Plains Indian Studies - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 30 129
hunters and traders during the 1740s and 1750s,
a period of alternating international war and
peace, vacillated accordingly. These Wichita may
have been the beneficiaries of a notable amount
of trade goods only in the years 1750-1752 (M.
Wedel, 1981:46-48), when many more ships arrived
from France than ever before and when
Arkansas River traffic was less subject to Osage
Indian attack than previously.
Possession of a number of horses made it possible
to bring back the large quantity of meat
necessary to satisfy the French hunters, an
amount far exceeding that formerly required for
village sustenance only. It has been proposed
(Steen, 1953:187) that in connection with the
cooperative enterprise, more butchering may
have taken place in the villages themselves than
at the kill site as before. The Wichita procured
their horses from the Comanche, both in group
and individual trading sessions and also through
raids on Plains Apache and Spaniards.
By 1753 this joint enterprise seems to have been
dissolving. With the development of the French
and Indian War in 1754, shipping was again
endangered, causing trade items to be in short
supply. Firearms were by order restricted to
French military forces. In addition, Indian warfare
was more and more drawing the Wichita
away from hunting game beyond their personal
needs. They were also distracted (probably with
French encouragement) by the proposed Spanish
protection of the Plains Apache at the San Saba
mission and presidio. By 1758, all the Wichita
remaining on or near the Arkansas River apparently
had left the region (M. Wedel, 1981:48)
that had been their homeland for at least 250
years and had moved south to Red River. Here
they were greeted with pleasure by Frenchmen
based in Natchitoches who hoped for their cooperation
in confining the Spaniards to the region
south of that river.
The Wichita, 1541-1750s, A Changing Lifeway
From the viewpoint of the Wichita, their life in
the 1500s must have been quite satisfactory. This
documentary review has shown, however, that it
altered in numerous ways in the following two
centuries. It is true that certain distinctive cultural
traits are recorded as persisting, especially
those that may have been of some antiquity and
that were shared with the Caddo proper, such as
tattooing, grass houses, and, of course, linguistic
family. The environment of their shifting settlements
was also unchanged until moves were made
in the 18th century to Red River and farther
south, where this study does not follow them. The
economy of horticulture and hunting, supplemented
by gathering, continued to prevail even
after it was overlaid with a French professional
hunting activity in the 1740s and early 1750s.
Two subdivisions of the Wichita, namely the
Tawakoni and Tawehash, are documented
through the period examined. The Yscanis and
Wichita proper may have been present but unrecognized
before 1719. This may also be true of
the smaller Wichita groups named by Benard de
La Harpe which, however, were unrecorded afterwards
as well, presumably because of their
merging with other Wichita-speakers. A band
settlement pattern consisting of a set of two villages
near together is documented in 1683, c. 1699
on a Marc Bergier, S.J., map (M. Wedel, 1979,
fig. 1), in 1719, and 1748-1749.
The changes occurring after the 16th century
that are explicitly documented or implied include
a shift in settlement locations and pattern; a move
from raiding to more intensified warfare; variations
in intertribal relations and in the Indian
slave trade pattern; modification of hunting procedures;
acquisition of horses, the lance, and European
trade goods; the spread of European diseases;
possible introduction of certain rituals as
well as a new religious concept; adaptation of an
old ceremony to new conditions. To what can
these changes be attributed? Almost all seem to
result in a variety of ways from the presence of
Europeans in New Mexico and the Mississippi
Valley. An interpretation of the recorded changes
(limited always by the scope of documentation)
becomes a case study of the multipronged influence
of Europeans over 200 years on this southern
prairie-plains Indian people.
Unfortunately, a paucity of pertinent docu-