The Kanza (or Kaw) Indians

For untold generations, stretching back far beyond the reach of written history, the Kanza people, also known as the Kaw, claimed a vast territory as their own. This expansive region was formally ceded to the United States through the Treaty of June 1825, marking a significant turning point in the tribe’s history and relationship with the burgeoning nation. This article delves into the history of the Kanza people.

The first documented mention of the Kanza by Europeans appears on Father Marquette’s map of 1673. However, it wasn’t until half a century later that the name resurfaced prominently. In 1724, Etienne Venyard, Sieur de Bourgmont, the commander at Fort Orleans, undertook an expedition through what is now Kansas, traveling west north of the Kansas River to reach the Padoucas. He was accompanied by delegations from various Eastern tribes, with their leading chiefs and warriors. The Kanza delegation stood out among them, and their village on the Missouri River served as the primary gathering point for the other tribes. Monsieur de Bourgmont, in his journal, specifically acknowledged the tribe’s hospitality and generosity towards their guests, underscoring their established reputation for welcoming visitors.

Historically, the Kanza maintained two principal villages along the Missouri River. The lower village, situated roughly 40 miles upstream from the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, was nestled on the west bank between two prominent bluffs. The upper village, known as the "Village of the Twenty-four," was located slightly above the mouth of Independence Creek, on the south bank of the river, and was described as being situated on a broad and picturesque prairie.

When Captain Meriwether Lewis, of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition, explored the sites of these former villages in 1804, he found no remaining trace of the lower settlement. However, atop a nearby hill, were the visible remnants of an old French fort. The general outline of the fortification and the ruins of its chimneys were still discernible, and a natural spring provided a source of fresh water. The origin and history of the builders and occupants of the fort remain shrouded in mystery, though it is speculated that the fort was destroyed by local Indigenous peoples. Enough remained of the upper village to determine that it was substantial in size.

The Kanza were eventually forced to abandon their settlements on the Missouri River due to increasing incursions from the Iowa and Sac tribes. These tribes, having gained access to firearms through trade with those in the Mississippi Valley, posed a significant threat. The exact timeframe of this displacement remains uncertain, but it likely occurred approximately 30 years before Captain Meriwether Lewis’s visit. Around the same time, the Osage tribe were driven from the Missouri River by the Sac and forced further south, to the Osage River.

Following these hostile encounters, the Kanza, significantly diminished in numbers, relocated their main village to the north bank of the Kansas River, approximately two miles downstream from the confluence with the Big Blue River.

In the spring of 1880, the site of this village was surveyed and mapped under the direction of Judge F.G. Adams, Secretary of the Kansas Historical Society. Judge Adams described the location: "The site is in Pottawatomie County, about two miles east of Manhattan, on a neck of land between the Kansas and Big Blue Rivers. By their courses, the rivers embrace a peninsular tract of about two miles in length, extending east and west. At the point where the village was situated, the neck between the two rivers is about one-half mile in breadth, and the village stretched from the banks of the Kansas River northward for the greater part of the distance across toward the Blue. The site of the village is on the present farm of Honorable Welcome Wells and is crossed by the Kansas Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad."

Although the Kanza and Osage tribes shared a common ancestry, similar languages, governmental structures, and customs, they engaged in almost constant warfare from the time they were first known to Europeans until 1806. In that year, the United States government brokered a treaty between the two nations in an attempt to bring an end to their conflicts.

A formal council was convened on September 28, 1806, at the village of the Pawnee Republic. Representing the United States were Lieutenants Zebulon Pike and James Wilkinson, while chiefs from the Pawnee, Osage, and Kanza nations attended on behalf of their people. The resulting treaty, copies of which were distributed to the respective tribes, stated: "In council held by the subscribers, at the village of the Pawnee Republic, appeared Wahonsongay with eight principal soldiers of the Kanza Nation on the one part, and Shinga-Wasa, a chief of the Osage Nation, with four of the warriors of the Grand and Little Osage villages on the other part. After having smoked the pipe of peace and buried past animosities, they individually and jointly bound themselves on behalf of and for their respective nations to observe a friendly intercourse and keep a permanent peace, and mutually pledge themselves to use every influence to further the commands and wishes of their great father. We, therefore, American chiefs, do require of each nation a strict observance of the above treaty, as they value the goodwill of their great father, the President of the United States. Done at our council fire, at the Pawnee Republican village, September 28, 1806, and the thirty-first year of American independence."

