Curly Chief

(c. 1827 - c. 1897)

Curly Chief was a chief of the Kitkehahki tribe, part of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. His obituary in Forest and Stream told a story of one time when white men visited his tribe, bringing presents the Kitkehahki did not want. “You see, my friend,” he reportedly said, “the Spirit Father has given us all that we need—buffalo for food and clothing; corn to eat with our dried meat; bows, arrows, knives, and hoes; all the tools that we need for living, for cultivating the ground, or for killing meat. We do not want your presents, and we do not want you to come into our country. Go back to your own.” The obituary said he died when he was over seventy; another claimed he was one hundred.