Florida Indian Tribes

Acuera. Meaning unknown (acu signifies "and" and also "moon").

      Connections. This tribe belonged to the Timucuan or Timuquanan linguistic division of the Muskhogean linguistic family.

      Location. Apparently about the headwaters of the Ocklawaha River.

     Towns. (See Utina.)

     History. The Acuera were first noted by De Soto in a letter written at Tampa Bay to the civil cabildo of Santiago de Cuba. According to information transmitted to him by his officer Baltazar de Gallegos, Acuera was "a large town where with much convenience we might winter," but the Spaniards did not in fact pass through it, though, while they were at Ocale, they sent to Acuera for corn. The name appears later in Laudonniere's narrative of the second French expedition to Florida, 1564-65 (1586), as a tribe allied with the Utina. It is noted sparingly in later Spanish documents but we learn that in 1604 there was an encounter between these Indians and Spanish troops and that there were two Acuera missions in 1655, San Luis and Santa Lucia, both of which had disappeared by 1680. The inland position of the Acuera is partly responsible for the few notices of them. The remnant was probably gathered into the "Pueblo de Timucua," which stood near St. Augustine in 1736, and was finally removed to the Mosquito Lagoon and Halifax River in Volusia County, where Tomoka River keeps the name alive.

     Population. This is nowhere given by itself. (See Utina.)

Aguacaleyquen, see Utina.

Ais. Meaning unknown; there is no basis for Romans' (1775) derivation from the Choctaw word "isi" (deer). Also called:
    Jece, form of the name given by Dickenson (1699).

     Connections. Circumstantial evidence, particularly resemblance in town names, leads to the conclusion that the Ais language was similar to that of the Calusa and the other south Florida tribes. (See Calusa.) It is believed that it was connected with the Muskhogean stock.

     Location. Along Indian River on the east coast of the peninsula.

     Villages. The only village mentioned by explorers and geographers bears some form of the tribal name.

     History. Fontaneda (1854) speaks of a Biscayan named Pedro who had been held prisoner in Ais, evidently during the sixteenth century, and spoke the Ais language fluently. Shortly after the Spaniards made their first establishments in the peninsula, a war broke out with the Ais, but peace was concluded in 1570. In 1597 Governor Mendez de Canço, who traveled along the entire east coast from the head of the Florida Keys to St. Augustine, reported that the Ais chief had more Indians under him than any other. A little later the Ais killed a Spaniard and two Indians sent to them by Canço for which summary revenge was exacted, and still later a difficulty was created by the escape of two Negro slaves and their marriage with Ais men. Relations between the Floridian government and these Indians were afterward friendly but efforts to missionize them uniformly failed. An intimate picture of their condition in 1699 is given by the Quaker Dickenson (1803), who was shipwrecked on the coast farther south and obliged, with his companions, to travel through their territory. They disappear from history after 1703, but the remnant may have been among those who, according to Romans (1775), passed over to Cuba in 1763, although he speaks of them all as Calusa.

      Population. Mooney (1928) estimates the number of Indians on the southeastern coast of Florida in 1650, including this tribe, the Tekesta, Guacata, and Jeaga, to have been 1,000. As noted above, the Ais were the most important of these and undoubtedly the largest. We have no other estimates of population applying to the seventeenth century. In 1726, 88 "Costa" Indians were reported in a mission farther north and these may have been drawn from the southeast coast. In 1728, 52 "Costa" Indians were reported.

      Connection in which they have become noted. The Ais were noted as the most important tribe of southeastern Florida, and they were probably responsible for the fact that the watercourse on which they dwelt came to be called Indian River.
Alabama. Early in the eighteenth century the Pawokti, and perhaps some other Alabama bands, lived near Apalachicola River, whence they were driven in 1708. After the Creek-American War a part of the Alabama again entered Florida, but they do not seem to have maintained an independent existence for a very long period. (See Alabama.)

Amacano. A tribe or band perhaps connected with the Yamasee, placed in a mission on the Apalachee coast in 1674 with two others, Chine, and Caparaz (q. v.). The three together had 300 souls.

Amacapiras, see Macapiras.

Apalachee (See Apalachee)

Apalachicola. At times some of the Apalachicola Indians lived south of the present Florida boundary line and they gave their name to the great river which runs through the panhandle of that State. (See Georgia.)

Calusa (See Calusa)

Caparaz. A small tribe or band placed in 1674 in connection with a doctrina called San Luis on the Apalachee coast along with two other bands called Amacano and Chine. Possibly they may have been survivors of the Capachequi encountered by De Soto in 1540. The three bands were estimated to contain 300 people.

Chatot. Meaning unknown, but the forms of this word greatly resemble the synonyms of the name Choctaw.

     Connections. The language spoken by this tribe belonged, undoubtedly, to the southern division of the Muskhogean stock.

     Location. West of Apalachicola River, perhaps near the middle course of the Chipola. (See also Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana).

     Villages. From the names of two Spanish missions among them it would appear that there were at least two towns in early times, one called Chacato, after the name of the tribe, and the other Tolentino.

