Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Yuchi The Yuchi people, also spelled Euchee and Uchee, are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma. In the 16th century, Yuchi people lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley in Tennessee. In the late 17th century, they moved south to Alabama, G ...

Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...

Spanish Florida Spanish Florida ( es, La Florida) was the first major European land claim and attempted settlement in North America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, ...

Apalachee The Apalachee were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, specifically an Indigenous people of Florida, who lived in the Florida Panhandle until the early 18th century. They lived between the Aucilla River and Ochlockonee River,Bobby ...

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

Muscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsApalachicola towns that resettled around Ochisi Creek in central Georgia, thus becoming part of the "Lower Towns of the

Muscogee Confederacy The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands

Sixteenth century

In 1540, the

Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...

expedition entered the southern

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

in North Carolina. At the town of Coste at the mouth of the

Little Tennessee River The Little Tennessee River is a tributary of the Tennessee River that flows through the Blue Ridge Mountains from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, into North Carolina, and then into Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. It drains portio ...

, de Soto was told of the "Chisca" province that was north of Coste and produced copper and "another finer but softer metal of the same color". According to de Sotos's account, he sent out a small exploration party near the

Nolichucky River The Nolichucky River is a river that flows through Western North Carolina and East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Traversing the Pisgah National Forest and the Cherokee National Forest in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the river's wate ...

in the vicinity of the upper

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, ...

, where they were attacked and defeated by Chisca warriors. The Spanish established the first capital of

Spanish Florida Spanish Florida ( es, La Florida) was the first major European land claim and attempted settlement in North America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, ...

at Santa Elena, on

Parris Island, South Carolina Parris Island is a district of the city of Port Royal, South Carolina on an island of the same name. It became part of the city with the annexation of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island on October 11, 2002. For statistical purposes, the ...

. In late 1566, Captain Juan Pardo departed from Santa Elena to explore the interior of what is now the Southeastern United States. Pardo's expedition reached

Joara Joara was a large Native American settlement, a regional chiefdom of the Mississippian culture, located in what is now Burke County, North Carolina, about 300 miles from the Atlantic coast in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Joara is n ...

(at a site about 20 miles east of

Marion, North Carolina Marion is a city in and the county seat of McDowell County, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1844, the city was named in honor of Brigadier General Francis Marion, the American Revolutionary War Hero whose talent in guerrilla warfare ...

) in late January, 1567, where they built Fort San Juan. Pardo left Sergeant Hernando Moyana in charge of the fort when he continued his journey of exploration before returning to Santa Elena. In March of that year, Moyana reported to Pardo that he had fought a chief named Chisca, killing 1,000 Chiscas and burning 50 houses. Shortly afterwards, Moyana was challenged by another chief (assumed to also be a Chisca by Hudson, et al.). In response, Moyana marched for four days with 19 Spanish soldiers and an unspecified number of Joaras, and captured a

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...

d town, killing a claimed 1,500 inhabitants and burning the town. Moyana then marched another four days to

Chiaha Chiaha was a Native American chiefdom located in the lower French Broad River valley in modern East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. They lived in raised structures within boundaries of several stable villages. These overlooked the ...

. Chiaha was also surrounded by a palisade, and Moyana settled for building a small fort nearby. The towns destroyed by Pardo and his soldiers are identified in Spanish sources as Maniatique and Guapere. Luisa Mendez, a Native American woman who was married to a Spanish soldier, was identified as the "cacica" (female chief) of the town of Guanaytique or Manaytique. Mendez's description of

brine spring A brine spring or salt spring is a Brine, saltwater Spring (hydrology), spring. Brine springs are not necessarily associated with halite deposits in the immediate vicinity. They may occur at valley bottoms made of clay and gravel which became sogg ...

s in the area has been taken as evidence that Maniatique was near

Saltville, Virginia Saltville is a town in Smyth and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 2,077 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Kingsport– Bristol (TN)– Bristol (VA) Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a compone ...

on the

Holston River The Holston River is a river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Along with its three major forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee ...

