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Native American Tribes

There is NO PAYWALL on this page.

Here is a partial list of Native American Tribes (mostly Western)
along with most of the references to them in The Old West Daily Reader.
Another of those complicated, involved sections which I work on periodically.
Always adding new material… Doc

Beginning in the 1500’s, the horse, acquired from the Spanish, caused significant changes to the lifestyles of many Native American tribes. Dramatic as those changes were in the west, they didn’t hold a candle to the coming of the white man. Tribal territories, affiliations and lifestyles; everything changed dramatically over a period of about 150 years; some six or seven generations. The last two or three of those generations faced the full onslaught of the white culture. The time period we consider the Old West encompassed the final battles and the subjugation of the remaining free tribes; known as the Indian Wars. * Some tribes were decimated outright by disease or conflict. Others migrated either by choice or by force; often moving west because of tribes east of them, now armed with the white man’s weaponry, were themselves being displaced by the whites. The destruction of the buffalo herds and the associated devastation to the tribes, disrupted the self-sufficient lifestyle of Indian people more than all other federal policies. By the end of the 19th Century, the Native American population was only 237,000, down from one million a century earlier. Native Americans spoke more than 300 different languages across North America. Today, there are about 170 Native languages still viable. The snapshots of the tribes presented here are very limited and only intended to offer context for an approach to this incredibly complex story.

Please keep in mind: The Native Americans are the ultimate authorities on their own histories.

see:
The Originals Index – Timelines -A-L Index – Indian Wars Timeline

 

Note: Tribal Great Seals and flags are a modern convention acquired from the white culture.
They did not exist in historical times.

Indian Horse acquisition map
Map from the University of Idaho

see also:
The Originals Index – Horses

California Indian Tribes

If I couldn’t find the Tribal seal, I look for a book cover or art that represents the tribe.
* at the bottom of a listing = No seal. – Doc

Achomawi
Northeastern CA, Pit River.

*

Cahuilla

Southern CA in Palm Springs Canyon and the Sonoran Desert.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

see:
Wk. 49, 12/06/1846 – Temecula Massacre

Chumash
aka: Santa Barbara Natives

Chumash
aka: Santa Barbara Natives
On the CA Pacific coast, San Luis Obispo to Malibu Canyon, inland to the San Joaquin Valley
First European contact was the Spaniard, Juan Cabrillo (1542).

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Ohlone

formerly known as Costanoans
Pacific Coast, south of San Francisco Bay

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Digueño
Southern CA.

*

Hupa – aka: Hoopa)
Along the Trinity River in Northern CA.
Today, largest reservation in CA.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Karuk

Northern CA, along the Kamath River.
One of the largest tribes in CA.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Kawaiisu

Southeastern CA, San Joaquin Valley to the Mojave Desert
Poster by Redbubble

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Luiseño & Juaneño

Payómkawichum
(People of the West)
Inhabited the
Temecula Valley
in the coastal area of southern California.
Ranging 50 miles from the present-day
southern part of
Los Angeles County
to the northern part of San Diego County, and inland some 30 miles.
First contacts with the Spanish in the 16th century.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

see:
Wk. 49, 12/06/1846 – Temecula Massacre

Maidu

Northern CA, Sacramento Valley and nearby Sierra Nevada.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Mendocino

Northern CA part of the Pomo culture.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Miwok
Western slope of the Sierra Nevada in central CA.

*

Modoc

Northern CA near the Klamath River and into southern OR.
(Kalamath Resevation in OR)

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

see:
Modoc War, included in: Timelines Index – Timelines A-L Index – Indian Wars Timeline – find 1872 (8 entries)
Wk. 48  – use Control +F ( find), search for: Modoc on linked pages
Wk. 40,  10/03/1873  – The Modoc War (Hangings, and a cost assessment.)

Pomo

Northern CA coast and the Russian River Valley.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Salinan

South central CA.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:

Shasta

Northern central CA.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 653

Tolowa

Northern CA, coast

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Wintun

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Wiyot

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

see:
Wk. 09, 02/26/1860 – Wiyot Massacre)

Yahi – extinct

see:
Wk. 35, 08/25/1911 – Ishi
Wk. 12, 03/25/1916 – Ishi
Wk. 51, 12/20/1978 – Ishi                                                                                                                                                   *

Yana
Northern CA in the central Sierra Nevada, on the western side of the range.
Their lands, prior to encroachment by white settlers, bordered the Pit and Feather rivers.
The Central and Southern Yana continue to live in CA as members of Redding Rancheria
They were nearly destroyed during the California genocide in the latter half of the 19th century.
*

Yuki
North Central CA.
Round Valley and much of northern Mendocino County and Lake County
traditionally divided into three groups:
Ukomno’om

*

Huchnom

Ukohtontilka or Ukosontilka.

*

Yokuts
Central California

*

Yurok

Resident on the Hupa Reservation

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Before European contact, there were nearly 60 tribes speaking several related languages.

see:
Wk. 04, 01/22/1855 –Treaty of Point Elliott 
References – Dictionary – California Genocide
Modoc – above

End: California Indian Tribes

Oregon Indian Tribes

Cayuse

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 12,000+

see:
Wk. 23, 06/09/1855 – Treaty of Yakama

Clatsop

Klamath

(Kalamath/Modoc Resevation in OR)

Population estimate (1700)
Tribe alone: 400 to 1,000
Population estimate (1930)
2,133 (on the res.)

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Kalamath & Modoc: 5,700 (on the res.)

see:
Modoc – In California Indian Tribes – above

Klickitatat

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

see:
Wk. 23, 06/09/1855 – Treaty of Yakama

Nez Perce
Nimiipu or Nee-mee-poo –The People 
“Pierced Nose” (from the French of first contact)

Prior to contact with Europeans, traditional hunting and fishing areas/ancestral Lands: spanned from the Cascade Range in the west to the Bitterroot Mountains in the east. Central Idaho – southeastern Washington – northeastern Oregon centered on the Salmon and Snake rivers.
Primarily semi-nomadic hunter gatherers,
fishermen and hunters.
First Contact: 09/20/1805 – Lewis & Clark in Idaho. 
Active modern tribe: Nez Perce Reservations at Lapwai, ID and Colville. Concerned with fishing rights, tribal history and preservation of the language.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 3,500

see:
in this order: Wks. 09, 48, 32, 20
use Control +F ( find), search for:
Nez Perce on the linked pages.
Wk. 28, 06/15/1877 – Nez Perce
Wk. 32, 08/09/1877 – Battle of Big Hole

Paiute

Big Pine Paiute – Owens Valley

Originally a subsistence culture of foraging [roots such as Cyperus esculentus*], with the addition of fish, pine nuts and wild game.
Origin Tribe of the Ghost Dance** (c. 1889).
Typhoid killed about 10% of the tribe (1867).  {001}

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 800

see:
* The Originals Index – Resources and Hazards – Food Plants – Nutsedge
** Wk. 01, 01/01/1889 – Ghost Dance
Wk 38, 09/20/1932 – Wovoka, aka: Jack Wilson – Medicine Man

Shasta

see:
Shasta – In California Indian Tribes – above

Tillamook

Umatilla

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 2,800

see:
Wk. 23, 06/09/1855 – Treaty of Yakama

Walla Walla

see:
Wk. 23, 06/09/1855 – Treaty of Yakama

*

End: Oregon Indian Tribes

Washington Indian Tribes

* at the bottom of a listing = No seal.

