Chatot (people)
The Chatot , also Chacato or Chactoo , were a North American Indian people who lived on the western upper Apalachicola and Chipola Rivers in northwestern present-day Florida . They spoke a dialect of the Muskogee languages , presumably the same as the neighboring Pensacola . The tribe has been considered extinct since around 1760; their descendants may now live with the Creek in Oklahoma and the Mikasuki in Florida.
history
The culture of the chatot is almost unknown to today's anthropologists because the Spaniards did not provide any written information about it. When the British occupied northwest Florida around 1765 after winning the Seven Years' War , the descendants of the chatots were already living in Louisiana and had adopted numerous cultural features of their new neighbors there. At that time, many Louisiana Indians had converted to Roman Catholicism and used the French language to trade with whites. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the chatot were known by French and British traders under a wide variety of names, such as Chacato, Chaqto, Chatot, Chactot, Chactoo, Chacchou, Chaetoo and Chattoo .
The Spaniards first came into contact with the Chatot in 1639. Spanish sources indicate that the Chatot lived west of the Apalachee and south of the Apalachicola . In 1648 the chatot asked the Spanish governor to send missionaries to them. At this time trade with the Spaniards began and relations were initially peaceful. The requested missionaries did not come to the land of the chatot until 1674. They set up two missions, one of which was about 35 km west of the Apalachicola River at Marianna , the other on the Chipola River. Part of the chatot converted to the Catholic faith and moved to so-called mission cities. Both missions had to be closed later because some of the unconverted chatot revolted against the missionaries who, among other things , wanted to ban them from polygamy .
This revolt against the missionaries ended briefly when members of the Chisca , who lived further north on the Chattahoochee River , raided the mission cities of the Catholic Chatot. These allied with the Apalachee from Florida to fight the Chisca. At that time, Spanish troops attacked a city where around 300 Chatot, Pensacola and Chisca were celebrating a party. The battle ended in a draw. The Catholic Chatot moved to a village west of the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers , which was called San Carlos de los Chakatos . There is no further information about the unconverted chatot. Presumably the survivors were taken in by other tribes.
In 1684 some members of the chatot of southern Shawnee were captured and sold as slaves to British colonists in South Carolina . The Apalachicola raided San Carlos de los Chakatos in 1695, presumably with the intention of catching slaves there as well. In 1702 a force consisting of at least 800 Apalachee and Chatot as well as Spanish soldiers and militiamen invaded the area of the Apalachicola. In the bloody battle on the Flint River between the invaders and a force of allied Apalachicola and Chicksaw , a total of 600 warriors from both sides died. Members of the Creek, reinforced by British militia from the Carolinas, attacked the Spanish missions in northwest Florida. In August 1704, 200 chatot and an unknown number of Apalachee fled to Mobile Bay to seek protection with the French colonists there. The French allowed chief Juan von den Chatot, his mother Jacinta and 200 tribal members to settle a piece of land at the mouth of the Mobile River . The area was called Oignonets and is now part of the city of Mobile .
Since their stay on the Mobile River, the chatot were firmly anchored in the faith of the French Catholics. In 1707 the chief's son was baptized by French priests. At that time, it is said, the Chatot spoke both the Choctaw and French languages. The great flood of Fort St. Louis in 1711 forced the French to move Fort Louis to Mobile. The chatot living there had to leave the place and move 7 km further south to the Dog River .
The chatot were last mentioned in British colonial archives in 1763. As allies of the French, the chatot had to leave northwest Florida and were subsequently driven further and further west. In 1773 they were in Rapides Parish in Louisiana, in 1796 they were probably on the Red River , in 1803 on the Bayou Boeuf and in 1817 on the Sabine River in Texas . Their descendants are believed to live with the Creek in Oklahoma and the Mikasuki in Florida today.
See also
literature
- Raymond Fogelson (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 14: Southeast. Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 2004.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Encyclopedia of Florida Indians. Retrieved January 20, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e f The Chatot People of Florida Indians. Retrieved January 20, 2017 .