Siouan Topics – Page 5 of 7

Cheraw Tribe

Cheraw Indians. An important tribe, very probably of Siouan stock, formerly ranging in central Carolina, east of the Blue ridge, from about the present Danville, Va., southward to the neighborhood of Cheraw, S. C., which takes its name from them. In numbers they may have stood next to the Tuscarora among the North Carolina tribes, but are less prominent in history by reason of their almost complete destruction before the white settlements had reached their territory. They are mentioned first in the De Soto narrative for 1540, under the name Xuala, a corruption of Suali, the name by which they … Read more

Blackfoot Tribe

Sihasapa (‘black feet’, so called because they wore black moccasins). A small division of the Teton Sioux. The name, like the names of some other Teton tribes, does not appear to have come into notice until a recent date, no mention being made of it by Lewis and Clark, Long, or earlier authorities. Catlin in his Letters and Notes, written during his stay among the northwestern Indians (1832-39), mentions the Blackfoot Sioux. In a note to De Smet’s Letters they were estimated to number 1,500. Culbertson estimated the tribe at 450 lodges, an exaggeration, and mentions five bands or subtribes, … Read more

Brule Sioux Tribe

Brulé Sioux Indians, Brulé One Nation, Brulé Tribes (‘burned,’ the French translation of, Sichángχu, ‘burnt thighs,’ their own name, of indefinite origin). A subtribe of the Teton division of the great Dakota tribe. They are mentioned by Lewis and Clark (1804) as the Tetons of the Burnt Woods, numbering about 300 men, “who rove on both sides of the Missouri, White, and Teton rivers.” In 1806 they were on the east side of the Missouri from the mouth of the White to Teton river. Hayden describes the country inhabited by them in 1850 as on the headwaters of the White and Niobrara, … Read more

Brule Sioux Indian Chiefs and Leaders

Biloxi Tribe

Biloxi Indians. A name of uncertain meaning, apparently from the Choctaw language. They call themselves Taneks haya, ‘first people.’ A small Siouan tribe formerly living in south Mississippi, now nearly or quite extinct. The Biloxi were supposed to belong to the Muskhogean stock until Gatschet visited the survivors of the tribe in Louisiana in 1886 and found that many of the words bore strong resemblance to those in Siouan languages, a determination fully substantiated in 1892 by J. Owen Dorsey. To what particular group of the Siouan family the tribe is to be assigned has not been determined; but it … Read more

Otoe Tribe

Otoe Tribe: An extensive resource for researching the facts, history, culture, genealogy, names, towns, treaties or ethnology of the Otoe Nation.

Ioway Tribe

Ioway Tribe: An extensive resource for researching the facts, history, culture, genealogy, names, towns, treaties and ethnology of the Ioway Nation.

Eno Tribe

The Eno Indians, a tribe associated with the Adshusheer and Shakori in 17th-century North Carolina, were likely of Siouan linguistic stock, although their distinct physical traits and habits led to some doubts regarding their classification. First mentioned in 1654, the Eno, along with the Shakori, lived near present-day Durham and Hillsboro, North Carolina, with their primary village, Adshusheer, located along the Eno River. By 1701, the Eno, Shakori, and Adshusheer had formed a confederation, with the Shakori emerging as the dominant group. Over time, the Eno, like other small tribes, faced pressure from European colonization and warfare, eventually migrating southward and becoming absorbed into larger groups like the Catawba or Saponi by the early 18th century. Their unique customs, including round homes made of interwoven branches plastered with mud, and their distinctive cultural practices set them apart from neighboring tribes. The Eno name endures in local geographic features like the Eno River in North Carolina and possibly the Enoree River in South Carolina.

The Waxhaw and Sugeree Indians

The two small tribes bearing the above designations are hardly known except in connection with the Catawba Indians, with whom they were afterward incorporated. They may be treated together. The tribes lived, respectively, about Waxhaw and Sugar (i. e., Sugeree) creeks, two small streams flowing into Catawba River from the northeast, within, what is now Lancaster County, South Carolina, and Union and Mecklenburg counties, North Carolina. As previously mentioned (The Eno, Shoccoree, and Adshusheer indians) the Waxhaw practiced the custom of flattening the head, a custom probably followed also by the Catawba and other neighboring tribes, whence they were called … Read more

The Woccon, Sissipahaw, Cape Fear, and Warren-Nuncock Indians

Of the North Carolina tribes bearing the foregoing names almost nothing is known, and of the last two even the proper names have not been recorded. The Woccon were Siouan; the Saxapahaw and Cape Fear Indians presumably were Siouan, as indicated from their associations and alliances with known Siouan tribes, while the Warren-nuncock were probably some people better known under another name, though they cannot be identified. The region between the Yadkin and the Neuse, extending down to the coast, was probably occupied by still other tribes whose very names are forgotten. They were virtually exterminated by smallpox and other … Read more