     History. The Chatot are first mentioned in a Spanish document of 1639 in which the governor of Florida congratulates himself on having consummated peace between the Chatot, Apalachicola, and Yamasee on one side and the Apalachee on the other. This, he says, "is an extraordinary thing, because the aforesaid Chacatos never maintained peace with anybody." In 1674 the two missions noted above were established among these people, but the following year the natives rebelled. The disturbance was soon ended by the Spanish officer Florencia, and the Chatot presently settled near the Apalachee town of San Luis, mission work among them being resumed. In 1695, or shortly before, Lower Creek Indians attacked this mission, plundered the church, and carried away 42 Christianized natives. In 1706 or 1707, following on the destruction of the Apalachee towns, the Chatot and several other small tribes living near it were attacked and scattered or carried off captive, and the Chatot fled to Mobile, where they were well received by Bienville and located on the site of the present city of Mobile. When Bienville afterward moved the seat of his government to this place he assigned to them land on Dog
River by way of compensation. After Mobile was ceded to the English in 1763 the Chatot, along with a number of other small tribes near that city, moved to Louisiana. They appear to have settled first on Bayou Boeuf and later on Sabine River. Nothing is heard of them afterward though in 1924 some old Choctaw remembered their former presence on the Sabine. The remnant may have found their way to Oklahoma.

     Population. I would estimate a population of 1,200-1,500 for the Chatot when they were first missionized (1674). When they were settled on the site of Mobile, Bienville (1932, vol. 3, p. 536) says that they could muster 250 men, which would indicate a population of near 900, but in 1725-26 there were but 40 men and perhaps a total population of 140. In 1805 they are said to have had 30 men or about 100 people. In 1817 a total of 240 is returned by Morse (1822), but this figure is probably twice too large.

     Connection in which they have become noted. The Chatot are noted because at one time they occupied the site of Mobile, Ala., and because Bayou Chattique, Choctaw Point, and Choctaw Swamp close by that city probably preserve their name. The Choctawhatchee, which is near their former home, was probably named for them.

Chiaha. A few Creeks of this tribe emigrated from their former towns to Florida before the Creek-American War and after that encounter may have been joined by others. In an early list of Seminole settlements they are credited with one town on "Beech Creek," and this may have been identical with Fulemmy's Town or Pinder Town located on Suwanee River in 1817, which was said to be occupied by Chiaha Indians. The Mikasuki are reported to have branched off from this tribe. (See Georgia.)

Chilucan. A tribe mentioned in an enumeration of the Indians in Florida missions made in 1726. Possibly the name is derived from Muskogee chiloki, "people of a different speech," and since one of the two missions where they are reported was San Buenaventura and elsewhere that mission is said to have been occupied by Mocama Indians, that is, seacoast Timucua, a Timucuan connection is indicated. In the list mentioned, 70 Chilucan were said to be at San Buenaventura and 62 at the mission of Nombre de Dios.

Chine. A small tribe or band associated with two others called Amacano and Caparaz (q. v.) in a doctrina established on the coast of the Apalachee country called San Luis. Other evidence suggests that Chine may be the name of a Chatot chief. Later they may have moved into the Apalachee country, for in a mission list dated 1680 there appears a mission called San Pedro de los Chines. This tribe and the Amacano and Caparaz were said to number 300 individuals in 1674.

Creeks  see Alabama, Chiaha, Hitchiti, Mikasukee, Muskogee, Oconee, Sawokli, Tawasa, and Yuchi.)

Fresh Water ("Agna Dulce") Indians. A name applied to the people of seven to nine neighboring towns, and for which there is no native equivalent.

     Connections. The same as Acuera (q. v.).

     Location. In the coast district of eastern Florida between St. Augustine and Cape Canaveral.

Villages

     The following towns are given in this province extending from north to south, but not all of the native names have been preserved:

The names Macaya and Maycoya, which appear in the neighborhood of the last of these are probably synonyms or corruptions of Maiaca, but there seems to have been a sister town of Maiaca at an early date which Fontaneda (1854) calls Mayajuaca or Mayjuaca. In addition to the preceding, a number of town names have been preserved which perhaps belong to places in this province. Some of them may be synonyms of the town names already given, especially of towns like Antonico and St. Julian, the native names of which are otherwise unknown.
These include:

     History. The history of this province differed little from that of the other Timucua provinces, tribes, or confederacies. Ponce de Leon made his landfall upon this coast in 1513. The French had few dealings with the people but undoubtedly met them. Fontaneda (1854) heard of the provinces of Maiaca and Mayajuaca, and later there were two Spanish missions in this territory, San Antonio de Anacape and San Salvador de Maiaca. These appear in the mission list of 1655 and in that of 1680 but from data given with the latter it is evident that Yamasee were then settled at Anacape. All of these Indians were converted rapidly early in the seventeenth century and the population declined with increasing celerity. The last body of Timucua were settled in this district and have left their name in that of Tomoka Creek. (See Utina.)

     Population. There are no data on which to give a separate and full statement of the Timucua population in this district. In 1602, however, 200 Indians belonging to it had been Christianized and 100 more were under instruction. (See Acuera.)

Guacata. Meaning unknown.

      Connections. On the evidence furnished by place names in this section, the tribe is classified with the south Florida peoples.

     Location. On or near Saint Lucie River in Saint Lucie and Palm Beach Counties.

     History.-The Guacata are first mentioned by Fontaneda (1854), who in one place speaks of them as on Lake Mayaimi (Okeechobee), but this probably means only that they ranged across to the lake from the eastern seacoast. Shortly after his conquest of Florida Menendez left 200 men in the Ais country, but the Indians of that tribe soon rose against them and they moved to the neighborhood of the Guacata, where they were so well treated that they called the place Santa Lucia. Next year, however, these Indians rose against them and although they were at first defeated the Spaniards were so hard pressed that they abandoned the place in 1568. They were still an independent body in the time of Dickenson, in 1699, but not long afterward they evidently united with other east coast bands, and they were probably part of those who emigrated to Cuba in 1763.

