People of the Cedars: the Kiowa (Plains) Apache

The Apache tribes most people are familiar with are centered in Arizona and New Mexico, where their descendants live today.  However, another tribe of Apache became closely allied with the Kiowa, becoming known as Kiowa Apache or Plains Apache.  The Apache are an Athabaskan people, linguistically diverse from the Kiowa.  In the beginning of the 18th century, the Kiowa and Plains Apache were living in the area upper Missouri River, where the two tribes likely formed an alliance for protection.  The Plains Apache tribe wasn't large and in 1780, their population was estimated at 400. 

The Kiowa Apache immigrated to the Southern Plains in the 19th century.  Along with the Kiowa and Comanche, they figured in the battles against encroaching settlement, particularly the First Battle of Adobe Walls in 1864.  They were signatories to the Medicine Lodge Treaty in 1867.  They agreed to remove to Indian Territory, enduring the hardships of adapting to life on a reservation.  Today, they are federally recognized as the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma.  The last known speaker of their language died in 2008.

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