THE TEXIANS
AND THE TEXANS
THE UNIVERSITY
OF TEXAS
INSTITUTE OF
TEXAN CULTURES
THE
INDIAN
TEXANS
AT SAN ANTONIO ..... 1Ii1li
THE INDIAN TEXANS
..
IT~ The University of Texas
INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
at San Antonio
The Indian Texans
by Thomas H. Guderjan and Carol S. Canty
©1989,1998
The University of Texas In.stitute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio
801 South Bowie Street, San Antonio, Texas 78205-3296
Rex H. Ball, Executive Director
First edition, third printing, 1998
This publication was made possible in part by a grant from
the Houston Endowment, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
Front cover: Fights-with-a-Feather, a waco chief, by George Catlin
Back cover: Trinidad Granillo, cacique of the Tigua Indians from 1982 until his death,
photographed by Bill Wright, Abilene
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Guderjan, Thomas H.
The Indian Texans / Thomas H. Guderjan and Carol S. Canty
p. cm. - (The Texians and the Texans)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-86701-038-X
1. Indians of North America-Texas-History. I. Canty, Carol S., 1935-
II. Title. III. Series.
E78.T4G83 1989
976.4'00497-dc20 89-4893
Clr
THE INDIAN TEXANS
T he earliest recorded contact
in Texas between native
Americans and Europeans
occurred in 1528 when a small party
of Spaniards led by Alvar Nunez
Cabeza de Vaca landed on the coast
in what may have been Karankawa
territory. This brief encounter be­tween
two small groups of people
was the first step toward profound
change. Slowly the people who lived
in the vast region would be displaced
by the foreigners . However, for at
least another 200 years after the first
meeting, the land continued to be
easily controlled by the Indians.
Tribes fought over territory or
formed alliances for mutual protec­tion.
New groups moved into the
area, while others were pushed out.
The ebb and flow of power was
between native populations, not
between Indians and Europeans.
Early contacts between Indians
and Europeans were erratic-some­times
friendly and sometimes hos­tile.
It was often with the help of
Indians that Spaniards were able to
survive in this strange land. The na­tives
were secure in their environ­ment
and generally tolerant of the
newcomers. However, as Spaniards
established settlements and gained
power, they wanted to reshape In­dian
culture in the European mold,
but profound cultural and language
differences were greater barriers to
understanding than the ocean which
had separated the Europeans from
the Indians.
The Spaniards, Frenchmen,
and later European immigrants in
what is now Texas were members of
complex cultures whose societies
were composed of large heteroge­neous
populations bound together
A Comanche family
through formal institutions of gov­ernment
and written laws. The peo­ple
were from various backgrounds
and specialized in many occupa­tions:
they were teachers, farmers,
merchants, shopkeepers, priests,
soldiers, lawyers, and so on. Mem­bers
of society depended on each
other for mutual support and shared
technology. Goods and services were
paid for either with money or
through exchange of goods. Individ­ual
ownership of land was every
man's dream.
Ownership and control of land
reflected the European's view of
himself as separate from nature and
the supernatural. Man sought to
dominate nature, and had learned
through technology and science to
manage many resources, including
agriculture and metalworking. On
the other hand, while man could
3
control nature to some extent, he
was at the mercy of God, creator and
director of the universe. Men ap­pealed
to God through prayer for
help, and if human beings sinned
against Him, they asked for forgive­ness
and promised repentance.
Native American societies were
small, isolated, homogeneous
groups, usually without the kinds of
formal government, education, or
religion needed to structure large
populations. Kinship was the orga­nizing
principle of Indian society.
People were related through blood
and marriage or by non-kin group­ings
which bound them to one an­other
with strong bonds. Families
were self-sufficient, and there were
few specialists, with the exception of
shamans, or medicine men. Each
man was soldier-hunter-Iawyer-trad­er,
and each woman was cultivator­seamstress-
craftswoman -man ufac­turer.
Members of society were
bound together by shared traditions ...
They shared feelings of what was
right and wrong, and what was the .
good life. Decisions and action on
war, hunting, planting and harvest­ing,
education of young, and good
fortune or bad were shared by all.
Shared distribution of resources was
the economic base of the society.
Land was used by all. The idea that
an individual could own a piece of
earth was inconceivable.
Man, nature, and the super­natural
were not separate but each
part of a whole, whose balance had
to be maintained through care and
respect. While most groups believed
in a supreme being, they also be­lieved
that supernatural power sur­rounded
them in various forms. The
native American perceived souls in
all natural things - in animals,
plants, and objects such as certain
rocks or places. Through prayer,
man could ask spirits, particularly
spirits of animals, to share their
power or to bring good fortune.
These religious beliefs were labeled
superstition by Europeans, who
than they could comprehend many
other Indian cultural traditions.
Adding to the confusion on the
part of the Spaniards, the natives of
the region belonged to many distinct
groups with different languages and
cultural variations. Several linguistic
families were represented among
Texas Indians, indicating emigra­tions
from many areas of North
America. The immigrants learned to
adapt to the diverse geography of
Texas and to use the natural re­sources
particular to each area.
Therefore, the Texas of the Indian
was as much a setting for diverse life­styles
and economies as it is today
for ranching, agriculture, oil, and
. .
serVIce economIes.
Although Indian peoples
hunted animals and gathered plants
for food, there were four major sub­sistence
patterns among the indig­enous
societies. People in the rug­ged,
sparse environment of the
coastal areas depended on fish and
vegetable products they gathered for
subsistence. In far southwest Texas
along the Rio Grande lived groups
of horticulturists who planted crops
and tilled the soil with simple tools,
and depended on rainfall and natu­ral
soil moisture for sufficient water.
The rich land of East Texas sup­ported
several societies based on hor­ticulture,
who often utilized fields for
two crops in the same year. They
raised a variety of vegetables - corn,
squash, beans, and tobacco. An 18th
century innovation in the Texas
region was the horse-mounted soci­eties,
which utilized buffalo as their
major source of food. After Span­iards
introduced the horse to the
North American continent in the
16th century, groups of Indians
adopted the animal and moved into
the plains of northwest and central
Texas. Indians who utilized each of
these subsistence bases had many
cultural traits which were unique to
each society, and each was as differ­ent
from the other as the Spanish
were from the French or the English.
WHO WERE THE
FIRST "TEXANS"?
The first Australopithicines, man's
predecessors, lived in Africa by 3.5
million years ago. By 1.8 million
years ago, Homo habilis, the first
humans, lived in the same area. And
by 40,000 years ago, Homo sapiens,
fully modern people, were living in
Europe and the Near East. From
there people spread throughout the
world. When did they arrive in
America? This has become one of
the greatest mysteries of the archae­ology
of the New World, the un­known
world brought to the eyes of
Europeans by Columbus and other
explorers of his time.
It is a mystery with as many
answers as there are archaeologists
asking the question. Many archaeo­logical
sites have been believed to be
very old, as old as 100,000 years.
Today, though, none of these very
could no more understand them The first Americans cross the Bering Strait following herds of large game across the tundra.
4
old dates have been widely accepted.
