Siouan Topics – Page 2 of 7

Eno Indians

The Eno tribe, likely of Siouan linguistic stock, was historically situated along the Eno River in present-day Orange and Durham Counties, North Carolina. Their exact origins remain unclear, with some doubts raised about their classification due to unique characteristics. Closely associated with the Shakori tribe, the Eno shared a village named Adshusheer, located near modern-day Hillsboro. First mentioned in 1645, they were noted for resisting Spanish advances and later appeared in colonial records as part of a confederation with other tribes like the Saponi and Occaneechi. By 1714, they began migrating toward Virginia, eventually settling in South Carolina, where they likely merged with the Catawba. The tribe’s name endures in several geographic features, including the Eno River and Enoree River, reflecting their historical presence in the region.

Keyauwee Indians

Keyauwee Tribe: Meaning unknown. Keyauwee Connections. From the historical affiliations of Keyauwee, they are presumed to have been of the Siouan linguistic family. Keyauwee Location. About the points of meeting of the present Guilford, Davidson, and Randolph Counties. (See also South Carolina.) Keyauwee Villages. No separately named villages are known. Keyauwee History. The Keyauwee do not appear to have been noted by white men before 1701 when Lawson (1860) found them in a palisaded village about 30 miles northeast of Yadkin River near the present Highpoint, Guilford County. At that time they were preparing to join the Saponi and Tutelo … Read more

Shakori Indians

Shakori Tribe: A native name but its significance unknown, though perhaps the same as Sugari, “stingy or spoiled people,” or “of the river whose-water-cannot-be drunk.” Also called: Cacores, a misprint. Shakori Connections. The Shakori belonged to the Siouan linguistic family, their closest connections being evidently with the southern division of the Siouan tribes of the East. Barnwell (1908) identified them with the Sissipahaw. Shakori Location. The Shakori moved so frequently and there is so much uncertainty regarding their early history, that this is hard to give, but, as they usually kept company with the Eno, tenancy of the courses of … Read more

Woccon Indians

Woccon Tribe: Significance unknown. Woccon Connections. The Woccon belonged to the Siouan linguistic stock, their closest relations being the Catawba. Woccon Location. Between Neuse River and one of its affluents, perhaps about the present Goldsboro, Wayne County. Woccon Villages Tooptatmeer, supposed to have been in Greene County. Yupwauremau, supposed to have been in Greene County. Woccon History.-The first mention of the Woccon appears to be by Lawson writing about 1701, who recorded 150 words of their language. These show that it was nearer Catawba than any other known variety of speech. Lack of any earlier mention of such a large tribe … Read more

Wateree Indians

Wateree Tribe: Gatschet suggests a connection with Catawba, wateran, “to float on the water.” Also called: Chickanee, name for a division of Wateree and meaning “little.” Guatari, Spanish spelling of their name. Wateree Connections. The Wateree are placed in the Siouan linguistic stock on circumstantial evidence. Wateree Location. The location associated most closely with the Wateree historically was on Wateree River, below the present Camden. (See North Carolina.) Wateree History. The Wateree are first mentioned in the report of an expedition from Santa Elena (Beaufort) by Juan Pardo in 1566-67. They lived well inland toward the Cherokee frontier. Pardo made … Read more

Winyaw Indians

Winyaw Tribe: Meaning unknown. Winyaw Connections. The Winyaw are placed in the Siouan linguistic family on circumstantial evidence. Their closest connections were with the Pedee and Waccamaw. Winyaw Location. On Winyaw Bay, Black River, and the lower course of the Pee Dee. Winyaw History. Unless this tribe is represented by the Yenyohol of Francisco of Chicora (1521), the Winyaw were first mentioned by the colonists of South Carolina after 1670. In 1683 it was charged that colonists had raided them for slaves on an insufficiently supported charge of murder by some of their people This unfriendly act did not prevent … Read more

