Natchez people

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Pre-contact distribution of Natchez peoples

The Natchez Nation was a powerful Native American people in the early days of European colonization. Although suffering a turbulent history since European contact, the Natchez Nation still represents a vital part of the United States Native American community.

The Natchez (našceh) exist today as one of the Muscogee (Creek) tribes, with close connections to the Cherokee. Most Natchez families or communities are found in Oklahoma, principally within the Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) Nations. There is an Eastern Band of Natchez. The Natchez are extremely proud that they have maintained essentially the same governmental structure since prehistory. The modern descendants may, with authenticity, state that their confederacy once extended from the eastern seaboard to Spiro Mounds and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes (see Adena, Hopewell, Mississippian cultures).

The current leadership of the Natchez Nation consists of a Peace Chief (the Great Sun), a War Chief and 4 primary Clan Mothers. These "Suns" as the Natchez refer to them have included K.T."Hutke" Fields (Principal Peace Chief / Great Sun, 1996... ), Eliza Sumpka (Primary Clan Mother), William Harjo LoneFight, Robert M. Riviera (Principal War Chief, 1997... ),Watt Sam, Archie Sam, White Tobacco Sam and others within the historic period.

1 History
2 Language
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

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Historically, the Natchez were located in about nine separate towns along St. Catherine's Creek (east and south of modern Natchez, Mississippi), The male leader was referred to as 'The Great Sun,' in Natchez uwahšiL li∙kip. The royal bloodline was matrilineal, meaning 'The Great Sun' achieved his office through kinship to a woman, the Sun Woman, in Natchez uwahšiL tama∙L; a man did not pass his titles to his son, but rather they were inherited by his nephew (his sister's son).

The Great Suns were so revered by the Natchez people that at the death of a Sun, many practiced voluntary suicide. At the death of the War Chief, Tattooed Serpent, in 1725, two of his wives, one of his sisters (nicknamed La Glorieuse by the French), his first warrior, his doctor, his head servant and the servant's wife, his nurse, and a craftsman of war clubs all chose to die with him. His brother, the ruling Great Sun at the time, apparently wanted to die as well, but was reportedly convinced by the entreaties of his French allies to remain alive.

The Natchez were a formidable force when they first made contact with Spanish explorers and then French colonists. Unlike many other groups, the Natchez initially enjoyed very warm diplomatic relations with the French, and the two groups were briefly allies. Relations worsened, however, and diseases and warfare took their toll; after three wars with the French—in 1716, 1722 and 1729—Natchez society was in flux and the peoples scattered. In 1729, perhaps one-half of the population remained of the pre-1716 era. Most survivors settled with the Muscogee (Creek), with English colonists or in Chickasaw towns; the latter two groups ended up with the Cherokee within fifty years due to subsequent intra-ethnic conflict and took up residence on what was later called Notchy Creek in the Little Tennessee Valley. Those living with the Upper Creek fled with these peoples after the Red Stick War ended in 1814 and also took refuge with the Cherokee.

The Natchez, by some accounts, once inhabited the southwestern portion of the Mexican empire. But it is said, on account of the wars with which they were continually harassed by neighboring Indians, they began to wander northeast. Finally they settled upon the banks of the Mississippi, chiefly on the bluff where now stands the beautiful city which bears their name. They retained, until they were broken up by the French, many of the religious rites and customs of the Mexicans. Traditional Natchez "oral history", by contrast, says that the Natchez had been in the same area since the very beginning.

Their form of government was distinguished from that of other tribes in Alabama and Mississippi, by its ultra despotism, and by the grandeur and haughtiness of its Chiefs. The Grand Chief of the Natchez bore the name Great Sun. Every morning, as soon as that bright luminary appeared, he stood at the door his cabin, turned his face toward the east, and bowed three times, at the same time prostrating himself on the ground. A pipe, which was never used but upon this occasion was then handed him, from which he puffed smoke, first toward the Sun, and then toward the other three quarters of the world. He derived his origin from the Sun, acknowledged no other master, and was entrusted with absolute power over the lives and goods of his subjects. When he or his nearest female relation died, his body-guard was obliged to follow to the land of the spirits.

