Cutthroat Gap Massacre
Encyclopedia
The Massacre of Cutthroat Gap occurred in the spring of 1833 in the Wichita Mountains
. Osage
Indians attacked the Kiowa
village of Chief Islandman while most of the warriors were away: a party was raiding the Ute
s and the rest were on a buffalo
hunt. They were raiding to acquire Kiowa horses. The Osage killed the few remaining men, and more than 150 Kiowa women and children. Few escaped. The Osage cut the heads from the bodies and left them in a row of kettles spread across the village. The gap, a small fertile valley, was named after this event. The site is located at 34.83043°N 98.81704°W. The Osage took prisoners, horses and the sacred tai-me which the Kiowa used for their sun dance.
Wichita Mountains
The Wichita Mountains are located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The mountains are a northwest-southeast trending series of rocky promontories, many capped by 540 million-year old granite. These were exposed and rounded by weathering during the Permian Period...
. Osage
Osage Nation
The Osage Nation is a Native American Siouan-language tribe in the United States that originated in the Ohio River valley in present-day Kentucky. After years of war with invading Iroquois, the Osage migrated west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas, Missouri,...
Indians attacked the Kiowa
Kiowa
The Kiowa are a nation of American Indians and indigenous people of the Great Plains. They migrated from the northern plains to the southern plains in the late 17th century. In 1867, the Kiowa moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma...
village of Chief Islandman while most of the warriors were away: a party was raiding the Ute
Ute Tribe
The Ute are an American Indian people now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. There are three Ute tribal reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah ; Southern Ute in Colorado ; and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico . The name of the state of...
s and the rest were on a buffalo
American Bison
The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...
hunt. They were raiding to acquire Kiowa horses. The Osage killed the few remaining men, and more than 150 Kiowa women and children. Few escaped. The Osage cut the heads from the bodies and left them in a row of kettles spread across the village. The gap, a small fertile valley, was named after this event. The site is located at 34.83043°N 98.81704°W. The Osage took prisoners, horses and the sacred tai-me which the Kiowa used for their sun dance.