Indian Nations of Texas
Texas was home to hundreds of tribes of American Indians.
The following tribes are discussed on this website.
Alabama-Coushatta
Though recognized as two separate tribes, the Alabamas and
Coushattas have long been considered one tribe culturally.
They migrated from present-day Alabama beginning in 1763,
eventually settling in the Big Thicket area of Southeast Texas.
The Alabamas and Coushattas were skilled warriors but preferred
to stay at peace. They fought with Stephen F. Austin in his
campaigns against the Karankawas and in the Fredonian Rebellion,
and successfully drove the Comanches out of their territory
in 1839. Their assistance to the Texans during the Runaway
Scrape in 1836 won them the friendship of even such an inveterate
Indian fighter as Mirabeau B. Lamar.
In 1853, the Alabamas moved to a reservation in Polk County,
where they were joined by the Coushattas in 1859. They helped
move military supplies for Texas during the Civil War. Their
support won praise from Confederate governors Francis R. Lubbock
and Pendleton Murrah. However, the 1870s saw the two tribes
reach a low point, as an influx of white settlers into their
lands destroyed their traditional way of life.
In the 1880s, the Alabamas and Coushattas began to build
new lives, becoming experts in the burgeoning lumber industry
and embracing both Christianity and education as anchors in
their lives. During these years, an attorney from Livingston,
J.C. Feagin, became a tireless advocate for the tribes. Feagin
worked for decades to gain federal assistance for land and
educational opportunities that would enable the tribes to
be economically self-sufficient once again. This effort finally
began to pay off in the 1920s, when the government purchased
an additional 3000 acres of land that helped make the Alabama-Coushatta
more competitive farmers. The federal government also paid
for additional educational facilities, a gymnasium, and a
hospital.
Since then, Alabama-Coushatta affairs have been alternately
under both state and federal jurisdiction. The tribes formally
incorporated under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and
developed both a constitution and by-laws.
Anadarko
The Anadarkos lived in East Texas in present-day Nacogdoches
and Rusk counties. Greatly impacted by disease and warfare,
they migrated westward after the Texas Revolution, seeking
an area where they could live free of white interference and
depredations from fiercer tribes. They moved to the Brazos
Indian Reservation in 1854, and to Indian Territory in 1859.
Apache
The Apaches dominated almost all of West Texas and ranged
over a wide area from Arkansas to Arizona. Two groups of Apaches,
the Lipans and the Mescalaros, were of primary importance
in Texas. Apaches were among the first Indians to learn to
ride horses and lived a nomadic existence following the buffalo.
They also farmed, growing maize, beans, pumpkins, and watermelons.
During the era of Spanish rule, the Apaches staged constant
raids against the Spanish missions. But as the 1700s wore
on, they found themselves subject to raiding from the even
more fearsome Comanches. Eventually, they entered an on-again,
off-again relationship with the Spanish, sometimes warring
and raiding, other times allying with the Spanish against
the Comanches and other enemies.
When Anglo Americans began moving into Texas, the Apaches
cultivated a friendship with them as a bulwark against the
Comanches. This friendship broke down in 1842, perhaps because
of the unsolved murder of a Lipan chief named Flacco the Younger,
whom the Lipans believed was killed by whites. Lipan and Mescalaro
Apaches moved across the Mexican border and began a series
of destructive border raids that lasted for decades. It was
not until 1873 that the U.S. Army under Colonel Ranald S.
Mackenzie led a force into Mexico, destroyed the Apache villages,
and forced the survivors onto a reservation in New Mexico.
Arapaho
The Arapahos ranged to the north of Texas over a wide area
encompassing much of present-day Colorado, Nebraska, and the
Dakotas, westward to the Rockies, and eastward into Kansas
and Oklahoma. They lived a nomadic lifestyle following the
buffalo. Close allies of the Southern Cheyennes, they came
into conflict with the Comanches over territory in the late
18th and early 19th centuries. Around 1840, the Arapahos and
Comanches made peace with each other and joined forces against
further American expansion onto the western plains. The U.S.
Army defeated the Arapahos in a series of violent confrontations
in the 1860s, and many members of the tribes moved onto to
a reservation in Wyoming. In 1869, a reservation was established
near present-day Oklahoma City for the remaining southern
branch of the tribe.
Biloxi
The Biloxis gave their name to the area around Biloxi, Mississippi,
where they first encountered European explorers. They began
to migrate westward in the 1760s to avoid white interference.