The death of a Chief sometimes resulted in that of an hundred persons, who considered it a great honor to be sacrificed upon his death. Indeed few Natchez of note died without being attended to the other world by some of their relatives, friends or servants. So eager were persons to sacrifice themselves in this way, that sometimes it was ten years before their turn came, and those who obtained the favor, spun the cord with which they were to be strangled.

The cabins of the Natchez were in the shape of pavilions, low, without windows, and covered with corn-stalls, leaves and cane matting. That of the Great Chief, which stood upon an artificial mound, and fronted a large square, was handsomely rough-cast with clay, both inside and out. The temple was at the side of his cabin, facing the east, and at the extremity of the square. It was in an oblong form, forty feet in length and twenty in breadth. Within it were the bones of the deceased Chiefs, contained in boxes and baskets. Three logs of wood joined at the ends and placed in a triangle, occupied the middle part of the floor, and burned slowly away, night and day. Keepers attended and constantly removed them.

The First Natchez War, in 1716, was called the "Incident of 1716". When the Natchez began growing tired of the French colonial practice of rape and theft, four Natchez warriors retaliated against four French fur traders. Governor Cadillac ordered Bienville and the military to punish the Natchez.

1721: The Great Sun informed Du Pratz, who had, in 1720, taken up his abode among them, that their nation was once very formidable, extending over vast regions and governed by numerous Suns and nobility; that one of the keepers of the temple once left it on some business, and while he was absent his associate keepers fell asleep; that the fire went out, and that, in the terror and dismay into which they were thrown, they substituted profane fire, with the hope that their shameful neglect would escape unnoticed. But a dreadful calamity was the consequence of this negligence. A horrible malady raged for years, during which many of the Suns, and an infinite number of people, died.

This fire was kept constantly burning in honor of the Sun, which they seemed to worship and adore above everything else. In the spring of 1700 Iberville, in company with a few of his colonial people, visited the Natchez. While there, one of the temples was consumed by lightning. The Priests implored the women to cast their children into the flames to appease the anger of their divinity.

Before the French, by prayers and entreaties, could arrest this horrible proceeding, some of the innocent babes were already roasting in the flames. At this time the Natchez, reduced by war and the death of the nobility, upon whose decease the existence of many others terminated, did not exceed a population of twelve hundred.

Nov. 28 1729: Fort Rosalie, erected by the French in 1716, upon the bluff which sustains the city of Natchez, had a garrison of soldiers and numerous citizens. On the morning of the 28 November, 1729, the Great Sun and his warriors suddenly fell upon them, and before noon the whole male population were in the sleep of death. The women, children and slaves were reserved as prisoners of war. The consternation was great throughout the colony when this horrible massacre became known.

Jan 1733: The French and Choctaws united, and drove the Natchez upon the lower Washita, just below the mouth of the Little River. here they erected mounds and embankments for defense, which covered an area of four hundred acres. In the meantime, having obtained assistance from France, the colonists marched against this stronghold, and, in January, 1733, made a successful attack. They captured the Great Sun, several of the War Chiefs and four hundred and twenty-seven of the tribe, who were sent from New Orleans to St. Domingo as slaves. The remainder of the tribe made their escape. Some of them sought asylum among the Chickasaws and Creeks, while others scattered in the far West.

[edit] Language

The Natchez language is a language isolate. A distant relationship to the Muskogean languages was posited by Mary Haas, though it is not considered proven. The Natchez themselves state that it is a precursor to and significantly related to the Muscogee Language. Its two last fluent speakers were Watt Sam (watih) and Nancy Raven (naNcih) who spoke it up until the 1950s. The language is well documented in fieldwork with Sam and Raven conducted in the 1930s by Mary Haas; a grammatical sketch of the language was published by linguist Geoffrey Kimball in 2005 in the collection edited by Heather Hardy and Janine Scancarelli. It now exists primarily as a ceremonial language. Efforts are being made to reintroduce it into common usage.

[edit] References

Hardy, Heather, and Scancarelli, Janine, editors. (2005). Native languages of the southeastern United States. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-4235-2.