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Kiowa History Timeline

(c. 1700s–Present)

Kiowa history traces the nation’s migration across the Great Plains, development of a distinctive warrior and ceremonial culture, encounters with the United States, and ongoing efforts to preserve Kiowa language, traditions, and sovereignty. Less

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Part of our collection of American history timelines.

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Migration and diplomacy

Kiowa migration toward the Southern Plains

1600 - 1800

The Kiowa migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and eventually reached the Southern Plains by the early nineteenth century.

Image source: Kiowa

Kiowa migration toward the Southern Plains

Kiowa migration to the Black Hills

1650

Around 1650, the Kiowa traveled southeast toward the Black Hills in present-day South Dakota and Wyoming while seeking lands of their own.

Kiowa life among the Crow

1650 - 1790

In the Black Hills region, the Kiowa lived peacefully alongside the Crow, maintained a long friendship with them, organized into ten bands, and numbered about 3,000 people.

Kiowa and Plains Apache connection

1700 - 1800

In the early eighteenth century, the Plains Apache lived around the upper Missouri River and maintained close connections with the Kiowa.

Image source: Kiowa language

Kiowa and Plains Apache connection

Kiowa-Comanche peace agreement

1790

In early spring 1790, at the place that became Las Vegas, New Mexico, a Kiowa party led by war leader Guikate offered peace to a Comanche party visiting the home of a mutual friend.

European neighbors posed little threat

1790 - 1825

During the closing years of the eighteenth century and the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the Kiowa feared little from their European neighbors.

Fort Atkinson Treaty signed

Jul 27, 1852

Dohäsan signed the Fort Atkinson Treaty with the United States on July 27, 1852, one of several treaties associated with his leadership.

Little Arkansas Treaty signed

1865

Dohäsan signed the Little Arkansas Treaty of 1865 with the United States.

Conflict and reservation era

Kiowa-Comanche raids into Mexico

1821 - 1870

From 1821 through 1870, the Kiowa joined the Comanche in raids, primarily to obtain livestock. These expeditions extended deep into Mexico and caused the deaths of thousands of people.

Osage attack at Head Mountain

1833

In summer 1833, the Osage attacked an exposed Kiowa camp near Head Mountain in present-day Oklahoma.

Kiowa alliance against eastern migrants

1840 - 1870

After 1840, the Kiowa and their former enemies, the Cheyenne, joined their Comanche and Apache allies in fighting and raiding Eastern peoples moving into Indian Territory.

Kiowa forced onto an Oklahoma reservation

1867

In 1867, the Kiowa were forced onto a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma.

Treaty of Medicine Lodge

1867

By the Treaty of Medicine Lodge in 1867, the Kiowa settled in western Oklahoma and Kansas. The agreement formed the basis for the reservation period.

Image source: Medicine Lodge Treaty

Treaty of Medicine Lodge

Kiowa reservation period

1868 - 1906

The Kiowa reservation period lasted from 1868 to 1906, a time of major changes in landholding, governance, education, and daily life.

Warren Wagon Train Raid

1871

In 1871, Satank, Satanta, and Big Tree, also translated in some documents as Addo-etta, helped lead the Warren Wagon Train Raid.

First Kiowa school established

1873

Quaker Thomas C. Battey established the first school among the Kiowa in 1873.

Red River War and Battle of Adobe Walls

Jun 1874 - Sep 1874

In summer 1874, Guipago, Satanta, Set-imkia, Zepko-ete, Manyi-ten, Mamanti, Tsen-tainte, and Ado-ete led Kiowa warriors in the Buffalo war along the Red River with Comanche allies. In June, Kiowa, Comanche, and Cheyenne warriors fought at the Battle of Adobe Walls in Texas, their last major protest against European invaders.

Image source: Red River War

Red River War and Battle of Adobe Walls

Kiowa held at Fort Marion

1875 - 1878

After the Red River War, also called the Southern Plains Indian War, Kiowa people were held captive by the U.S. Army at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida, from 1875 to 1878. Some of these captives became early Kiowa ledger artists.

Image source: Castillo de San Marcos

Kiowa held at Fort Marion

Tene-angopte dies

May 1875

Tene-angopte, who had been condemned by the medicine-man Mamanti, died in May 1875.

Kiowa agency employment program begins

1877

In 1877, the federal government built the first homes for Indian chiefs and initiated a plan to employ Indians at the agency.

Satanta dies at Huntsville

Oct 1878

Satanta committed suicide at Huntsville in October 1878.

Image source: Satanta

Satanta dies at Huntsville

Kiowa reservation census

1890

The 1890 Census recorded 1,140 Kiowa at the Fort Sill reservation, which they shared with 1,598 Comanche and 326 Kiowa Apache.

Image source: Plains Apache

Kiowa reservation census

Reservation opening agreement

Sep 28, 1892

The 1892 agreement cleared the way for opening the reservation country to European settlers. It provided 160 acres to each individual and authorized the sale of 2,488,893 acres to the United States, despite the Medicine Lodge Treaty’s guarantee of possession until 1898.

Leadership and governance

Little Bluff becomes principal chief

1833 - 1866

Little Bluff, also called Tohausan, served as the Kiowa principal chief from 1833 to 1866. Kiowa people told ethnologist James Mooney that he was the tribe’s first calendar keeper.

Dohäsan unifies the Kiowa

1836 - 1866

Dohäsan, also known as Touhason, unified and ruled the Kiowa for thirty years and is considered by many to have been the greatest Kiowa chief.

Image source: Dohasan

Dohäsan unifies the Kiowa

Kiowa political split after Dohäsan’s death

1866

After the death of high chief Dohäsan in 1866, the Kiowa split politically into a peace faction and a war faction.

