Lone Wolf II and Adoption
Biography
ca. 1843-1923
Kiowa Chief
Chief Lone Wolf II was named Momaday when he was born. He grew up as the best friend of Tau ah kia, the son of the hereditary chief of the Kiowa, Lone Wolf I.
In late 1873 Tau ah kia was killed by US Cavalry soldiers in a battle, and his body was retrieved and buried by Momaday, who announced the death to the chief. Early the next year there was a revenge party, at which he was adopted by Lone Wolf I to replace Tau ah kia and given the name Lone Wolf. In 1879 he succeeded to the chieftainship.
In 1901 he tried unsuccessfully to prevent the exile of his people to the Oklahoma Territory, and when he died the lands of the Kiowa, once covering Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and part of Mexico, had been reduced to 160 acres per person.
He was the adoptive father of Delos Knowles Lonewolf.
References
Clark, Blue. Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock: Treaty Rights and Indian Law at the End of the Nineteenth Century. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994) "Kiowa: Lone Wolf II." [Includes portrait]. Available at: [1]
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