106 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



the junction of the Yazoo and Yalobusha, though Adair speaks of 

 the country farther up as their former home. In 1700, according to 

 Iberville, English traders induced the Quapaw to fall upon them in 

 order to obtain slaves, but the attackers were repulsed. Shortly after- 

 ward they must have become involved in the war then going on between 

 the Choctaw and Chickasaw, probably on the side of the former, 

 and had descended the Yazoo to the neighborhood of the Tunica, 

 for Iberville wrote the Tunica missionary Davion in 1702 that he 

 had brought about peace between the 2 major tribes and that the 

 Chakchiuma might return to their own village. In 1704, however, 

 we are informed that members of this tribe had murdered a mis- 

 sionary and that, in consequence, the French let loose their allies upon 

 them and in 2 years reduced them to one fifth of their former num- 

 bers. This event is not mentioned by La Harpe or Penicaut, but there 

 is little doubt of its correctness, except possibly as to the actual damage 

 inflicted upon the tribe. Bienville, to whom we owe our knowledge 

 of this event, says also that in 1715 the Chakchiuma had satisfaction 

 from the Choctaw for the death of 1 of their men. In 1722 the 

 Chakchiuma sent 2 men to inform the commandant of the Yazoo 

 fort that the Chickasaw had started out to war against the Yazoo, 

 Koroa, and Ofo. On the outbreak of the Natchez War, they allied 

 themselves with the French, and a combined force of Chakchiuma 

 and Choctaw attacked the Yazoo and Koroa, killing 18 and delivering 

 some French women and children. In 1739 their head chief appears 

 as leader of those Indian forces allied with the French in their intended 

 attack upon the Chickasaw that failed to materialize. The hostilities 

 in which they became involved at this time probably resulted in their 

 destruction as an independent tribe and incorporation with the 

 Chickasaw and Choctaw. Halbert places the event in 1770 and he 

 and Cushman represent it as having been brought about by the allied 

 Chickasaw and Choctaw. This, however, is doubtful, and the tre- 

 mendous battles reported in connection with it are ridiculous in view 

 of the insignificant size of the Chakchiuma. Traditions speak of 3 

 strongholds of this tribe captured by the allies — at Lyon's Bluff on 

 the south side of Line Creek, about 8 miles northeast of Starkville ; 

 at a spot 3 miles northwest of Starkville; and on the old Grenada 

 Road 6 miles west of Bellefontaine. These points are far east of 

 the historic Chakchiuma country and lie exactly between the territories 

 of the Chickasaw and Choctaw ; therefore, it seems likely that, whether 

 these places were occupied by Chakchiuma or not, their taking was 

 incidental to the great struggle between the Chickasaw and Choctaw 

 with the English and French backing opposite sides. But if so, it 

 would seem that the events must have antedated the peace of 1763 

 by which France yielded up her American territories. From the 



