Louisiana

Doustioni Tribe

Doustioni Indians. A tribe, formerly living on Red river of Louisiana, that from its proximity to the Natchitoches and the Yatasi was probably kindred thereto and belonged to the Caddo confederacy. The people are mentioned by Joutel, in 1687, as allies of the Kadohadacho. Pénicaut, in 1712, met them with a party of Natchitoches, and remarks that for the 5 years previous they had been constantly wandering, and living by the chase . Their warriors at that time numbered about 200. The cause of the abandonment of their village is unknown, but when in 1714 they accepted the invitation of … Read more

Hainai Tribe

Hainai Indians. A tribe of the Caddo confederacy, otherwise known as Inie, or Ioni. After the Spanish occupancy their village was situated 3 leagues west of the mission of Nacogdoches, in east Texas; it contained 80 warriors, the same number assigned to the Hainai by Sibley in 1805, who perhaps obtained his information from the same sources. Sibley places their village 20 miles from Natchitoches, Louisiana. In manners, customs, and social organization the Hainai do not appear to have differed from the other tribes of the Caddo confederacy, whose subsequent fate they have shared. By Sibley and others they are … Read more

Adai Tribe

Adai Indians. The tribe-was first encountered in 1529 by Cabeza de Vaca, who speaks of them, under the name Atayos, as living inland from the Gulf of Mexico

Chaouacha Tribe

Chaouacha Indians. A small tribe living, when first known, on the east bank of the Mississippi, a short distance below the present New Orleans, Louisiana. Although they had aided the French in their Indian wars, they fell under suspicion after the Natchez war, and in consequence were attacked and a number of the people massacred, in 1730, by Negro slaves acting under orders from the French governor, who had in view the double purpose of weakening the power of the Indians and of over coming any projected combination between them and the Negroes. Subsequently they seem to have removed to … Read more

Apalachee Tribe

The Apalachee Indians are of Muskhogean stock and linguistically are closely related to the Choctaw. Their first known inhabitation of North America is found around Lake Jackson, Louisiana, where they appeared to have resided from about 1100-1511. Archeologists have studied the mortuary evidence found in the mounds in the Lake Jackson region, and have identified a complex chiefdom of the Apalachee people. When Narváez and De Soto encountered them in the 16th century, they were found in Florida, but there is no evidence that there was a large scale migration of people to the Floridian peninsula. Rather it appears from … Read more

Attacapa Tribe

Attacapa Indians.  A tribe forming the Attacapan linguistic family, a remnant of which early in the 19th century occupied as its chief habitat the Middle or Prien lake in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. It is learned from Hutchins that “the village de Skunnemoke” or Tuckapas stood on Vermilion River, and that their church was on the west side of the Tage (Bayou Tèche). The Attacapa country extended formerly to the coast in south west Louisiana, and their primitive domain was outlined in the popular name of the Old Attacapa or Tuckapa country, still in use, which comprised St Landry, St Mary, … Read more

The Paskagula, Moctobi, and Chozetta Indians

The Paskagula (Pascagoula) and Moctobi tribes are mentioned by Iberville in 1699 as living on Pascagoula river near the coast of Mississippi, associated with the Biloxi, each of the three tribes, although but few in numbers, having its own village. As the French settlement on Biloxi bay was made in that year, this date probably marks the beginning of their displacement and removal westward. We know nothing of their language, but from their intimate connection then and afterward with the Biloxi, it is very possible that they were cognate. The name of the Moctobi seems to have disappeared from the earth, … Read more

Population of the Southeastern Indians

The population of an Indian tribe at any early period in its history can not be determined with exactness. In the case of the Creeks we have to consider not only the Muskogee or Creeks proper, but a number of tribes afterwards permanently or temporarily incorporated with them, and the problem is proportionately complicated. Fortunately we are helped out by a considerable nmnber of censuses, some of which were taken with more than usual care. The Cusabo tribes were always small, even at the time of their first intercourse with the Spaniards and French, but we have no data regarding … Read more

