USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 69
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Tribal tradition asserted that they were once a very numerous people, and had 10,000 men fit for war when they first came from the west, which was possibly true when they formed one nation with the Choctaws. They were never a numerous people with the memory of the whites. Says Adair: "The Chickasaws, in 1720. had four large contiguous settlements, which lay nearly in the form of three parts of a square, only that the eastern side was five mile, shorter than the western, with the open part toward the Choctiss- One was called Yaneka, about a mile wide, and six miles long. at the distance of twelve miles from their present towns. Another was ten computed miles long, at the like distance from their present settlements, and from one to two miles broad. The towns were called Shatara, Chookheerefo, Hykehah, Tufkawillao and Phala- cheho. The other square was single, began three miles from their
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present place. of residence, and ran four miles in length, and from one mile in breadth. This was called Chookka Phahaah, or 'the long house.' It was more populous than their whole nation contains at present. The remains of this once formidable people make up the northern angle of that broken square. They now (1775) consist of scarcely 450 warriors, and are settled three miles westward from the deep creek, in a clear tract of rich land, about three miles square, running afterward about five miles toward the northwest, where the old fields are usually a mile broad. The superior number of their enemies forced them to take into this narrow circle, for social defense; and to build their towns on com- manding ground, at such convenient distance from one another, as to have their enemies, when attacked, between two fires." The gentile system with descent in the female line prevailed among the Chickasaws as among the other Muskhogean tribes, and each town was wont to elect its chief for life from a certain gens. The head man of the Chickasaws was called "Mingo." and sometimes king, who ruled with the aid of a council. Every man of due age and authority was admitted to this council, where affairs common to the whole nation were transacted. This council also appointed the "war chief," who obtained and held his post simply on the ground of merit and never on account of birth. In the various treaties made with the tribe by the United States from the treaty of Hopewell in 1786, to that of Pontotoc in 1832, the signature of the mingo or king is almost invariably affixed to the formal instru- ment, as the assent of the head chief appears to have been neces- sary to bind the nation. . During the decade 1830-40 the Chickasaws, like the Choctaws, ceded their last remaining lands cast of the Mis- sissippi to the United States, and moved to a region set apart for them within the Indian Territory. In 1837 the treaty of Doaksville was concluded between the Chickasaws and Choctaws, wherein the latter, already settled in the west, agreed to allow the Chicka- saws the privilege of forming a district within their limits; to have an equal representation in the general council ; and to be placed on an equal footing, except as to the right of disposing of the lands occupied by them, or of participating in the Choctaw annuities; the Chickasaws, however, to be allowed to manage their own funds. At this time a census of the war department gave their numbers at 5,500. They have since increased considerably in numbers, and have become quite highly civilized, like the Choctaw, Cherokee and Creek nations.
The Creek or Muskhogee nation, (French, Kaouitas), whose geo- graphical position was between the English of Carolina, the French of Louisiana, and the Spaniards of Florida, and whose lands bor- dered on those of the Choctaws. Chickasaws and Cherokees, at- tained a political importance second to no tribe north of the Gulf of Mexico. Says Bancroft: "The ridge that divided the Tombec- bee from the Alabama, was the line that separated the Choctas from the groups of tribes which were soon united in the confed- eracy of the Creeks or Muskhogees. Their territory, including all
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Florida, reached, on the north, to the Cherokees; on the northeast and east, to the country on the Savannah and Atlantic. Along the sea, their northern limit seems to have extended almost to Cape Fear; at least the tribes with which the settlers of Charleston first waged war, are enumerated by one writer as branches of the Musk- hogees. Their population, spread over a fourfold wider territory, did not exceed that of the Choctas in number. Their towns were situated on the banks of beautiful creeks, in which their country abounded; the waters of their bold rivers, from the Coosa to the .Chattahoochee, descended rapidly, with a clear current, through healthful and fertile regions; they were careful in their agriculture. and, before going to war, assisted their women to plant.
