Critical Review: When the Tonkawa Lived in Austin, 1842–1843. Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 2026

The initial claim was that the abduction of the Simpson children was the "triggering" event that, in 1842, led to the City of Austin inviting the Tonkawa to camp in Republic Square for Austin's protection from the Comanche. But the Simpson children were abducted in 1844, not 1842.

This is a summary of a review I did for Bob O'Dell's "When the Tonkawa Lived in Austin, 1842–1843. Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 130, Number 1, July 2026, pp. 659-689. I want to thank Emily C. Laskowski, Managing Editor, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Texas State Historical Association, for inviting me to submit this review.

The full review is available on the Internet Archive. There my comments are highlighted in yellow with text in the comments panel, right-hand sidebar.

https://archive.org/details/critial-review-when-the-tonkawa-lived-in-austin-1842-1843-southwestern-historical-quarterly-2026

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Summary

Bob O'Dell has in support of his film created a questionable history of Austin and the Tonkawa tribe concerning a camp at Republic Square based on a single paragraph from a 1924 interview of William C. Walsh, but where O'Dell rejects the reason given by Walsh for the camp and instead builds a narrative presumably in support of his film. There is no question the Tonkawa were in and around Austin since it's founding, and their friendship with, and support of, early settlers is documented; a great example is Come! Kingdom Go! On the Texas Frontier, Eugene V. Giles and Mary Jourdan Atkinson, Eakin Press, 1980. At issue is O'Dell's claim of a camp in 1842, at the invitation of the City of Austin, for Austin's protection, of sufficient size to double the population of Austin, with sufficient warriors to deter Comanche raids, thereby saving Austin (“How the Tonkawa Tribe Saved Austin's Capital Status” Sep 17, 2024 podcast). That narrative requires a fair amount of historical gymnastics, as illustrated in this article, to accommodate primary sources of the time about the tribe's whereabouts 1842-1845.

Detail

While the Tonkawa in Austin is an under-told story, and I applaud Bob O'Dell in wanting to research this topic (he has obviously put a lot of work into researching the tribe) it deserves an accurate telling. Bob O'Dell's various publications, podcasts, interviews and city events on this topic starting in 2023 to the present 2026 SHQ article seems more like a counterfactual historical fiction to support his film: Tonkawa: They All Stay Together.

Before Travis County Historical Commission (TCHC) met with O'Dell in 2024 he had already orchestrated Austin-Tonkawa Friendship Day contacting Austin's mayor and Travis County Commissioners, given an interview with the newspaper (Austin American Statesman, 05/07/2024), done podcasts, news interviews, etc. This was all in motion when O'Dell first approached the TCHC for a marker at Republic Square. That was the first opportunity to see what he had written. The first problem was found within minutes of seeing his manuscript and the newspaper's interview of him: the claim that the City of Austin had invited the Tonkawa to camp at Republic Square for Austin's protection, the "triggering event" for the invitation a "famously vicious [Comanche] raid in the summer of 1842" in which two Simpson children were abducted. But the Simpson children, William and Jane Simpson, were abducted in 1844, not 1842. 

That revelation resulted in the need to revise his white-paper at the Austin Historic Center (AHC), and the remnants of that claim persist in this SHQ article as "Given the Tonkawa’s tracking expertise, their presence in Austin might have saved the [Simpson] girl’s life". Counterfactual and not related to actual history, but makes for a great story.

In working w/ O'Dell since 2024 (myself, Bob Ward, Chair of the TCHC; we also contacted the Chair of the Bastrop County Historical Commission) there have been changes to the story line to adjust for facts as research progressed:

• Simpson kids abduction was not a "triggering" event for Austin inviting the Tonkawa to encamp for Austin's safety. While O'Dell did update his AHC paper concerning the Simpson kids, it was too late to retract the claim posted in the newspaper. Such newspaper misinformation is for example what started the Treaty Oak myths which conflated San Felipe de Austin in Austin County with the city of Austin (The Austin Statesman March 16, 1923), and which are sadly perpetuated in O'Dell's SHQ article.

