|
Acolapissa Indian Tribe
Location
Acolapissa.
Meaning "those who listen and see," indicating possibly "borderers" or "scouts."
Also called:
Aquelou pissas, by Le Page du Pratz (1758, 2: 219).
Cenepisa, by La Salle (in Margry, 1875-86,1: 564).
Colapissas, in 1699 by Penicaut (in French, 1869, p. 38).
Coulapissas, in 1700 by Sauvole (in Margry 1875-86, 4: 462).
Equinipichas, by Sauvole (in French, 1851, 3: 225).
Kinipissa, by Tonti (in Margry, 1875-86; 1: 604).
Kolapissas, in 1700 by Gravier (in French, 1875, p. 88).
Connections
The Acolapissa belonged to the
Muskhogean linguistic family and evidently spoke a language closely related to
Choctaw and Chickasaw. They may have been more intimately connected with the
Napissa who united with the Chickasaw and who were perhaps identical with the
Napochi of De Luna, but their closest relatives were the Tangipahoa.
Location
Their earliest known location was
on Pearl River about 11 miles above its mouth. (See also
Mississippi.)
Villages
Iberville was told that they
consisted of six villages and that the Tangipahoa constituted a seventh, but we
treat the latter separately, and the names of the six are not given.
History
The Acolapissa are not mentioned
among the tribes that came to Iberville in 1699 to form an alliance with him,
but after his departure for France, Bienville visited them and was well
received, although at first they were terrified because of a slave raid made
upon them 2 days before by the English and Chickasaw. In 1702 (or 1705) on the
north they moved from Pearl River and settled on a bayou on the north side of
Lake Pontchartrain called "Castembayouque (now Castine Bayou). Six months later
the Natchitoches Indians descended to the French fort on the Mississippi from
their town on Red River to ask assistance from St. Denis, the commandant there,
because of the ruin of their crops. St. Denis sent them under the charge of Pénicaut
to the Acolapissa, who welcomed them and assigned a place
for them to settle close to their own village. Late in 1713 or early in
1714 St. Denis, who had received a commission to proceed to Texas to
examine the Spanish settlements, sent for the Natchitoches intending to
reestablish them in their former seats, but upon hearing of this project
the Acolapissa fell upon them and killed and captured a considerable
number. In 1718, according to Pénicaut,
but in any case
before 1722, they moved over to the Mississippi River and settled on the
east side 13 leagues from New Orleans. In 1739 they constituted
practically one settlement with the Bayogoula and Houma, with whom they
finally merged. Their later history is one with that of the Houma.
Population
Mooney (1928) estimated that in
1650 the population of the Acolapissa and the Tangipahoa together was 1,500. My
own calculation as of 1698 is 1,050, based on La Harpe's (1831) estimate of 300
Acolapissa warriors in 1699 and Iberville 's estimate of 250 families 3 years
later. In 1722 Charlevoix states that there were 200 warriors and in 1739 there
are said to have been of the Acolapissa, Houma and Bayogoula together 90 to 100
warriors of and 270 to 300 people exclusive of children.
Resources:
Notes About the Book:
Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
|
|
Pre-Order Family Tree Maker 2012!!!