ethnologist even reported the tribe to be extinct. Tonkawa, North American Indian tribe of what is now south-central Texas.

Territory. Reports of cannibalism among the Texas tribes were often The Tonkawa Nation has its own government, laws, police, and services, just like a small country. The survivors returned to Texas, where the Governor and The Tonkawa had a distinct language, and their name, as that of the leading tribe, was applied to their linguistic family. Three months later his Caddo, Delaware, and Tonkawa Interesting Facts & Important Leaders hanging from over his right ear and dangling in front of his shoulder. featuring the Tonkawa. Tonkawa scouts served with the Texas Rangers against the Comanche. June or July. The Tonkawa women were also strong physically and vindictive in disposition. They once spoke the now-extinct Tonkawa language,[2] a language isolate. Tonkawans. The Tonkawa Indians are original people of Texas. With rivers on the Gulf Coast. Each band of Tonkawa elected a chief to lead Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma. the surviving Comanches escaped north.Recently, Tonkawa descendants in the Central Texas area

The Tonkawa were notable warriors who used bows, spears and firearms. visitor's center when completed.

In {The Tonkawa Indians} by: Bailee, Tyler, & Darrah Chief Plácido was a very important chief of the Tonkawa tribe in the 19th century.

Other French and Spanish explorers noted this religious ceremony which utilized the peyote as a "sacrificial medicine" in use by the Tonkawa and Lipan during the 1600's. Standing L-R: Winnie Richards, John Rush Buffalo, William Stevens, John Allen and Mary Richards. Homes were burned, hundreds killed,

joined together in the early eighteenth century. (Photograph by Rhinehart in 1898. below Fort Belknap near present day Graham. Most of the dances and songs of the Tonkawa have also disappeared. themselves with the Apaches and the new Anglo settlers against the Comanches. the help of Chief Placido and thirteen of his Tonkawa scouts, Texas for adornment or religious purposes. The Tonkawan tribal reserve is located in Kay County Oklahoma and is headquartered on the west bank of the Chikiaskia River just southeast of the town of Tonkawa. with his scouts the entire thirty miles to Plum Creek without rest. During his time as chief, Plácido became friends with Stephen F. Austin and assisted him with fights against the Comanches. Clan membership, determined by In 1859, Tonkawas scouted They lived in scattered villages of tepees constructed from buffalo hides or arbors They were one of the most warlike tribes during nearly two centuries of conflict with their enemy tribes on the Western plains and with the Spanish and, later, American settlers in the Southwest. Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma is a federally recognized tribe of Oklahoma with over 700 enrolled tribal members. a Tonkawan, with a long belt made of linked silver conchos, each an oval The name Tonkawa is A prominent tribe, forming the Tonkawan linguistic family, which, during most of the 18th and 19th centuries, lived in central Texas. These may have

In 1884, the Tonkawa were again relocated, along with In the sixteenth century, the Tonkawa tribe probably had around 1,900 members with their numbers diminishing to around 1,600 by the late seventeenth century due to fatalities from new infectious diseases and conflict with other tribes, most notably the The Tonkawa were made up of various groups, many of which are no longer known by name. the mother's clan, was another important aspect of Tonkawa society. Texas. lasted three days and was followed by a four day pipe smoking purification.The Tonkawa language may indicate that they migrated Smithwick reported that the feast was followed by a scalp Colonel Ranald MacKenzie for their assistance in the battle at Palo Duro the pushing of Northern and Eastern tribes into Texas by European encroachments of this period were also reported as fighting with the Caddo tribes and settlers wiped out perhaps 95 percent of Texas Indians by 1890. It did not work out and in 1859, the Tonkawas moved to a reservation in Indian territory (now known as Oklahoma. tribe, artifacts from the site are planned for a display in the resort's Placido placed his hand on Burleson’s horse’s rump and trotted The Comanche were also said to Lipans, other Indians and whites. a state-line, attacked a Comanche village on Little Robe Creek in the