The Plains Apache are a small

Southern Athabaskan Southern Athabaskan (also Apachean) is a subfamily of Athabaskan languages spoken primarily in the Southwestern United States (including Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah) with two outliers in Oklahoma and Texas. The languages are spoken in ...

tribe who live on the

Southern Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include the mix ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, in close association with the linguistically unrelated Kiowa Tribe. Today, they are headquartered in Southwestern

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

and are

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

as the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma. They mostly live in Comanche and

Caddo County, Oklahoma Caddo County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 26,945. Its county seat is Anadarko, Oklahoma, Anadarko. Created in 1901 as part of O ...

Name

Their autonym is Ná'ishą, or "takers" based on their skill at stealing horses, or Naishadena, meaning "our people." This is also written ''Na-i-shan Dine''.Pritzker, 295 They were also called ''Káłt'inde'' or ''γát dìndé'' meaning "cedar people" or ''Bek'áhe'' meaning "whetstone people". The Plains Apache are also known as the Kiowa Apache. To their Kiowa allies, who speak an unrelated language, the Plains Apache are known as Semat. At major historical tribal events, the Plains Apache formed part of the Kiowa tribal "hoop" (ring of tipis). This may explain why the Kiowa named the Plains Apache ''Taugui'' meaning "sitting outside".

Government

Today the tribe is headquartered in

Anadarko, Oklahoma Anadarko is a city in and the county seat of Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. The city is 50 miles (80.5 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. The population was 5,745 at the 2020 census. History Anadarko got its name when its post offic ...

. Their tribal jurisdictional area covers parts of Caddo, Comanche,

Cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

, Greer, Jackson,

Kiowa Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colora ...

, Tillman and Harmon Counties in Oklahoma. In 2011, the tribe had 2,263 total members, of whom 1,814 lived in-state. Tribal membership is based on 1/8 blood quantum, meaning a person must be able to prove they have at least 1/8 Native American ancestry to be considered eligible for tribal enrollment. As of 2024, the Tribe Chairman is Durell Cooper, supported by Vice Chairman Matt Tselee, Secretary/Treasurer Ruth Bert and committee members Donald Komardley and Dustin Cozard. In addition to the Apache Business Committee outlined above, the tribe also operates the following tribal departments: * AOA (Administration on Aging) ** ''Director: Billy Harris'' * Housing Authority of the Apache Tribe ** ''Director: Ronald Twohatchet'' * Child Welfare * EPA (Environmental Program) ** ''Director: Wamblee Smith'' * Finance ** ''Director: Wendy Whiteshield'' * Food Distribution ** ''Director: Jennifer Boynton'' * Human Resources ** ''Director: Tamara Paukei'' * Procurement ''Director:'' ** ''Joann Belgarde'' * Social Services ** ''Supervisory Social Worker: Sallie Allen'' * Tax Commission ''Tax Clerk: Sandy Jay'' * Vocational Rehab ** ''Director: Tanner Mahseet'' * CHR (Community Health Rep) ** ''Director: Antionette Short'' * (Violence Against Indian Women) * Apache Tribal Enrollment ** ''Director: Lisa Bower'' VAIW

Economic Development

The Apache Tribe of Oklahoma owns and operates the Apache Golden Eagle Casino in Apache, Oklahoma. The Golden Eagle Casino was previously closed in 2013 due to a tribal dispute, along with the Silver Buffalo Casino in Anadarko, Oklahoma. Only the Golden Eagle Casino reopened once the dispute was settled. The casino is under the jurisdiction of the Apache Gaming Commission, headed by Gaming Commissioner Ryan Adudell. There is also a smokeshop and a gas station on the reservation. The tribe issues their own tribal license plates through the Tax Commission."Pocket Pictorial."
''Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission.'' 2010: 8. (retrieved 10 June 2010)
''Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission.'' 2010 (retrieved 11 April 2010)

History

Their

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

states that the Plains Apache broke away from the Tsuutʼina, an Athabascan people who moved onto the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

Alberta, Canada Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. They migrated south, where the

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan languages, Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of ...

gave them territory south of the Black Hills in what became

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

and

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. The Apache are associated with the Dismal River culture (ca. 1650–1750) of the western Plains,E. Steve Cassells, ''The Archeology of Colorado'' (Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Books, 1997), 236. . generally attributed to the Paloma and Cuartelejo Apaches. Jicarilla Apache pottery has also been found in some of the Dismal River complex sites.Gibbon, Guy E.; Ames, Kenneth M. (1998
''Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia''.
p. 213. . Some of the people from the Dismal River culture joined the Plains Apache in the Black Hills.