     Population. No separate estimate has ever been made. (See Ais.) Guale. In relatively late times many of these Indians were driven from their country into Florida. (See Georgia.)

Hitchiti. The ancient home of the Hitchiti was north of Florida but after the destruction of the earlier tribes of the peninsula, in which they themselves participated, Hitchiti-speaking peoples moved in in great numbers to take their places, so that up to the Creek-American War, the Hitchiti language was spoken by the greater number of Seminole. The later immigration, as we have indicated above, reduced the Hitchiti element to a minority position, so that what we now call the Seminole language is practically identical with Muskogee. True Hitchiti as distinguished from Hitchiti-speaking peoples who bore other names, do not appear to have been very active in this early movement though Hawkins (1848) mentions them as one of those tribes from which the Seminole were made up. The Hitchiti settlement of Attapulgas or Atap'halgi and perhaps other of the so-called Fowl Towns seem to represent a later immigration into the peninsula. (See Georgia.)

Icafui. Meaning unknown.

     Connections. They were undoubtedly of the Timucuan group though they seem to have been confused at times with a tribe called Cascangue which may have been related to the Muskogee or Hitchiti. On the other hand, Cascangue may have been another name of this tribe, possibly one employed by Creeks or Hitchiti.

     Location. On the mainland and probably in southeastern Georgia near the border between the Timucua and the strictly Muskhogean populations.

     Villages. Seven or eight towns are said to have belonged to this tribe but the names of none of them are known with certainty.

     History. Icafui seems to be mentioned first by the Franciscan missionaries who occasionally passed through it on their way to or from interior peoples. It was a "visita" of the missionary at San Pedro (Cumberland Island). Otherwise its history differed in no respect from that of the other Timucuan tribes. (See Utina.)

     Population. Separate figures regarding this tribe are wanting. (See Utina.)

Jeaga. Meaning unknown.

     Connections. The Jeaga are classed on the basis of place names and location with the tribes of south Florida, which were perhaps of the Muskhogean division proper.

     Location. On the present Jupiter Inlet, on the east coast of Florida.

     Villages. Between this tribe and the Tequesta the names of several settlements are given which may have belonged to one or both of them, viz: Cabista, Custegiyo, Janar, Tavuacio.

     History. The Jeaga tribe is mentioned by Fontaneda (1854) and by many later Spanish writers but it was of minor importance. Near Jupiter Inlet the Quaker Dickenson (1803), one of our best informants regarding the ancient people of the east coast of Florida, was cast ashore in 1699. In the eighteenth century, this tribe was probably merged with the Ais, Tequesta, and other tribes of this coast, and removed with them to Cuba. (See Ais.)

     Population. No separate enumeration is known. (See Ais.)

Koasati. Appearance of a "Coosada Old Town" on the middle course of Choctawhatchee River on a map of 1823 shows that a band of Koasati Indians joined the Seminole in Florida, but this is all we know of them. (See Alabama.)

Macapiras, or Amacapiras. Meaning unknown. A small tribe which was brought to the St. Augustine missions in 1726 along with some Pohoy, and so apparently from the southwest coast. There were only 24, part of whom died and the rest returned to their old homes before 1728.

Mikasuki. Meaning unknown.

     Connections. These Indians belonged to the Hitchiti-speaking branch of the Muskhogean linguistic family. They are said by some to have branched from the true Hitchiti, but those who claim that they were originally Chiaha are probably correct.

     Location. Their earliest known home was about Miccosukee Lake
in Jefferson County. (See also Oklahoma.)

     Villages. Alachua Talofa or John Hick's Town, in the Alachua Plains, Alachua County.
   New Mikasuki, near Greenville in Madison County.
   Old Mikasuki, near Miccosukee Lake.

     History. The name Mikasuki appears about 1778 and therefore we know that their independent status had been established by that date whether they had separated from the Hitchiti or the Chiaha. They lived first at Old Mikasuki and then appear to have divided, part going to New Mikasuki and part to the Alachua Plains. Some writers denounce them as the worst of all Seminole bands, but it is quite likely that, as a tribe differing in speech from themselves, the Muskogee element blamed them for sins they themselves had committed. Old Mikasuki was burned by Andrew Jackson in 1817. Most Mikasuki seem to have remained in Florida where they still constitute a distinct body, the Big Cypress band of Seminole. Those who went to Oklahoma retained a distinct Square Ground as late as 1912.

      Population. Morse (1822) quotes a certain Captain Young to the effect that there were 1,400 Mikasuki in his time, about 1817. This figure is probably somewhat too high though the Mikasuki element is known to have been a large one. They form one entire band among the Florida Seminole.

     Connection in which they have become noted. The Mikasuki attained prominence in the Seminole War. In the form Miccosukee their name has been applied to a lake in Jefferson and Leon Counties, Fla., and a post village in the latter county. In the form Mekusuky it has been given to a village in Seminole County, Okla.

Mocogo, or Mucogo. Meaning unknown.

     Connections. They belonged with little doubt to the Timucuan division of the Muskhogean linguistic stock.

     Location. About the head of Hillsboro Bay.

     Villages.  None are mentioned under any other than the tribal name.