There always seems to be something
wrong in each case, which casts the
shadow of doubt or the specter of
fraud on the findings.
PALEO-INDIANS
It is clear, thou gh, that by about
12 ,000 years ago, people lived all
over North and South America.
These people, whom we call the
"Paleo-Indians," or "Old Indians,"
lived when the last of the most recent
glaciers were retreating. The climate
was cooler and wetter. Where we
now find arid high plains, there were
ponds and trees. Although it is hard
to imagine a place called "Lubbock
Lake" today, it is the appropriate
name for a Paleo-Indian site near
Lubbock, Texas. Aside from the cli­mate,
the animals which lived at the
time were different from today's.
Horses, sloths, mammoths, masto­dons,
and a large type of buffalo all
were found at the time but died out
by 10,000 years ago.
They were one of the major
sources of food for the Paleo-In­dians.
At sites like Blackwater Draw,
New Mexico, Naco and Lehner in
southern Arizona, and many others
on the southern high plains in Colo-
Artist's rendering oj "Midland Minnie," a
woman who lived 9, 000 years ago near Mid­land,
Texas
---_--.~_ --- . =::.=...:..:::::: ._- =::-'==~-
. _ ,:- " :7- .-~ : ':-. . : .. . =-_
Paleo-Indians and later people used the ,)ump-kill technique" oj stampeding bison over clijJs
and into arroyos.
rado and Texas, these extinct ani­mals
were found to have been killed
and butchered by Paleo-Indians.
Archaeologists believed that the
Paleo-Indians followed herds of these
animals, living entirely on the boun­ty
of the hunt. At Bonfire Shelter
near Langtry, Texas, a 'jump-kill"
site was found. Paleo-Indians h ad
chased buffalo over a cliff to their
deaths. This technique yielded a tre­mendous
amount of meat and hides.
Archaeologists once thought
that the extinct, big-game animals
were the only source of food. New
information from Lubbock Lake
and other sites, however, made them
change their point of view. At Lub­bock
Lake, Paleo-Indians had killed
small game and collected wild
grasses and other plants to round out
their diet. This means that in addi­tion
to chasing herds of animals,
Paleo-Indians knew their territories
well enough that they would regu­la
rly return to collect seasonal plant
foods and kill the small game which
came to the ancient ponds on the
plains to feed and drink.
Paleo-Indians seem to have
lived in small, family-oriented
bands. Perhaps there were never
more than 20 or so people in each
band. Intermarriage among these
bands probably kept their numbers
stable. When a band became too
large to move about easily, a new
"splinter" band was formed. These
people did not use cloth or pottery;
and no North American Indians
ever used much metal. They made
their tools from stone and wood and
the bones of the animals they
hunted. Their shelters and clothes
were made of hide. Everything that
the group used had to be made from
the resources available in the envi­ronment
in which they lived .
5
THE ARCHAIC PEOPLE
By about 8,000 years ago the glaciers
had melted, and the climate of the
world had shifted more or less to
what it is today. The big-game
animals of the plains had also be­come
extinct. Only the American
buffalo, Bison bison, remained as the
great animal of the plains. The
numbers of people had vastly in­creased
from the Paleo-Indian times.
They lived differently, as well.
They were hunters and gatherers
like their ancestors, but they did not
travel as far, and they lived in bigger
groups. In a sense, they had begun
to "settle in:' Archaeologists find that
these Archaic people made a much
wider variety of specialized tools
than the Paleo-Indians. Very large
deposits of the remains of daily life
have been found, indicating that
people lived in single locations long­er,
perhaps never leaving except for
hunting and collecting trips. There
are more and bigger archaeological
sites from this time than before.
N ear the end of the Archaic times,
in a number of places in Texas, the
remains of buildings and evidence
of permanent settlement exist. Near
San Marcos, Corpus Christi, El
Paso, and in East Texas as well,
Archaic structures have led archae­ologists
to conclude that these people
lived in the same place all year.
In the Trans-Pecos area of Tex­as,
some of the most important evi­dence
of Archaic culture in America ·
is found. The Trans-Pecos, that area
where the Pecos River joins the Rio
Grande, is a dry, seemingly desolate
~j~"'"
\,
.1
./
The "White Shaman," an Archaic-period pictograph from the Lower Pecos River area
6
place. Deep canyons dissect those
flat desert lands. In these canyons
are rockshelters carved by flowing
water ages ago. Not surprisingly, the
ancient people of the Trans-Pecos
used these shelters as campsites.
They are shaded and cool when the
summer sun beats down on the des­ert,
and they give protection from
rain and snow.
They are also extremely dry, so
that very little rots. Woven mats,
sandals, nets, and food remains are
almost as intact today as they were
thousands of years ago. Archaeolo­gists
talk of the "perfect preservation"
of materials in these shelters. Even
human feces, or coprolites, remain
from these ancient inhabitants.
Because of this situation, equaled
only in the highest of the Andean
mountains in South America, ar­chaeologists
have learned much
about how these people lived. It is
also because of this dryness that their
art has survived.
The Archaic people of the
Trans-Pecos area in Texas are world
renowned for the spectacular rock
art tradition which can be seen to­day.
Not just the mere doodles of
children, the rock art of the Pecos
area is part of the culture that pro­duced
it. Figures of shamans, or
medicine men, tower 16 feet above
the ground. To paint some of these
figures, scaffolding would have to
have been built. We may never know
the full and true meaning of this art;
we do know that artists, thousands
of years dead, have left us with their
work to ponder.
AGRICULTURE AND
THE NEO-INDIANS
While rock artists painted the sides
of cliffs in Texas, people in central
Mexico were experimenting with
plants. The discovery of the agricul­tural
triumvirate of corn, beans, and
squash was to become the most pro­foundly
revolutionary event in the
Americas before Columbus.
Beans of many kinds were cul­tivated
in North America. Beans
contain a tremendous amount of
protein, needed in a diet which is
low in meat. Unfortunately, this pro­tein
is not in a form that humans can
easily absorb. Corn, originally a wild
Mexican grass, contains an amino
acid which breaks down the protein
in beans so that people can use it
efficiently. Finally, squashes, such as
pumpkins and gourds, add trace
minerals and other needed dietary
elements. A well-balanced meal can
be obtained from a corn tortilla with
beans and squash on the side.
By shortly after the time of
Christ, the technology to grow corn
reached North America. It became Archaeologists excavate an ancient Antelope Creek Focus village in the Panhandle oj Texas.
the "staff of life" for many Indian
societies. Large numbers of people
could live in one place, permanently.
In fact, they had to. No longer could
a group of people pack up and move
their homes miles away. By adopting
agriculture, people had to adapt to
agriculture as well. Fields had to be
tended, protected against animals
and other people alike. Communi­ties
grew, rather than splintering off
into small groups.
In Texas several groups of peo­ple
adopted this new way of life. We
call those people who adopted a set­tled,
agricultural way of life "N eo­Indians."
