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The Pascagoula (also Pascoboula, Pacha-Ogoula, Pascagola, Pascaboula, Paskaguna) were an indigenous group living in coastal Mississippi on the Pascagoula River.

The name Pascagoula is a Choctaw term meaning "bread eater". Choctaw native Americans using the name Pascagoula are named after the words for "bread eaters".

History

Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville encountered the tribe in 1699 and was impressed by the beauty of Pascagoula women. According to local Euro-American legend, the peace-loving tribe walked single file into the river because the local Biloxi tribe were planning to attack. Anola, a Biloxi "princess", eloped with the Pascagoula chief Altama, although she was engaged to a Biloxi chieftain. Anola's angry would-be husband led his soldiers into battle with the Pascagoula. Outnumbered and fearing enslavement by the Biloxi, the tribe joined hands and walked into the river singing a death song. The river became known as the "Singing River" because of this death song, which reportedly can still be heard at night.

Language

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John Sibley reported that they spoke their own language which was different from neighboring languages in addition to Mobilian Jargon. Their language is undocumented.

References

1. Albert Gallatin A synopsis of the Indian tribes within the United States east of the Rocky Mountains: and in the British and Russian possessions in North America AMS Press, 1973 University of Wisconsin - Madison ISBN 0-404-07127-9, ISBN 978-0-404-07127-1. 423 pages. page 117
2. Wallace, Mark I (March 2005). Finding God in the singing river: Christianity, spirit, nature. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-3726-2.
3. "The Legend of the Singing River". Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
4. "Pascagoula River Watershed - The Nature Conservancy". Retrieved June 2, 2021.

External links

• Pascagoula Indian Tribe History
• Pascagoula Indians

Bibliography

• Goddard, Ives (2005). The indigenous languages of the Southeast. Anthropological Linguistics. 47 (1): 1–60.
• Higginbotham, Jay (Trans., Ed.). (1969). The journal of Sauvole. Mobile: Colonial Books.
• McWilliams, Richebourg G. (Ed., Trans.). (1981). Iberville's gulf journals. University: University of Alabama Press.
• Le Page du Pratz, Antoine Simon. (1758). Histoire de la Louisiana (Vols. 1-3). Paris: De Bure.
• Sibley, John. (1806). Historical sketches of the several Indian tribes in Louisiana, south of the Arkansas River, and between the Mississippi and River Grand. In T. Jefferson (Ed.), Message from the President of the United States communicating the discoveries made in exploring the Missouri, Red River, and Washita (pp. 48–62). New York: G. F. Hopkins.

• Native American tribes in Mississippi
• Unclassified languages of North America