By 1828, a group had settled along the Neches River in present-day
Angelina County. The Biloxies became allies of the Cherokees
and were caught up in the violence in 1839 that drove the
Cherokees out of Texas. Following that disaster, the Biloxies
scattered. Some went into Arkansas with the Cherokees, while
others joined up with the Alabama-Coushattas, the Choctaws,
and the Creeks. Other families moved west to present-day Bell
County. Eventually, Biloxis settled as far west as Brackettville
and as far south as Nacimiento in Mexico.
Caddo
Caddo is the name given to about 25 affiliated groups of
people who lived near the Red River in East Texas, Arkansas,
Louisiana, and Oklahoma. They lived in complex settled societies
and were known for their cultivation of corn (maize) and their
beautiful ceramics. As Europeans moved into their areas, the
Caddos became leading traders, trafficking in furs, guns,
and horses with Europeans and other Indians. By the early
1840s, the Caddos had moved to the Brazos River area to try
to escape the relentless pressure of American expansion. They
were forced onto a reservation in 1855. In 1859 they were
forced to move again, this time to a reservation in Indian
Territory (Oklahoma). Today, many Caddos continue to reside
in Caddo County near Binger, Oklahoma.
Cherokee
The Cherokees were one of the principal Indian nations of
the southeastern United States. Wars, epidemics, and food
shortages caused many Cherokees to migrate west to Missouri,
Arkansas, and Texas in hopes of preserving their traditional
way of life. Those who remained behind in the Southeast were
eventually removed forcibly to Indian Territory (Oklahoma)
in the incident known as the “Trail of Tears.”
Cherokees settled in Texas near the Red River. Pressed further
south by American settlement, in 1820 about sixty families
under Chief Bowl (Duwali) settled in Rusk County near the
Caddos. As Americans settled that area, distrust grew between
them and the Cherokees. Hoping to gain a legal title to their
land, the Cherokees invested a great deal of energy in cultivating
a relationship with Mexico. Hoping to protect this relationship,
they remained neutral between Texas and Mexico during the
Texas Revolution.
Sam Houston was an adopted member of the Cherokee tribe and
a forceful advocate for the people. He negotiated a permanent
reservation for the tribe in East Texas, but the treaty was
never ratified by the Texas Congress. Under President Lamar,
Texas fought a war with the Cherokees in 1839 which resulted
in the defeat of the Indians. Most Cherokees were forced into
Indian Territory.
Cheyenne
The Southern Cheyennes lived an agricultural lifestyle in
the Black Hills area until the introduction of the horse,
when they adopted a nomadic lifestyle following the buffalo.
Along with their allies, the Arapahos, they dominated the
plains between the Platte and Arkansas Rivers. Like the Arapahos,
in 1840 they settled their long-running war with their traditional
enemies, the Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches. For about ten
years, they lived in relative peace, concentrating on trading
with other tribes, Americans, and New Mexicans. However, by
1850 the tribe was under severe pressure from cholera, the
whiskey trade, the decline of the buffalo, and the loss of
their camping and hunting grounds to American expansion. The
tribe was split on how to deal with their setbacks, with some
chiefs negotiating with the Americans for peace, and the famous
Dog Soldiers waging relentless war. The U.S. Army moved to
crush the Southern Cheyennes in several engagements, including
the well-known incidents at Sand Creek (1864) and the Washita
River (1868). Following the Washita massacre, the Cheyennes
relocated to a reservation in Oklahoma. A number of Cheyennes
took part in the Red River War in Texas in the 1870s.
Chickasaw
The Chickasaws lived in present-day Kentucky, Tennessee,
Mississippi, and Alabama. They lived in permanent settlements,
and their way of life depended on both hunting and agriculture.
In the mid-sixteenth century, they were among the first Indians
to encounter Spanish explorers. After years of resisting American
pressure to move, in the mid-1830s the Chickasaws were forced
to abandon their traditional homes and take up residence in
Indian Territory. A number of Chickasaws disliked the new
territory and established a small community near Nacogdoches.
The Chickasaws had been among the most prosperous Indians
in the United States before they moved, but the dislocation,
together with Comanche raiding, hit their society hard. In
1843, Texas promised in the Bird's Fort Treaty to exercise
better control over the Red River area and prevent the raiding.
During the Civil War, the Chickasaws, who owned African-American
slaves, sided with the Confederacy. After the war, Chickasaw
territory became a crossroads for the cattle drives, and the
tribe largely lost its identity.
