Tonkawa is a Waco word possibly meaning "they all stay together." Their self-designation was Titska Watitch, possibly meaning "Most Human People."
Location Tonkawas traditionally lived in east-central Texas. In the late twentieth century, most lived in and around Kay County, Oklahoma.
Population From a fifteenth-century population of perhaps 5,000 people, their numbers declined to about 1,600 people in the late seventeenth century and 34 people in 1921. The 1993 Tonkawa population was 186 people.
Language Tonkawan is considered a language isolate but may relate to the Hokan-Coahuiltecan group of languages.
Historical Information
History The Tonkawa may be descended from Indians who lived in southern Texas and northern Mexico. They had contact with the Spanish in the 1530s. Beginning in the late seventeenth century, the people were caught up in the colonial struggle between Spain and France for control of Texas. The Tonkawa lived around Mission San Gabriel in east Texas for a time before it was abandoned in 1758. They acquired horses in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century.
El Mocho was a captured Apache who became a Tonkawa chief in the late eighteenth century. His dream was to unite the Apaches and the Tonkawas against the Spanish. At a council attended by over 4,000 Indians, the two peoples failed to resolve their differences. El Mocho was captured and killed by the Spanish.
After Mexican independence in 1821, the Tonkawa became allied with Anglo-Texans against the Comanche and Waco Indians. Along with other Texas tribes, the Tonkawa were assigned two small reservations on the Brazos River in 1855. Despite their past alliance with non-native Texans, in 1859 the Tonkawa were deported from Texas and relocated to Fort Cobb on the Washita River, Indian Territory (Oklahoma). From there some fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, and in 1862 more than half of the tribe were killed in a raid by Unionist Caddo, Shawnee, and Delaware people.
Survivors returned to Texas, where they remained until 1884, when they were assigned to the former Nez Perce Reservation in the Indian Territory. This reservation was allotted in 1896. Some Tonkawas participated in the Pawnee Ghost Dance in the early twentieth century.
Religion The people recognized numerous deities. They may have engaged in cannibalism, possibly for religious reasons. Psychotropic plants also played a part in their religious practice.
Government There were at least 20 autonomous bands with loose, decentralized governing structures.
Customs The Tonkawa were excellent runners. For most of their existence they were nomadic hunters. Infants were tied in cradle boards, resulting in some possibly inadvertent head flattening.
Dwellings On the Plains, the people lived in skin tip is.
Diet Men hunted large and small game, especially buffalo and deer. Women gathered roots, seeds, nuts, prickly pear, and other wild foods. The people also ate fish, shellfish, and rattlesnake meat but neither wolf nor coyote.
Key Technology Like all Plains tribes, most of their material goods came from the buffalo and other animals.
Trade Tonkawas traded buffalo-derived materials for feathers and other items. They were also well-known horse traders. Pueblo groups were among their trade partners. They imported copper from the north.
Notable Arts Painting—of shields, tip is, and their own bodies—was a major part of Tonkawa art.
Transportation The people acquired horses in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century and soon became expert riders.
Dress Women made all clothing from animal skins. They wore short wraparound skirts and either let their hair hang long or made one braid. Men wore long breechclouts and long, braided hair. Men also plucked their beards and eyebrows. Moccasins or fiber sandals were rarely worn. Both sexes wore buffalo robes, and both tattooed and painted their bodies and wore many personal ornaments.
War and Weapons Tonkawa men had a reputation as fierce raiders, with many enemies, especially the Apache and Comanche. Their weapons included the bow and arrow, hide vests, feathered helmets, and hide shields. They were considered excellent shots. They painted for war in red, yellow, green, and black. Warriors may have cut their hair on the left side, leaving the long hair on the right to be tied with a thong.
Contemporary Information
Government/Reservations In the mid-1990s, the Tonkawa owned 398.74 acres, most of which were allotted, in Kay County, Oklahoma. They were governed by a 1938 constitution calling for elected officers. The tribal council meets monthly.
Economy All jobs are provided by local small businesses.
Legal Status The Tonkawa Tribe, a federally recognized tribal entity, includes some members of a former Texas coast tribe known as Karankawas.
Daily Life The native language is extinct, and most traditional culture has been lost. Some people are members of the Native American Church. The people hold an annual powwow.
