The story of Texas begins many thousands of years before the birth of Christ, when ice masses connected the continents of Asia and North America, between points in what we now know as Siberia and Alaska. Between 12,000 and 40,000 years ago, until the Bering Sea reclaimed this bridge of ice for good, Asiatic nomads of the same Homo sapiens group that became today’s Mongoloid race trekked across it in a series of distinct migration as they hunted for edible plants and animals. (Calvert, De León, Cantrell, p. 1)

Clovis Spearheads

When and from where?

Most scholars agree that the Western Hemisphere was settled in a series of migrations across the Bering Strait from Asia. There is uncertainty when these migrations took place. Sometime after 14,000 B.C., hunting groups expanded into the hemisphere. However, some evidence suggests that humans may have been present in South America as early as 35,000 B.C. Most likely, groups of humans came to the Americas in different waves of migration. (Burkholder & Johnson, p. 1)

Nomadic Beginnings: Ancient nomads dispersed throughout the vast land of North and South America. Different cultural and linguistic patterns appeared as bands struck out on their own in the search for fresh sources of game and vegetation, and as people sought to adjust to diverse habitats. (Calvert, De León, Cantrell, p. 1)

Maize, beans and squash were planted in the same hill of soil, loosened and weeded by hoes made of shoulder blades of bison and elk. http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/parks/i&m/CORRIDOR/archeo/sites/sites.htm

New World peoples began to develop agriculture around 7000 B.C. Once New World societies learned to till the soil and harvest plants, human beings began to exercise some control over nature and develop strong ties to the land.

(Calvert, De León, Cantrell, p. 1)

By 1500 over 350 major tribal groups, 15 distinct cultural group centers, and more than 160 linguistic stocks could be found in Latin America. (Burkholder & Johnson, p. 1)

Despite the wide variety of different Amerindian peoples, there were, essentially, three forms or levels of Indian culture:

•Nomadic hunters and gatherers

•Sedentary or semi-sedentary

•Complex civilizations

•The MayaThe Maya

•The AztecsThe Aztecs

•The IncasThe Incas

See pp. 2-3.See pp. 2-3.

Despite the wide variety of different Amerindian peoples, there were, essentially, three forms or levels of Indian culture:

•Nomadic hunters and gatherers

•Sedentary or semi-sedentary

•Complex civilizations

Northeast Northeast WoodlandsWoodlands

““Five Civilized Five Civilized Tribes”Tribes”

PueblosPueblos

See page 3.See page 3.

The Location of some Texas Indian Peoples Around the Mid-Seventeenth

Century

Karankawas and Coahuiltecans

The Karankawas and the Coahuiltecans lacked formal political organization; social life revolved around the family, extending into small autonomous bands (related by kin) presided over by a chieftain. (Calvert, De León, Cantrell, p. 5)

Karankawa territoriality extended along a thin area running down the coast from Matagorda (some archaeologists believe even as far north as the Lower Brazos River region) to Corpus Christi Bay. To guarantee a reliable and abundant food supply, the Karankawas during the fall and winter stayed close to the coast, when they relied most heavily on shellfish, aquatic plants, and water fowl, but also hunted deer and even alligators. For life along the bays and lagoons, the Karankawas built small canoes from tree trunks and fashioned nets, an assortment of traps, lances, and bows and arrows. During the spring and summer, the Karankawas moved inland to the coastal prairies and woodlands. There they relied less on marine life (though numerous rivers and creeks still provided them with fish) and more on land animals—among them deer, rabbits, prairie fowl, and occasionally buffalo—and the annual offerings of nuts, beans, and fruits produced by indigenous trees and shrubs. (Calvert, De León, Cantrell, p. 5)

KarankawKarankawa a

TerritoryTerritory

Beans of the mesquite tree were an important food to native groups in late summer and fall. Photo of display at the Institute of Texan Cultures, San Antonio. Source: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/st-plains/peoples/coahuiltecans.html

The CoahuiltecansThe Coahuiltecans

The Coahuiltecans lived in the Gulf Coast Plain and much of what is today considered south Texas and northeast Mexico. Similar to the Karankawas, the Coahuiltecans migrated according to changes in seasons. Both the Karankawas and Coahuiltecans usually dwelled in dome-shaped wigwams covered by animal skins or improvised windbreaks. When it came time to move, they simply dismantled their shelters, taking them and other useful items with them. During the warmer season, the Coahuiltecans foraged for nature’s yields over a large expanse of South Texas. They took advantage of the spring rains, catching fish trapped in receding pools of water, and hunting deer, lizards, birds, fish, insects and gathering mesquite beans, prickly pears, pecans, and roots. (Calvert, De León, Cantrell, p. 5.)

