Siouan

Siouan Tribes of the East

Iroquoian Peoples resulted in the separation of the Siouan and Algonquian Tribes

The Siouan Tribes of the East was Mooney’s most speculative work. He began the shorter monograph even before he finished writing his study of the Ghost Dance. An indication of his maturing scholarship was his increasing ability to carry on separate lines of research simultaneously. The study had its roots in the work he accomplished thus far on the Indian synonymy, and in the extensive review of the literature of early exploration most recently incorporated in his article on the Potamic tribes. His inspiration came from the linguistic work done in the early 1880’s by Albert Gatschet, his friend and colleague at the bureau.

The Keyauwee Indians

The name of the Keyauwee has no connection with that of Kecowee town of the Cherokee on Keowee River, in western South Carolina, nor apparently with that of Kiawah Island, south of Charleston. Of their language nothing remains, but the evidence of alliance and history goes to show that they were Siouan. They were never prominent as a separate tribe. In 1701 Lawson found them in a palisaded village about 5 miles beyond “Heighwaree” (Uharie) river, and near another stream which was probably Deep river. The village was about 30 miles northeast of the Yadkin, and must have been about … Read more

Local Names

Local Names From Siouan Tribal Names in Virginia and Carolinas Catawba A river of North Carolina and South Carolina, known as the Wateree in its lower course, joining with the Congaree to form the Santee. A creek in Botetourt county, Virginia. A county of North Carolina. A town of Catawba county, North Carolina A town of Roanoke county, Virginia. A town of Marion county, West Virginia. Catawba Junction; a town in York county, South Carolina. Catawba Springs; a town in Lincoln county, North Carolina. Little Catawba or South Catawba; a tributary of the Catawba from the west, in North Carolina. … Read more

The Manahoac Confederacy

The Manahoac confederacy of Virginia consisted of perhaps a dozen tribes, of which the names of eight have been preserved. With the exception of the Stegarake, all that is known of these tribes was recorded by Smith, whose own acquaintance with them seems to have been limited to an encounter with a large hunting party in 1608. Smith, however, was a man who knew how to improve an opportunity; and having had the good fortune to make one of them a prisoner he managed to get from him a very fair idea of the tribes and territories of the confederacy, … Read more

The Biloxi Indians

Inspection of the various names which have been applied to this tribe suggests that they are all derivatives from Taneks, the name by which the Biloxi call themselves. The interchangeability of the letters l, n, and r in different dialects is a well-known linguistic fact, while the substitution of a labial for a dental or a compound labial-dental is of frequent occurrence in the Siouan languages. As examples, Dorsey mentions mda or bla and mdu or blu, pronominal particles in Dakota, which become hata or hate in Oto, and to or to in Whinebago. Mde or bde, the Dakota word … Read more

The Catawba Indians

The origin and meaning of Catawba are unknown. It is said that Lynche creek hi South Carolina, east of the Catawba territory, was anciently known as Kadapau; and from the fact that Lawson applies the name Kadapau to a small band met by him southeast of the main body of the tribe, which he calls Esaw, it is possible that it was originally applied to this people by some tribe living in eastern South Carolina, from whom the first colonists obtained it. The Cherokee, having no b in their language, changed the word to Atakwa, or Anitakwa in the plural. The … Read more

Collateral Tribes of the Siouan

Before treating of these better known names, several other tribal names or synonyms, for each of which there is but a single authority, may be mentioned. They were all probably of the same Manahoac or Monacan connection, but it is impossible to identify them positively with any of the tribes mentioned by Smith or with any of those prominent in the later colonial records. This is not necessary, however, as Smith himself, in speaking of the two Virginia confederacies just referred to, distinctly states that each had other tribes besides those which he names, while as for the interior of … Read more

The Eno, Shoccoree, and Adshusheer Indians

The Eno, Shoccoree, and Adshusheer tribes, often grouped together in historical references, were Indigenous groups whose origins and affiliations remain uncertain. Despite likely differences in language and culture, their alliances with Siouan-speaking tribes have led to their categorization as part of this group. Little is known about these tribes due to their disappearance as distinct entities by 1720, when they were absorbed by larger groups like the Catawba or Saponi. Early records describe them as small in stature but varied in character, with differing reports on their bravery and way of life. They occupied territories in what is now North Carolina, leaving traces in local place names like Eno River and Shocco Creek. Over time, these tribes integrated into other communities, with remnants surviving among the Catawba by the mid-18th century.

Siouan Tribal Nomenclature

In the Siouan stock, as among the American Indians generally, the accepted appellations for tribes and other groups are variously derived. Many of the Siouan tribal names were, like the name of the stock, given by alien peoples, including white men, though most are founded on the descriptive or other designations used in the groups to which they pertain. At first glance, the names seem to be loosely applied and perhaps vaguely defined, and this laxity in application and definition does not disappear, but rather increases, with closer examination. There are special reasons for the indefiniteness of Indian nomenclature: The … Read more

Winnebago

Linguistically the Winnebago Indians are closely related to the ŧΩiwe’re on the one side and to the Mandan on the other. They were first mentioned in the Jesuit Relation of 1636, though the earliest known use of the name Winnebago occurs in the Relation of 1640; Nicollet found them on Green bay in 1639. According to Shea, the Winnebago were almost annihilated by the Illinois (Algonquian) tribe in early days, and the historical group was made up of the survivors of the early battles. Chauvignerie placed the Winnebago on Lake Superior in 1736, and Jefferys referred to them and the … Read more