The Sara Indians

While we know nothing positively as to the linguistic affinity of the Sara, all the evidence goes to show that, like most of the tribes of the central region of Virginia and Carolina, they were of Siouan stock. Their name is probably from the Catawba word sara, signifying a place of “tall grass or weeds” (Gatschet). While the Siouan tribes treated in the foregoing consolidated, after their decline, and joined the Iroquois in the north, most of the remaining people of that stock, including the Sara, migrated southward and merged with the Catawba tribe in South Carolina. The history of … Read more

The Sewee, Santee, Wateree, and Congaree Indians

The Santee and its branches, the Wateree and the Congaree, were held by the Sewee, Santee, Wateree, and Congaree tribes, whose territory extended to the neighborhood of the Waxhaw and Catawba. Nothing is known of their linguistic affinities, but their alliances and final incorporation were with the Catawba. Sewee Indians The Sewee occupied the coast and the lower part of the river below the Santee, extending westward to the divide of Ashley river about the present Monks Corner, in Berkeley county, South Carolina, where they adjoined the Etiwaw . Their name is preserved in Sewee Bay. Lawson, who met them … Read more

Siouan Migrations and Iroquois Conquests

Horatio Hale, to whom belongs the credit of first discovering a Siouan language on the Atlantic coast, noted the evidences that the Tutelo language was older in its forms than the cognate dialects of the west, and predicted that if this should prove true it would argue against the supposition, which at first seemed natural, that the eastern Siouan tribes were merely offshoots front a western parent stock. Investigation might result in showing that the western Siouan, like the western Algonquian tribes, had their original home in the east. The inference that the region west of the Mississippi was the … Read more

The Southern Atlantic Stocks

When the French and English established their first permanent settlement in America they found the whole country in possession of numerous aboriginal tribes, some large and powerful, others restricted to a single village and its environs. The variety of languages and dialects at first appeared to be well-nigh infinite; but on further acquaintance it was discovered that these were easily reducible to a few primary stocks. Excluding the Eskimo along the northern coast, the first great group comprised the tribes of the Algonquian stock, whose territory on a linguistic map appears like a large triangle, extending on the north from … Read more

The Pedee, Waccamaw, And Winyaw; The Hooks and Backhooks Indians

These small tribes lived on the lower Pedee and its tributaries in South Carolina and the contiguous border of North Carolina. Nothing is known of their language and very little can now be learned of their former daily life or their religious system of belief, as they were never prominent in history. For the “Hooks” and “Backhooks” there is only the authority of Lawson, who mentions them as enemies of the Santee, living in the earliest part of the eighteenth century about the mouth of Winyaw River, i. e., Winyah bay, South Carolina . The names have a suspicious appearance, … Read more

The Saponi and Tutelo Indians

The Tutelo and Saponi tribes must be considered together. Their history under either name begins in 1670. As already stated, Monahassanugh and Nahyssan are other forms of Yesan, the name given to themselves by the last surviving Tutelo, and which seems to have been the generic term used by all the tribes of this connection to designate them as a people. The name Saponi (Monasickapanough?) was generally limited to a particular tribe or aggregation of tribal remnants, while the Iroquois name Tutelo, Totero, or Todirich-roone, in its various forms, although commonly used by the English to designate a particular tribe, … Read more

The Monacan Confederacy

The history of the Monacan tribes of Virginia belongs to two distinct periods, the colonization period and the colonial period. By the former we may understand the time of exploration and settlement from the first landing of the English in Virginia to the expeditions of Lederer and Batts, in 1670 and 1671, which supplied the first definite information in regard to the country along the base of the mountains. Under the colonial period we may include everything else, as after the Revolution the small remnant incorporated with the Iroquois in Canada virtually disappeared from history. Up to 1670 the Monacan … Read more

The Occaneechi Indians

The history of the Occaneechi is so closely interwoven with that of the Saponi and Tutelo that little remains to be said of them as a distinct tribe. Their history begins with Lederer’s journey in 1670. After leaving the Saponi, who lived then, as has been stated, on a tributary of the Staunton, he went, as he says, about 50 miles south by west of the Saponi village and thus arrived next at the “Akenatzy” village (Latin pronunciation), situated on an island in another branch of Roanoke river. His estimate of the distance is too great, as usual, and the … Read more

Other South Carolina Tribes

Santee and Congaree rivers probably formed the approximate southern limit of the Siouan tribes of the east. There is no reason for assigning to this stock any tribes farther southward along the Atlantic coast. As the history of all these Indians is closely interwoven, however, a few notes on the remaining tribes of South Carolina between Santee and Savannah rivers may properly be introduced. Cherokee Indians The Cherokee tribe, of Iroquoian stock, occupied the territory of what are now the seven upper counties along the Savannah, extending down to the mouth of Broad river. Being a well-known tribe, with an … 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