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The Tehuacana Creek Councils: A Historical Overview

By: Marie Giles

Published: 1952

Updated: August 1, 1995

The Tehuacana Creek councils were meetings between Texas officials and Indian representatives. The first in the series began in the spring of 1843. On March 28, 1843, a number of Indian tribes including the Caddos, Delawares, Wacos, Tawakonis, Lipan Apaches, and Tonkawas went to a council on Tehuacana Creek near the Torrey Brothers trading post south of the site of present Waco. Another council was held at Fort Bird on the Trinity River in September 1843. The Wacos, Caddos, and other smaller groups met with Texans and entered into a treaty of peace that was ratified by the Texas Senate, but the absence of the Comanches caused President Sam Houston to call another council to meet at Tehuacana Creek near the Torreys' trading post in McLennan County in April 1844. The April council convened without the Comanches, but by October 7, 1844, negotiations began between Houston and a part of the southern Comanches, Kichais, Wacos, Caddos, Anadarkos, Hainais, Delawares, Shawnees, Cherokees, Lipan Apaches, and Tawakonis. The treaty of peace and commerce signed on October 9, 1844, was ratified by the Texas Senate on January 24, 1845. A council met on September 19, 1845, and on November 15 a supplementary council convened at which the Wacos, Tawakonis, Kichais, and Wichitas agreed to the treaty of October 9, 1844. The last council ended on November 16, 1845. See also CHISHOLM, JESSE.

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Bibliography:

Stan Hoig, Jesse Chisholm: Ambassador of the Plains (Niwot, Colorado: University of Colorado Press, 1991). Rupert N. Richardson, The Comanche Barrier to South Plains Settlement (Glendale, California: Clark, 1933; rpt., Millwood, New York: Kraus, 1973). Rupert N. Richardson, The Comanche Indians, 1820–1861 (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1928). Walter Prescott Webb, "The Last Treaty of the Republic of Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 25 (January 1922).

Time Periods:

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

Marie Giles, “Tehuacana Creek Councils,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed May 19, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/tehuacana-creek-councils.

TID: MGT01

Original Publication Date:
1952
Most Recent Revision Date:
August 1, 1995