Pohoy Indians, Pooy, or Posoy. Meaning unknown.
Pohoy Connections. They were evidently closely connected with the Timucuan division of the Muskhogean linguistic stock. (See Utina).
Pohoy Location. On the south shore of Tampa Bay.
Pohoy Towns. (See History.)
Pohoy History. This tribe, or a part of the same, appears first in history under the names Oçita or Ucita as a “province” in the territory of which Hernando de Soto landed in 1539. He established his headquarters in the town of the head chief on June 1, and when he marched inland on July 15 he left a captain named Calder6n with a hundred men to hold this place pending further developments. These were withdrawn at the end of November to join the main army in the Apalachee country. In 1612 these Indians appear for the first time under the name Pohoy or Pooy in the account of an expedition to the southwest coast of Florida under an ensign named Cartaya. In 1675 Bishop Calder6n speaks of the “Pojoy River,” and in 1680 there is a passing reference to it. Some time before 1726 about 20 Indians of this tribe were placed in a mission called Santa Fe, 9 leagues south of St. Augustine, but they had already suffered from an epidemic and by 1728 the remainder returned to their former homes. (See Utina)
Pohoy Population. In 1680 the Pohoy were said to number 300.
Pohoy Connection in which they have become noted. The only claim of the Pohoy to distinction is derived from their contacts with the expedition of De Soto.