Mississippi Indian Tribes

Acolapissa

When first known to Europeans, this tribe lived on Pearl River, partly in what is now Mississippi, partly in Louisiana, but they were more closely associated with Louisiana in later times and will be treated among the tribes of that State. (See Louisiana.)

Biloxi

Apparently a corruption of their own name Taneks aⁿya, "first people," filtered over the tongues of other Indians. See Biloxi Location

Capinans

The name of a body of Indians connected in French with the Biloxi and Pascagoula and probably a branch references with of one of them.

Chakchiuma

Proper spelling Shåktci homma, meaning "Red Crawfish [People."

Connections. They spoke a dialect closely related to Choctaw and Chickasaw. Their nearest relatives were the Houma, who evidently separated from them in very recent times.

Location. In the eighteenth century on Yalobusha River where it empties into the Yazoo but at an early period extending to the head of the Yalobusha and eastward between the territories of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes as far as West Point.

Subdivisions. A French map dated about 1697 seems to call that section of the tribe on Yazoo River, Sabougla, though these may have been a branch of the Sawokli. (See Georgia.)

History. According to tradition, this tribe came from the west at the same time as the Chickasaw and Choctaw and settled between them. When De Soto was among the Chickasaw, an expedition was directed against the Chakchiuma "who the [Chickasaw) Cacique said had rebelled," but their town was abandoned and on fire. It was claimed that they had planned treachery against the Spaniards. The chief of the tribe at this time was Miko Lusa (Black Chief). After the French settlement of Louisiana a missionary was killed by these people and in revenge the French stirred up the neighboring tribes to attack them. They are said to have been reduced very considerably in consequence. Afterward, they remained closely allied with the
French, assisted them after the Natchez outbreak, and their chief was appointed leader of the Indian auxiliaries in the contemplated attack upon the Chickasaw in 1739. The animosity thus excited probably resulted in their destruction by the Chickasaw and absorption into the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes. From De Crenay's map it appears that a part had. gone to live with the Chickasaw by 1733.
The rest may have gone to the Choctaw, for a band bearing their name constituted an important division of that nation. Tradition states that they were destroyed by united efforts of the Chickasaw and Choctaw, but the latter were uniformly allied with the French and hostile to the Chickasaw when this alliance is supposed been in existence.

Population. Mooney (1928) estimates 1,200 souls among the Chakchiuma, Ibitoupa, Taposa, and Tiou in 1650; exclusive of the Tiou, my own would be 750. In 1699 they are said to have occupied 70 cabins. In 1702 it is claimed that there were 400 families, which in 1704 had been reduced to 80, but probably the first figure is an exaggeration. About 1718-30 there were 50 Chakchiuma cabins and in 1722 the total population is placed at 150.

Chickasaw

See Chickasaw.

Choctaw

See Choctaw

Choula

Bernard de La Harpe gives this as the name of a small tribe of 40 individuals on the Yazoo River. There is some reason to think it was applied to a part of the Ibitoupa tribe.

The name means "fox" in Chickasaw and Choctaw.

Grigra

Said to have been given them from the frequent occurrence of these two syllables in their speech. They sometimes appear as the "Gray Village" of the Natchez.

Connections. The fact that the language of this tribe contained an r suggests a probable relationship with the tribes of the Tunican group.

Location. When first known to us, it formed one of the Natchez villages on St. Catherines Creek, Miss.

Villages. Only one village is mentioned called by a shorter form of the name given to the tribe, Gris or Gras.

History. The Grigra had been adopted by the Natchez at an earlier period than the Tiou and, like them, may once have resided on Yazoo River, but there is no absolute proof of this. They are mentioned as one of three Natchez tribes belonging to the anti-French faction. Otherwise their history is identical with that of the Natchez.

Population. One estimate made about 1720-25 gives about 60 warriors.

Houma

Literally "red," but evidently an abbreviation of saktcihomma, "red crawfish." See Houma Location

Ibitoupa

Meaning probably, people "at, the source of" a stream or river.

Connections. No words of this language are known unless the tribal name itself is native, but from this and Le Page du Pratz's (1758) statement that their language, unlike that of the Tunica group, was without an r, there is every reason to class it as Muskhogean and closely related to Chackchiuma, Chickasaw, and Choctaw.

Location. On Yazoo River in the present Holmes County, perhaps between Abyatche and Chicopa Creeks.

Villages. Only one village is known, and that called by the tribal name, though it is possible that the Choula, (q. v.) mentioned by La Harpe were an offshoot.

History. The Ibitoupa are mentioned in 1699 by Iberville, and in Coxe's Carolana (1705). Before 1722 they had moved higher up and were 3 leagues above the Chakchiuma (q. v.), who were then probably at the mouth of the Yalobusha. They probably united with the Chickasaw soon after the Natchez War, though they may first have combined with the Chakchiuma and Taposa. They were perhaps related to the people of the Choctaw towns called Ibetap okla.

Population. All that we know of the population of the Ibitoupa is that in 1722 it occupied 6 cabins; in the same year there are said to have been 40 Choula, a possible offshoot.

