after his return. Then the spirit left him, saying, "Help is near." The Kiowa insist that all this was not a dream or vision, but an actual waking occurrence; but of course most of it was the delirium of fever.

As his comrades proceeded on their way, they met six Comanche warriors on their way to Mexico, to whom they told the story of their encounter, also that they would find Koñáte's dead body at the spring, and asked them to cover it from the wolves. Then they parted, the Kiowa continuing on to the northward, while the Comanche proceeded toward the spring, where they intended to camp for the night. On arriving, they were astonished to find Koñáte alive and in somewhat better condition than when his comrades had left him. Seeing that there was a chance of saving his life, the Comanche washed his wounds and fed him; next morning they put him upon one of their extra horses, and abandoning their proposed raid turned back and brought him safely to his friends and tribe, where he fully recovered and lived for many years. A few years after his return, he made several shields, as directed by the _taíme_, one of which still exists in possession of Dr J. D. Glennan, U. S. A., now stationed at Fort Clark, Texas; he also made the sacred _ä´poto_, which he carried for some time in the annual sun dance, and afterward bestowed it upon his son (i. e., nephew) K`ayä´ñti, who still lives, now an old man. Koñáte subsequently assumed the name, of Pá-tadal, "Lean-bull," which he conferred later on its present owner, commonly known to the whites as Poor-buffalo.

Captain Pope, who visited the Hueco tanks in 1854, describes the peculiar formation of the cave springs and mentions the Gúadalóñte fight of some years before, his statements being evidently derived from the Mexicans, who were disposed to magnify their own part in the affair. He says:

Besides the water contained in the tanks there are numerous holes and crevices in the mountains, which contain sufficient for every purpose to last for a considerable time. It is proper to remark that animals can not drink from the tanks; the water is taken out in buckets and thrown down the rocks until all have been supplied. Thus watering is a matter of time and labor. The peculiar formation of these mountains, their innumerable caverns and hiding places, seem to have been intended for a refuge for the Indians; nor have they neglected to avail themselves of its advantages. In one instance, however, they "reckoned without their host." About fourteen years ago these Arabs of New Mexico, the Apaches, having made a desperate foray upon the Mexicans, retreated with their plunder to these mountains. The Mexicans surprised and surrounded them, hemming them up in the rocky ravine forming the eastern tank. Here an engagement took place, in which the Indians were totally defeated and nearly exterminated, only two or three escaping. It is said that upward of one hundred of them were killed (_Pacific Railroad, 1_).

[Illustration: FIG. 122--Winter 1857-58--Horses stolen.]

WINTER 1857-58

The Kiowa camped this winter on Two-butte creek (_Ä´zót P'a_, "Driftwood creek"), a southern tributary of the Arkansas, below Bent's Fort in Colorado. A band of Pawnee came on foot and stole six bunches of horses, including all those of T'ébodal and Set-ängya; among them were three spotted mules. The Kiowa pursued the thieves for three days and came in sight of them at sunset; they intended to strike them next morning and get the stock, but that night a snowstorm came on and stopped the pursuit; however, they killed one Pawnee who had been crippled by the cold. The figure above the winter mark represents the stolen horses.

SUMMER 1858

_Ädo-byúñi K`ádó_, "Timber-circle sun dance." This dance was held on lower Mule creek, entering the Salt fork of the Arkansas from the north, near the mouth of Medicine-lodge creek; it was so called because held in a natural circular opening in the timber, as indicated in the figure representing a circle of trees around the medicine lodge.

[Illustration: FIG. 123--Summer 1858--Timber-circle sun dance.]

WINTER 1858-59

_Gúi-k`áte Ehótal-de Sai_, "Winter that Wolf-lying-down was killed." The figure above the winter mark represents a man shot through the body, his name being indicated by the connected figure overhead.

After the last sun dance, the Kiowa warriors made a great raid into Chihuahua and captured a number of horses. They had recrossed the Rio Grande and camped on the northern side, when they were attacked at sunrise by a pursuing party of Mexicans. The Indians fled and escaped, excepting Gúi-k`áte, "Wolf-lying-down," who rode a mare which was delayed by a colt in following, and was therefore unable to get away from the enemy, who shot and killed him.

Set-t'aiñte and Set-ĭmkía also went against the Ute this fall and found and attacked a single tipi on the upper South Canadian, killing one man and wounding several others.

[Illustration: FIG. 124--Winter 1858-59--Gúi-k`áte killed.]

