Mondo's NAT #572

Native American Tribes series.

Tonkawa

A prominent tribe, forming the Tonkawan linguistic family, which, during most of the 18th and 19th centuries, lived in central Texas. According to Gatschet they call themselves Titskan wátitch, while the name Tonkawa is a Waco word, Tonkawéya meaning ‘they all stay together.’ It has not been possible to determine with confidence the range and headquarters of the Tonkawa before the decade between 1770 and 1780, when the reports become full and satisfactory. At this tine their customary range was between the middle and upper Trinity on the north east, and the San Gabriel and the Colorado on the south west, rather above than below the San Antonio road. Their favorite headquarters were about halfway between Waco and the Trinity crossing of the San Antonio road, near an eminence known to the natives as the Turtle. Since they first became known, the Tonkawa had perhaps drifted gradually southward, though this is not certain. It was true of the Wichita tribes for the same period, and would be logical consequence of pressure by the Comanche and the Osage.

The Tonkawa always bore a bad reputation among both Indians and whites, although toward the Americans they were uniformly at peace The characteristics assigned to them by Du Rivage in 1719 are those most frequently mentioned in later times, when they became better known. They were warlike wanderers, planting few or no crops, living on game, and following the buffalo long distances. When hard pressed they could eat food usually considered revolting. Their general reputation as cannibals is borne out be concurrent tradition and history, by their designation in the sign language, and by the names applied to them by other tribes. Mezières said of them that they were despised by other tribes as vagabonds, ill-natured, and disposed to thievery, a character frequently given them in later times. They lived in scattered villages of skin tipis, which they moved according to the caprice of the chiefs or the demands of the chase. In the 18th century they were fine horsemen and had good animals. Their offensive weapons then were firearms, bows and arrows, and the spear; their defensive arms were the leather jacket (cuera), shield, and cap or helmet, on which they often wore horns and gaudy plumage.

A junta held at Béxar, Jan. 5, 1778, estimated the Tonkawa at 300 warriors. In April of that year Mezières, when on his second visit to the tribe, gave the same figure, including some apostate Xaranaine (Aranama). In Sept., 1779, when again at their settlement, he reported that since the recent epidemic of smallpox there remained 150 warriors. In the fall of 1855 the Government settled them, together with the Caddo, Kichai, Waco, Tanakoni, and Penateka Comanche, upon two small reservations on the Clear Fork of Brazos river, Texas. In consequence of the violent opposition of the Texans, culminating in an attack upon the agency, the Indians were removed in 1857 to Washita River, Oklahoma, the Tonkawa being temporarily camped about the mouth of Tonkawa river, just above the present Anadarko. In the confusion brought about by the civil war the other tribes saw an opportunity to pay off old scores against the Tonkawa, who were generally hated for their cannibalistic practices as well as for serving as government scouts against the more western tribes. On the excuse that the Tonkawa and their agent were in alliance with the Confederacy, a body of Delaware, Shawnee, and Caddo attacked the Anadarko agency and the Tonkawa camp on the night of Oct. 25, 1862, killing two of the agency employees and massacring 137 men, women, and children out of a total of about 300 of the Tonkawa tribe. The survivors, after some years of miserable wandering, were finally gathered in at Fort Griffin, Texas, to save them from complete extermination by their enemies. In 1884 all that were left 92, including a number of Lipan were removed to Oklahoma, being assigned the next year to their present location at Oakland agency, near Ponca. In 1908 they numbered but 48, including several intermarried Lipan.