     History. The chief of this tribe gave asylum to a Spaniard named Juan Ortiz who had come to Florida in connection with the expedition of Narvaez. When De Soto landed near the Mocogo town its chief sent Ortiz with an escort of warriors to meet him. Ortiz afterward became De Soto's principal interpreter until his death west of the Mississippi, and the Mocogo chief remained on good terms with the Spaniards as long as they stayed in the neighborhood. There are only one or two later references to the tribe. (See Utina.)

     Connection in which they have become noted. The contacts of the Mocogo with De Soto and his followers constitute their only claim to distinction.

Muklasa. A small Creek town whose inhabitants were probably related by speech to the Alabama and Koasati. They are said to have gone to Florida after the Creek War. (See Alabama.)

Muskogee. The first true Creeks or Muskogee to enter Florida seem to have been a body of Eufaula Indians who made a settlement called Chuko tcati, Red House, on the west side of the peninsula some distance north of Tampa Bays This was in 1761. Other Muskogee drifted into Florida from time to time, but the great immigration took place after the Creek-American War. The newcomers were from many towns, but more particularly those on the Tallapoosa River. They gave the final tone and the characteristic language to the Florida emigrants who had before been dominantly of Hitchiti connection, and therefore the so-called Seminole language is Muskogee, with possibly a few minor changes in the vocabulary. (See Alabama.)

Ocale, or Etocale. Meaning unknown, but perhaps connected with Timucua tocala, "it is more than," a comparative verb.
I A possible exception to this statement wae the temporary entrance of a small body of Coweta Indiana under Secoffee, or the Cowkeeper.

     Connections. (See Acuera.)

     Location. In Marion County or Levy County north of the bend of the Withlacoochee River.

     Villages. Uqueten (first village approaching from the south), and perhaps Itaraholata.

     History. This tribe is first mentioned by the chroniclers of the De Soto expedition. He passed through it in 1539 after crossing Withlacoochee River. Fontaneda also heard of it, and it seems to appear on De Bry's map of 1591. This is the last information that has been preserved.

     Population. Unknown. (See Acuera and Utina.)

     Connection in which they have become noted. Within comparatively modern times this name was adopted in the form Ocala as that of the county seat of Marion County, Fla. There is a place so called in Pulaski County, Ky.

Oçita, see Pohoy.

Oconee. After leaving the Chattahoochee about 1750 the Oconee moved into Florida and established themselves on the Alachua Plains in a town which Bartram calls Cuscowilla. They constituted the first large band of northern Indians to settle in Florida and their chiefs came to be recognized as head chiefs of the Seminole. One of these, Mikonopi, was prominent during the Seminole War, but the identity of the tribe itself is lost after that struggle. Another part of them seem to have settled for a time among the Apalachee. (See Georgia.)

Onatheaqua. In the narratives of Laudonni6re and Le Moyne this appears as one of the two main Timucua tribes in the northwestern part of Florida, the other being the Hostaqua (or Yustaga). Elsewhere I have suggested that it may have covered the Indians afterward gathered into the missions of Santa Cruz de Tarihica, San Juan de Guacara, Santa Catalina, and Ajoica, where there were 230 Indians in 1675, but that is uncertain. (See Utina.)

Osochi. A Creek division thought to have originated in Florida. (See Alabama.)

Pawokti. Meaning unknown.

     Connections. They were probably affiliated either with the Tawasa or the Alabama. In any case there is no reason to doubt that they spoke a Muskhogean dialect, using Muskhogean in the extended sense.

     Location. The earliest known location of the Pawokti seems to have been west of Choctawhatchee River, not far from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. (See also Alabama.)

     History. Lamhatty (in Bushnell, 1908) assigns the Pawokti the above location before they were driven away by northern Indians, evidently Creeks, in 1706-7. Although the name does not appear in any French documents known to me, they probably settled near Mobile along with the Tawasa. At any rate we find them on Alabama River in 1799 a few miles below the present Montgomery and it is assumed they had been there from 1717, when Fort Toulouse was established. Their subsequent history is merged in that of the Alabama.

     Population. (See Alabama.)

Pensacola. Meaning "hair people," probably from their own tongue, which in that case was very close to Choctaw.

     Connections. The name itself, and other bits of circumstantial evidence, indicate that the Pensacola belonged to the Muskhogean stock and, as above noted, probably spoke a dialect close to Choctaw.

     Location. In the neighborhood of Pensacola Bay. (See also Mississippi.)

     History. In 1528 the survivors of the Narvaez expedition had an encounter with Indians near Pensacola Bay who probably belonged to this tribe. It is also probable that their territory constituted the province of Achuse or Ochus which Maldonado, the commander of De Soto's fleet, visited in 1539 and whence he brought a remarkably fine "blanket of sable fur." In 1559 a Spanish colony under Tristan de Luna landed in a port called "the Bay of Ichuse," (or "Ychuse") undoubtedly in the same province, but the enterprise was soon given up and the colonists returned to Mexico. The Pensacola tribe seems to be mentioned first by name in Spanish letters dated 1677. In 1686 we learn they were at war with the Mobile Indians. Twelve years afterward, when the Spanish post of Pensacola was established, it is claimed that the tribe had been exterminated by other peoples, but this is an error. It had merely moved farther inland and probably toward the west. They are noted from time to time, and in 1725-6 Bienville (1932, vol. 3, p. 535) particularly describes the location of their village near that of the Biloxi of Pearl River. The last mention of them seems to be in an estimate of Indian population dated December 1, 1764, in which their name appears along with those of six other small tribes. They may have been incorporated finally into the Choctaw or have accompanied one of the smaller Mobile tribes into Louisiana near the date last mentioned.

