1004 



YUCHI 



[b. a. e. 



and 1750, just before and after the settle- 

 ment of Georgia. Various attempts have 

 been made to find a Yuchi derivation for 

 words and names recorded by ancient 

 chroniclers, but with the possible excep- 

 tion of Yupaha, the name of a country 

 heard of by De Soto but not certainly 

 reached, there is no good evidence in sup- 

 port of them. The name of Cofitachique, 

 which has generallv been considered a 



YUCHI MAN. (f. G. SPECK, PHOTO.) 



Yuchi town, appears to be INIuskhogean, 

 and, if the indentitication of the Westo 

 with the Yuchi is correct, there is good 

 reason for l)elieving that the people of 

 Cofitachique were something else. Al- 

 though there is known to have been one 

 settlement of the Yuchi on Tennessee r., 

 the rest of them ajiparently occupied one 

 continuous area and seem to have consti- 

 tuted a homogeneous people. This area 

 embraced the entire mid-course of Savan- 

 nah r., and probably included most of the 

 Ogeechee, which was sometimes known as 

 Hughchee (i. e. Yuchi) r. In 1739a Yuchi 

 town. Mount Pleasant, existed on Savan- 

 nah r. 25 m. above Ebenezer, hence in 

 Screven co. , Ga. , probably near the mouth 

 of Brier cr. Tracts on the w. side of that r. 

 extending as far s. as Ebenezer or., Ef- 

 fingham CO., and others above and below 

 Augusta were claimed by the Yuchi as 

 late as 1740. Hawkins in 1799 (Sketch, 

 61, 1848) stated that Yuchi were for- 

 merly settled in small villages at Ponpon, 

 Saltketchers (these two, however, were 

 Yamasee centers), Silver Bluff, and Ogee- 

 chee, and were continually at war with the 

 Cherokee, Catawba, and Creeks. This 



gives them a wide range on both sides of 

 Savannah r. Filson (Discov. of Ky., 1793) 

 said that the "Uchees occupy four differ- 

 ent places of residence, at the head of St. 

 John's, the fork of St. Mary's, the head 

 of Cannouchee (Cannochee), and the 

 head of St. Tilles [Satilla] . ' ' The princi- 

 pal Yuchi town among the Lower Creeks 

 hadiuHawkins' time ( 1799) sentout three 

 colonies eastward: Intatchkalgi, Padshi- 

 laika, andTokogalgi (their Creek names). 

 Another Yuchi town is mentioned by 

 Morse (1822) near Miccosukee, Leon co., 

 N. Fla. Some of the Yuchi settled with 

 the Savannah Indians on Tallapoosa r. 

 Hawkins estimated the "gun-men" 

 in Yuchi and these branch villages at 

 250. Bartram_(Trav., 887, 1792) points 

 out their relations to the Creeks as fol- 

 lows: "They are in confederacy with the 

 Creeks, but do not mi:!i with them; and 

 on account of their numbers and strength 

 are of imj)ortance enough to excite and 

 draw upon them the jealousy of the 

 whole IMuscogulge confederacy, and are 

 usually at variance, yet are wise enough 

 to unite against a common enemy to sup- 

 port the interest and glory of the general 

 Creek confederacy." Their town is de- 

 scribed as the largest, most compact, and 



YUCHI GIRL. (f. G. SPECK, PHOTO.) 



best situated Indian town he ever saw. 

 Their population is stated by him to be 

 from 1,000 to 1,500, and in this estimate 

 he includes 500 warriors. The Creeks 

 claimed to have subjugated the Yuchi and 

 regarded th em as slaves ( salafki ) , probably 

 only the western or Chattahoochee part, 

 not those who lived among the Semi- 

 nole and the Yamasee. In recent times 

 this point was mooted even in the Creek 



