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. Also
called:
Ananis
Anaxis
Annocchy, early French spellings intended for Taneks
Polu'ksalgi, Creek name.
Connections. They belonged to the Siouan linguistic family.
Location. Their earliest historical location was on the lower course of
Pascagoula River. (See also Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.)
Villages. None are known except those hearing the name of the
tribe, unless we assume the "Moctobi" or "Capinans" to be a part of them.
These, however, may have been merely synonyms of the tribal name.
History. It is possible that the Biloxi are the Capitanesses who appear
west of Susquehanna River on early Dutch charts. On the De Crenay map of
1733, a Biloxi town site appears on the right bank of the Alabama River, a
little above the present Clifton in Wilcox County, Ala. This was probably
occupied by the Biloxi during their immigration from the north.
Individuals belonging to the tribe were met by Iberville on his first
expedition to Louisiana in 1699, and in June of the same year his brother
Bienville visited them. In 1700 Iberville found their town abandoned and
does not mention encountering the people themselves, though they may have
been sharing the Pascagoula village at which he made a short stop. A few
years later, Pénicaut says (1702-23), St. Denis persuaded the Biloxi to
abandon their village and settle on a small bayou near New Orleans but by
1722 they had returned a considerable distance toward their old home and
were established on the former terrain of the Acolapissa Indians on Pearl
River. They continued in this neighborhood and close to the Pascagoula
until 1763, when French government east of the Mississippi came to an end.
Soon afterward, although we do not know the exact date, they moved to
Louisiana and settled not far from Marksville. They soon moved farther up
Red River and still later to Bayou Boeuf. Early in the nineteenth century
they sold their lands, and, while part of them remained on the river, a
large body migrated to Texas and settled on Biloxi Bayou, in Angelina
County. All of these afterward left, either to return to Louisiana or to
settle in Oklahoma. A few Biloxi are still living in Rapides Parish, La.,
and there are said to be some in the Choctaw Nation, but the tribe is now
practically extinct. In 1886 the Siouan relationship of their language was
established by Dr. Gatschet of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and a
considerable record of it was obtained by Mr. James O. Dorsey of the same
institution in 1892-93. (See Dorsey and Swanton, 1912.)
Population.-On the basis of the imperfect records available, I have
made the following estimates of Biloxi population at different periods:
420 in 1698, 175 in 1720, 105 in 1805, 65 in 1829, 6-8 in 1908. Mooney
(1928) estimated that this tribe, the Pascagoula, and the "Moctobi"
might number 1,000 in 1650.
Connection in which they have become noted. The Biloxi are remark
able
(1) as having spoken a Siouan dialect unlike all of their neighbors
with one possible exception;
(2) as the tribe first met by Iberville when
he reached the coast of Louisiana and established the French colony of that name;
(3) as having furnished the names of the
first two capitals of Louisiana, Old and New Biloxi; that of the present
Biloxi, Miss.; and the name of Biloxi Bay.
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."
Connections. They spoke a Muskhogean language very close to Choctaw, and
it is practically certain from the fact that their emblem was the red
crawfish that they had separated from the Chakchiuma.
Location. The earliest known location of the Houma was on the east side of
the Mississippi River some miles inland and close to the
Mississippi-Louisiana boundary line, perhaps near the present Pinckney, Miss. (See also Louisiana.)
Villages. At one time the people of this tribe were distributed
between a Little Houma village 2 leagues below the head of Bayou La
Fourche and a Great Houma village half a league inland from it. This was
after they had moved from their
earlier home.
History. La Salle heard of the Houma in 1682, but be did not visit them.
Tonti made an alliance with them 4 years later, and in 1699 their village
was the highest on the Mississippi reached by Iberville before returning
to his ships. In 1700 Iberville visited them again and left a missionary
among them to build a church, which was an accomplished fact when Gravier
reached the tribe in November of the same year. A few years later the
Tunica, who had been impelled to leave their old town, were hospitably
received by this tribe, but in 1706 they rose upon their hosts, destroyed
part of them, and drove the rest down the Mississippi. These reestablished
themselves on Bayou St. John near New Orleans, but not long afterward they reascended the river to the present Ascension Parish and remained there
for a considerable period. In 1776 they sold a part at least of their
lands to two French Creoles but seem to have remained in the neighborhood
until some years after the purchase of Louisiana by the United States. By
1805 some had gone to live with the Atakapa near Lake Charles. Most of the
remainder appear to have drifted slowly across to the coast districts of
Terrebonne and La Fourche Parishes, where their descendants, with Creole
and some Negro admixture, still live.
Population. Mooney (1928) estimates a Houma population in 1650 of 1,000.
