Lafourche Parish Facts And Opinions

FACTS:

The following was extracted from the petition of the United Houma Nation for federal acknowledgement.

The next several years were turbulent ones for the tribes along the Mississippi. Both French and English forces sought to manipulate Indian tribes under their control. These new external political pressures were added to an already volatile dynamic consisting of quickly broken alliances and sudden inter-group fighting.

Early colonial maps show only generalized locations for the tribe, but consistently note its (Houma) presence.LaSalle’s description of the tribe in relation to the Red River seems to have been the major source of information for early mapmakers. The firsr cartographic verification of Penicaut’s narrative came from DeRemonville’s map published in 1713.

Written accounts and maps of the Houma tribe’s location throughout the remainder of the 18th century show that “villages” near present-day Donaldsonville at the opening of Bayou Lafourche were known as the major settlement for the tribe. Additionally, the vast area that stretched eastward to lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain and north to the Amite River were regarded as its(Houma) hunting territory, accounting for references to the Houma in that area.

Indian villages of the lower Mississippi region during the early French Era were not tightly-clustered, all-inclusive settlements. Rather, housing was located in relation to agriculture clearings in many cases.

The “village” therefore covered an unmeasured area disproportionate to the total amount of its population. The term had a social significance only and referred to a group of dwellings placed under the authority of a designated chief. With the Natchez that dispersion appears to have reached its extreme: their huts, numbering 400 according to de Montigny, extended over an area of 8 to 10 leagues [22 to 27 miles], were grouped only at  long distances from each other in small clusters, linked by endlessly intersecting paths.

OPINIONS:

I understand the frustration our political leaders are experiencing trying to aquire funding for wet land repair and levees. It seems as though it is taking forever. Try walking in our moccasins for over 200 years.

We have yet to receive federal acknowledgement or “our fair share”.

FACTS:

The following was extracted from the petition of the United Houma Nation for federal acknowledgement.

In June 1699,Sieur de Bienville, brother of Iberville, wrote of his grief in seeing the Houma and Bayougoula in conflict. The Bayougoula and Quinipissa were suffering afflicition after a Houma attack on some of their men, French officer de Sauvole reported in August.

In October of the same year, Iberville found the Bayougoula and the Mougoulacha villages in a state of alarm following a Houma suprise attack on both in which they carried off 25 prisioners. The hostility stemmed from an apparent dispute over hunting ground boundaries between the Houma and Bayougoula. A red post, known to the Indians as the “iti Houma” (“red tree” in Choctaw) seperated the two hunting areas at a point about five leagues above Bayou Manchac. The Houma lived about 30 leagues upstream, and hunted above, the marker called the “baton rouge” by the French while the Bayougoulas remained below. One description said of the marker “they have even erected here a large post thirty feet high, which is ornamented with carved design of fishes. Iberville said the stick had no branches and was covered with many “heads of fish and bear attached in sacrifice.”

Iberville visited the tribe March 4, 1700, and found that half the tribe had been destroyed by what he calls “an abdominal flux.” Bienville and several chiefs worked out a resolution to the conflict. By distributing presents, the French persuaded the tribes to release the prisoners and slaves. The mediation ended reportedly long-standing tensions between the Houma and the Bayougoula, and formed the base of alliance which was to continue for many years. Penicaut wrote later in 1700 that the two tribes used to be enemies over a boundry dispute. “But, such is not the case at the present time, as they go to the chase everywhere together, and are all friends.”

 OPINIONS:

The Houmas appear to be a happy people in the 1700’s. We will continue our journey in a quest for knowledge.