. On the other hand, DePratter, et al. place the Chisca towns on the upper Nolichucky River or the

Watauga River The Watauga River () is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is long with its headwaters in Linville Gap to the South Fork Holston River at Boone Lake. Course The Watauga River rises from a spring near the base ...

, or both.

Appearance in Spanish Florida

People that the Spanish called Chisca were in the western part of what is now the state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

by late in the 16th century. A

Chatot The Chatot (also Chacato or Chactoo) were a Native American tribe who lived in the upper Apalachicola River and Chipola River basins in what is now Florida. They spoke a Muskogean language, which may have been the same as that of the Pensacola p ...

chief, Juan de Diocsale, who had a Chisca mother, was born by 1595. (Chatot Province was roughly coterminous with the

Chipola River The Chipola River is a tributary of the Apalachicola River in western Florida. It is part of the ACF River Basin watershed. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15 ...

basin in what is now

Jackson County, Florida Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida, on its northwestern border with Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,319. Its county seat is Marianna. History Jackson County was created by the Florida Territ ...

.) By the 1620s, Spanish records indicated that many Chiscas were living in the area. When

Juan de Salinas Juan de Salinas was the governor of Spanish Florida from August 2, 1618 - October 28, 1624.Ben CahoonU.S. States F-K Salinas arrived at Saint Augustine in 1618 to replace Juan Treviño de Guillamas as governor of the Spanish territory of ''La Fl ...

was governor of Spanish Florida between 1618 and 1624, he sent soldiers 60 leagues to punish Chiscas and Chichimecos for robbing and killing Christian natives in

Timucua The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The var ...

and

Apalachee The Apalachee were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, specifically an Indigenous people of Florida, who lived in the Florida Panhandle until the early 18th century. They lived between the Aucilla River and Ochlockonee River,Bobby ...

provinces. In 1639, the Spanish unsuccessfully invited some Chiscas to settle near a Timucuan mission 10 leagues from St. Augustine, in hopes of using them to hunt fugitives from missions and defend the Florida colony. The Chisca roamed freely throughout Spanish Florida in the 1640s. In 1647, Chiscas were involved in the Apalachee Rebellion. After the Spanish suppressed the rebellion, Chiscas ambushed Spanish soldiers and Christian natives in neighboring

Yustaga The Yustaga were a Timucua people of what is now northwestern Florida during the 16th and 17th centuries. The westernmost Timucua group, they lived between the Aucilla and Suwannee Rivers in the Florida Panhandle, just east of the Apalachee peop ...

Province. The Spanish then ordered Chiscas, including some that had reached the

St. Johns River The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...

valley, to settle in towns under Christian caciques, but the Chiscas remained "rebellious" in 1650 and 1651, killing some mission inhabitants, and kidnapping others. The Chisca had several settlements near the St. Johns River, from which they raided Timucua missions and the

La Chua ranch The La Chua ranch was the largest cattle ranch in Spanish Florida in the 17th century. Cattle ranching became an important part of the economy of Spanish Florida over the course of the 17th century. The La Chua ranch was founded in the middle of th ...

. In 1651, the Spanish succeeded in driving the Chisca out of Timucua province.

Among the Chacato and Apalachee

Some Chisca had settled at the mouth of the Apalachicola River, near Apalachee Province, as early as 1661, and relations with the Spanish were friendly enough that they tried to recruit some Chiscas to serve as interpreters for questioning some Chichimecos held prisoner by the Spanish, and, in 1675, asked the Chiscas to not support the Chacatosto in their dispute with the Spanish. In 1675, the Chisca living near Apalachee Province warned the Spanish that the English were urging the Chichimeco to attack Spanish missions and other native groups that had submitted to the Spanish king. On the other hand, that same year Pablo de Hita Salazar, governor of Florida, described the Chisca as "our enemies, rebellious people, untamed and brought up licentiously". Diaz Vara Calderon, Bishop of Cuba, described the Chisca as living "without any fixed settlements, and sustaining themselves with the hunt, nuts, and roots of trees". Calderon gave the Chisca population as more than 4,000. In 1674, Spanish missions were established in two Chacato towns. Diocsale, a chief of the Chacato, whose mother had been a Chisca, entertained Chiscas regularly at his house. Diocsale and other Chacatos resentful of Spanish missionary attempts to force them to confine themselves to one wife, and to otherwise conform with Christian morality, threatened to have the Chisca in the village at the mouth of the Apalachicola River cause trouble for other Chacatos and the missions. The lone missionary in the province was forced to flee for his life. The Spanish sent a few soldiers and 25 Apalachees armed with harquebuses to support the missionary, and to expel Chiscas who had been living in the Chacato towns. In 1676, the Chisca moved their village from near the eastern mouth of the Apalachicola River to the