They readily gave shelter to fugitives from other tribes: and their speech became so modified, that, with radical resemblances, it has the widest departure from its kindred dialects." Closely allied with the Creeks in language and customs were the Yamasi tribe dwelling around Port Royal bay, S. C., and the Seminole tribe of Florida, the latter of whom were "wild men" lost from their confederacy. and who had abandoned agriculture for the chase. According to Brinton the Creeks were tall and slender, while the Chickasaws were short and heavy. They were united into more than 20 gentes, and everywhere descent was in the female line. When first met with by De Soto they were tilling extensive fields, and were living "m
permanent towns with well-constructed wooden edifices, many of which were situated on high mounds of artificial construction, and using for weapons and utensils stone implements of great beauty and workmanship." Brinton has published their famous national legend, which he obtained from the hieroglyphics painted on a -A: by their chief Chekilli in 1731. "The religious rites of the L'fees .. says Brinton, "were so elaborate that they attracted carly attente .... and we have quite full accounts of them. They were commento! with the worship of the principle of fertility, the chief celebration. called the busk (puskita, fast), being solemnized when the young corn became edible. In connection with this was the use of the "black drink,' a decoction of the Iris versicolor, and the main- tenance of the perpetual fire. Their chief divinity was referred : as the 'master of breath,' or of life, and there was a developed som- bolism of colors, white representing peaceful and pleasant nha. . red, those of war and danger." The Creek nation ranked high !!! military prowess as well as in political sagacity, a fact which they sufficiently demonstrated in the Creek war of 1813-14, when it nearly 10 months their powerful Confederacy was able to offer a successful resistance to trained American soldiers, their deieat be. ing finally brought about only by overwhelming numbers, and their country overrun and devastated from three directions, the force from the north being led by Gen. Jackson in person. The orem of their famous political confederacy is unknown, but it existed :: 1 remote times before the coming of the white race. and embraced numerons subjugated tribes, as well as fugitive tribes that bad applied to the Creek nation for protection. The western members
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of the confederacy were the Alibamu, who claimed to the banks of the Tombigbee. The country of the Upper Creeks lay along the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, and that of the Lower Creeks along the Chattahoochee. At the time of the Creek war of 1813-14 the nation appears to have had about 50 towns and some 10,000 mem- bers, including the women and children.
During the later colonial era, both the Spanish and the Americans made strenuous efforts to establish friendly relations with the Creek nation by treaty, and numerous treaties were entered into with them by both governments. In 1805 the United States ob- tained the cession of a "horse path" through the Creek territory, and when in 1811 this horse path developed into the much used "Federal road," cut from a point on the Chattahoochee river to Mims' ferry on the Alabama, over which a stream of emigration from the Atlantic seaboard to the western settlements was con- stantly pouring, the Creek people became much aroused. This constant encroachment of the whites was one of the principal canses of the war. The nation sustained its final great defeat at Horseshoe bend, Tallapoosa river, March 27, 1814, at the hands of Jackson and his Cherokee allies. In August of the same year the defeated na- tion entered into a treaty of peace with Jackson, whereby they sur- rendered to the United States all their lands, except the part east of the Coosa river and of a line drawn southeasterly from Fort Jackson (the old French Fort Toulouse). The Creeks were for- bidden all communication with British or Spanish posts; and the United States were given the right to establish military posts, roads. and free navigation of waters within the territory guaranteed the Indians. The formidable power of the Creek confederacy was for- ever broken by the war, and the nation now constitutes one of the civilized tribes embraced within the recent Indian Territory.
The foregoing relates to the three main branches of the Musk- hogean stock, the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Creek, and the re- mainder of this article will be given to a discussion of some of the inferior tribes. The Alibamu (Alabama, Alibamon) Indians, whose language identifies them with the Muskhogean stock, came into close and friendly relation with the French during colonial days. Their original habitat appears to have been on the Yazoo, but on the arrival of the French in Louisiana the tribe was living upon the river that bears its name and constituted the nearest portion of the Creek confederacy to the Mobile settlement. In 1702, 1704 and 1708. the French were compelled to send expeditions against them, and in 1714, Fort Toulouse (q. v.), usually referred to as "Aux Alibamons," was built in their territory. As a result of these energetic measures, the Alibamu became docile allies of the French ever after. A few members of the tribe are still extant in Louisiana, Texas and near a town of their name in Oklahoma.
