Of Hunts and Horses
The Kiowa, along with their trading partners, the Comanche, created a unique horse and
buffalo hunting culture that has persisted in the old West legends as quintessentially native
Americans. Their way of life has been romanticized in literature, eulogized in movies, and
extensively researched in history. When one thinks of the American Indian, inevitably the
Plains people come to mind.

However, the Kiowa were not originally from the southern plains. Having displaced the
Apache, Wichita and Caddo and their respective subgroups, they arrived in the Southwest
about the time that the Spanish and Americans laid claim to the same land. Hence, a
relationship fueled by suspicion and deceit, as well as trade and amicability, goaded both
sides.

Creation of a Culture
As legend has it, the Kiowa emerged from the hollow trunk of a cotton wood along the
northeastern Rocky Mountain range. Their creator gave them the land, customs, and taught
them to hunt. Small animals, such as deer, antelope, and fowl, constituted their main source
of game, though as they began to follow the herds, the buffalo became their mainstay. Thus, in
all likelihood, the Kiowa ended up controlling the area that today encompasses western
Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle and northeastern New Mexico, because they developed a
lifestyle so heavily reliant on bison.
Before they moved south, the Kiowa left the Rocky Mountains to live among the Crow in the
Black Hills. The Crow and Kiowa developed strong kinship bonds - 18th century  Chief Kicking
Bird was part Crow. The Dakota tribe, though, waged war on the Kiowas and Crows for
control of the land. The Kiowa followed the buffalo and entered the southern plains.

Like the Comanche, this developing plains culture never could have existed without the horse.
As the Spanish brought horses to America, the natives quickly realized the advantage of such
an animal to the hunt, and warriors would often raid Mexico and Texas to steal horses. The
Kiowa learned quickly to tame and handle the beasts, and they gained the reputation as being
superior riders.

Life with the Kiowa
Being nomadic, Kiowa villages were constructed of animal hide tents which, though sturdy
and durable, could be hastily disassembled. They lived inside these shelters - what
Americans call "tipis" or "wigwams" - even in winter, erecting grass fences to ward off the
bitter prairie cold. They transported their stuff with sleds called "travois," pulled either by
women, children, or dogs.

Women were in charge of the day-to-day operations of the village. They reared children, made
clothing, set up tents, cooked meals, prepared jerked beef, created food preparation utensils,
hauled water, etc, etc. The men enjoyed great status if they proved themselves as warriors
and hunters, and they
took several wives to reflect that. Marriage was rather quick and painless. After giving gifts to
the father of the bride, the newly wed couple would live with her family until the first child was
born, then the man would be able to have his own lodging (his wife usually stayed with her
mother, grandmother, sisters and aunts to raise the children). The Kiowa venerated their
children and did not believe in corporal punishment. Homosexual men were considered
spiritual (as they embodied both males and females), and they  were in charge of the Scalp
Dance, a ritual cleansing ceremony conducted after a successful raid.

The Kiowa participated in many ceremonial dances, the most important one being the Buffalo
Dance. They marked off time with a calendar - along with the Dakota, they were the only
Plains Indians to use such a device. James Mooney, a late 19th century explorer and writer,
wrote "Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians" in 1899 and surmised that the Kiowa did not
chart time the way Europeans did. Instead, seasons were marked off by a special names and
symbols, signifying what occurred during that timeframe. Mooney identified three calendars:
the Sett'an (used 1833-1864); the yearly Anko, and the monthly Anko.

Public Relations
In spite of invading Wichita and Apache territory, the Kiowa forged kinship bonds with them.
The Wichita confederacy  (consisting of the Taovayans, Tawakonies, Wacos, and Kiachais)
went along on horse raids and traded agricultural goods for buffalo. The Kiowa and Apache
intermarried and formed a separate group, the Kiowa-Apache, who retained
Kiowa culture.

The Caddoans, on the other hand, were completely agricultural people and along with the
Tonkawas resented the Kiowa intrusion. Further, the Kiowans waged war with the
Cheyennes, Dakota, Pawnee, Utes and Osages, often ambushing villages and taking captives
and scalps. Though the Kiowa were for the most part friendly, they did know that terrorizing
their enemies was an effective means to get their way.