Washington Coastal Indians, listed from north to south.

Kallam
(most northern)

Klallam  refers to four related indigenous Native American / First Nations communities
from the Pacific Northwest of North America.
The Klallam culture is classified ethnographically and linguistically in the Coast Salish subgroup.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 1,400

Makan

 Neah Bay, WA

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Quileute

 Located in La Push, Washington, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
The Quileute Tribe has lived and hunted in this area for thousands of years.
Although the village of La Push is only about one square mile,
the Tribe’s original territory stretched along the shores of the Pacific
from the glaciers of Mount Olympus to the rivers of the rain forests.
The Quileute people were forced onto the Quileute Indian Reservation after signing the Quinault Treaty in 1855.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Hoh

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Skokomish
*

Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest
including the Central and Coast Salish peoples,
Swinomish, Lower Skagit, Upper Skagit, Kikiallus, and Samish peoples,
who lived in the Samish and Skagit River valleys nearby coasts, and islands.
The Swinomish Reservation is located on Puget Sound, on the southeastern side of Fidalgo Island
in Skagit County, Washington. It was established in 1855 by the Treaty of Point Elliot.

Quinalt

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Chehalls

The Swinomish Reservation is located on Puget Sound, on the southeastern side of Fidalgo Island
in Skagit County, Washington. It was established in 1855 by the Treaty of Point Elliot.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Chinook

(most southern)

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Washington Indians on the East side of Puget Sound, listed from north to south.

Samish

(northern most)

Skagit

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Snohomish

A Coast Salish people
Reside around the Snohomish River and northern Puget Sound.
Indigenous to the Puget Sound area of Washington

Today’s Population estimate (2024) (All Salish?)
Tribe alone: 14,850
Tribe alone or in any combination: 24,206

Squaxin

(southern most)

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Other Washington Indians

Duwamish

The River People

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 600

see:
Wk.22, 05/31/1896 – Princess Angelina

Nespelem

Northeastern WA.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Coastal Salish
Southeastern WA.

Coast Salish Totem Pole
Photo: U.S. PD? internet

The Coast Salish are a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples who inhabit the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their traditional territories span across the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon and the Canadian province of British Columbia.

FYI: Woolly Dogs
Coast Salish tribal nations in Washington state and British Columbia had raised and nurtured woolly dogs for millennia. Known for their thick undercoats, these dogs were meticulously cared for, sheared like sheep, and kept in managed environments to ensure their breeding and well-being. The wool from these dogs was woven into blankets and ceremonial items by Coast Salish weavers, playing a vital role in their society’s spiritual and ceremonial aspects. By the mid-19th century, the weaving tradition with woolly dog hair declined.
This now-extinct canine breed held cultural significance for Indigenous Coast Salish communities in the Pacific Northwest for thousands of years. Despite the disappearance of woolly dogs, their memory endures in Coast Salish society.

Interior Salish

Southeastern WA.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Cowlitz
A tribe of Southwestern Coast Salish and Sahaptan.
Southwest central WA.
*

Spokane

Their ancestors inhabited much of northeastern Washington which consisted of approximately 3 million acres.
At times they extended their hunting, fishing, and gathering grounds into Idaho and Montana.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Tulalip Tribes

A modern confederation and successor-in-interest of several groups:
the Snohomish, the Skykomish and the Snoqualmie.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

End: Washington Indian Tribes

Great Basin Indian Tribes

* at the bottom of a listing = No seal.

Bannock

Today’s Population estimate (2024) Bannock/Shoshone Reservation
Tribe alone: 5,313

see:
Wk. 36, 09/09/1860)

Paiute

Big Pine Paiute – Owens Valley

Originally a subsistence culture of foraging [roots such as Cyperus esculentus*], with the addition of fish, pine nuts and wild game.
Origin Tribe of the Ghost Dance** (c. 1889).
Typhoid killed about 10% of the tribe (1867).  {001}

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 12,966
Tribe alone or in any combination: 19,832

see:
* The Originals Index – Resources and Hazards – Food Plants – Nutsedge
** Wk. 01, 01/01/1889 – Ghost Dance
Wk 38, 09/20/1932 – Wovoka, aka: Jack Wilson – Medicine Man

Shoshone

Eastern Shoshone: Northern Colorado, Montana and Western Wyoming. Hunter gatherers
+ horse, (1600’s) nomadic hunters of buffalo and pronghorn.

Northern Shoshone: Northern Utah and southeastern Idaho.
Fishermen, gatherers > horse in 1600’s, became nomadic plains hunters, buffalo, etc.

Western Shoshone: Eastern California, central and eastern Nevada and northwestern Utah.
Foragers, hunter gatherers.
Ely Shoshone *
Duckwater Shoshone *

Goshute: western Utah, eastern Nevada
Confederated Tribes of the Goshute *

Total Population – around 12,300 (2000)

They traditionally speak the Shoshoni language,
part of the Numic languages branch of the large Uto-Aztecan language family.

Religion:
Christianity
Ghost Dance
Native American Church
Sun Dance
Traditional tribal religion

The Shoshone were sometimes called the Snake Indians by neighboring tribes and early American explorers.
1750’s pushed S & SW by conflicts with the Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow and Lakota;
some then became the Comanche** of the southwest. Also: Timbisha
They were heavily involved in the Snake War (1864-68).

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 10,802
Tribe alone or in any combination: 18,501

see:
References – Dictionary – Snake Indians, Snake War
Wk 14, 04/07/1805 – Sacajawea
Wk. 38, 08/20/1864 – Ward Massacre
Wk. 36, 09/09/1860 – Otter Wagon Train attack
** Comanche – below
* The Originals Index – Battlefields and Massacres –
Massacres of Indians – The Bahsahwahbee Massacre

Ute

Great Seal of the Southern Ute

 Nuche
high up or land of the sun

Tribal Divisions:
Capote
Mouache [Southern Utes]
Tabeguache [Uncompahgre] (current census 2,790 [2015])
Winimunche (Weemunuchee) [Western]

Today:
The Ute have a very active Modern Tribal culture holding annual Bear Dances, Sun Dances and other gatherings.
Northern Ute Reservation – Fort Duchesne, UT: White River (2nd largest in U.S.)
Southern Ute Reservation – Ignacio, CO: Capote, Mouache & Tabeguache
Ute Mountain Reservation – Towaoc, CO: Winimuche -Ute Mountain Tribal Park

