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Natchitoches
Confederacy Indian History
Natchitoches
Confederacy. The word "Natchitoches" is generally supposed to be
derived from "nashitosh", the native word for pawpaw but an early Spanish
writer, Jose Antonio Pichardo, was told that it was from a native word
"nacicit" signifying "a place where the soil is the color of red ochre,"
and that it was applied originally to a small creek in their neighborhood
running through red soil. The following are synonyms:
Nachittoos, Yoakum, 1855-56, vol. 1, p. 392.
Nachtichoukas, Jefferys, 1761, pt. 1, p. 164.
Nacitos, Linares (1716) in Margry, 1875-86, vol. 6, p. 217.
Nactythos, Iberville (1699) in Margry, 1880, 1875-86, vol. 4, p.
178.
Nadchito, Bienville (1700), in Margry, 1875-86, vol. 4, p. 434.
Naketosh, Gatschet, Caddo and Yatassi MS., p. 77, B. A. E.
Napgitache, McKenney and Hall, 1854, vol. 3, p. 82.
Naquitoches, Belle-Isle (1721), in Margry, 1875-86, vol. 6, p. 341.
Nashi'tosh, Mooney, 1896, p. 1092.
Nasitti, Joutel (1687) in Margry, 1875-86, vol. 3, p. 409.
Natsytos, Iberville (1699) in Margry, 1875-86, vol. 4, p. 178.
Notchitoches, Carver, 1778, map.
Yatchitcohes, Lewis and Clark, 1840, p. 142.
As part of the Caddo, the same terms were applied to
them as appear under Kadohadacho.
Connections
They belonged to the Caddo
division of the Caddoan linguistic stock, their nearest relatives being the
Indians of the Kadohadacho and Hasinai Confederacies.
Location
In northwestern Louisiana.
Subdivisions
Doustioni, appearing sometimes as Souchitioni, a small tribe near the
present
Natchitoches.
Natchitoches, close to the present site of Natchitoches.
Ouachita, on Ouachita River not far from the present Columbia. Yatasi, on
Red River near Shreveport.
A tribe called Capiché
is mentioned by Tonti, but it is otherwise never referred to. Another
called Nakasa, Nakasé, Natches or
Natache was probably a part of the Yatasi, and Tonti mentions a tribe
called Choye, probably the Chaye of Joutel (1713, as a people associated
with the Yatasi. At a relatively late date part of the Yatasi went to live
with the Indians of the Kadohadacho Confederation while the rest settled
close to the Natchitoches. History
Moscoso, De Soto's successor,
perhaps encountered some of the tribes of this group though his route lay
farther north and west. On February 17, 1690, Tonti reached the villages of
these Indians coming from the Taensa on Lake St. Joseph, and went on up the
river to the Kadohadacho, visiting the Yatasi
on the way. In March 1700 Bienville followed the same route from the
Taensa and reached the Natchitoches Indians in April, stopping at the
Ouachita town en route. He went up Red River as far as the Yatasi and then
returned to Biloxi. In 1702 the Natchitoches tribe, having lost their
crops, descended the Red River and the Mississippi to the French fort near
the mouth of the latter, then commanded by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis,
who received them kindly and sent them to live with the Acolapissa Indians
on Lake Pontchartrain. A few years later St. Denis visited the
Natchitoches country himself. In 1707 four Indians of this tribe took part
in an expedition against the Chitimacha to avenge the death of the
missionary St. Cosme. In 1713-14 St. Denis sent for the Natchitoches
Indians in order to take them back to their old country, where he had
planned to establish a post. On learning of the intentions of their
neighbors, the Acolapissa Indians fell upon them, killed 17 and captured
50 women and girls, but the latter were apparently recovered soon
afterward and all were returned to their old town, where the post was
established according to plan in 1714. From this time until his death St.
Denis' career was intimately bound up with this post and the Indians about
it, though he was frequently engaged in expeditions into and across Texas.
He was formally appointed commandant of the post July 1, 1720, and
retained it until his death in June 1744. In 1731, with the assistance of
his Indians and a detachment of soldiers from the Spanish post of Adai, he
won a signal victory over a large body of Natchez Indians, the only
clear-cut advantage which the French gained in the Natchez War. In the
meantime Natchitoches had become the center of a flourishing trade with
the Indians extending far to the north and west, and when St. Denis died
his son, Louis de St. Denis continued to enjoy the advantages of it and to
share the prestige of his father. During all of this time, however, the
Natchitoches Indians seem to have been decreasing, and toward the end of
the eighteenth century they parted with most of their lands to French
Creoles, though their relations with the latter seem to have been
uniformly cordial. Part of them remained in their old country permanently
and either died out or mixed with the newcomers, while the rest joined
their relatives of the Kadohadacho and Hasinai Confederations and followed
their fortunes.
Population
In 1700 Bienville estimated that
there were 400-450 warriors in the Natchitoches Confederacy, but in 1718 he
reported that the number had fallen to 80, while La Harpe (1831) reported a
total population of 150-200. In 1805 Sibley (1832) reported 52 warriors and for
the Natchitoches tribe by itself, 32, and 20 years later a total population of
61 was returned. An estimate of 1,000 for all of these tribes before White
contact would probably be ample.
Connection in which they have
become noted
The city of Natchitoches, La., is
named after this group of tribes and is noteworthy as the oldest permanent
settlement in the State. The victory which they enabled St. Denis to win over
the Natchez Indians occupies a noteworthy place in the history of the section.
Additional 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.
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