YUCHI INDIANS IN KENTUCKY

THE YUCHI ARE NOT WELL REPRESENTED IN HISTORY BOOKS. THEY WERE RAVAGED BY EPIDEMICS FROM SPANISH. THEY HAD VILLAGES SCATTERED SCATTERED FROM FLORIDA TO ILLINOIS. LEGEND SAYS THEY SPLIT IN HALF OVER POLITICS. THEIR VILLAGES INTERMINGLED WITH THOSE OF THE NEIGHBORS. IT WAS THE THOUGHT THAT THEY LIVED HERE ORIGINALLY PRIOR TO THE MUSKOGEAN, IROQUOIAN AND ALGONQIAN PEOPLE. THE YUKI SAY THAT THEY WERE HERE WHEN THE LENAPE CAME. THEY WERE MOUND BUILDERS AND WERE THE OLDEST PERMANENT RESIDENTS IN THE SOUTHEAST U.S. SHE HELD POSITIONS AS PRIESTS, LEADERS, AND TRADERS.

THE YUCHI WERE EVICTED FROM TENNESSEE BY THE CHEROKEE IN 1714. THEY DID NOT WANT TO BE TAKEN CAPTIVE. THE REMAINDER WERE TAKEN AS SLAVES TO SOUTH CAROLINA. THE YUCHI MAINTAINED TRADE ALONG THE TRAILS. SOME WERE SUN PRIESTS IN WHITE TOWNS. THE TRIBE WAS KNOWN BY SO MANY NAMES. SOME OF THEIR PEOPLE SPLIT OVER POLITICS. THEIR VILLAGES WERE CALLED BY THEIR VILLAGE NAMES. THE YUCHI ARE A PROUD AND TRADITIONAL PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN KEPT FROM COMPLETE ASSIMILATION BY OTHER TRIBES. THEIR LANGUAGE IS NEARLY EXTINCT. THEY BUILT THEIR HOUSES SEMI-SUBTERRANEAN WITH PALISADED WALLS SURROUNDING THEIR VILLAGE. THEY BURIED THEIR DEAD. THEY MADE CLAY FIGURES FOR STORY TELLING.

THEIR NAME YUCHI MEANS "A PEOPLE OF SIGNIFICANCE". TODAY THERE ARE A FEW HUNDRED IN THE OKLAHOMA AREA.

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