In East Texas the Caddos
and Wichitas became farmers in the
broad river bottoms. In far south­west
Texas the people whom ar­chaeologists
call the "Mogollon"
farmed the narrow strip of fertile
land along the Rio Grande and at
La Junta, where the Rio Grande
joins the Rio Conchos. They also
grew corn in the sand dunes of the
Hueco Bolson, the large flat basin
between the Franklin and Hueco
mountains near El Paso.
Mysteries abound in the ar­chaeology
of Texas. When did the
first people come to Texas? What is
the meaning of the rock art of the
Pecos area? Along the Canadian
River, running from New Mexico to
Oklahoma through the Texas Pan-handle,
the remains of stone-walled
villages still can be found . However,
whel1 the first Europeans searched
for the mythical city of Quivera in
the area, no farming communities
~isted in the Panhandle of Texas -
the region was the domain of the
Apaches. Today we know that these
villages were built during the 12th
and 13th centuries A.D. Whoever
built them seem to have moved into
the area from elsewhere . . . but
where? They brought new tools,
new architecture, new kinds of
pottery, and they were farmers.
Where did they go? There is no evi­dence
of battles or of disease, but
they were gone when the Spanish ar­rived.
Archaeologists call them the
Antelope Creek Focus people, after
the location of one of their villages.
We do not know what they called
themselves or what arry group of
people called themselves before the
Europeans arrived. So, we use our
names for them.
ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS
Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Anglo­Americans
exploited the land and its
inhabitants in different ways. Con­sequently,
their attitudes towards the
Indians were often different. The
people of New Spain (now Mexico)
wanted to make subjects of the In­dians,
although as a servant class.
The French wanted to establish a
trading empire in the New World.
Later, Anglo-Americans wanted to
disregard the Indians completely
and settle the country for them­selves.
The United States did not
grant citizenship to Indians until the
20th century.
Spain claimed Texas but did lit­tle
to colonize it until after 1684,
when Frenchmen began to settle in
the eastern region. However, French
influence was short-lived and con­fined
to the eastern and northern
fronti ers. Most Frenchmen came as
traders and businessmen, not as
official representatives of govern­ment.
They were comfortable with
the Indians, often settling among
them. They established trade rela­tionships
and supplied the natives
with guns, which the Spanish were
trying to keep from them.
Spain was the primary Euro~
pean power in Texas for almost 300
years. Its attitude toward the Indians
was often inconsistent, changing
under pressure from other Euro­peans.
The monarchy in Madrid
viewed this new possession as land
to be secured against French en­croachment
and tried to use Indians
as pawns in a power struggle. How-
7
ever, the Indians were practical and
often took advantage of the ongoing
strife for their own gain. Since tribes
were separate and autonomous and
held different attitudes toward out­siders
, Spanish administrators
attempted several methods to control
native populations. Missions had
proven successful in New Mexico, so
several were established in the new
territory. However, except for a few
missions in the San Antonio and El
Paso areas, the effort was a failure.
Most Indians had no desire to give
up their independence and tradi­tions.
The Spaniards fought contin-ing
that their presence would dis­courage
Comanche and Kiowa raid­ing
of Spanish settlements and be a
barrier to American expansion,
which was becoming a problem.
In spite of Spanish efforts dur­ing
three centuries of occupation to
control and "civilize" the natives, the
land which would become Texas re­mained
largely unsettled and had
less than 10,000 immigrants.
However, the year 1821 marked
the beginning of profound change
for resident Indians and of a new era
in the history of Texas. Stephen
Austin arrived in the territory with
Interesting insight into some Indians' beliif in a supreme being
was illustrated in an excerpt from a book by Colonel Randolph
Marcy. Colonel Marcy showed a Bible to a Comanche and
asked him if his people had ever ~eard <if it.
"He [the Indian] answered in the negative, and added
that in his opinion this talk-emanated from the God <if
the White man, as the Comanches' God was so far distant
in the sky that they could not hear him speak, and when
they wished to communicate with him they were obliged
to do it through the medium <if the sun, which they could
see and hold converse with."
uously with several tribes while try­ing
to maintain peace with others,
in order to quell Indian resistance
and halt French expansion. In the
18th century the Spaniards wanted
to sustain peace with the Coman­ches,
in order to discourage the
Indians' devastating raids on their
settlements in New Mexico and also
to encourage the Comanches' hatred
of the Apaches. The Spaniards could
not control the Apaches and hoped
that the Comanches would be able
to destroy them. In the 19th century
a similar technique was employed by
the colonial governor of Coahuila.
He persuaded several bands of Kick­apoos,
along with some Shawnee,
Delaware, and Cherokee Indians, to
settle along the northern and north­eastern
borders of the territory, hop-
8
300 families. They came not to col­onize
the Indians but to settle and
work the land, to establish farms and
homesteads and towns. While some
of the Anglo-Americans were allies
and friends of the Indians, others
took the opposite view. Sam
Houston had been a friend of the
Cherokees in the East and was a
strong ally while president of the
Republic of Texas. On the other
hand, his successor, Mirabeau
Lamar, is perhaps best remembered
for his comment, "The only good In­dian
is a dead Indian;' As the
conquering culture became domi­nant,
the Indians either became
"civilized" or were destroyed.
In an effort to contain the In­dians,
a reservation was established
on the Brazos River in 1854. It was
soon abolished, however, in response
to pressure from citizens of the new
state, and residents of reservations
were removed to Indian Territory
(Oklahoma). The next several de­cades
were marked by continuous
fighting and acts of cruelty by both
Indians and Whites. The White
man was fighting to claim the land.
The Indian was fighting to save his
world. However, it was the destruc­tion
of the buffalo, the lifeline of the
Plains Indians, which ended 12,000
years of autonomous Indian societies.
COAHUILTECANS
Little is known about the origins of
the Coahuiltecans. At European
contact, there were more than 200
independent bands. They inhabited
the dry, brushy country of South
Texas and were one of the first
groups to interact with the Span­iards.
In the early 18th century large
numbers of Coahuiltecans came and
settled at the missions established for
them. Soon European diseases and
deadly attacks by Comanches and
Apaches decimated the population.
By 1800 most of the Coahuiltecan
people had been destroyed or ab­sorbed
into Spanish society.
The environment of the Coa­huiltecans
was not a hospitable one.
The winter could bring unexpected
bitter cold, and the summers were
hot and very dry. The land was
rocky, covered with cactus and brush
but few trees. Summers were some­times
periods of relative plenty, but
in winter the people often lived on
the edge of starvation. The Indians
utilized every edible food, from the
occasional buffalo to fish, birds,
snakes, and insects. Deer, javelina,
and small animals such as rabbits
were never plentiful enough to pro­vide
the basis of the people's diet.
They depended on vegetable foods
for survival, including all kinds of
nuts, seeds, and plants like cacti,
mesquite beans, sotol, and agave.
Resources were scarce, and
most foods were seasonal. There-
fore, small families were the basic
social unit much of the year, and
they usually moved every few days
in search of food. During harvest
season, bands composed of related
kinsmen would come together to
hunt, gather food, and visit. Bands
moved within well-defined areas
using natural resources. They re­garded
this territory as theirs and
defended it against interlopers.
