Texas on tlee Eve of tlze 1J1ezican Revolution
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been cannibalistic, but they were now civilized and reported regularly to the commander at La Bahia and the missionary at Refugio everything that occurred on the coast. They had recently established a ranckeria on the lower Colorado, not far from the crossing on the lower La Bahia Road. \1/est of San Antonio, principally along the Nueces River, were the Lipan-Apaches and the Canosos, a kindred tribe, who wandered south and west to the lower Rio Grande and into Coahuila itself. These Indians had been driven into this area by their deadly enemies, the Comanches. They were less treacherous and committed fewer depredations than in past years. 2 A more comprehensive report made in 1809, based on information furnished by Samuel Davenport, Indian agent of Nacogdoches, throws additional light on the movement and location of the different Indian tribes, particularly those driven into Texas by the Americans. According to Davenport, the Alabamas had emigrated from Louisiana and estab- lished their principal village on the west bank of the Neches River, about eight leagues above the confluence of the Neches and the Angelina. This would place the Alabamas in the vicinity of present Rockland. They had become somewhat sedentary, for the 200 warriors and their families raised corn, beans, and other crops. On the east bank of the Neches, four leagues below the Alabama village, the ex-Louisiana Choctaws had established their ranclieria. They numbered forty warriors, without counting the women and children. They cultivated some corn, but subsisted principally on fish and wild game. The Coshates were at this time on the east bank of the Trinity. The principal settlement was about thirty leagues below Salcedo, in the vicinity of Kickapoo or Onalaska, where they cultivated corn and beans. They had 150 warriors. The Alabama and Coushatti Indian Reservation is today located in Polk County, midway between Kickapoo and Woodville. The Orcoquisacs, once the dominant coastal tribe between the Trinity and the Brazos, had now moved to the Trinity to the land of the Bidais, with whom they lived. They had no fixed habitat and had been reduced in number to about fifty warriors. The Bidais had about sixty. The two tribes roamed south of the Camino Real, between the Trinity and the Brazos, as far as the coast, where they spent a good deal of the summer fishing. According to Davenport, they cultivated a little corn but, as a
general rule, were not inclined to do much work. 2 Cordero to N. Salcedo, June 16, 1806. Bexar Arcnfo,s.
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