948 



WICHITA 



[B. A. B. 



had taken a number of prisoners whom 

 they were preparing to eat, having already 

 disposed of several in this way. 



They seem to have been gradually 

 forced westward and southward by the 

 inroads of the Osage and the Chickasaw to 

 the positions on upper Red and Brazos 

 rs. where they were first known to the 

 Americans. In 1758 the Spanish mis- 

 sion and presidio of San Saba, on a tribu- 

 tary of the upper Colorado r., Texas, were 

 attacked and the mission was destroyed 

 by a combined force of Comanche, Tawa- 

 koni, Tawehash, Kichai, and others. 

 In the next year the Spanish commander 

 Pari 11a undertook a retaliatory expedi- 

 tion against the main Wichita town, 

 about the junction of Wichita and Red 

 rs., but was compelled to retreat in dis- 

 order, with the loss of his train and field 



WICHITA WOMAN 



guns, by a superior force of Indians well 

 fortified, and armed with guns and lances 

 and flying the French flag. In 1760 the 

 confederated Wichita tribes asked for 

 peace and the establishment of a mission, 

 and on being refused the mission, renewed 

 their attacks about San Antonio. In 1765 

 they captured and held for some time a 

 Spaniard, Tremifio, who has left a valu- 

 able record of his experiences at the main 

 Tawehash town on Red r. In 1772 the 

 commander Mezieres visited them and 

 other neighboring tribes for the purpose 

 of arranging peace. From his data the 

 Tawakoni, in two towns on Brazos and 

 Trinity rs., may have had 220 warriors, 

 the "Yscanis" (Waco?) 60, and the 

 Wichita proper and "Taovayas" 600, a 



total of perhaps 3,500, not including the 

 Kichai. In 1777-8 an epidemic, probably 

 smallpox, swept the whole of Texas, in- 

 cluding the Wichita, reducing some tribes 

 by one-half. The Wichita, however, suf- 

 fered but little on this occasion. In the 

 spring of 1778 Mezieres again visited 

 them, and found the Tawakoni (i. e. the 

 Tawakoni and Waco) in two towns on 

 the Brazos with more than 300 men, 

 and the Wichita proper in two other 

 towns on opposite sides of Red r. (below 

 the junction of Wichita r.), these last ag- 

 gregating 160 houses, in which he esti- 

 mated more than 800 men, or perhaps 

 3,200 souls. The whole body probably 

 exceeded 4,000. (H. E. Bolton, inf'n, 

 1908.) 



In 1801 the Texas tribes were again 

 ravaged by smallpox, and this time the 

 Wichita suffered heavily. In 1805 Sibley 

 officially estimated the Tawakoni (prob- 

 ably including the Waco) at 200 men, the 

 '• Panis or Towiaches " (Wichita proper) 

 at 400 men, and the Kichai at 60 men, a 

 total of about 2,600 souls, including the 

 incorporated Kichai. An estimate by 

 Davenport in 1809 rated the total about 

 2,800. A partial estimate in 1824 indi- 

 cates nearly the same number. At this 

 time the Waco town was on the site of 

 the present Waco, while the Tawakoni 

 town was on the e. side of the Brazos 

 above the San Antonio road. From about 

 this time, with the advent of the Austin 

 colony, until the annexation of Texas by 

 the United States, a period of about 25 

 years, their numbers constantly dimin- 

 ished in conflicts with the American 

 Hettlers and with the raiding Osage from 

 the N. 



In 1835 the Wichita proper, together 

 with the Comanche, made their first 

 treaty with the Government, by which 

 they agreed to live in peace with the 

 Uniteci States and with the Osage and the 

 immigrant tribes lately removed to Indian 

 Ter. In 1837 a similar treaty was nego- 

 tiated with the Tawakoni, Kiowa, and 

 Kiowa Apache (Ta-wa-ka-ro, Kioway, 

 andKa-ta-ka, inthetreaty). Atthistime, 

 inconsequenceof theinroadsof theOsage, 

 the Wichita had their main village behind 

 the Wichita mts. , on the North fork of Red 

 r., below the junction of Elm fork, w. 

 Okla. In consequence of the peace thus 

 established they soon afterward removed 

 farther to the e. and settled on the pres- 

 ent site of Ft Sill, n. of Lawton, Okla.; 

 thence they removed about 1850 still 

 farther e. to Rush Springs. The Tawa- 

 koni and Waco all this time were ranging 

 about the Brazos and Trinity rs. in Texas. 

 In 1846, after the annexation of Texas, a 

 general treaty of peace was made at Coun- 

 cil Springs on the Brazos witli the Wichita 

 proper, Tawakoni, and Waco, together 

 with the Comanche, Lipan, Caddo, and 



