State Tribes A-B
An alphabetical list of state recognized tribes of the United States A to B. Links to tribal profile pages are at the bottom of the page.
State Recognized indian tribes that start with A
Accohannock Indian Tribal Association, Inc. is a state-recognized tribe in Maryland and a nonprofit organization of individuals who identify as descendants of the Accohannock people. The historic Accohannock people were an Eastern Algonquian–speaking tribe who lived on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
ABENAKI
Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi (S), Vermont
El Nu Abenaki Tribe (S), Vermont
Koasek Traditional Band of the Koas Abenaki Nation (S), Vermont
Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki (S), Vermont
State Recognized indian tribes that start with B
Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogee
Brothertown Indians of Wisconsin
Butte Valley Indian Community (CA)
Article Index:
Adai Caddo Indian Nation is the name of a Native American people of northwestern Louisiana and northeastern Texas with a Southeastern culture. They are recognized as an indian tribe in the state of Louisiana.
Official Tribal Name: Adai Caddo Indian Nation
Address: 4460 Hwy 485, Robeline, LA. 71469
Phone: (877) 472-1007
Official Website: http://adaicaddoindiannation.com
Recognition Status: State Recognized in Louisiana
Traditional Name / Traditional Meaning: The name Adai is derived from the Caddo word Hadai meaning ‘brushwood.’
Common Name / Meaning of Common Name: The term Caddo derives from the French abbreviation of Kadohadacho, a word meaning “real chief” or “real Caddo” in the Kadohadacho dialect.
Alternate names / Alternate spellings / Misspellings: European chroniclers referred to the Caddo groups as the Hasinai, Kadohadacho, and Natchitoches confederacies, although the “confederacies” are better interpreted as kin-based affiliated groups of Caddo communities.
Region: State(s) Today: Louisiana and Texas
Traditional Territory: Caddoan sites indicate that Caddo communities were widely dispersed throughout the major and minor stream valleys of the Caddoan area along the Arkansas River approximately by A.D. 800.
Confederacy: Tejas (Caddo) Confederacy – Before the middle of the nineteenth century the term Caddo denoted only one of at least twenty-five distinct but closely affiliated groups centered along the Red River in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
Treaties: Treaty With The Comanche, Aionai, Anadarko, Caddo, Etc., 1846
Location: The tribe still resides in its ancestral location in rural Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. A tribal cultural center and tribal headquarters are located in the Spanish Lake community not far from Los Adaes State Historic Site.
Land Area:
Tribal Headquarters: Robeline, Louisiana
Time Zone: Central
First European Contact:The Adai were among the first peoples in North America to experience European contact. Early encounters with the Adai Caddo Indians were chronicled by Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca in the 1500s.
Population at Contact:
Estimates for the Kadohadacho division of the Caddo before European contact is 2,000. Bienville and La Harpe place it in 1700-1709 between 2,000 and 2,500. In 1718, however, Bienville asserts that it had fallen to 200 warriors, which would mean about 800 people, and Sibley (1832) indicates the same figures as late as 1805.
In 1829 Porter (in Schoolcraft, vol. 3) gives an estimate of 450, and in 1851 Stem (1851) who is likely to be reliable, places it at 476. In 1857 Neighbors returns a partial enumeration of 235, and in 1876, the last time they were returned separately from the Hasinai, the Indian Office reported 467. It is evident, however, that this also includes part of the Hasinai and all of the Adai and Eyeish besides the remnants of the Natchitoches group.
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Tribal Enrollment Requirements:
Genealogy Resources: Caddo peoples traced descent through the maternal (mother’s) line. They also recognized clans, kinship groups that traced their heritage to a common ancestor through the female line.
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Language Classification: Adai
Language Dialects: Adai is generally considered to be a language isolate, but it is also possible it was one of the Caddoan language dialects before it became extinct.
Number of fluent Speakers: There are no known speakers of Adai left.
Origins: Caddo oral history says the tribe emerged from an underground cave, called Chahkanina or “the place of crying,” located at the confluence of the Red and Mississippi Rivers in northern Louisiana. Their leader, named Moon, instructed the people not to look back. An old Caddo man carried with him a drum, a pipe, and fire, all of which continued to be important religious items. His wife carried corn and pumpkin seeds. As people and accompanying animals emerged, the wolf looked back and the exit was closed to the remaining people and animals.
