Indian A Tribes

Agawam | Allakaweah | Armouchiquois | Attacapan | Aucocisco

Agawam (Agawom) (fish-curing [place], Hewitt. 
     A name of frequent occurrence in south New England and on the Long Island, and by which was designated at least 3 Indian villages or tribes in Massachusetts.
     The most important was at Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts.  The site was sold by the chief in 1638.  Its jurisdiction included the land on Newbury River, and the tribe was a part of the Pennacook confederacy.  It was almost extinct in 1658, but as late as 1726 there were still 3 families living near Wigwam hill.
     The second tribe or band of that name had its chief town on Long hill, near Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts.  Springfield was sold in 1635 and the Indian town was in existence in 1675.  This tribe was commonly classed with the Pacomtuc.
     The third was about Wareham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the site of which was sold in 1655.  It was probably subject to the Wampanoag, but joined in the plot against the English in 1621. Handbook of American Indians

Allakaweah (Al-la-ká'-we-áh, 'Paunch Indians')
     The name applied by a tribe which Lewis and Clark (Trav., 25. Lond., 1897) located on Yellowstone and Bighorn Rivers, Montana, with 800 warriors and 2,300 souls.  This is exactly the country occupied at the same time by the Crows, and although these latter are mentioned as distinct, it is probably that they were meant, or perhaps a Crow band, more particularly as the Crows are known to their cousins, the Hidatsa, q. v., as the "people who refused the paunch."  The mane seems not to have reference to the Gros Ventres.

Armouchiquois (apparently a French corruption of Alemousiski, 'land of the little dog,' from allum 'dog' ousis deminutive, ac or auk 'land', "for there wer many little dogs in the prairies of this territory." --Maurault).  The name given by the Abnaki to the counrty of the Indians of the New England coast south of Sacro river, Maine. Williason (hist of Maine, 1, 477, 1832) says they were the Marechites (Malecite) of St. John's River, but Champlain, who visited the Armouchiquois country, says that it lies beyond, that is south of Choüacoet (Sokoki), and that the language differed from that of the Souriquois (Micmac) and the Etchimin.  Laverdière affirms that "the French called Almouchiquois several peoples or tribes that the English included under the term Massachusetts."
     According to Parkman (Jesuits in North America xxi, 1867) the term included the Algonquian tribes of New England--Mohegan, Pequot, Massachuset, Marraganset and others "in a chronic state of war with the tribes of New Brunswick and Mova Scotia."

Attacapan Family A linguistic family consisting solely of the Attacapa tribe, although there is linguistic evidence of at least 2 dialects. Under this name were formerly comprised several bands settled in south Louisiana and northeast Texas.  Although this designation was given them by their Choctaw neighbors on the east, these bands with one or two exceptions, do not appear in history under any other general name.
     Formerly the Karankawa and several other tribes were included with the Attacapa, but the bocabularies of Martin Duralde and of Gatschet show that the Attacapa language is distinct from all others.  Investigations by Gatschet in Calcasieu, Parish, Louisiana in 1885, show that there were at least two dialects of this family spoken at the beginning of the 19th century, an eastern dialect, represented in the vocabulary of Duralde, recorded in 1802, and a western dialect, spoken on the 3 lakes forming the outlet of Calcasieu River. See Powell in 7th Rep. B.A.E., 56, 1891.

Aucocisco The name of the territory about Casco Bay and Presumpscot River, in the area now included in Cumberland County, Maine. 
     It was also sometimes applied to those Abnaki Indians by whom it was occupied.  Since the section was settled at an early date by the whites, the name soon dropped out of use as applied to the Indians, or rather it was changed to "Casco," but this was a mere local designation, not a tribal distinction, as the Indians referred to were Abnaki. 
     The proper form of the word is given by Willis as Uh-kos-is-co, 'crane' or 'heron,' the first syllable being guttural.  These birds still frequent the bay.  It is said by Willis to have been the Indian name of Falmouth (Portland), Maine.

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