American Contact
The Mexicans had dealt with the Kiowa since the 17th century, and the French had traded furs
with them since La Salle's journeys. However, the Kiowas' first contact with Americans
occurred at the beginning of the 19th century. While Lewis and Clark did not meet them, they
did note that they heard of them. Zebulon M. Pike met the Kiowas and Comanches in present
day Oklahoma in 1807, but the first prolonged meetings occurred with the Stephen Long
Expedition in 1820. The Long Expedition split into two groups; Edwin James and Stephen Long
were supposed to explore the Red River Valley, while Captain John R. Bell was to cover
Arkansas.

Bell wrote in his expedition journal how he twice
met Kiowa couples who were eloping, leaving
their villages to begin life anew among kindred
groups. He also provided physical descriptions -
the men being tall and strong, with braids over
each ear and in the back, and the women had
long, flowing hair and were invariably fat. Bell
seemed to be an agreeable sort and was well
received by Kiowa chiefs, who gifted him a
horse - the highest honor a Kiowa could bestow.

James and Long got confused and ended up following the Canadian, which took them back to
Arkansas. They also met with  Kiowas, though their interactions were not near as friendly.
The American party demanded food and water from the Kiowas, who gave so begrudgingly,
and several disputes over horses arose. Both the Bell and Long expeditions came to the
conclusion that the area west of Arkansas - what we refer to today as the "Great Plains" -
was "wholly unfit for civilization, and uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for
subsistence." They, along with Zebulon Pike, called it the  "great American desert."

Long's party already began to witness increasing hostility between the Americans and the
Indians. As time permits, I will  take you into the Kiowa's ever-shrinking world of the late 19th
century until today.
Kiowa Tipi
The Last of the Buffalo

Memories by Old Lady Horse, a
Kiowa

Everything the Kiowas had came
from the buffalo. Their tipis were
made of buffalo hides, so were
their clothes and moccasins.
They ate buffalo meat. Their
containers were made of hide, or
of bladders or stomachs. The
buffalo were the life of the Kiowas.

Most of all, the buffalo was part of
the Kiowa religion. A white buffalo
calf must be sacrificed in the Sun
Dance. The priests used parts of
the buffalo to make their prayers
when they healed people or when
they sang to the powers above.

So, when the white men wanted
to build railroads, or when they
wanted to farm or raise cattle, the
buffalo still protected the Kiowas.
They tore up the railroad tracks
and the gardens. They chased the
cattle off the ranges. The buffalo
loved their people as much as the
Kiowas loved them.

There was war between the
buffalo and the white men. The
white men built forts in the Kiowa
country, and the woolly-headed
buffalo soldiers shot the buffalo
as fast as they could (...)

Then the white men hired hunters
to do nothing but kill the buffalo.
Up and down the plains those
men ranged, shooting sometimes
as many as a hundred buffalo a
day. Behind them came the
skinners with their wagons (...)
Sometimes there would be a pile
of bones as high as a man,
stretching a mile along the
railroad track.

The buffalo saw that their day
was over. They could protect their
people no longer. Sadly, the last
remnant of the great heard
gathered in council, and decided
what they would do.

The Kiowas were camped on the
north side of Mount Scott, those
of then who were still free to
camp. One young woman got up
very early in the morning. The
dawn mist was still rising from
Medicine Creek, and as she
looked across the water, peering
through the haze, she saw the
last buffalo herd appear like a
spirit dream.

Straight to Mount Scott the leader
of the herd walked. Behind him
came the cows and their calves,
and the few young males who had
survived. As the woman watched,
the face of the mountain opened.

Inside Mount Scott the world was
green and fresh, as it had been
when she was a small girl. The
rivers ran clear, not red. The wild
plums were in blossom, chasing
the red buds up the inside slopes.
Into this world the beauty of the
buffalo walked, never to be seen
again.

Alice Marriott and Carol K. Rachlin,
American Indian Mythology  (New York:
Thomas Y. Crowell, 1968), 169-70.
Quoted in Our Hearts Fell to the Ground:
Plains Indians Views on How the West
was Lost, ed. by Colin G. Colloway (New
York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1996), 129-30.
The old Buffalo Road - Highway 82
west of Wichita Falls
Kiowa Chief Santana (White Bear), who
defied the white settlers to the bitter end.
The Kiowa - Home on the Plains
Travois