Pascagoula

The Biloxi and Pascagoulas

The French in making their voyages of discovery along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in 1712, under the command of Iberville, anchored one evening near an island (now known as Ship Island) which they discovered to be intersected with lagoons and inhabited by a strange and peculiar animal seemingly to hold the medium between the fox and cat, and they give it the name Cat Island, by which it is still known; thence they passed over the main land, where they discovered a tribe of Indians called Biloxi, among whom they afterwards located a town and gave it the name Biloxi … Read more

The French In Alabama And Mississippi

History of Alabama and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period

After the Spanish invasion of De Soto, to which allusion has so often been made, our soil remained untrodden by European feet for nearly a century and a half. At the end of that long and dark period it became connected with the history of the distant dark period it became connected with the history of the distant French possessions of Canada, which were contemporaneous with the oldest English colonies in America. For more than fifty years the French fur traders of Canada, associated with the enterprising Jesuit Fathers, had continued to advance southwestward upon the great lakes, discovering new … Read more

Biloxi and Pascagoula Burial Customs

The “Siouan Tribes of the East,” whose burial customs so far as known are detailed on the preceding pages, were carefully studied some years ago, at which time all available notes were gathered and presented in a single volume. A few years before the preparation of this most interesting bulletin a discovery of the greatest importance was made by another member of the bureau staff, Mr. Gatschet, who, while engaged in Louisiana in 1886, discovered a small band of Biloxi, some of whom spoke their old language, which Gatschet soon found was Siouan. The Biloxi therefore belonged to the great … Read more

Pascagoula Indians

Pascagoula Tribe: “Bread people.” Also called: Mfskigula, Biloxi name. Pascagoula Connections. They were probably Muskhogeans although closely associated with the Siouan Biloxi. Pascagoula Location. Their earliest known location was on the river which still bears their name, about 16 French leagues from its mouth. (See also Louisiana and Texas.) Pascagoula Villages. Unknown, but see Biloxi. Pascagoula History. Iberville heard of the Pascagoula in 1699 when he made the first permanent settlement in Louisiana. That summer his brother Bienville visited them, and the following winter another brother, Sauvolle, who had been left in charge of the post, received several Pascagoula visitors. … Read more

Pascagoula Tribe

A small tribe of Indians formerly living on Pascagoula river in south Mississippi, in intimate connection with the Biloxi, but now extinct as a separate division.

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