Siouan

Winnebago Tribe

The Winnebago Tribe, part of the Siouan linguistic family, has a rich history dating back to their initial contact with Europeans in 1634. They inhabited the Green Bay region and interacted with various Algonquian and Siouan tribes. Despite facing numerous challenges, including forced relocations and disease, they maintained their cultural identity through distinct material culture and language. Historically, they allied with the British in conflicts like the War of 1812, and today, they reside primarily in Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Yanktonai Tribe

Yanktonai Indians (ihanke ‘end,’ tonwan ‘village,’ na diminutive: ‘little-end village.’Riggs). One of the 7 primary divisions or subtribes of the Dakota, speaking the same dialect as the Yankton and believed to be the elder tribe. Long evidently obtained tradition from the Indians to this effect. He first apparent reference to one of the tribes in which the other is not included is that to the Yankton by La Sueur in 1700. It is not until noticed by Lewis and Clark in 1804 that they reappear. These explorers state that they roved on the headwaters of the Sioux, James, and Red … Read more

Yankton Tribe

Yankton Indians (ihanke ‘end,’ ton’wan ‘village ‘end village’). One of the 7 primary divisions of the Dakota, constituting, with the closely related Yanktonai, the middle group. J. O. Dorsey arranged the Dakota-Assiniboin in 4 dialectic groups: Santee, Yankton, Teton, and Assiniboin, the Yankton dialect being spoken also by the Yanktonai, for the 2 tribes were the outgrowth of one original stem. Although the name Yankton was known earlier than Yanktonai, it does not follow that the Yankton were the elder tribe. Long speaks of the Yankton as descendants of the Yanktonai. The Assiniboin, who were an offshoot from the Yanktonai, … Read more

Waccamaw Tribe

Waccamaw Indians. One of the small tribes formerly dwelling on the Lower Pedee and its branches in South Carolina and the adjacent border of North Carolina. Nothing is known of their language, and very little else concerning them, as they were never prominent in history. Their associations indicate that they were Siouan. Their habitat was along Waccamaw River, which enters the Pedee from the north almost at its mouth. They were mentioned first in 1715 as living near the Winyaw, both tribes receiving ammunition from the Cheraw, who attempted to gain them as allies of the Yamasee and other tribes … Read more

Woccon Tribe

Woccon Indians. A small tribe formerly inhabiting east North Carolina, related linguistically to the Catawba, hence of Siouan stock. All that is known of them is recorded by Lawson, who states that about 1710 they lived 2 leagues from the Tuscarora on the lower Neuse in 2 villages, Yupwauremau and Tooptatmeer, having 120 warriors. In his map of 1709, reproduced by Hawks , he places them between Neuse river and one of its affluents, perhaps about the present Goldsboro, Wayne county. They joined the Tuscarora against the whites in the war of 1711-13, as is learned from incidental references in … Read more

Wateree Tribe

Wateree Indians (perhaps from Catawba wateran, ‘to float on the water.’ Gatschet). One of the early tribes of the Carolinas, probably Siouan. As described by Juan de la Vandera in his account of the expedition of Juan de Pardo in 1567, they then lived at a great distance from the coast, near the Cherokee frontier. In 1670 Lederer, whose statement is doubtful, places them apparently in North Carolina, on the extreme upper Yadkin, far to the north west of their later habitat, with the Shoccore and Eno on the north east and the Cheraw on the west. In 1700 they … Read more

Waxhaw Tribe

Waxhaw Indians. A small tribe that lived in the 17th century in what is now Lancaster County, South Carolina, and Union and Mecklenburg Counties, North Carolina. They were connected with the neighboring Sugeree, and both were apparently related to the Catawba, and therefore were Siouan. The custom of flattening the head, practiced by the Waxhaw, was also mentioned as a custom of the Catawba. Lederer (1672) says they were subject to and might be considered a part of the Catawba. Lawson visited the Waxhaw in 1701 and was hospitably received. He mentions two of their villages situated about 10 miles … Read more

Wahpekute Tribe

Wahpekute Indians (wakhpe, leaf; kute, to shoot: shooters in the leaves’). One of the 7 primary divisions of the Dakota. Although the name Santee was originally applied only to the Mdewakanton, it was early extended to the Wahpekute, so closely were the two tribes connected, and eventually by the Teton also to the two other tribes of the eastern Dakota. Historic and linguistic evidence proves the close affinity of the tribes of this group. The Wahpekute were doubtless living in the vicinity of the Mdewakanton of Mille Lac, Minn., when first visited by the French (1678-1680), and were still so … Read more

Otherday, Wahpeton Indian Chief

Otherday, John (Aagpetu-tokecha) A Wahpeton Sioux, son of Zitkaduta, or Red Bird, and nephew of Big Curly, chief of the Wahpeton at Lac qui Parle, Minn.; born at Swan lake, Minn., in 1801. It is said that when a young man he was “passionate and revengeful, and withal addicted to intemperance, and he lived to lament that he had slain three or four of his fellows in his drunken orgies” (Sibley). Yet at times he manifested the same devotion to his tribesmen as he afterward showed to the whites, on one occasion, in a battle with the Chippewa at St … Read more

Wahpeton Tribe

Wahpeton Indians (wakhpe, ‘leaf’; tonwan (French nasal n), ‘a village’; hence probably ‘dwellers among leaves’). One of the 7 primary divisions of the Dakota. Historic and linguistic evidence proves the affinity of this tribe with the Sisseton, Wahpekute, and Mdewakanton. Hennepin (1680) mentions them as living in the vicinity of Mille Lac, Minnesota, near the Mdewakanton, Sisseton, and Teton. On his map they are placed a little to the northeast of the lake. Le Sueur (1700) places the Oudebatons, or “river village,” among the eastern Sioux, and the Ocapetons, “village of the leaf,” among the Sioux of the west. As … Read more

