APALACHEE

The Apalachee homeland was situated in what is now northwest Florida, near the capital of the state, Tallahassee. The nearby bay on the Gulf of Mexico is named after the tribe: Apalachee Bay. Apalachee, pronounced ap-uh-LATCH-ee, is a CHOCTAW word meaning “people of the other side [of the Alabama River].”

The tribe no longer exists. The Apalachee once had at least 20 villages of pole-frame houses with palmetto-thatched roofs. Sometimes villagers packed the walls of their houses with mud, a technique called wattle and daub. Next to the villages were fields of corn, beans, squash, and other crops. Probable direct descendants of the MOUND BUILDERS, the Apalachee built mounds with temples on top. The tribe is classified as part of the Southeast Culture Area (see SOUTHEAST INDIANS).

To the north of the Apalachee lived the CREEK. Although both peoples spoke dialects of the Muskogean language family, they were enemies. The less numerous Apalachee managed to hold their own against the larger tribe.

In 1528, the Apalachee attacked and drove off an early Spanish expedition led by the explorer Panfilo de Narvaez. But Hernando de Soto and his men lived among the tribe in the winter of 1539—40 during the first part of their expedition throughout much of the Southeast. Some of the more militant Apalachee resented the presence of the conquistadores and quarreled with them.

By 1633, Spanish missionaries had a foothold among the Apalachee. By the 1640s, seven churches had been built among them, and eight of the principal

Apalachee chiefs had been converted to Catholicism. In 1647, the Apalachee, angry because they were forced to work on the Spanish fort at St. Augustine, rebelled. But Spanish soldiers, having superior weapons, quickly suppressed the uprising. Then in 1656, some Apalachee joined their trading partners the TIMUCUA in their revolt. The faction that wanted the Spanish as allies, valuing European trade goods and protection against other Indians, prevented further violence in the ensuing years.

As allies of the Spanish, the Apalachee suffered attacks from other colonists. In 1703—04, Carolina militiamen and Creek warriors under Colonel James Moore destroyed many villages and killed many inhabitants. They took some Apalachee captives back to South Carolina, some of whom later joined with the YAMASEE in the Yamasee War of 1715.

In the course of the 18th century, the Apalachee migrated often. Some joined their former enemies, the Creek. Others moved to new villages among the Spanish. After 1763, at the end of the French and Indian War, when Spain lost Florida to England, many Apalachee moved to Louisiana and settled on the Red River. The Spanish regained control of Florida in 1783 after the American Revolution, holding it until 1819. By that time, however, most of their Apalachee allies had dispersed. The small bands that remained intermarried with other Indian peoples, as well as with African Americans and European Americans, and gradually lost their tribal identity.