Part 4 - Chapter 4

The French in the Lower Mississippi Valley.

 

This early period from 1699 to about 1740 can be further divided into two sections according to the activity and reporting that involved the Indian tribes of that region.

The first few years of the century saw a tremendous volume of material written about the Indians even if the material was not published until much later in the century. The next few decades saw a stagnation in reporting about the material culture of the Indians except for the Natchez and the Choctaw, both of whom will be discussed in separate chapters.

The beginning of the 18th century

The French settled the Lower Mississippi Valley for the same reason that the English created the colony of Georgia. While the English were afraid of French and Spanish expansion, the French had been concerned, thirty years earlier, with both the English and the Spanish. With the English venturing into the Lower Mississippi Valley from the Carolinas in search of deer-skin and slaves, and with the Spanish garrison at Pensacola Bay, the French government realized that it needed to solidify its claim to the Lower Mississippi Valley with a permanent settlement.

The Indians, especially the Creek, Chickasaw, and Natchez, armed by the English, were preying on adjacent Indian villages in order to provide the English with slaves. The Mobilian Indians and others needed protection and turned to the French. These types of alliances between the Indians and the Europeans were both fluid and volatile. This led to a lack of stabilization in the Lower Mississippi Valley not only between the Indians, but also, between the Indians and the Europeans.

Amidst the unrest and decimation, small groups of Indians merged with each other and with larger groups. This type of merging, over time, usually leads to a modification of the material culture of the groups involved.

During this period of flux, Frenchmen had been living in Indian villages in the Lower Mississippi Valley. One such was M. Dumont de Montigny, also known as Dumont dit Montigny. Although he spent most of his time with the Natchez, his descriptions of material culture applied to all the Indians of the area. His book, Mémoires Historique sur La Louisiane1 described the dress and adornment of the Indians of the lower Mississippi. This book was published in 1753 and edited by Le Mascrier. The period under consideration was from 1715 until 1747.2 The book was taken from the manuscript entitled Mémoire De Lxx Dxx... Ms Ayer #257 courtesy of the Edward E. Ayer Collection, Newberry Library.

A corollary work to Dumont de Montigny's was a work by an unknown author entitle Mémoire sur La Louisiane ou Le Mississippi. This work is also know as The Luxembourg Memoirs. Even though it is not dated, Swanton believed it to be written before 1718.3

In the manuscript of Dumont dit Montigny entitled Mémoire DeLxx Dxx....which corresponds to the book Mémoires Historique sur La Louisiane, Dumont de Montigny did not only write about the Indians, but he has used water color illustrations to further describe them. His style is very straight forward and two dimensional. A description of some of his illustrations will follow:

Illustration #14 depicts an Indian hunting. He wears only a breech clout or brayer and has a feather presumably fastened to the top knot of hair on the crown of his head. He carries the head of a stag which he will put on his head as a disguise. [Facing page 359 of manuscript.]

Illustration # 15 shows three Indians all wearing breech clouts of either a red or an indigo colored piece of stroud. They represent different aspects of war or hunting. Indian labeled "A" has in his hands a bow and an arrow. He is barefooted and has a feather that appears to be fastened in the same manner as in plate #14. The Indian labeled "B" carries a rifle, has a pouch fastened to the left side of his girdle, and has two feathers fastened to the left side of his head in back of his ear. He is, also, tattooed with zig-zag marks on his arms and legs, a sunbburst on his chest, and a line around his waist connected to two lines that start under his breasts. Indian labeled "C" is smoking a calumet and has a rattle in his right hand. The ends of his girdle appear to be in the form of tassels. [Facing page 360 of the manuscript.]

Illustration #17 is of three Indian women. "A" depicts the wife of a chief. Her hair is parted in the middle and falls loosely down her back. Her only garment is a dark blue petticoat. Her legs, arms, and chest are tattooed with zig-zag marks. Her body is bisected with a tattooed zig-zagged line that runs from under her breasts to below her navel. Her petticoat starts at her hips and extends to a little below her knees. She wears two strings of beads around her neck and bracelets on both wrists. In her left hand she carries a fan of feathers and in her right a rattle. Indian woman "B" wears her hair in a similar fashion to "A". She is tattooed on her legs, but not on her arms. She wears a red petticoat that appears to be fuller in material than does the one worn by "A". Her upper torso is covered by a sleeveless turkey feather cape that extends a little below her waist. In her left hand she carries a feather. Indian woman "C" wears beads around her neck, bracelets on both arms, and has earrings in her ears. Her hair is worn in the same style as the other two women. She is, also, barefooted, as are the others. She does not wear a petticoat. Instead, a short fringe extending to her mid thigh is fastened to her girdle which she wears below her navel. She is depicted as being in the process of pounding corn. [Facing page 369 of the manuscript.]

As shown by the Dumont de Montigny's water colors, the Indians went almost nude. The men wore a blue or red piece of cloth called Limbourg pulled through a girdle at their waist; or they wore a piece of linen which served the same purpose. The French name for this garment was a "brayet".4

In another book, by an unknown author entitled Relation de La Louisiane, the author stated that the size of the "brayet" warranted the use of a fourth of material while the women's short petticoat or "alcona" required three quarters of fabric. According to Swanton, the material was an ell and a quarter wide.5

Since these measurements refer to an ell or an aulne which equals 1.33 American yards, the "brayet" was about 60 inches long. This allowed for the front and back ends to utilize the selvage edges of the material. This unknown author of Relation de La Louisiane was primarily speaking of the Natchez Indians.6

As was mentioned in a former chapter, one of the effects of the fur trade on the Indians was to decrease their reliance on skins for garments and increase their reliance on European goods. The author in Relation de La Louisiane echoed this statement and added to it by stating that the richest men were the most cunning hunters. They wore shirts7, which they never washed. Over these shirts, in the cold weather, some wore large blankets [fr. couvertures] and when the weather was hot, went bare except for the shirt.8

Since some type of covering was generally worn over their privates, it is probably correct to say that both rich and poor Indian males wore a type of breechclout or apron.9

Other men, like the chiefs, wore ready made clothing of Limbourg gotten from the French. They did not like modest colors. They never wore breeches, but instead they used a breechclout, piece of material, or piece of skin to cover themselves. They attached it to a girdle in front and behind. They did not wear stockings but wrapped their legs in pieces of material which they tied under their knees. These were called mitasses. For shoes, they wore a piece of skin cut to the size of the foot and stitched together10.