Waccamaw Indians

Waccamaw Tribe: Meaning unknown. Waccamaw Connections. Nothing of their tongue has been preserved but evidence points to a connection with the Waccamaw with the Siouan linguistic family, and presumably with the Catawba dialectic group. The Woccon may have been a late subdivision, as Dr. Rights has suggested. (See North Carolina.) Waccamaw Location. On Waccamaw River and the lower course of the Pee Dee. (See North Carolina.) Waccamaw Villages. The Waccamaw were reported to have had six villages in 1715, but none of the names is preserved. Waccamaw History. The name of the Waccamaw may perhaps be recorded in the form … Read more

Sugeree Indians

Sugeree Tribe: Speck (1935) suggests Catawba yensr grihere, “people stingy,” or “spoiled,” or “of the river whose-water-cannot-be drunk.” Also called: Suturees, a synonym of 1715. Sugeree Connections. No words of their language have been preserved, but there is every reason to suppose that they belonged to the Siouan linguistic family and were closely related to the Catawba, and perhaps still more closely to the Shakori. Sugeree Location. On and near Sugar Creek in York County, S. C, and Mecklenburg County, N. C. Sugeree Villages. There were said to be many but their names have not been preserved. Sugeree History. The … Read more

Congaree Indians

Congaree Tribe: Meaning unknown. Congaree Connection. No words of this language have been preserved but the form of the name and general associations of the tribe leave little doubt that it was a Siouan dialect, related most closely to Catawba. Congaree Location. On Congaree River, centering in the neighborhood of the present State Capital, Columbia. Congaree Villages. The only village mentioned bore the same name as the tribe and was sometimes placed on the Congaree opposite Columbia, sometimes on the north side of the river. Congaree History. The Congaree are mentioned in documents of the seventeenth century as one of … Read more

Catawba Indians

Catawba Tribe: Significance unknown though the name was probably native to the tribe. Also called: Ani’ta’guă, Cherokee name. Iswa or Issa, signifying “river,” and specifically the Catawba River; originally probably an independent band which united early with the Catawba proper. Oyadagahrcenes, Tadirighrones, Iroquois names. Usherys, from iswahere, “river down here”; see Issa. Catawba Connections. The Catawba belonged to the Siouan linguistic family, but Catawba was the most aberrant of all known Siouan languages, though closer to Woccon than any other of which a vocabulary has been recorded. Catawba Location. In York and Lancaster Counties mainly but extending into the neighboring … Read more

Houses of the Crow Tribe

Parfleche box "Crows, Montana Ter. J. I. Allen." Length 28 inches, width 13 1/2 inches. (U.S.N.M. 130574)

Before the separation of the Crow from the Hidatsa they may have occupied permanent villages of earth-covered lodges, such as the latter continued to erect and use until very recent years. But after the separation the Crows moved into the mountains, the region drained by the upper tributaries of the Missouri, and there no longer built permanent structures but adopted the skin tipi, so easily erected and transported from place to place. Many of their tipis were very large, beautifully made and decorated, and were evidently not surpassed in any manner by the similar structures constructed by other tribes of … Read more

Houses of the Mandan Tribe

"The interior of the hut of a Mandan chief" - Karl Bodmer, 1833

As mentioned in the sketch of the houses of the Assiniboin, a small party of French accompanied by members of that tribe during the autumn of 1738 went southward from the Assiniboin country to the Mandan towns, where the French remained several weeks. The leader of the expedition, La Verendrye, prepared an account of the journey, this being the earliest record of a visit by Europeans to the Mandans known to exist, although it is easily conceived that French trappers may have been among the tribe earlier in the century. The expedition arrived among the Mandan November 28, 1738, after … Read more

Houses of the Winnebago Tribe

When first known to Europeans the Winnebago occupied the region west of Green Bay, west of Lake Michigan, where, according to the Jesuit missionaries, they had resided for many generations. There they were living in the year 1634 when visited by Nicollet, and just 35 years later, during the winter of 1669-70, a mission on the shore of the same bay was conducted by Père Allouez, which proved a gathering place for various tribes, including the Winnebago, Sauk and Foxes, Menominee, and Potawatomi. These, with the exception of the Winnebago, were Algonquian tribes. As already mentioned, the Oto, Iowa, and … Read more

