Tomassa (c. 1840 – 1900) was a Mexican-American woman who was captured by the Comanche as a child and later integrated into their society. She supported the Fort Sill Indian Agency by helping establish the Fort Sill Agency School, working there as a translator. Tomassa aided in communication between the fort and the Comanche, and was known for her compassion and humanitarian efforts.
Tomassa | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1840 |
| Died | 1900 Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Occupation | Translator |
| Employer | Fort Sill |
Life
editTomassa was born c. 1840 into a well-off family in the Centralist Republic of Mexico.[1] As a young child, she and her older cousin were captured by the Carissa Comanche.[1] They spent a decade with the Comanche and became fully integrated into their society before being ransomed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and returned to Mexico.[1][2] No one came to claim them, so they were taken in by a wealthy Mexican family who treated them as servants.[1] She enrolled in school but chose to return to the Comanche.[2] Accompanied by a schoolmate, Tomassa crossed the Mexico–United States border, relying on the stars for navigation, and survived by killing their horses for food and making moccasins from their hides.[2]
At around fourteen, Tomassa's Comanche mother arranged for her to marry a man named Blue Leggings.[1] Defying Comanche traditions, Tomassa refused and instead chose to marry Joseph Chandler (1823–73), a half-Cherokee, half-white farmer near what would become Fort Sill in Oklahoma.[1] Chandler bought her from Blue Leggings for three dollars and a rooster. During the American Civil War, their land was devastated by raiders, and the Chandlers relocated to Texas, returning to Oklahoma in 1868.[1]
Tomassa supported the Fort Sill Indian Agency by helping establish the Fort Sill Agency School.[2] In 1871, she began working at the school as an translator.[1] Fluent in Spanish, English, Comanche, and Caddo, she played a crucial role in assisting the fort's officials and maintaining communication with the Comanche, which helped in preventing raids.[1] Tomassa was known for her compassion, which earned her respect from both the Indian agents and the Comanche.[1] She once sheltered two escaped Comanche captives, treating them with kindness and later helping to secure their freedom.[1]
After Chandler's death in 1873, Tomassa was left a widow with four children.[1] She later married George Conover, a retired army officer, and had several more children. In 1887, she converted to Christianity and joined the Methodist church.[1] Tomassa died in 1900 and was buried on her ranch in western Grady County, Oklahoma.[1]
Tomassa was written about in Indomitable Oklahoma Women which published in 1994 by Western Heritage Books for the Oklahoma Heritage Association.[3]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Bataille, Gretchen M.; Lisa, Laurie (1993). Native American women : a biographical dictionary. Internet Archive. New York : Garland. ISBN 978-0-8240-5267-6.
- ^ a b c d Bodnár, Ágnes (2021). The Making of the Subject in Indian Captivity Narratives: An exploration of subject construction via the performative, intersubjective, and narrative self (PDF) (Ph.D. thesis). ELTE Faculty of Humanities. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
- ^ "Lawton Native Writes State Women's Story". The Lawton Constitution. 1994-10-21. Retrieved 2024-08-17.