Two Kettles Sioux Tribe

Two Kettle Indians, Two Kettle Lakota, Oohenonpa Tribe, Oohenonpa Indians,  (‘two boilings’ ). A division of the Teton Sioux, commonly known as Two Kettle Sioux, or Two Kettles; also a subdivision thereof. No mention of it is made by Lewis and Clark, Long, or other earlier explorers. It is stated in a note to De Smet’s Letters (1843) that the band was estimated at 800 persons. Culbertson (1850) estimated them at 60 lodges, but gives no locality and says they have no divisions. Gen. Warren (1856) found them much scattered among other bands and numbering about 100 lodges. Gumming places … Read more

Sugeree Tribe

Sugeree Indians. A small tribe, supposed to have been Siouan, that lived near the Waxhaw in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and York County, South Carolina.  They occupied a fertile district and, according to Lawson inhabited many towns and settlements.  They were doubtless greatly reduced by the Yamasee War of 1715 and later merged in the Catawba.

Teton Sioux Tribe

Teton (contr. of Titonwan, ‘dwellers on the prairie’). The western and principal division of the Dakota or Sioux, including all the bands formerly ranging west of Missouri river, and now residing on reservations in South Dakota and North Dakota. The bands officially recognized are: Oglala of Pine Ridge agency Brule of Rosebud and Lower Brule agencies Blackfoot Miniconjou Sans Arc Two Kettle of Cheyenne River agency Hunkpapa, etc., of Standing Rock agency. Their history is interwoven with that of the other Dakota and is little more than a recountal of attacks on other tribes and on border settlers and emigrants. … Read more

Sisseton Sioux Tribe

Sisseton Sioux Indians, Sisseton Indians, Sisseton Tribe (‘lake village’). One of the seven original tribes of the Dakota. They appear to have formed a link between the eastern and western tribes, though generally included in the eastern division, with which they seem to have the closest affinity. Riggs says that the intercourse between the Mdewakanton on the Mississippi and lower Minnesota rivers. and the Wahpeton, Wahpekute, and a part of the Sisseton has been so constant that but slight differences are discoverable in their manner of speaking, though the western Sisseton show greater difference in their speech. This tribe was in existence … Read more

Sissipahaw Tribe

Sissipahaw Indians, Saxapahaw Indians, Haw indians. A former small tribe of North Carolina, presumably Siouan, from their alliance and associations with known Siouan tribes. They must have been an important tribe at one time, as Haw River, the chief head stream of Cape Fear River, derives its name from them, and the site of their former village, known in 1728 as Haw Old Fields, was noted as the largest body of fertile land in all that region. It was probably situated about the present Saxapahaw on Haw River, in the lower part of Alamance County, North Carolina. They were mentioned … Read more

Sitting Bull Sioux Indian Chief

Sitting Bull

(Tatanka Yotanka, ‘sitting buffalo bull’). A noted Sioux warrior and tribal leader of the Hunkpapa Teton division, born on Grand Rivers, South Dakota, in 1834, his father being Sitting Bull, alias Four Horns, a subchief. As a boy he was first known as Jumping Badger. He manifested hunting ability when but 10 years of age, in the pursuit of buffalo calves. When he was 14 he accompanied his father on the warpath against the Crows and counted his first coup on the body of a fallen enemy. On the return of the party his father made a feast, gave away … Read more

Sioux Indians

Siouan Family, Siouan Tribe, Sioux Tribe. The most populous linguistic family North of Mexico, next to the Algonquian. The name is taken from a ‘term applied to the largest and best known tribal group or confederacy belonging to the family, the Sioux or Dakota, which, in turn, is an abbreviation of Nadowessioux, a French corruption of Nadowe-is-iw, the appellation given them by the Chippewa. It signifies ‘snake,’ ‘adder,’ and, by metaphor, ‘enemy.’ Before changes of domicile took place among them, resulting from contact with whites, the principal body extended from the west bank of the Mississippi northward from the Arkansas … Read more

Shakori Tribe

The Shakori Indians were a small tribe closely associated with the Eno and Adshusheer in North Carolina during the 17th century. Though their physical characteristics raised doubts about their Siouan origin, they were allied with Siouan-speaking tribes and likely shared linguistic ties with the Eno. Historical records first mention the Shakori in 1654, describing them as a fierce and resilient people despite their small stature. The tribe’s villages were located near the Eno, with whom they eventually formed a confederation alongside the Adshusheer by 1701. Over time, the Shakori are thought to have merged with other local tribes, and by the early 18th century, their identity became intertwined with groups like the Sissipahaw. Notably, a figure named Shacco-Will, encountered by William Byrd in 1733, likely represented one of the last known members of this group.

Sewee Tribe

Sewee Indians. A small tribe, supposedly Siouan, formerly living in east South Carolina. According to Rivers they occupied the lower part of Santee river and the coast westward to the divide of Ashley river, about the present Monks Corner, Berkeley County, where they adjoined the Etiwaw.

Santee Sioux Tribe

Santee Indians, Santee Sioux Indians (Isañyati, from isañ ‘knife,’ contraction of isañta-mde ‘knife lake,’ Dakota name for Mille Lacs, and ati, ‘to pitch tents at’ ). An eastern division of the Dakota, comprising the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute, sometimes also the Sisseton and Wahpeton. Hennepin (1680), who probably included only the Mdewakanton, says : “In the neighborhood of Lake Buade are many other lakes, whence issue several rivers, on the banks of which live the Issati, Nadouessans, Tinthonha (which means prairie-men), Ouadebathon River People, Chongaskethon Dog, or Wolf tribe (for chonga among these nations means dog or wolf), and other tribes, all … Read more