Kiowa Indian Agency (Oklahoma)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Wichita, Caddo from Texas and Alabama-Coushatti

History
The Kiowa Agency [also called the Kiowa and Comanche Agency and the Kiowas, Apache, and Comanche Agency] was established in 1864. The tribes assigned to it -- Kiowa, Apache, and Comanche -- had been previously assigned to the Upper Arkansas Agency, and before 1855, to the Upper Platte Agency. Even after the establishment of the Kiowa Agency, it was closely associated with the Upper Platte Agency. The Kiowa Agency also has some responsibility for some Caddo Indians during the Civil War and for some Comanche Indians living in Texas.

There was no fixed location for the Kiowa Agency during its early years. It was supposed to have its headquarters at Fort Larned, Kansas, but due to the nomadic life of the tribes assigned to it, the agent spent most of his time moving about. By the Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek in 1867, the three tribes agreed to settle in an area south of the Washita River in Indian Territory. An agency headquarters was located on Cache Creek near Fort Sill.

From May 1869 to July 1870, the Wichita Agency was consolidated with the Kiowa Agency, but in 1870, the Wichita Agency again became independent. The two were again consolidated on 1 September 1878 and the combined agency became the Kiowa, Comanche, and Wichita Agency.

Records
Some records of the old Kiowa Agency are in the Oklahoma Historical Society as part of the records of the Kiowa, Comanche and Wichita Agency records housed there. Among these records are:


 * Census rolls, 1879-1922
 * School records, 1870-1929
 * Various administrative records, 1854-1930

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Kiowa Agency, 1864-1880, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234, Rolls 375-386. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their microfilm roll numbers 1661105 thru 1661116 ).

Reports of Inspection of the Field Jurisdictions of the Office of Indian Affairs, 1873-1900 have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of Microcopy Number M1070. The reports for Kiowa Agency, 1875-1900, are on roll 20 of that Microcopy set. Copies are available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their microfilm roll number 1617693).

Records Available Through the Family History Library
Agency Records 1892-1947. FHL film: 1028507, 1028509-1028520, 1028476-1028483, 1249785-1249786