Whispers in the Wind:

Rediscovering Native Americans of TexasCreated By Carmen Phillips

Krimmel Intermediate

Caddo

Jumanos

Comanches

West Texas Plains

Piney Woods ofEast Texas

South Texas PlainsMountains and Basins

Region

Along Gulf Coastfrom Galveston to

Corpus Christi

Comanches

(most feared tribe)

www.texasbeyondhistory.net

• Dirt storms and tornadoes• “Comancheria”• Battled intruders

Use of Land & Water

Clothing• Breechcloth made of

tanned buffalo hide• Leggings• Buffalo robes• Boots & snowshoes• Painted faces RED• Braided Hair• Feathered Headdresses

Foods

• Buffalo – every part of it used, boiled, broiled, eaten raw or as jerky

• Nuts and berries• Drank warm animal blood

Homes

• Buffalo hide Tepees

www.texasbeyondhistory.net

Customs• Life centered around 2 activities: Hunting & War• Horse = most important possession (buried with

them)• Expert Horsemen

Caddo

www.texasbeyondhistory.net/.../who.html

Use of Land & Water

• Fertile land for farming• Trotlines• Hunted Deer (most important animal)

Clothing

• Deerskin and fur capes• Shells • Tattoos• Men: Mohawks • Women: Long parted in middle

http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/kids/caddo

Do you see any similarities with today’s styles?

Marek Adney of Austin, TX

http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/kids/caddo/images/oldnew.html

Foods• CORN, ate beans, sunflowers,

melons, pumpkins, tobacco and squash

• Deer, buffalo and javelina• Used traps and trotlines

Homes

• Beehive shaped grass huts

• 25- 40 feet diameter. Up to 40 people in one hut

home.netcom.com/~wandaron/caddo.html

Customs• Huge burial mounds• Weepers• Confederacy with 2 leaders:

– 1 war & peace leader– 1 religious leader

• Made Pottery & wove mats from bamboo

www.texasbeyondhistory.net/.../who.html

Karankawas

Use of Land & Water

• Gulf of Mexico for food

• Dugout canoes

• LONG cedar bows

• 3 foot arrows made of sugar cane

• Weapons & tools from seashells or wood

Clothing• Nude or breechcloths and grass skirts• Sugar cane body piercings• Very tall and powerfully built • Coated bodies with alligator/shark grease

to ward off mosquitoes (VERY Stinky!!!)• Tattooed faces with blue lines and figures• Chokers of shell, glass, pistachio nuts or

metal

Foods• Oysters & Clams• Scallops & Fish• Turtles• Locusts• Prairie hens and quail

Homes• Winter months spent along coast: Small

huts of willow poles with draped animal skins and grass

• Summer months spent inland: several sticks with woven mats over it

Customs• Flattened babies heads with

cradleboards• Like other tribes they ate the

flesh of their enemies believing they would gain their enemy’s courage

• Karankawa = dog lovers• Wrestlers• Mitotes

"“Caw Wacham: Flathead Woman with Child”." Online Photograph. Britannica Student Encyclopædia. 2  Sept.  2008  <http://student.britannica.com/eb/art-94957>.

Coahuilticans

www.texasbeyondhistory.net

Use of Land & Water

• Very primitive• Spent most of their time in search of food• Nomadic

Clothing• Men: little or no clothing

(breechcloths)• Women: short skirts of buckskin• Small people• Black stripes painted over bodies &

faces• Earrings of shell & decorative

feathers

Food• Ate almost anything they could find and digest• Pecans, acorns, nuts, sunflower seeds• Mesquite beans & Prickly Pear Cactus• Rabbits, turtles, snakes, lizards, deer, dogs, horses,

pemmican (jerky made with meat/berries)• Spiders, ants, worms, rotten wood, deer dung• Fish and maggots!• Dirt!

Prickly Pear Cactus

Mesquite Beans

Homes• Brush Wickiups

• Circular shape made of willow bent into dome shape

• Covered with grass, brush or hides

www.TexasIndians.com

Customs• Shamans very important• Mitotes• Strong people known for

endurance

Mhln.com

Jumanos

Jumanos

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/kids/about_texas/regions/big_bend/big_kids/

Use of Land & Water

• Settled along Concho river and farmed

• Hunted and gathered• Little Rainfall• Irrigation

Clothing• Striped Tattoos on faces

• COTTON tunics

• Capes or cloaks

• Color feathers

• Yucca Sandals

Food• Pinon nuts, mesquite beans &

squash

• Pottery and gourds to cook

• Buffalo

Gourds

Pinon Nuts

SquashMequite Beans

www.glennwalter.com/honey_mesquite_tree.htm

Homes• Pueblos made of stone or adobe (sun-dried mud)• Square flat roofs partially underground

www.texasbeyondhistory.net/firecracker/index.html

Customs• Striped facial tattoos =

peaceful trader (Middlemen)• Special house for visitors• Heads bowed = “welcome”• Arrows were so well-made

Eastern tribes were eager to trade

Mhln.com

Comanche

Kiow

a

Mescalero Apache Lipan

Apache

Tonka

wa

Wichita

Caddo

Atakapan

Karankaw

asCoahuiltecans

Concho

Juman

o

Interactive Websites

• How many ways to use a buffalo: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/kids/buffalo.html

• Buffalo Matching Game: http://americanhistory.si.edu/kids/buffalo/matching/tail.html

• World of the Caddo: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/kids/caddo/index.html

• Talking Hands http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/st-plains/kids/talking/index.html

• Imagine It: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/kids/imagine.html