From the agent's report it appears that the Indians had begun hostilities in the summer simultaneously on the Platte and the Arkansas, and up to September had killed a number of people and run off several thousand head of horses, mules, and cattle. Communication between the Colorado settlements and the Missouri had been almost entirely cut off, the overland coaches had to be supplied with large escorts, and emigrant trains were compelled to combine for safety. It was thought that all the tribes of the plains were on the warpath together. The Indians were well mounted, knew the whole country perfectly, and so far, in every contest on anything like equal terms, had proven themselves a match for the white soldiers. As nearly the whole available force of the government was then employed in suppressing the rebellion, no additional troops could be sent to the frontier, and Governor Evans of Colorado asked and received permission to raise a force of volunteers against the hostiles. It was the opinion of many persons, including army officers stationed in the country, that the whole trouble might have been averted had the Indians been properly treated by the whites (Report, 14).
In spite of the serious condition of affairs it was evident that the chiefs did not want war. Early in September peace overtures were received from the Cheyenne and Arapaho, who soon after came in and camped as directed near Fort Lyon, Colorado. A month later the agent reported that the Kiowa and Comanche had committed no depredations for a long time and were supposed then to be south of the Arkansas, near the Texas border (Report, 15). Before the trouble began they had been encamped on the Arkansas, near Fort Larned. As the tribes had now expressed their desire for peace, a commission was sent out early in 1865 to meet them for that purpose. The commissioners met the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache on August 15 at the mouth of the Little Arkansas, where now is the town of Wichita, Kansas, and received their promise to cease hostilities and to meet the same commission in October to make a regular treaty of peace. Three days later the Cheyenne and Arapaho entered into a similar agreement at the same place. The Kiowa chiefs signing the agreement were Dohásän as head chief, Gúi-pä´go ("Lone-wolf"), Sét-dayâ´-ite ("Many-bears"), Set-t'aiñte ("White-bear"), Te'né-angópte ("Kicking-bird"), and Set-ĭmkía ("Pushing-bear," commonly known as Stumbling-bear), with Sét-tádal ("Lean-bear") for the Apache, and eight of the Comanche. Credit for this result is due largely to the efforts of agent Leavenworth, who secured a suspension of military operations while he went out to bring in the Indians, a matter of peculiar difficulty in view of their fresh recollection of the massacre of friendly Cheyenne by Colonel Chivington in the autumn of the preceding year (Report, 16).
Pursuant to agreement, commissioners met the five tribes in October, 1865, at the mouth of the Little Arkansas, where treaties were made with the Cheyenne and Arapaho on the 14th, with the Apache on the 17th, and with the Kiowa and Comanche on the 18th. By the treaty with the Apache they were officially detached from the Kiowa and Comanche and attached to the Cheyenne and Arapaho, who agreed to relinquish their reservation in southeastern Colorado for one farther south, in Kansas and Indian Territory. The Kiowa and Comanche agreed to remove south of the Arkansas, the reservation proposed for their future home being a tract in western Texas and Oklahoma, as follows: Commencing on the Canadian river where the eastern line of New Mexico crosses the same; thence running south along said line to the southern boundary of New Mexico; thence in a northeastwardly direction to the headwaters of Big Wichita river; thence down said river to its mouth or its junction with Red river; thence due north to Canadian river; thence up the Canadian to the place of beginning. By this treaty, which was intended, to be only temporary, they gave up all claims in Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico, and were restricted to southwestern Oklahoma and the region of the Staked plain in Texas. Five white captives were surrendered by the Kiowa and Comanche at the same time (Treaty).
DEATH OF DOHÁSÄN
In the course of the talk Dohásän, on behalf of his people, made a vigorous protest against being confined to a reservation, claiming that the Kiowa owned from Fort Laramie and the North Platte to Texas and had always owned it, and that he did not want his country cut up and divided with other tribes or given to the white man; his people wanted a large country to roam over; they did not want to stay long in one place, but wanted to move about; the Santa Fé road was open and would not be disturbed, but the rest of their country he wanted let alone. Notwithstanding this protest the treaty was signed. Among others officially present were Kit Carson, William Bent, and Agent Leavenworth, with William Shirley and Jesse Chisholm as interpreters (Report, 17). Dohásän died shortly afterward, early in 1866, and with his death began the rapid decline of the Kiowa tribe. He was succeeded by Gúi-pä´go, "Lone-wolf," adopted father of the present chief of the same name. But the Indian day was drawing to a close. Within a few years the Kiowa were practically prisoners on a reservation, and their chiefs were the creatures of petty factions and mere figureheads in the hands of the government.
KIOWA RAIDS CONTINUED
As a result of these peaceful efforts, there were but few reports of disturbances during the next year, excepting from the incorrigible Kiowa. Notwithstanding all their promises, Set-t'aiñte led a war party into Texas and returned with five captives, a woman and four children, whom he brought into Fort Larned for ransom. The agent sharply reminded him of his promise to cease such acts, and demanded the surrender of the prisoners without compensation, whereon, under pretense of consulting the other chiefs, Set-t'aiñte took them to Fort Dodge, where the commander, compassionating their condition, rescued them for a large sum. In reporting the circumstance, their agent urges that it is high time the Kiowa were made to feel the strong arm of the government as the only means of bringing them to a sense of their duty, as they even went so far as to boast that stealing white women was a more lucrative business than stealing horses (Report, 18).
Other complaints came in during the next year, but full investigation by the military authorities satisfied them that with the exception of this raid by Set-t'aiñte the Kiowa and Comanche were innocent (Report, 19). Accordingly measures were taken to arrange a meeting with these tribes to establish more definite treaty relations, as contemplated in the provisional treaty of 1865. Preliminary to this meeting Agent Labadi, with a small party, went from Santa Fé across to the Texas border, where he met a large portion of the confederated tribes and urged on them the necessity of keeping peace with the government, at the same time demanding the free surrender of all white captives of the United States held by them, concluding by telling them that all of their tribes hereafter found north of the Arkansas would be treated as hostiles. After a conference among themselves, the chiefs agreed to deliver up the captives and end all difficulties, and arranged for a full meeting later, when some absent chiefs should have returned. In regard to the raids into Texas, they distinctly stated that they had been told by the military officers of the government to do all the damage they could to Texas, because Texas was at war with the United States (referring to the recent rebellion), and that until now they were ignorant that peace had been established. Although it is pretty certain that some of them at least had already been told that the rebellion was at an end, yet there can be no doubt that the peculiar relations which from the very beginning had existed between Texas and the general government furnished them a plausible excuse for the depredations (Report, 20).
THE TREATY OF MEDICINE LODGE, 1867, AND ITS RESULTS
The result of these negotiations was the treaty of Medicine Lodge on October 21, 1867, by which the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache were officially confederated and agreed to come upon their present reservation (see the [calendar]). This treaty merits extended notice, inasmuch as it changed the whole status of the Kiowa and their allies from that of independent tribes with free and unrestricted range over the whole plains to that of pensioners dependent on the government, confined to the narrow limits of a reservation and subject to constant military and civilian supervision. For them it marks the beginning of the end. Moreover, on the provisions and promises of this treaty are based all the arguments for and against the late unratified agreement of 1892. It will be necessary first to review the situation.