Members of Tonkawa Tribe
Whenever the early Texas settlers needed a good, stand up
ally, they could find one in the Tonkawa Nation. Of all the Native American tribes in
Texas, the Tonkawa were always quick to
offer assistance to their Anglo neighbors.
Stephen F. Austin developed cordial relations with them and welcomed
them into his colony. At every social
affair held by the settlers, members of
the Tonkawa tribe would often show up uninvited. Texas rangers used them as scouts and auxiliary
troops against the Comanches.
For decades, the Tonkawa
inhabited Central Texas near present day Austin. Advancing pressure from the Comanches in the
North and the Apaches to the West forced them to seek alliances with any group
that could help fend them off. The Anglo
settlements offered them a powerful deterrent against their long time
enemies. It's not surprising they were
friendly towards them.
The Tonkawa adopted the customs of the Plains Indians with
its emphasis on the horse and buffalo hunt.
Tonkawa families lived in crude tepees within a maternal clan. They wore little or no clothing; the men wore excessively large
breechcloths and the women donned short skirts and painted breasts. During the winter, they wore buffalo
robes. The Tonkawa had a preference for facial ornaments such as earrings,
necklaces and tattoos. Subsistence came
from anything they could hunt or gather.
This included, buffalo, deer, jackrabbits, pecans, oysters, crayfish,
and dogs. Pecans were used as a form of
barter. Farming was tried but with
little success.
The Tonkawa had one abhorrent custom: cannibalism. Like the Karankawas, the Tonkawa didn't consume human flesh
for food, but as a ritualistic means of acquiring a dead persons spirit and
strength. During a "Scalp
Dance," they bit off portions from the cooked limbs of a slain enemy. The Comanches, along with the other neighboring
tribes, greatly detested this practice, especially when members of their own tribe
were consumed.
The period of close relations with the settlers
came to an end in the 1850's. The
Tonkawa were forced on to a reservation in Young County near the Brazos
River. Because of the incessant Comanche
raids on their settlements, Texans began to regard all Native Americans as hostile.
In some cases, Tonkawa villages were attacked by angry settlers who
wanted them removed. Before the start of
the Civil War, the Tonkawa were moved across the Red River into the Indian
Territory (now present day Oklahoma).
During the war, the Tonkawa continued to serve as scouts for
the Texas rangers and backed the Confederate
authorities that managed their reservation.
The other tribes hated the Tonkawa for helping the Texans and their
continued practice of cannibalism. On
October 23, 1862, a coalition of the Osage, Shawnee, Kiowa, Caddo and Comanche
tribes attacked the Tonkawa's Wichita
Agency near present day Fort Sill. The
Confederate agent, Mathew Leeper, escaped
out a back window in his nightshirt while his agency was burned to the
ground. The Tonkawa were forced to flee
but many were caught and killed on the spot.
Their long time leader, Chief Placido, was slain along with 137 men,
women and children. Already decimated from
disease, the Tonkawa were almost wiped out .
The survivors fled back to Texas near Fort Belknap. Like today's homeless people, they lived in
squalor near Fort Griffin until the late 1880's. They were later moved to the Sac and Fox
agency in Oklahoma. Because of their
dwindling numbers, the Tonkawa language was lost along with many of their songs
and dances. Today, the tribe has only
600 members that reside in Oklahoma.
Tonkawa Scouts and U.S. Cavalrymen
