Calendar history of the Kiowa Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 129-444))Mooney, James
History
Calendar history of the Kiowa Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 129-444))
Mooney, James
Kiowa Indians; Kiowa language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.
From the Mandan it spread to the north and west among the Crows,
Asiniboin, and Blackfeet. Among the last named it is estimated to have
destroyed from six to eight thousand (_Clark, 13_). As the plains tribes
were then almost unknown to the general government, we find little of
all this in the official reports beyond the mention that over sixty
lodges of Yanktonais Dakota--perhaps four hundred persons--died by this
disease about the same time (_Report, 75_). In 1838 it reached the
Pawnee, being communicated by some Dakota prisoners captured by them, in
the spring of that year. From the best information it seems probable
that at least two thousand Pawnee perished (_Clark, 14_), about double
the whole population of the tribe today. It probably continued southward
through the Osage until it reached the Kiowa and Comanche the next year,
although it is possible that it may have come more directly from the
east through the emigrating Chickasaw, who brought it with them to
Indian Territory in the spring of 1838 (_Report, 76_). We learn (_Gregg,
6_) that the disease ravaged New Mexico in the spring of 1840 and was
again carried east to the frontiers of the United States by the Santa Fé
traders.
SUMMER 184O
[Illustration: FIG. 82--Summer 1840--Red-bluff sun dance.]
_Gúadal Dóhá K`údó_, "Red-bluff sun dance," so called because held at
_Gúadal Dóha_ on the north side of the South Canadian, about the mouth
of Mustang creek, in the panhandle of Texas. The (red) figure over the
medicine lodge is intended to represent the "red bluff." The Red hills
on the North Canadian above Fort Reno are called by the same name, but
distinguished by the prefix _Sä´k`odal_, "Cheyenne."
The prominent event of this summer was the peace made by the Arapaho and
Cheyenne with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache--a peace which, with
trifling interruptions, has been kept to this day. According to the
Kiowa account, the first overtures were made by the Cheyenne, who sent
two delegates with proposals, but the Kiowa were suspicious and sent
them back. The Cheyenne then made a second attempt, with more success,
and a peace was concluded. The Arapaho were included in this treaty,
but, as the Kiowa say, had always been in doubtful friendship, even when
their allies, the Cheyenne, were at war with the Kiowa. On the occasion
of the notable massacre of Cheyenne, in 1837, the Arapaho were camped
with the Kiowa and left to give the alarm to their friends. This agrees
with the conduct of the Arapaho in more recent times in remaining
neutral while their Cheyenne confederates were at war with the whites.
WINTER 1840-41
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