Extinct Tribe: The Kaskaskia

Just because a Native tribe or its language have become extinct doesn't mean there aren't descendants today who  keep the heritage alive as best they can.  The Kaskaskia were a Northeastern Woodlands tribe who lived on the Great Lakes near what is now Green Bay Wisconsin when French missionaries first encountered them in 1687.  They were part of the Illini or Illinois Confederation, a network of more than a dozen tribes around the Great Lakes and upper Mississippi River. 

The first Europeans to have contacted the Kaskaskia were Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette and French explorer Louis Jolliet, who were the first Europeans to sail down the Mississippi River in 1673.  They met the Kaskaskia, along with other tribes from the Illini Confederacy near what is now Utica, Illinois.  By 1703, the French had established a trading post at what is now Kaskaskia, Illinois, along with a mission station.  Like most of the other Illini tribes, the Kaskaskia were firm French allies, putting them into constant conflict with the Iroquois, who were allies of the British.  Because of the fur trade, many French men intermarried into the Kaskaskia and other Illinois tribes, further cementing the bonds between the two groups. 

The French and Indian War (1755-1762) proved a severe test of loyalty to the Illini tribes and the mixed race or Metis communities which had grown up along the Mississippi.  Constant warfare and strife with British-allied tribes along with communicable diseases wreaked havoc on the Illini peoples, including the Kaskaskia.  Today, the descendants of the Kaskaskia are enrolled in the Peoria Tribe of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe.