The Kichai tribe (also Keechi or Kitsai) was a Native American Southern

Plains tribe Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of ...

that lived in Texas, Louisiana, and

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. Their name for themselves was K'itaish.

History

The Kichai were most closely related to the Pawnee. French explorers encountered them on the Red River in Louisiana in 1701.Kichai Indian History.
''Access Genealogy.'' (retrieved 6 Sept 2009) By 1772, they were primarily settled around the east of the Trinity River, near present-day

Palestine, Texas Palestine ( ) is a city in and the seat of Anderson County in the U.S. state of Texas. It was named for Palestine, Illinois, by preacher Daniel Parker, who had migrated from that town. The city had a 2020 U.S. census population of 18,544, mak ...

. After forced relocation, they came to share portions of southern and southwestern Oklahoma with the Wichita and in the Muscogee Creek Nation. The Kichai were part of the complex, shifting political alliances of the South Plains. Early Europeans identified them as enemies of the

Caddo The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language. The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, wh ...

. In 1712, they fought the Hainai along the Trinity River; however, they were allied with other member tribes of the Caddoan Confederacy and intermarried with the Kadohadacho during this time. On November 10, 1837, the Texas Rangers fought the Kichai in the

Battle of Stone Houses The Battle of Stone Houses was a skirmish between Texas Rangers and a band of Kichai Indians which took place on November 10, 1837. The skirmish, which took place ten miles south of what is now Windthorst, Texas, was named for three stone mou ...

. The Kichai were victorious, despite losing their leader in the first attack.

20th and 21st centuries

Caddo-Wichita-Delaware lands were broken up to individual allotments in the beginning of the 20th century. Kichai people's allotted lands were mainly in Caddo County, Oklahoma. Forty-seven full-blood Kichai lived in Oklahoma in 1950. There were only four at the end of the 20th century. The Kichai are not a distinct

federally recognized tribe This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

, but they are instead enrolled in the

Wichita and Affiliated Tribes The Wichita people or Kitikiti'sh are a confederation of Southern Plains Native American tribes. Historically they spoke the Wichita language and Kichai language, both Caddoan languages. They are indigenous to Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. Tod ...

. These tribes live mostly in Southwestern

, particularly in

Caddo County Caddo County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,600. Its county seat is Anadarko. Created in 1901 as part of Oklahoma Territory, the county is named for the Caddo tribe who were ...

, to which they were forcibly relocated by the United States Government in the 19th century.

Language

The

Kichai language The Kitsai (also Kichai) language is an extinct member of the Caddoan language family. The French first record the Kichai people's presence along the upper Red River in 1701. By the 1840s Kitsai was spoken in southern Oklahoma, but by the 1930s ...

is a member of the Caddoan languages, Caddoan language family, along with Arikara language, Arikara, Pawnee language, Pawnee, and Wichita language, Wichita. Kai Kai, a Kichai woman from Anadarko, Oklahoma, was the last known fluent speaker of the Kichai language. She collaborated with Dr. Alexander Lesser to record and document the language.Science: Last of the Kitsai.
''Time''. 27 June 1932 (retrieved 6 Sept 2009)

Notes

References

* Sturtevant, William C., general editor and Raymond D. Fogelson, volume editor. ''Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast''. Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. .

External links