The Bayagoula were a
Native American tribe from what is now called
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
and
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
in the southern
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Due to transcription errors amongst cartographers who mistakenly rewrote the tribe's name as their name is erroneously assumed to translate as "
bayou people";
further corruptions of the tribe's name into the two-word led most later 19th and 20th century cartographers to mistakenly assume the annotation referred not to a tribe but to a
bayou near present day
Donaldsonville, Louisiana
Donaldsonville (historically french: Lafourche-des-Chitimachas) is a city in, and the parish seat of Ascension Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located along the River Road of the west bank of the Mississippi River, it is a part of the Bat ...
named after some tribe known simply as the "Goula", or to the name of a settlement named after that nonexistent bayou. The Bayagoula were a part of the peoples who spoke
Muskogean
Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a Native American language family spoken in different areas of the Southeastern United States. Though the debate concerning their interrelationships is ongoing, the Muskogean languages are generally div ...
languages.
The
Houma people
The Houma () are a historic Native American people of Louisiana on the east side of the Red River of the South. Their descendants, the Houma people or organization "The United Houma Nation", have been recognized by the state as a tribe since 1 ...
were recorded as attacking them around 1699–1700.
They lived with another tribe, the
Mougoulacha The Mougoulacha were a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe that lived near Lake Pontchartrain.
Population
In 1699 Iberville said that the Bayagoula and Mougoulacha together had about 180-250 warriors and an estimated 1,250 ...
, in 1700. In the early 18th-century the Bayagoula killed many Mougoulacha, almost exterminating the entire tribe. This was triggered by a fight between the two tribes' chiefs.
The
Tonica tribe moved into the community soon thereafter. In 1706 the Tonica
ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactics, military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbru ...
ed the Bayagoula and almost killed all of them. By 1721, the rest of the tribe had suffered many deaths from
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
, a new infectious disease carried by the French and other Europeans, among whom it was endemic.
The remaining Bayagoula are believed to have moved to the area of the present-day
Ascension Parish
Ascension Parish (french: Paroisse de l'Ascension, es, Parroquia de Ascensión) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 126,500. Its parish seat is Donaldsonville. The parish was created ...
of
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
. Some likely joined nearby villages of the Houma and
Acolapissa The Acolapissa were a small tribe of Native Americans of North America, who lived in the Southeast of what is the present-day United States. They lived along the banks of the Pearl River, between present-day Louisiana and Mississippi. They are beli ...
who lived in the area, whilst others likely intermarried with neighbouring French, Spanish, and German colonists.
References
Further reading
*Fredlund, Glen G. ''Where Did the Bayogoula Dance, why Do They Sing No More: A Reexamination of the Archaeology of the Bayou Goula Area, Iberville Parish, Louisiana.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University (1983).
*Reeves, William D. ''From Tally-Ho to Forest Home: The History of Two Louisiana Plantations.'' P. 10-14. .
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Native American tribes
Native American tribes in Mississippi
Native American tribes in Louisiana
Ascension Parish, Louisiana