• In the SHQ article claims of an invitation, which he admitted he had no proof of, have been toned down

• There is less emphasis on "saving Austin" from certain destruction as in this podcast snippet “How the Tonkawa Tribe Saved Austin's Capital Status”. O'Dell describes how the City of Austin "invited" the Tonkawa to Austin for protection thereby ensuring Austin remained the Capital of Texas. https://youtube.com/shorts/MVjKm5s24W4?si=sCnYf0nF7gDnvrl2

But the central problem remains: O'Dell's interpretation of the 1924 Walsh article. The sole primary source for O’Dell’s claim with respect to a camp in 1842-1843 is a single paragraph from a news article (Austin American-Statesman, 20 Apr 1924, Page 8). The article is an interview of William C. Walsh (1836-1924) published in 1924. But O'Dell rejects the reason given for the camp and instead builds a narrative in support of his film. The paragraph:

"The Tonkaway (sic) Indians were, from the first settlement, friendly to the whites and thereby secured the enmity of the Lipans, Comanches and other inimical tribes. In 1842, these Indians made an united attack on the Tonks (sic) and almost entirely wiped them out. A short time afterwards, the remnant, about two hundred and fifty, came to Austin and for mutual protection camped in the city limits. Their camp was situated in a live oak grove on West Fourth Street, on ground now occupied by what is known as the "Walker Properties." [generally today's Republic Square] The treaty was brief. The Tonks (sic) were to refrain from pilfering, were to act as watchmen and give the alarm if danger approached; were also to join in pursuit of depredators and act as guides. In return, they were privileged to trade meat and pecans and wild fruit for corn, potatoes and other foodstuff. During the next two years of their residence in the city they held faithfully to the above terms."

The attempt to "wipe out" the Tonkawa is clearly the Tonkawa massacre; O'Dell points this out in his paper on file with the Austin History Center (Bob O'Dell. How The Tonkawa Tribe Came to Live in Austin Texas, August 2, 2023). The problem is that the Tonkawa massacre happened in 1862, not 1842, which is easily explained: Walsh misspoke, or the reporter misheard and/or made a one-digit typo.

The time-line for a Tonkawa camp after the massacre fits what is known historically. One factor cited for the 1862 massacre was the Tonkawa's support for the Confederacy, the tribes that attacked them being pro-Union. Fleeing to Austin, a fortified city in the Confederacy during the Civil War, made sense. Walsh at this time was about 27 years old, and an officer in the Confederacy serving in Austin; he would have been familiar with the return of the Tonkawa to Austin after the massacre. Walsh noted it was a mutually beneficial arrangement: Texas' frontier defenses were stretched thin by the Civil War; a Tonkawa presence bolstered defense. Walsh's camp of two years at Republic Square corresponds to an arrival of the Tonkawa ca. 1863 (TxDOT tribal histories project, report written in conjunction w/ the tribe), staying until the end of the Civil War when Union forces retook Austin in 1865 (1863+2=1865). The Tonkawa were then escorted out of Austin in 1867, documented by government records (Indian Papers) and news accounts. The number of Tonkawa that were escorted from Austin was 135: so 250 arrive in 1863, and 135 are escorted out in 1867. The decrease can be reconciled with Tonkawa that went elsewhere at the end of the war, or fled before they could be escorted back north.

Nowhere does Walsh say the camp of 250 was during the partial evacuation of Austin starting in 1842. No where does Walsh say Austin invited the Tonkawa. No where does Walsh say it was exclusively for protection from Comanche raids (during the Civil War there were concerns Union forces might take Austin). These are claims that O'Dell reads into the 1924 article.

O'Dell ignoring the reason Walsh gave for the camp then requires a fair amount of historical gymnastics to get the story to fit historical facts and leads to questions, many of which he tries to explain away in this paper:

• Why did they leave in 1843/1844?

• Why did eye witnesses to Austin in 1842-1845, like William Bollaert, not mention seeing the camp?

• Why did the 1905 Mary Mitchell article describe a camp of 2 months, not 2 years?

• Why did the article of 1913 describe a camp of 400 to 500 (rather than 250) for one or more years?

