Survivors: the Apalachee of Florida

Pre-contact Florida was home to several Native tribes, among them the Muskogean-speaking Apalachee, who were part of the Mississippian Culture and inhabited a place known as Velda Mound.  Although they had abandoned the mound by the time the Spanish appeared in Florida, their wealth and reputation was such that members of the Narvaez Expedition of 1528 believed that the riches they sought might lie with the Apalachee.  The Narvaez Expedition identified an Apalachee village with the name, Apalachen, which became Anglicized as Appalachian in later centuries, and eventually applied to the entire mountain chain along the eastern United States.  The Apalachee were among the tribes encountered by Hernando de Soto during his expedition to Florida in 1539-40, living around what is now Apalachee Bay.  The arrival of the Spanish in Florida brought disease and complete social upheaval to the tribes in the region.  The Spanish were quick to exploit any rivalry among Native tribes as they settled and began building outposts and missions.

The Apalachee distrusted and feared the Spanish because of the mistreatment they had endured from Narvaez and later de Soto.  It wouldn't be until 1600 that Franciscan priests were able to establish missions among the Apalachee, including Mission San Antonio de Bacuqua in what is now Leon County.  Harsh treatment caused the Apalachee to revolt in 1647.  The Spanish enacted brutal reprisals, forcing Apalachee men to work on roads and other projects as far away as St. Augustine.  In the 1670's, Creeks, Chickasaws and other tribes began raiding the Spanish missions, stealing Apalachee people to sell as slaves to the English.  In 1701, a raid by settlers in Carolina on Mission San Luis nearly destroyed the entire Apalachee population.  By 1704, raids on Spanish Florida had forced the Spanish to abandon their province.  The remaining Apalachee, about 300 fled to Pensacola, eventually to Mobile and into Louisiana. 

These Apalachee settled along the Red River in Louisiana.  Others returned to Florida, eventually joining and going west with the Creek tribe during Indian Removal.  The few remaining in Florida in 1763 were evacuated to Vera Cruz, Mexico and later to Cuba.  Descendants of the Apalachee wo had fled to Louisiana remained in Rapides Parish.  Despite encroachment by settlers and discrimination as a non-white minority following the Civil War, the Louisiana Apalachee managed to hold on to their land.  They began seeking federal recognition in 1997.