The women wore a small petticoat which came to just above their knees made of the same Limbourg cloth as the men's, which they call an "Alconand"11 12. This is the same as an "alcona".

Most of the women, especially those connected to the chiefs always wore a skirt. The better dressed had coverings of wool. The poorer ones had neither shirts nor coverings. They went naked from the waist up unless the cold obliged them to cover themselves with a skin.13

The young girls were not permitted to wear this alconand until they lost their virginity by marriage or otherwise. Until then, they wore a kind of net attached to their girdle or belt ending in a point in the same way as a type of "corps d'enfant" [the meaning of this expression is unclear]. The two sides of this garment were ornamented with ribbons made of Linden-tree thread which was worked into the netting. From this girdle hung strings made of the same thread to the ends of which were attached claws from birds of prey, like the eagle, the falcon, the buzzard, etc. These strings ended at the girl's knees, and when they walked, the claws etc. made a clinking noise. These ornaments were similar to the nets that were used to cover horses to protect them from flies.14

This last sentence can, also, be found in The Journal of Paul du Ru15 written in 1700 when he accompanied Iberville. He used this statement in a description of the Mugulasha.16 Paul du Ru died in 1741 twelve years before Dumont de Montigny's book was published whose book was basically about the Natchez, a very different tribe economically than the Mugalasha.

One has to question whether all young girls wore birds' claws dangling from their skirts everyday especially since Indian attire was basically very practical.

Throughout many different narratives, it is noted that the men's hairstyles changed according to their tribal affiliation. According to Dumont de Montigny, some of the men had all their hair cut off but a tuft on the top of their head like the turks; others cut it only on one side or the other leaving the other side long; many others shaved their whole heads except for a braided tress of hair which hung on each side; and others had their hair clipped leaving only a crown of short hair like monks.17

The women and the girls wore their hair very thick and long. They did not wear any other head dress. They wore it braided or bound in a queue with a belt of very fine and soft hair from a "Boeuf" [translated literally beef]. Probably bison hair was used. They used this instead of a ribbon. These braids were ordinarily laced with ornaments of blue, white, green, or black beads, according to the taste of the women; sometimes they also wore "poils de porc-epic" [hair of the porcupine] or porcupine quills intertwined in their hair.18

Dumont de Montigny stated that he never saw a porcupine in Louisiana; however, he saw them in Canada.19

In addition to the garments already described, the Indians of this region also wore feather mantles made of swan feathers.20

For ornamentation the female Indians made earrings from "burgau" shells which they shaped like nails so that upon putting them through the large slits in their ears, they would not fall out.21 Other writers reported that the men also wore such earrings.

The Indians also used this shell to make 3-4 inch diameter plates, either round or oval, which they hung from their neck.22

Tattooing was used by these Indians as a status symbol as well as a form of ornamentation. They depicted on their bodies suns, serpents, and other things. Warriors, wives of chiefs, and honored men had tattoos of figures of suns, serpents, etc. placed on their faces, arms, shoulders, thighs, legs, but principally on their belly and breast. The colors used were either red from vermillion or cinnabar or black from gun powder or charcoal. One sign of utilization of European implements was that they used sewing needles to impregnate the dye under the skin, [rather than thorns].23 The women also used vermillion to paint their faces, shoulders, and bellies.24

Painting of the face and head was done for ceremonial occasions. Both men and women used red, blue, black, and white. Each individual placed the colors as he or she saw fit.25

By the end of the seventeenth century, European goods other than sewing needles were being substituted for articles indigenous to the Americas. During the "Fête de la Tonne de valeur" which was celebrated in July, Dumont de Montigny noted that an important chief of one of the tribes wore French clothes but no shoes.

".....leur grand Chief, qui ce jour-là étoit habillé à la Françoise, mais sans souliers."26

While Le Moyne drew pictures of hermaphrodites in the sixteenth century, Dumont de Montigny noted that they still existed in the area of the lower Mississippi in the eighteenth century. Here they were called Chief of the women. They did the tasks of the women, wore their hair like the women, and dressed in a similar fashion. They wore a short petticoat or alconand instead of a brayet or flap.27

Although La Salle and other explorers had been active in the Lower Mississippi Valley for many years, no permanent settlements had been established. Prior to the beginning of the eighteenth century, France had been too involved with military priorities in Europe and with the Canadian fur trade which felt threatened by beaver-skin glutted markets.28 However, by 1698, France realized that it was necessary to establish permanent bases on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, and in October of 1698 Iberville sailed from France. On January 31, 1699, Iberville landed at Mobile Bay. He, then proceeded to explore the area and look for the mouth of the Mississippi River while looking for a place for his permanent base. By the beginning of March, he had reached the Mississippi River and later that month, Lake Ponchartrain. In this area, in April, he discovered Biloxi Bay and decided, for the present, to remain there.29

For the next few years, Iberville travelled back and forth to France. During that time, many French missionaries spent time with the Indians of the Lower Mississippi. Other Frenchmen, such as Sauvole and Bienville, also took up residence in the area. All of these people left descriptions of the Indians that they encountered.

The first Indians that Iberville saw in 1699 were a few from the Anoochy [(Hodge) Biloxi]30 and Moctoby tribe. He did not describe them other than to say the men only wore braguets (flaps).31 32

The first important contact that Iberville and his party made was with a chief of a Bayogoula tribe and some men from both the Bayogoulas and the Mougoulaschas. This encounter was to unite Iberville with four nations west of the Mississippi and seven nations east of the river. The tribes west of the River were: The Mougoulascha [(Hodge) Mugulasha], Ouascha [(Swanton) Washa], Toutymascha [(McWilliams) Chitimacha], Yagueneschyto [(McWilliams) part of Chitimacha]; the tribes east of the river were: Bylocchy [(Hodge) Biloxi], Moctoby [(Hodge) Moctobi], Ouma [(Hodge) Huma], Pascoboula [(Hodge) Pascagoula], Thecloël [(Hodge) Natchez], Bayacchyto [(Hodge) Bayou Chicot], and Amylcou.33

These eleven tribes and others, that will be encountered by the French, were affiliated with the following nations according to Hodge in BAE 30.

