Chatot

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Chatot
Tribal territory of Chatot during the 16th century highlighted
Total population
Extinct as a tribe
Regions with significant populations
United States (Florida)
Languages
Muskogean
Religion
Native
Related ethnic groups
Apalachee, Amacano, Chine, Pensacola, and other Muskogean peoples

The Chatot (also Chacato or Chato) were a Native American people who lived in the upper Apalachicola River and Chipola River basins in what is now Florida in the 17th century. The Spanish established two missions in Chatot villages in 1674. As a result of attempts by the missionaries to impose full observance of Christain rites and morals on the newly converted Chatots, many of them rebelled, trying to murder one of the missionaries. Many of the rebels fled to Tawasa, while others joined the Chisca, who had become openly hostile to the Spanish. Others Chatots moved to missions in or closer to Apalachee Province, abandoning their villages west of the Apalachicola River.

After the destruction of Apalachee Province by the English of the Province of Carolina and their Native American allies in 1704, the surviving Chatots moved west with Apalachees and other peoples of the province, settling in the vicinity of Mobile Bay. Some of those Chatots may have been absorbed into the Choctaw nation. When West Florida was transfered to Great Britain in 1763, other Chatots moved west to Louisiana.

Name[edit]

It is not known what the people called themselves. "Chatot" is the name commonly used in English sources through the 20th century. In the 17th and earliest 18th centuries, when they lived in the eastern panhandle of Florida, the Spanish usually called the people "Chacato", and less often, "Chacta", "Chacto", "Chata", and "Chato".[a][2] After they moved west to the area around Mobile Bay, and later to west of the Mississippi River in Lousiana, they were often called "Chato", as well as "Chactoo", "Chacchou", "Chaetoo" and "Chattoo". Other forms of the name have included "Chacâto", "Chaqto", and "Chactot".[3] Galloway notes that chato is Spanish for "flat" or "roman-nosed", and speculates that the Spanish called the people "Chatots" because they practiced artificial cranial deformation.[4]

Milanich notes that confusion of the names "Chatot" and "Chactato" with the Choctaw of Mississippi may have been responsible for the name of Choctawhatchee Bay.[5] Hann notes that the translator of a Spanish document mis-identified a Chacato chief as Choctaw.[6] Galloway says that the Chatots and Choctaws should not be confused, that the names are phonetically distinct, and were consistently used to refer to distinct peoples in the 18th century.[4] Swanton states that the Choctawhatchee River in Florida and Bayou Chattique, Choctaw Point, and Choctaw Swamp near Mobile are probably named after the Chatot.[7]

Language[edit]

The Chatot spoke a Muskogean language, which may have been the same as that of several other peoples in western Florida, including the Amacano, Chine,[b] Pacara, and Pensacola peoples.[10] Swanton states that the language of the Chatot is "undoubtedly" a member of the southern division of the Muskogean stock.[11] While it has been suggested that the Chatot were part of the Apalachee people, Hann notes that the Spanish used interpretors to translate from Chatot to Apalachee, and other interpretors to translate from Apalachee to Spanish.[12]

Early contact with Spanish[edit]

At the time of first contact with the Spanish, the Chatot lived in the upper part of the Chipola River basin and the adjacent section of the Appalachicola River in the area of the Fort Walton culture, primarily in what is now Jackson County, Florida.[c] A number of archaeological sites in the area, including the Waddells Mill Pond Site, a fortified village site with two mounds, may have been occupied by the ancestors of the historic Chatot. Pottery found in the Chatot settlement area is more closely related to that of Apalachee Province than to that of the peoples of the Pensacola and Mobile bays. The subsistence economy of the Chatots also resembled that of the Apalachees, rather the peoples to their west.[5][14]

The Chatot were involved in a war with the Apalachee and Amacano people in 1639.[15]

The first mention of the Chatot in Spanish records was in 1638, when a representative of the Spanish governor of Florida was able to stop a war between the allied Chatot, Apalachicola, and Yamasee, and the Apalachee. The next governor visited the Chatot and Apalachicola Province in 1646, when both peoples requested missionaries. The Chatots requested missionaries again in the 1660s.[16][17]

First missions[edit]

