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Missouri Indian Tribe History
Missouri
Missouri ('great muddy,' referring to Missouri
river). A tribe of the Chiwere group of the Siouan family. Their
name for themselves is Niútachi.
According to Gale the early form of the word Missouri is Algonquian,
of the Illinois dialect. The most closely allied tribes are the
Iowa and the
Oto.
According to tradition, after having parted from the
Winnebago at Green bay,
the Iowa, Missouri, and Oto moved westward to Iowa river,
where the Iowa stopped. The rest continued westward, reaching the
Missouri at the mouth of Grand river. Here, on account of some
dispute, the Oto withdrew and moved farther up Missouri river.
Marquette's autograph map of 1673, which is perhaps the earliest authentic notice of the tribe,
locates the Semesssrit on Missouri river, apparently as far north as
the Platte. Joutel (1087) appears to have been the first writer to
use the name Missouri in this form. It is stated that Tonti met the
tribe a day and half's journey from the Village of the Tamaroa,
which was on the Mississippi, 6 leagues below Illinois river. About
the beginning of the 18th century the French found them on the left
bank of the Missouri, near the mouth of Grand river, and built a
fort on an island near them. They continued to dwell in this
locality until about 1800. According to Bourgmont (Margry, Dec., vi, 393, 1886) their
village in 1723 was 30 leagues below Kansas river and 60 leagues
below the principal Kansa village. About 1798 they were conquered
and dispersed by the Sauk and
Fox tribes and their allies. Five
or six lodges joined the Osage, two or three took refuge with the
Kansa, and some amalgamated with the
Oto, but they soon recovered, as in 1805 Lewis and Clark found them in villages south of Platte river, having abandoned their settlements on Grand river some time previously on account of smallpox.
George Bates
They were visited again by an epidemic in 1823. Although
their number was estimated in 1702 at 200 families and in 1805 by
Lewis and Clark at 300 souls, in 1829, when they were found with the
Oto, they numbered only 80. Having been unfortunate in a war with
the Osage, part of them joined the Iowa, and the others went to tho
Oto previous to the migration of the latter to Big Platte river. In
1842 their Village stood on the bank of Platte river, Nebr. They
accompanied the Oto when that tribe removed in 1882 to Indian
Territory. There were only 40 individuals of the tribe remaining in
1885. They are now officially classed with the Oto, together
numbering 368 in 1905 under the Oto school superintendent in
Oklahoma. The gentes, as given by Dorsey (15th Rep. 11. A. E., 240,
1897) were:
Tunanpin ( Black bear),
Hotachi (Elk), and
Cheghita (Eagle) or Wakanta (Thunder-bird).
The Missouri joined in the following treaties with the United States:
(1) Peace treaty of June 24, 1817;
(2) Ft Atkinson, ,Ia., Sept. 26, 1825, regulating trade and
relations with the United States;
(3) Prairie du Chien, Wis. July 15, 1830, ceding lands in Iowa Ad
Missouri;
(4) Oto Village, Nebr., Sept. 21, 1833, ceding certain lands;
(5) Bellevue, upper Missouri r., Oct. 15, 1836, ceding certain
lauds;
(6) Washington, Mar. 15, 1854, ceding lands, with certain
reservation;
(7) Nebraska City, Nebr., Dec. 9, 1854, changing boundary of
reservation.
Morgan (Beach, Ind. Miscel., 220, 1877) used the term
Missouri Indians to include the Ponca,
Omaha, Kansa, Quapaw,
Iowa,
Oto, and Missouri. These are
the Southern tribes of Hale (Am. Antiq., v, 112, 1883), and the
Dhegiha and Chiwere groups of J. O. Dorsey.
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
Handbook
of American Indians, 1906
Index of Tribes or Nations
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