First mention by Spanish chroniclers 1626, then by Fray Francisco de Escalante in 1776.
Ancestral Lands: centered in Colorado but also parts of New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
Traditionally nomadic hunter-gatherers, particularly in the western more desert-like part of their territory. The eastern mountainous areas provided more variety in plants and larger more plentiful game, if a colder climate.
The Spanish invasion into the Southwest from Mexico began c. 1530’s. Likely first contact with Europeans was late 1500’s  with horses being acquired late 1600’s via trade with Pueblo Indians to the south. First Treaty with the Spaniards 1670. As with most tribes, the mobility of the horse led to lifestyles similar to those of the plains Indians. They became very successful nomadic mountain buffalo hunter gatherers, raiders, slavers and traders. They raided Spanish settlements, warred occasionally with the Arapahoe and resisted any incursion into their lands by the whites. Including to some extent, the Mountain Men. The Mormon invasion of Utah beginning in 1847 led to major conflicts. The Walker War of 1853 and The Black Hawk War of the 1860’s. But it was to be mining and the theft of their lands that brought the oncoming white culture into the final conflict with the Utethat and an over zealous missionary . All resulting in the Ute being forced onto reservations in Utah and Colorado by the Army 1879 & 1881.
{001 & 021}

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 9,486
Tribe alone or in any combination: 14,958

Further Reference to Ute Indians:
Players – Timelines Index – Timelines M-Z Index – Ute Indians Timeline
Photo Gallery Index – Indian Photos – Chief Ouray & Chipeta
–Pine River Store; Sapiah (aka: “Buckskin Charley”)
–Chief Ouray‘s Re-internment 1925)
Map: Ute Lands c. 1492 borrowed from the Ute Tribal Website (see: References – Websites)
The Originals Index – Landmarks and Registers – Sleeping Ute
see:
Quotes Index – Indian Quotes – Gov. F.W. Pitkin)
Wk 15, 04/10/1865 – Black Hawk’s War (western)
(Wk. 39, 09/29/1879 – Meeker Massacre

End: Great Basin Indian Tribes

Plains Indian Tribes

* at the bottom of a listing = No seal.

Arapaho

Inuna-ina
our people

(1600’s), Minnesota & North Dakota > Montana > Wyoming and Colorado. Migratory hunters > + horse (1700’s), buffalo hunters, raiders.
Self divided in 1832 with some influence by William Bent*.
Northern Arapaho – Wyoming, North Platte River. Nomadic buffalo hunters, raiders.
Southern Arapaho – Colorado, Arkansas River. Nomadic Buffalo hunters, raiders.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 8,449
Tribe alone or in any combination: 12,364

Photo: U.S. PD? – internet
see:
Wk. 20, 05/19/1869)
Wk. 34, 08/21/1849)

 

Assiniboine
aka:  Nakota, Hohe,

Iron Confederacy

This tribe who live to the North of most of the Sioux peoples were the first of the Siouan-speaking peoples to leave the Eastern Woodlands and move onto the Great Plains. Speaking a Siouan language closely related to the Sioux language but are not considered part of the modern Oceti Sakowin. They had separated as a separate people sometime before 1640, when they were first documented as a tribe by French missionaries. Other Sioux-speakers referred to them as the Hohe, (rebels). The Canadian Nakoda (Stoney) possibly began as the westernmost band of the Assiniboine but were referred to as a separate people after about 1744. Later, in the nineteenth century, further bands belonging to the Dakota peoples and to a lesser extent to the Lakota, also moved to Canada and their descendants still live in several of the Canadian First Nations.
The tribe became a member of the Iron Confederation with the Cree. (c. 1840’s).
Through the Confederation, they became reliable and important trading partners and middlemen, in the vast area known then as Rupert’s Land in western Canada, for Hudson’s Bay Company and the Northwest Company. Later, during the later 18th century and early 19th century, south of the border in what became Montana and the Dakota territories, the tribe traded with the American Fur Company and the competing Rocky Mountain Fur Company. The trade was for guns, gunpowder, metal tomahawks, metal pots, wool blankets, wool coats, wool leggings, and glass beads and other goods in exchange for beaver pelts, bison robes and other furs.
Increased contact with Europeans resulted in Native Americans contracting endemic Eurasian infectious diseases, most notably smallpox. The tribe suffered epidemics with high mortality and the population crashed from around 10,000 people in the late 18th century to around 2600 by 1890.

Blackfeet

 Ampskapi Piikani (US)

Blackfeet: Siksika  {Blackfoot – those with black-dyed mocasins} (north)
Blood: Kainai, Kainah {blood} (middle)
Piegan: Piikáni, Pigunni {poorly dressed} (south)

An Algonquian people of the North American Great Plains. Eastern U.S. > North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. Migratory plains hunter gatherers from the east until acquiring the horse in the 1700’s then, primarily buffalo hunters and Raiders. Raised tobacco. Notably defensive of territory

Largest of three Blackfoot-speaking groups that made up the Blackfoot Confederacy.
Piegan peoples in Canada and the United States were forced to divide their traditional homelands in the nineteenth century according to the national borders .  They were forced to sign treaties with one of those two countries, settle in reservations on one side or the other of the border, and be enrolled in one of two government-like bodies sanctioned by these two North American nation-states. The two successor groups are the Blackfeet Nation a “federally recognized tribe” in Montana, USA and the Piikani Nation, a recognized “Indian band” in Alberta, Canada.

The Blackfeet are fairly recent occupiers of this area. Until 1600 CE, they resided in an area of the woodlands north and west of the Great Lakes. Pressure exerted by British traders at James Bay in present day Canada on the Algonquin-speaking tribes in the area drove the Blackfeet out onto the Northern Plains. They eventually acquired firearms and horses and became a formidable example of the classic Plains Indian culture. They were a powerful force, controlling an area that extended from current day Edmonton, Alberta Province, nearly to Yellowstone Park, and from Glacier Park to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Their sacred history became centered in the Badger-Two Medicine area, known as their “Cathedral”.
In the late 19th century, Blackfeet territory was encroached on by European Americans and Canadians, and various branches of the people were forced to cede lands and ultimately move to smaller Indian reservations in the United States and reserves in Canada.^[4] Adjacent to their reservation, established by Treaty of 1896, are two federally controlled areas: the Lewis and Clark National Forest, set up in 1896, which contains the Badger-Two Medicine area, an area of 200 square miles (130,000-acres); and Glacier National Park, both part of the tribal nation’s former territory.  {001}
see also:
The Originals Index – Landmarks and Registers – Sweetgrass Hills
References – Dictionary – Wolfers

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 29,575
Tribe alone or in any combination: 159,394

Cheyenne

Tstchestahase
beautiful people

(1680), Minnesota > Conflict migrations: North & South Dakota >Nebraska/Wyoming. Originally farmers/hunter gatherers > (+ horse 1700’s) nomadic buffalo hunters;
self-divided around 1832:
Northern Cheyenne – Nebraska/Wyoming. Nomadic Buffalo hunters, raiders.
Southern Cheyenne – Kansas and Colorado. Nomadic Buffalo hunters, raiders.
– Influenced by William Bent to move near his trading fort on the Arkansas River in Colorado. {019}

The Warrior Societies

Along with the Council of Forty-four, Cheyenne military societies were one of the two central institutions of traditional Cheyenne Indian tribal governance.  Council chiefs were responsible for overall governance of individual bands and the tribe as a whole. The chiefs or headmen of military societies were in charge of maintaining discipline within the tribe, overseeing tribal hunts and ceremonies, and providing military leadership. Council chiefs selected which of the six military societies would assume these duties; after a period of time on-duty, the chiefs would select a different society to take up the duties.