SUMMER 1859

_Ahíñ-dóha K`adó_, "Cedar-bluff sun dance." The figure at the side of the medicine lodge is intended to represent a cedar tree on a bluff.

This dance was held at a place known to the Kiowa as "Cedar bluff," on the northern side of Smoky-hill river (_Pe P'a_, "Sand river"), about opposite the mouth of Timber creek, near the present Fort Hays, Kansas. The Kiowa state that they went so far north on account of the abundance of buffalo in that vicinity. This dance is sometimes also called _Ää'otón-de K`adó_, "Timber-clearing sun dance," from the fact that most of the trees once there had been cut down.

[Illustration: FIG. 125--Summer 1859--Cedar-bluff sun dance.]

WINTER 1859-60

Gíaká-ite, "Back-hide," died, and a cross was afterward erected over his bones. The figure of the individual, with the cross above his head, explains itself. The _gíăká-i_ or "back hide" (see the Glossary) is a piece of rawhide worn over the shoulders by women, to protect the back when carrying wood or other burdens.

Gíaká-ite was a very old man, and died on the Staked plain (_Päsä´ngya_, "Edge prairie"), at a salt pond called _Tóñ-kóñ_, "Black water," perhaps the Agua Negra, just within the Texas boundary. 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." However, on their next move they left him behind to shift for himself, and as he was too feeble to keep up with the party he died alone. Whether he died a lingering death of starvation or met a quicker fate by the coyotes, is unknown; but some time afterward a small war party of the Kiowa, passing near the spot, found his skeleton, over which kind hands--probably Mexican travelers--had erected a rude cross.

[Illustration: FIG. 126--Winter 1859-60--Gíaká-ite died.]

The winter before his death, while the Kiowa were on the move somewhere in the same neighborhood, Âdalpepte and his wife, being some distance behind the others, met the old man mounted upon an animal nearly as feeble as its rider, vainly endeavoring to catch up with the main party. It was bitterly cold and he had no blanket. Âdalpepte, unable to endure the sight, generously took off his own buffalo robe and threw it over the old man's shoulders, saying to him, "Take it; I am young and can stand more." Thus, before we make an estimate of Indian character from this story we must decide how far the generosity of the one act offsets the heartless cruelty of the other. It is but fair to state that Gíaká-ite had no immediate relatives who were in condition to help him, as his children were dead and his grandson was but a small boy, so that no one felt directly responsible for his welfare. Abandonment of the aged and helpless was not infrequent among the prairie tribes, but was rather a hard necessity of their wandering life than deliberate cruelty, as generally the aged are treated with the greatest respect and consideration. This is particularly the case among tribes who are less nomadic in habit.

SUMMER 1860

T'ené-badaí, "Bird-appearing," was killed. The figure shows a man shot through the body, with blood streaming from his mouth, while the bird above is intended to indicate his name. As there was no sun dance this year, the medicine lodge is omitted.

A part of the Kiowa tribe was south of the Arkansas, while the rest, with the Kwáhadi and other western Comanche, under the chiefs Täbi-nä´năkă (Hears-the-sun) and Ĭsä-hä´bĭt (Wolf-lying-down), were camped north of that stream, when one day the latter party discovered a large body of people crossing the river. Täbi-nä'năka went out to reconnoiter, and returned with the report that there were a great many of them and that they were probably enemies. The Kiowa and Comanche at once broke camp and fled northward, and on their way met the Cheyenne and Arapaho, to whom they told the news, whereupon the latter also fled with them. By this time it had been discovered that the pursuers were white soldiers, accompanied by a large body of Caddo, Wichita, Tonkawa, and Pénätĕka Comanche. As they fled, the Kiowa and their allies kept spies on the lookout, who one night reported their enemies asleep, when they turned and attacked them at daylight, killing a soldier, but losing a Comanche named Silver-knife (properly Tin-knife, _Hâ´ñt'aiñ-k`á_ in Kiowa), who was shot through the neck with an arrow, and a Kiowa named T'ené-badaí, "Bird-appearing," noted for his handsome appearance, who was killed by a Caddo. The engagement took place in Kansas, somewhere northward from Smoky-hill river (_Pe P'a_).

[Illustration: FIG. 127--Summer 1860--Bird-appearing killed.]

The Pénätĕka Comanche lived in Texas, near the settlements, and associated more with the Caddo, Wichita, and whites than with their western kinsmen, the Kwáhadi Comanche, against whom and their allies, the Kiowa and Apache, they several times aided the whites.

