Chatot

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For the Pokémon species, see Chatot (Pokémon).
Chatot
Tribal territory of Chatot during the 16th century highlighted
Total population
Extinct as a tribe
Regions with significant populations
United States (Florida)
Languages
Muskogean
Religion
Native
Related ethnic groups
Pensacola, Choctaw and other Muskogean tribes

The Chatot (also Chato or Chacato)[a] were a Native American tribe who lived in the upper Apalachicola River and Chipola River basins in what is now Florida. They spoke a Muskogean language, which may have been the same as that of several other peoples in western Florida, including the Amacano, Chine,[b] Pacara, and Pensacola (Hann says they were "closely related linguistically"). The Chatot were involved in a war with the Apalachee and Amacano people in 1639.[4]

Origins[edit]

Some authors have posited that the Chatot were connected with the Choctaw. Milanich notes that confusion of the names "Chatot" and "Chactato" with the Choctaw of Mississippi may have been responsible for the name of Choctawhatchee Bay.[5] Hann notes that the translator of a Spanish document mis-identified a Chacato chief as Choctaw.[6] Galloway says that the Chatots and Choctaws should not be confused, that the names are phonetically distinct, and were consistently used to refer to distinct peoples in the 18th century.[2]

Early contact with Spanish[edit]

At the time of first contact with the Spanish, the Chatot lived in the upper part of the Chipola River basin and the adjacent section of the Appalachicola River in the area of the Fort Walton culture, primarily in what is now Jackson County, Florida. A number of archaeological sites in the area, including the Waddells Mill Pond Site, a fortified village site with two mounds, may have been occupied by the ancestors of the historic Chatot. Pottery found in the Chatot settlement area is more closely related to that of Apalachee Province than to that of the peoples of the Pensacola and Mobile bays. The subsistence economy of the Chatots also resembled that of the Apalachees, rather the peoples to their west.[5][7]

The first mention of the Chatot in Spanish records was in 1638, when a representative of the Spanish governor of Florida was able to stop a war between the Chatot and the Apalachee. The next governor visited the Chatot and Apalachicola Province in 1646, when both peoples requested missionaries. The Chatots requested missionaries again in the 1660s.[8]

First missions[edit]

Two missions were established among the Chatot in June 1674. The first mission, San Carlos Borromeo, was in the principal Chatot village of Achercatane (later listed as Yatcatane), four days journey northwest of Apalachee Province. A second mission, San Nicolás de Tolentino, was established in the village of Atanchia.[9][c] The missionaries at the two missions claimed to have converted more than 300 Chatots, including the caciques of the settlements, to Christianity by late September. Three warriors complained that they were being pressured to convert, and threatened to have Chiscas living the Chatot villages and in their own nearby village make trouble for the missionaries and converts. The Spanish lieutenant-governor in Apalachee Province took some soldiers and 25 Apalachees armed with harquebuses to the Chatot missions. The three reluctant warriors were nominally converted to Christianity and the Chiscas were expelled from the Chatot villages while the Spanish-Apalachee party was there.[11]

Revolt[edit]

Conspiracy[edit]

In the summer of 1675, three Chatot warriors, who may have been the same as those who threatened trouble the previous year, conspired against the missionaries. They initially claimed only to want to expell Fray Barreda, the missionary at San Carlos and the sole missionary at the time in the Chatot lands, but turned into a plan to kill Fray Barreda. One of the conspirators, Juan Fernández de Diocsale, was the son of a Chisca woman and had been chief of the village where San Carlos was located. He resented being forced by Barreda to attend mass and to give up three of his four wives. Another conspirator, Ubabesa, was scolded by Barreda in Sunday mass for having an affair with a Christian woman while her husband was away. Other alleged conspirators including Chatots and Chiscas were named in a Spanish inquiry held the next year.[12]

The conspiracy quickly gained support in the community. Hann notes that this may partly be because of discontent over pressure on the Chatot from the missionaries to strictly adhere to Christain standards. Another factor was threats from the conspirators to have their Chisca friends kill anyone who did not support the conspiracy. Diocsale also falsely claimed to be supported by the Apalachicola. The Spanish found little evidence, however, that any Chisca had been involved in the conspiracy. The conspirators planned to seek refuge at Tawasa after killing Barreda.[13]

Attack and escape[edit]

The conspirators spoke to Chatot leaders about expelling Barreda, but the leaders supported Barreda. When the conspirators then revealed that they intended to kill Barreda, the Chatot leaders protected Barreda. Barreda sent a plea for help to the Spanish authorities in San Luis, the capitol of Apalachee Province. Some of the loyal Chatots defected to the conspirators and those remaining loyal advised Barreda to flee to the mission of Santa Cruz de Sabacola, on the Apalachicola River. Barreda's guides were chosen by an official who had secretly joined the conspirators, and he told them to kill Barreda after they had left San Carlos. The attack failed, although Barreda was wounded. Barreda killed one of the attackers with his musket and escaped to Santa Cruz.[14]

In the absence of the deputy governor for Apalachee Province, the acting deputy governor, Andrés Pérez, sent a few Spanish soldiers and Apalachees to help guard Barreda. On hearing that the number of loyalists guarding Barreda was shrinking, Pérez sent 26 archers after the first group. Later the same day word reached San Luis that Barreda had fled to Sabacola. Pérez sent 11 gunmen after the earlier party with orders to bring Barrreda and Fray Juan Ocon, the missionary at Sabacola, back to San Luis.[15]