This treaty remained unbroken by either the Kanza or the Osage, and their collective hostility was primarily directed towards the Pawnee tribe and other marauding groups inhabiting the Western plains.

Despite being smaller than both the Osage and the Pawnee in terms of population, the Kanza nation possessed a more warlike nature than the former. They also rapidly acquired proficiency in using firearms, which made them feared by the latter. In the years following Lieutenant Pike’s visit, the increasing influx of traders and explorers shifted the tribe’s warlike tendencies. Due to their strategic location, the Kanza were able to create significant difficulties and disruptions for those navigating the Missouri River and those crossing the plains towards the Rocky Mountains.

These depredations became increasingly frequent and severe, culminating in 1819 with the tribe firing upon an Indian Agent and attacking and plundering soldiers from Captain Martin’s command. Captain Martin had been dispatched up the Missouri River with a detachment of troops the previous fall and was forced to establish a hunting camp during the winter to ensure the survival of his men.

In response to these escalating incidents, Major O’Fallon, the Indian Agent who had been attacked, convened a council with the chiefs and leading figures of the Kanza nation. The council was scheduled to take place on August 18, 1819, at Isle au Vache in the Missouri River, near present-day Atchison.

When the messenger arrived at the Kanza village on the Kansas River, the tribe was away on a hunting expedition. However, they arrived at the designated location on the 23rd. The council was held the following day in an arbor prepared for the occasion. In attendance were 161 Kanza and 13 Osage individuals, including prominent Kanza leaders such as Na-he-da-ba (Long Neck), Ka-he-ga-wa-ta-ning-ga (Little Chief), Shen-ga-ne-ga (a former principal chief), Wa-ha-che-ra (Big Knife, a war chief), and Wom-pa-wa-ra (White Plume). Major O’Fallon was accompanied by garrison officers and several members of Major Stephen Long’s exploring expedition.

Major O’Fallon presented a detailed account of the grievances suffered by the whites at the hands of the Kanza, emphasizing their overall misconduct and the potential consequences. He then offered the possibility of reconciliation, contingent on their future good behavior.

The chiefs acknowledged the validity of the charges against them and accepted the agent’s terms. The event was enlivened by a minor military demonstration, including cannon fire, flag hoisting, and the display of rockets and shells. The latter had a more significant impact on the visitors than Major O’Fallon’s words. It was later revealed that the delegation would have been larger, but a dispute over precedence in rank had caused ten to twelve individuals to return to the village.

Professor Thomas Say, a member of Major Stephen Long’s exploring party, visited the Kanza nation at their village on the Kansas River during the summer of 1819, while the delegation was en route to the Isle au Vache council. His account of the party’s reception, the village’s general appearance, and the nation’s governance and customs at the time is drawn from Major Long’s expedition report.

As they approached the village, they noticed the lodges were covered in natives. The chiefs and warriors rode out on horseback, painted and decorated, followed by many on foot. Mr. Say and the party were received with the utmost cordiality and guided into the village by the chiefs, who went before and on each side to protect them from the crowd. Upon entering the village, the crowd readily gave way before the party but followed them into the lodge assigned to them and completely and densely filled the spacious apartment, with the exception only of a small space opposite the entrance, where the party seated themselves on the beds, still protected from the pressure of the crowd by the chiefs, who took their seats on the ground immediately before them. After smoking with the latter, the party explained that they were passing through their territories, which seemed to be perfectly satisfactory. At the lodge of the principal chief, they were regaled with jerked bison meat and boiled corn and were afterward invited to six feasts in immediate succession.

Mr. Say also wrote, "The approach to the village is over a fine level prairie of considerable extent, passing which you ascend an abrupt bank to the right, of ten feet, to a second level, on which the village is situated in the distance, within about a quarter of a mile of the river. It consists of about one hundred and twenty lodges, placed as closely together as convenient and destitute of any regularity of arrangement. The ground area of each lodge is circular and excavated to a depth of from one to three feet, and the general form of the exterior may be denominated hemispheric."

