The Tawakoni (also Tahuacano and Tehuacana) are a Southern Plains Native American tribe, closely related to the

Wichitas The Wichita people or Kitikiti'sh are a confederation of Southern Plains Native American tribes. Historically they spoke the Wichita language and Kichai language, both Caddoan languages. They are indigenous to Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. Tod ...

. They historically spoke a

Wichita language Wichita is an extinct Caddoan language once spoken in Oklahoma by the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes. The last fluent heritage speaker, Doris Lamar-McLemore, died in 2016, although in 2007 there were three first-language speakers alive.Rood, 2 ...

of the

Caddoan language The Caddoan languages are a family of languages native to the Great Plains spoken by tribal groups of the central United States, from present-day North Dakota south to Oklahoma. All Caddoan languages are critically endangered, as the number of sp ...

family. Currently, they are enrolled in the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, a

federally recognized tribe This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the Unite ...

."Wichita Memories: In the Beginning: 1540-1750."
''Wichita and Affiliated Tribes'' (retrieved 1 May 2010).

History

At the beginning of the 18th century, the Tawakoni lived in villages in what is now

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. In his 1719 expedition, French explorer Jean Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe encountered a Tawakoni village in present-day

Muskogee County, Oklahoma Muskogee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 70,990. The county seat is Muskogee. The county and city were named for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.Osage pushed the tribe south into Texas."Tawakoni Indian Tribe."
''Access Genealogy.'' (retrieved 2 May 2010) In Texas, the Tawakoni were closely allied with the Waco tribe. Until 1770, they were friendly to the French but hostile to the Spanish. Chief Quiscat traveled to San Antonio in 1772 to try to make peace with the Spanish, but this did not have a lasting effect.Quiscat

Handbook of Texas The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). History The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President W ...

European-American settlers fought with the tribes in the 1820s, and disease and warfare had dramatically reduced their numbers.

Stephen F. Austin Stephen Fuller Austin (November 3, 1793 – December 27, 1836) was an American-born empresario. Known as the "Father of Texas" and the founder of Anglo Texas,Hatch (1999), p. 43. he led the second and, ultimately, the successful colonization ...

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Me ...

drove the tribes out from central Texas. The Tawakoni helped convince the

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in ...

and the Wichita to sign a peace treaty with the United States government, which became the first treaty signed between

Plains Indians Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of ...

and the US. In 1835, they signed a treaty with the United States at Camp Holmes. This was the first time they were included with the Wichita peoples, a practice that continued in subsequent treaties, signed in 1837 and 1846. Caw-hac-its-ca, Tawacanie (10143591245)

In 1853 an

Indian reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

was established on the upper

Brazos River The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater ...

in Texas, but settlers ultimately forced the tribes off the reservation. In August 1859, 258 Tawakoni people were forced to relocate to

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...

. With the Wichita, Waco,

Caddo The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language. The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, w ...

Nadaco The Nadaco, also commonly known as the Anadarko, are a Native American tribe from eastern Texas. Their name, Nadá-kuh, means "bumblebee place."Sturtevant, 630 History The Nadaco were part of the trive branch of the Caddo Confederacy and occupie ...

, Kichai, and Hainai tribes, the Tawakoni settled on a reservation in 1872 between the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

and

Washita River The Washita River () is a river in the states of Texas and Oklahoma in the United States. The river is long and terminates at its confluence with the Red River, which is now part of Lake Texoma () on the TexasOklahoma border. Geography The ...

s. Although these tribes resisted the allotment policy outlines in the

Dawes Act The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pres ...

, their reservation was broken into individual allotments, and "surplus" lands were opened to non-Native settlers on August 6, 1901. In 1894, 126 Tawakoni people were recorded. Under the 1934 Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act, they joined other Wichita peoples in organizing a new tribal government.

Name

The Tawakonis' name translates to "river bend among red sand hills."Bennett-Jones, Julie
"Tawakoni."
''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.'' (retrieved 28 Nov 2018) Their name has been also spelled as Touacara, Tahwaccaro, Tahuacaro, or Towoccaro, Tehuacana, as well as Towakoni. Some French explorers called them the "Three Canes" or Troiscanne.

Namesakes

Lake Tawakoni Lake Tawakoni ( ) is a reservoir located in Northeast Texas, about east of Dallas. It lies within three Texas counties, Hunt, Rains, and Van Zandt. It is used for water supply and recreation. It is under the Sabine River Authority of Texas and ...

in Texas was named for this tribe. East Tawakoni, West Tawakoni and Quinlan, Texas are cities around this large lake. Also out of its dam comes the Sabine River which flows through northeast Texas and even works as the eastern border of Texas (From Center to

Port Arthur, Texas Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Texas. A small, uninhabited portion extends into Orange County, Texas, Orange County; it is east of Housto ...

). Tehuacana Creek, Tehuacana Hills, and Tehuacana, Texas are also named for this tribe, though using a Spanish spelling.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tawakoni Wichita tribe Plains tribes Native American tribes in Kansas Native American tribes in Oklahoma Native American tribes in Texas Caddo County, Oklahoma