Mikasuki Tribe – Meaning unknown.
Mikasuki Connections. These Indians belonged to the Hitchiti-speaking branch of the Muskhogean linguistic family. They are said by some to have branched from the true Hitchiti, but those who claim that they were originally Chiaha are probably correct.
Mikasuki Location. Their earliest known home was about Miccosukee Lake in Jefferson County. (See also Oklahoma.)
Mikasuki Villages.
- Alachua Talofa or John Hick’s Town, in the Alachua Plains, Alachua County.
- New Mikasuki, near Greenville in Madison County.
- Old Mikasuki, near Miccosukee Lake.
Mikasuki History. The name Mikasuki appears about 1778 and therefore we know that their independent status had been established by that date whether they had separated from the Hitchiti or the Chiaha. They lived first at Old Mikasuki and then appear to have divided, part going to New Mikasuki and part to the Alachua Plains. Some writers denounce them as the worst of all Seminole bands, but it is quite likely that, as a tribe differing in speech from themselves, the Muskogee element blamed them for sins they themselves had committed. Old Mikasuki was burned by Andrew Jackson in 1817. Most Mikasuki seem to have remained in Florida where they still constitute a distinct body, the Big Cypress band of Seminole. Those who went to Oklahoma retained a distinct Square Ground as late as 1912.
Mikasuki Population. Morse (1822) quotes a certain Captain Young to the effect that there were 1,400 Mikasuki in his time, about 1817. This figure is probably somewhat too high though the Mikasuki element is known to have been a large one. They form one entire band among the Florida Seminole.
Connection in which they have become noted. The Mikasuki attained prominence in the Seminole War. In the form Miccosukee their name has been applied to a lake in Jefferson and Leon Counties, Fla., and a post village in the latter county. In the form Mekusuky it has been given to a village in Seminole County, Okla.