Source of paintings: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/st-plains/peoples/coahuiltecans.html

Source: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/fundamentals/who.html

Caddo village scene about 900 years ago (A.D. 1100) as envisioned by artist George S. Nelson. This scene is based on archeological details from the George C. Davis site in east Texas and on early historic accounts. Courtesy of the artist and the Institute of Texan Cultures, the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Source: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/fundamentals/life.html

The Caddo The Caddo constructed dome-shaped homes from grass and cane. As many as four families shared one such domicile, for Caddo home life apparently revolved around multifamily dwelling. (Calvert, De León, Cantrell, p. 5.)

Artist's depiction of early Caddo village, about 900 years ago. Painting by Nola Davis on display at Caddoan Mounds State Historic Park, Alto, Texas. Courtesy Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

WPA workers uncovering outline enormous Late Caddo temple structure covered by an earthen mound at the Hatchel site on Red River near Texarkana, thought to be the location of the Upper Nasoni village visited in 1691 by the Teran Expedition.

Source: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/fundamentals/timeline.html

Workers from the University of Texas-WPA project uncovering structural remains within the Hatchel Mound near Texarkana in 1938. This archeological excavation was among the largest ever undertaken at a Caddo site. Photograph from TARL archives

Grand Xinesi (pronounced chenesi, meaning Mr. Moon), head religious leader of the Hasinai alliance. Painting by Reeda Peel, based on descriptions by Spanish explorers in the late 1600s. Courtesy of the artist.

Chiefs known as the xinesí presided over Caddo society, both as political and religious leaders. Serving in a hereditary position, the xinesí (whose authority extended over several Caddo communities) mediated between his followers and a supreme deity—the world’s creator who influenced both good and bad things in life—and led religious celebrations, ceremonies, and festivals. In Caddo society, the xinesí was a person demanding of respect from tribal members, who looked upon him as a powerful figure able to determine such phenomenon as a successful sowing; as such, the xinesís’s wishes and directives were to be followed unquestionably. (p. 7)

The Jumano IndiansThe Jumano IndiansInhabiting the Trans-Pecos area in the final years of the fifteenth century were the Jumanos. Quite plausibly the whole of western Texas was the domain of the Jumanos before such fierce tribes as the Apaches and Comanches entered the region sometime in the seventeenth century. At La Junta de los Ríos (the confluence of the Rio Grande and the Concho Rivers), the Jumanos established permanent settlements and cultivated maize, beans and squash. The nomadic Junanos of the West Texas plains were nearly full-time hunters and gatherers. They roamed the vast grasslands in pursuit of a variety of game: from snakes, fish and birds, to deer, antelope, rabbits, and armadillos, and, naturally, to the indispensable buffalo, which furnished them with meat for food and hides for shelter and clothing.

Both the sedentary and nomadic Junanos earned reputations as accomplished merchants. The nomadic Junanos, in particular, appear to have made commerce as much a part of their war of life as was hunting, establishing trading villages on the Plains as centers of exchange.

(Calvert, De León, Cantrell, pp. 7-8)

Before they acquired horses, Indians of the Plains Before they acquired horses, Indians of the Plains sometimes hunted buffalo by driving them over cliffs, as sometimes hunted buffalo by driving them over cliffs, as shown in this model of a Blackfoot buffalo jump. Today, shown in this model of a Blackfoot buffalo jump. Today, buffalo herds provide meat and hides for community buffalo herds provide meat and hides for community events, and the buffalo remains important to the culture events, and the buffalo remains important to the culture of Plains Indians. of Plains Indians.

The Spaniards responded to the Jumanos’ invitation with an expedition to Jumano country in 1629 commanded by Fray Juan de Salas, and another on in 1632 led by the Franciscans.

Spanish entered Jumano territory to:• Proselytize• Harvest freshwater pearls (found in

mollusks living in the western tributaries of the Colorado River)

• Obtain buffalo hides, tallow and meat• Seek trade relations with the Caddo Indians

(Calvert, De León, Cantrell, (Calvert, De León, Cantrell, p. 20)p. 20)

“In 1654…Diego de Guadalajara returned to Jumano country in search of pearl-bearing conchas (shells) in the present-day forks of the Concho River of West Texas.”

The Spaniards and the The Spaniards and the JumanosJumanos

In 1683, the Jumano Chief Juan Sabeata asked the Spaniards to send priest to his lands in West Texas, and, parenthetically, for assistance in countering threats from Apaches. Responding to Sabeata’s request, Spanish authorities dispatched a missionary expedition led by Juan Domínguez de Mendoza and Fray Nicolás López to the San Sabá River area, where they established themselves at Mission San Clemente.