Choctawhatchee River The Choctawhatchee River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map , accessed 15 April 2011 river in the southern United States, flowing through southeast Alabama and the Panhandle o ...

. After the move, the Chisca began raiding missions in Apalachee and Timucua provinces. Chiscas had apparently been raiding Spanish missions for several years before 1676, when the Spanish finally realized that they were responsible for some of the raids. In 1676, Chisca were believed to have raided several missions in Apalachee Province, including Ivitachuco, Patale, Bacuqua,

Escambe Escambe (also known as San Cosme y San Damián de Cupaica, San Damián de Cupaica, San Cosmo y San Damías de Escambe, or San Damián de Cupahica) was a Spanish Franciscan mission built in the 17th century in the Florida Panhandle, three miles no ...

, and Ayubale, killing Christian Apalachees, although some of the raids may have been committed by

Yamasee The Yamasees (also spelled Yamassees or Yemassees) were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans who lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida. The Yamas ...

. By the next year, a Chacato village had moved into Apalachee Province for better protection against raids by Chiscas. A Chacato casique named Miguel testified in a hearing in St. Augustine that the Chisca were responsible for the killings in Apalachee, and that they intended to continue attacking the Apalachee. Miguel was later accused by the Spanish of recruiting Chacatos and Pansacolas to join the Chiscas in their attacks on the mission Apalachee.

On the Choctawhatchee River

By 1677, the Chisca town on the mouth of the Apalachicola was abandoned, and the Spanish learned from a Chacato informant that the Chisca had built a

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...

d town on the Choctawhatchee River, two days journey west of the Apalachicola River. The palisade was described as a bit more than high, and about 300 paces long on each side. It had boards near the top of the walls for fighters to stand on, and features that may have been

glacis A glacis (; ) in military engineering is an artificial slope as part of a medieval castle or in bastion fort, early modern fortresses. They may be constructed of earth as a temporary structure or of stone in more permanent structure. More genera ...

. The town was big enough to hold 700 fighting men and their dependents. The Spanish were told that the Chisca intended to use the town as a base for attacking the Apalachee, Timucua, Apalachicola, Chacato,

Sabacola Sabacola (or Sowalki) was a Native American town and chiefdom in what is now the Southeastern United States of America during the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. Usually regarded as belonging to the Apalachicola people, Sabacola had poorly un ...

, Casista, Oconi, Usichi, Ayjichito and other peoples. The Spanish and Apalachee mounted an expedition against the town on the Choctawhatchee in 1677. They suspected that the Chisca would be watching the trail that led directly from Chacato Province to the Choctawhatchee town, so the Spanish-Apalachee force moved south to a trail that ran closer to the coast. This led to a place where Chacatos and Pansacolas had settled near the coast. Those people had established a trail to the Chisca town, and then had all moved to the Chisca town. The Spanish and Apalachees used this trail to approach the Chisca town without opposition. While the Spanish and Apalachees had only 190 men, the 30 firearms carried by the Apalachees vastly outnumbered the two firearms that the Chisca were known to have. The Apalachees fired bar shot, which battered the wooden houses and other structures inside the palisade, and also started fires. Many women and children who had taken refuge in various structures were burned to death. The town was on a bluff overlooking a river, and many Chisca fled by swimming across the river. Surviving Chiscas sought refuge in various places. Some went to Atassi (relatives of the

Tukabatchee Tukabatchee or Tuckabutche ( Creek: ''Tokepahce'' ) is one of the four mother towns of the Muscogee Creek confederacy.Isham, Theodore and Blue Clark"Creek (Mvskoke)." ''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.'' ...

