Qualla: Battle of the Twin Villages

Battle of the Twin Villages: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jose de Paez (attributed), Public domain. The Spanish were expecting a village. What they found was a fort. On October 7, 1759, after pursuing Wichita scouts through thick woods to the banks of the Red River, Commander Diego Ortiz Parrilla's expedition halted in shock. Before them stood a palisaded fortress flying a French flag, its walls protecting the distinctive beehive-shaped grass houses of the Taovaya Wichita. Outside the walls, large fields of maize, pumpkins, beans, and watermelons stretched upstream. Downstream, warriors guarded a ford. Scattered around the village's perimeter were the tipis of their Comanche allies. Fourteen Frenchmen were reportedly inside, helping direct the defense. Spain's colonial reach had run headlong into France's frontier trade network.

Image: Jose de Paez (attributed) | Public domain

Battle of the Twin Villages: The San Saba Catastrophe

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jose de Paez (attributed), Public domain. The trouble began two years earlier. In April 1757, Spain established the San Saba Mission near present-day Menard, Texas, along with a military post, Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas, three miles away. The mission's purpose was to convert the Lipan Apache and extend Spanish in...

Image: Jose de Paez (attributed) | Public domain

Battle of the Twin Villages: A Lively Emporium on the Red River

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jose de Paez (attributed), Public domain. The Taovaya, the most important of the Wichita tribes, had recently migrated south from Kansas and northern Oklahoma, pushed by Osage expansion. In the early 1750s, they established twin villages straddling the Red River -- one in what is now Jefferson County, Oklahoma, and one a...

Image: Jose de Paez (attributed) | Public domain

Battle of the Twin Villages: Four Hours and Eleven Volleys

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jose de Paez (attributed), Public domain. On October 2, Ortiz Parrilla's column found and attacked a Yojuane village along the Clear Fork of the Brazos near present-day Graham, Texas, killing 49 and capturing 149. Captive Yojuanes offered to guide the Spanish north to the Taovaya stronghold. When the Spanish arrived at t...

Image: Jose de Paez (attributed) | Public domain

Battle of the Twin Villages: Where Empires Collided

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jose de Paez (attributed), Public domain. The next morning, Ortiz Parrilla ordered the retreat to San Saba, arriving October 25 with his Yojuane captives, who were later sold into slavery -- the Yojuane soon vanished from history, their survivors absorbed by the Tonkawa. The Spanish estimated 100 native dead, almost cert...

Image: Jose de Paez (attributed) | Public domain