The Caddo peoples moved west along the Red River, or Bah’hatteno in Caddo. A Caddo woman, Zacado, instructed the tribe in hunting, fishing, home construction, and clothing.
Bands, Gens, and Clans: The clans were named after an animal (e.g., bison, bear, raccoon) or celestial phenomena (sun, thunder) and were ranked, some clans having a higher social status than others. Presumably the leaders were members of the highest ranked clans. Marriage typically occurred between members of different clans.
Related Tribes: Historically, the Adia were related to the Arikara, Caddo, Kitsai, Pawnee, and Wichita. Today, there are two Caddo tribes: the Adai Caddo Indian Nation and the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.
Traditional Allies / Enemies: The Caddos interacted frequently with all the other tribes of the Southern Plains, particularly the Osage, Comanche, Kiowa, and Quapaw. Sometimes the Caddos were friendly with these tribes, trading goods and intermarrying. Other times they fought wars against each other.
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Modern Day Events & Tourism:
An intertribal powwow held annually in October brings together intertribal and Caddo dance traditions.
Legends / Oral Stories:
Art & Crafts: The Adai Caddo are best known for their pottery. The are also famous for their split cane mats and baskets.
Animals: Dogs were used as pack animals before Europeans reintroduced the horse.
Clothing: Caddo Indian men wore breechcloths, sometimes with leather leggings to protect their legs. Caddo women wore wrap-around skirts and usually went topless in warm weather. They sometimes wore poncho tops made of woven fiber and deerskin. These were useful when they were foraging for roots and berries and offered some protection from biting insects when they were in swampy areas. Both genders wore moccasins. Caddo men did not usually wear shirts, but in cold weather, both men and women wore buffalo robes. In colonial times, the Caddos adopted some European clothing such as cloth jackets and calico dresses.
Caddo men usually cut their hair in the Mohawk style or shaved their heads except for a scalplock (one long lock of hair on top of their heads.) Sometimes warriors would make this hairstyle more impressive with a colorful porcupine roach. Caddo Indian women usually wore their long hair in a bun. For special occasions, Caddo women fastened their buns with beaded hair ornaments and long trailing ribbons.
Adornment: Both men and women wore earrings. The Caddos also wore tribal tattoos, and women painted their faces and bodies bright colors for special occasions.
Caddo Houses: There were two different types of Caddo houses. The eastern Caddos in Louisiana built tall beehive-shaped grass houses. The western Caddos, in Texas and Oklahoma, built earthen lodges with thatched roofs. Each Caddo village also included a temple and a sports field. More about Caddo Houses.
Subsistance: The men hunted for deer, buffalo, and small game and went fishing in the rivers, while the women were the farmers, as well as responsible for child rearing and cooking. Caddo women grew crops of corn as early as 800A.D, and also grew 5 or 6 varieties of beans, pumpkins, and sunflowers. In historic times, corn (also called maize) was the mainstay crop. The Caddo grew several varieties of corn including “little” corn that ripened in the summer and “flour” or “great” corn that ripened in the fall. Corn was dried on the cob and stored in raised granaries to keep it dry and protected from rodents.
Corn figured prominently in the annual ritual cycle with planting ceremonies, first-fruit or green corn ceremonies, and harvest rites. Successful fall harvests occasioned major festivals at the principal villages.
Gathering wild foods was also practiced. Wild plants included nuts (hickory, walnut, acorn, and pecan), berries, plums, persimmon, grapes, and various seed plants, just to name a few.
Caddo Indians in Texas also mined salt from underground mines, which they boiled down to use in their cooking. The French saw peach orchards and watermelon patches at Caddo sites in the 1680s, which they had been introduced to by the earlier Spanish expeditions.
While men were mostly hunters and warriors, leaving day to day chores to the women, they did help the women with the harder work such as clearing the fields and during the harvest.
