People of the Sunrise: the Atakapa-Ishak

Too many times we've run across tribes that were once powerful, but who all but became extinct because of warfare, disease and the encroachment of Settlers on hunting range.  Today's tribe, which survive today in Louisiana and Texas, are survivors.  They called themselves Ishak, meaning people of the rising sun, or people of the sunshine.  However, their Choctaw neighbors identified them to early French and Spanish explorers as Atakapa, or man-eaters.  We'll get to that in a minute.

The Atakapa are an Eastern Woodlands people who lived in the area of what is now Louisiana and portions of Texas.  They were not a central tribe, but consisted of several Eastern and Western bands who could come together for mutual aid or defense.  They were an agricultural people, but also depending on fishing the rivers and the coastline as well as other hunting and gathering to supplement their diet.  The surround tribes knew them as fierce warriors who could, from time to time, consume the flesh of dead enemies after battle.  Cannibalism of this kind was known in North American, but it was rare and those tribes or peoples who practiced it got a reputation. 

Confusion exists as to whether the Narvaez expedition on 1528, which landed in what is now Texas, encountered these people or other tribes.  However, in 1703, Jean-Baptiste le Moyne's expedition  came into Atakapa territory.  They soon regretted it.  The Atakapa attacked and killed one of the Frenchmen, whom they later cannibalized.  They approached Frenchmen again in 1714, when Jean-Michel de Lepinay was fortifying Dauphin Island.  Another explorer, Francois-Simars de Ballisle lived for a time among the Atakapa, and gave the most information to date about them.  So did Antoine-Simon le Page du Pratz, whom we've already encountered.  Over time, as White encroachment into Native lands in Louisiana continued, other tribes joined the Atakapa, who themselves intermarried with Houma and Coushatta people, among others. 

By the 19th century, theAtakapa had ceased to function as a tribe, but individuals with Atakapa heritage lived among neighboring tribes, and kept some of the old traditions alive.  Some place-names in Louisiana reflect this tribe's heritage, including Mermentau, which was the name of an Atakapan leader, and Plaquemines, which was a French corruption of their word for parsimmon.  Today, people who claim Atakapan heritage are trying to gain acceptance for recognition as a federally-recognized tribe.  A statue depicting an Atakapan warrior stands in St. Martinville, Louisiana.

People of the Sun: the Yuchi

We've already run across one member of this tribe, Yuchi Billy, who met an untimely end at Fort Marion.   The Yuchi name for themselves "Coyaha" or "Tsoyaha" means people of the sun.  The origin of the word Yuchi, which means "people over there" is a mystery, as their language is not related to Muscogee, Cherokee or that of any of the other tribes which surrounded them.

The ancestral Yuchi homeland was in central Tennessee, where de Soto encountered them in 1541.  They were noted in his accounts as the Uchi and described as being a powerful tribe.  An English copy of a Catawba deerhide map refers to them in 1724 as the "Youchine".  During the years prior to the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), the Yuchi allied with the British to partake in the fur trade.  For reasons not known now, although the conflict might have been instigated by English fur traders, the Yuchi incurred the wrath of the Cherokee, who destroyed two Yuchi villages in 1714.  The colonial government of Carolina (it was not yet divided into North and South) put pressure on the Cherokees to cease the conflict before further towns were destroyed.  The Yuchi moved from Tennessee into Georgia and South Carolina to escape further pressure from the Cherokee.  There, they were allied with the Creek Confederacy.  They established a town known as Euchee Town near the Creek town of Coweta, where they were willing to trade with Americans, as well.  Naturalist William Bartram visited Euchee town in 1778 and noted it was the largest Native town he had ever encountered.  United States Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins praised the Yuchi for their orderliness and industry. 

With the Creek War (1813-14), some of the Yuchi joined the Red Stick faction, while others begin migrating to Florida to take refuge with the Seminole.  Their towns in Georgia began to decay.  Disease had already begun to take its toll in the 18th century.  Warfare and continued pressure to remove further damaged Yuchi populations.  They were removed in the 1830's along with the Muscogee/Creek and, once in Oklahoma, scattered to live among other tribes, including the Creek, Cherokee and Shawnee.  Those who had taken refuge with the Seminole fought alongside Osceola during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842).  Several Yuchi warriors and leaders were captured with Osceola in October, 1837, and imprisoned in Fort Marion.  Over time, their language began to go extinct, though it is currently undergoing revival.  Today, the Yuchi are undertaking efforts to obtain federal recognition as a tribe, with an unrecognized but active group in Oklahoma.