Choctaw

Bayogoula

Mugulasha

Houma

Quninpissa (Acolapissa)

Bayou Chicot

 

Siouan

Biloxi

Moctobi (possibly)

Pasagoula (possibly)

Natchez

Natchez

Chickasaw affiliated

Taposa - part of Yazoo

Chitimacha

Chitimacha

Hodge and Swanton did not always agree on the classification of the Southeastern tribes. The following classifications are according to Swanton. They follow linguistic and political patterns.34

                     Classifications According to Linguistic & Political Patterns

Stock

Division

Group

Tribe

Smaller Unit

Muskhogean

Muskhogean

Choctaw

Choctaw

Acolapissa

 

 

 

 

Bayogoula

 

 

 

 

Quinipissa

 

 

 

 

Pascagoula

Muskhogean

Muskhogean

Choctaw

Chickasaw

Taposa

Muskhogean

Muskhogean

Choctaw

Chakchiuma

Houma

Tunican

Chitimacha

 

Chawasha

 

 

 

 

 

Washa

 

 

 

 

Chitimachi

Tunican

Tunican

 

 

Tiou

 

 

 

 

Tunica

 

 

 

 

Yazoo

Siouan

Biloxi

 

 

 

In 1699 the Bayogoula and Mougoulascha shared a village and the chief of the Mougoulascha was, also, a chief of the Quinipissas.35 Iberville stated that this chief was wearing a

"hooded great-coat of blue serge from Poitou, which he told me Tonty had given him as a present."36

Iberville claimed that the Mougalaschas and the Bayogoulas were the most "beggarly"37 Indians that he had ever seen.

"All the men go around naked without being self conscious about their nakedness. The women wear just a braguet made from bark, most braguets being white and red. The braguet is made of a number of strands of bark spun and woven together, eight inches wide for the top part, which covers their loins; the lower part is in foot-long tassels reaching down to above the knees. With the braguet the women are sufficiently concealed, as the tassels are in constant agitations."38

The translation of this passage found in Iberville's Gulf Journals is not completely accurate according to the French version found in Margry's Journal de d'Iberville; however, only the underlined section shows an actual error in meaning which can change the description of the women's braguet. The sentence should read: of the height of eight inches from the top which covers their loins.39

"Many girls six to seven years old wear no braguet whatsoever; they conceal themselves with a small wad of moss held by a string passing between their thighs and tied to a belt they wear.....They wear their hair in a twist around their head."40

The above underlined statement could also have been translated They wear their hair around their head in a bundle.41 since many of the women wore their hair pulled back into a "bundle".

Iberville, also, reported that:

"Some wear a kind of cloak [Margry - "covering"] made from bark woven tolerably well, such as a coarse linen made of bleached hemp would be in France......They [the men] wear their hair short and tattoo their faces and bodies. Blackening their teeth is a charm in the women; they blacken them with a herb crushed into a paste which they put in their mouths. The teeth stay black for a while and become white again. The young girls are careful in doing that, so that their faces are clean. The bodies of some are tattooed and their faces and breasts marked with black."42

The blackening of the teeth seemed to be a localized custom because it was not universally practiced among the Southeast Indians.

Another custom that also seems to be unique to this region was the addition of fringe to the bottom of the women's braguets.

Iberville was not the only person to comment on the poverty of the Bayogoulas. Father Gravier a missionary of the Society of Jesus commented that:

"They were badly clad for the Season, For they had only half a Deerskin to protect them against the cold. There was even an old woman so destitute that she had only a little moss wherewith to Cover herself. Many old people among these savages have no other clothing."43

When able, the Indians did know how to dress appropriately for the weather. Pénicaut described how the Pascagoulas dressed in August.

"As it was near the end of August and very hot, all the savages--men and boys--went as naked as one's hand; but the women and the girls wore a hank of mass which passed between their legs and covered their nakedness, the rest of their bodies being quite nude. This moss is a very fine plant half an ell long, which the French in the region derisively name Spanish beard and the Spanyards, to return the favor, call French wig."44

When the Bayogoulas paid a return visit to the French, after Iberville had returned to France and Sauvole was left in command, Sauvole dressed each Indian man in a shirt before showing them the fort.45

Paul du Ru, a missionary priest to Louisiana, kept a journal from February 1 to May 8, 1700. He, also, described the Bayogoula and the Mougoulascha. The following description of their dress occurred at a festive occasion when Iberville returned.

"The men wear skins and red linen cloth. The women have on the dresses of bark, that I mentioned, with a fringe of the same material about their waist, that falls down like the nets which one puts on in summer to protect them from flies. These nets reach down to the knees and cover them effectively. Each man carries something in his right hand, a hatchet, an umbrella, knife or some similar thing, and the women have in both hands large bunches of fine white feathers....Flutes and drums set the measure. These are played by some handsome young people with their legs decorated with small gourds filled with stones with which they mark the cadence as we do with our castanets."46

While Iberville described the every day dress of the Bayogoula and Mougoulascha, he described a form of festive dress of the Ouma's [Houma's]:

"To the middle of the assembly were brought some drums, chychycoucy, which are gourds containing dry seeds, with sticks for handles. They make a little noise and help to mark the beat. A number of singers made their way there. Shortly afterwards came twenty young men, between twenty and thirty years old, and fifteen of the prettiest young girls, splendidly adorned in their style, all of them naked wearing nothing except their braguets, over which they wore a kind of sash [or girdle] a foot wide, which was made of feathers or fur or hair [coarse hair as from the mane or tail of a horse], painted red, yellow, and white, their faces and bodies tattooed or painted various colors, and they carried in their hands feathers that they used as fans to mark the beat, some tufts of feathers being neatly braided [or twisted] into their hair. The young men went naked, wearing only a girdle [or sash]47 like the girls, which partly concealed them. They were prominently tattooed and their hair was well arranged with tufts of feathers. Several had kettles [copper]48 shaped like flattened plates, two or three together, tied to their girdles and hanging down to their knees, which made noise and helped them to mark the beat."49

Before this ceremony, the Ouma chief and two of his men carried white crosses when they met the Frenchmen.50 This behavior pattern must have been a result of their previous contact with the French and/or Spanish priests.

