The Choctaw of bayou Lacomb, St. Tammany parish, Louisiana / by David I. Bushnell, Jr.

  • David I. Bushnell
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Choctaw of bayou Lacomb, St. Tammany parish, Louisiana / by David I. Bushnell, Jr. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The identity of the Tangipahoa tribe has not been clearly estab- lished, although there is no question that they belonged to the same linguistic stock as the Acolapissa and the Choctaw; all were practi- cally the same people, and they may even have constituted one of the component bands of the Acolapissa. They are said to have been destroyed about the time of the arrival of the French in lower Louisiana.® Until a few years ago more than one hundred Choctaw lived in the vicinity of Bayou Lacomb, Bayou Castine, and near the Chefuncte river; but by act of Congress of July 1, 1902, they were persuaded to remove to the Indian Territory and receive an allotment of land. The settlement on Bayou Castine, not far east of Mandeville, may have been on the site of the village of the “Cola- pissas” on “Castembayouque,” mentioned by Penicaut. From this brief sketch it will be seen that ever since the discovery of that part of Louisiana by the French, the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain has been occupied by tribes of the Muskhogean stock. At the present time it is not possible to determine whether the Indians living at Bayou Lacomb are descendants of the Acolapissa, or whether they represent a small offshoot from the main Choctaw tribe. According to the beliefs and statements of these Indians, their ancestors lived in that place for many generations. The present inhabitants know the locations of, and point out, their ancient bury- ing grounds, where, they say, the “old people” for five or six gen- erations are known to have been interred. It is not at all improb- able that the present Indians are Acolapissa rather than Choctaw; then again, they may represent both tribes. The Choctaw villages were probably never far distant from some of those belonging to the Acolapissa and, as all spoke the same language, there must have been considerable intercourse between them. As has been shown, one people has occupied the area under con- sideration ever since it became known to the European; consequently it is reasonable to attribute to the same tribes the prehistoric remains found in that locality, none of which, however, gives evidence of great antiquity. EVIDENCES OF EARLY OCCUPANCY Several mounds are found within the area now under considera- tion. The largest of these (pi. 3) is situated about 200 yards north of the right bank of Chinchuba creek, and about 1 £ miles in a direct line north of Lake Pontchartrain. The mound has an elevation of between 4 and 5 feet; it is circular in form and has an average diame- ter of approximately 90 feet. “ Dr. J. R. Swanton, in forthcoming Bulletin 43 of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Northern Coast of the Gulf of Mexico, gives a description of the tribes and the history, so far as known, of their movements.
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