People of the Cross Timbers: a history of the Tonkawa Indians
Schilz, Thomas F.
Schilz, Thomas F.
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1983
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Abstract
The Tonkawa Indians were important allies of the Spaniards during the early colonial era in Texas, and in the nineteenth century they served the Anglo-American settlers as scouts and auxiliaries. Throughout the period of European contact, the Tonkawas' population declined and their traditional way of life disappeared. Until the Apaches drove them southward in the seventeenth century, the Tonkawas occupied lands in central Texas and Oklahoma. When Spanish friars established San Antonio de Valero in 1716, many Tonkawas settled at the mission. Other Tonkawas congregated at missions on the San Xavier River. They soon abandoned the missions because they refused to adopt European ways and Spanish officials could not protect them from their enemies. After the Tonkawas finally abandoned the missions in 1762, they joined the Comanches and other tribes in attacks on Spanish settlements. Their relations with Spain from 1762 to 1821 were bittersweet; friendship and commerce alternated with war. Just as the Tonkawas sought allies among their Indian neighbors against the Spaniards, they occasionally joined with Europeans to fight their Indian foes. After Mexican independence in 1821, the Tonkawas attached themselves to the Anglo-American settlers who had begun to arrive in Texas. Serving as scouts and auxiliaries for Texas and the United States, the Tonkawas fought in every major campaign against the Comanches and other southern plains tribes from 1836 until these tribes were finally confined to reservations. Although their Indian enemies hated them for being allies of the Americans, the Tonkawas regarded the white men as their only protection from annhilation at the hands of traditional foes. The Tonkawas failed to benefit from their years of service to the United States. White diseases and alcohol destroyed their tribal cohesiveness and reduced their population. Finally, Texas settlers successfully agitated for their removal to the Indian Territory in 1884. Manuscript sources in the Bexar Archives and the Federal Records Center in Fort Worth provided most of the information for this work. Published primary documents also proved invaluable to the preparation of this manuscript.
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Tonkawa Indians--History
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Dissertation
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iv, 228 leaves, bound
Department
History