The Four Original Societies
Originally established by the prophet Sweet Medicine,
these four societies were the original Cheyenne military societies.
Over time, some have transformed or developed branches.

Fox
Fox Warriors Society (Vóhkêséhetaneo’o or Monêsóonetaneo’o), also known as Swift Fox or Kitfox.
This society is found among both the Northern and the Southern Cheyenne.
The Coyote Warriors Society (O’ôhoménotâxeo’o) and Flintmen Society
(Motsêsóonetaneo’o) are branches of the Fox Warriors Society.

Elk
Elk Warriors Society (Vóhkêséhetaneo’o or Monêsóo)
also known as Elk Horn Scrapers, Bone Scraper Society, Hoof Rattle,
Crooked Lance, Headed Lance or Medicine Lance.
This society is found among both the Northern and the Southern Cheyenne.
This was the society of the mixed-blood Cheyenne George Bent
and the famous warrior Roman Nose.

Shield
Shield Warriors Society (Ma’êhoohevaso) also known as Red Shield.
This society was originally found in both the Northern and the Southern Cheyenne,
but today is found only among the Northern Cheyenne. Buffalo Warriors (Hotóanótâxeo’o),
also known as Buffalo Bull or Bull, is a branch of the Shield Warriors Society.

Bowstring
Bowstring Men (Héma’tanóohese), also known as the Owl Man’s Bowstring.
This society was originally found in both the Northern and the Southern Cheyenne.
Today, it is found only among the Southern Cheyenne.
Wolf Warriors Society (Ho’néhenótâxeo’o),
this is the alternate name for the Bowstring Men among the Southern Cheyenne.
This society developed out of the Bowstring Men in the 19th Century by a vision held by Owl Friend.

More modern additions…

Fifth society
Dog Warrior Society (Hotamétaneo’o), also known as Dog Men.
This society was also called Dog Soldiers by the whites.
The Dog Warrior Society was established by a directive given in a visionary dream after the prophet Sweet Medicine’s departure.
This society was originally found in both the Northern and the Southern Cheyenne,
but today is found only among the Southern Cheyenne.

Crazy Dogs (Hotamémâsêhao’o), also known as Foolish Dogs.
This society is similar to the Bowstring Men in function but found only among the Northern Cheyenne.
Among the Northern Cheyenne, Dog Warrior Society and Wolf Warriors merged,
which resulted in the development of the new breed of Dog Warriors now called the Crazy Dogs.
The Crazy Dogs are considered by many to be a sixth society instead of a branch of the fifth society.

Sixth society
Contrary Warriors Society (Hohnóhkao’o) also known as the Inverted Bow-string Society.
Its members, the Contrary Warriors, have proved in bravery by riding backward into battle.

Contrary Society, also known as Clown Society
This society draws upon the same spiritual powers as the Contrary Warriors Society,
it was primarily composed of Cheyenne elders and may be a mature variation of the Contrary Warriors Society.
They were charged with educating the Cheyenne ceremonial ways of the cultural “dos” and “don’ts”
through humor, sarcasm and satire, in a fashion that is contrary to the normalcy of traditional Cheyenne culture.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 11,171
Tribe alone or in any combination: 21,728

see:
PLAYERS – Timelines – Timelines A-L – Cheyenne Indians Timeline)

Chippewa Cree

Rocky Boy Reservation – Montana

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 119,729
Tribe alone or in any combination: 214,026

Comanche

Nʉmʉnʉʉ
The People

The Comanche Nation were once a part of the Shoshone Tribe. In the late 1600’s and early 1700’s, they migrated across the plains, through Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, ultimately settling in Southwest Oklahoma. There was no Chief who had central authority over the entire tribe. Comanche Bands were formed on the basis of kinship and other social relationships. Membership was not static. There were a number of reasons one might change bands, marriage, or to go on a raid with another band, etc. Each band had two chiefs: a Peace Chief (Civil Chief) and a War Chief. The Peace Chief determined when and where the tribe would move and acted within a council as a decision-making body for resolving disputes and crimes among the band. The War Chief was, most often a well-recognized, exceptional warrior. The title was mostly advisory, an honorific, he did not suggest targets, choose the participating warriors or lead the war parties (except those of his own making). The Peace Chief was usually superior. Leadership was based solely on merit and the strength of their following. They had no authority outside of their own band.

Historians generally agree that there were five major bands at the turn of the 18th century.
They were:

Yamparika (Yap Eaters)
The northernmost band, inhabiting lands south of the Arkansas River
see:
Wk. ?? – Bents Old Fort

Kotsoteka (Buffalo Eaters)
Inhabiting the Canadian River Valley in what would become Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle

Penateka (Honey Eaters)
The Southernmost Band, inhabiting most of central and southern Texas.
see:
Wk. 31, 08/01/1840 – Great Raid of 1840

Nokoni (Wanderers)
The “middle” Comanches, inhabiting north Texas and Oklahoma
between the Penateka and the northern bands.

Quahadis (Antelopes)
Inhabited the area of the headstreams of the Colorado, Brazos and Red Rivers.
see:
Wk. 08, 02/22/1911 – Quanah Parker

All of the bands had at least 1,000 members, the Penateka was once estimated at 5,000 or more. The entire tribe may have reached 20,000 members at its peak. It was barely over 1,000 after the Red River War (1872 – 74)

No doubt, other bands came and went; became casualties of raids or war, etc.

Lifestyle: Nomadic Raiders, Traders, Buffalo Hunters

The buffalo was an important resource, providing food, clothing, tepee covering, and a wide variety of other goods.
This tribe was highly skilled at breeding and trading horses, a key element in Comanche culture. Fighting battles on horseback, with skill beyond other Indian peoples of the time, led to a tremendous advantage in times of war. Comanche horsemen set the pattern of nomadic equestrian life that became characteristic of the Plains tribes in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 12,268
Tribe alone or in any combination: 29,325

see:
PLAYERS – Timelines – Timelines A-L – Comanche Indians Timeline)
Shoshone – above

Muscogee Nations
Creek Confederacy 

Creek, Muscogee, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Poarch and Tukvpvtce Tribes

Today, also enrolled in this nation: Alabama, Koasati, Hitchiti, Natchez, Yuchi. Other federally recognized Muscogee groups include the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Kialegee Tribal Town, and Thlopthlocco Tribal Town of Oklahoma; the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas.

This very abreviated story of these southeasten peoples forced west is, ‘classic with variations’, for a short look at pertinent events with little more detail than Old West Daily Reader usually provides. Eventually, a companion piece to Dakota War (1862) and the Modoc War (1872-73).

The nation descends from the historic Muscogee Confederacy,
a large group of indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands,
who lived in six towns in the future to be, Alabama and Georgia,
Cusseta, Coweta, Areka, Coosa, Hoithle Waule, and Tuckabatchee.
In the usual fashion of the times, they lost their ancestral lands
through outright war and criminal machinations of treaties, “land deals”
and such, purpetrated by by the Europeran invaders.

