KOASATI INDIANS IN TENNESSEE

THE KOASATI AS SHOWN BY THEIR LANGUAGE ARE RELATED TO ALABAMA. THEY HAD AT ONE TIME TWO BRANCHES OF THE TRIBE. ONE WAS NEAR ALABAMA AND THE OTHER ON THE TENNESSEE RIVER.

IN 1540 THE CHIEF OF THE COSTA CAME OUT TO RECEIVE THEM IN PEACE AND HE TOOK THEM TO SLEEP IN A VILLAGE. HE WAS OFFENDED BECAUSE SOME SOLDIERS ROBBED HIM OF COINS. THE NEXT DAY WHEN THEY WERE HEADING TOWARDS COSTA VILLAGE, HE GAVE THE SPANIARDS THE SLIP AND ARMED HIS PEOPLE. THEY MET THE GOVERNOR OF COSTA UNARMED. THE GOVERNOR COMMANDED THAT NO ONE SHOULD USE ARMS. THE CHIEFS ASKED IF HE COULD CAMP AND THEY SAID IN AN OPEN PASTURE. THEN IN THE RIVER THEY FOUND MUSSELS TO EAT. IN ONE ACCOUNT THEY TURNED BACK BECAUSE HE LEARNED THE INDIANS HAD UNITED AGAINST HIM.

THEY KNOW THE KOASATI HAD A VILLAGE ON THE TENNESSEE RIVER IN THE LATE 1600'S. THEY MAY HAVE LIVED ON AN ISLAND. COOSADA WAS THE NAME OF A MIXED BLOOD SETTLEMENT OF CHEROKEES WHO CAME TO LIVE THERE. NO ONE KNOWS WHETHER THEY WERE FINALLY ABSORBED INTO CHEROKEE OR IF THEY EMIGRATED.

THE SOUTHERN KOASTI SETTLEMENT SEEMS TO BE MENTIONED IN 1750. THEIR NAME IS SPELLED 'COUCHATI' IN THE CENSUS OF 1760. THEY HAD TWO GREAT TOWNS OF THE CREEK CONFEDERACY.

WEST FLORIDA WAS CEDED TO THE BRITISH. TWO WAR-LIKE TOWNS WERE REMOVED FROM A DANGEROUS GARRISON TO A FORTRESSOVERLOOKING MOBILE.

IN 1799 THE KOASATI LIVED IN A COMPACT LITTLE TOWN THREE MILES BELOW THE TALLAPOOSA RIVER. THEY SOWED FIELDS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE RIVER. THEY HAVE CALLERS AND GROW POTATOES. THEIR CEREMONIES ARE SIMILAR TO THE CREEKS. THEY GROW PLENTY OF CORN. ALL LABOR IS DONE BY JOINT LABOR OF ALL, CALLED PUBLIC WORK. BY THE TOWN THEIR IS A RICH FLAT LAND FIVE MILES IN WIDTH ON WHICH THERE ARE MANY CONIC MOUNDS OF EARTH.

THE KOASATI GO TO MARKET BY WATER. THEY LIVE BY THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. THIS COUNTRY IS RICH AND HEALTHY AND ABOUND IN GAME. IT IS LIKELY TO DRAW OTHERS. THEY RETURN TO THEIR OLD SETTLEMENTS WHERE THEY RAISE HOGS, CATTLE AND HORSES.

IN 1832 THE KOASATI WERE IN THEIR OLD NATION. THEY HAD 82 MEMBERS IN THEIR OLD NATION. THEY EMIGRATED WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI TO FARM TWO TOWNS.BUT FEW REMAIN WHO CAN SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE, AND SOME FOLKS WENT TO TEXAS. THE TRIBE SPLIT INTO SEVERAL BANDS AT THIS TIME. ONE BAND WAS ON THE RED RIVER, AND THEN THEY SOON LEFT. THE CONCHATTAS WHOSE POPULATION WAS 160 ARE ALMOST THE SAME POEPLE WHO LIVE IN BAYAW CHICO FOR 10 YEARS. THE CONCHITTAS ARE FRIENDLY WITH OTHER NATIVES. GAME WAS ABINDANT AND THEY SOLD 100 DEER SKINS FOR $40.

IN 1812 THE KOASATI NUMBERED 600 ON THE SABINI RIVER, BUT MOST LEFT BY 1822 TO GO TO TEXAS AND LOUISIANNA. SOME OF THEM JOINED SEMINOLES.

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