In 1699 Iberville gives 140 cabins and about 350 warriors, while the
Journal of the second vessel in this expedition gives a population of
600-700. In 1718, after the tribe had suffered from both pestilence and
massacre, La Harpe estimates 60 cabins and 200 warriors. In 1739 a French
officer who passed their town rates the number of their warriors at 90-100
and the whole population at 270300. In 1758 there is an estimate of 60
warriors and in 1784 one of 25 while, in 1803, the total Houma population
is placed at 60. In 1907
the native estimate of mixed-blood population calling itself Houma
was 800-900, but the census of 1910 returned only 125 Indians from
Terrebonne. To these there should probably be added some from
La Fourche but not a number sufficient to account for the discrepancy.
In 1920, 639 were returned and in 1930, 936 from Terrebonne besides
11 from La Fourche. Speck estimates double the number.
Connection in which they have become noted. Houma, the capital of
Terrebonne Parish, preserves the name.
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." Also called:
Yoron, their own name.
Connections. They were the leading tribe of the Tunica group of the
Tunican stock, the latter including also the Chitimacha and Atakapa.
Location. On the lower course of Yazoo River, on the south side about 4
French leagues from its mouth. (See also Arkansas.)
History. There is evidence that tribes belonging to the Tunica group were
encountered by De Soto west of the Mississippi and very probably the name
of the tribe is preserved in that of the town of Tanico mentioned by Elvas
(in Robertson, 1933), where people made salt, for in later years we find
the Tunica engaged in the making and selling of this commodity. An early
location for them on the eastern side of the Mississippi is indicated by
the "Tunica Oldfields" near Friar Point, not many miles below Helena, Ark.
The name appears on Marquette's map (1673) but there they are wrongly
placed. In 1682 La Salle and his companions learned of this tribe, then
located as given above, but neither he nor his lieutenant Tonti visited
them on this or any subsequent expedition, though they learned of Tunica
villages in the salt-making region of northeastern Louisiana. The Yazoo
town of the tribe was first seen, apparently, by three missionary priests
from Canada, one of whom, Father Davion, established himself among them in
1699. In 1702 he fled from his charges, but two or three years later was
induced by them to return, and he remained among them for about 15 years
more. In 1706 this tribe left the Yazoo and were received into the Houma
town nearly opposite the mouth of Red River, but later, according to La
Harpe (1831), they rose upon their hosts and killed more than half of
them, and for a long period they continued to live in the region they had
thus appropriated. They Were firm friends of the French and rendered them
invaluable service in all difficulties with the tribes higher up, and
particularly against the Natchez, but in 1719 or 1720 Davion was so much
discouraged at the Meager results of his efforts that he left them. The
anger excited against them by their support of the French resulted in an
attack by a large party of Natchez and their allies in 1731 in which both
sides suffered severely and the head chief of the Tunica was killed. The Tunica remained in the same region until some time
between 1784 at 1803, when they moved up Red River and settled close to
the present
Marksville, La., on the land the Avoyel Indian village which they claimed
to have bought from Avoyel tribe. Before this event took place in
company with the Ofo, Avoyel and some Choctaw, they
attacked the pirogues of a British expedition ascending the Mississippi,
killed six men, wounded seven, and compelled the rest to turn back. A few
families descended from the Tunica are still settled on the site
just mentioned, which forms a small reservation. Sibley (1832) says
that in his time Tunica had settled among the Atakapa, and it was
perhaps some of their descendants of whom Dr. Gatschet heard as
living near Beaumont, Tex., about 1886. Mooney (1928) learned of some Tunica
families in the southern part of the Choctaw Nation, Okla., but they had
lost their old language.
Population. Mooney (1828) estimated that in 1650 the total population of the Tunica, Yazoo, Koroa, and
Ofo was 2,000, and this
very figure, except that it does not include the Koroa, is given by the
missionary De Montigny in 1699. My own figure for the same date is
somewhat higher, 2,450, out of which I estimate about 1,575 were Tunics.
In 1719 the the number of Tunica was conjectured to be 460
and in 1803, 50 to 60, through a second statement of about the same
period gives 25 warriors. Morse (1822) reports 30 Tunica in Louisiana.
The census of 1910 gives 43 Tunica in all, but among some Indians of
other tribes and there were many mixed bloods. The census of 1930 gives
only 1, he being the only one who could speak the old language.
Connections in which they have
become noted; The Tunica were
prominent in history
(1) from the fact their language was the principal dialect of a stock on the lower
Mississippi which received
its name from them,
(2) for their sedentary character,
(3)
devotion to the French interest and their part in the Natchez wars,
(4) from the perpetuation of a their name in Tunica County, and
Tunica Oldfields, Miss., and a post village of the name in West
Feliciana Parish, La.
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.
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