Calendar history of the Kiowa Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 129-444))

by James Mooney

SUMMER 1888

By a mistake Set-t'an depicts a medicine lodge for this summer instead of for the one preceding. No sun dance was held this year, owing to the opposition of the new agent. In his official report he states that early in May the chiefs and head men of the Kiowa had called to request permission for the holding of the dance at the regular season, but that on investigation he became convinced that it should not be allowed and so informed the Department, which instructed him to prevent it, even by calling on the military if necessary. He says:

On receipt of this information I at once communicated the fact to the Indians, but could not get them to promise to abandon it. I informed them that on the slightest intimation that any preparation was being made for the celebration of the dance I would be compelled to call on the military and cause the arrest of every Indian who expressed a determination to participate in the same. Many of the young men, belonging to the worst element, privately declared their intention of holding the dance, but as yet nothing has been done in that direction. I am firmly of the opinion I will be able to prevent it without the aid of the troops (Report, 110).

Fig. 184—Summer 1888—Sun dance (?); Pá-iñgya's prophecy.

The Anko calendar records for this summer the preaching of the prophet Pá-iñgya. It is indicated by a figure intended to represent a flying bullet, referring to his claim of invulnerability.

Pá-iñgya, "In-the-middle," had commenced preaching during the previous winter, reviving the doctrine of the return of the buffalo, which had been taught by Pa-tepte several years before (see summer [1882]). He continued to preach and make medicine for several months, adding to his predecessor's prophecies another of the invulnerability of his followers and the speedy destruction of the whites, so that for a while the excitement assumed a dangerous form. In the official report for 1887 the agent briefly notes that—

The Kiowas were troublesome in the early spring, owing to the bad advice of their medicine-men and chief Lone-wolf, and refused to plant their seed and took their children from school. Later on they went to work, but would have made a much better showing in their crops had they planted earlier (Report, 111).

According to Pá-iñgya's pretensions, he was the legitimate successor of Pa-tepte, with all of his predecessor's powers and considerably more of his own. He predicted the near approach of a mighty whirlwind, which would blow away the whites and all Indians living among them or following their customs. After the whirlwind would come a great prairie fire, which would burn for four days and consume the agency buildings, schools, and all that the white man had established in the country, together with any whites left by the whirlwind. Having thus cleared the way, he would then restore the buffalo and game, with all the old Indian life. His followers were commanded to resume at once their aboriginal dress and weapons, with all the old habits. He made a sacred new fire with the block and stick, according to the primitive Indian method, and gave the fire thus made to all his disciples to be used instead of that procured from matches or flint and steel; he refused to give any of this sacred fire to those chiefs and others who were regarded as being on the white man's side, including Stumbling-bear and Sun-boy. He established his headquarters on upper Elk creek, near Lone-wolf's camp, in the western part of the reservation, to which he commanded all the faithful to repair in order to escape the destruction which was to come upon the whites and their renegade supporters, and appointed ten assistant priests, to whom he delegated a share of his powers and duties. To quiet any fear of interference by the authorities, he claimed to have a medicine which would render his followers invulnerable, while he himself was not only invulnerable but could kill soldiers or other enemies by his mere glance, as by a lightning stroke, as far as he could see them.

His preaching roused great excitement among the Kiowa, nearly all of whom—excepting those of Stumbling-bear's and Sun-boy's bands—abandoned their homes and repaired to the appointed place on Elk creek, the parents taking their children from the schools in order that they might not be involved in the general conflagration and destruction. In the summer the prophet's son died, and he promised to raise him from the dead in the fall, but when the time came his medicine unaccountably failed.

The unrest among the Indians, for which no apparent cause could be assigned, greatly alarmed the whites, who feared that the Indians meditated an outbreak. As a precaution, the agent, Captain Hall, summoned a detachment of troops, and taking with him a small escort, went to the neighborhood of the prophet's camp and sent Stumbling-bear and Sun-boy to him to bring him and some of the prominent chiefs in order to discuss the matter. The result was that the Kiowa agreed to go home and await developments. As the time fixed for the fulfillment of the prophecy came and passed without event, they became convinced that they had been deceived and the excitement died out. In the meantime Pá-iñgya, who had before been poor and obscure, had become rich by the horses and blankets which he had received from the faithful; there were even those who were so uncharitable as to say that it was for this he had been working. Nothing was done to punish the prophet, who still lives, and when the news of the messiah came a few years later, he claimed it as the fulfillment of his prophecy. He has more recently assisted to revive the ghost dance at his home on the Washita.