Placido (Tonkawa leader) facts for kids

Plácido (around 1788–1862) was an important Native American Chief of the Tonkawa tribe. He lived in Texas from around 1788 to 1862. He was a leader during different times: when Spain and Mexico ruled Texas, when Texas was its own country (the Republic of Texas), and after it joined the United States.

Early Life in Texas

Plácido was born around 1788. His father was a Tonkawa Chief. His mother was a Comanche woman who had been captured. It's interesting because Plácido later became a strong opponent of the Comanche tribe in Texas.

In his own language, Plácido was called Ha-shu-ka-na, which means "Can't Kill Him." He was the last main chief of the Tonkawa. The Tonkawa people were known for being brave. They became good friends with the white settlers in Texas and helped them fight their enemies.

Plácido became a leader among the Tonkawa during the Long Expedition into Texas in 1819. Warriors from several tribes, including Plácido and his Tonkawa, joined this journey. They gained horses and other items in battles with the Spanish army. After Carita, another important Tonkawa leader, died in 1823, Plácido was chosen as the head chief by the other chiefs and elders.

Friendship with Stephen F. Austin

Plácido became friends with Stephen F. Austin when Texas was first being settled by Americans. This friendship led the Tonkawa to support the Texans during the Texas War for Independence. Because they were allies with the new Republic of Texas, the Tonkawa felt safe in their home in central Texas, near the San Marcos River.

Battle of Plum Creek

In 1840, after a large raid by the Comanche, Texas militia fought them at Plum Creek. Many history books focus on the Texans, but they often forget that the Texans would not have been able to find the Comanche raiders without the help of Plácido and his men.

With the help of Chief Plácido and thirteen of his Tonkawa scouts, Texas militia from Bastrop and Gonzales surprised the raiding party at Plum Creek. This battle happened near where Lockhart, Texas is today.

Battle of Little Robe Creek

The last major battle where the Tonkawa fought alongside the Texans was the Battle of Little Robe Creek. In 1856, Texas Governor Hardin Runnels wanted to stop the ongoing raids by Comanche and Kiowa tribes who lived off the reservations.

Governor Runnels decided to bring back the Texas Ranger groups that had been reduced after Texas joined the United States. On January 27, 1858, Governor Runnels appointed John Salmon "Rip" Ford as the leader of the Texas Rangers and allied Indian forces. Ford was a veteran of the Mexican–American War and a skilled frontier fighter. He was ordered to take the fight to the Comanches in their homeland, called the Comancheria.

Ford was known as a tough fighter. Governor Runnels gave him clear orders: "Follow any trail and all trails of hostile or suspected hostile Indians you may discover and if possible, overtake and punish them if unfriendly."

Tonkawa Join the Fight

On March 19, 1858, Ford went to the Brazos Reservation, near what is now Fort Worth, Texas. There, he recruited the Tonkawa to join his forces. The Tonkawa, led by Chief Plácido, were known as "faithful and trusted friends of the whites." Without the Tonkawa and their 100 experienced warriors, Ford would not have had enough men to launch a campaign into the Comancheria.

After recruiting Plácido, Ford began his campaign with about an equal number of Texas Rangers and Tonkawa warriors. Ford and Plácido planned to follow the Comanche and Kiowa to their strongholds in the hills of the Canadian River and the Wichita Mountains. Their goal was to "kill their warriors, destroy their food supply, strike at their homes and families and generally destroy their ability to make war."

In April 1858, Ford set up Camp Runnells near the town of Belknap. Ford was still following Governor Runnell's orders to "follow any and all trails of hostile and suspected hostile Indians, inflict the most severe and summary punishment." These orders also meant not allowing any interference from the United States government, which might try to enforce treaties protecting Indian territories in Oklahoma.

On April 15, Ford's Rangers, along with Tonkawa warriors and Anadarko and Shawnee scouts from the Brazos Reservation in Texas, crossed the Red River into Indian Territory (which is now Oklahoma). Ford led his men across the Red River, even though it meant breaking federal laws and treaties. He later said his job was to "find and fight Indians, not to learn geography."

The Battle

At sunrise on May 12, 1858, Ford and his combined force of Rangers and Tonkawa attacked a sleeping Comanche village. This event, known as the Battle of Little Robe Creek, actually involved three separate incidents that happened over one day.

First, they attacked the sleeping village. Second, they followed up with an attack on the village of Iron Jacket, further up the Canadian River. Iron Jacket, who was named for the iron armor he wore in battle, was killed in this fight. The rest of his village was saved when Peta Nocona arrived with a third group of Comanche warriors. They engaged Ford's forces, allowing the other villages along the Canadian River to escape quickly. During this time, a dozen Tonkawa warriors were killed in one-on-one fights with Comanches. Ford, upset by these losses, finally told the Tonkawa not to accept any more challenges.

Peta Nocona knew his warriors could not match the Rangers in a direct gunfight. He used every trick he could, including trying to lure the Rangers and Tonkawa into individual duels, to delay the enemy. This allowed the villages upriver to withdraw safely, which was his main goal.

The Battle of Little Robe Creek was notable because the Texan forces invaded United States territory, attacked Indian villages without warning, and allowed their Tonkawa allies to eat some of the Comanche killed in battle.

After Little Robe Creek

Even though the Tonkawa had fought and died for the Texans, they were still in danger on the Brazos Reservation. White settlers often harassed them. In 1859, an Indian agent named Robert Neighbors convinced the United States to move all the Texas tribes, including Plácido and his Tonkawa, to a reservation in Indian Territory (Oklahoma).

In October 1862, when Confederate agents arrived at the reservations, only the Tonkawa welcomed them. Plácido saw the Confederacy as a continuation of his beloved Republic of Texas, which had valued his people. However, other Indian tribes never forgot the Tonkawa's loyalty to the Texans. Despite Plácido's pleas to protect his people, the Tonkawa were not allowed to return to their reservation on the Brazos. They remained on a reservation in Oklahoma with the Delaware, Shawnee, and Caddo tribes.

Tonkawa Massacre (1862)

On October 23, 1862, warriors from these tribes, encouraged by the Comanche and Kiowa, attacked the Tonkawas. Unlike earlier US Indian agents like Neighbors, who had protected the Tonkawas, the Confederate agents Plácido had welcomed did not try to protect them at all. One hundred thirty-seven of the remaining 309 Tonkawas were killed in what became known as the Tonkawa Massacre. The elderly Plácido was among those who died.

After the Massacre

Plácido had two sons, Charlie and Little Spots. Their mother had also been a Comanche captive. After the 1862 massacre, the Tonkawa survivors, led by Plácido's son Charlie, fled to Fort Belknap, Texas. They stayed there until the end of the Civil War. Today, fewer than 15 Tonkawa families remain on their reservation in Oklahoma.