Two missions were established among the Chatot in June 1674. The first mission, San Carlos Borromeo, was in the principal Chatot village of Achercatane (later listed as Yatcatane), four days journey northwest of Apalachee Province. A second mission, San Nicolás de Tolentino, was established in the village of Atanchia.[18][d] A third village, with a visita[e] called San Antonio by the Spanish,[20] may have been located in what is now Houston County, Alabama.[21]

In the winter of 1675, Bishop Gabriel Díaz Vara y Calderón estimated San Carlos's population to be just over 100, and San Nicolas's just over 30. Later that year, acting deputy governor Andrés Pérez estimated San Carlos's population to be about 300, and that of San Nicolas, about 100. Hann suggests that the differences may be due to many of the people of the villages being on hunting or fishing trips at the time of the bishop's visit. There were about 80 men at San Antonio in that year.[22]

The missionaries at the two missions claimed to have converted more than 300 Chatots, including the caciques of the settlements, to Christianity by late September. Three warriors complained that they were being pressured to convert, and threatened to have Chiscas living the Chatot villages and in their own nearby village make trouble for the missionaries and converts. The Spanish lieutenant-governor in Apalachee Province took some soldiers and 25 Apalachees armed with harquebuses to the Chatot missions. The three reluctant warriors were nominally converted to Christianity and the Chiscas were expelled from the Chatot villages while the Spanish-Apalachee party was there.[23]

Revolt[edit]

Conspiracy[edit]

In the summer of 1675, three Chatot warriors, who may have been the same as those who threatened trouble the previous year, conspired against the missionaries. They initially claimed only to want to expell Fray Barreda, the missionary at San Carlos and the sole missionary in the Chatot lands at the time, but was soon revealed as a plan to kill Fray Barreda. One of the conspirators, Juan Fernández de Diocsale, was the son of a Chisca woman and had been chief of the village where San Carlos was located. He resented being forced by Barreda to attend mass and to give up three of his four wives. Another conspirator, Ubabesa, had been scolded by Barreda in Sunday mass for having an affair with a Christian woman while her husband was away. Other alleged conspirators including Chatots and Chiscas were later named in a Spanish inquiry.[24]

The conspiracy quickly gained support in the community. Hann notes that this may partly be because of discontent over pressure on the Chatot from the missionaries to strictly adhere to Christain standards. Another factor was threats from the conspirators to have their Chisca friends kill anyone who did not support the conspiracy. Diocsale also falsely claimed to be supported by the Apalachicola. The Spanish found little evidence, however, that any Chisca had been involved in the conspiracy. The conspirators planned to seek refuge at Tawasa after killing Barreda.[25]

Attack and escape[edit]

The conspirators spoke to Chatot leaders about expelling Barreda, but the leaders supported Barreda. When the conspirators then revealed that they intended to kill Barreda, the Chatot leaders protected Barreda. Barreda sent a plea for help to the Spanish authorities in San Luis, the capitol of Apalachee Province. Some of the loyal Chatots defected to the conspirators and those remaining loyal advised Barreda to flee to the mission of Santa Cruz de Sabacola, on the Apalachicola River. Barreda's guides were chosen by an official who had secretly joined the conspirators, and he told them to kill Barreda after they had left San Carlos. The attack failed, although Barreda was wounded. Barreda killed one of the attackers with his musket and escaped to Santa Cruz.[26]

In the absence of the deputy governor for Apalachee Province, the acting deputy governor, Andrés Pérez, sent a few Spanish soldiers and Apalachees to help guard Barreda. On hearing that the number of loyalists guarding Barreda was shrinking, Pérez sent 26 archers after the first group. Later the same day word reached San Luis that Barreda had fled to Sabacola. Pérez sent 11 gunmen after the earlier party with orders to bring Barrreda and Fray Juan Ocon, the missionary at Sabacola, back to San Luis.[27]

After the failed attempt on Barreda's life, many Chatot, including essentally all of San Antonio, most of the population of San Nicolás, and an unknown number of people from San Carlos, fled to Tawasa.[28]

Response[edit]

The deputy governor for Apalachee, Juan Fernandez de Hita y Salazar, returned to San Luis, and the governor of Florida, Pablo de Hita y Salazar sent a few more soldiers to Apalachee. Before the Spanish could decide on a course of action, Fray Juan de Paiva, the missionary assigned to San Nicolás de Tolentino, persuaded Pérez to spare the lives of the conspirators who had fled to Tawasa if they returned to San Carlos. Some of the exiles returned to San Carlos, but others rejected the amnesty and remained in Tawasa.[29]