Father Gravier who visited them prior to 1701 stated that:

"The Children, the men, and the women are dressed like the Tounika. The women wear a fringed skirt, which covers them from the Waist to below the knees. When they go out of their Cabins they wear a Robe of Muskrat skins, or of Turkey's feathers. Their faces are tattooed with figures, and they wear their hair plaited like the Tounika And Natches, and blacken their teeth as Those tribes do."51

The men and women of the Tunica according to Gravier, as seen in the mission established by the Missionary Davion, dressed as did other tribes with the women using cloth made from the bark of the mulberry tree and the men using deer skins.

"The women have a dress of mulberry cloth which they spin like hemp and flax; it is a strong, thick cloth. Their petticoat is very decent, from the waist to below the knees; there is a fringe very well worked as well as their mantle, either all uniform or worked in lozenges or in squares or in ermine, which they wear usually as a sash, and rarely on the two shoulders. Neither men nor women grease or oil their hair. The women have a great tress of hair on the back which hangs down below the waist; They also make a crown of it around their head. Their head like the men's is flat. Most of the men have long hair, and no dress but a wretched deer skin. Sometimes they too, as well as the women, have mantles of turkey feathers or of muskrat skins well woven and worked."52

St. Cosme added to the description of the Tonikas:

"The married women are covered from the waist to the knees, and the girls are naked up to the age of twelve years and sometimes until they are married, and they wear clothes that scarcely cover them, being made after the fashion of fringes, which they simply place in front. As for the men they are dressed in their skins...."53

It can be seen that throughout the southeast customs between geographic regions as well as between tribes varied as well as overlapped.

The custom of head flattening practiced by the Choctaw and affiliated tribes was lessening among some of the tribes in the late seventeenth century as evidenced by the statement about the Ouma chief and other males of his tribe.

"The chief of the Ouma is a man five feet ten inches tall and proportionally big. He has a flat forehead, although the other men of his nation do not have it; at any rate just a few of the old men do. This vogue changes among them."54

Soon after Iberville met the Biloxi, as described earlier in this chapter, he also met the chiefs and other Indians of the tribes: Pascagoulas, Capinans (Moctobi), Chicachas, and Passacolas (Pensacolas)55. The population of all these tribes was very small in 1699.56

Throughout the narratives, it can be seen that, in the late seventeenth century, to some tribes, European articles were still very new.

"The French then went to the King's warehouse by order of M. d'Hyberville and brought knives, glass beads [Fr. rassade], vermilion, guns, lead, powder, mirrors, kettles, cloaks, hats, shirts, braguets, leggings, rings, and other such trinkets. The braguets, made from five quarters of cloth cut in two length wise, are worn in front of the body and pass between the thighs, thus covering their nakedness. The leggings are made each one from half an ell [one ell = 45inches] of cloth cut in two and sewed like a stocking. Through these they stick their legs. The savages were also given axes and picks. After this M. d'Hyberville went off to his quarters, leaving the savages before the fort dividing the presents and examining them with astonishment, not knowing the uses of the greater part of them.... He [Iberville] commanded that the use of each article be demonstrated to them. Thereupon their shirts were put upon them, and their braguets and their hats; their leggings were stitched together and put upon their legs, as our Canadians.....were familiar with such things. Some powder was put in the powder pans of the guns that had been given them; these were cocked and then fired. But when they saw the powder catch fire, they threw out their arms, dropped the guns, and shrank back from the fear they had of them."57

Their lack of familiarity with guns showed the isolated status of these Indians. However, it is hard to imagine that they did not know how to put on a braguet or that they were not familiar with leggings [Fr. mitasses] since it has been shown that other tribes in the area were. It is possible that their lack of familiarity was exaggerated in order to stress their "uncivilized" nature.

Pénicaut's Narrative spans the years from 1698 to 1721. Since these years represent a rapid expansion of the French influence in the area of the Lower Mississippi, they will be followed chronologically and inserted in the appropriate sections of this chapter.

The missionaries who traveled in the Lower Mississippi Valley were originally from Canada and were an outgrowth of the explorations pioneered by La Salle. The Bishop of Quebec, St. Valier, wanted to establish his clergy at the mouth of the Mississippi. These missionaries belonged to the secular clergy of Canada. One of them was John Francis Buisson, known as St. Côme who went to convert the Natchez.

The Jesuits of France also sent missionaries to this area. Most came with Iberville commencing in 1699. Some of these were: Father of the Society of Jesus, Paul du Ru; Father Joseph de Limoges and Dongy. De Limoges went to minister to the Oumas on the Red River. Missions were set up among the Taensas, Tonicas, Natchez, Arkansas, Oumas, and probably among the Choctaws and Cenis. However, by 1707, few of these missions established by the Jesuits of France were still in existence.58

Swanton in Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi, stated that two thirds of the material written about the tribes of the Lower Mississippi was written about the Natchez.59

The Natchez Indians, one of the largest tribes in the lower southeast in the late seventeenth century, lived east of the Mississippi River in the present state of Mississippi. According to Hodge, the Natchez tribe encompassed nine towns which included other tribes that they had conquered. The tribe was highly ritualistic in its religious customs and practiced sun worship. Their population was, also, highly stratified with two basic classes of people, commoners and nobility.60

Father Gravier was not new to the continent. In 1700, he traveled to the Lower Mississippi area. He saw St. Côme (Cosme) who informed him of the similarities of the Taensa Indians to the Natchez.

