The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957 Page: 51

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The Indigenous Indians of Lower Trinity Area of Texas 51
Madero, commissioner of the state of Coahuila and Texas, the
Coushatta lived in two villages and numbered 426. These vil-
lages were located on the east bank of the Trinity River about
forty miles from its mouth. The lower village had thirty or forty
houses and fifty-six families, with fifty-seven single men and
sixty-four single women. The upper village contained twenty-five
houses of wood and others of inferior materials. There were
fifty-four families, with thirty-one single men and forty single
women. Long King was the principal chief of the tribe.45
The Alabama on the west bank of the Neches were scattered
in three small villages, the main one being known as old Peach
Tree Village. There were found 69 well-constructed houses, 103
families, oo single men, and 64 single women. The chiefs were
Tallustalo (Valient) and Oppoya. Both tribes had lots of horses,
beeves, and hogs. Corn, beans, sweet potatoes, and peas were
grown, the Indians raising enough for themselves as well as for
a surplus to use in trade and in the entertainment of strangers.
During the hunting season the Indians went with their women
and children, blankets, cooking utensils, and tents deep into the
woods where they got beef, bear meat, and venison on which to
live during the winter months.46
In 1820 the Coushatta on the Trinity River were estimated to
number about 240. In 1870 there were nearly fifty in Polk Coun-
ty, Texas. They were honest, industrious, and peaceful and con-
tinued to dress in the Indian manner.47
There were about 200 Alabama Indians in Polk County in
1890. It is quite evident from accounts of their early history
that they were warlike in disposition. One custom that seemed
to apply to them was that of causing their boys and girls to pass
in array at a certain festival while being flogged with great
severity. Afterwards they were lectured by one or more of the
elders. These Indians did not conform to Creek ways, and
Creek laws for the punishment of adultery were unknown to
45Copy of a portion of Madero's report in Mier y Teran to Ecsmo, Sr. Srio de
Relaciones Ints. y Exteriones, July 4, 1831, Fomento Archivo Legajo No. 4, Expe-
diente 1o, Transcripts, Texas State Library, Austin. See May, 1831, Fomento Archivo
Cy 7 B, Legajo 4, Expediente 7, f 25, Archives, Texas State Library, Austin.
46Ibid.
47Hodge, Handbook of American Indians, I, 720o.

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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957, periodical, 1957; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101163/m1/64/ocr/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.

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