Kiowa Tribe

Ancestral Homeland:

Alternative Names and Spellings: Kiowa, Kioway, Kaigwa, Gaigwa

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 areadue 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 attact 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:  Govenor 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 attacts by: Major Anderew W. Evans, Major Eugene A. Carr and Colonel George Armstron Custer to attact the Indians along the Canadian and Wahita 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

Correspondence and Census

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