- Yuchi
The Yuchi, also spelled "Euchee" and "Uchee", are a Native American Indian
tribe previously living in the easternTennessee River valley inTennessee , northern Georgia, and northernAlabama , who now primarily live in the northeasternOklahoma area. Their own name for themselves is "Tsoyaha", meaning "Children of the Sun". Their population plummeted in the 18th century due to foreign diseases and war with theCherokee . In 2005 there are approximately 3,000 Yuchi people.History
The origin of the Yuchi has long been a mystery. The Yuchi language does not closely resemble any other Native American language, suggesting a long period of isolation from other Native Americans of the historic era.
European colonial records provide information about the Yuchi dating back to the 17th century. It has been suggested that the Yuchi and the
Westo were the same people, but there is debate over this theory. There is strong historical and archaeological evidence for several Yuchi towns of the 18th century. One of the earlier towns to be recorded to colonial records is that of Chestowee in southeastern Tennessee. In 1714, largely instigated by two traders from South Carolina, theCherokee attacked and destroyed the Yuchi town of Chestowee. The Cherokee were prepared to carry their attacks to theSavannah River Yuchi settlements, but when word that the government of South Carolina did not condone these attacks, the Cherokee held back. The Cherokee destruction of the Yuchi Chestowee marked the emergence of the Cherokee as a major power.cite book |last= Gallay |first= Alan |title= The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South 1670-1717 |year= 2002 |publisher= Yale University Press |isbn= 0-300-10193-7] Another early Yuchi town existed at Mount Pleasant on the Savannah River in present-dayEffingham County, Georgia , from about 1722 to about 1750. A large Yuchi town known as "Uche town" existed on theChattahoochee River during the middle to late 1700s. It was located near Uche Creek, about 10 miles downriver from the Creek settlement of Coweta Old Town. It was visited byWilliam Bartram in the 1770s, who praised its layout and thriving population. Another Yuchi town existed on Silver Bluff inAiken County, South Carolina from 1746 to 1751. The Yuchi town known as "Patsiliga" existed on the Flint River in the late 1700s. Possible Yuchi towns may have existed on theOconee River near Uchee Creek inWilkinson County, Georgia , and on Brier Creek inBurke County, Georgia orScreven County, Georgia . [* [http://shapiro.anthro.uga.edu/Lamar/PDFfiles/Publication%2010.pdf Mount Pleasant. An Eighteenth-Century Yuchi Native American Town, British Trader Outpost, and Military Garrison in Georgia] , Lamar Institute Reports]In the early 19th century the Yuchi were forcibly removed along with the
Creek people to Oklahoma. Historically, the Yuchi have always been a separate people from other tribes though they have often been grouped with and treated with other people, most importantly, with the Creeks.Current status
Now, most Yuchi are of mixed-tribe descent and many are citizens of and enrolled with the Muskogee (Creek) Nation, although many are citizens of other tribes, such as the
Shawnee orSauk and Fox . Yuchi people have tried to attain Federal Recognition from the United States in the last decades of the 20th century, but this doesn't appear to have been successful. There have been organizations which have striven to be representative tribal governments, however none have had near-universal support to date.Yuchi language
The
Yuchi language is a linguistic isolate, not known to be related to any other language. The Yuchi people and language are the subject of a chapter in "Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages", a book onendangered languages by Mark Abley. It is believed that today, only five elderly Yuchi can speak the language, which is on the verge of extinction. This belief is certainly incorrect given the fact that young people of the Yuchi tribe have learned the language in recent years and are continuing to do so. [ [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297260,00.html Scientists: Many World Languages Are Dying] ,Associated Press viaFox News ,2007-09-18 . Accessed2007-09-19 .]ee also
*
Yuchi language
*Sam Story References
Bibliography
*Mark Abley "Spoken Here : Travels Among Threatened Languages". Houghton Mifflin, 2003.
*Jason Jackson "Yuchi Ceremonial Life: Performance, Meaning, and Tradition in a Contemporary American Indian Community". University of Nebraska Press, 2003.
*Frank Speck "Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians (reprint)". University of Nebraska Press, 2004.External links
* [http://www.yuchi.org Who Were the Mysterious Yuchi of Tennessee and the Southeast?] at Yuchi.org
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbum:@field(DOCID+@lit(lhbum52353div32)) Memoirs of Jeremiah Curtin in the Indian Territory] pp. 327, 333-335 early ethnographer's account of learning Yuchi language in 1883 in a Yuchi settlement 55 miles fromMuskogee, Oklahoma . Electronic record maintained byLibrary of Congress , accessed January 15, 2007.
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