Coahuiltecan
Coahuiltecan is the name given to hundreds of small Indian
groups who lived in northern Mexico and south Texas. These
simple hunter-gatherers found themselves caught in the middle
between Spanish colonizers and Apache raiders. Due to these
pressures and disease, their population went into a steep
decline during the early Spanish period, and little is known
of their culture or way of life. A large number of the survivors
gathered in Spanish missions for protection from the Apaches.
By 1800, most of the remaining Coahuiltecans had merged with
other tribes or intermarried with the Hispanic population.
Comanche
The Comanches dominated a vast area of North, Central, and
West Texas. There were at least thirteen active bands of Comanches,
with five playing prominent roles in Texas history. These
unparalleled horsemen led a nomadic lifestyle following the
buffalo. They controlled trade in produce, buffalo products,
horses, and captives throughout their domain. In the 1700s,
the Comanches made their presence known in Texas by warring
with the Apaches and the Spanish. Fearing that they would
lose Texas to the Comanches, the Spanish negotiated a peace
treaty with them in 1785. When the Spanish were unable to
keep their promises in trade goods and gifts, Comanche raiding
against the Spanish resumed, with many of the stolen horses
being traded to newly arrived Americans.
After the Texas Revolution, Americans wanted to settle in
the Texas Plains. The Comanches fiercely resisted their encroachments
with destructive and deadly raids on the frontier. A cycle
of raiding and retaliation on both sides climaxed during the
presidency of Mirabeau B. Lamar. Lamar’s policy succeeded
in driving the Comanches across the Red River, but at a terrible
cost to both sides. After Texas became a state, a number of
Comanches were defeated by disease, warfare, and the depletion
of the buffalo and moved to a reservation in Indian Territory
(Oklahoma). However, many others remained active and were
able to stop the spread of white settlement west of the Texas
Hill Country.
In the 1870s, Comanches launched a major attack against buffalo
hunters at Adobe Walls. This raid brought down a retaliatory
U.S. Army campaign under Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie that
broke Comanche power once and for all. The Red River War ended
in Palo Duro Canyon with the destruction of the Comanche horse
herd. The Comanche way of life could not survive without their
horses. The Comanches were forced to surrender and begin the
painful transition to reservation life. Their tribal government
today operates near Lawton, Oklahoma.
Delaware
The Delawares originated in the Delaware River region but
were driven from their ancestral home by disease and white
settlement. Eventually, the main body of the tribe ended up
in Missouri and Kansas. They were relocated to Indian Territory
(Oklahoma) in 1868. These survivors became part of the Cherokee
nation.
A small group of Delawares migrated to Texas and settled
around the Red and Sabine Rivers. Under the presidency of
Sam Houston, the Delawares assisted ranger patrols on the
frontier. During the administration of Mirabeau B. Lamar,
they were caught up in the Cherokee War and were forced into
Indian Territory. A few Delawares remained in Texas and worked
as traders, scouts, and guides for several important expeditions.
The Delawares used diplomacy to help bring the Comanches to
a treaty council with Texas in 1844. Eventually, the Texas
Delawares relocated to Oklahoma, where they merged with the
Caddo nation.
Hainai
The Hainais lived near the Neches and Angelina rivers. They
were the leading group in the Hasinai confederacy, a group
of eight tribes that lived in Arkansas and East Texas. The
word Texas (Tejas) comes from the Hasinai greeting meaning
"friend." Archeologists have found evidence that
this group of people had a large settlement in the area as
far back as 780-1260 A.D., with substantial farms, villages,
and temples. When the French and Spanish explorers first encountered
the Hasinais, they found a people who fished, grew maize,
beans, and squash, and hunted small game, buffalo, and bear.
Within a few decades, disease, alcoholism, and pressure from
whites and other Indians had taken a terrible toll on their
once-great culture. At the end of the Cherokee War, they migrated
to the Fort Worth area, and in 1859 they were relocated to
Indian Territory.
Jumano
Jumano is the name given to three distinct groups who ranged
over northern Mexico, New Mexico, and Texas. Their primary
base was in the Big Bend area of Texas. They were among the
first Texas Indians to encounter Europeans when they were
visited by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
in 1535. During the Spanish years, the Jumanos were active
in organizing trade fairs between the Spanish and other Indians.
They sometimes worked as scouts and missionaries for the Spanish,
but are also known to have rebelled in the early 1600s. In
the 1660s, the Jumanos faced a rapid population decline due
to famine and war with the Apaches. By 1700 they had lost
all their territory and trade routes. Their culture eventually
died out, with the survivors drifting to join other tribes,
including the Apaches. Some scholars believe that a small
group of Jumanos became the foundation of the Kiowas in Texas.
