Kiowa Tribe

Alternative Names and Spellings: Kiowa, Kioway, Kaigwa, Gaigwa Ancestral Homeland: Cultural area: Great Plains - western Montana, migrated to Wyoming and western South Dakota Linguistic group: Kiowan

Federal Status: recognized

Kiowas Societies: Buffalo Doctor Society; Owl Doctor Society; Sun Dance Shield Society; Eagle Shield Society; only men were members of these societies. There was one society of a select older group of women known as Bear Women Society.

Pictoral history of the tribe known as winter and summer counts

Population: 1990: 10,000

Brief Timeline

 * 1682: Rene-Robert Caavelier, Sieure de La Salle a French explorer encountered the Kiowa
 * 1781: a smallpox epidemic killed an estimated 2,000 Kiowa
 * 1785: Left the Black Hills area due to conflict with Cheyenne-Arapaho and Sioux.
 * Unique Military advancement; some soldiers known as "Dog Soldiers"
 * 1790: Southern Kiowa move with Comanche to what is now New Mexico.
 * 1801: Smallpox epidemic -- loss of nearly half of the tribe
 * 1805: Lewis and Clark reported the Kiowa living along the North Platte River in Nebraska
 * 1806-: Migrated to southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma
 * 1806: Northern Kiowa reunite with Southern Kiowa
 * 1816: Smallpox epidemic
 * 1832: Treaty
 * 1833: Cut-Throat Massacre: Osage Indians attacked Kiowas camp killing many
 * 1835: Treaty at Fort Gibson
 * 1849: Cholera killed more than half of the tribe
 * 1853: Treaty at Fort Atkinson
 * 1860's: Governor John Evans encouraged a campaign of extermination against the Indians in the territory.
 * November 29, 1864: Sand Creek Massacre -- Colorado militia under the command of Colonel John Chivington engaged in battle against a friendly group of Kiowa - Black Kettle's camp where an American Flag flew over the camp. The tribe had been promised protection as long as the flag flew over their camp. More than 100 Kiowa were killed.

1864:' Kit Carson led troops against the Kiowa and Comanche Adope Walls in the Texas Panhandle destroying 176 tipis and employing the scorched earth policy.


 * 1865: Treaty at Little Arkansas River placed Kiowa and Comanche on a reservation in Indian Territory
 * 1867: Treaty
 * November 27, 1868: General Philip Sheridan directed winter attacks by Major Anderew W. Evans, Major Eugene A. Carr and Colonel George Armstrong Custer to attack the Indians along the Canadian and Washita River valleys.
 * 1868: removed to ______ with the Comanche and Kiowa Apache
 * 1892: Measles killed more than 300 of the Kiowa, Comanche and Kiowa-Apache

Additional References to the History of the Tribe

 * Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Arikara tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods.

Tribal Headquarters
Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma P.O. Box 369 Carnegie, OK 73015 Phone: 580.654.2300 Fax: 580.654.2188

Agencies

 * Upper Platte Agency
 * Upper Arkansas Agency
 * Kiowa Agency

Treaties:

 * 1832 March 26, Kiowa, Ect.,
 * 1853 July 27, 1853 Fort Atkinson, Comanche, Kiowa and Apache
 * 1865 October 18, Comanche and Kiowa
 * 1867 October 21,
 * 1867

Vital Records

 * Kiowa Agency, M595, Births and Deaths 1924-1932, FHL Film: 576909
 * Kiowa Agency, M595, Births and Deaths 1930-1936, FHL Film: 576911

Important Web Sites

 * Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma Official Website
 * Iowa Tribe Wikipedia

Kiowa

 * Denig, Edwin Thompson. Five Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri: Sioux, Arickaras, Assiniboines, Crees, Crows. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, c1981. The Civilization of American Indian Series:059. FHL book 970.1 D415f.

General

 * Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
 * Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
 * Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. WorldCat 317923332; FHL book 970.1 R259e.
 * Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188; FHL book 970.1 G131g.


 * Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean
 * Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America
 * Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau
 * Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands


 * Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978–.


 * Volume 1 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751
 * Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371
 * Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.4.
 * Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.5.
 * Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.6.
 * Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311
 * Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.8.
 * Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.9.
 * Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.10.
 * Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.11.
 * Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.12.
 * Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643
 * Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176
 * Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.15.
 * Volume 16 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746
 * Volume 18 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 19 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 20 -- Not yet published


 * Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
 * Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193; FHL book 970.1 W146e 2006.