     Population. In 1725 (or 1726) Bienville (1932, vol. 3, p. 535) says that in the Pensacola village and that of the Biloxi together, there were not more than 40 men. The enumeration mentioned above, made in 1764, gives the total population of this tribe and the Biloxi, Chatot, Capinans, Washa, Chawasha, and Pascagoula collectively as 251 men.

     Connection in which they have become noted. Through the adoption of their name first for that of Pensacola Bay and secondly for the port which grew up upon it, the Pensacola have attained a fame entirely disproportionate to the aboriginal importance of the tribe. There are places of the name in Yancey County, N. C., and Mayes County, Okla.

Pohoy, Pooy, or Posoy. Meaning unknown.

     Connections. They were evidently closely connected with the Timucuan division of the Muskhogean linguistic stock. (See Utina).

     Location. On the south shore of Tampa Bay.

     Towns. (See History.)

     History. This tribe, or a part of the same, appears first in history under the names Oçita or Ucita as a "province" in the territory of which Hernando de Soto landed in 1539. He established his headquarters in the town of the head chief on June 1, and when he marched inland on July 15 he left a captain named Calder6n with a hundred men to hold this place pending further developments. These were withdrawn at the end of November to join the main army in the Apalachee country. In 1612 these Indians appear for the first time under the name Pohoy or Pooy in the account of an expedition to the southwest coast of Florida under an ensign named Cartaya. In 1675 Bishop Calder6n speaks of the "Pojoy River," and in 1680 there is a passing reference to it. Some time before 1726 about 20 Indians of this tribe were placed in a mission called Santa Fe, 9 leagues south of St. Augustine, but they had already suffered from an epidemic and by 1728 the remainder returned to their former homes. (See Utina.)

     Population. In 1680 the Pohoy were said to number 300.

     Connection in which they have become noted. The only claim of the Pohoy to distinction is derived from their contacts with the expedition of De Soto.

Potano. Meaning unknown.

      Connections. (See Utina.)

     Location. In the, territory of the present Alachua County.

     Towns. The following places named in the De Soto narratives probably belonged to this tribe: Itaraholata or Ytara, Potano, Utinamocharra or Utinama, Cholupaha, and a town they called Mala-Paz. A letter dated 1602 mentions five towns, and on and after 1606, when missionaries reached the tribe, stations were established called San Francisco, San Miguel, Santa Anna, San Buenaventura, and San Martin(?). There is mention also of a mission station called Apalo.

     History. The name Potano first appears as that of a province through which De Soto passed in 1539.  In 1564-65 the French colonists of Florida found this tribe at war with the Utina and a assisted the latter to win victory over them. After the Spaniards had supplanred the French, they also supported the Utina in wars between them and the Potano. In 1584 a Spanish captain sent to invade the Potano country was defeated and slain. A second expedition, however, killed many Indians and drove them from their town. In 1601 they asked to be allowed to return to it and in 1606 missionary work undertaken among them resulting in their conversion along with most of th eother Timucua peoples. Their mission was known as San Francisco de POotano and it appears in the mission lists of 1655 and 1680. In 1656 they took part in a general Timucuan uprising which lasted 8 months. In 1672 a pestilence carried off many and a the chief of Potano does not appear as signatory to a letter written to Charles II by several Timucua chiefs in 1688, it is possible their  separate identity had come to an end by the date. Early in the 18th century the Timucua along with the rest of Spanish Indians of Florida were decimated rapidly and the remnant of the Potano must have shared their fate. (See  Utina)

Population.-Mooney (1928) estimates the number of Potano Indians at at 3,000 in 1650 and this is probably fairly accurate, as the Franciscan missionaries state that they were catechizing 1,100 persons in the 5 towns belonging to the tribe in 1602. In 1675 there were about 160 in the 2 Potano missions (See Acera and Utina)

     Connections in which they have become noted. The Potano tribe was anciently celebrated as, with one or two possible exceptions, the most powerful of all the Timucua peoples.

Saturiwa. Meaning unknown. Connections.-(See Utina.)
Location.-About the mouth of St. Johns River.  Some early writers seem to include Cumberland Island in their jurisdiction.

     Villages. Laudonniére (1586) says that the chief of this tribe ruled over 30 subchiefs, but it is uncertain whether these subchiefs represented villages belonging allied tribes, or both. The Spaniards give the following: San Juan dell Puerrto, the
main mission for this province under which were Vera Cruz, Arratbo, Potaya, San Matheo, San Pablo, Hicachirico ("Little Town"), Chinisca, and Carabay. San Diego de Salamototo, near the site of Picolata, on which no villages seem have depended; and Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, 3 leagues from St. Augustine, may be classed here somewhat uncertainly.

     History. The Saturiwa were visited by Jean Ribault in 1562 and probably by earlier explorers, but they appear first under their proper name in the chronicles of the Huguenot settlement of Florida of 1564-5. Fort Caroline was built in the territory of the Saturiwa and intimate relations continued between the French and Indians until the former were dispossessed by Spain. The chief, known as Saturiwa at this time, assisted De Gourgues in 1567 to avenge the destruction of his countrymen. It is perhaps for this reason that we find the Spaniards espousing the cause of Utina against Saturiwa 10 years later. The tribe soon submitted to Spain, however, and was one of the first missionized, its principal mission being San Juan del Puerto. There labored Francisco de Pareja to whose grammar and religious works we are chiefly indebted for our knowledge of the Timucua language (Pareja, 1612, 1613, 1856). Like the other Florida Indians, they suffered severely from pestilence in 1617 and 1672. The name of their chief appears among those involved in the Timucua rebellion of 1656, and the names of their missions appear in the list of Bishop Calder6n and in that of 1680. We hear nothing more of them, and they evidently suffered the same fate as the other tribes of the group.

