BULL. 30] 



NABEDACHE 



cion, 1715, Mem. de Nueva Espana, xxvii, 

 124, MS.). Wars with the Apache were 

 frequent. In 1719 Du Rivage met on Red 

 r. a party of Naouydiches and other triben 

 who had just won a victory over this 

 enemy (Margry, Dec, vi, 277, 1886). 

 Shortly after this, La Harpe was joined 

 near tlie Arkansas by the Naouydiche 

 "great chief" and 40 warriors (ibid., 

 286). We are told that the Nabedache, 

 with other Hasinai, aided the French in 

 1730 in their war with the Natchez ( Me- 

 zieres in Mem. de Nueva Espana, .\xviir, 

 229). Early in the 18th century the Na- 

 bedache seem generally to have been hos- 

 tile to the.Tonkawan tribes; but later, 

 hatred for the Ajjache made them fre- 

 quently allies, and we now hear of the 

 Tonkawans selling Ai)ache cajitives to the 

 Nabedache. The possession at San Pedro 

 in 1735 of some captive Apache women 

 secured in this way threatened to cause 

 war between the Spaniards and the 

 Apache. The Spaniards, to avoid trou1)le, 

 ransomed the women and sent them home 

 (Gov. Barrios y Juaregui to the Vicero}% 

 Apr. 17, 1753, MS. Archivo (Jeneral, His- 

 toria, 299). In 1791, after fierce warfare 

 between the Lipan and the combined 

 northern Indians — the Wichita, Hasinai, 

 and Tonkawa — the Apache endeavored to 

 secure the aid of the Hasinai against the 

 Tonkawa, l)ut Gil Ybarbo, Spanish com- 

 mander at Nacogdoches, prevented it 

 (Ybarbo to the Governor, Apr. 26, 1791, 

 Bexar Archives, Nacogdoches, 1758-93, 

 MS.). Common hostility toward the 

 Apache frequently made the Nabedache 

 and the Comanche friends, but this friend- 

 ship was unstable. The militar)^ rela- 

 tions of the Nabedache in the 19th century 

 have not yet been investigated, but it is 

 known that hostility to the Apache con- 

 tinued well into that period. 



In May, 1690, Massanet and Capt. Do- 

 mingo Ramon founded the first Texas 

 mission (San Francisco de los Texas) 

 at the Nabedache village, and a few 

 months later the second (Santi'sima 

 Nombre de Maria) was planted near by 

 (Jesus Maria, Relacion, 1691). On May 

 25, De Leon delivered to the Nabedache 

 caddi a baston and a cross, and conferred 

 on him the title of "governor of all his 

 pueblos" (De Leon, Derrotero, 1690). 

 This was done, as Jesus Maria clearly 

 shows, under the mistaken notion that 

 the Nabedache was the head tril^e of the 

 confederacy, and its caddi the head chief. 

 These distinctions belonged, however, to 

 the Hainai tribe and the great cheiiesi 

 resident there (ibid., 18). This mistake, 

 it is believed, caused some political dis- 

 turbance in the confederacy. In 1690-91 

 an epidemic visited the tribe in common 

 with its neighbors (Jesus Maria, Relacion, 



1691). Trouble, fomented by medicine- 

 men and soldiers, soon arose between the 

 missionaries and the Indians. In 1692 

 the chief, with most of his people, with- 

 drew from the nii.><sion to the distant 

 ' ' fields, ' ' and refused to return ( INIassanet, 

 MS., 1692). Inl693themission wasaban- 

 doned (Clark in Tex. Hist. Assn. Quar., 

 V, 200-201, 1902), and when restored in 

 1716 it was placed at the Neche village 

 on the other side of the river. In 1727 

 Rivera (Diario, leg. 2093, 1736) reported 

 that San Pedro was then occupied by the 

 Neche, though formerly by the Nabe- 

 dache. That the Neche had moved to 

 San Pedro is perhaps true; but it seems 

 improbable that the Nabedache liad left 

 the place, for long afterward the inhab- 

 itants of it continued to be called Nabe- 

 dache (De Soto Bermudez docs., 1753, 

 MS. Archivo General, Historia, 299; 

 Mezieres, Cartas, 1779). When Soli's 

 visited the Nabedache in 1768 their cus- 

 toms were still about as first described, 

 except that they had nearly discarded 

 the bow for the firelock, and were very 

 inebriate, due. Soli's claimed, to French 

 liquor. In the middle of the 18th 

 century French infiuence over the Has- 

 inai greatly increased, and Spanish 

 influence declined. In 1753 the Nabe- 

 dache took part in a gathering of the 

 tribes at the Nadote (Nadaco?) village, 

 in which, it was reported, the Indians 

 proposed killing all the Spaniards in 

 eastern Texas; but St. Denis, of Natchi- 

 toches, i^revented the attempt (Fr. 

 Calahorra y Sanz, Feb. 23, 1753, MS. 

 Archivo General, Historia, 299). This 

 situation led to a plan, which failed, to 

 have a garrison posted at San Pedro 

 ( Barrios y Juaregui to the Viceroy, ibid. ). 

 In 1778 or 1779 an epidemic reduced the 

 population, and Mezieres, writing from 

 "San Pedro Nevadachos," situated 

 apparently just where Joutel had found 

 it, reported the number of warriors at 

 somewhat more than 160 (Carta, Aug. 

 26, 1779, Mem. de Nueva Espana, xxviii, 

 241). In 1805 Sibley gave the number 

 at 80 men; Ijut about 1809 Davenport, 

 who w'as at Nacogdoches, gave it as 100 

 (Report to INIanuel Salcedo, copy dated 

 Apr. 24, 1809, in Archivo General, 

 Provincias Internas, 201). Sibley's and 

 Davenport's reports and Austin's map of 

 1829 all indicate that the tribe had moved 

 up Neches r. after 1779 (original Austin 

 map, in Secretari'a de Fomento, ^lexico). 

 From a letter in the Bexar Archives it 

 appears that this migration may have 

 occurred before 1784 ( Neve to Cahello, 

 Bexar Archives, Province of Texas, 

 1781-84). In the 19th century the 

 Nabedache shared the fate of the other 

 tribes of the Caddo and Hasinai confed- 



