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The Coushatta (Koasati: Koasati, Kowassaati or Kowassa:ti) are a Muskogean-speaking Native American people now living primarily in the U.S. states of Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.

When first encountered by Europeans, they lived in the territory of present-day Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. They were historically closely allied and intermarried with the Alabama people, also members of the Creek Confederacy. Their languages are closely related and mutually intelligible.

Under pressure from Anglo-American colonial settlement after 1763 and the French defeat in the Seven Years' War, they began to move west into Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, which were then under Spanish rule. They became settled in these areas by the early 19th century. Some of the Coushatta and Alabama people were removed west to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in the 1830s under Indian Removal, together with other Muscogee (Creek) peoples.

Today, Coushatta people are enrolled in three federally recognized tribes:

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• Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town in Wetumka, Oklahoma
• Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.

Language[edit]

The Koasati language is part of the Apalachee-Alabama-Koasati branch of the Muskogean languages. An estimated 200 people spoke the language in 2000, most of whom lived in Louisiana. The language is written in the Latin script.^[1]

History[edit]

The Coushatta were traditionally agriculturalists, growing a variety of maize, beans, and squash, and supplementing their diet by hunting game and fish. They are known for their skill at basketry. Nearly all the Spanish expeditions (including the 1539-1543 Hernando de Soto Expedition) into the interior of Spanish Florida recorded encountering the original town of the tribe.^[2] It was believed to be located in the Tennessee River Valley. (Click here for a list of towns encountered by the Hernando de Soto Expedition.) The Spanish referred to the people as Coste, with their nearby neighbors being the Chiaha, Chiska, Yuchi, Tasquiqui, and Tali.

Under pressure from new European settlers in the 17th-18th centuries, the Coushatta made treaties and ceded land, and they migrated west into present-day Alabama. Along the way they established their town at Nickajack (Ani-Kusati-yi, or Koasati-place, in Cherokee) in the current Marion County, Tennessee. Later they founded a major settlement at the north end of Long Island, which is bisected by the present-day Tennessee-Alabama stateline.

By the time of the American Revolution, the Coushatta had moved many miles down the Tennessee River where their town is recorded as Coosada. In the 18th century, some of the Coushatta (Koasati) joined the emerging Creek Confederacy, where they became known as part of the 'Upper Creek'. They were closely related to the Alabama Indians and often intermarried with them. Coushatta and Alabama who stayed in Alabama were part of the 1830s forcible removal to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. Today their descendants form the federally recognized Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town in Wetumka, Oklahoma

Some of the Coushatta tribe split from the Creek Confederacy and went to South Louisiana. Their descendants today make up the federally recognized Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.

Notable chiefs among the Coushatta-Alabama were Long King and Colita (Koasati) (1838-1852), who succeeded him. They led their people to settle in present-day Polk County, Texas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Colita's Village was developed prior to the European-American settlement of Livingston, Texas.^[3] Descendants of these peoples form the federally recognized Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas and have a reservation near Livingston.

Ethnobotany[edit]

A decoction of the leaves of Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium ssp. obtusifolium is used for fevers. The Coushatta use it to bathe those who are feverish.^[4]

20th century to present[edit]

• The Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town in Wetumka, Oklahoma achieved federal recognition in 1939, following passage of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936. Its people were descendants of a community that had moved as a group from their town in Alabama to Indian Territory in the 1830s. They settled together and maintained their town identity. In addition, its people have dual citizenship in the federally recognized Muscogee Creek Nation, representing descendants of the broader Creek Confederacy. It has an enrolled population of 380.
• In 1972, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana achieved state recognition as a tribe. A year later it gained federal recognition. The tribe has acquired 685 acres (2.77 km²) of reservation near its traditional homeland of the 18th and 19th centuries. This land is held in trust on the tribe's behalf by the United States Department of the Interior.^[5]

In the twentieth century, the Coushatta people in Louisiana began cultivating rice and crawfish on tribally owned farms on the reservation, where most of the current population resides. An estimated 200 people of the tribe still speak the Coushatta language, which is in the Muskogean family. In the early 21st century, fewer young people are learning it and the tribe is working on language preservation.

