Skull Creek massacre

Last updated

The Skull Creek massacre refers to the murder of at least 19 Karankawa people in Mexican Texas by Texian Militia in February 1823. Before 1823, there were few settlers of European heritage from the United States in the state of Texas. With the formation of the First Mexican Republic in 1823 and the opening of Mexican Texas to colonists from the United States, people began to settle in the state. The subsequent competition for land-based resources, combined with Native American raids on the new settlers' cattle, led to deep hostility and conflict between the two groups. [1]

Contents

History

Background

In the Galveston Bay area, colonists were still a minority in the 1820s. The newest settlers came from well-settled regions of the American South and were not accustomed to living among large Indian populations in a non-dominant relationship. [2] [3] In 1823 at the behest of the Mexican Government, Stephen F. Austin began to claim rich tracts of land near bays and river mouths populated by the Karankawa. The Karankawa relied on these bays for the fish and shellfish that provided their winter protein sources and thus were fiercely protective of that land. [4] Austin wrote upon scouting the land that extermination of the Karankawa would be necessary, [4] despite the fact that his first encounter with the tribe was friendly. [5]

Incident

In February 1823, Coco Indians killed two colonists. The colonists, led by Robert Kuykendall, gathered twenty-six Texian Militia who found a Karankawa village on Skull Creek. They killed at least 19 inhabitants of the village, [6] then stole the villagers' possessions and burned their homes to the ground. [7] Multiple participants in the slaughter cited the cannibalism and "warlike" or "repugnant" nature of the Karankawa as a justification for the massacre. [8]

Aftermath

The colonists soon began working on an alliance with the Tonkawa Indians of the region, whom they saw as "great beggars" who did not threaten their desires to settle on the land. [7] There were further battles and one-sided massacres, and by 1824 the local Carancaguase chief Antonio signed a treaty abandoning their homelands east of the Guadalupe River. Soon this treaty was violated on both sides, leading to Austin’s 1825 orders to pursue and kill all Karankawa on sight, [9] the Dressing Point Massacre and the eventual permanent loss of the land by the local Indians by 1827. Having difficulty in finding uninhabited regions in which a living could be had, the remaining bands of Karankawa scattered out, became day laborers in cities and on plantations, were taken as slaves by Austin's settlers, or were killed in later conflicts. [10] By 1860, free Karankawa had been eliminated.[ citation needed ]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Smith 2006 , p. 120
  2. ↑ Smith 2006 , pp. 125–6
  3. ↑ Himmel 1999 , p. 47
  4. 1 2 Smith 2006 , p. 127
  5. ↑ Himmel 1999 , p. 46
  6. ↑ Himmel 1999 , p. 48
  7. 1 2 Smith 2006 , p. 128
  8. ↑ Himmel 1999 , pp. 48–49
  9. ↑ Himmel 1999 , p. 50
  10. ↑ Himmel 1999 , p. 54

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Republic of Texas</span> Historical republic, 1836–1846

The Republic of Texas was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. It shared borders with Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, and the United States of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen F. Austin</span> American empresario (1793–1836)

Stephen Fuller Austin was an American-born empresario. Known as the "Father of Texas" and the founder of Anglo Texas, he led the second and, ultimately, the successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families and their slaves from the United States to the Tejas region of Mexico in 1825.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fredonian Rebellion</span> 1826–27 secession attempt in Mexican Texas

The Fredonian Rebellion was the first attempt by Texans to secede from Mexico. The settlers, led by Empresario Haden Edwards, declared independence from Mexican Texas and created the Republic of Fredonia near Nacogdoches. The short-lived republic encompassed the land the Mexican government had granted to Edwards in 1825 and included areas that had been previously settled. Edwards's actions soon alienated the established residents, and the increasing hostilities between them and settlers recruited by Edwards led Víctor Blanco of the Mexican government to revoke Edwards's contract.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Gonzales</span> First military engagement of the Texas Revolution

The Battle of Gonzales was the first military engagement of the Texas Revolution. It was fought near Gonzales, Texas, on October 2, 1835, between rebellious Texian settlers and a detachment of Mexican army soldiers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mexican Texas</span> Era of Texan history between 1821 and 1836, when it was part of Mexico

Mexican Texas is the historiographical name used to refer to the era of Texan history between 1821 and 1836, when it was part of Mexico. Mexico gained independence in 1821 after winning its war against Spain, which began in 1810. Initially, Mexican Texas operated similarly to Spanish Texas. Ratification of the 1824 Constitution of Mexico created a federal structure, and the province of Tejas was joined with the province of Coahuila to form the state of Coahuila y Tejas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karankawa people</span> Former Native American tribe from Gulf of Mexico

The Karankawa were an Indigenous people concentrated in southern Texas along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, largely in the lower Colorado River and Brazos River valleys. They consisted of several independent seasonal nomadic groups who shared a language and some culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Goliad</span> Second skirmish of the Texas Revolution

The Battle of Goliad was the second skirmish of the Texas Revolution. In the early-morning hours of October 9, 1835, Texas settlers attacked the Mexican Army soldiers garrisoned at Presidio La Bahía, a fort near the Mexican Texas settlement of Goliad. La Bahía lay halfway between the only other large garrison of Mexican soldiers and the then-important Texas port of Copano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anahuac disturbances</span> Uprisings of settlers in Texas in 1832 and 1835

