Mondo's NAT #622

Native American Tribe series.

Wichita

Of Caddoan stock, the Wichita Indians formerly ranged from about the middle Arkansas River, Kansas, southward to Brazos River, Texas. They called themselves Kitikiti'sh (Kirikirish), which is of uncertain meaning, but probably implies preeminent men. By the Sioux, they were known as the "Black Pawnee," to French traders, "Tattooed Pawnee," and to the Kiowa and Comanche by names meaning "Tattooed Faces." Other tribes composed the Wichita Confederacy, each of which probably spoke a slightly different dialect of the common language. These included the Tawehash, Tawakoni, Waco, Yscani, Akwesh, Asidahetsh, Kishkat, and Korishkitsu. Their language was closely related to the Pawnee, with home they appeared to have always been on good terms.

Like all tribes of Caddoan stock the Wichita were primarily sedentary and agricultural, but owing to their proximity to the buffalo plains they also hunted to a considerable extent. Their permanent communal habitations were of conical shape, of diameter from 30 to 50 feet, and consisted of a framework of stout poles overlaid with grass thatch, which had the appearance of a haystack. Around the inside were ranged the beds upon elevated platforms, while the fire-hole was sunk in the center. The doorways faced east and west, and the smoke-hole was on one side of the roof a short distance below the apex. There were also drying platforms and arbors thatched with grass in the same way. The skin tipi was used when away from home. The Wichita raised large quantities of corn and traded the surplus to the neighboring hunting tribes. They also raised pumpkins and tobacco. Their corn was ground upon stone metates or in wooden mortars. Their women made pottery to a limited degree. In their original condition both sexes went nearly naked, the men wearing only a breech-cloth and the women a short skirt, but from their abundant tattooing they were designated preeminently as the "tattooed people" in the sign language. Men and women generally wore the hair flowing loosely. They buried their dead in the ground, erecting a small framework over the mound.

They first met European explorers in 1541, when the Spanish explorer Coronado entered the territory known to his New Mexican Indian guides as the country of Quivira. In 1719 the French commander La Harpe visited a large camp of the confederated Wichita tribes on South Canadian River, in the eastern Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma, and was well received by them. He estimated the gathering, including other Indians present, at 6,000. They had been at war with another tribe and had taken a number of prisoners whom they were preparing to eat, having already disposed of several in this way.

The Wichita were gradually forced westward and southward by the inroads of the Osage and the Chickasaw Indians to locations on the upper Red and Brazos Rivers where they were first known to American settlers.

In 1801, the Texas tribes were again ravaged by smallpox, and this time the Wichita suffered heavily. In 1805, the Wichita and their bands were estimated to have been reduced to about 2,600 people. An estimate in 1824, recorded them at about 2,800, primarily living at the present-day site of Waco, Texas and on the east side of the Brazos River above the San Antonio Road. Afterwards, with the advent of the Austin colony, until the annexation of Texas by the United States, a period of about 25 years, their numbers constantly diminished in conflicts with the American settlers and with the raiding Osage from the north. The Civil War brought about additional demoralization and suffering, most of the refugee Texas tribes, including the Wichita, taking refuge in Kansas until it was over. They returned in 1867, having lost heavily by disease and hardship, and were finally assigned a reservation on the north side of Washita River within what is now Caddo County, Oklahoma. In the next year they were officially reported at 572, besides 123 Kichai. In 1902 they were given allotments in severalty and the reservation was thrown open to settlement.

By 1906, the Wichita tribe numbered only about 310, besides about 30 of the confederated Kichai remnant, being less than one-tenth of their original number. Today, the tribe is officially recognized as the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, which includes the Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie Indians. Located in Anadarko, Oklahoma, the tribe numbers about 2,400 members.