The Bavagonlas, an extinct Muskhogean tribe, in 1700 lived with the Mugulashas in a village on the west bank of the Mississippi. about 64 miles above the month and 30 leagues below the Houma town. Iberville described their village as consisting of 2 temples
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and 107 cabins. They then numbered from 200 to 250 men. prob- ably including the Mugulashas. Not long after as the result of a dispute between the chiefs of the 2 tribes, the Bayagoulas almost exterminated the Mugulashas. but were themselves nearly wiped out by the Tonika tribe in 1706, when they gave that treacherous tribe an asylum in their midst. Smallpox later worked havoc among the remnant of the tribe and none were left in 1721.
The Chatot (Chahta. Chata), identified by some authorities with the Muskhogean family, were a tribe or band which the French settled south of Fort St. Louis. Mobile Bay, in 1709. Bienville found it necessary to change the location of the first Mobile settle- ment and "selected a place where the nation of the Chatots were residing, and gave them in exchange for it a piece of territory fronting on Dog river. 2 leagues farther down (Pénicaut, 1709, in French Hist. Coll. La. I, 103, 1869). Says Halbert: "The Chatos once lived on the coast, and their ethnic affinity is unknown. Choc- taw tradition asserts that they were absorbed by the Six Towns Choctaws. _ Their name survives in a creek near Mobile, which the Choctaws call by their name."
Coshatta-A Muskhogean tribe living near the Alabamu when the French arrived, became much attached to the French, and a large part of them, after the French power gave way in 1763, migrated into Louisiana and settled on the Red river.
Hitchitee -- A subtribe of the Creek nation.
Chozetta-In Gatschet's opinion the people of this tribe were Choctaws. Iberville in 1699 mentions their village on the Pasca- goula river. Halbert also locates them on that river together with the tribe of the Mactoby, and thinks they may have been absorbed by either the Pascagoula or Biloxi.
Houma (Ouma)-A Choctaw tribe living during the early French period 7 leagues above Red river on the east bank of the Missis- sippi. In 1699 their settlement contained 140 cabins and 350 families. A red pole (Fr. Baton Rouge) marked the boundary between them and the Bavagoula on the south. In 1706 the Tonika Indians fled to them from the Chickasaws. but later rose against them and killed more than half their number, after which the rest of the Houmas established themselves near the site of New Orleans. They afterwards settled along the Bayou Lafourche and near the present town of Houma, which was named for them. At the time of the cession of Louisiana to the United States, they were reduced by sickness and war to less than 100 warriors. The tribe is now extinct.
Mugulasha-A former tribe related to the Choctaws, lived with the Bayagoulas on the west bank of the Mississippi, 64 miles from the mouth. They spoke the Bayagoula language and have been identified with the Quinipissa of La Salle and Tonti. They were exterminated by the Bayagoulas in 1700.
. Mobile-A Muskhogean tribe whose early home was probably Mauvila. or Mavila, supposed to have been at or near Choctaw bluff on the Alabama river, where De Soto, in 1540, met with fierce
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opposition on the part of the natives. Mauvila was then under the control of Tascalusa, probably an Alibamu chief. The Mobilian tribe doubtless took part in the fight, but later moved south, as the French found them on Mobile bay in 1700. They early became attached to the French interests and were allowed, together with the Tahome tribe. to settle for protection in 1708 near Fort St. Louis, Mobile bay. They are lost to history as a tribe since about the middle of the 18th century. The so-called Mobilian trade language was a corrupted Choctaw jargon used for purposes of intertribal communication among all the tribes from Florida to Louisiana and northwest on the Mississippi river nearly to the Ohio.
The Biloxi tribe called themselves in their native tongue Taneks haya (first people). They were a small Siouan tribe formerly living in southern Mississippi and are now nearly or quite extinct. They were once supposed to belong to the Muskhogean stock until Gats- chet visited the survivors in Louisiana in 1886 and found that many of their words were Siouan in character. Iberville found the Biloxi in 1699 about Biloxi bay on the Gulf coast, in conjunction with 2 other small tribes, the Pascagoula and Mactoby all numbering only about 20 cabins. The Biloxi removed to the west coast of Biloxi bay in 1702 and appear to have migrated west of the Mississippi into Louisiana about the close of the French domination. Writers occasionally speak of meeting with a few families of the tribe during the last century dwelling on the Red river and in Avoyelles parish. Gatschet found some of them in the latter region in 1886 and said there were also a few among the Choctaws and Caddoes. In 1892 J. Owen Dorsey found about a dozen of the tribe near Lecompte, Rapides parish, La., but none remained at Avoyelles. Their dwellings resembled those of the northern tribes of the Siouan family.