The Spanish conducted inquiries into the revolt is late 1675 and again 1676. At the first inquiry, the Spanish honored the promise to spare the lives of the conspirators, but Diocsale and two others were taken to San Luis for further trial. Diocsale was exiled from San Carlos for life and held in house-arrest in St. Augustine while the other two were sentenced to four years of labor for the colonial government. The second inquiry identified more conspirators, but did not result in any punishments.[30]

In an inquiry in 1676 into the raids on the missions, Diocsale finally admitted to inciting the Chiscas to make war on Christians, and was sentenced to exile in Mexico. Testimony was also given that the Chiscas had conducted the attacks on the missions, and were fortifying their village on the Choctawhatchee in preparation for further warfare against the Spanish missions.[31]

Miguel, cacique of San Nicolás, had been accused being one of the principal conspirators in the 1675 revolt, and of going to St. Augustine to help Diocsale escape from arrest, but was released because of lack of credible witnesses.[32]

On being released from custody. Miguel returned to his village, recruited some of his men, and joined the Chiscas. He was also accused of helping recruit some Pensacolas to join the Chiscas.[33]

Abandonment[edit]

There is no record of the missionaries returning to the Chatot missions after the revolt. Chatots were still living at San Carlos in early 1676, but the Chisca attacked the village soon after, and both San Carlos and San Nicolas were abandoned before September 1677. At least part of the Chatot people had moved into Apalachee Province, settling half a league west of the Apalachee capitol at San Luis.[34] The mission of San Carlos de los Chatacos was still located near San Luis in 1683. It was reported to have a population of 216 in 1681, apparently not including children, of whom most were Christians.[35] Chatots from that settlement were drafted by the Spanish as guides for an expedition in 1677 that destroyed the Chisca settlement on the Choctawhatchee River.[34]


Sometimes between 1683 and 1685 the Chatot left the site near San Luis and moved to the Apalachicola River, near to a Sabacola village and mission, Santa Cruz de Sabacola. The Sabacola had recently moved downriver to be nearer Apalachee Province, so that a missionary could be placed with them.[36]

In 1686, the chief of Tawasa visited Apalachee, bringing 24 Christian Chatots who had been in Tawasa since 1675. Other Chatots may have returned to Apalachee from Tawasa after that. Marcos Delgado, a Spanish soldier who traveled to Tawasa that year, reported that Chatots lived in a village called Okchai in Tiquepache Province, beyond Tawasa.[35] Such returning Chatots may have made up the 350 people in the mission of San Nicolás de los Chacatos that appeared around that time. Some Chatots may also have been among the some 150 people at the Sabacola mission of San Carlos de Çabacola. The Sabacola mission was listed as Çabacola Chuba or Big Savacola in 1690. The Sabacola mission was gone by 1693, when the Chatot village on the Apalchicola was mentioned as the "most outlying mission" in the region. Sabacola participated with Apalachicolas and Tiquepaches in an attack on the Chatot mission in 1694, killing five Chatots and taking 42 Chatots to the Province of Carolina to sell as slaves. After the attack, the Chatot retreated to Escambé in Apalachee Provice.[37]

The Chatots requested that they be allowed to return to the site near San Luis where they had lived from 1676 until after 1683. A contract with the Apalachee chief to allow that was drawn up, but there is no record that the Chatots returned to that place. Chatots did remain in Apalachee Province until 1704, however.[38]

In 1693, Laureano de Torres y Ayala, waiting to take up his post of governor of Spanish Florida, led the land portion of an expedition to assess Pensacola Bay for a New settlement. Five Chatots and 5 Apalachees went to Pensacola with Torres y Ayala to care for 100 horses he bought in Apalachee Province. At Pensacola Bay, the expedition found 20 Chatots living in two small camps, but no Pensacolas.[39] Chatots and Apalachees worked for Spanish on building the New settlement at Pensacola Bay in 1698. They may have also helped drive cattle from Apalachee Province to Pensacola Bay.[40] In the winter of 1698–1699, 40 Chatots lad by a Spaniard was on a buffalo hunt when they encountered 24 men from Tuskeegee travelling with goods to trade at San Luis. The Chatots attacked the Tuskeegees while they slept, killing 16, and taking the trade goods.[40] Chatots joined a force of 800 Spaniards and Apalachees that intended to attack the former Apalachicola Province towns in central Georgia in 1702. The Apalachicola towns ambused the Spanish-Apalachee force in the Battle of Flint River, killing or capturing 500 of them.[40]