Although the bison (buffalo) is known as a Plains animal, some bison were adapted to the woodlands and ranged into at least the western part of the Caddo Homeland. When the southern Plains herds ranged into the prairies west of the Caddo Homeland, Caddo hunting parties occasionally took hunting trips to get bison meat. After Caddo groups acquired horses in the late 17th century, bison hunting became more frequent. Still, bison hunting was not a core part of Caddo culture. White tailed deer were the main big game animal.
Turkeys, rabbits, and various other small animals and birds were hunted and snared. Caddo fishermen caught fish and shellfish in basket traps and with spears. Bears were hunted for food, fur, and especially for their fat, which was used for many useful purposes and was traded to the French.
Trade was also an important part of the Caddo economy, at least in historic times. Caddo groups traded resources found within the Caddo Homeland among each other and to outside groups. The best-known Caddo trade goods were bois d’arc wood, for making bows, and salt.
Economy Today:
Ceremonies / Dances /Religion & Spiritual Beliefs: The Caddo people looked to the xinesi for mediation and communication with their principal god, the Caddi Ayo, for religious leadership and decision-making influence, and in leading certain special rites, including the first-fruit or green corn rituals, harvest, and naming ceremonies. In essence, the xinesi connected Caddo life to the supernatural realm. In return, community members provided for the xinesi’s needs in terms of food and shelter. At a less exalted level, each community had various lesser priests as well as connas (medicine men) who cured sickness and carried out daily rituals.
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Wedding Customs
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Catastrophic Events: It has been estimated that the Caddo populations may have fallen by as much as 95% between 1691 and 1816 due to European diseases.
Tribe History:
Fourteen Adai Caddo families moved away from their original homelands and migrated with the Spanish to reestablish the Capital of Texas at Bexar (known today as San Antonio, Texas), after closing the former Presidio de Los Adais that served as the capital of Texas for almost 50 years that was located in the Texas and Louisiana regions but soon returned to join their tribe.
The Adai were distant relatives of the Caddo people who occupied northwestern Louisiana until they were forced to cede their land to the U.S. government in 1835. A Spanish mission established near the Adai village in 1717 was briefly abandoned two years later; but the mission was reoccupied in 1721 with the founding of Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes Presidio, placed to oppose the fort established by the French at Natchitoches in 1714. For much of the 18th century, the Adai lived near and intermarried with Spanish and mestizo (Spanish-native) soldiers from Los Adaes. After the presidio closed in 1773, the Adai remained settled near the old presidio in their native territory and engaged in family farming and ranching.
Their history also connects the Adai Caddo Indian Nation to French explorers Iberville and Joutel in the 17th century. These explorers had exchanges with the Adai Caddo people that included trade and settlement.
In the News:
Further Reading:
The Beaver Creek Indians are the descendents of some thirty odd mixed-blood South Carolina tribes that merged together after smallpox and measles epidemics, and through intermarriage with other tribes, Europeans, and African Americans.
Official Tribal Name: Beaver Creek Indians
Address: 230 Pine St NW, P O Box 699, Salley, SC 29137-0699
Phone: 803-356-4807
Fax:
Email: klcrothers@mindspring.com
Official Website: http://www.beavercreekindians.org
Recognition Status: State Recognized by the State of South Carolina on August 29, 2006.
Traditional Name / Traditional Meaning:
Some of the death certificates of their ancestors have the designation “Croatan” on their death certificates. This term was often used to denote a person of mixed breed Indian. Tribal ancestors knew that they were Indian but due to the mixed tribal heritage, they did not know what kind of Indian they were. The tribal name comes from the location where the ancestors of this tribe lived.
The Beaver Creek Indians are the descendents of some thirty odd mixed-blood tribes, who originally lived in the coastal region of South Carolina, that merged together after smallpox and measles epidemics, and later through intermarriage with other tribes, Europeans, and African Americans.
Many of the original tribes were branches of the Catawba Confederacy of Indian tribes. Catawba is actually a Creek word meaning “scalp taker.”
Alternate names / Alternate spellings / Mispellings:
Red Legs, Smiling Indians, Croatans, Brass Ankles, Mulattos, The Mestizos of South Carolina
Region: Southeast
State(s) Today: South Carolina
Traditional Territory: Coastal regions of South Carolina, particularly along Beaver Creek.
Confederacy: Probably Catawba Confederacy.
