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Welcome
Welcome to Native Americans on LakeTawakoni.com. This section of the
site is dedicated to the native American Indians from whom much of the
history of the area is garnered. I believe these peoples, both past and
present, offer us a glimpse into a more comfortable, more pleasing, and
more "in touch" way of life. I welcome any articles, information,
artwork or anything else related to the great American Indians both past
and present. You send it, and we'll get it posted. Keep the faith.
The Tawakoni Indians
Article by: Margery H. Krieger
The Tawakoni (Tawakaro, Tancaro, Tuacana, Toucara, Tehacanes)
Indians, a Wichita group probably originally from central Kansas, were
found by Jean Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe in 1719 on the lower Canadian
River in Oklahoma. The Tawakonis and related groups were pushed
southward into Oklahoma and Texas, and in the latter part of the
eighteenth century their chief range seems to have been between the
sites of present Waco and Palestine.
In 1753 they were reported to be plotting with the Hasinai Indians
against the Spanish in East Texas, and they were allied with the Taovaya
Indians in the attack on Santa Cruz de San Sabá Mission in 1758. In
1772, 1778, and 1779, Athanase de Mézičres visited the Tawakoni
villages. Juan Agustín Morfi located them in a village called Quiscat on
the west bank of the Brazos River in 1781. In 1796 they asked for a
mission but were refused.
The Tawakoni Indians were included in treaties made by the Republic
of Texas in 1843 and those made by the United States in 1837 and 1856.
After the establishment of the reservation system, they resided at Fort
Belknap for three years. In 1859 they moved across Red River and were
officially included on the Wichita reservation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frederick Webb Hodge, ed., Handbook of American Indians
North of Mexico (2 vols., Washington: GPO, 1907, 1910; rpt., New York:
Pageant, 1959).
This article provided by the
Texas State Historical Association |
