The Pascagoula (also Pascoboula, Pacha-Ogoula, Pascagola, Pascaboula, Paskaguna) were an
indigenous group living in coastal
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 ...
on the
Pascagoula River
The Pascagoula River is a river, about 80 miles (130 km) long, in southeastern Mississippi in the United States. The river drains an area of about 8,800 square miles (23,000 km²) and flows into Mississippi Sound of the Gulf of Mexico. ...
.
The name ''Pascagoula'' is a
Mobilian Jargon term meaning "bread people".
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 ...
native Americans using the name Pascagoula are named after the words for "bread nation". The
Biloxi called them ''Pascoboula''.
History
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville (16 July 1661 – 9 July 1706) or Sieur d'Iberville was a French soldier, explorer, colonial administrator, and trader. He is noted for founding the colony of Louisiana in New France. He was born in Montreal to French ...
encountered the tribe in 1699 and was impressed by the beauty of Pascagoula women.
According to local Euro-American legend, the peace-loving tribe walked single file into the Singing River (now known as the
Pascagoula River
The Pascagoula River is a river, about 80 miles (130 km) long, in southeastern Mississippi in the United States. The river drains an area of about 8,800 square miles (23,000 km²) and flows into Mississippi Sound of the Gulf of Mexico. ...
) because the local Biloxi tribe were planning to attack. Anola, a Biloxi "
princess", eloped with the Pascagoula chief Altama, although she was engaged to a Biloxi chieftain. Anola's angry would-be husband led his soldiers into battle with the Pascagoula. Outnumbered and fearing enslavement by the Biloxi, the tribe joined hands and walked into the river singing a death song. The river became known as the "Singing River" because of this death song, which reportedly can still be heard at night.
Language
John Sibley reported that they spoke their own language which was different from neighboring languages in addition to
Mobilian Jargon. Their language is undocumented.
References
External links
Pascagoula Indian Tribe HistoryPascagoula Indians
Bibliography
* Goddard, Ives (2005). The indigenous languages of the Southeast. ''Anthropological Linguistics. 47'' (1): 1–60.
* Higginbotham, Jay (Trans., Ed.). (1969). ''The journal of Sauvole''. Mobile: Colonial Books.
* McWilliams, Richebourg G. (Ed., Trans.). (1981). ''Iberville's gulf journals''. University: University of Alabama Press.
*
Le Page du Pratz, Antoine Simon. (1758). ''Histoire de la Louisiana'' (Vols. 1-3). Paris: De Bure.
* Sibley, John. (1806). Historical sketches of the several Indian tribes in Louisiana, south of the Arkansas River, and between the Mississippi and River Grand. In T. Jefferson (Ed.), ''Message from the President of the United States communicating the discoveries made in exploring the Missouri, Red River, and Washita'' (pp. 48–62). New York: G. F. Hopkins.
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Native American tribes in Mississippi
Unclassified languages of North America