Yuchi ('situated yonder,' probably given by some Indians
of the tribe in answer to the inquiry "Who are you?" or " Whence come
you?"). A tribe coextensive with the Uchean family. Recent investigations
point strongly to the conclusion that the Westo referred to by early
Carolina explorers and settlers, and from whom Savannah river was
originally named, were the Yuchi. It is uncertain whether the Stono, whose
name is sometimes coupled with the Westo, were related to them, or whether
the two tribes have been confused on account of a similarity in
designation. The early writers also state that the Westo were driven out
of their country in 1681 by the Savannah (Shawnee), but this must mean
only a part of them. Another name applied to at least the northernmost
Yuchi was Hogologee. These different names have caused much confusion, and
standard maps of the 18th century have Westos, Hogologees, and Yuchi (or
Uchee) noted independently. It is probable, however, that all of these
were Yuchi, representing, instead of separate tribes, a number of
successive migrations of Yuchi from Savannah river to the
Chattahoochee-the Westo being, those driven out by the Shawnee, the
Hogologee those who emigrated with the Apalachicola after the Yamasee war,
and the Yuchi those who changed their place of abode between 1729 and
1750, just before and after the settlement of Georgia. Various attempts
have been made to find a Yuchi derivation for words and names recorded by
ancient chroniclers, but with the possible exception of Yupaha, the name
of a country heard of by De Soto but not certainly reached, there is no
good evidence in support of them.
The name of Cofitachique, which has generally been
considered a Yuchi town, appears to be Muskhogean, and, if the
identification of the Westo with the Yuchi is correct, there is good
reason for believing that the people of Cofitachique were something else.
Although there is known to have been one settlement of the Yuchi on
Tennessee river, the rest of them apparently occupied one continuous area
and seem to have constituted a homogeneous people. This area embraced the
entire mid-course of Savannah river, and probably included most of the
Ogeechee, which was sometimes known as Hughchee (i. e. Yuchi) river. In
1739 a Yuchi town, Mount Pleasant, existed on Savannah river 25 miles
above Ebenezer, hence in Screven county, Ga., probably near the mouth of
Brier creek. Tracts on the west side of that river extending as far south
as Ebenezer creek, Effingham county, and others above and below Augusta
were claimed by the Yuchi as late as 1740. Hawkins in 1799 (Sketch, 61,
1848) stated that Yuchi were formerly settled in small villages at Ponpon,
Saltketchers (these two, however, were Yamasee centers), Silver Bluff, and
Ogeechee, and were continually at war with the
Cherokee,
Catawba, and
Creeks.
This gives them a wide range on both sides of
Savannah river. Filson (Discov. of Ky.,1793) said that the "Uchees occupy
four different places of residence, at the head of St. John's, the fork of
St. Mary's, the head of Cannouchee (Cannochee), and the head of St. Tilles
[Satilla]." The principal Yuchi town among the Lower Creeks had in
Hawkins' time (1799) sent out three colonies eastward: Intatchkalgi,
Padshilaika, and Tokogalgi (their Creek names). Another Yuchi town is
mentioned by Morse (1822) near Miccosukee, Leon county, north Florida.
Some of the Yuchi settled with the Savannah Indians on Tallapoosa river.
Hawkins estimated the "gun-men" in Yuchi and these branch villages at 250.
