Algonquian Indian Bands, Gens and Clans

Many tribes have sub-tribes, bands, gens, clans and phratry.  Often very little information is known or they no longer exist.  We have included them here to provide more information about the tribes. Atchaterakangouen. An Algonquian tribe or band living in the interior of Wisconsin in 1672, near the Mascouten and Kickapoo.

Creek Indian Bands, Gens and Clans

Many tribes have sub-tribes, bands, gens, clans and phratry.  Often very little information is known or they no longer exist.  We have included them here to provide more information about the tribes. Chukotalgi (toad). An extinct Creek clan, closely affiliated with the Toad or Sopaktalgi clan. Fusualgi. The Forest Bird (?) clan of the Creeks Hlahloalgi (fish people). An extinct Creek clan. Hutalgalgi (hútali ‘wind ‘, algi people). A principal Creek clan. Isfanalgi. An extinct clan of the Creeks, said by Gatschet to be seemingly analogous to the Ishpani phratry and clan of the Chickasaw. Itamalgi. A Creek clan. Itchhasualgi (itchhasua ‘beaver’, algi … Read more

Navaho Indian Bands, Gens and Clans

Many tribes have sub-tribes, bands, gens, clans and phratry.  Often very little information is known or they no longer exist.  We have included them here to provide more information about the tribes. Bithani (folded arms). A Navaho clan. Dsihlthani (brow of the mountain). A Navaho clan. Dsihltlani (base of the mountain). A Navaho clan.

Unknown Tribes of Indian Bands, Gens and Clans

Many tribes have sub-tribes, bands, gens, clans and phratry.  Often very little information is known or they no longer exist.  We have included them here to provide more information about the tribes. We have listed these bands by location as we can not find any other connection to tribes. Mississippi Amicoa. Mentioned by Coxe (Carolana, 14, 1741) as a tribe on the Honabanou, an imaginary river entering the Mississippi from the west, 15 leagues above the mouth of the Ohio. It is probably an imaginary tribe. Amilcou. Mentioned by Iberville in connection with the Biloxi, Moctobi, Huma, Paskagula, etc., as … Read more

Patchoag Indian Bands, Gens and Clans

Many tribes have sub-tribes, bands, gens, clans and phratry.  Often very little information is known or they no longer exist.  We have included them here to provide more information about the tribes. Cannetquot. Described by Thompson (Long Id., 293, 1839) as a semi-tribe or family occupying in 1683 the E. side of Connetquot r., about Patchogue, in Suffolk co., Long Island, N. Y. In another place he includes this territory as part of that belonging to the Patchoag. The name seems to be a dialectal form of Connecticut, (J. M.)

Six Nation Indian’s Pastimes

Lacrosse, it is well-known, is the Indian’s national game. The agile form with which nature has gifted him, and which I have mentioned already as one of his physical characteristics, brings an essential pre-requisite for success or eminence to a game, where the laggard is at heavy discount. Though a white team can often boast of two or three individual runners, whose fleetness will outstrip the capacity of an equal number on the side of the Indians, I think, perhaps, that it will be allowed that the Indian team, as a rule, will comprehend the greater number of fleet members. … Read more

Six Nation Indian’s Humor

In its very nature this essay will partake largely of the element of historical preciseness, and if it do not, I have so far failed to gain my end. I have wished to introduce matter of a kind calculated to relieve this, and to insure the escape of the essay from the charge of a well-sustained dryness. Of the humorous instinct of the Indian, as indulged toward his fellow Indian, I cannot speak with confidence; of the malign operation upon myself of the same instinct, I can speak with somewhat more exactness, and with somewhat saddening recollections. The cases, indeed, … Read more

Six Nations Religion

The pagan, though not so alive to the serene beauties of the Christian life, and not so attracted by the power, the promises, and the assurances of the Christian religion, as to evince the one, and embrace the other, or to make trial of the moral safeguards that its armoury supplies, would yet so honor, one would think, the persuasive Christian influences, operating around him and about him in so many benign and kindly ways, as to abandon many of the practices that savor of the superstition of a by-gone age. Though there has been a decline, if not a … Read more

The Battle of White Bird Canon

The Wallowa Valley is fifteen or twenty miles east of the Grande Ronde Valley in eastern Oregon, and had long been a bone of contention between the whites and a band of non-treaty Nez Percé Indians under Chief Joseph. The whites claimed the right of settlement under the United States Land Acts, and while no determined effort on their part was made to take up homestead, preemption or other claims, yet they kept it as a grazing ground for their cattle, while the Indians denied them the right to such privileges, claiming to themselves the entire control of the valley … Read more

The Affair at Cottonwood

By Brig.-Gen. David Perry, United States Army (Retired)I was returning July 4th from Fort Lapwai to General Howard’s command in charge of a pack-train loaded with ammunition. It had been expected that Captain Jackson’s troop of cavalry would reach Lapwai in time to furnish a safe escort. Fearing that the ammunition might be needed, I decided not to wait longer and pushed ahead with a small detachment. No one believed the hostiles to be within striking distance, as the last reports located them in the Salmon River Mountains. Imagine then my surprise at meeting Whipple’s command that afternoon several miles … Read more

History of Washington, Idaho and Montana

Bancroft’s extensive work on the history of the Northwest Coast meticulously chronicles the development of the region encompassing Washington, Idaho, and Montana up until 1846, marking the end of the fur company era and the resolution of territorial boundaries between Great Britain and the United States. His writings provide a comprehensive account of how these regions evolved from being parts of Oregon into separate territories, detailing the intricate relationships and historical overlaps among them. Bancroft’s approach includes a broad spectrum of sources such as printed materials, public documents, newspapers, and firsthand accounts from early settlers and prominent figures, ensuring a thorough narrative of the region’s historical landscape. This article aims to present the interconnected histories of these territories, emphasizing their significance in the broader context of North American history.