After about six weeks at San Clemente, proselytizing and collecting thousands of buffalo hinds, the Spaniards left the Jumanos promising to return at a later date. (Calvert, De León, Cantrell, p. 20)

THE FOUNDING OF SAN ANTONIO DE BÉXAR: In 1718 an expedition, led by Martín de Alarcón, marched from Mexico City toward the Río San Antonio in 1718 to found a military post called San Antonio de Béxar and a mission they named San Antonio de Valero. The new presidio and mission would serve the purpose of Christianizing the Coahuiltecan Indians, who had long eked out a marginal existence in their ancestral territories and were presently under attack by marauding bands of Apaches coming down from the plains. (Calvert, De León, Cantrell, 4th ed., 24.)

The Spanish established other settlements in Texas 1721 Los Adaes1731 Canary Islanders established a civilian settlement, San Fernando de Bexar, near the

presidios and missions that constituted San Antonio.1746 The Spanish established a presidio and missions on the San Gabriel river to assist the

Tonkawas defend themselves from the Apaches and Comanches. The enterprise was abandoned in 1755.

1750s Laredo1757 The Spanish established a mission and presidio along the San Saba river for trade and

missionary work among the Apaches. The enterprise was abandoned in 1769.

Spanish Settlers in Texas

José de Páez, Destruction of Mission San Sabá in the Province of Texas and the Martyrdom of the Fathers Alonso Giraldo de Terreros, Joseph Santiesteban, c. 1763. Courtesy of the Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City. Mission San Sabá was the northernmost Spanish mission established in Texas and was destroyed by Indians in a 1760 attack. The painting was commission in the mid- 1760s, within a decade of the event, on commission from mining magnate Pedro Romero de Terreros, cousin of the martyred priest and sponsor of the mission. The artist is believed, on stylistic grounds, to have been Jose de Paez (the mural is not signed). Sources: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/sansaba/ & http://www.laits.utexas.edu/rtyler/HIS350L/Texas/page2.htm

In March of 1758 a large force of Nortenos attacked, looted, and burned Mission San Sabá, less than one year after its founding. The mission was never rebuilt, however, the presidio lived on for another 14 years until hope for silver riches waned. The presidio was abandoned in 1772 by order of the Viceroy of New Spain.

THE THREAT OF INDIANS ATTACKS AND THE DEMIS OF THE MISSION OF SAN SABÁ: Since the establishment of the San Antonio complex, Apache Indians had made periodic attacks on the settlements there, but by the 1740s their own hostilities with the Comanches had made the Apaches receptive to an alliance with the Spaniards. Seeing the opportunity to Christianize the Apaches finally present itself, the Spaniards in 1757 established a mission and fort along the San Sabá River; prospects of finding silver deposits also encouraged the enterprise. It did not last long. (Calvert, De León, Cantrell, 4th ed., 25.)

A Comanche named Bow and Quiver. Painted by George Catlin in 1832.

THE PLAINS INDIANS:THE PLAINS INDIANS: The Apaches, Comanches, Kiowas, and Tonkawas did not live in Texas in pre-Columbian times, but came to play an important part in Texas history during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The Apaches and Comanches would not enter the region until sometime in the seventeenth century. The Apaches and Comanches, as well as the Kiowas and Tonkawas, found new power in the horse, for they learned to ride horseback with great skill while hunting buffalo, conducting warfare, or relocating to newer locales. These Indian peoples depended on the buffalo for almost all their living essentials, including shelter, clothing, weapons, and tools. They generally lacked any pan-tribal political structure, families forming the basic social foundation. (Calvert, De León, Cantrell, pp. 9-10)

New Power in the HorseNew Power in the Horse

Pictograph of a conquistador, Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, part Pictograph of a conquistador, Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, part of a procession of mounted Spaniards drawn on the canyon of a procession of mounted Spaniards drawn on the canyon wall. wall.

Riders on horseback and an Riders on horseback and an antelope are pictured in this rock antelope are pictured in this rock drawing at Canyon de Chelly drawing at Canyon de Chelly National Monument. (AP Photo/Beth National Monument. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz) J. Harpaz)

Newcomers: “Strikingly different from the aforementioned Native American tribes were the Apaches, Comanches, Wichitas, and Tonkawas. None of these Indian peoples—all of whom would play important parts in Texas history during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—lived in Texas in pre-Columbian times.”

(Calvert, De León, Cantrell, 4th ed., 9.)

