Placido, Tonkawa Chief

Plácido (ca. 1788-1862) 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.[1]

Plácido was born the son of a Tonkawa Chief and a Comanche female captive/slave. His mother having been Comanche is highly ironic, in that he became the greatest enemy the Comanche had in Texas. Plácido, known in his own language as Ha-shu-ka-na ("Can't Kill Him"), was the last major Chief of the Tonkawa Indians. The fierce Tonkawas became great friends of the white Texas settlers, helping them against all their enemies. [2]

Plácido rose to power among the Tonkawas during the Long Expedition into Texas in 1819. Warriors from several tribes, including Placido and his Tonkawa, joined in James Long's venture and gained horses, other plunder, and scalps in battles with the Spanish army. After Carita, a prominent Tonkawa leader, died in 1823, Plácido was elected as head chief of his people by the chiefs and elders. [3]

Plácido befriended Stephen F. Austin in the early days of Spanish Texas Settlement. His friendship was responsible for the Tonkawa support of the Texan forces, in the Texas War for Independence. Allied with the new Republic, the Tonkawa felt secure in their central Texas home, near the Springs of the San Marcos River. They provided service to the new Republic as Army and Ranger scouts against the Caddo, Wichita, Waco, and especially against their traditional Comanche enemies. [4]

Though Texas histories make much of the Texas Militia fighting the Comanche at Plum Creek after the Great Raid, most of those histories forget to mention that the Texans would not have been in a position to intercept Buffalo Hump and the returning raiders except for the help of Plácido and his men. [5]

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