Chiefly succession[edit]

One reference mentions a chief's nephew as his heir, which conforms the connection of chiefly office being restricted to matrilineal clans, as is known from other peoples of the southeast. There are other cases, however, in which chieftainship appears to have been passed in the male line. The father of cacique Carlos had earlier been chief. Diocsale, whose mother was a Chisca, identified himself as a Chatot, and had been chief between Carlos's father and Carlos. Hann also raises the possibility that a chief might have adopted his heir as a son.[8]

Chatot guides with 1677 expedition discussed deserting.[41]

Chisca[edit]

Some Chisca had settled at the mouth of the Apalachicola River, near Apalachee Province, as early as 1661. In 1675, the Spanish asked asked the Chiscas to not support the Chacatos in their dispute with the Spanish.[42]

In 1676, the Chisca moved their village from near the eastern mouth of the Apalachicola River to the Choctawhatchee River. After the move, the Chisca began openly raiding missions in Apalachee and Timucua provinces.[43] The Chatot conspirator Diocsale, held under house arrest in St. Augustine, was allowed visitors. Informants told Spanish officials that he had sent messages by those visitors inciting the Chisca to attack Spanish missions. Apalachees were killed in raids on Ivitachuco, Patale, Bacuqua, Escambé, and Ayubale, although some of the raids may have been carried out by Yamassee.[34]

Later missions[edit]

The Spanish mission of San Carlos de los Chacatos was listed as being in Apalachee Province, but was established to serve Chatots who had moved into the province.[44]

The Spanish established three or four missions to the Chatot by 1675; Asunción/Asumpción del Puerto, la Encarnación (also called Santa Cruz de Sábacola el menor), San Nicolás de Tolentino (listed only in Geiger, 1940) and San Carlos de los Chacatos. These missions were located near the upper Apalachicola River. The historian John Hann places the missions of Asunción, la Encarnatión and San Carlos in the Apalachee Province of the Spanish mission system in Florida. The historian Maynard Geiger also places Asunción in Apalachee Province, but he places la Encarnación, San Nicolás and San Carlos in the Apalachicola Province. Milanich places San Carlos de Chacatos in Apalachee Province, serving Chacatos who had moved into the province.[45]

Milanich suggests that the apparent stability of the Apalachee population in the last quarter of the 17th century may have been due to other people, including Chatots, moving into the province.[46]

Refuge at Mobile[edit]

A small tribe known as "Chatos", of unknown origin or connections, was reported to have lived on the Mississippi coast, and to have been absorbed into the Six Towns Choctaw.[47] A village named "Chato" was reported to be a neighbor of Old Mobile, which existed from 1702 until it was moved to the present-day site of Mobile in 1711.[48]

Swanton repeats population estimates of 250 men when first settled at Mobile, but only 40 men in 1725-1726, and 30 men in 1817.[7]