A Gros Ventre family demonstrating how Plains peoples moved their camp by horse travois. Photographed by Edward Curtis, 1904.

(Library of Congress [#USZ62-40310])

"Buffalo Chase" by George Catlin.

A Blackfoot encampment at twilight, photographed by Walter McClintock at the turn of the century.

A Pawnee buffalo robe A Pawnee buffalo robe depicting the tribe's depicting the tribe's victory on horseback over victory on horseback over a band of horseless Kansa a band of horseless Kansa Indians.Indians.

A Shoshone elk hide depicting a buffalo hunt on horseback and at the center a dance to bring luck in the hunt.

George Armstrong Custer (left George Armstrong Custer (left center in light clothing) leads a center in light clothing) leads a military expedition into the Black military expedition into the Black Hills of Dakota Territory in 1874. Hills of Dakota Territory in 1874.

"The Villa Brule." A Brule Lakota camp at Pine Ridge reservation in Dakota Territory, 1891. Though the scene is from a later era, after the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890, it gives some idea of the culture that came under direct attack by the U. S. Army in the mid-1870's. Photograph by J. C. H. Grabill.

A pictograph showing the dead horses left in the aftermath of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, by the Minniconjou Lakota chief, Red Horse, who fought in the battle.

•Those tribes that the Spanish had targeted for conversion had by the 1820s either perished due to wars and (European) diseases, been displaced from their native lands and driving into the western regions, or had integrated successfully into Spanish/Mexican communities.

•Only vestiges of the Coahuiltecans remained by the 1830s •In 1824, setters from Austin’s colony launched hostilities against the Karankawas to drive

them from their ancestral hunting lands. During the 1830s, the Karankawas numbered less than 800 persons, but desperately clung to survival by preying on Tejano-owned cattle, or, in the case of those who gradually drifted back to their previous homeland, by “hiring out” to Anglo settlers as casual laborers or domestic servants.

•The Plains Indians (Comanches, Apaches, and Norteños) remained faithful to their traditional lifestyles, relying on a combination of the hunt and small-scale farming. Women tended gardens, cultivating and harvesting corn, pumpkins, and beans, while the Plains warriors sabotaged settlements in an effort to halt the encroachment on their land and to take livestock, especially horses.

•The Caddos of East Texas contended with problems that threatened to unravel their civilization. Alcohol, provided to them by American traders, enfeebled many tribes people almost at the same time outsiders began penetrating long-held Caddo territory. Interlopers included other Native American peoples from the U.S. South as well as Anglo empresarios bearing contracts to establish colonies in Caddo land. By the late 1820s, the Caddos numbered no more than 300 families.

•In 1818-1819, a band of Cherokees, bowing to legal and extralegal pressure by Anglos to abandon their homelands in Georgia and Alabama, arrived in northeastern Texas near Caddo land. They tried to settle near present-day Dallas, but were forced to relocate by the hostile Plains Indians. They eventually settled in and around today’s Van Zandt and Cherokee counties. The Cherokee actively sought to acquire legal title to their new homeland from the Mexican government, but never received anything but vague promises.

Native Americans, 1821-1836Native Americans, 1821-1836

(Calvert, De Leon, Cantrell, pp. 73-74.)

Many Native Americans welcomed African Americans into their villages. Even as slaves many African Americans became part of a family group, and many intermarried with Native Americans - thus many later became classified as Black Indians. Therefore Black Oklahoma evolved in many areas as biracial communities within Indian nations. This is a unique history, which developed in many of the western communities where the two groups came together.

The state government’s official policy toward Indians in the mid-1850s was to put the Indians on reservations.

YearYear TotalTotal UrbanUrban Rural (%)Rural (%) Blacks (%)Blacks (%)

18601860 604,215604,215 26,61526,615 577,600 577,600 (96.4)(96.4)

182,921 182,921 (30.0)(30.0)

18701870 818,579818,579 59,52159,521 764,058 764,058 (95.6)(95.6)

253,475 253,475 (31.9)(31.9)

18801880 1,591,7491,591,749 146,795146,795 1,444,954 1,444,954 (93.7)(93.7)

393,384 393,384 (25.0)(25.0)

18901890 2,235,5212,235,521 349,511349,511 1,886,016 1,886,016 (90.5)(90.5)

488,171 488,171 (21.8)(21.8)

19001900 3,048,7103,048,710 520,759520,759 2,527,951 2,527,951 (84.5)(84.5)

650,722 650,722 (20.0)(20.0)

Table 7.1 Makeup of the Texas Table 7.1 Makeup of the Texas PopulationPopulation

Calvert, Calvert, DeLeónDeLeón, Cantrell, p. 177., Cantrell, p. 177.While Texas cities did experience some growth, the state, overall, remained overwhelming rural and agricultural.