Response[edit]

The deputy governor for Apalachee, Juan Fernandez de Hita y Salazar, returned to San Luis, and the governor of Florida, Pablo de Hita y Salazar sent a few more soldiers to Apalachee. Before the Spanish could decide on a course of action, Fray Juan de Paiva, the missionary assigned to San Nicolás de Tolentino, persuaded Pérez to spare the lives of the conspirators who had fled to Tawasa if they returned to San Carlos. Some of the exiles returned to San Carlos, but others rejected the amnesty and remained in Tawasa.[16]

The Spanish conducted inquiries into the revolt is late 1675 and again 1676. At the first inquiry, the Spanish honored the promise to spare the lives of the conspirators, but Diocsale and two others were taken to San Luis for further trial. Diocsale was exiled from San Carlos for life and held in house-arrest in St. Augustine while the other two were sentenced to four years of labor for the colonial government. The second inquiry identified more conspirators, but did not result in any punishments.[17]

Later missions[edit]

The Spanish mission of San Carlos de los Chacatos was listed as being in Apalachee Province, but was established to serve Chatots who had moved into the province.[18]

The Spanish established three or four missions to the Chatot by 1675; Asunción/Asumpción del Puerto, la Encarnación (also called Santa Cruz de Sábacola el menor), San Nicolás de Tolentino (listed only in Geiger, 1940) and San Carlos de los Chacatos. These missions were located near the upper Apalachicola River. The historian John Hann places the missions of Asunción, la Encarnatión and San Carlos in the Apalachee Province of the Spanish mission system in Florida. The historian Maynard Geiger also places Asunción in Apalachee Province, but he places la Encarnación, San Nicolás and San Carlos in the Apalachicola Province. Milanich places San Carlos de Chacatos in Apalachee Province, serving Chacatos who had moved into the province.[19]

Milanich suggests that the apparent stability of the Apalachee population in the last quarter of the 17th century may have been due to other people, including Chatots, moving into the province.[20]

Refuge at Mobile[edit]

A small tribe known as "Chatos", of unknown origin or connections, was reported to have lived on the Mississippi coast, and to have been absorbed into the Six Towns Choctaw.[21] A village named "Chato" was reported to be a neighbor of Old Mobile, which existed from 1702 until it was moved to the present-day site of Mobile in 1711.[22]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Less commonly known as Chactoo, Chacâto, Chaqto, Chactot, Chacchou, Chaetoo and Chattoo.[1] Galloway notes that chato is Spanish for "flat" or "roman-nosed", and speculates that the Spanish called the people "Chatots" because they practiced artificial cranial deformation.[2]
  2. ^ In 1990, Hann identified the Chine as a band of Chatot people.[3]
  3. ^ A Spanish account indicates that the site of the San Nicolás mission was close to a cave, which may have been Rock Arch Cave in Florida Caverns State Park.[10]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Sturtevant 2004, pp. 664, 665, 670.
  2. ^ a b Galloway 1995, p. 168.
  3. ^ Hann 1990, p. 490.
  4. ^ Milanich 1995, p. 96; Hall 2000, p. 128; Hann 2006, p. 11.
  5. ^ a b Milanich 1995, p. 96.
  6. ^ Hann 2006, p. 22.
  7. ^ Hann 2006, p. 21.
  8. ^ Hann 2006, p. 26.
  9. ^ Hann 2006, p. 29.
  10. ^ Hann 2006, p. 31.
  11. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 29–30.
  12. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 31–32.
  13. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 32–33.
  14. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 33–34.
  15. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 34–35.
  16. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 35–36.
  17. ^ Hann 2006, pp. 36–38.
  18. ^ Milanich 1995, p. 178.
  19. ^ Hann 1990, pp. 420, 490, 494; Geiger 1940, pp. 128, 130–1; Milanich 1995, pp. 178, 221.
  20. ^ Milanich 1995, p. 221.
  21. ^ Halbert 1902, p. 302–303.
  22. ^ "Old Mobile Site". National Park Service - National Historic Landmarks. Retrieved May 12, 2024.

Sources[edit]

  • Galloway, Patricia. "Choctaw Genesis, 1500-1700". Nebraska Press. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  • Geiger, Maynard (1940). "Biographical Dictionary of the Franciscans in Spanish Florida and Cuba (1528-1841)". Franciscan Studies. 21 (21): V–IX, XI–XII, 1–117, 119–140. JSTOR 43900081.
  • Halbert, H. S. (1902). "The Small Indian Tribes of Mississippi". Report of the Mississippi Historical Commission, Volume V.
  • Hall, Joseph (2000). "Confederacy Formation on the Fringes of Spanish Florida". Mediterranean Studies. 9: 123–141. ISSN 1074-164X. JSTOR 41166915.
  • Hann, John H. (April 1990). "Summary Guide to Spanish Florida Missions and Visitas with Churches in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries". The Americas. 46 (4): 417–513. doi:10.2307/1006866. JSTOR 1006866.
  • Hann, John H. (2006). The Native American World Beyond Apalachee. University Press of Florida. ISBN 9-780-8130-2982-5.
  • Milanich, Jerald T. (1995). Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe (paperback ed.). University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-1636-8.
  • Sturtevant, William C. (2004). Handbook of North American Languages, Volume 14 Southeast. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.


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