There is no direct notice of this engagement in the Indian Report, but the Commissioner states that peace had prevailed among the treaty tribes during the year, with the conspicuous exception of the Kiowa, whose increasing turbulence would seem to render military operations against them advisable. In another place he states that both the Kiowa and Comanche were known to be hostile, and that the army had been ordered to chastise them, as the only way to make them respect their engagements and to stay their murderous hands. In going to Bent's fort, he says:

Citizens of the United States in advance of me as I went out, and also on my return, were brutally murdered and scalped upon the road. It is a fact also worthy of remark that the murders were committed almost within range of the guns at Fort Larned. The Indian mode of warfare, however, is such that it is almost impossible to detect them in their designs. They cautiously approach the Santa Fé road, commit the most atrocious deeds, and flee to the plains (_Report, 85_).

WINTER 1860-61

This winter is known as _´dálká-i Dóha Sai_, "Crazy-bluff winter." While the Kiowa were encamped on the south side of the Arkansas, near the western line of Kansas, a man named Gaá-bohónte, "Crow-bonnet," the brother of the man who had been killed by the Caddo the preceding summer, raised a party for revenge. They went to the Caddo camp on the head of Sugar creek, in the present Caddo and Wichita reservation, where they encountered a Caddo looking for his horses. They killed and scalped him, and brought back with them the scalp over which the Kiowa held a scalp dance at a bluff on the south side of Bear creek (_T'á-zótă´ P'a_, "Antelope-corral river"), near its head, between the Cimarron and the Arkansas, near the western line of Kansas. From the rejoicing on this occasion the place took the name of Foolish, or Crazy bluff.

The picture represents a man with a scalp on a pole, while the projection at the upper end of the winter mark indicates the bluff.

[Illustration: FIG. 128--Winter 1860--1861--Crazy-bluff winter.]

About the same time a war party went into Texas, but lost three men.

The _zótă´_ or driveway for catching antelope was an open corral of upright logs, stripped of their branches, with an entrance, from which diverged two lines of posts set at short distances from one another and covered with blankets to resemble men. The antelope were surrounded on the prairie and driven toward the corral until they came between the converging lines of posts, when it was an easy matter to force them into the closed circle, where they were slaughtered. The _zótă´_ was used for catching antelope at any season of the year. It was not used for deer, as the deer could jump over an ordinary corral.

For a description of another method, the _ät'ákagúa_, or "antelope medicine," see Winter 1848-49. Antelope make regular trails from their shelter places to their grazing grounds, and the Indians sometimes caught them by digging a large pitfall along such a trail--an entire band assisting in the work--and carrying the excavated earth a long distance away, so as to leave no trace on the trail, after which the pitfall was loosely covered with bushes and grass. The hunters then concealed themselves until the herd approached, when they closed in behind and drove the frightened animals forward until they fell into the pit.

Wild horses also were sometimes taken in driveways called _t'á-tséñ-zótă´_ ("wild-horse driveway"), which were set up near the water holes in the Staked plain, usually in summer, when the streams were dry and the animals were obliged to resort to these places for water. A steep cliff was sometimes utilized to form one side of the corral or driveway. In hunting buffalo the Indians sometimes built converging leadways to the edge of a cliff and then drove the animals over the precipice.

SUMMER 1861

_T'óigúăt Äpäñ´tsep-de K`ádó_, "Sun dance when they left the spotted horse tied." The picture shows the spotted or pinto horse tied to the medicine lodge.

This dance was held near a canyon, on the south bank of upper Walnut creek, entering the Arkansas at the Great Bend in Kansas. The event recorded throws another curious light on Indian belief. At the sun dance no one but the _taíme_ priest must attempt any "medicine," but on this occasion a man called Dogúatal-edal, "Big-young-man," became "crazy" and committed sacrilegious acts, tearing off his feather headdress and throwing it upon the _taíme_ image, and afterward, when they were smoking to the sun, taking the pipe and throwing it away. No reason is given for these strange actions, except that he was temporarily crazy, as he had never acted strangely before, but the Indians believe that, as his conscience troubled him after he came to his senses, he gave this horse to the _taíme_ as an atonement. At the close of the dance he tied a spotted horse to one of the poles inside the medicine lodge and left it there, where it probably died. Such a thing as tying a horse to the medicine lodge had never before been heard of, although a horse was sometimes sacrificed to the sun by tying it to a tree out upon the hills and leaving it there to perish.