However, there was no defined au­thority
or law. Members of a band
would recognize some man of out­standing
ability as leader. His pri­mary
r esponsibility was to direct
harvest activities. Bands were very
flexibl e, and members could leave
and join other groups freely.
All members of Coahuiltecan
society were equal, and resources
were shared. Other than a band
headman, the only person seen as
different was the shaman. If some­one
was adept at curing illness or
wounds, he was recognized as a
shaman, and he also conducted reli­gious
ceremonials. Supernatural
beliefs were primarily an individual
affair, but dances directed by sha­mans
were sometimes held by one
or more bands, usually in summer
A Coahuiltecan carrying a burden
when food was plentiful. These were
religious feasts and celebrations of
g~od fortune. The dances lasted all
night, and eating peyote was part of
the ritual. They also were an oppor­tunity
for visiting relatives and
friends , for making new alliances,
and often for matchmaking.
The Coahuiltecans had little
use for excess goods. Their tools and
weapons were simple, and their
houses were easy to assemble - reed
mats and hides were placed over
bent saplings to form low, circular
huts. The people wore few clothes­a
loincloth, fiber sandals, and, in
bad weather, a robe of rabbit skin,
coyote hide, or any available animal
skin. However, they, like people ev­erywhere,
enjoyed ornamentation
and decorated their clothing elabo­rately
with seeds. They also used
tattoos liberally, both as ornaments
and as symbols. They were a hardy
people whose endurance greatly im­pressed
the Europeans. It was said
that a Coahuiltecan could chase a
deer all day without fatigue. These
Indians were well adapted to their
environment and survived III a
harsh, inhospitable land.
THE KARANKAWAS
A great debate exists regarding how
the Karankawas lived and from
whence they came. While some
scholars believe that they were no­mads,
others are convinced that they
lived in permanent towns on the
coast, venturing inland only for
occasional hunting trips. Most con­ventional
sources align the Karan­kawa
language with that of the Coa­huiltecan,
which would indicate a
close relationship. Others think that
the Karankawas were Indians of the
plains who came south and settled
on the Texas coast. Still other schol­ars,
citing linguistic, cultural, and
physical traits, argue that they were
Carib Indians who came ashore,
probably by accident, and took con­trol
of the coastal area around
modern Corpus Christi.
In 1528 Alvar Nunez Cabeza
de Vaca may have been the first
European to encounter the Karan­kawas
in the Galveston Bay area.
Karankawa-European contacts were
often dramatic ones since both Span­ish
and French ships landed in their
territory. Early relations were friend­ly,
but eventually the Indians
became wary and hostile toward the
foreigners. In response to French
efforts to settle in the area, the
Spanish attempted to establish sev­eral
missions among the Karanka­was.
A few Indians responded, but
most were contemptuous of such a
life. By the end of the 18th century
European diseases and warfare had
nearly annihilated the tribe.
The coastal environment was
hot and humid in summer and mild
in winter. Winters were very dry,
however, and supplies of drinkable
water were often dangerously low.
The country was one of grasslands
and scattered wooded areas and was
home to many species of animals in­cluding
deer. The Karankawas did
not practice agriculture; they were
hunters, gatherers, and especially
fishermen. They ate plants and ani­mals
and relied heavily on marine
9
of Elders, which consisted of leaders
of the main clans and their assis­tants.
Leadership, however, was by
influence rather than authority, and
the leadership frequently changed.
Kickapoo religion includes
supernatural "grandparents;' which
included fire, sun, and earth, and
sacred tribal and clan bundles. The
tribal calendar was full of celebra­tions
filled with music and dances,
but many aspects of religion also
reflected fear. The Great Spirit had
given the people a set of laws and
offenses, and numerous taboos re­garding
food , houses, and sacred
bundles had to be continuously ob­served.
The supernatural beliefs of
the Indians integrated all society,
and man was obligated to deal with
the spirits to keep life balanced.
By the time the Kickapoos ar­rived
in Texas, many aspects of their
clothing had been borrowed from
Europeans. To their breechclout~ ,
buckskin leggings, and moccasins,
they had added calico print shirts,
European-style vests, and hats, and
were particularly fond of ribbons as
ornamentation. The women had
adopted flounced skirts and over­blouses,
and both sexes wore an
abundance of jewelry. However, the
people continued to live in their
traditional houses. Wigwams were
once covered with elm bark. In Tex­as
and Mexico they were covered
with cattail reeds. The Kickapoos
were adept at basketry and also wove
reed and cattail mats.
THE TEXAS CHEROKEES
Long before the "Trail of Tears" in
1838-1839 when most of the Chero­kees
were forced to leave their home­land
in the southeastern United
States, a group of these Indians had
already settled in Texas. In 1794,
during peace negotiations between
the United States and the Cherokee
" .
A Kickapoo family in Nacimiento, Coahuila, Mexico, c. 1900
22
nation, a subchief named Bowl and
his band assaulted a flatboat on the
Tennessee River and killed several
Whites. Fearing retaliation, Bowl led
the group down the Tennessee River
to Arkansas and finally into Texas
in 1819. The band settled on fertile
lands between the Trinity and
Sabine rivers in East Texas, in Cad­do
Indian territory, and formed an
alliance with smaller groups of
Alabamas, Coushattas, Kickapoos,
Delawares, and Shawnees, who had
been forced into Texas under pres­sure
from European encroachment.
The Cherokees were anxious to
establish homes and farms and re­main
at peace in a new land. In 1825
there was a short-lived attempt by
a group of Cherokees and white set­tlers
to establish a Republic of Fre­donia,
independent of Mexico, but
it was unsuccessful, and soon the
White settlers were looking covet­ously
at the fertile lands of the
Indians. Even Sam Houston, who
had been a lifelong friend of the
Cherokees, was unable to prevent
them from becoming political pawns
in the new Republic of Texas, and
they were driven out in 1839.
The Cherokees were consid­ered
"civilized" by White standards
because of their sophisticated towns
and political organization. They had
lived with Europeans for several
centuries in the southeastern United
States and had borrowed many ideas
and customs, blending them into
Cherokee culture. They were pri­marily
farmers, and they hunted
and fished to supplement their diet
much as the White frontiersmen
did. They built log cabins, cultivated
various crops, including corn and
cotton, and raised cattle, horses, and
hogs. They owned gristmills and
saltworks and wove their cotton into
clothing for their families .
The Texas Cherokees main­tained
close ties with other Chero­kees
in the southeastern states and
in Oklahoma. Texas Indians, like the
rest of the Cherokee nation, became
literate soon after Sequoyah, a West-
1
ern Cherokee, developed a method
of writing their language using En­glish
characters.
Nineteenth century Cherokee
political organization reflected many
American traits-the office ofprin­cipal
chief elected for four years,
with three subchiefs, a council, and
judges who presided over courts.
Religion also had been exposed to
years of European and American
missionary influence, but it retained
some ancient beliefs, such as the
Great Buzzard who had created the
valleys and mountains of the Alle­gheny
for the Cherokees and the sun
as author and giver of fire.