"The lodge in which we reside is larger than any other in the town, and being that of the grand chief, it serves as a council house for the nation. The roof is supported by two series of pillars, or rough vertical posts, forked at the top for the reception of the transverse connecting pieces of each series; twelve of these pillars form the outer series, placed in a circle, and eight longer ones the inner series, also describing a circle; the outer wall, or rude frame-work, placed at a proper distance from the exterior series of pillars, is five or six feet high. Poles, as thick as the leg at the base, rest with their butts upon the wall, extending on the cross-pieces, which are upheld by the pillars of the two series and are of sufficient length to reach nearly to the summit. These poles are very numerous and agreeable to the position which we have indicated, they are placed all around in a radiating manner, and support the roof like rafters. Across these are laid long and slender sticks or twigs attached parallel to each other by means of bark cord; these are covered by mats made of long grass or reeds or with the bark of trees; the whole is then covered completely with earth, which, near the ground, is banked up to the eaves. A hole is permitted to remain in the middle of the roof to give an exit to the smoke. Around the interior walls, a continuous series of mats are suspended; these are of neat workmanship, composed of a soft reed, united by bark cord, in straight or undulated lines between which lines of black paint sometimes occur. The bedsteads are elevated to the height of a common seat from the ground and are about six feet wide; they extend in an uninterrupted line around three-fourths of the circumference of the apartment and are formed in the simplest manner, of numerous sticks or slender pieces of wood, resting at their ends on cross pieces, which are supported by short notched or forked posts driven into the ground. Bison skins supply them with a comfortable bedding. Several medicine or mystic bags are carefully attached to the mats of the wall; these are cylindrical and neatly bound up. Several reeds are usually placed upon them, and a human scalp serves for their fringe and tassels. Of their contents, we know nothing."

"The fireplace is a simple, shallow cavity in the center of the apartment, with an upright and projecting arm to support the culinary apparatus. The latter is very simple in kind and limited in quantity, consisting of a brass kettle, an iron pot, and wooden bowls and spoons. Each person, male and female, carries a large knife in the girdle of the breechcloth behind, which is used at their meals and sometimes for self-defense. During our stay with these Indians, they ate four or five times each day, invariably supplying us with the best pieces, or choice parts, before they attempted to taste the food themselves."

Their diet consisted of bison meat and various preparations of Indian corn, one of which was called "lyed corn," known among the whites as hulled corn. They also consumed pumpkins, muskmelons, watermelons, and a soup of boiled sweet corn and beans seasoned with buffalo meat.

In 1819, the hereditary principal chief was Ca-ega-wa-tan-ninga, but his authority was dependent on his personal qualities. All distinctions, civil and military, were earned through bravery or generosity. While there were several inferior chiefs, they wielded little power.

Like many Indigenous tribes, the Kanza believed in a Great Spirit and had vague notions of an afterlife. They maintained more honorable family relationships than many Eastern tribes. Marriage was celebrated with ceremonies that strengthened the bond, and purity was a requirement for a woman to become the wife of a chief, brave warrior, or skilled hunter.

They endured pain with stoicism and rarely complained. They were loyal to their relatives and friends and cared for the sick and disabled. Drunkenness was uncommon, and insanity was unheard of. Women managed all domestic matters and took pride in excelling in that role.

The first treaty between the United States government and the Kanza Indians was concluded in 1815 by Ninian Edwards and Auguste Choteau, Commissioners of the United States, and certain chiefs and warriors of the Kanza tribe. It was a treaty of peace, where both parties agreed to forgive past injuries, maintain friendly relations, and the tribe acknowledged itself under the protection of the United States, and of "no other nation, power, or sovereign whatsoever."

In June 1825, treaties for the cession of their lands were made with the Kanza and Osage nations at St. Louis, Missouri. These treaties were negotiated by General Clarke, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, without prior authorization from the government, but with the counsel of Honorable Thomas H. Benton, who assured their ratification by the Senate. They were subsequently ratified, and the necessary appropriations were made. The treaty with the Kanza, signed on June 3, 1825, stipulated the cession of the following territory: "Beginning at the entrance of the Kansas River into the Missouri River; from thence north to the northwest corner of the State of Missouri; from then westerly to the Nodaway River, thirty miles from its entrance into the Missouri River; from thence to the entrance of the Nemaha into the Missouri River, and with that river (the Nemaha) to its source; from thence to the source of the Kansas River, leaving the old village of the Pania [Pawnee] Republic to the west; from thence on the ridge dividing the waters of the Kansas River from those of the Arkansas River to the western boundary line of the State of Missouri; and with that line 30 miles to the place of beginning."