Mactoby-A tribe now extinct, was found by Iberville in 1699 living on the Pascagoula river with the Chozetta. It was probably absorbed by the Pascagoula or the Biloxi.
Chitimacha (Choctaw : Chiti "cooking pot," masha "they possess," i. e., "they have cooking vessels")-A tribe, forming the Chiti- machan linguistic family, whose earliest known home was the shores of Grand lake, formerly Lake of the Shetimasha, and the banks of Grand river, La. Some 16 or 18 of the tribe were still living on Grand river in 1881, but the majority, about 35, lived on the south side of Bavon Teche, near the little village of Charenton, St. Mary parish, about 10 miles from the gulf. The remnant of the tribe still lives in the same district. but the present population is not known. The tribe called itself by a name which signified "men altogether red," and was applied after the advent of the French. It was one of this tribe who murdered the French missionary St. Cosme, near the present city of Donaldsonville early in the 18th century. In the war which ensued Bienville made them sue for peace, which was granted when they brought him the head of the murderer. Even then they were not a numerous people, though Le Page du Pratz says they arrived for the peace ceremony in many
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pirogues. Two of their former villages were on the site of Don- aldsonville and at the mouth of Bayou Lafourche. The little Cheti- machan village on the lovely meandering Teche, with its handful of lonely survivors of a people almost forgotten, is sufficiently in- teresting to attract the occasional visitor. The men have been de- scribed as large and well formed, with the usual high cheekbones and keen dark eyes of their race. Contrary to the usual rule, the women are quite handsome and are esteemed the equals of the men, one of their number having recently succeeded to the con- mand of the tribe, after the death of the chief. They speak the Creole patois in addressing the white stranger, but among them- selves they still make use of their own tongue, which is sui generis, and has been likened, with its frequent labials and sibilants, to the twittering of birds. The women are especially skilled in the mak- ing of baskets, in which they display a remarkable ingenuity of design and workmanship and make use of imperishable dyes, weav- ing the fine reed cane into the most curious and unique patterns, no two alike.
Attakapa (Choctaw : hatak "man," apa "eats," hence "cannibal.") -A name applied by the Choctaws and their congeners to different tribes inhabiting southwestern Louisiana and southern and south- eastern Texas. A tribe forming the Attakapan linguistic family, a remnant of which early in the 19th century occupied as its chief habitat the Middle or Prien lake in Calcasieu parish, La. The At- takapa country formerly extended to the coast in southwestern Louisiana, and the primitive domain of this people was outlined in the popular name of the old Attakapa or Tuckapa country, still in use, which comprised St. Landry, St. Mary, Iberia, St. Martin, Fayette, Vermilion, and later Calcasieu and Vernon parishes-in fact all the country between Red, Sabine and Vermilion rivers and the gulf. According to Charlevoix in 1731 some of this tribe as- sisted St. Denis against the Natchez. Penicaut charges them with an act of cannibalism in 1703 but later visitors among them found them friendly enough. There is evidence that the tribe numbered more than 360 persons in 1784. The men were skilful hunters of the buffalo, and the women alone were charged with the labors of the household and field. In 1885 Gatschet visited their old habitat, but was only able to discover 1 man and 2 women at Lake Charles, and another woman 10 miles to the south. These with 5 others scattered in western Texas are believed to be the only survivors at the present time.
Adai (Adaize or Atai)-A small tribe forming the Adaizan lin- guistic family and belonging to the Caddo confederacy, called Atayos by Cabeça de Vaca in 1529, and Natao by Iberville in 1699. La Harpe spoke of them in 1719 as a very useful tribe to the French traders and explorers, particularly when making portages. Their villages were then from the Red to and beyond the Sabine river, and the trail connecting them became the noted "contraband trail" over which traders and travelers journeyed between the French and Spanish provinces, while one village was a station on
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the road between the French fort at Natchitoches and the Spanish post at San Antonio. They early succumbed to the white influence and were nearly extinct in 1798. The Spanish military post of Presidio de los Adayes was established among them about 1740. and they were afterwards incorporated in the Nacogdoches Indian district. In 1805 Sibley reported a small settlement of these Indians on Lake Macdon, near an affluent of the Red river. This remnant had never left their ancient home. The tribe "spoke a vocalic lan- guage, differing from any other, though including a number of Caddo words, which was owing to their having been a member of the Caddo confederacy." (Brinton, The American Race, p. 91). The tribe was eventually merged in that of the Caddo.
