Hasinai Confederacy

The Locations of the Hasinai Confederacy

Hasinai Villages

For determining the location of these tribes our chief materials are the Journal of Joutel (1687), the Relación of Francisco de Jesus Maria Casañas (1691), De Leon’s diary of the expedition of 1690, Terán’s for that of 1691-2, those of Ramon and Espinosa for the expedition of 1716, Pena’s for that of Aguayo (1721), Rivera’s for his visita of 1727, Solis’s for that made by him in 1767-8, and Mezières accounts of his tours among the Indians in 1772, 1778, and 1779. Two only of these are in print, while two of them have not before been used. Besides these … Read more

Neches-Angelina Confederacy

Since Indian political organization was at best but loose and shifting and was strongly dominated by ideas of independence, and since writers were frequently indefinite in their use of terms, it would not be easy to determine with strict accuracy the constituent elements of this Neches-Angelina confederacy at different times. However, a few of the leading tribes those of greatest historical interest stand out with distinctness and can be followed for considerable periods of time. De Leon learned in 1689 from the chief of the Nabedache tribe, the westernmost of the group, that his people had nine settlements. Francisco de … Read more

Ethnological Relations: Historical Importance

The Hasinai belonged to the Caddoan linguistic stock. This family, which was a large one, was divided into three principal geographic groups of tribes: the northern, represented by the Arikara in North Dakota; the middle, comprising the Pawnee confederacy, formerly living on the Platte River, Nebraska, and to the west and southwest thereof; and the southern, including most of the tribes of eastern Texas, together with many of those of western Louisiana and of southern Oklahoma. Of this southern group the tribes about the Querétaran missions were one of the most important subdivisions. They, together with the related Caddo tribes … Read more

The Names “Texas” and “Hasinai”

The tribes in question commonly have been called the Texas, but more properly the Hasinai. Concerning the meaning and usage of these terms I shall only present here somewhat dogmatically part of the results of a rather extended study which I have made of these points and which I hope soon to publish. The testimony of the sources warrants the conclusion that before the coming of the Spaniards the word Texas, variously spelled by the early writers, had wide currency among the tribes of eastern Texas and perhaps over a larger area; that its usual meaning was “friends,” or more … Read more

Nacogdoche Tribe

Nacogdoche Indians (Na-ko-hodó-tsi). A tribe of the Hasinai confederacy of Texas. It has been said that their language differed from that of the Hasinai group in general, but there is much evidence to indicate that this is not true. For example, Ramón, who founded missions at the Neche, Hainai, Nasoni, and Nacogdoche villages in 1716, states in his report that “these four missions will comprise from four to five thousand persons of both sexes, all of one idiom” . On the same day the missionaries wrote that the Nacogdoche mission “N. S. de Guadalupe is awaiting people of the same … Read more

Nabedache Tribe

One of the 12 or more tribe, of the Hasinai, or southern Caddo confederacy. They spoke the common language of the group. Their main village stood for a century or more 3 or 4 leagues west of Neches river and near Arroyo San Pedro