Guipago seeks peace talks

Sep 1872

In September 1872, Guipago met with Satanta and Ado-ete. Their visit was one of Guipago’s conditions for agreeing to travel to Washington and meet President Grant for peace talks.

Image source: Guipago

Guipago seeks peace talks

Kiowa captives released

Sep 1873

Guipago eventually secured the release of two captives in September 1873.

Guipago dies at Fort Sill

1879

After falling sick with malaria, Guipago was jailed at Fort Sill, where he died in 1879.

Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock

1903

Chief Lone Wolf the Younger challenged the reservation-opening act in the Supreme Court, but the Court ruled against him in Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock in 1903.

Image source: Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock

Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock

Kiowa Tribal Council established

1968

Since 1968, the Kiowa have been governed by the Kiowa Tribal Council, which oversees matters involving health, education, and economic and industrial development.

Image source: Kiowa

Kiowa Tribal Council established

Kiowa constitution ratified

Mar 13, 1970 - May 23, 1970

The Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma drafted its constitution and bylaws on March 13, 1970. Kiowa voters ratified them on May 23, 1970.

Kiowa tribal sovereignty affirmed

1998

In Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v. Manufacturing Technologies, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court held that Indian tribes retain sovereign immunity from private lawsuits without their consent, including in off-reservation transactions where immunity was not waived.

Kiowa tribal businesses reported

2011

As of 2011, the tribe owned a smoke shop, Morningstar Steakhouse and Grill, Morningstar Buffet, The Winner’s Circle restaurant in Devol, Oklahoma, and Kiowa Bingo near Carnegie, Oklahoma.

Bacone College becomes Kiowa tribal college

Feb 2020

In February 2020, the Kiowa Tribe chartered Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, as its tribal college.

Image source: Bacone College

Bacone College becomes Kiowa tribal college

Language, arts, and community

Return of the Tai-me

1835

The Kiowa were unable to perform the Sun Dance until the return of the Tai-me in 1835.

Paul Zom-tiam becomes an Episcopal deacon

1878 - 1881

After his release from Fort Marion, Paul Zom-tiam, also known as Zonetime and Koba, studied theology from 1878 until 1881, when he was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church.

Kiowa artists commissioned for expositions

1891

As early as 1891, Kiowa artists were being commissioned to produce works for display at international expositions.

Parker McKenzie is born

1897

Parker McKenzie was born in 1897. He became a noted authority on the Kiowa language and learned English only when he began school.

Kiowa photographs from 1913

1913

Early Kiowa photographers included Parker McKenzie and his wife, Nettie Odlety. Photographs they made in 1913 are held in the Oklahoma History Center collection.

Indian Head nickel models reported

1913 - 1938

Sculptor James Earle Fraser reportedly said that Chief Big Tree, or Adoeette, was one of his models for the Indian Head nickel, minted from 1913 through 1938.

Image source: Buffalo nickel

Indian Head nickel models reported

Lois Smoky leaves the Kiowa art group

1927

Lois Smoky left the Kiowa art group in 1927, and James Auchiah took her place.

Kiowa Six exhibit internationally

1928 - 1932

The Kiowa Six gained international recognition as fine artists by exhibiting at the 1928 International Art Congress in Czechoslovakia and participating in the Venice Biennale in 1932.

Silver Horn dies

1940

Silver Horn, or Haungooah, died in 1940. He was regarded as the most highly esteemed artist of the Kiowa tribe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Image source: Silver Horn

Silver Horn dies

Ken Hale establishes Kiowa–Tanoan relationship

1967

The relationship between Kiowa and the Tanoan language family was first proposed by Smithsonian linguist John P. Harrington in 1910 and definitively established by Ken Hale in 1967.

N. Scott Momaday wins Pulitzer Prize

1969

Kiowa author N. Scott Momaday won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for his novel House Made of Dawn.

Image source: N. Scott Momaday

N. Scott Momaday wins Pulitzer Prize

Horace Poolaw dies

1984

Kiowa photographer Horace Poolaw died in 1984. He was one of the most prolific Native American photographers of his generation.

Image source: Horace Poolaw

Horace Poolaw dies

Kiowa population near Oklahoma towns

2000

As of 2000, more than 4,000 of 12,500 enrolled Kiowa lived near Anadarko, Fort Cobb, and Carnegie in Caddo and Kiowa counties, Oklahoma.

Kiowa veterans’ annual commemorations

2000

Each year, Kiowa veterans commemorate the warlike spirit of nineteenth-century leaders with dances performed by the Kiowa Gourd Clan and Kiowa Black Leggings Warrior Society.

Kiowa tribal citizenship reaches 12,000

2011

As of 2011, there were approximately 12,000 Kiowa tribal citizens.

Kiowa language has 20 speakers

2012

The Kiowa language, Ǥáuiđòᵰ꞉gyà, is part of the Tanoan language family and was in danger of extinction, with only 20 speakers reported in 2012.

Kiowa Language Department operates

2024

As of 2024, the Kiowa have a Kiowa Language Department devoted to the language and its preservation.

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Key Facts

  1. The Kiowa traditionally describe origins in the north and migrated southward onto the Great Plains, becoming closely associated with the Southern Plains.
  2. Kiowa society was organized through bands and governed by leaders, elders, warrior societies, and religious traditions, including the important Sun Dance ceremony.
  3. The Kiowa formed a powerful alliance with the Comanche and Plains Apache, which shaped politics, trade, warfare, and diplomacy in the Southern Plains.
  4. The Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867 placed the Kiowa, Comanche, and Plains Apache on a reservation, while the Red River War of 1874–1875 marked the defeat of major armed resistance.
  5. Despite dispossession, allotment, boarding schools, and cultural suppression, the Kiowa people remain a federally recognized nation that continues revitalizing its language, art, ceremonies, and institutions.

Source

This Kiowa History timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

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