Waco Indians

These people have a very intriguing history. According to William Clark (William Clark of Lewis and Clark Expedition), they lived at headwaters of Red River of Mississippi River. That be near or east of Amarillo, Texas (Panhandle of Texas) or on Oklahoma's border with Texas. Below is a map of their Reservation in Oklahoma. Find Caddo, Wichita and Delaware. Clark named these people who whites refer to as being of Caddoan origin, as Chippaway. He also said they were known by other names including O-jib-a-no and Saulteaux (pronounced as "soe-toe"), which are obviously known of by Ojibway People. Clark said they spoke a language he called Chippaway. Waco Indians and all other Caddoan Indians, are very important to Ojibway People. And you know why now! So Chippaway Indians are not Chippewa's? Google "Chippaway" and you'll learn that it was often used by whites, to refer to Chippewa's of Ohio and elsewhere. Below is an excerpt from Clark's information about Waco Indian Tribe who are obviously Ojibway. Letters represent certain facts. Letter "d" represents their language. Letter "b" represents name of their nation. Letter "c" represents names French gave them. Letter "e" represents their number of villages which is incorrect. They had far more than 2 villages. Letter "g" represents total number of their soldiers which is incorrect. Letter "h" is also incorrect. They were very numerous during those times. Letter "o" represents locations where they desired to trade. Letter "p" represents names of their foes. As you can tell, enemies of Ojibway's in that location included Panias, which indicates Ojibway's military ruled them. Caddoan People are an admixture of Ojibway and Caddoan. Letter "r" represents locations where their villages were and where they hunted or roved. Main river was Red River which is Oklahoma's border with Texas. They lived well west where Texas Panhandle is. You'll notice they were also named Pania. Later, it would be better known as Pawnee. They are Panias who lived along River Platte, as written below.

53. a. (Chippaway tribe) Pania
Pickey
b. (O jib a no)
c. (Sou teaux) Pania
Pickey
d. (Chippaway) Pania
e. 2
f. [blank]
g. 500
h. 2000
i. through n. [blank]
o. 3 Forks of Arkansaw
p. Little & Big Ossage
Kanses & Panias
q. [blank]
r. on the head of Red
River of Mississippi

These people have no intercourse with the inhabitants of the Illinois; the information, therefore, which I have been enabled to obtain, with respect to them, is very imperfect. They were formerly known by the name of the White Panias, and are of the same family with the Panias of the river Platte. They are said to be a well disposed people, and inhabit a very fertile country; certain it is that they enjoy a delightful climate.

You can also visit Lewis and Clark Jouranals website with information about Chippaway people by clicking this link. After you get to that page, scroll down and you'll notice Clarks information on 72 different groups of Native Americans. Numbers 46 through 50, are about Chippewa's who lived in and around Minnesota. Clark called them Chipaways or Algonquin's or O-chi-pa-wa or Soe-toe (Saulteaux), or as he spelled their name Souteau, Souteaus, Souteu, Souters, Souteaux. Number 53 is about Chippaway people. Clark also said they were known as Pania which is Pawnee Tribe of course. Chippaway's or Waco Indians or Wichita People, are really Black River and Swan Creek Chippewa's. They subdued Indians native to Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. However, an earlier group of Ojibway People from Montana and Wyoming invaded Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas in 17th century. That means that there are two different groups of Chippewa's we have to pay careful attention to. Either that or Ojibway's have lived in that location for an extremely long time.

According to white historians, whites first made contact with Wichita Tribe including Waco Indians around 1540-1541 while Coronado was commencing his expedition up to Texas and Oklahoma. They estimate that Wichita and other Caddoan Tribes of that region, had a population which surpassed 200,000. However, that could actually be a population estimate for Chippewa's who forced their way into that region in early 19th century. Before this Ojibway invasion, Wichita Indians and other Caddoan Tribes including Waco Indians had dealt with whites in either a peaceful or hostile manner. Their population was decimated by whites using tactics you don't want to know about. Once Black River and Swan Creek Chippewa's had reached Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, they merged with native Ojibway's of that location. They easily subdued Caddoan peoples who lived in that region. In fact, they subdued Caddoan Tribes who lived in Arkansas and Louisiana soon after they subdued Caddoan People between Nebraska and Texas.

Wichita Indian Tribe is really made up of four tribes: Taovaya; Tawakoni; Waco; and Wichita. We will use Wichita to name all four groups. Their territory extended from near San Antonio, Texas to south central Kansas. Most of their land was located in Oklahoma. It extended west to Texas Panhandles location and southeast to northwest Louisiana. Much of western Arkansas was a part of their country also. What is now Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco was also within their country. They were civilized and very dependant on buffalo for food. Their villages were numerous with most being rather small yet many were large. They were known to build domed shaped houses or what Ojibway's named them, round houses. They were probably similar to Navajo houses known as hogans. However, Waco Indian houses were larger and covered with grass, to keep them cool during hot summers and warm during cool to mild winters. Climate conditions throughout their country varied. In their north, especially in south central Kansas, winters were cold. Snow falls there on occassions during winters, as it does in northern Oklahoma. In their south, winters are warmer, especially near San Antonio which has warm winters. It can get cold in San Antonio or they do have winters there yet they are very brief. Their clothing was made of hides from buffalo, deer and other animals. Life was very hard for them. An interesting fact about Waco Indians is what French traders named them. Instead of one name, French traders gave them two names. One was Panis Piques or Pawnee Picts, while another was Pawnee Noirs or Black Pawnees. Similar to Seminole and black Seminoles. Black historians will want to investigate Waco People. Some have been investigating Caddoan People for a long time.

After war for control of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas ended in 1870s, Waco Indian Triba and Chippewa's were forced to settle in Oklahoma. However, most forced their way down to Mexico and Central America. In Oklahoma, United States set aside a large Reservation for Wichita Indian Tribe and Chippewa's. It was located in western Oklahoma. In 1887, American leaders created their filthy Dawes Act to eradicate Promised Land for Indian Nations. Wichita Indians and Chippewa's were forced to accept land allotments and have Reservation surplus land sold to whites. However, Wichita's and Chippewa's still consider their Oklahoma Reservation to be intact. White leaders may claim that Wichita Reservation of Oklahoma no longer exists but Wichita People including Wacio Indians refuse to accept that. Below is a map of their Tribal Jurisdictional Areas of Oklahoma. Find where Caddo, Wichita and Delaware is written. Delaware's are Ojibway. Wichita is obviously an Ojibway word. Today, Wichita Indians population is 2,526. Of that number, 1,854 live in Oklahoma. However, Wichita's are native to Oklahoma which means they make up a majority of Oklahoma's Indian population which is 321,687 according to 2010's census. Other Indian Tribes in Oklahoma, are migrants. Their language is known as Wichita. These people known as Wichita Indians, are really Ojibway People who absorbed many Caddoan peoples amongst them.