Since the late 20th century and the rise in Indian self-determination, many Native American tribes have developed a new source of revenues by establishing gaming casinos on their reservations, which are sovereign territory. States, which had begun their own gaming operations and regulated private ones, and the federal government have passed legislation to control Indian gaming, which must conform to what exists by state law. While such revenues are not taxable by the states, tribes often negotiate agreements with the states to share some portion of income, in recognition of their reliance on state infrastructure and other assets. In the 1990s, the Coushatta of Louisiana hired the lobbyistJack Abramoff to assist in establishing a gaming casino on their reservation. They were victims of his manipulations, as he charged them high fees but did not work on their behalf to gain federal or state approval of such development. He was ultimately prosecuted for his actions.

Since then, the tribe has established gaming on its reservation. It also has tax-free sales of certain items to raise revenues. The initiatives have raised significant revenues, but the state filed suit to stop the specific class of gaming. Litigation is underway. Gratis casino spinn.

F. A. Little, Jr., of Alexandria, Louisiana, a retired United States District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana, serves as chief judge for the tribe.^[6]

• The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas achieved federal recognition in 1987. It has acquired a 4,600-acre (19 km²) reservation near Livingston, Texas, its homeland since settling in this area in the early 19th century. It has 1,100 enrolled members.

References[edit]

1. ^'Koasati', Ethnologue. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
2. ^Hudson, Charles M. (1997). Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun. University of Georgia Press.
3. ^'Alabama-Coushatta Indians', Texas Handbook Online
4. ^Taylor, Linda Averill. (1940) Plants Used As Curatives by Certain Southeastern Tribes. Cambridge, MA. Botanical Museum of Harvard University (p. 61)
5. ^Coushatta Tribe of LouisianaArchived 2007-07-10 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 25 Apr 2010
6. ^'F. A. Little, Jr. (Ret.)'. Federal Arbitration. Archived from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2012.

External links[edit]

• Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, official site
• Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, official site
• Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, official site

The Coushatta massacre (1874) was the result of an attack by the White League, a paramilitary organization composed of white Southern Democrats, on Republican officeholders and freedmen in Coushatta, the parish seat of Red River Parish, Louisiana. They assassinated six white Republicans and five to 20 freedmen who were witnesses.^[1][2]

The White League had organized to restore white supremacy by driving Republicans out of Louisiana, disrupting their political organizing, and intimidating or murdering freedmen.^[3] Like the Red Shirts and other 'White Line' organizations, they were described as 'the military arm of the Democratic Party.'

Background[edit]

In the period after the American Civil War, Marshall H. Twitchell, a Union veteran from Vermont who had led United States Colored Troops, came to Red River Parish, Louisiana to become an agent for the Freedmen's Bureau, having passed the administrative examination. He married Adele Coleman, a young local woman. Her family taught him about cotton farming. In 1870, Twitchell was elected as a Republican to the Louisiana State Senate. He appointed his brother and three brothers-in-law (the latter natives of the parish) to local positions, including sheriff, tax assessor and clerk of court. Twitchell worked to promote education and to extend public representation and civil rights to the former slaves, known as freedmen.^[1]

The White League arose in the Red River valley in 1874, first in Grant Parish and nearby parishes. It was a group of Confederateveterans whose stated purpose was 'the extermination of the carpetbag element' and restoration of white supremacy. Most had been with the white militias that had taken part in the Colfax Massacre, but units later arose in other communities across the state. Unlike the secret Ku Klux Klan, the White League operated openly and were more organized. They intended to overturn Republican rule. They targeted local Republican officeholders for assassination, disrupted political organizing, and terrorized freedmen and their allies. One historian described them as 'the military arm of the Democratic Party.'^[4]

In Coushatta, the White League criticized Republican leadership. Members publicly accused Twitchell and his brothers-in-law of inciting what they termed 'a black rebellion.'