John Gilmary Shea reproduced a letter of St. Cosme to the Bishop of Quebec which described his voyage down the Mississippi. In this letter he described the Taensa Indians which, as stated above, he likened to the Natchez.

"On account of the great heat the men go naked and girls are not well covered, and the girls up to the age of twelve years go entirely naked."61

The description of the girls going naked does not agree with Montigny's description of their wearing fringes. However, as stated earlier in the text, St. Cosme stated that the Tonica girls went naked, but he also stated that they wore fringes in front.62 Naked seemed to be a relative term, especially to the Missionaries.

The style of fringes as a garment for children appears to be universal in this part of the southeast.

A few references infer that the Natchez women covered themselves more modestly than other tribes at that period of time. Gravier stated that

"The women are all very neatly clad, and are decently covered To the middle of their legs with a cloak that descends below their knees."63

Iberville in the same time period described how during a ceremony that involved purification some Indian women were "clothed in a white robe made from mulberry bark, and a big white feather was put on the head of each."64

It is interesting to note that when the Indians first saw the priests in their black robes, they were afraid of them because, to them, black symbolized death.65

In the year 170466, Pénicaut described the Natchez Indian women as being "quite decently clothed."67

This statement would be in agreement with Gravier but different from that of Montigny and St. Cosme. This raises the question of veracity. The question is especially hard to answer for these men were not "just passing through" the area but resided in it for different periods of time and at different times. To further cloud the issue, all these descriptions were observed within a few years of each other at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

Two other mentions are made of Indian women being fully clothed in garments. These were reported during De Soto's sojourn and occurred at Ichisi on the Flint river where the women wore white garments that covered them fully and at Cutifachiqui where the women wore various garments that, also, covered them fully.68

These discrepancies in reporting will probably never be unravelled. One can speculate that the wearing of long white garments by the women was for ceremonial occasions, but the descriptions do not point in that direction. It is probably safe to say that the wearing of long gowns is more an exception to the common mode of dress which involved the wearing of a short "petticoat" like garment. However, Pénicaut's descriptions are replete with details and it is hard to imagine that they were mere figments of his imagination even though McWilliams in his introduction to the Pénicaut narratives infers that he was a romantic desirous of adventure:

"For three Years--ever since he was fifteen, he tells us--the urge had been on him, the longing to see foreign lands."69

Pénicaut's narrative of the Natchez men and women described them as both being more fully covered than was usually reported.

"Natchez men and women are very handsome and quite decently clothed. The women wear white linen dresses that hang from the neck to the feet, made almost like our Andriennes of the ladies of France.70"

This reference to the Andrienne presents a problem of timing. The Andrienne, a corruption of the word Adrienne, was from a play written by Terence called Adriana. In this play Glycera rose from childbed wearing a shapeless gown. This gown was adopted by French women and called the Adrienne. The play was produced in 1703.71

R.G. McWilliams, in a footnote, stated that Pénicaut was in Louisiana from 1699-1721 and blind when he returned to France.72 It is hard to imagine that in the space of a year, in Louisiana, he became familiar with the name of the gown and identify it as such. Further, if like many others, he wrote the text later, it is possible some of his facts about dress became distorted and this could account for the inconsistency in description of Natchez dress.

Pénicaut, also, described the men as wearing more garments than was usually reported.

"The men wear deer skins made like our jackets which hang halfway down their thighs. They have braguets and leggings under them, which cover them from their feet to their hips."73

The dress of the girls is, also, somewhat different than described by others although it is similar to that described by Montigny.

"The dress of the girls is different from that of the women: girls wear only braguets, which are made like those little taffeta aprons that the young ladies in France wear over their skirts. The braguets worn by the girls, which are commonly made from a fabric of white thread, cover only the forepart of their nakedness, from the waist to the knees. They tie them at the back with two pieces of tape, to the ends of which they hang tassels that drop down behind. In front, fringes are sewed to the hem of the braguets until the girls reach puberty, when they take the dress of the women."74

The French version in Margry, Volume 5 states that the fringe sewn to the front hem of their baguets reached to their ankles.75

On festive occasions when they danced the girls:

"put on their most beautiful braguets, and the women their pretty white dresses, all of them bareheaded, their long black hair hanging to their knees and as low as the heels of many of them."76

The impracticality of wearing white "linen" dresses is extremely obvious not only for festive occasions but for every day. Again, without belaboring the point, one has to question the romanticism of Pénicaut's descriptions, his knowledge of fabrics, and styles of French dress.

Not much is known about Pénicaut. He tells a little about himself in the beginning of his book. He was eighteen when he first sailed to the shores of America from La Rochelle. He became the master carpenter on board the ship. No where is there any indication that he was well educated or even educated.

It is extremely hard to separate fact from fancy in Pénicaut's narratives because much of it can be backed up by other accounts and also is consistent with the Indians' material culture at that point in time. Pénicaut's description of how they prepared the bark for spinning is an example that is apparently written without flowery descriptions.

"They make this linen cloth from nettle bark and mulberry bark. They prepare the bark in the following manner: they soak it in water for a week; they put it out to dry in the sun for a long time; and when the bark is quite dry, they beat it until it becomes tow; then they put it through the laundering process and wash it three or four times until it is white. Then they spin it and make it into linen cloth, which they use according to their need."77

Paul du Ru, also addressed himself to the subject of textile creation. He noted that the Mougoulacha's made cloth out of buffalo-hair and the bark of trees.78 These women "spin bark" and "work at the looms."

1709 saw a movement of Indian tribes to different locations on or near the Mississippi River. Pénicaut reported that the Oumas moved to a place on the Mississippi River near the river of the Chetimachas. The Tonicas moved to the Ouma's old location.79

There is little discussion in the primary source literature about the dress of the Chetimacha Indians. Gatschet from informants gave a capsule description of their dress and adornment.

He stated that the men wore their hair long and fastened a piece of lead at the end of their tresses for the purpose of keeping their head erect. The women plaited their hair or wore it in tresses adorned with plumes. In addition, a portion of the hair was wound in a coil about their heads and secured with pins. They, also, wore bracelets, earrings and finger rings. They painted themselves with red and white paint only.