Bartram (Tray., 387, 1792) points out their relations to the Creeks as
follows: "They are in confederacy with the Creeks, but do not mix with
them; and on account of their numbers and strength are of importance
enough to excite and draw upon them the jealousy of the whole Muscogulge
confederacy, and are usually at variance, yet are wise enough to unite
against a common enemy to support the interest and glory of the general
Creek confederacy." Their town is described as the largest, most compact,
and best situated Indian town he ever saw. Their population is stated by
him to be from 1,000 to 1,500, and in this estimate he includes 500
warriors. The Creeks claimed to have subjugated the Yuchi and regarded
them as slaves (salafki), probably only the western or
Chattahoochee part, not those who lived among the Seminole and the
Yamasee. In recent times this point was mooted even in the Creek
legislature, and some members thought the Yuchi should receive no
annuities, since they were slaves. The Yuchi were much attached to the
ways and customs of their forefathers, and in 1813 they took sides with
the Upper Creeks against the Government. Their towns were destroyed in
consequence of this by the friendly Creeks. Hawkins (Sketch, 62, 1799)
claims a better standard of morality for them than for many of the Creek
towns, saying "these people are more civil and orderly than their
neighbors, and their women are more chaste and the men better hunters. The
men take part in the labors of the women, and are more constant in their
attachment to their women than is usual among red people." In 1836 they
removed with the Creeks to the present Oklahoma, where fewer than 500 now
reside in the north west part of the Creek Nation. Part live among the
Shawnee on the west, the so-called Shawano Yuchi. Here they had a separate
town body, with representatives in the Creek assembly. until the
dissolution of the Creek Nation as such in 1906.
They exhibit a tendency toward conservatism and pride.
Their loosely-marked settlements were named as follows:
Arkansaw River,
Big Pond Town,
Blackjack Town,
Deep Fork Creek,
Duck Creek Town,
Intatchkalgi,
Mount Pleasant,
Ogeechee,
Padshilaika,
Polecat Creek,
Red Fork,
Silver Bluff,
Snake Creek,
Spring Garden Town, and
Tokogalgi.
In material culture the Yuchi are typical of the,
agricultural hunting tribes of the south east Atlantic and Gulf coast
area, living formerly in permanent villages surrounded by cultivated
fields and always situated conveniently near some stream where fish
abounded. Their houses were grouped about a square plot of ground, which
was held as sacred, where religious ceremonies and social gatherings took
place. The ordinary houses were of the common coast type, covered with
bark or mats, but there was, besides, another more complex and permanent
sort with sides plastered with clay. They were good potters, manufacturing
various forms by the coiling process, nearly all, however, similar in
shape to gourds, from which it is possible the forms were derived. Incised
decorations occur only on or near the rim. Decorated effigy pipes of clay
are still made, resembling closely some of those found in mounds in
Georgia and the Carolinas. Basketry was made of cane and hickory splints,
and the art was quite highly developed. Considerable wooden ware was also
used. The original style of clothing has been supplanted for several
generations by calico and trade goods made into shirts, outside hunting
jackets, leggings, turban-like headgear, sashes, neckbands, garters,
shoulder straps, and pouches, which are possibly survivals of older forms.
Sashes, neckbands, leg-bands, hair pendants, pouches, and shoulder, bands
are decorated with geometrical designs in bead embroidery representing
animals and natural objects. Some of these designs are said to be worn in
imitation of mythic characters and seem to be in a sense symbolical. An
influence may have been exerted on Yuchi art by the prairie tribes since
the removal to the west. Bows and arrows, clubs, and spears were their
chief weapons. The blowgun was much in use in hunting. Dogs, too, were
used in the chase, and hunting formulas were believed to affect the
movements of the quarry. Fishing was commonly carried on by poisoning the
stream with a species of tephrosia.
Each town has a sacred public square, or shrine, where
social and religious meetings are held, on the four edges of which stand
four ceremonial lodges covered with boughs. In these lodges the different
clan groups have assigned places during public occasions. The square
ground symbolizes the rainbow, where, in the sky-world, Sun, the mythical
culture-hero, underwent the ceremonial ordeals which he handed down to the
first Yuchi.
The chief power above that is recognized as the source
of life and mystery is the Sun. There seems, as well, to be some
unworshiped but acknowledged supernatural source of power from which
mechanical magic flows. But the Sun, in his plural concept as chief of the
skyworld, the author of the life, the ceremonies, and culture of the
people, is by far the most important figure in their religious life. The
various animals of the sky-world are important in myth, but in practice
the Yuchi do not recognize in them anything more to be feared than in the
numerous spirits which dominate other natural objects in their
surroundings. Vegetation spirits are closely concerned in their daily and
ceremonial life, as is shown in the annual new-fire and harvest ceremony.
