Nomadic Tribes
Apache
Image: Apache, Indian Territory, 1890, Missouri Valley Special Collection
Although they spoke a western Canada-derived language that differs from the Kiowa, several Apache branches long have aligned with the Kiowa. Predecessors of the Apache dwelt in southwest Kansas possibly until 1700 and have been known as the Quartelejo Apache or Dismal River people where they often lived with their trading partners, the Pueblo. Waldo Wedel, in the 1959 An Introduction to Kansas Archeology wrote: "The first allusions to the Plains Apache are found in the narratives of the Coronado expedition. Fourteen days east of Pecos, near the Canadian River and the present Texas New Mexico line, the Spaniards found encampments of roaming people they called Querechos. The several eyewitness accounts concerning these natives furnish a concise but clear picture of a pre horse Indian economy in the southern plains. The Querechos, like the Teyas met soon after, lived 'like the Arabs,' says Castaneda; according to the Relacion Postrera, the 'maintenance or sustenance of these Indians comes entirely from the cows, because they neither sow nor reap corn.' They followed the herds and in winter carried their stores of dressed hides to the settled Indian towns and bartered them for maize and blankets, 'each company going to those which are nearest, some to the settlement at Cicuye [Pecos], others toward Quivira, and others to the settlements which are situated in the direction of Florida.' Clearly indicated in the accounts is the restless life of these hunter folk, and there is mention of dog traction and the travois, the conical skin tipi, the breechcloth and skin clothing" (p. 69). At the 1867 treaties signed in Medicine Lodge, one was with the Plains Apache, Kiowa, and Comanche. Today their reservation is in New Mexico and also in Oklahoma.
Name origin: A probable derivation comes from ápachu, the word for “enemy” in Zuñi. Also known as Nai-I-Sha. Language family: Southern Athapaskan
Arapaho
Image: Arapaho Yellow Bear, Medicine Lodge Treaty, 1867, Kansas State Historical Society
Another Algonquian tribe who left Minnesota area to roam in Kansas and Nebraska and further west, the southern Arapaho group in Kansas traveled along the Arkansas River after 1830. In the 1800s in present Kansas, their enemies were the Pawnees. For instance, at the lower Cimarron Spring in Grant County, about 500 Arapaho around 1840 ran into Pawnees of whom they killed about 70.
In the 1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge, the southern Arapaho were assigned to a reservation in Oklahoma with the Cheyenne; the northern Arapaho were assigned a reservation in Wyoming with the Shoshone.
Name origin: The Arapaho have been called many names by various groups, including "blue sky men," “traders,” “people with many tattoos,” [water] “falls,” and “big-bellies.” Language family: Algonquian
Arapaho: Origins and Migration Arapaho
Cheyenne
Image: Little Chief, Cheyenne, Kansas State Historical Society
Similar to the Arapaho, the Cheyenne ranged over the western part of Kansas. One band of the Southern Cheyenne lived near the Smoky Hill River, the Saline River, and the Solomon River in northern Kansas. Originally an Algonquian tribe with bands and chiefs, the Cheyenne were forced from central Minnesota to North Dakota. The Cheyenne fought against the Kiowa until 1840 and also fought with U.S. military troops. In the 1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge, the Southern Cheyenne were sent to an Oklahoma reservation but also joined in southern Plains tribes’ uprisings. In 1876, the Northern Cheyenne joined the Dakota in the Battle of the Little Bighorn and there defeated George Armstrong Custer. Many were forced again to Oklahoma but tried to return to their Black Hills homeland. One group of 350 Cheyenne in 1878 attacked cattle camps south of Fort Dodge for provisions and killed 40 settlers when they drove off some cattle. They were brought to trial and acquitted. (Image: Little Chief, Northern Cheyenne, Kansas State Historical Society)
Name origin: Tsistsistas, means “Human beings” or “The People.” Language family: Algonquian
Comanche
Image: Comanche Indians Chasing Buffalo. Artist, George Catlin
Once part of the Shoshone, the Comanche who branched out from Wyoming when they got horses from the Spanish, began including western Kansas in their vast territory by 1700. They fought with many tribes, including tribes placed in the Indian Territory because the Commanche considered that area their land. The tribe also opposed the relocation of the Sac and Fox to Kansas for the same reasons. Repeated agreements with the U.S. government led the Commanche ultimately to be located by Lawton, Oklahoma.
Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont in 1724 visited a 4,000-person encampment of "Padoucas" probably along rivers by Salina, and du Pratz's 1758 map of Louisiana shows Padouca villages in four places with their largest village by present-day Ellsworth. Inhabitants lived in dwellings housing about 30 individuals who grew corn and pumpkins. Hunting parties traveled up to six days away. They traded buffalo hides for tobacco and horses from the Spanish in New Mexico. In the mid1700s, the Padouca disappeared from Kansas. Early explorers wrote of the Padouca were unlike others although scholars have concluded the tribe may have been an Apache or Comanche offshoot or even an Apache tribes absorbed by the Commanche. The tribe name could have come from a Siouan verb “to pierce.”
Name origin: Current Comanche call themselves “The People” or “Lords of the Plains" or "Numunu.” The Ute called them the word for "enemy," "stranger," "other," or “those who want to fight us.” The Kiowas called them “snake men” and the Arapaho called then a term meaning “having many horses.” The Spanish called them a term meaning “wide trail” with a term that evolved into the word “Comanche.” Language family: Uto-Aztecan
Kiowa
Image: Kiowa, Kansas State Historical Society
The Kiowa long ago may have been related to tribes in the Southwest because of their language similarities but known records place them in the Black Hills of South Dakota. They roamed a large area including Kansas and were sent to southwestern Oklahoma where they resisted ill-advised assimilation efforts. Today the Kiowa Indian Tribe is headquartered in Carnegie, Oklahoma.
Name origin: The Commanche called them “two halves differ” because Kiowa warrior cut one side of their hair, and the left their hair long on the other side. They’ve also been called “people with large tipi flaps.” Today the Kiowa name Caiuga means “the principle people.” Language family: Tanoan