The Texas Cherokees followed
the sad history of the entire Chero­kee
nation and, when driven out of
Texas by President Mirabeau La­mar
in 1838-1839, joined their fel­low
refugee tribesmen in Indian
Territory (Oklahoma).
THE DELAWARES
When a group of Delaware families
left their settlement in Cape Girar­deau,
Missouri, in 1815 and made
their way into eastern Texas, they
were continuing a migration which
had begun over 150 years earlier in
the Delaware Valley of New Jersey
and Pennsylvania. Delaware Indi­ans
had been pushed westward and
southward by pressures of European
encroachment and had associated
with many other tribes along the
way, including the Shawnees, Nan­ticokes,
Wyandots, Miamis, and
Potawatomis. The Texas Delaware
group probably contained 150 to
225 families, and they settled with
other immigrant groups in Caddo
Indian territory of East Texas. In
1854 they were moved with the re­maining
Shawnees, Wichitas, Cad­dos,
and Tonkawas onto the Brazos
reservation and were later removed
to Indian Territory.
Over the years the Delawares
had borrowed many traits - material
and nonmaterial- from Europeans
and other Indians, and had blended
new ideas with old in Delaware soci­ety.
When they arrived in Texas,
they were, like the Cherokees, large­ly
"civilized" by White standards,
and their housing and clothing re­flected
years of European influence.
In spite of this, the Delawares
retained their traditional organiza­tion.
The tribal council still elected
a war chief and a peace chief, and
if a chief proved undesirable, the
people could remove him through
neglect; that is, they simply ignored
him and followed another leader.
The major religious celebration
of the Delawares was the Big House
ceremony which lasted 12 days. The
elaborate ritual incorporated sing­ing,
dancing, and feasting into a
celebration of thanksgiving to the
Creator for bestowing his blessings
on men.
Delawares acted as scouts for
the Army of the Republic of Texas
against Comanche Indians, but in
th~ end they fared no better than the
Cherokees and also were removed
to .Indian Territory.
PLAINS LEADERS OF
THE 19TH CENTURY
Only a few Indian names survive in
Texas history - some because of
their determined resistance to the
White man's world, and a few be­cause
of their efforts to bridge the
chasm between two cultures. Those
Indians who lived or moved through
the state during the 19th century
and fought bitterly and courageous­ly
to preserve their freedom earned
the respect of the military men who
opposed them. Kiowas such as Sa­tanta,
Satank, Kicking Bird, Big
Bow, and Lone Wolf, and Coman­ches
such as Ten Bears, Horseback,
Esa-Havey, Tabananica, and Qua­nah
were among the last warriors to
accept defeat and finally settle in
Indian Territory.
Mow-a-way, a Comanche lead­er,
was typical ofIndians who finally
realized the futility of resistance and
gradually accepted a new way of life.
He led a group on a raid into New
Mexico in 1867 but was arrested and
\
\\ ,
W
Kicking Bird, a K iowa chief and signer of the Medicine Lodge Treaty
23
L
Big Tree, a Kiowa chiif ..
taken to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
The following is an account of his
journey as told to Indian agent and
teacher Lawrie Tatum.
I supposed when we started that
the soldiers were going to take us away
off and then kill us. But we traveled
on and on, day after day, in the wagons
and were kindly treated. When one of
the Indians was taken sick, I supposed
that the White men would be glad for
him to die. But instead of that they
doctored him, and seemed to do all that
they could to cure him. But he died,
and then they did not throw him onto
the grass for the wolves to eat, as I ex­pected
they would, but the commanding
officer sent some of his men to dig a
grave for him. They made a box and
put him into it with all of his clothing,
his bow and arrows; everything he
owned they gave him. The hole that
they dug was the nicest one that I ever
saw. They made a little mound over
him, smooth and nice. I could not
understand why such mean people, as
I thought the White people were, should
be so kind to an Indian in sickness and
after death.
24
When we had tra veled marry days
we came to where there was a new kind
oj road that I had never heard oj There
was a very large iron horse hitched to
several houses on wheels. We were taken
into one of them, which was the nicest
house that I ever saw. There were seats
on each side of it. As soon as we were
seated the iron horse made a snort, and
away it went, pulling the houses 'Our
ponies could not run so fast. It only
(ran] a little while and then made a
big snort and stopped at another White
man's village. The iron horse kept
running and snorting and stopping at
the White men's, and the villages kept
getting larger and larger. I had no idea
that the White people had so many vil­lages,
and that there were so many
White people. At length we reached
Leavenworth, which was the largest of
any of the villages. There the people
were so numerous and the land so scarce
they built one house on top of another,
two or three houses (stories] high. These
houses were divided into little houses
(rooms] inside. The houses were built
close together on both sides of the road.
A Comanche warrior in the late 19th century
They were full of people, and the roads
between the houses were full of people.
I know not where they all came from
but I saw them with my own eyes. I
had no idea that there were so many
people in existence.
After we were taken over one of
the houses built on top of another, we
were taken into a house down in the
ground right under the other one. There
was nobody living in it, but there were
barrels of foolish water ( whiskey] in it.
There was some of it offered me to
drink, but I saw that it made White
men foolish who drank it, and I was
afraid to take any, for fear I would get
as foolish as they did. We were taken
into a house that was built on the water
(the Missouri River], and it could
swim anywhere. It made no difference
how deep the water was, it could swim.
There is where sugar comes from.
I saw men rolling great big barrels of
sugar out oj the house on the water, and
so many of them! Nobody need talk to
me about sugar being scarce after seeing
the large amount come out of that house
that was swimming on the water.
After his experience, Mow-a­way,
along with the majority of
Plains Indians, became a part of
society that White men in their haste
to spread "civilization" tried to ig­nore.
However, a handful ofleaders
emerged who tried to reconcile two
cultures into a harmonious society.
One of the most famous Co­manches
during this period was
Quanah, son of Pet a Nocona, chief
of the Quohada Band, and the
White captive Cynthia Ann Parker.
He was born in Texas about 1845
and became a major leader of the
band after his father's death. His
band refused to enter into the
Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867 by
which the Comanche, Kiowa,
Apache, Cheyenne, and Arapaho
tribes were assigned to reservations.
The Quohadas remained hostile and
continued to raid and fight across
the plains. In 1874 the Comanche
medicine man, Isatai, urged Co­manches,
Kiowas, and Southern
Cheyennes to attack buffalo hunters
at Adobe Walls in the Texas Pan­handle.
He predicted that, if they
did so, the White men would be
driven out forever and the buffalo
would return. A large force under
Quanah's leadership launched the
attack but suffered defeat, and their
faith in their medicine was badly
shaken. A month later QIanah and
his band were involved in the disas­trous
defeat at Palo Duro Canyon,
but still refused to accept the inevi­table
until June 1875 when they
finally surrendered at Fort Sill,
Indian Territory. During the rest of
his life, Quanah displayed remark­able
talent and insight in adapting
to the White man's world while
retaining many traditional Coman­che
beliefs. He had critics among
the Indians, but his diligence in try­ing
to work with the government on
behalf of his people established him
as a dedicated leader.