An estimated 3,500 Creeks died in Alabama and on the Trail of Tears.*

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 44,041
Tribe alone or in any combination: 108,368

see:
*References – Dictionary – Trail of Tears
Wk. 13, 03/27/1814 – Battle of Horseshoe Bend
Wk. 07, 02/12/1825 –Treaty of Indian Springs
Wk 18, 04/30/1825 – Tustunnuggee Hutke (White Warrior), aka:William McIntosh

Crow

– The Absaalooke Nation
“Children of the large-beaked bird”
The original identity of the bird is lost to time,
but many Apsáalooké people
believe it references the mythical Thunderbird.*

Ashalaho – Many Lodges’, today called Mountain Crow
Awaxaawaxammilaxpáake – ‘Mountain People’, or Ashkúale ‘The Center Camp’

Binnéessiippeele – ‘Those Who Live Amongst the Riverbanks’
Ashshipíte  – today, called River Crow or(‘The Black Lodges’

Eelalapito – Kicked in the Bellies or Ammitaalasshé
Home away from The Center, that is, away from the Ashkúale – “Mountain Crow”

Apsaalooke oral history describes a fourth group, the Bilapiluutche – “Beaver Dries its Fur”
who may have merged with the Kiowa in the second half of the 17th century.

The Ashalaho or Mountain Crow, were the first to travel west, they were the largest Crow group to split from the Awatixa Hidatsa. Crow leader, No Intestines, had received a vision and led his people on a long migratory search for sacred tobacco, finally settling in the foothills and Rocky Mountains along the Upper Yellowstone River (present-day Wyoming-Montana border). This included the Big Horn and Absaroka Range (aka: Absalaga Mountains). The the eastern edge of their territory being the Black Hills.
The Binnéessiippeele, (River Crow) Tradition says they split from the Awatixa Hidatsa due to a dispute over a bison stomach. The Hidatsa called them Gixáa-iccá, “Those Who Pout Over Tripe”. They settled along the Yellowstone and Musselshell rivers south of the Missouri River and in the river valleys of the Big Horn, Powder and Wind rivers (historically known as the Powder River Country), sometimes traveling north to the Milk River.
Eelalapito – (Ammitaalasshé), claimed the area known as the Bighorn Basin, from the Bighorn Mountains in the east to the Absaroka Range to the west, and south to the Wind River Range in northern Wyoming. Occasionally settling in the Owl Creek Mountains, Bridger Mountains and in the south along the Sweetwater River.

By the early 19th century, the Apsáalooke fell into three independent groupings, who came together only for common defense.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 11,812
Tribe alone or in any combination: 18,285

see also:
* Just for Fun Pages – Monsters and Supernatural Beings of the Old West – Thunderbird
Links to Friends – Little Big Horn College
Wk. 01, 01/03/1959 – Dr. Lanny Real Bird

Gros Ventre

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 7,000

Hidatsa
see also:
Sioux – below

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 16,986

Wk. 23, 06/05/1957 – Frances Theresa Densmore

Ioway

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 800

Kaw

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 3,100

Kiowa

Kiowa [Kaigwu] {main people} The Kiowa are an Athabaskan people who split off from the Apache after the migration from Alaska in the late 1400’s or early 1500’s. Western Montana (1600’s) > (1700’s) eastern Wyoming, South Dakota > {expansion pressure} Nebraska – North Platte River > Kansas and northern Oklahoma. Nomad hunter gatherers, > + horse (1700’s) Nomadic Plains Hunters – buffalo; Raiders.
– Arikara  [Arikaree] {horns} (1700’s?) North Dakota > + horse (1700’s) hunted west to Montana. Farmers, village seasonal buffalo hunters.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 8,196
Tribe alone or in any combination: 14,603

see also:
Wk. 43, 10/24/1862 – Wichita Agency Massacre
Wk. 23, 06/08/1871 – Chief Satank
Wk 41, 10/11/1878 – Chief Satanta
Photo Gallery Index – Indian Photos – Catlin Paintings – Great Chief Dohäson
Yavapai – Apache – below

Mandan

First contact with Europeans – 1738. French Fur Traders (the La Vérendrye family).
Their native lands ranged across the Missouri River basin extending from present day ND, through western MT and WY.
The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation (MHA Nation)
Aka: Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan: Miiti Naamni; Hidatsa: Awadi Aguraawi; Arikara: ačitaanu’ táWIt)
The tribe was decimated by the white man’s diseases: cholera, measles, syphilis, smallpox and tuberculosis.
By the middles of the nineteenth century there were less than forty still alive.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 15,986

see:
The Originals Index – Resources and Hazards – Disease

Métis

Iron Confederacy

The Métis are a multi ancestral Indigenous peoples who share culture, traditions and language with those who trace family roots back to the descendants of Scottish and French Catholic (the majority) fur traders who created a 19th-century settlement called the Red River colony, which was then, located in present-day Manitoba and North Dakota.
Métis (Fr.) is an adjective referring to someone of mixed ancestry. Since the 18th century, the word has been used to describe individuals with mixed Indigenous and European ancestry. However, it is generally recognized that being Métis is far more than having mixed Indigenous and European heritage. The Métis have a distinct collective identity, customs and a way of life, unique from Indigenous or European roots.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 624,220

see:
The Originals Index – The Pemmican Trade
The Originals Index – Expeditions – The Fur Trade – The Iron Confederacy
or References – Dictionary – Iron Confederacy

Otoe Missouria

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 4,665

Omaha

Those going against the current

The Omaha tribe began as a larger woodland tribe comprised of both the Omaha and Quapaw.
The original tribe inhabited the area near the Ohio and Wabash rivers, near present-day Cincinnati, Ohio.
As the tribe migrated west it split into what became the Omaha tribe and the Quapaw tribes.
The Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska and western Iowa,

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 4,700

Osage

 The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys along with other groups of its language family (around 700 BC).

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 9,085
Tribe alone or in any combination: 24,242

see:
The Originals – Battlefields and Massacres – Massacres by Indians – Claremore Mound Massacre
 Wk. 43, 10/24/1862 – Wichita Agency Massacre)

Pawnee

Their self-name is Chatiks si chatiks, which translates as “Men of Men.”
The wolf is the symbol of the Pawnee. They were called “Wolves,” by other Plains tribes
because the wolf is known for courage and cunning.

The Pawnee are a Central Plains Indian tribe that historically lived in villages of earth lodges near the Loup, Republican, and South Platte rivers in Nebraska and northern Kansas. Tribal activities throughout the year alternated between farming crops and hunting buffalo. The Pawnee language belongs to the Caddoan language family. 
The Pawnee were divided into two large autonomous groups: the Skidi/Skiri Federation living in the north and the Cawi/Chaui Federation living in the South (divided into several villages). The Cawi/Chaui were generally the leading political group even though the Skidi/Skiri-Federation were the most populous. Each band generally saw to its own. However, in response to pressures from the French, the Spanish, the Americans, and neighboring tribes, it became necessary for the Pawnee to draw ever closer together.
Today, they are federally recognized as the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, based in Pawnee, OK.  {001}

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 3,200

see:
References – Dictionary – panis

FYI: My adoptive mother was a quarter Pawnee, her Grandfather, was the full blood. – Doc

Ponca  

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 2,783

QuaPaw

Native Americans that coalesced in what is known as the Midwest and Ohio Valley.
The Dhegiha Siouan-speaking tribe historically migrated from the Ohio Valley area to the west side of the Mississippi River
in what is now the state of Arkansas; their name for themselves refers to this migration and to traveling downriver.
Oklahoma

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 5,600

Sarcee

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 2,439 (Canada)

The Sioux Nation
Oceti Sakowin

The Great Sioux Nation is divided into three linguistically
and regionally based groups and several subgroups.
Linguistically, all three language groups belong to the Sioux language.

