Ohettoint

Ohettoint was a warrior of the Kiowa nation who participated in the 1868 Battle of Washita as well as an unsuccessful attack on approaching U.S. soldiers that led to his surrender and imprisonment at Fort Marion from 1875-1878. There, he not only drew prolifically, but also learned the breadmaking trade and soon became the head baker at the fort; visiting writer Harriet Beecher Stowe noted his superior aptitude for the culinary art. Like his fellow inmate Nokkoist, Ohettoint attended the Hampton Institute for further study after his release from prison and was among seven Indian men that Capt. Pratt took with him to Washington, D.C. to lobby President Hayes for a school of their own. In 1879, he became one of the first to attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, a boarding school founded by Pratt on the same philosophy of cultural assimilation that had guided his educational efforts at Fort Marion. At Carlisle, Ohettoint expanded his artistic practice with experiments inwatercolor, marking one of the furthest departures from traditional Plains Indian pictographic style. Artistic talent ran in the family: one of Ohettoint’s brothers also became well known for his drawings, and both their father and uncle kept calendar records for the Kiowa. After his father's death, Ohettoint invited eminent tribesmen to paint pictographic records of their victories from pre-reservation life on his tipi. In 1880, Ohettoint left Carlisle to return home to Kiowa land (now controlled by the U.S.), where he worked for the government agents in various capacities (carpenter, teacher, office worker) before enrolling in the Indian Police force. After 15 years of service, Ohettoint was discharged by a U.S. agent who discovered that he had more than one wife (customary for a Kiowa man of his stature). In 1908, he bought a four-room house near Anadarko, Oklahoma for $700 and was later reported to be farming the land. Ohettoint died in 1934 and was buried in the Red Stone Baptist Cemetery.