Treaties: None
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Tribal Headquarters: Salley, SC
Time Zone: Eastern
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Registered Population Today: About 2,000
Tribal Enrollment Requirements: Enrollment in this tribe is closed as part of agreement for recognition with the State of South Carolina.
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Charter: In 1998, they formally organized into what is known now as Beaver Creek Indians. They are a non-profit organization with bylaws and a constitution.
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Number of Executive Officers: Chief, Vice-Chief, Secretary
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Bands, Gens, and Clans
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Ceremonies / Dances: Wild turkey feathers are used in ceremonies as fans for blessing
meeting rooms with sacred herbs such as sweet grass, tobacco and cedar. The smoke of these herbs ar fanned with a feather to cleanse the room.
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Art & Crafts: The Beaver Creek Indians made pottery and arrowheads which they used for their own use and for trade. Sea Shells are used for arts and crafts and for ritually decorating graves.
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Subsistance: Hunter gatherers who hunted deer, wild boar, raccoon and squirrel. Women gathered various berries and roots and herbs. Small plots of land were cleared for farming. Tobacco is revered as a sacred
herb.
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Religion & Spiritual Beliefs:
Burial Customs: Ritually buried in mounds that can still be found in Orangeburg Co, South Carolina.
Wedding Customs: The Beaver Creek Indians were matrilineal. Family ties are traced through the mother’s family lines. The families, related to each other through the mother, formed the basic social unit of the tribe.
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Their earliest known ancestor was Lazarus Chavis. He was born in South Carolina, circa 1759. He was in the Revolutionary War and received a pension from that war. He is listed on the first Federal Census of 1790 and every census up to 1830.
The Caroliniana Library in Columbia has hand written documentation from a manuscript Bessie Garvin wrote that states that Lazarus was Indian and so were Richard, William, Phillip and James “Jim” Chavis. It also lists Lazarus as William’s grandfather.
Lazarus was the father of Frederick, James and Nancy Chavis. Recorded tribal genealogy begins with Lazarus Chavis and his children.
Because of the scarcity of Indian records, there are no birth, death or marriage certificates. They did not have first, middle or last names as did Europeans. However, there are some land deeds to prove that Chavis ancestors lived in the Orangeburg area. Family names that continue through to present day in this tribe are Chavis, Hutto, Bolin, Hoover, Williams, Huffman, Hoffman and Gleaton.
Catastrophic Events: Measles and smallpox epidemics.
Tribe History:
Frederick Chavis petitioned the state of South Carolina in 1839 to be known as Indian.
In the News:
Further Reading:
The Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogee were recognized as a tribe by the state of Louisiana in 2005. They previously split off from the United Houma Nation, Inc., and applied for Federal Recognition in 2008. Their application is still waiting for review.
Official Tribal Name: Biloxi-Chitmacha Confederation of Muskogee
Address: P.O. Box 856 Zachery, LA 70791
Phone: (225) 359-2476
Official Website: www.biloxi-chitimacha.com/
The Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Confederation of Muskogees is an alliance of three ancestrally related but independent state-recognized tribes located in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes. An overarching governing body made up of representatives from each of the three tribal communities works together to achieve common goals, but each community has a separate tribal government, history, and traditions that are related but unique.
According to the tribe’s official web site, the Chitimacha settled the bayous of southern Louisiana as far back as 500 A.D. The Chitimacha later faced encroachment by French, Spanish and U.S. settlers. At first European contact, they only had stone tools and weapons, had never seen a horse and had no knowledge of the wheel.
Bayou Pointe-Aux-Chenes and nearby Isle de Jean Charles are home to Houma as well as native Chitimacha tribe members. Currently, 350 Chitimacha remain on the tribe’s Louisiana reservation.
In the 18th century, most Chitimacha adopted Cajun French and the last native speaker died in 1940. According to Native Languages of the Americas, Chitimacha is now an extinct language though some of the younger generation are working to revive it.
The Biloxi-Chitimacha community was devastated by the explosion and oil spill in April of 2010 that released 4.9 million barrels of crude oil and gas into the ocean, killing 11 and injuring 17 others while virtually shutting down the seafood industry in the area.