The First People of Tennessee

Our Aboriginal People of Tennessee map (93k) shows the Indian cultural groups at about 1700 CE (AD) just after the beginning of the Historic Period. The map locates the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Quapaw, Shawnee, and Yuchi (a.k.a Uchee) in what is now Tennessee. We have added to our list, Catawba, Chiaha, Kaskinampo, Mosopelia, Muscogee (Creek), Natchez, Tali, and Tuskegee.

Of these First Nations, only the Cherokee and Chickasaw treated with the British colonials and/or later with the United States government to cede land in Tennessee. Spanish or French treaties with Chickasaw may exist.

   Cherokee, linguistic group, Iroquian.  In historic times, East Tennessee’s major Indian Nation. (Also in western North Carolina and northern Georgia.)

   Chickasaw, linguistic group, Muskogian.

In historic times, West Tennessee’s major Indian Nation. (Also in northern Mississippi and northwestern Alabama.)

The Nations (or small parts of them) listed below are believed to have either lived in within the bounds of modern Tennessee or contiguous to those bounds. Some of these Nations have treated with the United States government and have ceded non-Tennessee land. Some but not all of these Nations have simply faded away.

  Catawba, linguistic group, Siouan.
In historic times, the Catawba lived in the Carolinas.  “For a brief time in their later history the Catawba lived among the Cherokee and may have occupied lands in Tennessee at that time. There are indications they may have been in eastern Tennessee at a more remote epoch.”¹

  Chiaha.

“A part of this tribe was encountered by De Soto in 1540, in the territory now forming this State, probably as shown by Mr. J. Y. Brame, on what is now Burns Island [South Pittsburg, Marion Cty. Tennessee]. They are also mentioned in connection with the explorations of Juan Pardo in 1567.”¹

  Kaskinampo.

“There is every reason to believe that this tribe constituted the Casqui, Icasqui, or Casquin ‘province’ which De Soto entered immediately after crossing the Mississippi River, and it was probably in what is now Phillips County, Ark. We hear of the Kaskinampo next in connection with the expeditions of Marquette and Joliet but do not learn of their exact location until 1701, when they seem to have been on the lower end of present Pine Island. We are informed, however, by one of the French explorers that they had previously lived upon Cumberland River, and there is evidence that when they first moved to the Tennessee, they may have settled for a short time near its mouth. Both the Cumberland and the Tennessee were known by their name, and it stuck persistently to the latter years of the eighteenth century. After the early years of the eighteenth century we hear little more of them, but there is reason to believe that they united with the Koasati.”¹

  Mosopelia.

“This tribe probably established themselves on Cumberland River and at one or two points on the Tennessee shore of the Mississippi on their way from Ohio to Mississippi.”¹
  
  Muscogee (Creek), linguistic group, Muskogian.  A northern Georgia Nation whom Ramsey reported as having a slight presence on the Tennessee River as far north the mouth of the Hiwassee River.  Then we see …

“Although we do not have records of any settlements in Tennessee by the true Muskogee, it is probable that some of them occupied part of its territory in prehistoric times, and at a later date their war parties constantly visited it.”¹

  Natchez, linguistic group, Natchez-Muskogian.

In 1729, the pro-Chickasaw Natchez massacred the French people of Fort Rosalie (located at present day Natchez Mississippi). Soon after, a French-Choctaw force destroyed the Natchez people. Many Natchez were killed; some were enslaved and sent to the West Indies. Some Natchez were able to flee and joined other tribes.

“After being driven from Mississippi and Louisiana, one band of Natchez lived among the Cherokee.”¹

  Quapaw, linguistic group, Siouan.

Originally from the Ohio Valley. By 1667, they were forced from their homelands by the Iroquois League. They settled at the mouth of the Arkansas River. There influence on the east side of the Mississippi was minimal.

  Shawnee, linguistic group, Algonkian.

See below.

  Tali.

“A tribe met by De Soto near the great bend of the Tennessee and found in the same region by the earliest English and French explorers, living in what is now northern Alabama and perhaps also in Tennessee. It is probable that they were a part of the Creeks.”¹

  Tuskegee.

In historic times, the Tuskegee lived in Alabama.

“One band of Tuskegee formed a settlement or settlements in the Cherokee Nation.”¹

“The later and best know location of this tribe was on the point of land between Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers, but in 1685 part of them were on the Chattahoochie River near modern Columbus [Alabama] and the rest were on the upper Tennessee near Long Island [Long Island is on the Tennessee Georgia line].”²

  Yuchi (a.k.a. Uchee), linguistic group, Siouan.

For our purposes, the Historic Period for Tennessee’s Indian Nations is the period covered by the white man’s written records. Before that, there were hundereds of generations of Indians living in Tennessee. Stepping back in time to the Prehistoric Period, we find the mound builder societies; there were the Mississippian (800 CE to 1450 CE) and Hopewell (100 BCE to 400 CE) cultures in Tennessee. Today, archeological work is conducted at many of these sites. All are part of the story of the First People of Tennessee.

_______
1.  The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology. Bulletin 145. Government Printing Office, 1953; pp. 215-229.
2.  Ibid, p. 172.