Yazoo tribe

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The Yazoo tribe was a Native American tribe on the lower course of Yazoo River, Mississippi, in close connection with several other tribes, the most important of which was the Tunica (Tonica).

Nothing is definitely known concerning their language, but it seems to have been similar to that of the Tunica, although not the same. In 1699 Father Antone Davion, of the Quebec Seminary of Foreign Missions, established a mission among the Tunica, giving attention also to the other allied tribes such as the Taensa. The Yazoo, however, like the Chickasaw were under the influence of the English traders from Carolina, and in 1702 aided the Koroa in the killing of Father Nicholas Foucault and three French companions; as a result Father Davion was temporarily withdrawn.

In 1718 the French established a fort near the village (St. Pierre) to command the river. In 1722 the young Jesuit Father Jean Rouel was given the Yazoo mission, in the neighbourhood of the French post. He remained there until the outbreak of the Natchez war in 1729, when the Yazoo and Koroa joined with the Natchez. On 28 November the Natchez attacked the French garrison in their country (Natchez, Mississippi), killing several hundred people, including the Jesuit Father Paul Du Poisson, and carrying off most of the women and children. On learning of the event the Yazoo and Koroa, on 11 December 1729, waylaid and killed Father Rouel near his cabin together with his black servant, who attempted to defend him. The next day they attacked the neighbouring post, killing the whole garrison. Father Rouel's body was buried by the tribes. His bell and some books were afterwards recovered and restored by the Quapaw.

The Natchez War was a disaster for French Louisiana, but with the help of the Choctaw, the Natchez and their allies, the Yazoo were defeated and scattered. Some Natchez and Yazoo refugees found refuge among the Chickasaw.

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.