Wichita Indians

These people have a very intriguing history. According to William Clark (the William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition) they lived at the head (start) of the Red River of the Mississippi. That be near the Texas Panhandle just east of Amarillo, Texas, and on the Oklahoma-Texas border. Clark named these people who the whites refer to as being of Caddoan origin, as the 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 the Anishinabe people. Clark said they spoke a language he called Chippaway. Wichita Indians and all other Caddoan Indians, are very important to the Anishinabe people. And you know why now! So the Chippaway Indians are not Chippewa's? Google "Chippaway" and you'll learn that it was used by the whites in the 18th and 19th centuries, to refer to the Chippewa's of the Ohio region and elsewhere.

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

According to white historians, the whites first made contact with the Wichita Tribe around 1540-1541 while Coronado was commencing his expedition up to the Texas-Oklahoma region. They estimate that the Wichita and other Caddoan Tribes of that region, had a population which surpassed 200,000. However, that could actually be the population estimate for the Chippewa's who forced their way into that region in the early 19th century. Before the Anishinabe invasion, the Wichita and other Caddoan Tribes had dealt with the whites in either a peaceful or hostile manner. Their population was decimated by the plagues the whites brought to them. Once the Black River and Swan Creek Chippewa's (from the Ohio region and from the Alabama-Mississippi region) had reached the Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas region, they easily subdued the Caddoan peoples who lived in the Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas-Arkansas-Louisiana region. In fact, they most likely subdued the Caddoan Tribes who lived in the Arkansas-Louisiana region first. The Wichita Tribe is really made up of four tribes: Taovaya; Tawakoni; Waco; and Wichita. We will concentrate on the Wichita people. They lived from the San Antonio, Texas region to central Kansas. They were civilized and also very dependant on the buffalo for food.

After the Spanish whites made first contact with them, they commenced to trade with them. They also started to trade with the French whites after they established permanent settlements in the Louisiana region. Then came the Anishinabe invasion into the Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas region. The first was possibly initiated in the mid 17th century, from the Montana-Wyoming region. And for all we know the first Anishinabe people from the Ohio region, possibly commenced to force their way into the Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas region during the mid or late 18th century. In 1838, the Black River and Swan Creek Chippewa's invaded the Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas region. The reason i have included a possible Chippewa invasion into the Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas region in the mid or late 18th century, is because of William Clark's mention of the Chippaway Tribe living near the Texas Panhandle region. That occurred in the 1803-1806 time period. Anyway, the Wichita Indians were subdued by Anishinabe soldiers. They had no choice but to allow the Chippewa's to settle throughout their land but the Chippewa's did not force the Wichita people to relocate. What they did was force the Wichita to pay a tribute and let it be known by them, that the military of the powerful Anishinabe Nation, would protect them and their land.

After the war for control of the Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas region ended in the 1870s, the Wichita and Chippewa's were forced to settle in Oklahoma. However, most forced their way down to Mexico and Central America. In Oklahoma, the United States set aside a large Reservation for the Wichita Indian Tribe and the Chippewa's. It was located in western Oklahoma. In 1887, the United States created the filthy Dawes Act to eradicate the Promised Land. The Wichita and Chippewa's were forced to accept land allotments and have Reservation surplus land sold to the whites. However, the Wichita and Chippewa's still consider their Oklahoma Reservation to be intact. White leaders may claim that the Wichita Reservation of Oklahoma no longer exists but the Wichita people refuse to accept that. Wichita is obviously an Anishinabe word. Today, the Wichita Indians population is 2,526. Of that number, 1,854 live in Oklahoma. Their language is known as Wichita. These people known as the Wichita, are really Anishinabe who absorbed many Caddoan peoples amongst them.