Glenn

THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed. The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather, indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was published.


 

Indian Nations and Their
Numbers of Fighting Men

Darlington, Wm. M. in Appendix V of:
Smith, Col. James, An Account of the
Remarkable Occurrences in the Life
and Travels of Col. James Smith,
(Cincinnati, 1907),
pp. 153-155.

pp. 153 , 154 , 155 .

(page 153)

APPENDIX V.

NAMES of different INDIAN NATIONS in NORTH-AMERICA, with the Numbers of their Fighting Men; referred to in the Note, page 94.

THE following list was drawn up by a French trader, a person of considerable note, who has resided many years among the Indians, and still continues at Detroit, having taken the oaths of allegiance to the King of Great Britain. His account may be depended on, so far as matters of this kind can be brought near the truth; a great part of it being delivered from his own personal knowlege.

 

 

 

Warriors

 

 

Conawaghrunas,

near the falls of St. Louis

200

 

 

Abenaquis,
Michmacs,
*Amalistes,
*Chalas

}St. Lawrence Indians

350
700
550
130

 

 

Nipissins,
Algonquins,

}living towards the heads of the Ottawa River

400
300

 

 

Les Tetes de Boule, or Round Heads,

near the above Six Nations, on the frontiers of New York, &c.

2500
1550

 

 

Wiandots,

near lake Erie

300

 

 

Chipwas,
Ottawas,

}near the Lakes Superior and Michigan

5000
900

 

(page 154)

 

 

 

 

 

Messesagues, or River Indians,

being wandering tribes, on the lakes Huron and Superior,

2000

 

 

Powtewatamis,

near St. Joseph's and Detroit

350

 

 

Les Puans,
Folle avoine, or Wild-Oat Indians

}near Puans bay

700
350

 

 

*Mechecouakis,
Sakis,
Mascoutens,

}South of Puans bay

250
400
500

 

 

Ouisconsins,

on a river of that name, falling into the Missisippi on the east-side

550

 

 

Christinaux,
Assinaboes, or Assinipouals

}far north, near the lakes of the same name

3000
1500

 

 

Blancs Barbus, or White Indians with Beards

 

1500

 

 

Sioux, of the meadows
Sioux, of the woods

}towards the heads of Missisippi

2500
1800

 

 

Missouri,

on the river of that name

3000

 

 

*Grandes Eaux

 

1000

 

 

Osages,
Canses,
Panis blancs,
Panis piques,
Padoucas,

}south of Missouri

600
1600
2000
1700
500

 

 

Ajoues,

north of the same

1100

 

 

Arkanses,

on the river that bears their name, falling into Missisippi on the west side

2000

 

 

Alibamous,

a tribe of the Creeks

600

 

 

*Ouanakina
*Chiakanessou
*Machecous
*Caouitas
*Souikilas

}Unknown, unless the author has put them for tribes of the Creeks

300
350
800
700
200

 

 

Miamis,

upon the river of that name, falling into Lake Erie,

350

 

 

(page 155)

 

 

 

 

 

Delawares (les Loups),

on the Ohio

600

 

 

Shawanese,

on Sioto

500

 

 

Kickapoos,
Ouachtanons,
Peanquichas,

}on the Ouabache

300
400
250

 

 

Kaskasquias, or Illinois in general,

on the Illinois River

600

 

 

*Pianria,

 

800

 

 

Catawbas,

on the frontiers of North-Carolina

150

 

 

Cherokees,

behind South-Carolina

2500

 

 

Chickasaws
Natchez
Chactaws

}Mobile and Missisippi

750
150
4500

 

THE above list consists chiefly of such Indian as the French were connected with in Canada and Louisiana. Wherever we knew the names by which the different nations are distinguished by the English, we have inserted them. But the orthography is yet very unsettled, and the several nations marked with an * asterism are unknown to us, and therefore they are left as they stand in the original list.

So large a number of fighting men may startle us at first sight; but the account seems no where exaggerated, excepting only that the Catawba nation is now almost extinct. In some nations
______________________

They live to the northwest, and the French, when they first saw them, took them for Spaniards.



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