     Population. No separate figures for the Saturiwa have been preserved, except that a missionary states in 1602 that there were about 500 Christians among them and in 1675 San Juan del Puerto contained "about thirty persons" and Salamototo "about forty." (See Utina.)

     Connection in which they have become noted. The prominence of the Saturiwa was due to the intimate dealings between them and the French colonists. Later the same people, though not under the same name, became a main support of the Spanish missionary movement among the Florida Indians.

Sawokli. A division of Creek Indians belonging to the Hitchiti speaking group. Anciently it seems to have lived entirely in Florida, but later it moved up into the neighborhood of the Lower Creeks. (See Alabama.)

Seminole (See Seminole)

Surruque. Meaning unknown.

     Connections. Somewhat doubtful, but they were probably of the Timucuan linguistic group. (See Utina.)

     Location. At or' very close to Cape Canaveral.

     History. The Surruque appear first in history as the "Sorrochos" of Le Moyne's map (1875,) and his "Lake Sarrope" also probably derived its name from them. About the end of the same century, the sixteenth, trouble arose between them and the Spaniards, in consequence of which the Spanish governor fell upon a Surruque town, killed 60 persons and captured 54. Later they probably united with the Timucua people and shared their fortunes.

     Population. No estimate is possible. (See Utina.)

Tacatacuru. The meaning is unknown, though it seems to have something to do with "fire" (taca).

     Connections. (See Utina.)

     Location. On Cumberland Island to which the name Tacatacuru was applied.

     Villages. It is probable that the same name was used for its chief town, which was missionized by the Spaniards under the name of San Pedro Mocama. Under this mission were those of Santo Domingo and Santa Maria de Sena.

     History. The chief of Tacatacuru (now Cumberland Island), or of the neighboring mainland, met Jean Ribault in 1562 and seems to have remained on good terms with the French during their occupancy of Fort Caroline in 1564-65. He, or a successor, is mentioned among those who joined De Gourgues in his attack upon the Spaniards in 1567, but soon afterward they made peace with Spain and one chief, Don Juan, was of great assistance to the white men in many ways, particularly in driving back the Guale Indians after their rising in 1597. This chief died in 1600, and was succeeded by his niece. The church built by these Indians was said to be as big as that in St. Augustine. The good relations which subsisted between the Tacatacuru Indians and the Spaniards do not appear to have been broken by the Timucua rebellion of 1656. By 1675 the tribe had abandoned Cumberland Island and it was occupied by Yamasee. The mission of San Pedro Mocama consequently does not appear in tho mission list of 1680, although it is in that of 1655.' The tribe was subsequently amalgamated with the other Timucua peoples and shared their fortunes. (See Utina.)

     Population. There is no estimate of the number of Tacatacuru distinct from that of the other Timucua. The missionary stationed among them in 1602 notes that there were then 8 settlements and 792 Christianized Indians in his province, but this province may not have been confined to the tribe. In that year Santo Domingo served 180 Christians and Santa Maria de Sena 112.

Tawasa. Meaning unknown.

     Connections. They spoke a dialect belonging to the Timucuan division of the Muskhogean linguistic family, intermediate between Timucua proper and Choctaw, Hitchiti, Alabama, and Apalachee.

     Location. In 1706-7 in west Florida about the latitude of the junction of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers; at an earlier time and again later they were on the Alabama near the present Montgomery. (See also Louisiana.)
4 I have stated elsewhere (Swanton, 1946, p. 187) that the name of this mission was wanting in the list drawn up in 1656. I should have given the date as 1680.
Villages They usually occupied only one town but Autauga on Autauga Creek in the southeastern part of Autauga County, Ala., is said to have belonged to them.

     History. De Soto found the Tawasa near the Montgomery site in 1540. Some time during the next century and a half they moved to the neighborhood of Apalachicola River, but in 1707 they were attacked by the Creeks, who captured some of them, while the greater part fled to the French and were by them given lands near the present Mobile. They occupied several different sites in that neighborhood but in 1717 they moved back to the region where De Soto found them, their main village being in the northwestern suburbs of the present Montgomery. After the Treaty of Fort Jackson in 1814, they were compelled to abandon this place and move into the Creek territories between the Coosa and Talapoosa Rivers, where they remained until the main migration beyond the Mississippi. Previous to this, some of them had gone with other Alabama into Louisiana and they followed their fortunes. The name was remembered by Alabama in Polk County, Tex., until within a few years.

     Population. The French census of 1760 returned 40 Tawasa men and the Georgia census of 1792 "about 60." The census of 1832-33 gives 321 Indians in towns called Tawasa and Autauga, but all of these were quite certainly not Tawasa Indians in the strict application of that term. (See Alabama.)

     Connection in which they have become noted. The Tawasa tribe will be remembered ethnologically on account of the rescue of so much important information regarding the early history of themselves and their neighbors through the captive Indian Lamhatty (in Bushnell, 1908), who made his way into Virginia in 1708, and on account of the still more important vocabulary obtained from him.

Tekesta or Tequesta. Meaning unknown.