Placido
INDIAN SCOUTS
Several Indians distinguished them­selves
as allies and scouts in Texas
military expeditions in the 19th
century. Among these were Placido,
a member of the Tonkawa tribe; Jim
Shaw, a Delaware; and Showetat,
a Caddo. Placido served the Texans
between 1839 and 1862. He partici­pated
in many skirmishes and
battles, especially against the Co- .
manches. In 1862 a group of In­dians
representing several tribes
attacked the Tonkawas, and Placido
was among those killed. Jim Shaw,
scout, interpreter, and diplomat,
was a Delaware Indian who played
an active role in establishing peace
along the Texas frontier in the mid­dle
1800's. He spoke several Indian
Chief Quanah Parker languages in addition to English and
25
served as an official representative
in treaty negotiations for several
governors, including Sam Houston.
He helped bring about a treaty be­tween
German settlers and Coman­ches
in 1847. In 1861 Showetat es­poused
the cause of the Confederacy.
He raised and commanded a battal­ion
of Indian scouts which served
with the Confederate forces west of
the Mississippi during the Civil War.
Mangus, an Apache chief
APACHE WAR LEADERS
Two great Apache war leaders, Vic­torio
and Geronimo, gained a place
in history because of their bitter
resistance to reservation life. Both
leaders led groups away from the
San Carlos Reservation in New
Mexico and waged guerrilla warfare
through West Texas and Mexico,
skillfully eluding military pursuers
for several years. Victorio led his
band from San Carlos in 1877 and
remained free until his death in 1880
in Mexico. Geronimo, whose name
became a war cry throughout the
Southwest, left San Carlos in 1881.
Although he was recaptured and
returned to the reservation several
times, he continued to escape. He
26
rallied members of several Apache
bands in the last major Indian resis­tance
of 1881-1886. Following his
final capture, he was sent to Florida
in chains. In 1894 he was taken to
Fort Sill, where he remained until
his death in 1909 without ever being
allowed to return to his homeland.
After years of broken promises the
Indian leader remained hopeful and
enlisted the help of his friend Sam
Houston in his efforts. Bowles
worked on behalf of the young re­public
as an emissary from Houston
to the Plains tribes in an effort to
pacify them and promote a peace
In the ear!Jl 20th century) Geronimo wrote his autobwgraphy
and spoke about the Apache and the earth.
'We are vanishing from the earth, yet I cannot think we
are useless or Usen (God) would not have created us . . .. For
each tribe cif men Usen created, He also made a home. In the
land createdfor any particular tribe He placed whatever would
be best for the welfare cif that tribe.
'~n Usen created the Apaches He also created their
homes in the West. He gave them such grain) fruits, and game
as they needed to eat. To restore their health when disease attacked
them He taught them where to find these herbs, and how to pre­pare
them for medicine. He gave them a pleasant climate, and
all they needed for clothing and shelter was at hand. Thus it
was in the beginning: the Apaches and their homes each created
for the other fry Usen himself. Jt7um they are taken from these
homes they sicken and die. How long will it be until it is said
there are no Apaches?»
CHIEF BOWLES
One of the most prominent Indians
in Texas history was an immigrant
to the state in 1820. The Bowl, or
Chief Bowles, and his group of
Cherokees were the first members of
that tribe to settle in Texas. They
came to establish homes and farms
as permanent citizens of the fertile
territory of East Texas. They wanted
peace and title to their lands, and
Chief Bowles spent a lifetime work­ing
on their behalf. He tried to es­tablish
Cherokee ownership through
the Mexican government, traveling
to Mexico City in 1823 in an at­tempt
to settle the issue. When some
of the Cherokees joined with White
settlers in the Fredonian rebellion,
Bowles refused to become involved
because the Mexican agent prom­ised
the Cherokees land and fair
treatment if they remained neutral,
a promise which was unfulfilled.
treaty. A treaty was signed between
the Cherokees and the provisional
government of Texas, but it was
Chief Bowles
1
never ratified. Houston fought for
the rights of the Indians, but public
opinion was against all Indians, and
his efforts failed. Bloodshed, accusa­tions,
and misunderstandings con­tinued
on both sides, and in 1839 the
Cherokees were ordered out of Tex­as.
Chief Bowles tried to play for
time, whether to gather aid from
other tribes or to organize his people
for the trek was never known. How­ever,
his people headed northwest
and were followed by Texas forces
which engaged them in battle. On
the second day Chief Bowles was
killed wearing the bright silk vest,
sash, and black military hat that
Houston had given him and clutch­ing
the sword that was also a gift
from his "friend and brother." Al­though
Chief Bowles refused to aid
Mexico in the Texans' fight for inde­pendence,
and the Cherokees re­mained
neutral, there was no place
for them in the new republic.
The Indians of
Texas Today
Through missionization, displace­ment,
disease, and outright slaugh­ter,
few of the Indian groups which
occupied Texas at the coming of the
Europeans remain today. Today's
Indians are generally recent immi­grants
to Texas themselves.
The Ysleta Mission church in El Paso which has served the Tiguas for over 300 years
THE ALABAMA­COUSHATTAS
The .Alabama-Coushatta Indians
still live on their reservation in
southeast Texas. Although virtually
at! of the members of the tribes
speak English and now attend public
schools, most people speak either
Alabama or Coushatta as well. The
reservation is operated by the tribal
council, and revenue from oil pro­duction,
tourism, and government
appropriations are dispersed by the
tribe. No one owns land on the res­ervation;
instead, individuals lease
land, often for their lifetimes, from
the tribe. In effect, this prevents sale
of lands to non tribal members.
A major source of tribal income
is the tourist center which has been
established on the reservation. At the
center Alabama-Coushattas perform
dances and demonstrate traditional
cooking and crafts for tourists.
Much of what tourists see has been
derived from the Indians' contact
with other peoples. Many of the
dances and costumes are borrowed
from Plains Indians. Also, the "fry
bread" is made of wheat, a European
grain, rather than corn. The tribe is
quite aware that the product being
sold to tourists is not purely Ala­bama
and Coushatta culture. At the
same time, they live a way of life
vastly different from the non-Indian
society which surrounds them.
THE TIGUAS
The other reservation in Texas has
been established for the Tiguas of
El Paso. Urban dwellers for decades,
the Tiguas retain their own culture
within a culturally Hispanic com­munity.
Their tourist center is an
attempt to recreate early Pueblo life
in Texas. They are, however, fiercely
proud of their heritage. In their
tourist center one can find women
Fulton and Emmet Battise, Alabama-Coushatta chiefs in ceremonial clothing painting pottery or cooking in con-
27
temporary adobe ovens which origi­nate
far back in antiquity. Their
restaurants and dances have also
gained much attention. Aside from
tourism, the Tiguas have formed
tribal enterprises such as a dehydra­tion
plant for chilies and other vege­tables
to be sold to corporate giants
like Del Monte.
THE KICKAPOOS
It has been said, with realjustifica­tion,
that the Kickapoo Indians are
one of the most conservative Indian
groups of North America. Since the
Mexican government enticed them
to settle in northern Mexico as a
barrier to the raiding Apaches, their
culture was virtually untouched by
White or Mexican society until re­cently.
