702 



TAWAKONI 



[b. a. e. 



Caddoan tribe of the Wichita group, best 

 known on the middle Brazos and Trinity 

 rs., Texas, in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

 The name "Three Canes," sometimes 

 appUed to them, is a translation of the 

 French form "Troiscanne," written evi- 

 dently not as a translation of the native 

 name, as has been claimed, but to repre- 

 sent its vocal equivalent. Mezieres, for 

 example, writing in French, used "Trois- 

 canne" obviously as a vocal equivalent of 

 Tuacana, a usual form of his when writ- 

 ing in Spanish (Letter of July 22, 1774, 

 in Archivo Gen., Prov. Intern., xciX) Ex- 

 pediente, 1). In 1719 La Harpe visited, 

 on the Canadian r., Okla, a settlenient 

 of 9 tribes which he collectively called 

 "Tonacara," from the name of a leading 

 tribe ( Margry , Dec. , vi, 278, 282, 289, 1 886 ) . 

 That the Tawakoni, later known on the 

 Brazos, were the same people is not per- 

 fectly clear, but itseemsprobable that they 

 were. A fact that helps to establish their 

 identity is that among the 9 tribes visited 

 by La Harpe were the Toayas, Ousitas, 

 and Ascanis, who appear to be the later 

 known Tawehash, VVichita, and Yscani 

 (Waco), close relatives of the Tawakoni 

 and living near them in Texas in the latter 

 part of the 18th century. These tribes 

 all seem to have moved southward into 

 Texas about the middle of the 18th cen- 

 tury, being pushed by the hostile Osage 

 from the n. e. and the Comanche from the 

 N. w. (see La Harpe, op. cit., 293). The 

 exact nature and time of the Tawakoni 

 migration, however, are not clear. By 

 1772 they were settled in two groups on 

 the Brazos and Trinity, about Waco and 

 above Palestine, but there are indications 

 that this settlement was recent and sub- 

 sequent to considerable wandering. For 

 example, in 1752 De Soto Vermudez (In- 

 vestigation, 1752, MS.) was informed at 

 the Nasoni village, on the upper Ange- 

 lina, that the "Tebancanas" were a 

 large nation, recently increased by the 

 Pelones, and living 20 leagues to the 

 northward, with the Tonkawa and Yo- 

 juane beyond them. If the direction was 

 correctly given, they must have been 

 somewhere near the upper Sabine. In 

 1760 and 1761 Fray Calahorra, missionary 

 at Nacogdoches, visited the Tawakoni; 

 they were then living in two neighboring 

 villages, near a stream and five days from 

 the Tawehash, who were then on Red r. 

 below the mouth of the Wichita. These 

 villages seem to have been the same as 

 those mentioned below as found by Me- 

 zieres oh the Trinity in 1772, though they 

 may have been on the Brazos, for the 

 information here is not explicit (Lopez 

 to Parilla, 1760, in Expediente sobre 

 Mision San Saba, Archivo Gen.; Testi- 

 monio de Diligencias, Bexar Archives, 

 Province of Texas, 1754-76, MSS.). In 



1768 Soils reported the Tawakoni and 

 Yscani as ranging between the Navasota 

 and the Trinity (Diario in Mem. de Nue- 

 va Espana, xxvir, 279); they had evi- 

 dently settled in the general locality that 

 was to be their permanent home. In 

 1770 allusion is made to a migration, as a 

 result of peace established with the Span- 

 iards, from the neighborhood of San An- 

 tonio and San Sabil, where they had been 

 located for the purpose of molesting the 

 Spanish settlements, to the neighborhood 

 of the Nabedache, who were living on 

 San Pedro cr., in n. e. Houston co. (Me- 

 zieres, Kelacion, 1770, MS.). This resi- 

 dence near San Antonio was probably a 

 temporary one of only a portion of the 

 tribe, for the indications are that the 

 country between Waco and Palestine was 

 already their chief range. In 1772 Me- 

 zieres speaks of the village on the Brazos 

 as though it had been founded recently 

 by a "malevolent chief" hostile to the 

 Spaniards (Informe, July 4, 1772, MS.). 

 Finally, for the migration, it appears that 

 by 1779 the village on the Trinity had 

 also moved to the Brazos, which for a 

 long time thereafter was the principal 

 home of the Tawakoni, who now again 

 became a settled people. 



With Mezieres' report in 1772 the Ta- 

 wakoni come into clear light. In that 

 year he visited the tribe for the purpose 

 of cementing a treaty recently made with 

 them by the governors of Texas and 

 Louisiana. One of their villages was 

 then on the w. bank of the Trinity, 

 about 60 m. n. w. of the Nabedache vil- 

 lage, on a point of land so situated that 

 in high water it formed a peninsula with 

 only one narrow entry on the w. side. 

 This location corresponds in general with 

 that of the branch of the Trinity now 

 called Tehaucana cr. This village con- 

 sisted of 36 houses occupied by 120 war- 

 riors, " with women in proportion and 

 an infinite number of children." The 

 other village, of 30 families, was 30 

 leagues away on Brazos r., not far from 

 Waco. Mezieres tried to induce the in- 

 habitants of til is village to move eastward 

 to the Trinity, farther away from the set- 

 tlements. This they promised to do after 

 harvest, but the promise was not kept. 

 Mezieres recommended the establish- 

 ment of a presidio on the Tawakoni site 

 when the Indians should be removed 

 (Informe, July 4, 1772, MS.). 



In 1778 and 1779 Mezieres made two 

 more visits to the Tawakoni. One vil- 

 lage, containing 150 warriors, was then 

 on the w. side of the Brazos, in a fertile 

 plain protected from overflow by a high 

 bank or bluff, at the foot of which flowed 

 an abundant spring. Eight leagues above 

 was another village of the same tribe, 

 larger than the first, in a country re- 