Chatot and other small tribes fled from Apalachee Province in 1706 or 1707, after the destruction of Apalachee Province. The settled on would later become the new site of Mobile. When displaced from site of Mobile moved to Dog Island. When British took over Mobile, Chatot and other small tribes moved to Louisiana, perhaps Bayou Boeuf, and then Sabine River. An old Choctaw in 1924 remembered the Chatot being on the Sabine. The remaining tribe members may have gone to Oklahoma.[49] Chatot counted together with Pensacolas, Capinans, Washa, Chawasha, and Pascagoula in 1764, a total of 251 men.[50] Chatot, Biloxi, and Pascagoula had about 100 men in Louisiana.[51]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "Chato" was also the name of part of the Matagalpa tribe of Honduras.[1]
  2. ^ At least one Spanish source referred to "cacique (chief) Chine" as a Chatot. Swanton took that to mean that the Chine people were Chatot.[8][9]
  3. ^ Swanton states that some of the Chatot lived in southwestern Georgia.[13]
  4. ^ A Spanish account indicates that the site of the San Nicolás mission was close to a cave, which may have been Rock Arch Cave in Florida Caverns State Park.[19]
  5. ^ A visita typically was a simple structure for holding Christian services, but did not have a resident missionary.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Swanton 1969, p. 617.
  2. ^ Hann 2006, p. 6.
  3. ^ Sturtevant 2004, pp. 664, 665, 670.
  4. ^ a b Galloway 1995, p. 168.
  5. ^ a b Milanich 1995, p. 96.
  6. ^ Hann 2006, p. 22.
  7. ^ a b Swanton 1969, p. 129.
  8. ^ a b Hann 2006, p. 42.
  9. ^ Swanton 1969, p. 123.
  10. ^ Hann 2006, p. 11, 42.
  11. ^ Swanton 1969, p. 128.
  12. ^ Hann 2006, p. 36, 43.
  13. ^ Swanton 1969, p. 105.
  14. ^ Hann 2006, p. 21.
  15. ^ Milanich 1995, p. 96; Hall 2000, p. 128; Hann 2006, p. 11.
  16. ^ Hann 2006, p. 26.
  17. ^ Swanton 1969, p. 115.
  18. ^ Hann 2006, p. 29.
  19. ^ Hann 2006, p. 31.
  20. ^ Hann 2006, p. 33.
  21. ^ "San Carlos de Chacatos - Washington County's Spanish Mission". ExploreSouthernHistory. 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  22. ^ Hann 2006, p. 30, 33.
  23. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 29–30.
  24. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 31–32.
  25. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 32–33.
  26. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 33–34.
  27. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 34–35.
  28. ^ Hann 2006, p. 45.
  29. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 35–36.
  30. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 36–38.
  31. ^ Hann 2006, p. 39.
  32. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 39–40.
  33. ^ Hann 2006, p. 41.
  34. ^ a b c Hann 2006, p. 38.
  35. ^ a b Hann 2006, p. 46.
  36. ^ Hann 2006, p. 46, 103–104.
  37. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 46–47.
  38. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 47–49.
  39. ^ Hann 2006, p. 48.
  40. ^ a b c Hann 2006, p. 49.
  41. ^ Hann 2006, p. 43.
  42. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 56–57, 88 (map).
  43. ^ Hann 2006, p. 59.
  44. ^ Milanich 1995, p. 178.
  45. ^ Hann 1990, pp. 420, 490, 494; Geiger 1940, pp. 128, 130–1; Milanich 1995, pp. 178, 221.
  46. ^ Milanich 1995, p. 221.
  47. ^ Halbert 1902, p. 302–303.
  48. ^ "Old Mobile Site". National Park Service - National Historic Landmarks. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  49. ^ Swanton 1969, pp. 128–129.
  50. ^ Swanton 1969, pp. 136–137.
  51. ^ Swanton 1969, p. 191.

Sources[edit]

  • Galloway, Patricia. "Choctaw Genesis, 1500-1700". Nebraska Press. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  • Geiger, Maynard (1940). "Biographical Dictionary of the Franciscans in Spanish Florida and Cuba (1528-1841)". Franciscan Studies. 21 (21): V–IX, XI–XII, 1–117, 119–140. JSTOR 43900081.
  • Halbert, H. S. (1902). "The Small Indian Tribes of Mississippi". Report of the Mississippi Historical Commission, Volume V.
  • Hall, Joseph (2000). "Confederacy Formation on the Fringes of Spanish Florida". Mediterranean Studies. 9: 123–141. ISSN 1074-164X. JSTOR 41166915.
  • Hann, John H. (April 1990). "Summary Guide to Spanish Florida Missions and Visitas with Churches in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries". The Americas. 46 (4): 417–513. doi:10.2307/1006866. JSTOR 1006866.
  • Hann, John H. (2006). The Native American World Beyond Apalachee. University Press of Florida. ISBN 9-780-8130-2982-5.
  • Milanich, Jerald T. (1995). Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe (paperback ed.). University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-1636-8.
  • Sturtevant, William C. (2004). Handbook of North American Languages, Volume 14 Southeast. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
  • Swanton, John R. (1969) [1952]. The Indian Tribes of North America (Reprint ed.). Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 978-0-874-74179-7.
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