18th century

Due to pressure from the Comanche from the west and

Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language: * Pawnee people * Pawnee language Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States: * Pawnee, Illinois * Pawnee, Kansas * Pawnee, Missouri * Pawnee City, Nebraska * ...

and French from the east, the Kiowa and remaining people of Dismal River culture migrated south where they later joined the

Lipan Apache Lipan Apache are a band of Apache, a Southern Athabaskan languages, Southern Athabaskan Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people, who have lived in the Oasisamerica, Southwest and Southern Plains for centuries. At the time of European ...

and Jicarilla Apache nations. In the early 18th century, the Plains Apache lived around the upper

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

and maintained close connections to the Kiowa. They were ethnically different and spoke different languages. They communicated with their allies using the sophisticated

Plains Indian Sign Language Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL), also known as Hand Talk, Plains Sign Talk, Plains Sign Language, or First Nation Sign Language, is an endangered sign language common to the majority of Indigenous nations of North America, notably those of ...

. The Plains Apache continued migrating south along the eastern

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

and hunting bison. They allied with the

Arapaho The Arapaho ( ; , ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed t ...

, and Kiowa. Even before contact with Europeans, their numbers were never large, and their 1780 population was estimated at 400.

19th century

The Plains Apache and Kiowa had migrated into the Southern Plains sometime around 1800. The Treaty of Medicine Lodge in 1867 established an

Indian Reservation An American Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States#Description, U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose gov ...

for the Kiowa, Plains Apache, and Comanche in Western Oklahoma. They were forced to move south of the Washita River to the Red River and Western Oklahoma with the Comanche and the Kiowa. The 1890 Census showed 1,598 Comanche at the Fort Sill reservation, which they shared with 1,140 Kiowa and 326 Plains Apache. Some groups of Plains Apache refused to settle on reservations and were involved in Kiowa and Comanche uprisings, most notably the First Battle of Adobe Walls which was the largest battle of the Indian Wars. It would be the last battle in which the Natives repelled the U.S. Army in the Southern Plains. The Kiowa-Comanche-Apache (KCA) Reservation was broken up into individual allotments under the 1889 Springer Amendment to the Indian Appropriations Act.

20th century

The so-called "surplus" lands of the KCA Reservation were opened up to white settlement in 1901. The U.S. federal government took more KCA lands in 1906. Despite tribal opposition to the land sessions, the U.S. courts upheld allotment. Most Plains Apache families chose land north of the

Wichita Mountains The Wichita Mountains are located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the principal relief system in the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen, being the result of a failed continental rift. The mountains are a northwest-south ...

. In 1966, the tribe organized a business committee and regained federal recognition. In 1972, the Kiowa, Comanche, and Plains Apache legally separated.

Social organization

The Plains Apache social organization is split into numerous extended families (''kustcrae''), who camped together (for hunting and gathering) as local groups (''gonka''). The next level was the division or band, a grouping of several gonkas (who would come together, for mutual protection, especially in times of war). In pre-reservation times there were at least four local groups or gonkas who frequently joined together for warring neighboring tribes and settlements. Historically, the tribe was led by an elder council, chiefs, medicine men, and warriors. Women controlled and maintained family belongings, including tipis. Skilled artists joined women's societies.

Language

The Plains Apache language is a member of the

language family, a division of the

Na-Dene languages Na-Dene ( ; also Nadene, Na-Dené, Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit, Tlina–Dene) is a family of Native American languages that includes at least the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit languages. Haida was formerly included but is now genera ...

. The

Plains Apache language The Plains Apache language is a Southern Athabaskan language formerly spoken by the Plains Apache, organized as the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, living primarily around Anadarko in southwest Oklahoma. The language is extinct as of 2008, when Alf ...

, also referred to as Plains Apache, was the most divergent member of the subfamily. While three people spoke the language in 2006, the last fluent speaker died in 2008.