Lakota

Also known as Lakȟóta, Thítȟuŋwaŋ, Teton, and Teton Sioux
Northern Lakota (Húŋkpapȟa, Sihásapa)
Central Lakota (Mnikȟówožu, Itázipčho, Oóhenuŋpa)
Southern Lakota (Oglála, Sičháŋǧu)

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 43,146

Western Dakota
Also known as Yankton-Yanktonai or Dakȟóta
Yankton (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ)
Yanktonai (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna)

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Eastern Dakota

 Also known as Santee-Sisseton or Dakhóta
Santee (Isáŋyáthi: Bdewákhathuŋwaŋ, Waȟpékhute)
Sisseton (Sisíthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ)

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 1,000

Sioux [Dakota, Lakota, Nakota] {allies} (early 1600’s), most of Minnesota and parts of Iowa, North and South Dakota and Wisconsin > Conflict migration: North and South Dakota, west as far as eastern Wyoming and Montana. Originally woodland hunter gatherers > + horse around 1740’s in the west west: nomadic buffalo hunters/ 1700’s east: farmers, village-based buffalo hunters.
see:
The Originals Index – Dakota War – 1862

Hidatsa  are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a parent tribe to the modern Crow in MT.
see:
Wk. 23, 06/05/1957 – Frances Theresa Densmore

Santee [Dakota] (Eastern Sioux): Minnesota along the Minnesota River. Woodland fishermen, hunter gatherers.
–      Sisseton; Wahpeton; Wahpekute and Mdewakanton

Teton [Titonwan] [Lakota] (Western Sioux): western South Dakota (Black Hills) and eastern Wyoming and eastern Montana. Nomadic buffalo hunters.

Brulé [Sicangu]; Hunkpapa; Itazipco; Miniconjou (“They who plant by the water“); Oglala; Oohenonpa [Two Kettle]; Itazipco [Sans Arcs]; Sihasapa
see:
Players – Timelines Index – Timelines A-L Index – Indian Treaties Timeline & Indian Wars Timeline)

Yankton [Ihanktonwan] (Nakota): (Middle Sioux): southeastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota along the Missouri River. Woodland fishermen, hunter gatherers.

Yanktonai [Nakota] (Middle Sioux) eastern North and South Dakota along the Missouri River. Woodland fishermen, hunter gatherers.

Yanktonai; Hunkpatina and…
Assiniboine {those who cook with stones} Northern Minnesota and southwestern Ontario broke away from other Sioux to Canada in the 1600’s, then to Montana and North Dakota. Nomadic buffalo hunters.
see:
Assiniboine – above

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 118,850
Tribe alone or in any combination: 207,684

see also:
PLAYERS – Timelines Master Index – Timelines A-L Index – Indian Treaties Timeline
PLAYERS – Timelines Master Index – Timelines A-L Index – Indian Wars Timeline
The Originals Index – Dakota War – 1862
see also:
Wk. 23, 06/05/1957 – Frances Theresa Densmore
Links to Friends – Oglala Lakota College

FYI: I have included more information on the Sioux than the other tribes for several reasons:
First, I wanted to offer a small look at the complexity of infra-tribal relations, and the Sioux, were and are, a big, diverse tribe with a wide variety of territories and lifestyles; many of which were forced to change with the times.
Second: They tend to be seen as the iconic Western Indian of the Plains Indian Wars; just as the Apache and Comanche were an icons in their own right in the southwest. Although the names of Sioux warriors and the names of their bands loom large in the history of the Plains Wars; truth is, not all the Sioux were involved in the wars, because contingents of the tribe were well east of the conflicts of those times. Many had nothing to do with Custer and they were not involved in the catastrophe at Wounded Knee. The Sioux, as a group, were large enough to have experienced the full spectrum of the white invasion for good or ill and so, mirror and example the fate of all. As with other tribes, they still struggle with the government yet today.
Third: Information is readily available about the Sioux, partly because of all of the above.

Tribal members or others with knowledge of the subject, please feel free to offer suggestions or corrections. I want the information here to be accurate. – Doc

Otoe Missouria

The seven Clans of the Otoe Missouria Tribe:
Bear, Beaver; Buffalo, Eagle, Elk, Owl, Pidgeon 

The Otoe were once part of the Ho-Chunk and Siouan-speaking tribes of the Western Great Lakes and Upper Midwest. Sometime in the 16th century, successive groups split off and migrated west and south and became distinct tribes, adopting the semi-nomadic lifestyle of the horse culture, hunting buffalo, settling in the Central Great Plains along the bank of the Missouri River in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri. Living in elm-bark lodges while farming and tipis while traveling.

Many villages were destroyed due to warfare with other tribes (early 19th century). The encroachment and diseases brought by the invading whites completed their decline.
Today, Otoe people belong to the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, a federally recognized tribe, with headquarters in Red Rock, OK.

Historical tribal territory of the Otoe (green).
Present-day reservations in orange.

Map: U.S. PD internet? – Fair Use

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 4,665

 

Tonkawa

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 950

see:
Wk. 43, 10/24/1862 – Wichita Agency Massacre)

Wichita
  [Kitikiti’sh] {racoon-eyed}

Parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas (1541)
Hunting, farming, annually migratory

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 3,480

see:
Wk. 43, 10/24/1862 – Wichita Agency Massacre)

End: Plains Indian Tribes

Northeast Indian Tribes

* at the bottom of a listing = No seal.

Not too many references, as most interactions were in the European settlement and “Revolutionary” times in the Eastern U.S. and precede ” The West” of our focus in Old West Daily Reader. However, some of these tribes are occasionally included in: The Originals – Battlefields and Massacres, as background and part of the complete story of Indian and European relation as they unfolded in the “New World”.

Chippewa
aka: Ojibway

Anishinabe – The People

Today’s Population estimate (2010)
Tribe alone: 170,742 Ojibwe (US), 160,000 (Canada)

see also:
Wk. 23, 06/05/1957 – Frances Theresa Densmore

*

Fox
aka: Mesquaki

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 3,500

Huron
aka: Wyandot, Wyandotte, Wendat, Waⁿdát

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 4,578

see also:
The Originals Index – Native American Tribes –
Native American Pre-History – Destroyed by a Comet

Illinois

A confederation of small Algonquian -speaking tribes
originally spread over what are now southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois and parts of Missouri and Iowa.
The best-known of the Illinois tribes were the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Peoria, and Tamaroa.
These people referred to themselves as the Inoka. The meaning of this word is unknown.

