The Calendar History of Kiowa Indians (Illustrated Edition). James Mooney
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captive among the Kiowa volunteered to go with him. Turning then to his followers, he said to them, "Go home and tell our tribe that I am gone to make peace with the Comanche. Return for me to this place when the leaves are yellow. If you do not find me here, know that I am dead and avenge my death." He then dismissed them, and the Kiowa started homeward, while he, with the captive and one or two Mexicans accompanied the Comanche to their camps on Gañta P'a, the Double-mountain fork of the Brazos, in Texas.
On arriving there with his escort, the Comanche were at first disposed to regard him as an enemy and made a show of preparing to revenge upon him the losses they had suffered at the hands of his people, but finding that he was a brave man not to be easily frightened, they changed their purpose and gave him a friendly welcome. He remained with them all summer, being well entertained by them on the hunt and at their social gatherings, and when at last the leaves began to turn, the tipis were taken down, and the whole band, having long ago decided on peace, moved off to meet the Kiowa at the appointed rendezvous. They had not long to wait, for Indians observe the season changes closely, before the whole warrior body of the Kiowa tribe appeared in sight, prepared either to make a treaty of perpetual friendship or to avenge the death of their chief, as the case might be. As they approached, the Comanche chief and Guik`áte rode out to meet them, somewhat to the surprise of the Kiowa, who had hardly hoped ever again to see their kinsman alive. He told the story of his kind treatment at the hands of the Comanche and their earnest desire for peace, and the result was a treaty of friendship and alliance which endures to this day, the two tribes, with the Kiowa-Apache, having ever since occupied a common territory and acted together on all important occasions, notwithstanding radical differences in language, ceremonies, and temperament. The former condition of hostility is clearly shown by the fact that the common name of the Kiowa for their present allies, the Comanche, is Gyái'ko, "Enemies."
This treaty with the Comanche must have been made toward the close of the last century, probably about 1790. As there is no tally date in Kiowa history until we come to "the year when the stars fell," i. e., 1833, a description of the manner in which we arrive at this conclusion may be of interest as a specimen of the ordinary methods of Indian chronology.
Among the oldest men of the tribe are T'ébodal, "One who carries a buffalo's lower leg, "Gaápiatañ, "Feathered lance," (commonly known as Heidsick, from his Comanche name of Haí-tsiki), and ´dalpepte, "Bushy-hair" (Frizzle-head), all being prominent men and noted warriors when in their prime. T'ébodal is the oldest man in the tribe, and as he was "a well grown boy when the stars fell," is consequently now just about 80 years of age, as the Indians consider a boy a young warrior at 17 or 18. Gaápiatañ is a few years younger, and ´dalpepte was "old enough, to ride a horse when the stars fell," so that we may assume him to be now (1896) about 70 years of age. It will be noted that, contrary to general opinion, Indians are not remarkably long-lived.
Graápiatañ's estimate seems to place the event farthest back in point of time. He fixes it by "a very old woman," who died eleven winters ago (1885), and whose father had told her that the treaty with the Comanche was made thirty-three years before she was born. Âdalpepte states that it was made "when his father was a young man." T'ébodal says that it was before he was born, but that his father knew both leaders who negotiated the peace, and that he himself knew the Comanche leader, Päréiyä, as a very old man, who was afterward killed by the Cheyenne at a time when T'ébodal was grown to manhood and had already been to war. According to the Kiowa calendar, the allied tribes made peace with the Cheyenne about 1840, so that the chief who negotiated the treaty for the Comanche must have been killed shortly before that time, the Kiowa leader, Guik`áte, being already dead. Balancing all the statements, we get 1790 as the most probable approximate date. The principal chief of the tribe at the time of the treaty was Políakyă, "Harelip," alias Kágiätsé, "Thick-blanket." He was succeeded by Tsóñbohón, "Feather-cap," who was succeeded by A'dáte, "Island-man," who was deposed in 1833 in favor of Dohásän, who thenceforth ruled the tribe until his death in 1866.
Confederation of the Two Tribes
The peace thus made between the two tribes has never been broken, in which fact there may be a sermon for those who regard the Indian as faithless, when we consider how few European alliances have endured as long. The Pénätĕka Comanche, who lived far down in Texas, were not included in this compact and had very little connection even with the northern bands of their own people until brought together under the reservation system. Immediately after the treaty the Kiowa began to move down and make their camps along and south of the Arkansas, which, until that time, had been considered the northern boundary of the Comanche country and the southern limit of the Kiowa range. In the territory which they thenceforth held in common the Kiowa usually made their home camps more to the northwest, about the Arkansas, while the Comanche kept near to the Staked plains and the Texas frontier. Strengthened by their alliance for war and defense, the confederated tribes were now able to make a successful stand behind the Arkansas against further invasion from the north. The raids of the Kiowa on the Mexican settlements, hitherto desultory and ineffective, now became constant and destructive and continued until both tribes were finally subjugated and confined to their reservation after the outbreak of 1874. In these raiding expeditions they frequently made headquarters in the Sierra Madre, whence they descended upon the lower country on each side. Old men are still living in the tribe who have raided as far south as the city of Durango (which they know by this name) and southwest through Sonora and Sinaloa to the Gulf of California. These war parties would sometimes be absent two years. To the west they reached the great Colorado river and tell of killing some Havasupai in their canyon home. In the east they made captives on Matagorda bay, Texas.
Neutral Attitude of New Mexicans
According to the Kiowa and Comanche, whose statements are confirmed by abundant testimony from other sources, the inhabitants of New Mexico, from mercenary motives, usually held themselves neutral in this war on their brethren to the south. New Mexican Comancheros and domesticated Pueblo Indians carried on a lucrative trade among these tribes at the same time that Kiowa or Comanche war parties were ravaging the southern provinces or selling horses and mules, taken in these raids, to the inhabitants of Las Vegas and neighboring towns. The lances and tomahawks used by their warriors were of Mexican manufacture, more slender and graceful in design than those supplied to the northern tribes by English and American traders. It was only by such tacit connivance or active aid from the people of New Mexico that these tribes were able to carry on an unceasing warfare of extermination as far south as Tamaulipas and Durango in Mexico.
Relations with other Southern Tribes
Subsequent to the treaty with the Comanche, and as a consequence of it, the Kiowa made peace with the Mescalero Apache (Ĕ´sikwita), with whom they had formerly been at enmity, having driven them from the Staked plains into the mountains west of the Pecos. The friendship, however, was somewhat precarious. They were also on friendly terms with the Wichita and their associated tribes, the Waco, Tawákoni, and Kichai. With the Caddo and the cannibal Tonkawa to the east, and with the Navaho and Ute and presumably also the Jicarilla Apache on the west, they were always at war. They usually carried on a friendly trade with the neighboring Pueblos. Their relations with the Apache of Arizona were too casual to be of a definite nature. They were at war with the Osage until 1834. To all these tribes the confederated Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache held but one and the same relation after the alliance of about 1790.
First Official American Notices, 1805—1807