Kicking Bird

Kicking Bird, Kiowa chief, 1870

Tene-angop'te (" Kicking Bird ", therefore known in English as Kicking Bird ; also Wa-toh-konk / Watohkonk - "Black Eagle" or in English called Black Eagle ) (* 1835 ; † May 3, 1875 ) was a chief of the Kiowa . As leader of the peace faction under the Kiowa, he tried to find a peaceful settlement with the Americans.

After the unexpected death of Chief Dohäsan in 1866, Kicking Bird led the peace party of his tribe and thus became an opponent of chiefs Satanta , Satank , Big Tree and the new chief Lone Wolf (Guipago) as well as his greatest internal rival - the shaman and prophet Maman-Ti , who was the driving spiritual and political force behind the warring chiefs.

In 1872, Kicking Bird was appointed chief chief by representatives of the USA, but without the corresponding support in their own tribe.

After he had to name 50 Kiowas on behalf of the US government in the spring of 1875, who were to go into captivity in Florida as a representative of the entire tribe - including several chiefs and the shaman Maman-Ti, he lost all standing in his tribe. This prophesied Kicking Bird an untimely, surprising death for his behavior towards his tribe, which in his eyes was treasonous. Shortly afterwards, in May 1875, Kicking Bird was actually found dead in his tepee . It is believed that he was poisoned by his own tribe . The Kiowa themselves are convinced that he was bewitched with a damaging spell by the shaman Maman-Ti and therefore had to die; Maman-Ti himself died shortly after Kicking Bird and led his early death - both men were almost 40 years old - to the use of his spiritual "power" as black magic . The tribe was convinced that this had turned him from a shaman to a magician or sorcerer , who now posed a threat to his tribe and thus received the just punishment for his “ curse ”. This is only understandable if it is taken into account that many tribes both respected and feared the shamans and if a surprising death or other damage occurred or could not be prevented by the shaman, they regarded them as magicians and often killed them.

Others

The American band Woven Hand dedicated a track of the same name to Kicking Bird on their album Ten Stones .

Kicking Bird is not in the movie The Dances with Wolves as Kicking Bird ( Engl. "Kicking Bird") illustrated person.