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Apalachee Indian History
One of the principal
native tribes of Florida, formerly holding the region north of the bay now
called by the name, from about the neighborhood of Pensacola east to
Ocilla River. The chief towns were about the present Tallahassee and St
Marks. They were of Muskhogean stock, and linguistically more nearly
related to the Choctaw than to the
Creeks.
The name is of uncertain etymology, but is believed by
Gatschet to be from the
Choctaw A‘palachi, signifying
'(people) on the other side.' The Apalachee were
visited by the expeditions under Narvaez in 1528 and DeSoto in 1539, and
the latter made their country his winter head quarters on account of its
abundant resources for subsistence. The people were agricultural,
industrious and prosperous, and noted above all the surrounding tribes for
their fighting qualities, of which the Spanish adventurers had good proof.
They continued resistance to the Spanish occupancy until after the year
1600, but were finally subdued and Christianized, their country becoming
the most important center of missionary effort in Florida next to the St
Augustine (Timucua) district. In 1655 they had 8 considerable towns, each
with a Franciscan mission, besides smaller settlements, and a total
population of 6,000 to 8,000. Their prosperity continued until about the
year 1700, when they began to suffer front the raids by the wild
Creek tribes to the north, instigated by
the English government of Carolina, the Apalachee themselves being
strongly in the Spanish interest. These attacks culminated in the year
1703, when a powerful expedition under Gov. Moore of Carolina, consisting
of a company of white troops with a thousand armed savage allies of
various tribes, invaded the Apalachee country, destroyed the towns and
missions, with their fields and orange groves, killed the Spanish garrison
commander and more than 200 Apalachee warriors, and carried off 1,400 of
the tribe into slavery. Another expedition about a year later ravaged the
neighboring territory and completed the destruction. The remnants of the
Apalachee became fugitives among the friendly tribes or fled for
protection to the French at Mobile, and although an effort was made by one
of the Christian chiefs in 1718 to gather some of them into new mission
villages (Soledad and San Luis) near Pensacola, the result was only
temporarily successful. A part of the deported Apalachee were colonized by
the Carolina government on Savannah River, at a settlement known as
Palachoocla (Palachi-okla), or Apalachicola, but were finally merged into
the Creeks. Those who settled under French protection near Mobile crossed
the Mississippi into Louisiana after the cession of Florida to England in
1763, and continued to preserve their name and identity as late, at least,
as 1804, when 14 families were still living on Bayou Rapide. Among the
principal Apalachee towns or mission settlements of certain identification
are;
Apalachee (1528-39 and later, believed to have been near the present
Tallahassee) Avavalla
Ivitachuco
San Marcos
San Juan
Santa Cruz
San Luis (1718)
Soledad (1718)
Index of Tribes or Nations
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