Houses of the Missouri Tribe

In the narrative of the Lewis and Clark expedition appears this record: “June 13, 1804. We passed a bend of the river. Missouri and two creeks on the north, called the Round Bend creeks. Between these two creeks is the prairie, in which once stood the ancient village of the Missouri. Of this village there remains no vestige, nor is there any thing to recall this great and numerous nation, except a feeble remnant of about thirty families. They were driven from their original seats by the invasions of the Sauks and other Indians from the Mississippi, who destroyed at … Read more

Houses of the Oto Tribe

Oto dugout canoe, from Kurz's Sketchbook, May 15, 1851

When Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri during the summer of 1804 they reached the mouth of the Platte July 21. At that time, so they entered in their journal, the Oto were living on the south side of the Platte, 10 leagues above its junction with the Missouri, and 5 leagues beyond, on the same bank, were the Pawnee. Living with the Oto were the remnants of the Missouri who had, a few years before, joined them. On August 3, 1804, the expedition having ascended the Missouri to about the location of the present city of Council Bluffs, Iowa, … Read more

Houses of the Omaha Tribe

Page of Kurz's sketchbook showing interior of an Omaha lodge, May 16, 1851

When Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri in 1804 they found the Omaha village not far from the Missouri, in the present Dakota County, Nebraska. On the 13th of August the expedition reached the mouth of a creek entering the right bank of the Missouri. Just beyond they encamped on a sandbar, “opposite the lower point of a large island.” From here Sergeant Ordway and four men were sent to the Omaha village and returned the following day. “After crossing a prairie covered with high grass, they reached the Maha creek, along which they proceeded to its three forks, which … Read more

Houses of the Yankton Tribe

When the expedition under the leadership of General Atkinson ascended the Missouri, during the summer of 1825, he wrote regarding the Yankton: “The Yankton are a band of the Sioux, and rove in the plains north of the Missouri, from near the Great Bend, down as far as the Sioux river. They do not cultivate, but live by the chase alone, subsisting principally upon buffalo. They cover themselves with leather tents, or lodges, which they move about from place to place, as the buffalo may chance to range. They are pretty well supplied with fusees, and with horses, and a … Read more

Houses of the Yanktonai Tribe

Like other divisions of the Dakota, the Yanktonai formerly lived in the thickly timbered region surrounding the headwaters of the Mississippi, in the central portion of the present State of Minnesota, and, like them, moved southward and westward until they reached the plains and the habitat of the buffalo. Although in their earlier home they undoubtedly reared the mat-covered structures, nevertheless when they reached the open country they constructed the conical skin lodge. During the latter part of July, 1823, the Long expedition reached a village of this tribe then standing in the vicinity of Lake Traverse, in the present … Read more

Houses of the Mdewakanton Tribe

When preparing a sketch of the villages and village sites of the Mdewakanton, it is quite natural to begin with a brief description of the site of the village to which Father Hennepin was led captive, during the early spring of the year 1680. On the afternoon of April 11 of that year, while ascending the Mississippi with two companions, he was taken by a war party of the Sioux, and after much anxiety and suffering reached the Falls of St. Anthony, which he so named. Thence, going overland through the endless forests, they arrived at the village of their … Read more

Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi

Catlin, George - 334, Chippeway Village and Dog Feast at the Falls of St. Anthony; lodges build with birch-bark: Upper Mississippi

Life on the prairies or mountains with the best built house had to be hard for our ancestors, but consider the Indians of the 1800’s. With few implements, or tools, they constructed their homes from their surroundings. David Bushnell, provides a vivid picture of the traditional homes, hunting camps, and travels of the Algonquian, Caddoan and Siouan tribes. Even without the photos and drawings, all of which are included here, Bushnell paints a picture of these tribes life and culture with his words.