Historical Marker Program

Cutthroat Gap Massacre

Kiowa County
Location: on OK-54, two miles south of Cooperton
Coordinates: 34.828696, -98.861303
Material: Granite
Sponsor(s): Kiowa Historical Society and Oklahoma Historical Society
Topics: American Indians; Westward Expansion, 1803–1861

In the early summer of 1833, an Osage war party attacked an undefended Kiowa camp nearby, killing many elderly men, women, and children. Most of the warriors had left the camp days earlier to hunt bison. It has been estimated that 150 Kiowas were killed. The Osage took two children captive and stole many horses. Little Bear recorded the massacre on his calendar as the “Summer That They Cut Off Their Heads,” acknowledging Osage raiders who put the heads of their victims in camp cooking pots. The site of the massacre later became known as Cutthroat Gap.