Pakana Tribe

We now come to peoples incorporated in the Muskhogean confederation which were probably distinct bodies and yet not certainly possessed of a peculiar dialect like the Hitchiti, Alabama, and other tribes of foreign origin already considered. The Pakana are given by Adair as one of those people which the Muskogee had “artfully” induced to incorporate with them, and he is confirmed as to the main fact by Stiggins, whose account of them is as follows: The Puccunnas at this day are only known by tradition to have been a distinct people and their ancient town or habitation is called Puccun … Read more

Koasati Indian Tribe

The Koasati Indians, as shown by their language, are closely related to the Alabama. There were at one time two branches of this tribe – one close to the Alabama, near what is now Coosada station, Elmore County, Ala., the other on the Tennessee River north of Langston, Jackson County. These latter appear but a few times in history, and the name was considerably garbled by early writers. There is reason to believe, however, that it has the honor of an appearance in the De Soto chronicles, as the Coste of Ranjel, the Coste or Acoste of Elvas, the Costehe … Read more

Choctaw Indian Tribe

The present work has been undertaken primarily with the object of furnishing an adequate setting for an understanding of the evolution of the Creek Confederacy and the various elements entering into it. What has been said regarding the South Carolina and Florida tribes and the Chickasaw have marginal importance in the carrying out of this purpose, though they are of less absolute concern. When we come to the Choctaw, however, we are met with a different problem. The Choctaw were always one of the largest southern tribes, and they were more numerous than the Creeks even in the palmiest days … Read more

Indians in the Province of Louisiana in 1803

At the time of the purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803 the knowledge of the province and its Indian tribes was very limited. The Louisiana purchase of 1803 embraced almost all the area of What now comprises seventeen states and two territories, with gross areas as follows: part of the state of Alabama, west of the Perdido and on the Gulf, below latitude 31° north, estimated to contain 2,300 square miles; part of the state of Mississippi, west of Alabama, adjoining Louisiana on the Gulf, and south of 31° north latitude, estimated at 3,600 square miles; the state of … Read more

Condition of Tribes by State in 1890

Condition of the Arkansas Indians in 1890 Total                    250 Indians in prisons, not otherwise enumerated        32 Self-supporting Indians, Taxed                            218 The civilized (self-supporting) Indians of Arkansas number 218, 146 males and 72 females, and are distributed as follows: Pulaski County, 47; Sebastian County, 47; other counties with 11 or less in each, 124. The Indians of Arkansas are mostly in a county bordering on the Indian Territory, and in the county containing the state capital.  There are not enough to form a distinctive class. Condition of the Connecticut Indians in 1890 The civilized, (self-supporting) Indians of Connecticut, counted in the … Read more

Koroa Tribe

Koroa Indians. A small tribe, perhaps related to the Tonika, whose home was on the west bank of the Mississippi below the Natchez, on the Yazoo, and in the country intervening westward from the Mississippi. They were visited early in 1682 by La Salle, who described their cabins as dome-shaped, about 15 ft high, formed chiefly of large canes, and without windows . They were considered warlike, and were cruel and treacherous. In 1705 a party of them, hired by the French priest Foucault to convey him by water to the Yazoo, murdered him and two other Frenchmen. LaSalle observed … Read more

Avoyel Tribe – Avoyelles Tribe

Avoyel Indians, Avoyelles Indians (Fr. dim. of avoie, ‘small vipers’). A tribe spoken of in the 18th century as one of the nations of the Red River, having their villages near the mouth of that stream, within what is now Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. They probably belonged to the Caddoan family, the tribe representing a group that had remained near the ancient habitat of its kindred. The country occupied by the Avoyelles was fertile and intersected by lakes and bayous, one of the latter being still called by their name. The tribe lived in villages, cultivated maize and vegetables, and practiced … Read more

Contact Between the Southern Indians and Mexico

The relations existing in prehistoric times between the Indians formerly inhabiting the territory of the present United States and those south of them have been a subject of discussion from the earliest period of ethnological speculation in America. Dissemination of culture and of blood takes place, of course, where any tribe is in contact with any other tribe, but something more than this has frequently been alleged of the relations between the two areas under consideration. In parts of Mexico and Central America, not to mention regions farther south, there existed historically, as is well known, relatively high native cultures, … Read more