) on the

Tallapoosa River The Tallapoosa River runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 from the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia, United States, southward and wes ...

and

Tawasa Tawasa is an extinct Native American language. Ostensibly the language of the Tawasa people of what is now Alabama, it is known exclusively through a word list attributed to a Tawasa named Lamhatty, collected in 1707. John Swanton studied the L ...

on the

Alabama River The Alabama River, in the U.S. state of Alabama, is formed by the Tallapoosa and Coosa rivers, which unite about north of Montgomery, near the town of Wetumpka. The river flows west to Selma, then southwest until, about from Mobile, it un ...

. Others apparently went to Tennessee. In 1683 the French

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

La Salle found what his expedition recorded as a "Cisca" village between the

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

and Tennessee rivers in northern Tennessee. La Salle reported that the Cisca had taken refuge in Tennessee after their village had been burned by a combined force of English and "Apalalchites". Mason thinks it is likely that La Salle misinterpreted what he was told, and that the people of the village were Chiscas who had fled the destruction of their village on the Choctawhatchee. La Salle persuaded those villagers and the

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

north of the Cumberland to relocate to Fort St. Louis in what is now western

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, to live under French protection. Around this time, these Chisca seem to have joined with the Shawnee under the name '' Chaskepe''. They followed the Shawnee's later migrations (1692–1754) through Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. La Salle reported that the Chisca had originally lived in the Appalachians east of where he found them, until their town was burnt down by colonists from Florida. (He mistakenly called those colonists English; they were Spanish).

Among the Apalachicola

Chisca have been documented in Apalachicola Province by 1662, but may have been there as early as they were in Spanish Florida. The Chisca were at war with the Apalachicola towns in the 1680s, but had formed an alliance with them by 1702. Two Chisca were reported to be among the attackers on the San Carlos de los Chacatos mission in 1689 (the others were from Sabacola,

Coweta Coweta is a city in Wagoner County, Oklahoma, United States, a suburb of Tulsa. As of 2010, its population was 9,943. Part of the Creek Nation in Indian Territory before Oklahoma became a U.S. state, the town was first settled in 1840.Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

s. A village called Uchi was among the Lower Towns of the Muscogee Confederacy on the

Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chatta ...

(the site of the former Apalachicola Province) by 1715. John Swanton identified the people of that village as Chiscas (Yuchis). Chisca were living in a mission near

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...

in 1747. Chisca were also reported to be living 20 or 30 leagues east of Pensacola "on the road to Apalachee" in 1760.

Affiliation and survival

John R. Swanton John Reed Swanton (February 19, 1873 – May 2, 1958) was an American anthropologist, folklorist, and linguist who worked with Native American peoples throughout the United States. Swanton achieved recognition in the fields of ethnology and et ...

equated the Chisca with the

Yuchi The Yuchi people, also spelled Euchee and Uchee, are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma. In the 16th century, Yuchi people lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley in Tennessee. In the late 17th century, they moved south to Alabama, G ...

and the

Westo The Westo were an Iroquoian Native American tribe encountered in the Southeastern U.S. by Europeans in the 17th century. They probably spoke an Iroquoian language. The Spanish called these people Chichimeco (not to be confused with Chichimeca i ...

. Later scholars have rejected the Westo identification, and some have questioned the identification of Yuchi with Chisca, arguing that Swanton based the connections on a misinterpretation of the route de Soto took through the Appalachian Mountains, and noting that while the different groups may have lived at the same places, they did not do so at the same time. DePratter, et al. locate Chisca in the 16th century on the upper

Nolichucky River The Nolichucky River is a river that flows through Western North Carolina and East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Traversing the Pisgah National Forest and the Cherokee National Forest in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the river's wate ...

or

Watauga River The Watauga River () is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is long with its headwaters in Linville Gap to the South Fork Holston River at Boone Lake. Course The Watauga River rises from a spring near the base ...

