Ouachita people

Ouachita
Total population
	merged into Caddo Confederacy
Regions with significant populations
	Louisiana
Languages
	Caddoan language
Religion
	Indigenous religion
Related ethnic groups
	other Caddo peoples

The Ouachita were a Native American tribe who lived in northeastern Louisiana along the Ouachita River.^[1]

Name

Their name has also been pronounced as Washita by English speakers. The spelling "Ouachita" and pronunciation "Wah-sha-taw" came about as a result of French settlers and their influence. Many landscape features and places have been named for them since colonization of the region by Europeans and Americans.

History

The Ouachita were loosely affiliated with the Caddo Confederacy.^[2] Their traditional homelands were the lower reaches of the Ouachita River^[3] in present-day northeastern Louisiana and along the Black River.^[4] Around 1690, the tribe is believed to have settled at Pargoud Landing on the Ouachita River. This was later the site of a French trading post, and ultimately the present-day city of Monroe, Louisiana developed around it.^[5]

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, a French-Canadian colonizer, encountered the Ouachita people in 1700. He first met members of the tribe transporting salt to the Taensa. Bienville traveled to the principal Ouachita village, which he described as housing 70 people in five houses.^[4] The Ouachita assimilated into the Natchitoches tribe by the 1720s.^[5] Today's descendants are enrolled in the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.

The Ouachita are known for their traditional practice of burying horses.^[5]

Namesakes

The Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma and Arkansas and Ouachita River of Arkansas and Louisiana were named for the tribe, as was Lake Ouachita. The Washita River, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, and Washita County, Oklahoma, were also named for the tribe,^[6] as well as the town of Washita, Oklahoma.

According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, the name comes from the French transliteration of the Caddo word washita, meaning "good hunting grounds."^[7] Louis R. Harlan claimed that "Ouachita" is composed of the Choctaw words ouac for buffalo and chito for large, together meaning "country of large buffaloes". At one time, herds of buffalo inhabited the lowland areas of the Ouachitas.^[8] Historian Muriel H. Wright wrote that "Ouachita" is composed of the Choctaw words owa for hunt and chito for big, together meaning "big hunt far from home".^[9]

Spelling variations

The Ouachita tribe became known among English speakers as the Washita tribe; both spellings are transliterations in European languages (French and English, respectively) of the pronunciation of their Caddo name. They may also be known as the Yesito.^[3]

Notes

^ Sturtevant, 617
^ Sturtevant, 616
^ ^a ^b Sturtevant, 630
^ ^a ^b Small Indian Tribal History. Archived 2009-10-12 at the Wayback Machine Access Genealogy. (retrieved 9 Sept 2009)
^ ^a ^b ^c The Caddo Indians of Louisiana. Archived 2009-12-31 at the Wayback Machine Louisiana Division of Archaeology. (retrieved 9 Sept 2009)
^ Origin of County Names in Oklahoma. Archived 2009-02-18 at the Wayback Machine Chronicles of Oklahoma. Volume 2, No. 1: P. 81. March 1924 (retrieved 9 Sept 2009)
^ Cole, Shayne R. and Richard A. Marston. "Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Ouachita Mountains". Retrieved October 14, 2018.
^ Harlan, L.R. (1834). "Notice of Fossil Bones Found in the Tertiary Formation of the State of Louisiana". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 4: 397–403. doi:10.2307/1004838. JSTOR 1004838.
^ Wright, M.H. (1929). "Some Geographic Names of French Origin in Oklahoma". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 7 (2): 188–193.

References

Bolton, Herbet E. The Hasinais: Southern Caddoans As Seen by the Earliest Europeans. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-8061-3441-3.
Sturtevant, William C., general editor and Raymond D. Fogelson, volume editor. Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast. Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. ISBN 0-16-072300-0.

External links

[1] Sturtevant, 617

[2] Sturtevant, 616

[s630-3] Sturtevant, 630

[gene-4] Small Indian Tribal History. Archived 2009-10-12 at the Wayback Machine Access Genealogy. (retrieved 9 Sept 2009)

[la-5] The Caddo Indians of Louisiana. Archived 2009-12-31 at the Wayback Machine Louisiana Division of Archaeology. (retrieved 9 Sept 2009)

[6] Origin of County Names in Oklahoma. Archived 2009-02-18 at the Wayback Machine Chronicles of Oklahoma. Volume 2, No. 1: P. 81. March 1924 (retrieved 9 Sept 2009)

[EOHC-OM-7] Cole, Shayne R. and Richard A. Marston. "Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Ouachita Mountains". Retrieved October 14, 2018.

[8] Harlan, L.R. (1834). "Notice of Fossil Bones Found in the Tertiary Formation of the State of Louisiana". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 4: 397–403. doi:10.2307/1004838. JSTOR 1004838.

[9] Wright, M.H. (1929). "Some Geographic Names of French Origin in Oklahoma". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 7 (2): 188–193.

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v t e Caddo Confederacy
Hasinai	Hainai Nabedache Nabiti Nacogdoche Nacono Nadaco Nasoni (Lower) Nechaui Neche
Kadohadacho	Kadohadacho Nanatsoho Nasoni (Upper) Natchitoches (Upper)
Natchitoches	Doustioni Natchitoches (Lower)
Other groups	Adai Cahinnio Eyeish Ouachita Tula Yatasi
Related topics Caddo language Caddoan Mississippian culture Caddoan village bundle Dush-toh Spiro Mounds Turkey dance

v t e Pre-Columbian North America
Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic
Archaeological cultures	Adena Alachua Ancient Beringian Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) Anishinaabe Avonlea Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek complex Caborn-Welborn Cades Pond Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Comondú Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glacial Kame Glades Hohokam Hopewell List of Hopewell sites La Jolla Las Palmas Maritime Archaic Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Safety Harbor Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Suwannee Valley Tchefuncte Troyville Weeden Island
Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds Anzick site Bandelier National Monument Bastian Benson Blue Spring Shelter Bluefish Caves The Bluff Point Stoneworks Brewster Cahokia Candelaria Cave Casa Grande Chaco Canyon Coso Rock Art District Crystal River Cuarenta Casas Cueva de la Olla Cutler Eaker El Fin del Mundo El Vallecito Effigy Mounds Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Center Fort Juelson Four Mounds Gila Cliff Dwellings Glenwood Grimes Point Helen Blazes Holly Bluff Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Horr's Island Huápoca Key Marco Kimball Village Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Lake Jackson Mounds Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site L'Anse aux Meadows Lynch Quarry Site Marksville Marmes Rockshelter Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moaning Cavern Moorehead Circle Morrison Mounds Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena site Ocmulgee Mounds Old Stone Fort Orwell site Paquime Painted Bluff Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Plum Bayou Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Rassawek Recapture Canyon River Styx Roberts Island Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Rosenstock Village Russell Cave Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Sierra de San Francisco Shell ring sites Spiro Mounds Stallings Island SunWatch Taos Pueblo Town Creek Indian Mound Turkey River Mounds Upward Sun River Velda Mound West Oak Forest Earthlodge Wickiup Hill Windover Winterville Wupatki
Human remains	Anzick-1 Arlington Springs Man Buhl Woman Kennewick Man La Brea Woman Leanderthal Lady Melbourne Man Minnesota Woman Peñon woman Spirit Cave mummy Vero man
Miscellaneous	Aridoamerica Ballgame Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kiva Medicine wheel Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Mound Builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Norse colonization of North America Oasisamerica Piasa Projectile point Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stickball Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Transoceanic contact Underwater panther Water glyphs
Related Genetic history Pre-Columbian era