Tawasa

Indian Confederacy Of 1781

Michikinikwa, LIttle Turtle

The spring of 1781 was a terrible season for the white settlements in Kentucky and the whole border country. The natives who surrounded them had never shown so constant and systematic a determination for murder and mischief. Early in the summer, a great meeting of Indian deputies from the Shawanees, Delawares, Cherokees, Wyandot, Tawas, Pottawatomie, and diverse other tribes from the north-western lakes, met in grand council of war at Old Chilicothe. The persuasions and influence of two infamous whites, one McKee, and the notorious Simon Girty, “inflamed their savage minds to mischief, and led them to execute every diabolical scheme.”

Tawasa Indians

Tawasa Tribe. Meaning unknown. Tawasa Connections. They spoke a dialect belonging to the Timucuan division of the Muskhogean linguistic family, intermediate between Timucua proper and Choctaw, Hitchiti, Alabama, and Apalachee. Tawasa Location. In 1706-7 in west Florida about the latitude of the junction of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers; at an earlier time and again later they were on the Alabama near the present Montgomery. (See also Louisiana.) I have stated elsewhere (Swanton, 1946, p. 187) that the name of this mission was wanting in the list drawn up in 1656. I should have given the date as 1680. Tawasa … Read more

Tawasa Tribe

Tawasa Indians (Alibamu: Tawáha). A Muskhogean tribe first referred to by the De Soto chroniclers in the middle of the 16th century as Toasi and located in the neighborhood of Tallapoosa river. Subsequently they moved south east and constituted one of the tribes to which the name “Apalachicola” was given by the Spaniards. About 1705 attacks by the Alibamu and Creeks compelled them to leave this region also and to seek protection near the French fort at Mobile. In 1707 the Pascagoula declared war against them, but peace was made through the intervention of Bienville. From this time the tribe … Read more

Tawasa Tribe and Pawokti Tribe

The first reference to the Tawasa is by Ranjel and the Fidalgo of Elvas. Tawasa is mentioned as one of the towns at which the De Soto expedition stopped and is placed between Ulibahali (Holiwa-hali) and Talisi (Tulsa). It is called by Ranjel Tuasi, by Elvas Toasi. From this location it is evident that the tribe, or part of it, was at that time among the Upper Creeks, but from Lamhatty’s narrative it appears they had moved southeast before 1706 and settled some where between Apalachicola and Choctawhatchee Rivers. A Spanish letter of 1686 refers to the tribe in one place … Read more