Because a frontier fort officer
wrote a letter allowing them to cross
the US./Mexico border freely, they
are considered citizens of both coun­tries.
In the 1940's some Kickapoos"
began to engage in migrant farm .
labor in the northern United States.
Needing a convenient place to spend
short periods, they constructed a
cardboard house village on the US.
Kickapoos building a house
28
Senores Gonzales and Nanate, Kickapoo leaders from Eagle Pass and Nacimiento
side of the international bridge at
Eagle Pass. The houses were built
much like 16th century wickiups
which would have been found in
their Wisconsin homeland. This
location gave the Kickapoos easy
access to the social services of the
United States government as well as
the convenience stores and fast-food
restaurants of modern life. It also
raised the ire of Eagle Pass citizens,
who strove for years to remove the
Kickapoos from their squatters'
homes. In 1986 lands were acquired
outside Eagle Pass for the Kicka­poos,
and an ordinance was passed
banning construction in the Rio
Grande floodplain in town. These
two events have forced the Kicka­poos
to move, even though only
about a third were initially willing
to do so.
The Kickapoo homeland, how­ever,
is still in Nacimiento, Mexico,
near a Black Seminole village. The
Kickapoos live in Nacimiento much
as they have lived for hundreds of
years. The community has rarely
been studied by anthropologists, and
to this day, non-Kickapoos are not
allowed into the community during
the spring session of rituals.
THE BLACK SEMINOLES
Fleeing Black slaves joined the Sem­inole
Indians in Florida to escape the
plantation system. Eventually they
were completely assimilated into
Seminole society. However, as plant­ers'
efforts to recapture their slaves
increased, the Black Seminoles fled
Florida for Arkansas and Missouri.
At about the same time the US.
Cavalry was experiencing difficulties
with their Apache scouts and so
actively recruited the Black Semi­noles.
The cavalry was highly segre­gated
at that time, and many Blacks
were stationed at Fort Clark, now
Brackettville. The fame of the Black
Seminole scouts spread widely be­cause
of their skill and expertise.
Today descendants of the scouts have
been entirely integrated into the
Black society of Brackettville and the
surrounding area.
THE URBAN INDIANS
In the 1960's the Bureau of Indian
Affairs pursued an ill-fated and,
most feel, ill-conceived program to
integrate Indians from the Okla­homa,
New Mexico, and Arizona
reservations, among others, into the
mainstream of society. The effort
was based on the idea that America
was a social "melting pot" and that
all old cultures would be replaced by
one ''American'' culture as the soup
in the melting pot was stirred
around. Both the idea and the pro­gram
have been discarded.
During its existence, however,
several thousand Indians, mainly
Comanches, Apaches, Kiowas, and
Navajos were moved to cities, given
apartments and small sums of mon­ey
and the opportunity to become
part of the "melting pot." Today
25,000 to 30,000 Indians live in the
Dallas-Ft. Worth area; several thou­sand
more live in Houston and San
Antonio. They are dedicated to
keeping their cultural traditions
while being employed in the same
variety of ways as the other residents
in those cities. Some of their organi­zations
are designed to aid Indians
with alcohol and drug abuse. Others
exist to educate non-Indians about
traditional Indian life.
In San Antonio in the past few
years, a new group, the Native
Americans Council of San Antonio,
has been formed. Initially it had
only a few members, but it now
numbers nearly 100. Like other
groups, these people strive to re­inforce
their own Indianness while
educating the public about their
culture. Even though they often wear
suits and ties or blue jeans and work
shirts, their lives are profoundly
different from the non-Indians who
surround them.
Attitudes about the role of tra­ditional
culture in modern life differ
greatly among today's Indians.
There are very conservative, tradi­tional
people living on reservations
and in similar communities. Others
are fully acculturated into non­Indian
society. Most of those who
work in cities and no longer live on
reservations still feel very close to
their reservation "home." They may
often visit that home or plan to retire
there someday. Often these people
are more closely attached to the
reservation than to Indians of other
cultural backgrounds living in the
same city.
On reservations throughout the
country, liberal-minded leaders are
attempting to operate tribal councils
as cooperative businesses. Some res­ervations
have vast mineral and
..
• Tigua
'.
tourism resources which bring mon­ey
to the tribal councils. This money
is spent on housing, education, and
employment for the tribe. While this
has good and positive aspects, it also
expands the division between mod­ern
life and traditional values.
Conservative members of tribes
often disagree with this approach,
desiring instead to retain the way of
life, values, and world view of their
parents. They also fear the loss of
these traditions for their children.
Whether they live on or off res­ervations
or are liberal or conserva­tive,
Indians today continue to rec­oncile
traditional with modern life.
• Dallas
Alab;lwa­Coushatta
•
Houston. 1
, . ' San Antonio ·
• Kickapoo
The 20th century Indians
29
FOR FURTHER READING
General
Hodge, Fredrick W. Handbook of
American Indians North of Mexico.
1905; reprinted, Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution,
1965.
Newcomb, W.W. , Jr. The Indians of
Texas. Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1961.
Texas Before Columbus
Hester, Thomas R. Digging into South
Texas Prehistory. San Antonio: Co­rona
Press, 1980.
Shafer, Harry. Ancient Texans. Austin:
Texas Monthly Press, 1986.
Turner, Sue, and Thomas R. Hester.
Guide to the Stone Artifacts of Texas.
Austin: Texas Monthly Press,
1985.
Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society.
Relations with Europeans
John, Elizabeth A.H. Storms Brewe~
in Other Men's Worlds. College Sta­tion:
Texas A&M University
Press, 1975.
Coahuiltecans
Campbell, T.N. "Coahuiltecans and
their Neighbors." Handbook if North
American Indians, vol. 10. Ed. Al­fonso
Ortiz. Washington, D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution, 1983.
Karankawas
Newcomb, W.W., Jr. "Karankawa;'
Handbook of North American Indians,
vol. 5. Ed. Alfonso Ortiz. Wash­ington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Insti­tution,
1983.
Jumanos
Kelley, J. Charles. Jumano and Patar­bueye:
Relations at La Junta de los
Rios. Ann Arbor: Museum of
Anthropology, University of
Michigan, 1986.
Tiguas
Houser, Nicholas P. "Tigua Pueblo."
Handbook if North American Indians,
30
vol. 9. Washington, D.C.: Smith­sonian
Institution, 1979.
Wichitas
Newcomb, W.W., Jr. The People Called
Wichita. Phoenix: Indian Tribal
Series, 1976.
Comanches
Richardson, Rupert N. The Coman­che
Barrier to South Plains Settlement.
Glendale, Calif.: Arthur H. Clark
Co., 1933.
Wallace, Ernest, and E. Adamson
Hoebel. The Comanches: Lords if the
Southern Plains. Norman: Univer­sity
of Oklahoma Press, 1952.
Kiowas and Kiowa-Apaches
Boyd, Maurice. Kiowa Voices. 2 vols.