The Anahuac disturbances were uprisings of settlers in and around Anahuac, Texas, in 1832 and 1835 which helped to precipitate the Texas Revolution. This eventually led to the territory's secession from Mexico and the founding of the Republic of Texas. Anahuac was located on the east side of the Trinity River near the north shore of Galveston Bay, which placed it astride the trade route between Texas and Louisiana and from there to the rest of the United States. In new attempts to curtail smuggling and enforce customs tariffs from the coastal settlements, Mexico placed a garrison there after 1830. American settlers came into conflict with Mexican military officers, rose up against them, and increased political activity and residents of numerous communities declared support for the federalists, who were revolting against the Mexican Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tonkawa</span> Indigenous people from Oklahoma

The Tonkawa are a Native American tribe who now live in Oklahoma. Their Tonkawa language, now extinct, is a linguistic isolate.

The Texas Military Forces (TXMF) are the principal instrument through which the Texas Military Department (TMD) executes security policy for Texas, which has the second-largest population and border in the United States.

The Texas–Indian wars were a series of conflicts between settlers in Texas and the Southern Plains Indians during the 19th-century. Conflict between the Plains Indians and the Spanish began before other European and Anglo-American settlers were encouraged—first by Spain and then by the newly Independent Mexican government—to colonize Texas in order to provide a protective-settlement buffer in Texas between the Plains Indians and the rest of Mexico. As a consequence, conflict between Anglo-American settlers and Plains Indians occurred during the Texas colonial period as part of Mexico. The conflicts continued after Texas secured its independence from Mexico in 1836 and did not end until 30 years after Texas became a state of the United States, when in 1875 the last free band of Plains Indians, the Comanches led by Quahadi warrior Quanah Parker, surrendered and moved to the Fort Sill reservation in Oklahoma.

Plácido was major Native American Chief of the Tonkawa Indians in Texas during the Spanish and Mexican rule, the Republic of Texas era, and with Texas as part of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texian Army</span> Army that fought for the independence of what became the Republic of Texas

The Texian Army, also known as the Revolutionary Army and Army of the People, was the land warfare branch of the Texian armed forces during the Texas Revolution. It spontaneously formed from the Texian Militia in October 1835 following the Battle of Gonzales. Along with the Texian Navy, it helped the Republic of Texas win independence from the Centralist Republic of Mexico on May 14, 1836 at the Treaties of Velasco. Although the Texas Army was officially established by the Consultation of the Republic of Texas on November 13, 1835, it did not replace the Texian Army until after the Battle of San Jacinto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidio La Bahía</span> United States historic place

The Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loreto de la Bahía, known more commonly as Presidio La Bahía, or simply La Bahía is a fort constructed by the Spanish Army that became the nucleus of the modern-day city of Goliad, Texas, United States. The current location dates to 1747.

The DeWitt Colony was a settlement in Mexico founded by Green DeWitt. From lands belonging to that colony, the present Texas counties of DeWitt, Guadalupe and Lavaca were created. The hub of the colony was primarily located, however, in what is now Gonzales County. The first battle of the Texas Revolution occurred in the DeWitt Colony.

Juan Davis Bradburn was a brigadier general in the Mexican Army. His actions as commandant of the garrison at Anahuac in Mexican Texas in 1831 and 1832 led to the events known as the Anahuac Disturbances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mexico–Republic of Texas relations</span> Bilateral relations

Republic of Texas–Mexico relations refers to the historical foreign relations between the Republic of Texas and Mexico. Relations were unofficially initiated in 1836 at the signing of the Treaties of Velasco, which de facto declared Texas independent from Mexico, though the Mexican Government never fully recognized Texas' Independence. The relations between the two countries, however hostile, continued until 1845 after the annexation of Texas by the United States, and the beginning of the Mexican–American War.

Captain Carlos de la Garza (1807–1882), also known as "Don Carlos," was a fourth generation Tejano rancher and entrepreneur in Goliad, Victoria and Refugio counties of Texas. His participation in the Mexican Army leading to the Battle of Coleto was instrumental in the surrender and demise of Colonel James Fannin and the Texian forces.

The Dressing Point massacre refers to the murder in 1826 of 40–50 Karankawa people in Mexican Texas near present-day Matagorda at the mouth of the Colorado River by Texian Militia. It was part of a pattern of colonist attacks against Native Americans in the area after the former began to encroach on native lands, and conflicts arose over use of the territory. Ultimately the Karankawa ceded their territory to the European Americans, and were dispersed to other areas, became day laborers, were forced into slavery, or killed. By 1860, no free Karankawa remained here.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texian Militia</span> 1823–1835 militia of American colonists in Mexican Texas

The Texian Militia was the militia forces of Texian colonists in the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas from 1823 to 1835 and the inaugurate force of the Texas Military. It was established by Stephen F. Austin on August 5, 1823 for defense of the Old Three Hundred colonists against the Karankawa, Comanche, and Cherokee tribes; among others. Its most notable unit, the Texas Rangers, remained in continuous service of Texas Military Forces until 1935.

References


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.