Until the 1870s, the dominant powers on the plains of West Texas were the Comanches and Kiowa. 1. Warrior tradition2. Military tactics3. Westering Texans stopped short of Comanche and Kiowa territory.4. The nomadic lifestyle meant the Indians had no farms, storehouses, or

munition stock piles to attack.

Kiowa and Cheyenne leaders pose in the White House conservatory with Mary Todd Lincoln (standing far right) on March 27, 1863, during meetings with President Abraham Lincoln, who hoped to prevent their lending aid to Confederate forces. The two Cheyenne chiefs seated at the left front, War Bonnet and Standing In the Water, would be killed the next year in the Sand Creek Massacre.

Southern Plains Indian tribes during the Red River War and location of reservations. Map courtesy of the Texas Historical Commission.

The threat of Indian raids was a constant source of anxiety for settlers on the Texas frontier, particularly after U.S. troops left Texas during the Civil War years. Painting by Nola Davis, courtesy of Fort Richardson SHS, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Why were the buffalo exterminated? 1. Indians slaughtered more buffalo for sustenance and

for trade.2. Domesticated animals exposed buffaloes to fatal

diseases.3. Increased population and livestock reduced timberland

and grazing land.4. Droughts reduced the number of buffaloes.5. Whites slaughtered the buffalo.

Why did whites slaughter the buffalo? 1. "Sportsmen"2. Suppliers of meat for railroad crews3. Traders in buffalo hides 4. To destroy the Plains Indians' economy

Rath & Wright's buffalo hide yard, showing 40,000 buffalo hides baled for shipment. Dodge City, Kansas, 1878. The virtual extermination of the buffalo aided the defeat of the Comanches and Kiowas by destroying their economy and way of life.

Kiowa brave. Tow-An-Kee, son of Lone Wolf. Killed in Texas in 1873. Photo, ca. 1867-1874, courtesy of the Center for American History, Caldwell Collection (#03962), The University of Texas at Austin.

Kiowa camp, ca. 1867-1874. Kiowa camp, ca. 1867-1874. Photograph courtesy of the Photograph courtesy of the Center for American History, Center for American History, Frank Caldwell Collection Frank Caldwell Collection (#10187), The University of (#10187), The University of Texas at Austin. Texas at Austin.

A Kiowa ledger drawing possibly depicting the Buffalo Wallow battle in 1874, one of several clashes between Southern Plains Indians and the U.S. Army during the Red River War.

After the Civil War, the U. S. Grant administration attempted a peace policy toward the Plains tribes. At the Salt Creek Massacre (1871), Satanta, a Kiowa chief, and between 100 and 150 followers attacked a supply train, killing and mutilating seven of the twelve drivers. In response, the U. S. Army took the offensive against the Plains Indians. Comanche raids decreased.

Indian resistance failed:1. defeat on the battlefield2. no system of supply depots and armories3. no support network of factories, farms, or

efficient infrastructure4. weapons ineffective in a conflict against a

well-armed and well-financed opponent.5. disease and alcoholism6. elimination of the buffalo

U.S. Army columns of the Red River War. Courtesy of the Texas Historical Commission.

In 1871, Salt Creek Massacre resulted in a new military offensive in Texas against the Indians by the U.S. army.

Satanta was a Kiowa chief who fiercely resisted Anglo incursions, and who carried out the Salt Creek Massacre.As a result of the Red River War in the mid-1870s, most of the West Texas Indians were killed or forced onto reservations.

These are Kiowas waiting for their monthly food ration from the reservation commissary around 1900. It gives a little insight into what life must have been like on the reservation. (http://www.texasindians.com/kiowa.htm)

Topin Tone-oneo, daughter of Kicking Bird. The only one of the great Kiowa chief's children to survive him, she was with the first group sent to Carlisle Indian School in 1879. Source: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/forts/indians.html

Indians at Fort Marion. Indians of various tribes who were captured in the Texas Red River Wars and other Indian battles of the late 19th century were imprisoned at this Florida military fort. Photo ca. 1860s-1930s, courtesy the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution (Lot 90-1 INV 09854500). Source: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/forts/indians.html

Pupils at Carlisle Indian school, Pennsylvania. Established in 1879 by Richard Pratt, the school attempted to assimilate Indian children into the "white man's world" through education and financial support. Among its students were four of Comanche chief Quanah Parker's children and those of others involved in the Texas Indian Wars. Source: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/forts/indians.html