Karankawa
Karankawa is the name given to several related groups who
lived along the Texas coast from Galveston to Corpus Christi.
The Karankawas were nomads who lived off the sea. They migrated
between the mainland and the barrier islands in the Gulf of
Mexico, seldom remaining at a campsite more than a few weeks.
The Karankawas were the first Indians in Texas to encounter
Europeans. In 1528, the survivors of a Spanish shipwreck,
including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca,
washed ashore and spent six years with the Indians. Several
generations later, in 1685, the Karankawas attacked and wiped
out the tiny French settlement of Fort St. Louis near Matagorda
Bay.
In the 1700s, the Karankawas faced renewed attempts of the
Spanish and French to settle the coast as well as incursions
from other Indian tribes, including the Tonkawas and Comanches.
These contacts brought both war and epidemic disease. In 1819,
the Karankawas attacked the pirate compound of Jean Lafitte
on Galveston Island but were badly defeated. In 1824, Stephen
F. Austin personally led an expedition with the goal of exterminating
the Karankawas. Although a Spanish priest negotiated a peaceful
settlement, the Karankawas had already entered a downward
spiral in terms of population. By the 1840s, the remnants
of these people had moved into the lower Rio Grande Valley,
where they were annihilated in 1858 by a Texan force led by
Juan Nepomuceno Cortina.
Kichai
The Kichais lived along the Louisiana-Texas border on the
Red and Trinity rivers. Disease and warfare greatly reduced
their numbers, and they were reduced to two small villages
near present-day Palestine by the 1770s. In 1855, they joined
several other small tribes in moving to the Brazos Indian
Reservation. In 1858, they fled the violence in the area and
moved to Indian Territory, where they joined the Wichitas.
Kiowa
The Kiowas originated in the area of modern-day Yellowstone
Park but migrated south after the introduction of the horse
culture. They became among the greatest horsemen in the world
and, along with the Comanches, the most feared of the Plains
tribes. They formed an alliance with the Comanches around
1790 and together with the Arapahos and Southern Cheyennes,
successfully held back American expansion into the southern
plains for decades. The Salt
Creek Massacre, also known as the Warren Wagon Train Raid,
was led by Kiowas, and two of the leaders, Satanta and Big
Tree, were tried for murder in a one-of-a-kind trial that
made national headlines. The Salt Creek Massacre led the U.S.
Army to adopt a much more aggressive policy toward the Kiowas
and their allies, and by June of 1875 the tribe was forced
on to the Fort Sill reservation in Oklahoma.
Kickapoo
The Kickapoos originated in the Great Lakes region. By the
time of the Republic of Texas, a number had migrated to Texas
and allied themselves with the Cherokees. As Cherokee allies,
they were caught up in the violence of President Lamar’s
attempt to expel most Indians from Texas. The Kickapoos fled
to Mexico, where they formed an alliance with the Mexican
army and conducted continuous harassing raids into South Texas.
During the Civil War, Kickapoos from Kansas and Indian Territory
(Oklahoma) journeyed across Texas to join their kinsmen in
Mexico. On January 8, 1865, three bands of Kickapoos were
attacked by Confederate cavalry on Dove Creek, a tributary
of the Concho River. The Kickapoos successfully fought off
the attack and continued to Mexico, where the Dove Creek battle
fueled Kickapoo anger and led to even more aggressive border
raiding.
In 1873, Colonel Ranald Mackenzie led an expedition against
the Kickapoos. Mackenzie captured forty of the tribe’s
women, children, and elderly and took them to Fort Gibson
in Indian Territory. These people served as hostages to compel
the Kickapoo warriors to surrender and begin reservation life.
Most refused and continued to live at El Nacimiento in northern
Mexico, which remains the home for most Kickapoos today. They
are notable for their adherence to their traditional way of
life.
Pakana Muskogee
The Pakana Muskogees were a branch of the Muskogee or Creek
Indians who migrated in 1834 from Alabama and Louisiana to
present-day Onolaska in Polk County. Their fortunes were closely
tied to those of the Alabamas and Coushattas, who lived nearby.
Disease, along with intermarriage with the Alabamas and Coushattas,
led to their decline. The Pakana Muskogees numbered only 42
tribal members in 1882. Most of these survivors moved to the
Creek reservation in Oklahoma in 1899.