Today, known as the  “Peoria Tribe of Indians”
and reside in present-day Oklahoma.
*

Iroquois Confederacy
aka: Haudenosaunee (6)
Founded by the Great Peacemaker in 1142,
is the oldest living participatory democracy on earth.
Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora

Today’s Population estimate (c.1700)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

see:
References – Dictionary – Great Peacemaker & Haudenosaunee

Iroquois
Originally northeast North America and Upstate New York.
Moved west with the fur trade, became a member of the Iron Confederation. (c. 1840’s)

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 47,230
Tribe alone or in any combination: 114,568

see also:
The Originals Index – Native American Tribes –
Native American Pre-History – Destroyed by a Comet

*

Kickapoo

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Lenape
aka: Delaware

The Ordinary People
AKA:  Cherokee Delaware or Eastern Delaware (old)
Traditional territory included present day New Jersey, along the Delaware River watershed,
western Long Island and the Lower Hudson Valley
Forced west in the 1800’s and south into Indian Territory, OK in the 1860’s.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 16,000
Tribe alone or in any combination:

see:
Wk. 43, 10/24/1862 – Wichita Agency Massacre)
see also:
The Originals Index – Native American Tribes –
Native American Pre-History – Destroyed by a Comet

Miami

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 5,600

see also:
The Originals Index – Native American Tribes –
Native American Pre-History – Destroyed by a Comet

*

Ottawa

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 6,295
Tribe alone or in any combination: 13,866

see also:
The Originals Index – Native American Tribes –
Native American Pre-History – Destroyed by a Comet

Potawatomi

Tribal divisions: Mission, Prairie, and Woods c. 1861

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 21,297
Tribe alone or in any combination: 43,481

Powhatan

Roanoke

Sac

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 3,794

Shawnee

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

see:
Wk. 43, 10/24/1862 – Wichita Agency Massacre)
see also:
The Originals Index – Native American Tribes –
Native American Pre-History – Destroyed by a Comet

Winnebago

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 12,000

End: Northeast Indian Tribes

Plateau Indian Tribes

* at the bottom of a listing = No seal.

Coeur d’Alene

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 2,190

Flathead

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 7,753

Kalispel

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 470

Kootenai

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 150

Palouse

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: not found

see:
Wk. 23, 06/09/1855 – Treaty of Yakama

*

Umatilla

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 2,899

see:
Wk. 23, 06/09/1855 – Treaty of Yakama

Yakama
  growing family
Washington territory? (1805)
Fishermen, hunter gatherers
(Yakama War (1855-56)

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 8,334
Tribe alone or in any combination: 11,978

see:
Wk. 23, 06/09/1855 – Treaty of Yakama

End: Plateau Indian Tribes

Southeast Indian Tribes

* at the bottom of a listing = No seal.

As with other Eastern Native Americans, there are not too many references here, as most interactions were in the European settlement and “Revolutionary” times in the Eastern U.S. and precede ” The West” of our focus in Old West Daily Reader. However, among these tribes are the first to have their lands stolen and be forced west to the “Indian Lands“, and they are also usually included as “background” and part of the complete story of Indian and European relation as they unfolded in the “New World”.
see:
The Originals – Battlefields and Massacres

Alabama
{camp, make place to camp}
Alabama. Farmers, hunter gatherers (1540).

*

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 380

see:
Muscogee Nation – above

Apalachee

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 250 – 300

Caddo

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 5,800

Cherokee

ni-Yun’wiya
The Principal People

 Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama (1540)
South and then to Indian Territory in Oklahoma.
Farmers, hunter gatherers, fishermen, reservation.
These were the first victims of a mass re-location, British (1700’s), Americans (1800’s)
The Apache tribes had fought the invading Spanish and Mexican peoples for centuries.
The first Apache raids on Sonora appear to have taken place during the late 17th century.
In 19th-century confrontations during the American Indian wars,
the U.S. Army found the Apache to be fierce warriors and skillful strategists.

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 292,555
Tribe alone or in any combination: 1,116,990

see also:
Wk. 22, 05/28/1830 – Indian Removal Act
Wk. 11, 03/18/1831 – Cherokee Nation v. Georgia

Chickasaw

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 29,699
Tribe alone or in any combination: 72,440

see:
Wk. 22, 05/28/1830 – Indian Removal Act)

Choctaw

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 100,605
Tribe alone or in any combination: 255,677

see:
Wk. 22, 05/28/1830 – Indian Removal Act

Creek
(dbl listed)

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 44,041
Tribe alone or in any combination: 108,368

see:
Wk. 22, 05/28/1830 –Indian Removal Act
Muscogee Nation – above

Seminole

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 14,229
Tribe alone or in any combination: 41,411

see:
Wk. 22, 05/28/1830 – Indian Removal Act
Wk. 43, 10/24/1862 – Wichita Agency Massacre

End: Southeast Indian Tribes

Southwest Indian Tribes

 

For All Pueblo Indian Cultures in New Mexico (18)
see:
The Originals Index – Native American Tribes – Pueblos of New Mexico

 

O’odham

Akimel O’odham
Pima {river people}
(1694 – Spanish)
Southern AZ, northern Sonora, Mex. lived and farmed along the Salt River.
Farmers, hunter gatherers

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 24,121
Tribe alone or in any combination: 30,965

On’k Akimel O’odham
(On’k Akimel Au-Authm) – “Salt River People”
Sonoran Desert in eastern Arizona and northwestern Mexico
Today: the Salt River Indian Reservation.
Farmers, hunter gatherers
Photo of a PDF: U.S. PD 1996 by Barbara Trapido-Lurie – Pima Territory c. 1700

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Tohono O’odham
{desert people} (Sp. Papago)
Today, the Tohono O’odham Nation (
Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation) is located in southern Arizona,
encompassing portions of Pima County, Pinal County, and Maricopa County.  {001}

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 25,966
Tribe alone or in any combination: 32,910

Further reference for O’odham Indians:
The Originals – Resources and Hazards – Plants – Food Plants – Beans, Maize, Squash and The Three Sisters
see:
Wk. 02, 01/12/1923 & Wk. 04, 01/24/1955 – Ira Hayes

Apache Nation

/əˈpætʃi/)
people

 

1540) Migrating south from Alaska through Alberta and Wyoming, these Athabaskans had arrived in the American Southwest, sometime in the late 1400’s or early 1500’s. Splitting off from the Navaho, they soon divided into a dozen or more major subgroups throughout the American Southwest: Arizona, New Mexico with some areas in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and northern Mexico > Florida reservation > Oklahoma reservation. Typically nomadic, raiders, hunter gatherers, some farmers > + horse in late 1600’s; some buffalo hunters. Western Apache tribes were matrilineal, tracing descent through the mother; newlywed couples usually resided in the village of the bride’s kin. society was divided into a number of matrilineal clans. Other groups traced their descent through both parents. Polygamy was practiced to some extent.
Sustained resistance to invasion by Mexicans (from the late 1500’s) until forced to make alliances due to pressure from the Comanche. Resistance to the Americans from the late 1500’s until the final capture of Geronimo [Chiricahua – Bedonkohe ] (1886).
The Yavapai Apache Nation is made up of two distinct people: the Yavapai, who refer to themselves as Wipuhk’a’bah and speak Yuman, and the Apache, who refer to themselves as Dil’zhe’e and speak Athabaskan.
The Apache honor four sacred mountains: Sierra Blanca, Three Sisters Mountains, Oscura Mountain Peak, and Guadalupe Mountains. Their homeland includes all of the land surrounding these mountains.

