The Kichai were most closely related to the Pawnee.[1] French explorers encountered them on the Red RiverinLouisiana in 1701.[3] By 1772, they were primarily settled around the east of the Trinity River, near present-day Palestine, Texas.[4]After forced relocation, they came to share portions of southern and southwestern Oklahoma with the Wichita and with the Muscogee Creek Nation.[1]
The Kichai were part of the complex, shifting political alliances of the South Plains. Early Europeans identified them as enemies of the Caddo.[5] In 1712, they fought the Hainai along the Trinity River;[3] however, they were allied with other member tribes of the Caddoan Confederacy and intermarried with the Kadohadacho during this time.[3]
On November 10, 1837, the Texas Rangers fought the Kichai in the Battle of Stone Houses. The Kichai were victorious, despite losing their leader in the first attack.[6]
Caddo-Wichita-Delaware lands were broken up into individual allotments at the beginning of the 20th century. Kichai people's allotted lands were mainly in Caddo County, Oklahoma. Forty-seven full-blood Kichai lived in Oklahoma in 1950. There were only four at the end of the 20th century.[1]
Kai Kai, a Kichai woman from Anadarko, Oklahoma, was the last known fluent speaker of the Kichai language. She collaborated with Dr. Alexander Lesser to record and document the language.[8]
Sturtevant, William C., general editor and Raymond D. Fogelson, volume editor. Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast. Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. ISBN0-16-072300-0.
† extinct language / ≠ extinct tribe / >< early, obsolete name of Indigenous tribe / ° people absorbed into other tribe(s) / * headquartered in Oklahoma today