Fort Worth: Texas Christian Uni-
• versity Press, 1981.
Mayhall, Mildred P. The Kiowas.
Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1962.
Mooney, James. Calendar History of
the Kiowa Indians. 1898; reprinted,
Washington, D.C. : Smithsonian
Institution, 1979.
Kickapoos
Gibson, A.M. The Kickapoos; Lords if
the Middle Border. Norman: U niver­sity
of Oklahoma Press, 1963.
Latorre, Felipe A., and Dolores L.
Latorre. The Mexican Kickapoo
Indians. Austin: University of Tex­as
Press, 1976.
Ritzenthaler, Robert E., and Fred­rick
A. Peterson. The Mexican Kick­apoo
Indians. Westport, Conn.:
Greenwood Press, 1970.
Cherokees
Clarke, Mary Whatley. Chief Bowles
and the Texas Cherokees. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press,
1971.
Black Seminoles
Katz, William Loren. The Black
JiJtest. Garden City, NY.: Anchor
Press, 1971.
LEARNING ABOUT
INDIANS IN TEXAS
Texas Indian Commission, Austin.
Reservations
Alabama-Coushatta Indian
Reservation, Polk County.
Visitors' center, demonstrations,
gift shops, restaurant.
Tigua Indian Reservation, El Paso.
Visitors' center, restaurant, dem­onstrations,
gift shop.
Parks
Alibates Flint Quarries National
Monument, Potter County.
Where Indians for 10,000 years
quarried stones for tools.
Caddoan Mounds State Historic
Site, Cherokee County, near Alto.
Remains of ancient Caddo town,
museum.
Lubbock Lake Landmark, Lubbock
County, north of Lubbock.
Paleo-Indian site and interpretive
center.
Seminole Canyon State Historic
Site, Val Verde County, 9 miles
west of Comstock.
6,OOO-year-old rock art, nature
walks, museum, campgrounds.
Museums
Museum of Natural Science
(Houston).
Panhandle-Plains Historical M use­um
(Canyon).
Texas Memorial Museum (Austin).
The Museum of Texas Tech Univer­sity
(Lubbock).
University Museum, The University
of Texas at El Paso.
The University of Texas Institute of
Texan Cultures at San Antonio.
Wilderness Park Museum (El Paso).
Witte Museum (San Antonio).
Cover
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 8
Pages 16, 24
Page 21
Page 26
PHOTO CREDITS
Credits from left to right are separated by semicolons and from top to bottom by dashes.
Smithsonian Institution National Page 17 Edouard Charton, ed., Le Tour du Monde
Anthropological Archives, Washington, nc. (Paris: Hachette et Cie, 1860), vol. 1
Western History Collections, The University of Page 19 Smithsonian Institution National
Oklahoma at Norman Anthropological Archives, Washington, nc.
Corpus Christi Museum, Corpus Christi Page 20 I.T.C. - I.T.C.
New York Public Library, New York-Texas Page 22 Allen Richards, San Antonio
Memorial Museum, The University of Texas Page 23 Barker Texas History Center, The University
at Austin of Texas at Austin
Jim Zintgraff, San Antonio Page 24 Barker Texas History Center, The University
Office of the State Archeologist, Austin of Texas at Austin - Homer S. Thrall, A
Texas Memorial Museum, The University of Pictorial History of Texas, From the Earliest Visits
Texas at Austin of European Adventurers, to A .D. 1879 (St. Louis,
The Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American Mo.: N.n Thompson & Co., 1879)
History and Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma Page 25 Western History Collections, The University of
Artist George Nelson and LT.C. - Mrs. Hunter Oklahoma at Norman; Homer S. Thrall, A
P. Harris, Houston Pictorial H istory of Texas, From the Earliest Visits
Western History Collections, The University of of European Adventurers, to A.D. 1879 (St. Louis,
Oklahoma at Norman; William P. Wright Jr., Mo.: N.n Thompson & Co., 1879)
Abilene Page 26 Harper's mekry, April 17, 1886; Texas State
Smithsonian Institution National Library, Austin
Anthropological Archives, Washington, nc. Page 27 LT.C. - LT.C.
Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass. Page 28 Robert W. Parvin, Austin - Robert W. Parvin,
Artist George Nelson and LT.C. Austin
Smithsonian Institution National Back cover Bill Wright, Abilene
Anthropological Archives, Washington, ne.
..
QUOTATION SOURCES
Randolph B. Marcy, Exploration of the Red R iver of Louisiana (Washington, n c .: U.S. War Department, 1852).
Lawrie Tatum, Our Red Brothers and the Peace Policy of Urysses S. Grant (1899; reprint, Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1970).
Elma Heard, "Two Tales from the Alabamas," Straight Texas, ed. J . Frank Dobie. Publicat ions of the Texas
Folklore Society 13 (Austin: Texas Folklore Society, 1937).
Geronimo, 1906 manuscript. Geronimo's Story of H is Life (New York: Irvington Publishers, 1983).
31
FOR FURTHER READING
General
Hodge, Fredrick W. Handbook oj
American Indians North oj Mexico.
1905; reprinted, Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution,
1965 .
vol. 9. Washington, D.C.:
sonian Institution, 197'
Wichitas
Newcomb, W.W;,.J · ;;p
Wichita. Pr ~ ~ .e Indians 8, 18, 19, 23, 23, 24
Newcomb, W.W., Jr. The Indians oj
Texas. Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1961.
LiOIIla. ........... __ _
Contemporary Indians 41, ~~,
Coushatta Indians 20, 20, 21, 27, 27
Delaware Indians 8, 23, 25
Esa-Havey 23
Fights-with-a-Feather front cover
Food 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 17, 22, 27, 28
See also Agriculture; Hunting
Geronimo 26
Granillo, Trinidad back cover
Horseback 23
Horses, use of 4, 17
Series, 1.!.l
Housing, Indian 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 15,
16, 16, 17, 17, 20, 22, 22, 28, 28
Houston, Sam 8, 22, 27
Hunting 4, 5, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21
Isatai 25
Jumano Indians 10, 11
Karankawa Indians 3, 9, 10, 10
Kickapoo Indians 8, 21, 22, 22, 28, 28
.'32
11, 21, 27
1
26
uncil of San Antonio 29
11
!3, 24, 25
l, Comanche, and Apache Indians
, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17,
26,27
an 8, 13, 14, 23, 26, 27, 29
:, 23, 25, 26, 28
Shamans u, v, _, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18
Shaw, Jim 25, 26
Shawnee Indians 8
Showetat 25, 26
Smoking 16
Social organization 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,
17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 29
Tabananica 23
Tattooing 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 17
Ten Bears 23
Tigua Indians 12, 12, 13, 27, 27, 28
Tonkawa Indians 13, 13, 14, 25, 25
Trade 10, 11, 16, 20, 21
Victorio 26
Warfare, with Europeans 7, 8, 9
Warfare, with settlers 8, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
Wichita Indians 7, 11, 15, 16, 16, 17
One of a series
prepared by the staff of
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
AT SAN ANTONIO
ISBN 0-86701-038-X