The old war chief Gaápiatañ twice sacrificed a horse in this manner, once during the cholera of 1849, when he offered a gray horse as a propitiatory sacrifice for himself, his parents, and brothers and sisters; also again, in the smallpox epidemic of 1861-62 (see next year), he offered a fine black-eared horse, hobbling it and tying it to a tree, with a prayer to the spirit of the disease to take his horse and spare himself and his children and friends. On both occasions his faith appears to have been rewarded, as none of his relatives died. The horse offered on this last occasion was of the kind called _t'á-kóñ_, "black-eared," considered by the Kiowa to be the finest of all horses.

[Illustration: FIG. 129--Summer 1861--Pinto left tied.]

Dogúatal-édal afterward led a small war party, seven in number, including one woman, into Mexico. None of them ever returned, all the warriors having been killed, probably by Ute warriors, among whom the woman was found living by Big-bow and his companions when they visited that tribe in 1894. It was on this occasion that the Kiowa tribe gained the first intimation concerning the fate of the party. The woman was then the wife of a Ute and the mother of three of his children. Big-bow wanted her to return home with them, especially as her son by her Kiowa husband was still living, but her Ute husband was unwilling to come, and she refused to leave him and her three other children.

WINTER 1861-62

_Tä´dalkop Sai_, "Smallpox winter." The smallpox, like the measles, is indicated by a human figure covered with red spots (see 1839-40 and 1892). The Kiowa were camped for the winter about the Arkansas, in the vicinity of _Âdalka-i Doha_, in southwestern Kansas, and a party went into New Mexico to trade. They stopped at a town in the mountains at the head of the South Canadian, where smallpox was prevalent at the time, and the people warned them of the danger; they therefore left, but one Kiowa had already bought a blanket, which he refused to throw away, although requested to do so. On returning to their home camp, about New Year, he was attacked by the disease and died, and the epidemic spread through the tribe; many died, and the others scattered in various directions to escape the pestilence. The Cheyenne, Arapaho, Dakota, and other tribes also suffered greatly at the same time, as appears from the official report (_Report, 86_). It was in consequence of this epidemic that the Arikara abandoned their village lower down the Missouri and removed to their present location near Fort Berthold, North Dakota.

[Illustration: FIG. 130--Winter 1861-62--Smallpox.]

It will be noticed that for several years the Kiowa appear to have been drifting eastward from their former haunts on the upper Arkansas. Although no definite reason is assigned for this movement, it may have been due to the influx of white men into Colorado, consequent upon the discovery of gold at Pike's peak in 1858, which would have a tendency to drive away the buffalo as well as to disquiet the Indians.

SUMMER 1862

_Tä´dalkop Kyäkán K'ádó_, "sun dance after the smallpox," or sometimes simply _Tä´dalkop K'ádó_, "smallpox sun dance." It was held a short distance west of where the sun dance had been held in 1858, on Mule creek, near the junction of Medicine-lodge creek with the Salt fork of the Arkansas. No event of importance marked this summer, which is indicated only by the medicine lodge.

[Illustration: FIG. 131--Summer 1862--Sun dance after smallpox.]

WINTER 1862-63

_Ä´pätsä´t Sai_, "Treetop winter," or _Tséñko Sápän Étpata Sai_, "Winter when horses ate ashes." This winter the Kiowa camped on upper Walnut creek (_Tsodal-héñte-de P'a_, "No-arm's river"), which enters the Arkansas at the Great Bend, in Kansas. There was unusually deep snow upon the ground, so that the horses could not get at the grass, and in their hunger tried to eat the ashes thrown out from the camp fires.

In the early spring a large war party, accompanied by women, as was sometimes the custom among the Kiowa, started for Texas, along the trail which runs south through the Panhandle, crossing the North Canadian near Kiowa creek and passing on by Fort Elliott. While singing the "travel song" on a southern head stream of Wolf creek the tree tops returned the echo. The phenomenon was a mystery to the Indians, who ascribed it to spirits, but it may have been due to the fact that just south of the camp was a bluff, from which the sound may have been echoed back. The figure over the winter mark is intended to indicate the sound above the tree tops.

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.

[Illustration: FIG. 132--Winter 1862-63--Treetop winter.]

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.

[Illustration: FIG. 133--Summer 1863--No-arm's-river sun dance.]

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.

[Illustration: FIG. 134--Winter 1863-64--Big-head dies; Hâñzephó`da dies.]

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.

[Illustration: FIG. 135--Summer 1864--Ragweed sun dance; soldier fight.]

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.

[Illustration: FIG. 136--Winter 1864-65--Ute fight.]

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.