     Connections. The language of this tribe was probably connected with the languages of the other peoples of the southeast coast of Florida and with that of the Calusa, and may have been Muskhogean.

     Location. In the neighborhood of Miami.

     Villages. Besides Tekesta proper, the main town, four villages are mentioned between that and the next tribe to the north, the Jeaga, to whom some of the villages may have belonged. These were, in order from south to north: Tavuacio, Janar, Cabista, and Custegiyo.

     History. The Tekesta do not appear in history much before the time of Fontaneda, who was a captive among the Calusa from 1551 to 1569. In 1566 we learn that they protected certain Spaniards from the Calusa chief, although the latter is sometimes regarded as their overlord. A post was established in their country in 1566 but abandoned 4 years later. Attempts made to convert them to Christianity at that time were without success. In 1573 they are said to have been converted by Pedro Menendez Marques, but later they returned to their primitive beliefs. It was these Indians who, according to Romans (1775), went to Cuba in 1763 along with some others from this coast.

     Population. Mooney (1928) estimates that in 1650 there were 1,000 Indians on the southeast coast of Florida. According to Romans those who went to Cuba in 1763 had 30 men. Adair (1775) says there were 80 families.

     Connection in which they have become noted. Although the name has found no topographical lodgement, the Tekesta may be remembered as the earliest known body of people to occupy the site of Miami.

Tocobaga. Meaning unknown, though toco means in Timucua "to come out," "to proceed from."

     Connections. (See Mina.)

     Location. About Old Tampa Bay.

     Villages. The main town was at or near Safety Harbor at the head of Old Tampa Bay.

     History. Narvaez probably landed in the territory of this tribe in 1528, but his chroniclers speak of meeting very few Indians. Eleven years later De Soto's expedition disembarked just south in Tampa Bay but came into little contact with this tribe. Two years after driving the French from St. Johns River in 1565, Menendez visited Tocobaga, and left a captain and 30 soldiers among them, all of whom were wiped out the year following. In 1612 a Spanish expedition was sent to punish the chiefs of Pohoy and Tocobaga because they had attacked Christian Indians, but spent little time in the latter province. There is no assured reference to a mission nearer than Acuera, nor do the Tocobaga appear among the tribes which participated in the great Timucua revolt of 1656. Ultimately it is probable that they joined the other Timucua and disappeared with them, though they may have united with the Calusa. It is also possible that they are the "Tompacuas" who appear later in the Apalachee country, and if so they may have been the Indians placed in 1726 in a mission near St. Augustine called San Buenaventura under the name "Macapiras" or "Amacapiras." (See Utina.)

     Population. Unknown. (See Utina.)

     Connection in which they have become noted. The principal claim to notoriety on the part of the Tocobaga is the fact that Narvaez landed in their country in.1528.

Ucita, see Pohoy.

Utina or Timucua. The first name, which probably refers to the chief and means "powerful," is perhaps originally from uti, "earth," while the second name, Timucua, is that from which the linguistic stock, or rather this Muskhogean subdivision of it, has received its name.

     Connections. As given above.

     Location. The territory of the Utina seems to have extended from the Suwannee to the St. Johns and even eastward of the latter, though some of the subdivisions given should be rated as independent tribes. (See Timucua under Georgia.)

Towns

     Laudonniere (1586) states that there were more than 40 under the Utina chief, but among them he includes "Acquera" (Acuera) and Moquoso far to the south and entirely independent, so that we are uncertain regarding the status of the others he gives, which are as follows: Cadecha, Calanay, Chilili, Eclauou, Molona. Omittaqua, and Onachaquara.
     As the Utina, with the possible exception of the Potano, was the leading Timucua division and gave its name to the whole, and as the particular tribe to which each town mentioned in the documents belonged cannot be given, it will be well to enter all here, although those that can be placed more accurately will be inserted in their proper places.
     In De Soto's time Aguacaleyquen or Caliquen seems to have been the principal town. In the mission period we are told that the chief lived at Ayaocuto. Acassa, a town inland from Tampa Bay.

     History. The Utina were evidently those Indians occupying the province called Aguacaleyquen which De Soto passed through in 1539. In 1564 the French came in contact with them after the establishment of Fort Caroline. On one occasion they sent a contingent to help them defeat the neighboring Potano. After the Spaniards had supplanted the French, the Timucua allied themselves with the former and in 1576 or 1577 a body of soldiers was sent to support them against several neighboring tribes. They were missionized at a comparatively early date, and afterward followed the fortunes of the rest of the Timucua. Following is a brief over-all sketch of the history of the tribes constituting the Timucuan group. They first came into contact with Europeans during Ponce de Leon's initial expedition in 1513 when the peninsula and subsequently the State received its name. Narvaez in 1528 and De Soto in 1539 passed through the country of the western tribes. Ribault visited those on and near St. Johns River in 1562, and the French settlers of Fort Caroline on that river in 1564-65 were in close contact with them. A considerable part of our knowledge regarding these Indians is contained in the records of that colony. The Spaniards supplanted the French in 1565 and gradually conquered
the Timucua tribes while the Franciscans missionized them. Our knowledge of the Timucua language is derived mainly from religious works by the missionaries Pareja and Mouilla and a grammar compiled by the former. During the early half of the seventeenth century the missions were in a flourishing condition but a general rebellion in 1656 occasioned some losses by death and exile. They also suffered
severely from pestilences which raged in the missions in 1613-17, 1649-50, and 1672. It is probable that some decline in population took place even before the great rebellion but that and the epidemics occasioned considerable losses. Toward the end of the seventeenth century, however, all the Florida Indians began to suffer from the invasion of Creek and Yuchi Indians to the northward, and this was
accentuated after the break-up of the Apalachee in 1704 by the expedition under Moore. Most of the remaining Timucua were then concentrated into missions near St. Augustine, but this did not secure immunity against further attacks by the English and their Indian allies. Sometime after 1736 the remnants of these people seem to have removed to a stream in the present Volusia County which in the form Tomoka bears their name. Here they disappear from history, and it is probable that they were swallowed up by the invading Seminole.