Besides these, totemic ancestral spirits play a rather important part.
Public religious worship is performed by the whole,
town in a complex annual ceremony connected with the corn harvest, the
different rites of which occupy three days and the intervening nights. The
square ground is the scene of action. Ceremonial making of new fire, clan
dances mimicking totemic ancestors, dances propitiating evilly-inclined
spirits and thanking various beneficent ones as well as inducing them to
continue their benefits, scarification of the males for sacrifice and
purification, taking an emetic as a purifier, the partaking of the first
green corn of the season, and the performance of a characteristic ball
game with two sticks, are the main elements of the annual ceremony. Young
men are admitted to the ranks of manhood at this time. This important
event is carried on in distinct emulation of the Sun to insure a
continuance of tribal existence. The sentiment of obedience to the Sun is
peculiarly prominent with the Yuchi.
Disease is accredited to the presence of a harmful
spirit which has been placed in the system by some offended animal spirit
or malevolent conjurer. Herbs, which have names corresponding in some way
to the name of the animal causing the trouble, are brewed in a pot and
administered internally. By this means of sympathetic healing and by the
use of song formulas the disease spirit is driven out by the shaman.
During her catamenial periods, and at childbirth also,
the woman secludes herself from her family and house. She lives alone in a
temporary hut under a taboo of certain foods. At the birth of the child
its navel cord is ceremonially disposed of, and the father is henceforth
prohibited from association with his friends, besides having restrictions
for a month against the use of certain foods, manual labor, and hunting.
The children's cradle is the hammock. On the fourth day after its birth
the child is named after a maternal granduncle or grandaunt. Unmarried
girls are marked off from others with red paint. The marriage rite is a
very simple one, the couple being of different clans, of course, merely
agreeing to unite and for a while usually reside in the woman's home. The
dead were formerly buried underneath the floor of the house with a supply
of food and clothes. Nowadays, however, burial is made in a cemetery, with
rites similar to those of former times, and a small log hut is raised over
the spot. Here a fire is kept burning for four days, during which time the
spirit is on its journey eastward to the land of the dead up above where
the Sun is. There are four souls, but only one passes on to the future
life, having as a finale to pass an obstacle at the entrance to the sky.
If this point is passed in safety the journey is over, otherwise it
returns to earth a menace to the happiness of the living.
In mythology there is a sharp contrast between culture
hero and trickster. In the more sacred cosmological myths considerable
unity is found, but the trickster tales are loose and often fragmentary.
Creations are ascribed mostly to the assembled pre-earthly animals. Earth
is brought up from a watery waste by crawfish. The Sun seen is to be
connected in some way with the culture hero. He created time Yuchi, having
caused their forebears to spring from a drop of menstrual blood in the sky
world, whence they were transferred to this earth. He is likewise the
author of the human class and clan system and the religious rites, but he
does not appear prominently as a transformer. He is furthermore the giver
of all that is materially good and beneficial in their lives. The
trickster, on the other hand, is named Rabbit. He effects a few
transformations in the course of his mischief-making career, without any
particular motive. Other myths are held by the various clans, and repeated
generally in praise of their totem. Many myth elements from Negro sources
may have been embodied by these Indians in their animal tales, probably
through contact with the Creek negroes. Other types of widely distributed
myths are the race between two animal rivals, the imitation of the host,
the magic flight, stealing of fire, tarman story, the legend about an
emigration of part of the tribe, the origin of death resulting from
someone's mistake, and the explanation of various peculiarities possessed
by the present-day animals. See Westo, Yupaha.
Consult Speck, Ethnology of the Yuchi
Inds., Anthr. Pub. Mus. Univ. Pa., i, no., 1, 1909.