Potawatomi
The Potawatomis originated in the Great Lakes area near present-day
Green Bay, Wisconsin. In the 1830s and 1840s they fled the
advance of white settlement. Most of the tribe moved to Kansas
and Oklahoma, but one group allied itself with the Kickapoos
and settled at the headwaters of the Sabine and Trinity rivers
in 1852. They were involved in the Dove Creek massacre incident
in 1865.
Shawnee
The Shawnees originated in the Ohio and Cumberland valleys
in present-day Kentucky. During winter, they ranged in search
of game, while in warm months they settled and raised crops
such as corn, squash, and beans. Beginning in the early 18th
century, the Shawnees began to migrate westward to try to
escape white expansion into their territory. In 1822, a band
of Shawnees settled in Texas on the south bank of the Red
River. They cultivated peace with both Indian neighbors and
American and Mexican settlers. In 1832, under the leadership
of chief John Linney, they assisted the Mexicans in their
war with the Comanches.
In February 1836, Sam Houston signed a treaty with the Shawnees,
along with a number of other Indian tribes, which designated
land for their use. However, this treaty was never ratified
by the Texas Senate. The Shawnees remained neutral during
the Cherokee war in 1839, hoping to preserve their way of
life in Texas. The following year, Texas paid the tribe to
leave for Indian Territory. Unlike many tribes, the Shawnees
were able to preserve much of their culture, including their
ceremonial dances and other religious practices.
Tawakoni
The Tawakonis were a Wichita group who ranged between present-day
Waco and Palestine. They participated in the 1758 raid on
the Spanish mission at Santa Cruz de San Sabá. The
Tawakonis were included in treaties made with the Republic
of Texas and later with the United States. In 1859, they moved
to the Wichita reservation in Indian Territory (Oklahoma).
Tigua
The Tiguas are descended from refugees from the Pueblo Revolt
of 1680, in which the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico united to
fight the Spanish. In 1751, the king of Spain granted the
Tiguas land near present-day El Paso, a claim that was recognized
by the subsequent governments of Mexico, the Republic of Texas,
and the United States. However, both legislative acts and
unscrupulous land traders eventually robbed the Tiguas of
their land. In the 1960s, the Tiguas organized and won recognition
from the state as a tribe, then filed a claim for their original
grant and other traditional lands in the area. Today they
occupy a 26-acre area which contains housing and bingo gambling.
Tonkawa
Tonkawa is the name given to several independent groups that
banded together in Central Texas in the early 1700s. Their
preferred lifestyle was to be nomadic buffalo hunters, but
they often found it difficult to pursue this life because
of raiding by their traditional enemies, the Apaches. They
resisted Spanish colonization and played a leading role in
the destruction of the Santa Cruz de San Sabá Mission.
In 1784, the Spanish killed El Mocho, the leading war chief
to the Tonkawas, ushering in an era of uneasy peace. The Tonkawas
formed an alliance with Stephen F. Austin and the Americans
and helped them in wars against the Comanches and Wichitas.
The Tonkawas suffered grave losses in the 1850s, when their
reservation in Young County on the Brazos River was attacked
by white Texans. They were forced to move to a new reservation
in Indian Territory (Oklahoma), where they were attacked and
decimated again, this time by a group of Delawares, Shawnees,
Wichitas, Caddos, and others. The survivors came back to Texas,
where they settled around Fort Griffin and worked as scouts
for the United States Army until the end of the Indian Wars.
In 1884 they returned to a reservation in Oklahoma.
Waco
The Wacos were a branch of the Wichita tribe. Most Wacos
(also spelled Huecos) lived on the Brazos near present-day
Waco, though another band lived in the New Braunfels area.
They combined the buffalo lifestyle in the winter with an
agricultural life the rest of the year, growing bean, squash,
corn, melons, and watermelons.
Wichita
Wichita is the name of several bands of people who lived
in present-day Oklahoma, Kansas, and along the Red River in
Texas near Nocona. Hunters and farmers, the Wichitas prospered
during the Spanish and Mexican period, when they acted as
middlemen in the lucrative trade between the Comanches and
whites in Louisiana. The Wichitas participated in the Comanche-led
raid on the mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá in 1758
and raided San Antonio on several occasions. Disease and warfare
took a heavy toll on the Wichitas. The survivors eventually
settled on a reservation near present-day Anadarko, Oklahoma.
In This Section:
Introduction
- Indian Nations of Texas - Spanish
& Mexican Indian Policy
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