From this land cession, a reservation was established "for the use of the Kanza Nation," comprising a "tract of land, to begin twenty leagues up the Kansas River and to include their village on that river; extending west thirty miles in width, through the lands ceded in the first article."

Approximately 20 half-breed reservations, each one-mile square, were designated "to be located on the north side of the Kansas River, commencing at the line of the Kanza Reservation" (slightly west of present-day North Topeka) "and extending down the Kansas River for quantity."

The tribe also relinquished all claims to lands in Missouri. In exchange for the land cession and relinquishment of claims, the United States agreed "to pay to the Kanza Nation of Indians $3,500 per annum for twenty successive years, at their villages, or the entrance of the Kansas River, either in money, merchandise, provisions or domestic animals, at the option of the aforesaid nation; and when the said annuities, or any part thereof, is paid in merchandise, it shall be delivered to them at the first cost of the goods in St. Louis, free of transportation."

Additionally, the United States agreed to supply cattle, hogs, and agricultural implements, provide a blacksmith, and employ individuals to teach agriculture.

The United States also agreed that "thirty-six sections of good land, on the Big Blue River, shall be laid out under the direction of the President of the United States, and sold to raise a fund to be applied, under the direction of the President, to the support of schools for the education of the Kanza children within their nation."

A portion of the first payment was made in St. Louis at the time of the treaty, with $2,000 in merchandise and horses delivered to the delegation of chiefs and warriors present. The remainder was paid at the mouth of the Kansas River, near present-day Wyandotte, in 1825.

The first Kanza Agency was established in East Kansas City in 1827, with Barnett Vasquez as the first agent. The agency was relocated to the mouth of Grasshopper Creek the following year, with the first payment made in 1829 by Daniel McNair, Special Agent and Paymaster. In 1830, Marston G. Clark, Agent; Daniel Boone, farmer; Clement Lessent, Interpreter; Gabriel Phillibert, blacksmith, and some Kaw half-breeds resided at the "Stone Agency House" on Grasshopper Creek.

The old Kanza village near the mouth of the Big Blue River was partially abandoned around 1830, and the tribe established several villages further down the Kansas River. The village of American Chief was located on the creek of the same name (now Mission Creek), approximately two miles south of the Kansas River. This band, consisting of about 100 people, resided in approximately 20 dirt lodges of good size until their relocation to Council Grove in 1848. Hard Chief’s village, situated about a mile from the former, was located on a high bluff on the south bank of the Kansas River and comprised approximately five hundred people and eighty-five lodges. It was located about a mile and a half west of Mission Creek.

The third and largest village, led by Fool Chief, was on the north bank of Kansas River, two or three miles west of where North Topeka now stands. Mr. McCoy, in his "Annual Register of Indian Affairs" for 1835, stated that the government had fenced twenty acres of land, plowed ten acres, and erected a good hewed-log house for the principal chief at the lower or Fool Chief’s village. Their smithery, agency house, and house for the residence of their teacher of agriculture were located within the Delaware country, twenty-three miles east of the Kanza lands. Mr. McCoy estimated the tribe’s total population to be about 1,606, with R.W. Cummings as their agent and Joseph James as their interpreter. In 1830, Reverend William Johnson of Howard County, Missouri, was appointed by the Missouri Methodist Conference as a missionary to the Kanza tribe. He lived among them for two years, before transferring to the Delaware Mission, then the Shawnee, and returning to his work among the Kanza in 1835. In the spring of that year, the government farm was moved to the vicinity of the upper villages, with 300 acres selected on the north bank of the Kansas River, just east of present-day Silver Lake Township, and approximately 300 acres in the valley west of Mission Creek and south of the Kansas River.