The men wore necklaces, finger rings, bracelets, and nose rings. They tattooed their arms, legs, and faces with wavy lines.

The warriors were adorned in a special manner. Each year, special men in the community painted the knees of the warriors with charcoal and then scraped it in so that the color remained. Gatschet did not label this process as tattooing, but, instead, called it painting.

The Chetimacha infants, according to Gatschet, had their head flattened in a different manner than most of the other infants in the southeast. While the other infants had weights laid on their foreheads which were attached to the cradleboard, the weight used for flattening the head of the Chetimacha infants was only attached to the forehead of the infant and not to the cradleboard. This created a rounded back of the head.80

In 1703 a huge portion of the Apalache Indians were either destroyed by the English or forced into slavery. Soon after, the remnant moved away from their homes located in territory long controlled by the Spanish to Mobile where they sought the protection of the French.81

The Apalaches had been Christianized early and were reported to be good Catholics who conducted services similar to those conducted in France.82

Pénicaut described their dress during their largest celebration that of St. Louis' Day.

"On that day the men and women are dressed very decently. the men wear a kind of cloth overcoat; and the women wear cloaks and skirts of silk cloth in the French style, but haven't the least headdress going bare-headed. Their hair, which is quite long and quite black, is plaited and hangs down their backs in one or two plaits, the way Spanish girls wear theirs. Those whose hair is too long, fold it up to the middle of their backs and fasten it with a ribbon."83

Mention has been made in Pénicaut's narratives as well as in others that the majority of the Illinois were also "good Catholics". Even though they are not considered Southeastern Indians, Pénicaut's description of their dress will be presented because it seems to illustrate a pattern: The more Catholic Christianized a group of Indians became, the more they dressed as did the Europeans even if they made their own garments with materials native to their region.

The following description of the Cascassias Illinois needs to be regarded circumspectively and judged as to its accuracy. However, it does delineate a pattern of dress.

"The Cascassias Illinois women are very skillful: they commonly spin buffalo hair, which is as fine as wool off an English sheep. This wool is spun as fine as silk and is very white. With this they make materials which they dye in three colors, such as black, yellow, and deep red. Out of this they make dresses that are almost like the dresses of the women of Brittany or else like the dressing gowns of our ladies of France, which hang down to the floor--if to their collar a coif was sewed to cover the head. They wear beneath their dresses a petticoat and a corset that comes halfway down their thighs. They sew with deer-tendon thread, which they make in this way: when the deer tendon is quite free of flesh, they dry it in the sun twice in twenty-four hours, and after beating it a little they stretch the tendon-like thread as fine and as white as the most beautiful Mechlin thread, and it is still very strong."84

Over the next few decades, little was written about the material culture of the Indians.

The next few decades of the 18th century

The struggle for Indian allegiance between the French and the British was rampant throughout the early part of the century. The type and amount of presents and conditions of trade were often some of the determining factors. An example can be found in a letter written by Bienville to Pontchartrain on October 27, 1711.

"No matter what precautions I have taken to maintain our understanding with the Indians who are our allies, since I have not been in a position to furnish them any assistance that can protect them against the raids that the allies of the English make upon them, by the great presents that they give them both to encourage them to destroy ours as well as to insinuate to our Indians that the King our Master is abandoning us."85

Clothing was a serious point of contention among the Indians. Bienville in writing to Maurepas on June 17, 1737 stated that because Chief of the Chetimachas, Red Shoes, had been given "a complete set of scarlet cloth", the other medal chiefs demanded the same.86

Not only were presents necessary, but certain types had to be given. Bienville and Salmon wrote to Maurepas on February 7, 1743.

"We have received your Lordship's despatch of November 13, 1741, on the occasion of the shoe-buckles and earrings for which Sieur Azur, the commandant at the Alabamas, had asked for the use of the Indians of that post and the shipment of which was made by the ship Andromède.

"In regards to the ribbons in the English style of which my Lord asks samples, we have directed Sieur Azur to send them to us at the same time at what price these ribbons are sold to the Indians."87

Bienville, in his letter to Maurepas on June 17, 1737, made mention of having to give presents to all the medal chiefs.

The European powers and, later, the United States government gave special medals, brass tomahawks, silver hat bands, belt buckles, engraved gorgets etc. to the Indians chiefs as rewards for allegiance. The medals were worn from the neck and were zealously guarded by the Indian and particular tribe.88

A summary of the basic events that occurred in Louisiana until the outbreak of the Natchez massacre in 1729 will suffice as background material regarding the material culture of the Indians.

In 1717 the French government decided to remove the control of the colony from one individual and gave it to the Company of the West. In 1719 this company merged with other French companies and became the Company of the Indies. During this time period, New Orleans was founded and, in Europe, France and Spain declared war on each other while the Indian missions in Louisiana were basically abandoned.89 In 1718, the colonial population consisted only of three hundred fifty to four hundred persons.90

1722 saw the war between the Spanish and French end in Europe, and during the beginning of the decade the importance of missions was re-established in order to bind the Indians to the French and supposedly insure peace. At this time the Capuchin Fathers, also, arrived in Louisiana.91 They ministered wherever service was needed. The tribes included were: Apalaches, Alibamons, Natchitoches and Natches. These were official Capuchin posts in 1724 and 1725. The Capuchin Fathers, nevertheless, also ministered to the Tonica, Bayagoulas, and Chapitoulas.92

In 1722, Charlesvoix paid a visit to the Tonica. He stated that the chief of the Tonicas

"has learned from us the art of laying up money, and is accounted very rich. He has long left off wearing the Indian habit, and takes great pride in appearing always well dressed."93

John Gilmary Shea stated that when Davion returned to the Tonicas in 1716, the chief had already been baptized and was wearing European clothes.94

One of the events that affected both Europeans and Indians was the Natchez Massacre of 1729 during which the latter decimated the French in the area. Tensions had been festering for quite some time. According to one opinion, the French, for quite a while, had been taking advantage of the Natchez, debauching their women, and tyrannizing their men.95

Not every adult French male was killed by the Natchez. Le Page Du Pratz reported that two were spared for their talent. One was a "Charretier" or wagoner and the other was a tailor. The latter they saved so that he could remake the clothes left behind and those that were stored. He was needed to adjust the length and width of the clothes. When a piece of clothing had to be enlarged, the Indians preferred the added piece to be of a different color than the garment.96

One of the results of the massacre was that the Company of the Indies relinquished control and the control was assumed by the French government in 1731.97

The only visual record of the period was made by A. DeBatz who is presumed to have been an architect or an engineer with the French military stationed in Louisiana. His work spans the time period of 1732-1735.98

The art work consisted of drawings of temples, cabins, and the Indians of the region. In his drawing of Buffalo Tamer, Chief of the Tunica he portrays him only in a breech clout with a staff from which are hanging three scalps. In his belt is a knife and from his right shoulder across his chest hangs a belt with a powder horn attached. His hair appears spiky and reaches to the bottom of his ears.