Siouan Principal Divisions

According to Dorsey, whose acquaintance with the Siouan Indians was especially close, the main portion of the Siouan stock, occupying the continental interior, comprised seven principal divisions (including the Biloxi and not distinguishing the Asiniboin), each composed of one or more tribes or confederacies, all defined and classified by linguistic, social, and mythologic relations; and he and Mooney recognize several additional groups, denned by linguistic affinity or historical evidence of intimate relations, in the eastern part of the country. So far as made out through the latest researches, the grand divisions, confederacies, and tribes of the stock, with their present … Read more

The Siouan Mythology

It was partly through pioneer study of the Siouan Indians that the popular fallacy concerning the aboriginal “Great Spirit” gained currency; and it was partly through the work of Dorsey among the ȼegiha and Dakota tribes, first as a missionary and afterward as a linguist, that the early error was corrected. Among these tribes the creation and control of the world and the things thereof are ascribed to “wa-kan-da” (the term varying somewhat from tribe to tribe), just as among the Algonquian tribes omnipotence was assigned to “ma-ni-do” (“Manito the Mighty” of “Hiawatha”); yet inquiry shows that wakanda assumes various … Read more

Siouan Somatology

Certain somatic features of the Siouan Indians, past and present, may be traced to their causes in custom and exercise of function; yet by far the greater number of the features are common to the American people or to all mankind, and are of ill-understood significance.

Chiwere Group

Ɉɔiwe’re is used in the following article to reference the Chiwere of the Handbook of American Indians. The ancestry and prehistoric movements of the tribes constituting the Ɉɔiwe’re group are involved in considerable obscurity, though it is known from tradition as well as linguistic affinity that they sprung from the Winnebago. Since the days of Marquette (1673) the Iowa have ranged over the country between the Mississippi and Missouri, up to the latitude of Oneota (formerly upper Iowa) River, and even across the Missouri about the mouth of the Platte. Chauvignerie located them in 1736 west of the Mississippi and (probably … Read more

Siouan Institutions

Among civilized peoples, institutions are crystallized in statutes about nuclei of common law or custom; among peoples in the prescriptorial culture-stage statutes are unborn, and various mnemonic devices are employed for fixing and perpetuating institutions; and, as is usual in this stage, the devices involve associations which appear to be essentially arbitrary at the outset, though they tend to become natural through the survival of the fittest. A favorite device for perpetuating institutions among the primitive peoples of many districts on different continents is the taboo, or prohibition, which is commonly fiducial but is often of general application. This device … Read more

Mandan

The Mandan had a vague tradition of emigration from the eastern part of the country, and Lewis and Clark, Prince Maximilian, and others found traces of Mandan house-structures at various points along the Missouri; thus they appear to have ascended that stream before the advent of the ȼegiha. During the historical period their movements were limited; they were first visited in the upper Missouri country by Sieur de la Verendrye in 1738. About 1750 they established two villages on the eastern side and seven on the western side of the Missouri, near the mouth of Heart river. Here they were … Read more

Siouan Organization

The demotic organization of the Siouan peoples, so far as known, is set forth in considerable detail in Mr Dorsey’s treatises and in the foregoing enumeration of tribes, confederacies, and other linguistic groups. Like the other aborigines north of Mexico, the Siouan Indians were organized on the basis of kinship, and were thus in the stage of tribal society. All of the best-known tribes had reached that plane in organization characterized by descent in the male line, though many vestiges and some relatively unimportant examples of descent in the female line have been discovered. Thus the clan system was obsolescent … Read more

Siouan Phonetic and Graphic Arts

The Siouan stock is defined by linguistic characters. The several tribes and larger and smaller groups speak dialects so closely related as to imply occasional or habitual association, and hence to indicate community in interests and affinity in development; and while the arts (reflecting as they did the varying environment of a wide territorial range) were diversified, the similarity in language was, as is usual, accompanied by similarity in institutions and beliefs. Nearly all of the known dialects are eminently vocalic, and the tongues of the plains, which have been most extensively studied, are notably melodious; thus the leading languages … Read more

Siouan Habitat

Excepting the Asiniboin, who are chiefly in Canada, nearly all of the Siouan Indians are now gathered on the reservations indicated on earlier pages, most of these reservations lying within the aboriginal territory of the stock. At the advent of white men, the Siouan territory was vaguely defined, and its limits were found to vary somewhat from exploration to exploration. This vagueness and variability of habitat grew out of the characteristics of the tribesmen. Of all the great stocks south of the Arctic, the Siouan was perhaps least given to agriculture, most influenced by hunting, and most addicted to warfare; … Read more

Hidatsa

There has been much confusion concerning the definition and designation of the Hidatsa Indians. They were formerly known as Minitari or Gros Ventres of the Missouri, in distinction from the Gros Ventres of the plains, who belong to another stock. The origin of the term Gros Ventres is somewhat obscure, and various observers have pointed out its inapplicability, especially to the well-formed Hidatsa tribesmen. According to Dorsey, the French pioneers probably translated a native term referring to a traditional buffalo paunch, which occupies a prominent place in the Hidatsa mythology and which, in early times, led to a dispute and … Read more