For nearly a century, the name Dohasan resonated with power and leadership among the Kiowa people. More than just a name, it was a hereditary title, passed down through a lineage of chiefs, each leaving their own mark on the tribe’s history. At least four members of the same family carried the name, each embodying the qualities of a leader in their own right.
The lineage begins with a chief originally known as P’a-do-ä-gû-i or Padóñ, meaning "White-faced-buffalo-bull." This imposing figure later adopted the shorter name Dohä, or Dohäte, and rose to prominence as a respected leader within the Kiowa.
His son, initially called Ä´añote, a name with an uncertain origin, eventually inherited his father’s name. To distinguish him from his predecessor, he became known as Dohasan, Little Dohäte, or Little Bluff. This Dohasan would become the most renowned of those bearing the name, leading the entire Kiowa tribe from 1833 until his death in 1866.
Dohasan’s physical presence and demeanor were striking. George Catlin, the renowned artist, captured his likeness in a portrait painted in 1834. Catlin referred to him as Teh-toot-sah and described him as "a very gentlemanly and high minded man, who treated the dragoons and officers with great kindness while in his country." His long hair, meticulously arranged in several large clubs and adorned with numerous silver brooches, cascaded down to his knees. In the treaty of 1837, he is identified as "To-ho-sa, the Top of the Mountain."
Dohasan’s son, whose widow was named Ankäm, inherited the name Dohäsan. He followed in his father’s footsteps as a distinguished warrior, passing away around 1894. His legacy lives on through his scalp shirt and war-bonnet case, which are now preserved in the National Museum.
A nephew of the great Dohasan II and cousin of the aforementioned warrior also bore the name Dohasan. He was known for always wearing a silver cross engraved with the name "Tohasan." This Dohasan was the creator of the Scott calendar, a significant contribution to Kiowa cultural heritage, and passed away in 1892. Shortly before his death, he changed his name to Dónpóñkoñ, meaning Shoulder Blade. This left only Ankäm’s husband to carry the hereditary name, marking the eventual extinction of the Dohasan lineage.
Dohasan II: A Legacy Forged in Leadership
Dohasan II, the most celebrated chief in Kiowa history, ascended to leadership in 1833, succeeding A’date, who was removed from power for allowing his people to be surprised and massacred by the Osage that year. Dohasan’s leadership was instrumental in establishing peace between the Kiowa and Osage after the devastating massacre, a peace that remained unbroken throughout his reign.
A testament to his strength and defiance comes from an incident in 1862. When the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, Kiowa, and Kiowa Apache tribes gathered on the Arkansas River to receive annuities, the government agent threatened them with punishment if they continued their raids. Dohasan listened intently, and then, with a commanding presence, addressed the agent, gesturing to the hundreds of tipis dotting the valley below:
"The white chief is a fool. He is a coward. His heart is small, not larger than a pebble stone. His men are not strong, too few to contend against my warriors. They are women. There are three chiefs: the white chief, the Spanish chief, and myself. The Spanish chief and myself are men. We do bad toward each other sometimes, stealing horses and taking scalps, but we do not get mad and act the fool. The white chief is a child, and, like a child, gets mad quick. When my young men, to keep their women and children from starving, take from the white man passing through our country, killing and driving away our buffalo, a cup of sugar or coffee, the white chief is angry and threatens to send his soldiers. I have looked for them a long time, but they have not come. He is a coward. His heart is a woman’s. I have spoken. Tell the great chief what I have said."
Beyond the treaty of 1837, Dohasan also signed the treaty of Fort Atkinson, Indian Territory, on July 27, 1853, and the treaty of October 18, 1865, on the Little Arkansas River, Kansas.
Born in the late 1780s or early 1790s, Dohasan was a prominent War Chief of the Kata, or Arikara band, of the Kiowa Indians. He then became the Principal Chief of the entire Kiowa Tribe, a position he held for an impressive 33 years. He is best remembered as the last undisputed Principal Chief of the Kiowa people before the Reservation Era, and the battlefield leader of the Plains Tribes in the largest battle ever fought between the Plains tribes and the United States.
Also known as Dohäsan, Dohosan, Tauhawsin, Tohausen, or Touhason, and in English as Little Mountain, Little Bluff, or Top-Of-The-Mountain, he was born in what is now either Oklahoma or Texas. He was the son of Dohä (Bluff). While his name and the Chieftainship of his band were hereditary (though not necessarily passed from father to son), Dohasan was succeeded by his nephew, rather than one of his sons. His father was a chief, but it was his uncle who was the hereditary war chief from whom he inherited his name.