The woman in the picture wears only a petticoat hung from her hips and extending to above her knees. Her hair hangs long in the back. She is holding the hand of a nude child whose hair is tonsured like a monk.

In his picture of Choctaw warriors carrying scalps, all are wearing breechclouts in the style of front and rear flaps. One is pictured with feathers in his hair which is worn in a straight line from the top center of his head to the nape of his neck. Another is pictured with his hair cut in a tuft on top and a lock or braid hanging to his right shoulder. There are four children in the picture. One appears in a petticoat with a band wrapped around her head via her forehead. The other three, are probably boys since they are nude and their hair styles appear to be of the tonsured style with one wearing a small lock over his left shoulder. All the children appear to be under five years old with the exception of the girl who appear to be around thirteen years old. These ages are approximations obtained from studying the drawings.

There is also a picture of a man apparently sitting wearing a shirt that is open and according to Bushnell a crown of feathers. This signified that he was a Natchez chief.99

DeBatz, also, pictured a "savage in winter dress." Bushnell described the dress as such:

"Buffalo skins, dressed so as to allow them to become soft and pliable and without removing the hair, were used by the Indians throughout the Mississippi Valley to protect them from the cold of winter. Such robes were decorated on the inner side by designs painted in several colors. The sketch shows a robe decorated with a simple design in red and black."100

These pictures are contained in this general section on the Lower Mississippi Valley because of their indefinite nature. DeBatz pictured his Choctaw Warrior in the same dress as his Tunica known as Buffalo Tamer. The only differentiation is in the hair style which was discussed earlier in this section. Whether he was trying to make a statement about the similarity of dress cannot be known. It is hard to imagine that both warriors had exactly the same powder horns and also placed their hunting knives in the same position. In addition, the poses of both are identical. Thus, it is possible that DeBatz did see them dressed in a similar manner and using similar accoutrements with their hair style being the only variable.

Gatschet, in a paper on the Shetimacha [Chetimacha] Indians that he read before the Anthropological Society in 1883 made an observation that could account for the dearth of knowledge about the Indians in the lower Mississippi Valley after the first third of the eighteenth century. He stated that the old French colonists only visited those tribes "they found settled on the high roads of travel and commerce." 101

Marginal tribes visited by the French

The French and Spanish extended their domains in the area of the Red River. They both had intercourse with the Natchitoches and the Cenis tribes. In 1701 Bienville had formed an alliance of peace with the Natchitoches, and in 1716 Saint-Denis established a post there. The Spanish Franciscans had already established posts there, the missions of San Bernardo and San Juan Bautista.102 The French post among the Natchitoches was used by the French as a storehouse for French goods.103

Even though the Indians in the vicinity of the Red River and also west of the Red River had had contact with Europeans previously, the effect on some was negligible.

When Saint Denis in the early eighteenth century headed westward from the village of the Natchitoches and arrived among the Cenis near to where La Salle had met his death, he found that the particular Indians that he met had never seen a Frenchman before.

"But the fact is that these Indians [the Cenis] did not recollect to have ever seen Frenchman, or knew any other Europeans than some Spaniards, who went naked like themselves and lived miserably."104

It is important to remember that even though the material of a certain period is very sparse and sketchy, it does not mean that contact with the Indians was lacking. It only means that no one recorded this contact.

Whether the French or the Spanish owned the territory, giving gifts to the Indians was continuous in the eighteenth century. The distribution points in the mid-eighteenth century were: Natchitoches, Arkansas Post, New Orleans, and Saint Lewis. The Natchitoches Post serviced the Kadohadacho and other Caddoan groups.105 Thus, the tribes who lived on the fringes of the Southeast were, also, supplied with similar European good. This was true, especially, of those tribes who were especially friendly to whatever European country was in power. To the chiefs of those tribes, medals were often given which signified their position of friendship.106 


1. The material is taken from the 1753 edition and is translated by the author. Unless necessary for accuracy, the English translation will be paraphrased.

2. Ruth Lapham Butler, A Checklist of Manuscripts in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, p. 29.

3. Swanton, BAE 43, p. 3.

4. Dumont de Montigny, Mémoires Historique sur La Louisiane p. 137.

5. Swanton, BAE 43, p. 53.

6. Relation de La Louisiane, p. 78 [Louisiana - Ayer, MS 530] Courtesy of the Edward E. Ayer Collection. The Newberry Library.

7. The word in French was "chemises" - translated as shirts, wrappings, or coverings - In this instance the word "shirt" is probably correct for the word "couverture" meaning covering appears in the next sentence.