Connection in which their name has become noted. It seems to have been the original of the name of Tippo Bayou, Miss.

Koasati

A band of Koasati moved from Alabama to Tombigbee River in 1763 but returned to their old country a few years later impelled by the hostilities of their new neighbors. (See Alabama.)

Koroa

Meaning unknown.

Also called:
   Kúlua, Choctaw name, the Muskhogean people being unable to pronounce r readily.

Connections. The name and associations, together with Le Page du Pratz's (1758) statement that their language possessed an r sound, are practically conclusive proof that this tribe belonged to the Tunican linguistic group.

Location. The Koroa appear oftenest in association with the Yazoo on the lower course. of Yazoo River, but at the very earliest period they were on the banks of the Mississippi or in the interior of what is now Louisiana on the other side of that river. (See also Louisiana.)

Villages. None are known under any other name.

History. In the De Soto narratives a people is mentioned called Coligua and Colima which may be the one under discussion. If not, the first appearance of the Koroa in history is on Marquette's map applying to 1673, though they are there misplaced. The La Salle narratives introduce us, apparently, to two tribes of the name, one on Yazoo River, the other below Natchez, but there are reasons for thinking that the latter was the tribe elsewhere called Tiou. In Tonti's account of his expedition overland to the Red River in 1690 we learn of a Koroa town west of the Mississippi, and also of a Koroa River. In 1700 Bienville also learned of a trans-Mississippi Koroa settlement. From the time of Tonti's expedition to the mouth of the Mississippi in 1686 there seems to have been a Koroa town on or near the lower Yazoo, as mentioned above. When the Natchez outbreak occurred, this tribe and the Yazoo joined them and destroyed the French post on Yazoo River, but they suffered severely from Indians allied with the French and probably retired soon afterward to the Chickasaw, though part, and perhaps all of them, ultimately settled among the Choctaw. The Choctaw chief Allen Wright claimed to be of Koroa descent.

Population. Mooney (1928) estimates that there were 2,000 Koroa, Yazoo, Tunica, and Ofo in 1650. Le Page du Pratz places the number of Koroa cabins in his time at 40. In 1722 the total population of the Koroa, Yazoo, and Ofo is given as 250, and in 1730 the last estimate of the Koroa and Yazoo together gives 40 warriors, or perhaps 100 souls.

Moctobi

This name appears in the narratives of the first settlement of Louisiana, in 1699, applied to a tribe living with or near the Biloxi and Pascagoula. It is perhaps the name of the latter in the Biloxi language, or a subdivision of the Biloxi themselves, and is best treated in connection with the latter.

Natchez

See Natchez

Ofo

or Ofogoula, see Mosopelea under Ohio.

Okelousa

A tribe living at one time in northern Mississippi. (See Louisiana.)

Pascagoula

"Bread people."

Also called:
   Mfskigula, Biloxi name.

Connections. They were probably Muskhogeans although closely associated with the Siouan Biloxi.

Location. Their earliest known location was on the river which still bears their name, about 16 French leagues from its mouth. (See also Louisiana and Texas.)

Villages. Unknown, but see Biloxi.

History. Iberville heard of the Pascagoula in 1699 when he made the first permanent settlement in Louisiana. That summer his brother Bienville visited them, and the following winter another brother, Sauvolle, who had been left in charge of the post, received several Pascagoula visitors. Some Frenchmen visited the Pascagoula town the next spring and Pénicaut (in Margry, 1875-86, vol. 5) has left an interesting account of them. In Le Page du Pratz's time (early eighteenth century) they were on the coast, but they did not move far from this region as long as France retained possession of the country. When French rule ended the Pascagoula passed over to Louisiana and settled first on the Mississippi River and later on Red River at its junction with the Rigolet du Bon Dieu. In 1795 they moved to Bayou Boeuf and established themselves between a band of Choctaw and the Biloxi. Early in the nineteenth century all three tribes sold these lands. A part of the Pascagoula remained in Louisiana for a considerable period, Morse mentioning two distinct bands, but a third group accompanied some Biloxi to Texas and lived for a time on what came to be called Biloxi Bayou, 15 miles above its junction with the Neches. I have been able to find no Indians in Louisiana claiming Pascagoula descent, but in 1914 there were two among the Alabama who stated that their mother was of this tribe, their father having been a Biloxi.

Population. Mooney (1928) estimates that in 1650 there were 1,000 all told of the Biloxi, Pascagoula, and Moctobi. My own estimate for about the year 1698 is 875 of whom I should allow 455 to the Pascagoula. In 1700 Iberville states that there were 20 families, which would mean that they occupied the same number of cabins, but Le Page du Pratz raises this to 30. In 1758 the Pascagoula, Biloxi, and Chatot are estimated to have had about 100 warriors. In 1805 Sibley (1832) gives 25 among the Pascagoula alone. Morse (1822) estimates a total Pascagoula population of 240, and Schoolcraft (1851-57) cites authority for 111 Pascagoula in 1829. This is the last statement we have bearing upon the point.