The Significance of the Arikara Band
The Arikara band earned its name due to its close trading relationship with the Arikara people in the upper Missouri Valley during the tribe’s early history. Their interactions with traders from the US, Spain, and France made the Kiowa, particularly the Arikara band, well-known to European-Americans. Dohasan was known to traders as early as the late 1820s. He quickly gained a reputation as a fierce, cunning warrior, and a successful war chief. He was a member of the elite warrior society, the Koitsenko.
While his position as Chief of the Arikara band was hereditary, the role of Principal Chief of the entire Kiowa nation was not. The elders of all the bands convened to elect the Principal Chief, who typically held the position for life. Dohasan became principal chief of the Kiowas in the spring of 1833, after the tribe elders and sub-chiefs deposed then-Principal Chief A’date. This followed the massacre of A’date’s village by Osages at Cutthroat Gap, near the head of Otter Creek in what became the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. Dohasan was the last undisputed Principal Chief of the Kiowa Tribe while they were a free people.
After A’date was deposed, and Dohasan rose to become principal Chief of the entire Kiowa people, the United States Army became acquainted with him. The massacre of an entire village of the Kiowa prompted the dragoon expedition of Colonel Henry Dodge to Western Oklahoma in the summer of 1834. Dohasan was among those present to greet the colonel and his expedition. The expedition aimed to end the fierce fighting between the various Plains Tribes. In May 1837, Dohasan was among the principals who signed the Fort Gibson Treaty, through which the United States government sought to end intertribal warfare in Indian Territory.
However, treaties did little to curb the Kiowas’ frequent raids for horses and other plunder. Texas was essentially open to joint Kiowa-Comanche raids, and the annual raids into Mexico became a feared aspect of life in both Mexico proper and its northern states. During his raids, Dohasan and his tribesmen, along with allied Comanche, would winter in the Staked Plains, especially along the Canadian River valley and Palo Duro Canyon, using these areas as bases for both wintering and the annual raids. At Palo Duro Canyon, on September 17, 1845, Lt. James W. Abert sketched him in his watercolor portfolio. In the summer of 1851, Dohasan led a war party of the various Kiowa bands, and allied Comanches, against the Pawnees near the head of Medicine Lodge Creek in Kansas, killing many of them.
His name appears again in Army records in 1857 when he successfully led his warriors out of an ambush by Mexican soldiers at Hueco Tanks near El Paso Norte in Texas. The Mexicans had pursued the raiders north out of Mexico, hoping to eliminate them. Instead, most of the Mexican troops were killed or wounded.
As the Civil War loomed, the American Government was eager to maintain friendly relations with the Kiowa. As a goodwill gesture in late 1859, Major John Sedgwick’s troops presented Top-Of-The-Mountain with an old army ambulance wagon, along with the usual gifts. When he couldn’t master the art of driving a team, Dohasan had a couple of Kiowa boys ride the harnessed horses as he sat in the driver’s seat.
The First Battle of Adobe Walls
Beyond his extraordinary tenure as Principal Chief and his status as the last Principal Chief of the free Kiowa, Dohasan is remembered in military history for commanding the Native American forces at the First Battle of Adobe Walls. This battle occurred on November 26, 1864, near Adobe Walls, the ruins of William Bent’s abandoned adobe trading post and saloon near the Canadian River in Hutchinson County, Texas. It was one of the largest engagements between European-Americans and Indians on the Great Plains, and the largest engagement ever between the Comanche, Kiowa, and their allies, against non-Natives.
The battle stemmed from General James H. Carleton’s decision to punish Comanche and Kiowa attacks on Santa Fe wagon trains. The Indians viewed the wagon trains as trespassers who killed buffalo and other game essential for their survival. Colonel Christopher (Kit) Carson was tasked with leading the First Cavalry, New Mexico Volunteers, to campaign against the winter campgrounds of the Comanches and Kiowas. This was the second invasion of the heart of the Comancheria, following the Antelope Hills Expedition. The campgrounds were reported to be located on the south side of the Canadian River.
On November 10, 1864, Carson departed Fort Bascom with 335 cavalry and 75 Ute and Jicarilla Apache scouts recruited from Lucien Maxwell’s ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico. On November 12, 1864, Carson’s force, equipped with two mountain howitzers under the command of Lt. George H. Pettis, twenty-seven wagons, an ambulance, and forty-five days’ rations, proceeded down the Canadian River into the Texas Panhandle. Carson decided to march first to Adobe Walls, which he knew from his earlier employment there by Bent over 20 years prior.