8. Luxembourg Memoirs, pp. 132-133.

9. Author's note.

10. Luxembourg Memoirs, pp. 132-133.

11. Swanton, BAE 137, p. 472 stated that the word "alconand" came from the Choctaw word "alhkuna" which meant gown.

12. Dumont de Montigny, pp. 138-139.

13. Luxembourg Memoirs, pp. 132-133.

14. Dumont de Montigny, pp. 138-139.

15. Paul du Ru, Journal of Paul du Ru. This rendition is by Ruth Lapham Butler, pp. 21-22.

16. Variations in spelling of names and places will occur as determined by the document cited.

17. Dumont de Montigny, p. 136.

18. Dumont de Montigny, pp. 136-137.

19. Ibid., p. 137.

20. Ibid., p. 155.

21. Ibid., p. 94.

22. Ibid., p. 95.

23. Ibid., pp. 139-140.

24. Ibid., p. 155.

25. Luxembourg Memoirs, p. 134.

26. Dumont de Montigny, p. 207.

27. Ibid., p. 208.

28. Daniel Usner, Jr. Indians, Settlers, & Slaves in a Frontier Exchange Economy, p. 15.

29. Nellis M. Crouse, Lemoyne d'Iberville-Soldier of New France, Chapter 8.

30. In naming the first tribes encountered by Iberville et al, all names in brackets are from Hodge, BAE 30, Swanton, BAE 137, or McWilliams.

31. Iberville's Gulf Journals edited and translated by R.G. McWilliams, p. 44.

32. Most of the comments having to do with dress and adornment have been cross checked with the appropriate section in Margry.

33. Iberville's Gulf Journals, pp. 47-48.

34. Swanton, BAE 137, opposite page 10.

35. Iberville's Gulf Journals, footnote 59, p. 45.

36. Ibid.,   p. 59.

37. Ibid., p. 63.

38. Ibid., p. 63.

39. Translated by the author from French found in Margry, volume lV, p. 171.

40. Iberville's Gulf Journals, p. 63.

41. Margry, volume lV, p. 171.

42. Iberville's Gulf Journals, pp. 63-64.

43. Jesuit Relations #65, "Gravier's Voyage, 1700, p. 161.

44. Pénicaut, Fleur de Lys and Calumet, p. 18.

45. The Journal of Sauvole, translated by Jay Higginbotham, p. 23.

46. Journal of Paul du Ru, pp. 21-22.

47. McWilliams translated "ceinture" as either "girdle" or "sash".

48. chaudière in French can mean copper.

49. Iberville's Gulf Journals, p. 68.

50. Ibid., p. 68.

51. Jesuit Relations 65. "Gravier's Voyage, 1700", pp. 151-153.

52. John Gilmary Shea, Early Voyages up and down the Mississippi, "Journal of the Voyage of Father Gravier",p. 134.

53. Ibid., "St Cosme's Voyage", pp. 80-81.

54. Iberville's Gulf Journals, p. 79.

55. Pénicaut, Fleur de Lys and Calumet, Translated and edited by R.G. McWilliams, p. 5.

56. Ibid., footnote p. 5.

57. Ibid., pp. 7-8.

58. All the information in these paragraphs about the missions was taken from the book: History of the Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes of the United States 1529-1854 by John Gilmary Shea, pp. 435-444.

59. Swanton, "The Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi", BAE 43, p. 2.

60. Hodge, BAE 30, pp. 35-36.

61. Shea, Early Voyages up and down the Mississippi, p.77.

62. Ibid., p. 80.

63. Jesuit Relations # 65, "Gravier's Voyage", p. 145.

64. Iberville's Gulf Journals, p. 131.

65. Isabel Calder, Colonial Captivities, Marches and Journeys, pp. 206 & 211.

66. Although Pénicaut is known for his poor chronology, Swanton in BAE 43, p. 6, stated that the year of 1704 for this narrative is correct.

67. Pénicaut, Fleur de Lys and Calumet, p. 85.

68. These two descriptions of dress can be found in part two, chapter one of this book.

69. Pénicaut, Fleur de Lys and Calumet, p. XlX.

70. Ibid., p. 85.

71. Boucher, 20,000 Years of fashion, p. 294.

72. Pénicaut, Fleur de Lys and Calumet, p. 85.

73. Ibid., p. 85.

74. Ibid., pp. 85-86.

75. Margry, Volume 5, "Relation de Pénecaut" p. 446.

76. Pénicaut, Fleur de Lys and Calumet, p.86.

77. Ibid., p. 85.

78. Journal of Paul du Ru, p. 20.

79. Pénicaut, Fleur de Lys and Calumet, p. 129.

80. All the material in the preceding paragraphs about the Chetimacha and their material culture is taken from Gatschet, "The Shetimacha Indians of St. Mary's Parish, Southern Louisiana", Transactions of the Anthropological Society of Washington, vol. ll, 1883, pp. 153-154.

81. Pénicaut, Fleur de Lys and Calumet, p. 102.

82. Ibid., p. 134.

83. Ibid., p. 143.

84. Ibid., pp. 138-139.

85. Dunbar & Sanders, Mississippi Provincial Archives 1704-1743, vol.3, pp. 158-159.

86. Ibid., p. 699.

87. Ibid., pp. 779-780.

88. Hodge, BAE 30, volume 1, p. 830.

89. The information in the whole paragraph was taken from Sister Mulvey's book: French Catholic Missionaries in the Present United States, chapter 6.

90. Population statistic from Usner, Jr. Indians, Settlers, and Slaves, p. 31.

91. Material from Charlevoix History and General Descriptions of New France, volume Vl, book XXll.

92. Claude L Vogel, The Capuchins in French Louisiana, p. 67.

93. Pierre de Charlevoix, Journal of a Voyage to North America, vol. 2, p. 280.

94. John Gilmary Shea, American Catholic Missions, p. 444.

95. Claude L Vogel, The Capuchins in French Louisiana, p. 165.

96. Le Page Du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, volume 3, pp. 260-261.

97. Ibid., p. 166.

98. Bushnell, Smithsonain Miscellaneous Collection, Volume 80, No. 5, p. 1.

99. Ibid., p.11.

100. Ibid., p. 13.

101. Gatschet, "The Shetimacha Indians of Saint Mary's Parish, Southern Louisiana", Transactions of the Anthropological Society of Washington, volume 2, p. 150.

102. Charlevoix, History and General Description of New France, Volume 6, p. 19. Mulvey, French Catholic Missionaries in the Present United States, p. 93.

103. Charlevoix, History and General Description of New France, Volume 6, p. 19.

104. Ibid., p. 20

105. Timothy Pertulla, The Caddoan Nation, p. 210.

106. Ibid., pp. 212-213.