The attack[edit]

In August 1874, Thomas Floyd, an African-American Union army veteran, was serving in the Louisiana State Senate as a Republican. On the night of August 25, he was murdered in Brownsville.^[5] When tensions arose, members of the White League arrested several White Republicans and twenty freedmen, accusing them of plotting a 'negro rebellion'.^[5] Among the White Republicans were Sheriff Edgerton, William Howell (the parish attorney), Robert Dewees (De Soto Parish tax collector), Homer Twitchell (a tax collector and Marshall Twitchell's brother), and three brothers-in-law, Monroe Willis, and Clark Holland; Marshall Twitchell was in New Orleans at a Republican state convention.^[6] Within two days, hundreds of armed Whites arrived in Coushatta.^[6]

After holding them hostage for several days, the captors forced the officeholders to sign a statement saying they would immediately leave Louisiana. While travelling out of the region, six White captives were murdered by a band of armed whites, led by Dick Coleman.^[6]

Ziplining downtown vegas. Elsewhere in Coushatta and nearby, Whites attacked numerous African Americans, resulting in at least four deaths.^[5] Levin Allen had his arms and legs broken before being burned alive.^[6] Louis Johnson and Paul Williams, two of the freedmen arrested by the White League, were hanged by Dick Coleman and his mob.

Although twenty-five men were arrested for the massacre, because of lack of evidence, none were brought to trial.^[1][7][8]

Aftermath[edit]

Violence continued throughout the state. The Coushatta massacre was followed shortly by a large White League insurrection in New Orleans, where they hoped to install the Democrat John McEnery as governor. He had been a contender in the disputed state election of 1872, in which both parties claimed victory. In the New Orleans 'Battle of Liberty Place', 5000 White League members overwhelmed 3500 troops of the Metropolitan Police and state militia. After demanding the resignation of Republican governor William Pitt Kellogg, the White League took control of Canal Street, the city hall, statehouse and arsenal.^[9]

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This armed rebellion finally forced President Ulysses S. Grant to respond to the governor's request for reinforcements to Louisiana. Within three days, Kellogg was back in office due to the arrival of Federal troops. The White League disappeared before they came. More troops arrived within a month to try to tame the Red River Valley.^[7] Grant's decision to send troops was probably too late to prevent further consolidation of Democratic power. In the 1876 election, white Redeemer Democrats gained a majority in the state legislature.

Two years later, when Twitchell returned briefly to Red River Parish, he was shot six times (two in each arm and one in each of his legs), perhaps by a local rival, James G. Marston or by Dick Coleman.^[6] His remaining brother-in-law, George King, died in the attack. Although Twitchell survived, his injuries cost him the loss of both his arms.^[1]

Another Marston in the area was Democratic state Senator B.W. Marston, who served from 1880-1884 and again from 1908-1909.^[10] Another Marston, Abbie Marston (1906-1976), married future Louisiana elections commissioner Douglas Fowler, who served from 1959-1980. Abbie Fowler was the mother of Jerry Marston Fowler, who succeeded his father in the elections commissioner position and served from 1980-2000.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdDanielle Alexander, 'Forty Acres and a Mule: The Ruined Hope of Reconstruction', Humanities, January/February 2004, Vol.25/No.1. Her article says 20 freedmen were killed.Archived 2008-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 14 Apr 2008
2. ^Nicholas Lemann, Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War, New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006, p.76-77. His book says five freedmen were killed.
3. ^Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, New York: Perennial Classics, 2002, p.550
4. ^George C. Rable, But There Was No Peace: The Role of Violence in the Politics of Reconstruction, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984, p. 132
5. ^ ^abcOn This Day: The Coushatta MassacreArchived 2016-12-20 at the Wayback Machine, Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement, UNC at Chapel Hill
6. ^ ^abcdeCoushatta MassacreArchived 2016-12-20 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopedia of Louisiana
7. ^ ^abEric Foner, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, New York: Perennial Classics, 2002, p. 551
8. ^One of the first accounts of the Coushatta masscre is found in Jimmy G. Shoalmire, Carpetbagger Extraordinary: Marshall H. Twitchell, 1840-1905, dissertation at Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi, 1969
9. ^Nicholas Lemann, Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War, New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006, p.77.
10. ^'Membership of the Louisiana State Senate, 1880-2004'(PDF). legis.state.la.us. Archived from the original(PDF) on October 29, 2008. Retrieved July 5, 2010.

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