     Population.-The Timucua, in the wide extent of the term, are estimated by Mooney (1928) to have numbered 13,000 in 1650, including 3,000 Potano, 1,000 Hostaqua, 8,000 Timucua proper and their allies, and 1,000 Tocobaga. In a letter dated February 2, 1635, it is asserted that 30,000 Christian Indians were connected with the 44 missions then maintained in the Guale and Timucua provinces. While this figure is probably too high, it tends to confirm Mooney's (1928) estimate. In 1675 Bishop Calderón of Cuba states that he confirmed 13,152 in the four provinces of Timucua, Guale. Apalache, and Apalachicoli, but Governor Salazar estimates only 1,400 in the Timucua missions that year. Later, pestilences decimated the Timucua very rapidly, and their ruin was completed by attacks of the English and the northern Indians, so that by 1728 the single town which seems to have contained most of the survivors had but 15 men and 20 women. Eight years later 17 men were reported there. Not long after this time the tribe disappears entirely, though it is highly probable that numbers of individuals who had belonged to it had made their homes with other Indians.
     As to the Utina tribe by itself, we have a missionary letter dated 1602 which estimates its population as 1,500, in this case probably an understatement.

     Connection in which they have become noted. This tribe, known as the Utina or Timucua, is noteworthy
(1) for having given its name to the peoples of the Timucuan or Timuquanan stock now regarded as part of the Muskogean family, and
(2) as having been, next perhaps to the Potano, the most powerful tribe constituting that stock.
     The Timucuan group has left its name in that of the river above mentioned.

Yamasee. Some tribes affiliated with the Yamasee settled in the Apalachee country in the latter part of the seventeenth century. The great body came to Florida from South Carolina after their war with the English colonists in 1715, and most of them remained in the northeastern part of the peninsula. Their final appearance is as the Ocklawaha band of Seminole. Part of them moved west, however, and settled near Mobile, and either this or a third party lived among the Creeks for a time, after which they seem to have returned to west Florida, where they were represented by the "Yumersee" town of the Seminole. A considerable number of them were captured by the Creek Indians and incorporated with them. (See Georgia.)

Yuchi. In the seventeenth century a body of Yuchi established themselves west of Apalachicola River, but moved north to join the Upper Creeks before 1761. At a much later date a body of eastern Yuchi joined the Seminole and in 1823 had a settlement called Tallahassee or Spring Gardens 10 miles from Volusia. They probably moved to Oklahoma at the end of the last Seminole war. (See Georgia.)

Yufera. This is the name of a town or group of towns reported as located somewhere inland from Cumberland Island, and perhaps in the present territory of Georgia. The name is derived through Timucua informants but it may have referred to a part of the Muskogee tribe called Eufaula.

Yui. Meaning unknown. Connections.-(See Utina.)

     Location. On the mainland 14 leagues inland from Cumberland Island and probably in the southeastern part of the present state of Georgia.

     Villages. They had five villages but the names of these are either unknown or unidentifiable.

     History. The name of the Yui appears first in Spanish documents. They were visited by the missionary at San Pedro (Cumberland Island) and appear to have been Christianized early in the seventeenth century. No individual mission bore their name and they are soon lost sight of, their history becoming that of the other Timucua tribes.

     Population. The missionaries estimated more than 1,000 Indians in this province in 1602. (See Utina.)

Yustaga. Meaning unknown.

     Connections. No words of the Yustaga language have been preserved but circumstantial evidence indicates they belonged to the Timucuan branch of the Muskhogean linguistic stock, although occasionally the provinces of Timucua and Yustaga are spoken of as if distinct.

     Location. Approximately between Aucilla and Suwannee Rivers, somewhat toward the coast.

     Villages. The Yustaga villages cannot be satisfactorily identified though the missions of Asile, San Marcos, Machaba, and San Pedro seem to have belonged to it.

     History. The Yustaga are first mentioned by Biedma (in Bourne, 1904), one of the chroniclers of De Soto, who gives the title to a "province" through which the Spaniards marched just before coming to Apalachee. While the French Huguenots were on St. Johns River, some of them visited this tribe, and later it is again mentioned by the Spaniards but no mission bears the name. Its history is soon merged in that of the Timucuan peoples generally. The last mention of the name appears to be in 1659. It is of particular interest as the province from which the Osocbi Indians who settled among the Lower Creeks probably emigrated in 1656 or shortly afterward.

     Population. In 1675, 40 Indians were reported in the mission of Asile and 300 in each of the others, giving a total very close to Mooney's (1928) estimate of 1,000 as of the year 1600.

Additional Florida Indian Resources

• 1835 Cherokee East of the Mississippi Census

• 1900 Indian Territory Census

• Choctaw Indian History

• Cherokee Indian History

• Creek Indian History

• Chickasaw Indian History

• Seminole Indian History

• The Indian Tribes of North America

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