Inclement weather, including an early snowstorm, slowed their progress. On November 25, 1864, the First Cavalry reached Mule Springs, in Moore County, approximately 30 miles (48 km) west of Adobe Walls. Scouts reported a large Indian encampment at Adobe Walls, prompting Carson to order his cavalry forward, followed by the wagons and howitzers.
Around two hours after daybreak on November 26, 1864, Carson’s cavalry attacked the Kiowa village of 150 lodges. Dohasan and his people fled, alerting allied Comanche villages nearby. Marching forward to Adobe Walls, Carson established a defensive position around 10 AM, using one corner of the ruins as a hospital. Carson soon realized, to his dismay, that there were numerous villages in the area, including a very large Comanche village. The total number of Indians opposing Carson is often estimated at 3,000, but it is unlikely that the total manpower of the Comanche, Kiowa, and Kiowa-Apache amounted to more than half that number. Regardless of their exact numbers, Carson recognized that he was significantly outnumbered by the warriors converging to engage him in battle, a force far greater than he had anticipated.
Dohasan, assisted by Satank (Sitting Bear), Guipago (Lone Wolf), and Satanta (White Bear), led the Kiowas in the initial attack. Fierce fighting ensued as the Kiowa, Kiowa Apache, and Comanche warriors repeatedly assaulted Carson’s position. Satanta reportedly responded to Carson’s bugler with his own bugle calls. Carson managed to repel the attacks through his strategic use of supporting fire from the twin howitzers. After six to eight hours of continuous fighting, Carson, realizing he was running low on shells for the howitzers and ammunition in general, ordered his forces to withdraw. The angry Indians attempted to block his retreat by setting fire to the grass and brush near the river. However, the resourceful Carson set back-fires and retreated to higher ground, where the twin howitzers continued to hold off the Indians.
As twilight approached, Carson ordered a group of his scouts to burn the lodges of the first village, resulting in the death of the Kiowa-Apache chief, Iron Shirt, who refused to leave his tepee. Despite being forced to retreat in the face of overwhelming opposition, the United States Army declared the First Battle of Adobe Walls a victory. Carson was likely outnumbered 10-1, and his clever use of backfires and the howitzers prevented his forces from being overrun. Carson lost 6 dead and 25 wounded, while the Indians suffered approximately 50-60 killed. Nevertheless, the fact remained that the Kiowa and their allies had driven the American army from the field.
Dohasan, likely in his 70s at the time, commanded the largest force of Plains Indians ever assembled against the army, compelling a force armed with howitzers to retreat and concede the day.
The Little Arkansas Treaty and the End of an Era
In October 1865, Dohasan signed the Little Arkansas Treaty, but he strongly opposed confinement to a reservation, asserting that the Kiowas owned all the land from the North Platte River to the upper Texas Panhandle and needed room to roam. Shortly thereafter, in early 1866, he passed away.
The Reservation Era
While the chief position in the Kata, or Arikara band, of the Kiowa Indians was hereditary, it did not necessarily pass from father to son. Dohasan’s sister’s son, Agiati, or "Gathering Feathers," inherited his name in 1864. The younger Dohasan participated in the remaining battles as the Kiowa fought to remain a free people. However, time was running out. He was part of the delegation to Washington in 1872, which appealed to the government to allow the Kiowa to remain free, but to no avail. Afterward, as the remaining Kiowa moved to the reservation, the younger Dohasan lived peacefully with his family near Fort Sill until his death. He was the primary calendar keeper among the Kiowa throughout most of the 19th century. He added many innovations to Kiowa pictorial art. In his winter count, he included an image for each year’s summer Sun Dance. To painted tipi designs, Dohasan introduced images of counting coup.
Upon his death, his nephew Agiati became a calendar keeper, followed in turn by Agiati’s son, Silver Horn (1860–1940), one of the most prolific of all Kiowa artists. Dohasen’s original calendar is housed in the collection of the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1892, the younger Dohasan gave his annual family calendar history, begun by his uncle, the last great principal chief of the Kiowa, to Capt. Hugh L. Scott, who in turn donated it to the Smithsonian Institution. Dohasan’s descendants included his granddaughter, Betty Nixon, who co-founded the Mid-America All-Indian Center in Wichita, Kansas, in 1976.