• Why was Walsh confused about a mass attack by other tribes on the Tonkawa in 1842 (which did not happen)?

• Why has the story remained overlooked for so long?

• Why did Joseph W. Robertson, resident in Austin at the time and mayor from 1843-1845, make no mention of the camp (e.g. his papers at the Briscoe Center for American History)? Or Julia Lee Sinks (charter member, vice president, and honorary life member of the Texas State Historical Association) who also resided in Austin at the time?

• Why do official records documented in the Indian Papers make no mention? Or newspapers of the time?

• Why does the Tonkawa tribe have no oral history of this event? The TxDOT report developed with the tribe makes no mention; Bob Ward, TCHC Chair reached out to the tribe; I reached out to the Texas Historical Commission tribal liaison, and also several professors in Native American and Indigenous Studies at University of Texas, Austin.

In 1924, the year he died, Walsh was 88 years old. If indeed he was remembering events from his childhood in 1842, that was 82 years prior when he was a child of 6. And having arrived in Austin at age 4, it is plausible some memories of Tonkawa in and around Austin before 1842 are in his interview (O'Dell mentions one encampment in this article from 1841 when Walsh was 4; p.674). It is also quite plausible some Tonkawa did stay in Austin during its partial evacuation; Walsh's memories of the deaths of Dolson and Black in 1842 seem to confirm that. But the question is, was it a camp at the invitation of Austin, for Austin's protection, of sufficient size to double the population of Austin, with sufficient warriors to deter Comanche raids as claimed by O'Dell. That's an exceptional claim that seems to be lacking corroboration. It's also reasonable to conclude that Walsh's 1924 article "Austin in the Making" would include not only his childhood memories of the Tonkawa, but also memories of their return in 1863 while he was an officer in the Confederacy stationed in Austin.

Worth noting, the Walsh article was written by a reporter, not by the hand of Walsh; as is often the case, newspapers don't always get the story right.

To sum up, in his preface to the series in 1924 Walsh said upfront “... I shall endeavor to tell the truth and nothing but the truth [about old Austin], but I fear to trust the memory of an old man..." (The Austin Statesman, Jan 27, 1924). The article standalone has enough uncertainty that when O'Dell approached TCHC for a marker, we kept asking for additional primary sources to corroborate. As none was forthcoming we tried to prove the story (O'Dell's claims) ourselves but could not, with a final realization that Walsh probably meant exactly what he said, the Tonkawa came to Austin seeking refuge after the Tonkawa massacre, and the "1842" was a simple one-digit typo. With that the need for historical gymnastics goes away.

I wish this story had received historical scrutiny before it turned into such a media event. My fear is this will, like Treaty Oak, wind up as a new chapter of Austin history that makes for a great story, but is not true. Unfortunately, O'Dell even perpetuates the Treaty Oak myth in his paper ("Before Austin was built, the Tonkawa... negotiated treaties [under] the landmark Treaty Oak...", p.663).¹

The Tonkawa tribe and Austin deserve a correct telling of their history; unfortunately O'Dell's research seems to have focused on proving a point for the film rather than being a critical historical investigation.

1 The Treaty Oak myth started ca. 1920s when the tree was in danger of being felled; newspaper confusion helped spread the myth. In 1936 the Texas Centennial Historical Commission concluded the story was "unfounded romance... without historical foundation". The Commission also concluded the "tradition probably grew out of a treaty made by Carita, Tonkawa Indian chief, and Stephen F. Austin in 1824, by which the Indians agreed to keep out of the colony." The colony referenced is San Felipe de Austin in today's Austin County, Texas, which likely over time was conflated with the current City of Austin, Travis County. That verbal agreement, and never called a "treaty" per se, was documented in a letter from Stephen F. Austin to Jose Antonio Saucedo in 1826. A decade before that the Daughters of the Republic of Texas pointed out the obvious: "Stephen F. Austin had been dead three years when the city of Austin was laid out, and that he never held any conferences with Indians as far west as Austin." (The Austin Statesman, "Treaty Oak" Loses Precious Legend, May 8, 1925, p.10)