Ouray, Chief of the Ute

Chief Ouray & Chipeta

The Ute seldom visited Colorado City and the region round about in the early days, except in the winter, which was the only time they could do so with a fair degree of safety. A majority of the tribe had been on friendly terms with the English-speaking people from the time of their earliest contact with that race. It is true that straggling bands of Ute occasionally committed acts of depredation, and such bands on one or two occasions killed white people, but these acts were not approved by the majority of the tribe. One of these exceptions occurred on Christmas … Read more

Old Indian Trails of Pike’s Peak

The principal Indian trail into the mountains from the plains to the northeast of Pike’s Peak came in by way of the Garden Ranch, through what used to be known as Templeton’s Gap. It crossed Monument Creek about a mile above Colorado Springs, then followed up a ridge to the Mesa; then it went southwest over the Mesa and across Camp Creek, passing just south of the Garden of the Gods; from there it came down to the Fountain, about a mile west of Colorado City, and there joined another trail that came from the southeast up the east side … Read more

Ute Indians Use of Fire as a Defensive Weapon

After Ruxton had been camped near Manitou Springs for two or three weeks, while out hunting one day, he ran across an Indian camp, which startled him very much. No Indians were in sight at the time, but later he got a glimpse of two carrying in a deer which they had killed. The next morning Ruxton concluded that as a matter of safety, he had better remove his camp to some more secluded spot. The following day a fire was started on the side of the mountain to the south of the springs, which rapidly spread in every direction. He … Read more

Game in the Pike’s Peak Region

In telling of the great quantities of game in this region, Ruxton says: Never was there such a paradise for hunters as this lone and solitary spot. Game abounded on every hand. Bear, elk, deer, mountain sheep, antelope, and grouse were in abundance in the surrounding mountains and valleys. Of buffalo there were few except in the valleys west of Pike’s Peak and in the Bayou Salado, or South Park, as it is now known. Ruxton further says: It is a singular fact that within the last two years the prairies, extending from the mountains to one hundred miles or … Read more

Legend of the Separation of the Comanche and Ute Tribes

The large spring referred to by Dr. James, Sage, Fremont, Ruxton, and the other writers whom I have quoted, is the one now enclosed and used by the bottling works at Manitou. Ruxton says the two springs were intimately connected with the separation of the Comanche and the Snake, or Ute tribes, and he gives the following legend concerning the beginning of the trouble: Many hundreds of winters ago, when the cottonwoods on the Big River were no higher than an arrow, and the red men, who hunted the buffalo on the plains, all spoke the same language, and the … Read more

Manitou Springs

Dr. Edwin James, botanist and historian of Long’s expedition, who visited the Pike’s Peak region in 1820, says of the principal spring at Manitou: The boiling spring is a large and beautiful fountain of water, cool and transparent and aerated with carbonic acid. It rises on the brink of a small stream which here descends from the mountains at the point where the bed of this stream divides the ridge of sandstone, which rests against the base of the first granitic range. The water of the spring deposits a copious concretion of carbonate of lime, which has accumulated on every … Read more

Tribes of the Pike’s Peak Region

A Comanche Village

It would be interesting to know who were the occupants of the Pike’s Peak region during prehistoric times. Were its inhabitants always nomadic Indians? We know that semi-civilized peoples inhabited southwestern Colorado and New Mexico in prehistoric times, who undoubtedly had lived there ages before they were driven into cliff dwellings and communal houses by savage invaders. Did their frontier settlements of that period ever extend into the Pike’s Peak region? The facts concerning these matters, we may never know. As it is, the earliest definite information we have concerning the occupants of this region dates from the Spanish exploring … Read more

Indians of the Pike’s Peak Region

Zebulon Pike

Including an Account of the Battle of Sand Creek, and of Occurrences in El Paso County, Colorado, during the War with the Cheyenne and Arapaho, in 1864 and 1868 For the most part this book is intentionally local in its character. As its title implies, it relates principally to the Indian tribes that have occupied the region around Pike’s Peak during historic times. The history, habits, and customs of the American Indian have always been interesting subjects to me. From early childhood, I read everything within my reach dealing with the various tribes of the United States and Mexico. In … Read more

Biography of Cyrus Harris

Cyrus Harris of the Chickasaw Nation

Cyrus Harris, a significant figure in the history of the Chickasaw Nation, served as its governor during pivotal times. Born on August 22, 1817, near Pontotoc, Mississippi, Harris’s journey from a humble beginning to a prominent leader is a tale of resilience and dedication. His early education was shaped by missionaries and small schools that provided him with the basics of English education. Despite the early termination of his formal schooling, Harris demonstrated a profound capacity for leadership and cultural navigation, bridging the Chickasaw and American worlds. He worked variously as an interpreter, a clerk, and a land agent, roles that utilized his bilingual skills and intimate knowledge of Chickasaw and settler cultures. His political career was marked by efforts to protect Chickasaw interests during tumultuous times, including their forced removal west. Harris’s repeated election as governor speaks to his leadership qualities and the respect he commanded among his people. His life and career offer deep insights into the challenges faced by the Chickasaw Nation during the 19th century, a period of profound change and adversity.