Caddo-The name of a leading tribe of the Caddo confederacy, and applied by early writers to include the confederacy. This con- federacy belonged to the southern group of the Caddoan or Pani linguistic family. Their own name is Hasinai, "our own folk." According to tribal traditions the lower Red river was the early home of the Caddo, from which they spread to the northwest. Several lakes and streams connected with the Red river, as well as Caddo parish and some of the towns occupying ancient vallage sites, bear Caddo names. Cabeça de Vaca in 1535-36, and De Soto in 1540-41 met with some of the Caddo confederacy, but they were not known until met by La Salle and his followers in 1687. At that time the Caddo villages were scattered along the Red river and its tributaries in what is now Louisiana, Arkansas, and eastern Texas. Only a small remnant of the Caddo tribe survives, and much of their confederate organization is lost to memory. Gatschet in 1882 procured from a Caddo Indian the names of 12 divisions : Iberville obtained from a Taensa Indian guide a list of 8 divisions ; and Linares in 1716 gave the names of 11. Each division of the confederacy was subdivided, and each subtribe had its totem, village, hereditary chieftan, priests and ceremonies, and its part in ceremonies common to the confederacy. From the earliest records and from traditions the Caddoan tribes seem to have been culti- vators of the soil as well as hunters, and practiced the arts of pottery making, weaving, skin-dressing, etc. The southern tribes tattooed their faces, and this group of tribes also erected the conical straw house. The Caddoan tribes appear to have moved eastward from the southwest and their advance guard was probably the Caddo proper, who, when first met by the whites, had so long dwelt in the region of the Red river. With the acquisition of Louisiana by the United States immigration rapidly increased, and the Caddoes were pushed from their old haunts. Under their first treaty in 1835 they ceded all their land and agreed to move at their own expense beyond the boundaries of the United States never to return as a tribe. The Louisiana tribes thus forced to leave their old homes moved southwest among their kindred in Texas. The remnant of the tribe in 1902, each man, woman. and child, received an allotment of land under the severalty act of 1887, by which they became citizens of the United States and subject to the laws of
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Oklahoma. In 1904 they numbered 535 souls. The following is a list of the tribes formerly constituting the Caddoan or Pani stock: Aliehe, . Anadakka, Arikaree ( Arikara), Assinai (Cenis), Caddo. Huecos, Innies, Kichai, Natchitoches, Nataco, Pawnee ( Pani), Ric- caree. Skidi, Tappas, Tawakonie, Texas (?), Towakarehu, Washita, Wichita and Yatasses. But little is known of some of these tribes as they were small and unimportant. The Arikara appear to have separated from their brethern at a comparatively recent date and moved north to a habitat on the middle Missouri : the Anadakka (Nataco) dwelt on the left bank of the. Sabine river : the Assinai (Cenis) in Central Texas; the Innies (Texas) on the upper Sabine and branches: the Natchitoches dwelt on upper Red river and early became firm allies of the French. The strong frontier post Fort Natchitoches (q. v.) was established near them, and their name is perpetuated in the present town. The Huecos dwelt on the upper Brazos river; the Pawnee (Pani) was once a large and important tribe located chiefly west of the Missouri, in the present state of Nebraska, and was divided into 4 sub-tribes or bands; Grand Pawnee ( French, Pawnee Noirs), Pawnee Loup (Panimaha, Skidi), Tapage and Republican. The Pawnees were bitter enemies of the Siouan tribes and the Illinois, but maintained friendly relations with both the French and the Spanish. A highly profitable fur trade was carried on from the St. Louis post with the Pawnees, who were great hunters of the beaver. buffalo and otter. The Wichita tribe (also occasionally designated as Pawnee Picts or White Pawnee) dwelt on the north bank of the Red river at a considerable distance southwest of the Grand Pawnee, or Pawnee proper. The Yatasses had their habitat on Stony creek. an affluent of Red river.
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