Yavapai – Today, three, primary, groups:
Yavapai Apache Nation
Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe.

Apache – Today, Five groups:
Janero
Lipan
Mimbreño
Mogollon
Nednhi or Carrizaleño
Ndendahe (Bedonkohe
Salinero
San Carlos Apache     (AZ)

Camp Verde Indian Reservation
Yavapai Apache Nation

Fort Apache Reservation (AZ)
The White Mountain Apache

 Fort McDowell Indian Reservation
Mohave Apache
Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation

Fort Sill Reservation (OK)
Chiricahua (great mountain)
They call themselves, Aiaha.
Their former home was in the mountains of Southeast AZ.
+ horse in late 1600’s; raiders, slavers, * the most warlike tribe in AZ.
Their raids extended into NM, southern AZ, and northern Sonora, MX.
sub group – Bedonkohe

The Jicarilla Reservation (1887)  (NM)
Located in northwest NM with Tribal Headquarters in Dulce, NM.
Jicarilla Apache Nation (Ndee, translates as “the People.”)
Haisndayin – translates as “people who came from below”.
By the early 1600s, the Jicarilla were living from the Chama Valley in present-day NM
east to present-day western Oklahoma.
Estimated at about 800 people at the time of first contact with Europeans (c. 1700’s).
Generally matrilineal, tracing descent through the mother,
newly wed couples usually resided in the village of the bride’s kin.
Society was divided into a number of matrilineal clans.
The Llanero (“plains people”) lived in adobe houses with nearby farms
in the eastern Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Over time, they added some social and religious customs
and the making of pottery from the pueblos around them (particularly Taos).
The Ollero (“mountain-valley people”) + horse in late 1600’s; Nomadic buffalo hunters
who gained some Plains Indian technology: parfleches, tipis, and travois.
In time, they gave up much of the plains lifestyle.

Mescalero Reservation (NM)
Mescalero Apache

San Carlos Reservation
Aravaipa 
Chiricahua
(see: Fort Sill info – above)

Tonto Apache Reservations (AZ)

Camp Verde Indian Reservation
Yavapai Apache Nation

Ranging from the Colorado River to the Tonto Basin
Divided into four subtribes:
Kewevkapaya (Southeastern)
Tolkapaya (Western)
Wipukpaya (Northeastern)
Yavepe (Northeastern)

White Mountain Reservation  (AZ)
Chiricahua
(see: Fort Sill info – above)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apachean tribes, c. 18th century: WA: Western Apache N: Navajo
Ch: Chiricahua M: Mescalero J: Jicarilla L: Lipan Pl: Plains Apache
Map – Native languages and language families of North America – Ives Goddard, (1996)

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 30,000

see:
Wk. 36, 09/08/1886) – Chiricahua Apaches
References – Dictionary – Panana
Wk. 36, 09/04/1886 – Geronimo
The Originals Index – Lost Treasures in the Old West – Skulls (Geronimo)
Comanche – above
Wk. 43, 10/24/1862 – Wichita Agency Massacre

 

—————-

Kiowa
 (Kataka or Semat)
+ horse in late 1600’s; Nomadic Buffalo Hunters, Raiders
became Plans Indians

Today’s Population estimate (2024) ALL
Tribe alone: 74,702
Tribe alone or in any combination: 150,120

see:
Kiowa – above

Caddo

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Dineh
(Navajo)

The People

 They settled in New Mexico and parts of southern Colorado and Utah > Arizona reservation(1500’s)
,  They are Athabaskans, who migrated south from Alaska via Alberta and Wyoming,
arriving in the American Southwest sometime in the late 1400’s or early 1500’s.
Archaeological finds, dating to around 1500 and considered to be proto-Navaho,
have been located in northern New Mexico around the La Plata, Animas and Pine rivers.
Hunter gatherer raiders > farmers, herders, silversmiths, weavers.

Long Walk – The Long Walk of the Navajo, * (Navajo: Hwéeldi), aka, the Long Walk to Bosque Redondo. 53 forced marches occurred between August 1864 and the end of 1866. The U.S. government, via the army, forced the Navajo people to walk from their reservation in what is today’s Arizona to be relocated in Bosque Redondo, eastern New Mexico.  {001}
see also:
References – Dictionary – Long Walk

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 332,389
Tribe alone or in any combination: 399,567
The Navajo Nation is the largest tribal land in the U.S.
It covers almost 27,000 square miles, including parts of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico.

see:
Wk. 38, 09/22/1861 – Fort Wingate Massacre)
The Originals Index – Landmarks and Registers – Shiprock)

Havasupai

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Hopi

 Pueblo, farmers, Philosophers
European contact came with Coronado expedition explorer Don Pedro de Tovar,
who encountered the Hopi while searching for the legendary Seven Cities of Gold (1540).
The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona.
As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 17,164
Tribe alone or in any combination: 25,438

Hualapai

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Mojave

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone:
Tribe alone or in any combination:

Yuma Quechan

[Quechan] {people of the river}
Western Arizona and southeastern California. Farmers, fishermen/hunters (1540).

Today’s Population estimate (2024)
Tribe alone: 8,129
Tribe alone or in any combination: 11,817

End: Southwest Indian Tribes

 

Further insight into the Indians of the time may be found in:
The Originals Index – Native American Tribes – Native American Pre-History
Timelines – Timelines M-Z – Time to Ponder – First Article – Discovery Doctrine
The Originals Index – Native American Tribes – Pueblos of New Mexico
PLAYERS – Timelines Index – Timelines A-L Index – Indian Treaties Timeline
PLAYERS – Timelines Index – Timelines A-L Index – Indian Wars Timeline
The Originals Index – Landmarks and Registers
Quotes Index – Indian Quotes
The Originals Index – Resources and Hazards
The Originals Index – The Pemmican Trade

for more photos of Indians in Old West Daily Reader
See :
Photo Gallery Index – Indian Photos
Photo Gallery Index – Indian Photos – Indian Portrait Gallery
Photo Gallery Index – Indian Photos – Indian Chiefs Photos
Just for Fun Pages – Indian Warrior Women
Photo Gallery Index – Military Photos – Indian Scouts

see also:
The Originals Index – Horses
References – Dictionary
References – Dictionary – Berdache and Squaw

Modern references:
Wk. 38, 09/21/2004 – National Museum of the American Indian
Wk. 33, 08/15/1977 – American Indian Institute
Links to Friends –Indian Pueblo Cultural Center – New Mexico

As always with Old West Daily Reader, this is a light touch on a vast and complex subject. Hopefully, Native American Tribes has enough information to start and/or enrich your own explorations into the amazing world of the First Americans. – Doc

Any mistakes or errors in this entire section are solely mine.
Please feel free to offer suggestions or corrections.
I want the information here to be accurate.  email me.
Contact – Doc B.

End: Native American Tribes

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