The Hainai are also cometimes called Ainais, Aes, Ainay, Ais, Aix, Aynais, Aynays, Ays, Ayses,[2] Ioni, Huawni, or Ayonai.
They were a part of the Caddo Nation, and traditionally lived on the Neches and Angelina rivers to the west of present-day Nacogdoches.
In 1805, the group was reported to consist of 80 warriors by Dr. John Sibley, the Indian agent of the United States at Natchitoches, Louisiana.
[4] One theory from the late historian/genealogist Cecil Lee Pinkston-Vinson was that Choctaw Tom, an influential Caddo leader who was a Yowani married to a Caddo woman, had his encampment attacked by forces led by Captain Peter Garland just off the Brazos Reservation.
The attackers were a vigilante force from Erath County, Texas resulting in the death of twenty-eight Indians.