Date published: 1922-01-01
Source: Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors (ID121)
Author: Swanton, John (ID85)
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Race described: Indian
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Content id: 2700
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1715-01-01 - 1715-12-31

The Tawasas had moved away from Mobileedit

Neither La Harpe nor Penicaut, however, drops a hint about the time or manner of [the Tawasas] leaving Mobile. Hamilton has the following to say of them in addition to what Penicaut tells us: "The only mention of them noticed in the church registers is where, in 1716, Huve baptized Marguerite, daughter of a savage, slave of Commissary Duclos, and a free Taouache woman. The godmother was Marguerite Le Sueur. What became of them we do not certainly know, but it would seem probable that as early as 1713 they had made some change of residence. The creek Toucha, emptying into Bayou Sara some distance east of Cleveland's Station on the M. & B. R. R., or, according to some, into Mobile River at Twelve Mile Island, would seem even yet to perpetuate this location, which corresponds nearly with Delisle's map, and one of 1744. As Touacha, it occurs a number of times in Spanish documents.2 Hamilton's belief that the tribe had made some change of residence as early as 1713 is evidently founded on Penicaut's statement that the Taensa were brought to Mobile that year and given " the plantation [habitation] where the Chaouachas [Tawasa] had formerly been located, within two leagues of our fort." 2 However, we know that this event must have taken place in the year 1715.4 The removal of the Tawasa I believe to have been due to the establishment of Fort Toulouse... At any rate it must have been between 1713 and 1715, and it is an important point that just at this time the Tawasa disappear. The mention of a Tawasa in the baptismal records of 1716 need not trouble us,2 for the woman there referred to, although free, had married a slave and probably remained behind when her people migrated to their new settlement. (Swanton)

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