Historical chiefs

* Gonkon (''Gonkan'' – "Stays in Tipi" or "Defends His Tipi", also known as "Apache John"). A shortened form of his full name Gon-kon-chey-has-tay-yah (Man Over His Camp). * Tsayaditl-ti (''Ta-Ka-I-Tai-Di'' or ''Da-Kana-Dit-Ta-I'' – "White Man", ca. *1830 – ca. †1900) * Koon-Ka-Zachey (''Kootz-Zah''). A shortened form of his full name Gon-kon-chey-has-tay-yah (Man Over His Camp). * Essa-queta (better known as Pacer or ''Peso'', derived from ''Pay-Sus'', ca. *unknown – † 1875, Pacer was the leader of the Kiowa Apache tribe. Actually, Pacer was part of the peace faction and kept the main group of Plains Apaches on the reservation during the Red River War of 1874–75) * Si-tah-le ("Poor Wolf") * Oh-ah-te-kah ("Poor Bear") * Ah-zaah ("Prairie Wolf")

Notable tribal members

* Vanessa Jennings, Plains Apache/Kiowa/Pima beadwork artist and regalia-maker

Notes

References

* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .

Bibliography

*Beatty, John. 1974. ''Kiowa-Apache Music and Dance.'' Occasional Publications in Anthropology: Ethnology Series. Number 31. Greeley, CO: Northern Colorado UP. *Bittle, William. 1954. “The Peyote Ritual of the Plains Apache.” ''Oklahoma Anthropological Society''. 2: 69-79. *______. 1962. “The Manatidie: A Focus for Plains Apache Tribal Identity.” ''Plains Anthropologist.'' 7(17): 152-163. *______. 1963. “Kiowa-Apache.” In ''Studies in the Athapaskan Languages''. (Ed. Hoijer, Harry). University of California Studies in Linguistics vol. 29. Berkeley: California UP. 76-101. *______. 1964. “Six Plains Apache Tales.” ''Oklahoma Papers in Anthropology.'' 5:8-12. *______. 1971. “A Brief History of the Plains Apache.” ''Oklahoma Papers in Anthropology''. 12(1): 1-34. *______. 1979. “Plains Apache Raiding Behavior.” ''Oklahoma Papers in Anthropology''. 20(2): 33-47. *Brant, Charles S. 1949. “The cultural position of the Kiowa-Apache.” ''Southwestern Journal of Anthropology''. 5(1): 56-61. *Brant, Charles S. 1950. “Peyotism among the Kiowa-Apache and Neighboring Tribes.” ''Southwestern Journal of Anthropology''. 6(2): 212-222. *Brant, Charles S. 1953. “Kiowa-Apache Culture History: Some Further Observations.” ''Southwestern Journal of Anthropology''. 9(2): 195-202. *Brant, Charles S. 1969. ''Jim Whitewolf: The Life of a Plains Apache.'' New York: Dover Publications. *Jordan, Julia A. 2008 ''Plains Apache Ethnobotany''. University of Oklahoma Press. *McAllister, J. Gilbert. 1937. “Kiowa-Apache Social Organization.” In ''Social Anthropology of North American Tribes''. (ed. Eggan, Fred). Chicago: Chicago UP.99-169. *_______.1949. “Plains Apache Tales.” In ''The Sky is My Tipi.'' (ed. Boatright, Mody). Dallas: SMU Press. 1-141. *_______.1970. ''Dävéko: Kiowa-Apache Medicine Man.'' Austin: Bulletin of the Texas Memorial Museum, No. 17. *Meadows, William C. 1999. Kiowa, Apache, and Comanche Military Societies. University of Texas Press, Austin. * Opler, Morris E. (1969). Western Apache and Plains Apache materials relating to ceremonial payment. ''Ethnology'', ''8'' (1), 122-124. * Opler, Morris E; & Bittle, William E. (1961). The death practices and eschatology of the Plains Apache. ''Southwestern Journal of Anthropology'', ''17'' (4), 383-394. * Schweinfurth, Kay Parker. (2002). ''Prayer on top of the earth: The spiritual universe of the Plains Apaches''. Boulder: University Press of Colorado.

External links

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Apache Tribe of Oklahoma (Kiowa-Apache)

Kiowa Comanche Apache IT
Kiowa Comanche Apache Indian Territory Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Plains Apache Apache tribes Athabaskan peoples Native American tribes in Oklahoma Federally recognized tribes in the United States