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 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 visited the Tawakoni villages. Juan Agustín Morfi 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 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 for three years. In 1859 they moved across Red River and were officially included on the Wichita reservation.