return to handbook view

TAWAKONI INDIANS. The Tawakoni (Tawakaro, Tancaro, Tuacana, Toucara, Tehacanes) Indians, a Wichita group probably originally from central Kansas, were found by Jean Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe^qv in 1719 on the lower Canadian River in Oklahoma. The Tawakonis and related groups were pushed southward into Oklahoma and Texas, and in the latter part of the eighteenth century their chief range seems to have been between the sites of present Waco and Palestine. In 1753 they were reported to be plotting with the Hasinai Indians against the Spanish in East Texas, and they were allied with the Taovaya Indians in the attack on Santa Cruz de San Sabá Mission in 1758. In 1772, 1778, and 1779, Athanase de Mézières^qv visited the Tawakoni villages. Juan Agustín Morfi^qv located them in a village called Quiscat on the west bank of the Brazos River in 1781. In 1796 they asked for a mission but were refused. The Tawakoni Indians were included in treaties made by the Republic of Texas^qv in 1843 and those made by the United States in 1837 and 1856. After the establishment of the reservation system, they resided at Fort Belknap^qv for three years. In 1859 they moved across Red River and were officially included on the Wichita reservation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frederick Webb Hodge, ed., Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (2 vols., Washington: GPO, 1907, 1910; rpt., New York: Pageant, 1959).

Margery H. Krieger

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/bmt22.html (accessed October 12, 2008).

(NOTE: "s.v." stands for sub verbo, "under the word.")

The Handbook of Texas Online is a project of the Texas State Historical Association (http://www.tshaonline.org).

Copyright ©, The Texas State Historical Association, 1997-2002
Last Updated: January 18, 2008
Please send us your comments.