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Bayougoula
& Mugulasha
Location
West
side of the Mississippi at Bayougoula in Iberville Parish,
Louisiana.
Population
Taking
into account the horrific drop in the native populations
of the region after 1540, an estimate of 3,000 Bayougoula
in 1650 appears reasonable. In 1699 Iberville
said that the Bayougoula and Mugulasha together had
about 250 warriors (1,250 total). However, both tribes
had just been hit by epidemics which had killed almost
half of them. War and another epidemic occurred that
winter, followed by the Bayougoula's massacre of the
Mugulasha in May. The Bayougoula numbered only 500 when
the Taensa moved in with them
in 1706. However, this time it was the Bayougoula who
were murdered. Only half managed to escape and resettle
downstream with the Acolapissa.
The last separate enumeration taken by the French in
1715, just before the disappearance of the Bayougoula
into the Houma, listed them
with 40 warriors (200 people).
Culture
Before
European contact, the Bayougoula and Mugulasha were
the only tribes that spoke a Choctaw dialect of the
Muskogean language family that lived west of the Mississippi
River. Since their tribal totem was the alligator (an
animal unique to the lower Mississippi), they obviously
had been there for a long time before their meeting
with the French. They also exhibited many traits from
the Mississippian culture which had dominated the entire
region before 1540.
Their
housing was circular in shape and used the wattle-and-daub
construction (thatched roof) typical of the area. At
the time of their first meeting in 1699, the French
noted that the Bayougoula were still building large
earthen platform mounds on top of which they placed
their important public buildings - the chief's house,
a large temple for religious ceremonies. The temple
also contained sacred objects and an eternal fire kept
burning by the village priest.
History
(short
version, for complete history please visit the First
Nations site)
Unlike
the other natives that the French had encountered so
far, the Bayougoula were immediately friendly. A calumet
ceremony of welcome followed, and the next day the Bayougoula
chief drew maps of the area for Iberville, while explaining
that he would have to continue his hunt but would meet
with the French in a few days. However, the appointment
was not kept. Just as Iberville was about to give up
on them, a Manchac (Biloxi) warrior arrived on March
7th bringing a message from the Bayougoula explaining
that they had returned to their village, and the French
could visit them there. The Biloxi guided Iberville's
party west to the Bayougoula village on the Mississippi
River.
When
they arrived, the French were welcomed by two chiefs
- one speaking for the Bayougoula and the other for
the Mugulasha who were living with them. Smallpox had
just struck the village killing a quarter of its residents,
and the evidence of its terrible passage was very apparent.
The dead had been placed on nearby scaffolds, and the
stench of death permeated the entire village.
During
next winter, the same dysentery that was bothering the
French had spread to the tribes in the region with far
more deadly results. The French, however, could not
cure themselves ...much less the natives.
Also
a war had erupted between the Bayougoula and the Houma
and their Taensa allies. Although the Bayougoula had
apparently started the war, a Houma surprise attack
had captured many of their women and children.
Most
of the Quinipissa had died from an epidemic. The survivors
had abandoned their village with a few families joining
the Houma. The majority, including their chief, moved
in with the Bayougoula and became the Mugulasha. The
Bayougoula decided the Mugulasha had become a liability
in their relations with the French and massacred them.
The victims included the Mugulasha women and children
which was contrary to the custom in the region where
conquerors killed the men but spared the women and children
for adoption into their tribe.
Iberville
now began to pressure the Bayougoula to give him all
of the lands belonging to the Mugulasha.
Facing
the possibility of having to surrender some of their
land to the French, the Bayougoula, without the Mugulasha,
were also more susceptible to raids by Chickasaw
and desperately needed to find someone to take the place
of the Mugulasha. They invited several families of the
Acolapissa and Tioux, but for some strange reason, no
one was interested.
The
Chickasaw threat subsided after Iberville was able to
alternately threaten and bribe their chiefs into signing
a peace treaty at Mobile in 1702. Unfortunately, British
traders remained active and were able to convince the
Chickasaw to renew their slave raids. When the Chickasaw
resumed their attacks in 1705, Iberville provided firearms
to their enemies. However, the French were unable to
arm their allies nearly as well as the British had done
with the Chickasaw.
Threatened
by both the Chickasaw and Yazoo, the Taensa abandoned
their villages in northeastern Louisiana during the
spring of 1706 and accepted the Bayougoula's offer to
settle with them. Only six years had passed since the
Mugulasha massacre, and the Taensa were not willing
to risk becoming the next victims. Shortly after their
arrival, they attacked their hosts and killed most of
them. About 200 Bayougoula eluded the slaughter and
fled downstream to the Acolapissa where they settled
at a point just above the future site of New Orleans.
Soon afterwards, they were joined by the Houma who had
taken in the Tunica under similar circumstances and
suffered in like manner. All three tribes soon joined
in an alliance, a bond further strengthened through
service to the French during their long war with the
Chitamacha (1707-18). Meanwhile,
based on Iberville's purchase of that Mugulasha wheat
field, the French were now ready to claim the Bayougoula
lands as well.
Unwilling
to offend the French, the Taensa were forced to move
again. They could not, however, return to their former
villages because of the Chickasaw, so they shifted farther
south. Unfortunately, this placed them very close to
the alliance of the Acolapissa, Bayougoula, and Houma.
After several anxious years waiting for the inevitable
retaliation, the Taensa left the area in 1715 and moved
east to Mobile. The alliance of the Acolapissa, Bayougoula,
and Houma grew even closer after their departure and
was the most important French ally in the vicinity when
New Orleans was founded in 1718.
However,
the influx of colonists into the area brought a new
wave of epidemics. Smallpox killed than half of the
Acolapissa, Bayougoula, and Houma in 1721. Alcohol also
took its toll, and the pressure from expanding French
settlements near New Orleans soon forced the three allied
tribes upstream to Ascension Parish shortly afterwards.
Although they still maintained separate villages and
chiefs in 1739, it was more pretense than reality. By
this time, the French no longer bothered with separate
counts for each tribe and began referring to the 500
that remained as the Houma.
From
First Nations, for complete history and much more information,
please visit the First
Nations site
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