In the summer of 1835, mission buildings were constructed on the northwest corner of the farm south of the river. The buildings included a hewn-log cabin, two stories high, 18 feet wide by 36 feet long, with a smokehouse, kitchen, and outbuildings. Mr. Johnson and his wife moved into the mission house in September and dedicated the next seven years to serving the Kaws. Mr. Johnson passed away in April 1842 at the Shawnee Mission from pneumonia. Mr. Cornetzer and later, Reverend George W. Love, were in charge of the mission for a short time. Still, the institution’s prosperity waned after the death of its first missionary, and after a few years, it was absorbed into the Shawnee Mission. In 1845, Reverend J.T. Peery established a manual labor school on a small scale at the mission, which continued for one year.

On January 14, 1846, the Kanza ceded to the United States "two million of acres of land on the east part of their country, embracing the entire width, and running west for quantity."

This cession encompassed the reservation later granted to the Pottawatomie, including all government improvements. The Kanza were relocated to the vicinity of Council Grove, now in Morris County, where they received a grant of 256,000 acres. A branch of the Shawnee Methodist Mission was established among them. Hard Chief’s village was established on the north bank of the Cottonwood River. Thomas F. Huffaker, along with other government officials, accompanied the Indians to the new location, where the village of Columbia was founded.

They gradually declined in number and societal structure. Once they developed a taste for alcohol, all efforts to improve their lives failed. The tribe among whom "drunkenness was rare" ceased to exist, and before their removal to the Indian Territory, they were perhaps the most degraded tribe in Kansas.

On October 5, 1859, a treaty was made that set aside a portion of the tribal reservation and assigned it in severalty to various individuals of the tribe.

On May 8, 1872, an act was passed to appraise and sell their lands and remove them from Kansas to a reservation in Indian Territory. On May 27, 1872, the Kanza, despite strong protests from Chief Allegawaho and his people, were moved to a 100,137-acre site in northern Oklahoma.

By 1882, their numbers had dwindled to approximately 200, a small, impoverished remnant of the once-powerful nation that gave the State of Kansas its name.

Even on their new reservation in Oklahoma, their land remained insecure. The Kaw Allotment Act of 1902 dissolved the Kaw tribe as a legal entity, allocating its land to enrolled members and transferring 160 acres to the federal government. This act was primarily the work of Charles Curtis, a one-eighth blood member of the tribe who eventually served as Vice-President of the United States under President Herbert Hoover. In 1902, Curtis was a Kansas congressman and a member of the powerful House Committee on Indian Affairs. Congressman Curtis and his three children received approximately 1,625 acres.

A significant minority of full-blooded Kanza, whose political influence within the tribe had diminished considerably since their forced removal from Kansas, opposed the Allotment Act. After the tribe was reorganized under federal authority in 1959, factionalism and political struggles over tribal affairs became common.

Following allotment in 1902, the Kaw people retained 260 acres near the Beaver Creek confluence with the Arkansas River until the mid-1960s, when their former reservation land was inundated by the Kaw Reservoir, constructed by the United States Corps of Engineers on the Arkansas River, northeast of Ponca City, Oklahoma.

The tribal council house, the old Washungah townsite, and the tribal cemetery were located here dating to the late 19th century. After negotiating with various federal and local officials, the cemetery was relocated to Newkirk, Oklahoma, and the council house to a 15-acre tract a few miles northwest of the former Beaver Creek trust lands. By subsequent Congressional action, the new council house tract was enlarged to include approximately 135 acres presently administered by the Kaw Nation as official trust lands.

Today, the Kaw Nation of Kanza people is headquartered in Kaw City, Oklahoma. The tribe has more than 3,000 members located in 48 states. More than 2,500 are enrolled members of the Kaw Nation in northern Oklahoma. The Kaw National Council adopted its present constitution on August 14, 1990.

The use of their native language diminished greatly during the long period their lands were taken away. This trend continued into the 20th century, until only a small number of the Kanza Indians could speak the language fluently by the 1970s. Today, the tribe is actively working to preserve and revive their language. The Kaw Nation’s modern economic activities include the Kaw Nation Casino enterprise near Newkirk, travel plazas, and tobacco shops. The tribe also developed and oversees the Kaw Housing Project near Newkirk, the Kanza Health Clinic and Wellness Center, a daycare center, a gymnasium, and a multi-purpose center, and is a member of the Chilocco Development Authority.