Connection in which they have become noted. The Pascagoula tribe is of some note as a constant companion of the Siouan Biloxi, and from the fact that it has bequeathed its name to Pascagoula River, Pascagoula Bay, and Pascagoula Port, Miss.

Pensacola

This tribe moved inland from Pensacola Bay near the end of the seventeenth century and in 1725--26 had established themselves near the Biloxi on Pearl River. (See Florida.)

Quapaw

When the French discovered this tribe in 1673 one town was on the east side of the Mississippi, but before 1700 it moved to the western bank. (See Arkansas.)

Taposa

Meaning unknown.

Connections. As this tribe is said to have been allied with the Chickasaw and, unlike the Tunica and Tiou, did not have an r sound in their language, there is every reason to suppose that they belonged to the Muskhogean stock. Probably they were most closely affiliated with their neighbors, the Chakchiuma and Chickasaw.

Location. Their earliest known location was on Yazoo River a few miles above the Chakchiuma.

History. The Taposa are first mentioned by Iberville in and the missionary De Montigny, in 1699. On the De Crenay map of 1733 (1910) their village is placed very close to that of the Chakchiuma, whose fortunes they probably followed.

Population. The only hint as to the size of this tribe is given by Le Page du Pratz who says that the Taposa had about 25 cabins, half the number he assigns to the Chakchiuma. Other writers usually include them with the Chakchiuma.

Tiou

Meaning unknown. The name has occasionally been misprinted "Sioux," thus causing confusion with the famous Sioux or Dakota of Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Connections. The Tiou are proved by a statement of Diron d'Artaguiette (1916) to have belonged to the Tunica linguistic group of the Tunican family.

Location. Their earliest location was near the upper course of Yazoo River; later they lived a little south of the Natchez and then among them.

History. Shortly before 1697 the Tiou appear to have been in the locality first mentioned, and a map 1699 towns of that date seems to give two Tiou, one above the Tunica and one below them. By 1699 part had settled among the Natchez, having been drive them their former homes, according to Le Page du Pratz (1758), by the Chickasaw. Before establishing themselves finally with the Natchez, they seem to have lived for a time a short distance below them on the Mississippi River, where La Salle and his companions speak of them as Koroa. Part of the tribe appears to have remained on the Yazoo for some years after the rest had left. At a later period the Bayogoula called in Tiou and Acolapissato take the place of the Mugulasha  with whom they had formerly lived and whom they had destroyed.  Soon after Fort Rosalie had been built, the Tiou sold the lands upon which they had settled to the Sieur Roussin and  moved elsewhere. lands After they the Natchez massacre the hostile Indians sent them to the Tunica in a vain endeavor to induce the latter to declare against the French. In 1731, if we may trust a statement by Charlevoix, they were utterly cut off by the Quapaw, and while the completeness of this destruction may well be doubted, we hear nothing of them afterward.

Population. No estimate of Tiou population separate from that of the Natchez is known.

Tunica

Meaning "the people," or "those who are the people." See Tunica Location

Yazoo

Meaning unknown.

Connections. The associations of this tribe with the Koroa and the fact that their language contained an r sound make reasonably certain that they belonged to the Tunican group and stock.

Location. On the south side of Yazoo River about 4 French leagues above its mouth. (See also Arkansas.)

 History. The Yazoo appear to have been the first of the tribes living on the lower part of the Yazco River to have established themselves there, and hence it was from them that the stream received its name. They are mentioned by La Salle and his companions in connection with their voyage to the mouth of the Mississippi in 1682. A French post was established near them in 1718, and in 1727 a Jesuit missionary, Father Seuel, settled nearby. In 1729, however, the Yazoo joined the Natchez in their uprising, murdered the missionary, and massacred the French garrison. Their subsequent fortunes were identical with those of the Koroa, and they were probably absorbed into the Chickasaw or Choctaw. It is not improbable that there is some connection between the name of this tribe and that of two of the Yazoo towns among the Choctaw, but if so it goes back beyond recorded history.

Population. I have estimated that in 1698 there were somewhat more than 600 Yazoo and Koroa together. In 1700 Gravier reported 30 Yazoo cabins, but a quarter of a century later Le Page du Pratz (1758) estimated 100. In 1722 the Yazoo, Koroa, and Ofo together are said to have numbered 250. In 1730, however, the number of Yazoo and Koroa warriors is placed at 40.

Connection in which they have become noted. The Yazoo are noted principally from the fact that they have transmitted their name to Yazoo River, Miss., and secondarily to Yazoo County and its capital city, in the same State.

Additional Resources

• 1835 Cherokee East of the Mississippi Census

• Cooper Roll ~ 1855

• Bluff Springs Baptist Church Cemetery, Emporia, Webster County

• Society of Mississippi Choctaw 1914

• 1933 Mississippi Choctaw Claimants

• 1916 Reeves Report

• Mississippi Honored War Dead, World War II

• Mississippi Indians Wounded in Action, World War II

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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