SWANTON] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 165 



OgiTA OR UCITA 



A tribe near the entrance to Tampa Bay in 1539, when De Soto 

 landed in their territory. One of their principal towns was seized 

 upon by the Spaniards as their headquarters, and it is believed that 

 this was on Terra Ceia Island. Ogita was probably identical with 

 the province later called Pohoy (q. v.) 



OCONEE 



There appear to have been at least two divisions of this tribe. One 

 was on or near the Georgia coast, where there was a mission in 1656 

 bearing their name, while another Oconee mission, possibly for the 

 same people, makes its appearance among the Apalachee at the very 

 same time. It is likely that these southern Oconee were absorbed in the 

 Apalachee. The latter mission was named San Francisco de Oconi, 

 and it was 1 league from Ayubale, or about 3 leagues (nearly 8 miles) 

 west of Aucilla River. The northern division gave its name to 

 Oconee River and is first mentioned in 1608, unless a reference by 

 Father Pareja 6 years earlier concerns this branch of the tribe. In 

 1695 a letter of the Governor of Florida speaks of it as one of four 

 against which an expedition had been sent. Up to that time it was 

 probably on Chattahoochee River, but it then moved over to the 

 Oconee River and settled just below the Rock Landing. The 

 Yamasee War caused it to move back among the Lower Creeks on 

 Chattahoochee River, where part remained until after 1799, when 

 they were on the left bank 6 miles below the Apalachicola settlement. 

 Part, however, had gone to Florida, probably about 1750, where they 

 lived in the Alachua plains. There Bartram visited them in 1774 

 and described their town. Before 1832 all had probably united in 

 Florida, where they became the nucleus of the Seminole Nation and 

 were soon lost in the mass of the Seminole population. A more 

 northerly home for a part of the Oconee may be indicated in the name 

 of the Oconee town in the Cherokee country on Seneca Creek near 

 the present Walhalla, Oconee County, S. C The name bears some 

 resemblance to the Cherokee egwa'ni, "river," but it is pronounced 

 somewhat differently, ukwu'nu. 



Oconee population. — At the Mission of San Francisco de Oconi 

 there were in 1675 about 200 persons. Estimates of warriors in the 

 other band were 50 men in 1738, 1760, and 1761 ; in 1750 the estimate 

 was 30. 



OFO, OFOGOULA, OR MOSOPELEA 



This tribe first appears in history under some form of the name last 

 given, and from the maps of Minet and Franquelin it seems that some 

 years before 1673 they lived in 8 villages in or near southern Ohio, 



