Maman-ti — also known as Sky Walker — was a significant figure among the Kiowa, respected as a medicine man with prophetic abilities.

According to the Texas State Historical Association’s account, Maman-ti had promised the people camped in Palo Duro Canyon that they would be safe there.

The specifics of what Maman-ti said, and how it was understood, are filtered through accounts that were recorded after the fact and through cultural intermediaries.

But the presence of such a promise — the religious and prophetic context in which the canyon was chosen as a refuge — adds a dimension to the September 28 attack that goes beyond the purely military.

For people who had placed confidence in a prophetic assurance of safety, the dawn attack on September 28 was not merely a military setback.