Tawakoni Indian Tribe
Location
Tawakoni. Said to refer to
"a river bend among red hills," or "neck of land in the water." The
synonyms should not be confounded with those of the Tonkawa.
Also called:
Three Canes, an English form resulting from a mistaken attempt to
trans-late the French spelling of their name, Troiscannes
Connections
The Tawakoni belonged to the Caddoan
linguistic stock and were most closely connected with
the Wichita, the two languages differing but slightly.
Location
They were on the Canadian River about
north of the upper Washita. (See also Texas.)
Villages
Flechazos, on
the west side of Brazos River near the present Waco.
History
The Tawakoni were first met in the above location in company
with the Wichita and other related tribes. Within the next 50 years, probably as
a result of pressure on the part of more northerly peoples, they moved south and
in 1772 they were settled in two groups on Brazos and Trinity Rivers, about Waco
and above Palestine. By 1779 the group on the Trinity had rejoined those on the
Brazos. In 1824 part of the Tawakoni were again back on Trinity River. In 1855
they were established on a reservation near Fort Belknap on the Brazos, but in
1859 were forced, by the hostility of the Texans, to move north into
southwestern Oklahoma, where they were officially incorporated with the Wichita.
Population
Mooney (1928) includes the Tawakoni among the Wichita (q.
v.). In 1772 Mezieres reported
36 houses and 120 warriors in the Trinity village and 30 families in the
Brazos village, perhaps 220 warriors in all. In 1778–79 he reported that
these two towns, then on the Brazos, contained more than 300 warriors.
Sibley (1832) reported that in 1805 the Tawakoni, probably including the
Waco, numbered 200 men. In 1859 they were said to number 204 exclusive of
the Waco. The census of 1910 records only a single survivor of this tribe.
Additional Resources:
Notes About the Book:
Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
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