. Beck equates the town of Chisca during the same period with Maniatique on the

Holston River The Holston River is a river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Along with its three major forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee ...

. Swanton considered the people called "Chichimeco" by the Spanish to be the same as the Chisca, but Hann equates the Chichimeca with the

Westo The Westo were an Iroquoian Native American tribe encountered in the Southeastern U.S. by Europeans in the 17th century. They probably spoke an Iroquoian language. The Spanish called these people Chichimeco (not to be confused with Chichimeca i ...

. The Chisca and the Westo may have spoken related languages, although not all authorities agree. The Uchi village on the Chattahoochee River in the 18th century may have included Chichimecos as well as Chiscas. Hann states the Yuchi/Uchee were clearly descended from the Chisca. Remnants of the Westos may have been absorbed into Chiscas/Yuchis. Hann states that the use of the name "Chisca" by the Spanish for a specific group of people in Florida suggests that the Spanish believed they were the same as the people of the Chisca chiefdom encountered in the Appalachian Mountains by the Juan Pardo expeditions. Some authors, starting with John Swanton, have regarded Chiscas, Westos and Yuchis as the same people, although Goddard argues that Chiscas spoke a language distinct from that of the Westos, and that the three groups appeared in the southeastern United States at different times; the Chiscas in 1618, the Westo in 1661, and the Yuchis just before 1707. The Spanish referred to both Chiscas and Chichimecos early in the 17th century, and used Chisca interpreters to question Chichimeco captives in 1662. The people called Chichimecos (at least, later in the 17th Century) by the Spanish were probably the people called Westos by the English. The Chisca were also known as the Ysica or Yuchi to the Spanish. Hann believes that the names Chisca, Ysica, Yuchi, Uchi, and Uchee refer to the same people, and that they were possibly related to the Westo. Hann also states that the Spanish began calling Chisca "Yuchi" (''Yujiha'' in their language, "Euchee" in English sources) in 1715. Those people were incorporated into the Muscogee nation and survive as a separate community in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. Wright notes a tradition that the Yuchi had been the people of the chiefdom of Chisca encountered by de Soto, and that in 1763 they retained memories of the Chisca chiefdom and continued to speak their own language, despite domination by Muscogee speakers. They kept separate from

Muscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsTallapoosa River The Tallapoosa River runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 from the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia, United States, southward and wes ...

and

Hitchiti The Hitchiti ( ) were a historic indigenous tribe in the Southeast United States. They formerly resided chiefly in a town of the same name on the east bank of the Chattahoochee River, four miles below Chiaha, in western present-day Georgia. The n ...

speakers along the Chattahoochee River. Other Yuchis lived in separate villages on the

Flint River The Flint River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains of western Georgia, flowing south from the u ...

, the

Savannah River The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the norther ...

, and near

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...

.

Ballgames

The Chiscas played a ballgame that pitted men against women. There were goals at the north and south ends of the field. The goals were made of branches that formed an arch. Both sides could kick or roll the ball, but the women could also pick up the ball and run with it or pass it to other women. The games were part of a set of rituals culminating in the

Green Corn Ceremony The Green Corn Ceremony (Busk) is an annual ceremony practiced among various Native American peoples associated with the beginning of the yearly corn harvest. Busk is a term given to the ceremony by white traders, the word being a corruption of t ...

. The Chiscas also played a

stickball Stickball is a street game similar to baseball, usually formed as a pick-up game played in large cities in the Northeastern United States, especially New York City and Philadelphia. The equipment consists of a broom handle and a rubber ball, ...

game with a single goal, similar to games played by Muskogee people.

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * * * * * * * {{authority control Extinct Native American tribes South Appalachian Mississippian culture Native American history of Tennessee Native American history of Virginia Appalachian culture Native American tribes in Virginia Native American tribes in Tennessee Pre-statehood history of Tennessee Spanish colonization of the Americas