Tonkawa massacre

The eastern half of what is now Oklahoma was not a good place to live during the Civil War.

Factions in the Five Civilized Tribes brought personal and political animosities with relocation from the Southeast United States. Those animosities resulted in physical altercations and even murder.

The American Civil War gave legal purchase for continued killings. The Five Civilized Tribes joined the Confederacy in its fight against Northern forces. Confederate Indians fought Union Indians throughout the area. While not one of the Five Civilized Tribes, the Tonkawa discovered that supporting the Confederacy could spell disaster.

“On the morning of October 24, 1862, pro-Union Indians attacked the Tonkawa tribe as they camped approximately four miles south of present Anadarko in Caddo County. Roughly 150 Tonkawa died in the assault, a blow from which their population never recovered.

“The Tonkawa had been relocated from Texas to Indian Territory in 1859. Placed under the authority of the Wichita Agency, they settled along the Washita River near Fort Cobb in the Leased District. Rumored to be cannibals, the Tonkawa were outcasts among the southern plains tribes. This macabre reputation, and their loyalty to the Confederacy during the Civil War, led to their destruction. On the night of October 23, 1862, a roving Union force of Delaware, Shawnee, Osage, and other Indians attacked the Wichita Agency. Once the facility was destroyed, the marauders unleashed their fury upon the Tonkawa. Fleeing east toward Fort Arbuckle, the Tonkawa were overtaken and massacred the following morning.

“The Tonkawa were resettled in Texas after the Civil War. In 1884 they occupied their last reservation in present Kay County, Oklahoma. Impoverished, their population continued to decline. Numbering some 367 individuals at the time of the massacre, the Tonkawa tribe was almost nonexistent less than one century later.”

http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=TO005

Wikipedia notes: “In the 15th century, the Tonkawa tribe probably numbered around 5,000, with their numbers diminishing to around 1,600 by the late 17th century due to fatalities from new infectious diseases and warring with other tribes, most notably the Apache. By 1921, only 34 tribal members remained. Their numbers have since recovered to close to 700 in the early 21st century. Most live in Oklahoma.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonkawa