 Distribution of Tutelo-Saponi language in the 16th century | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Virginia andNorth Carolina (historically);Pennsylvania andNew York, by mid-18th century[1][2] | |
| Languages | |
| English, formerlyTutelo-Saponi | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, Indigenous religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Tutelo,[3]Occaneechi,Monacan,Manahoac, other easternSiouan tribes |
TheSaponi are aNative American tribe historically based in the Piedmont ofNorth Carolina andVirginia.[4] They spoke aSiouan language,[3] related to the languages of theTutelo,Biloxi, andOfo.[4]
They were part of theMonacan confederacies.[5] Saponi, Tutelo, andYesang were collectively called the Nahyssan.[5] TheCayuga adopted the Saponi into the League of theHaudenosaunee in 1753.[1][6]
The origin and meaning ofSaponi, sometimes spelledSappony, is debated. American anthropologistJohn Reed Swanton wrote that Saponi was "a corruption of Monasiccapano or Monasukapanough."[3] He wrote the name came frommoni-seep meaning "shallow water."[3] University of Kansas linguistRobert L. Rankin also suggested that their name derived fromsa:p moni meaning "shallow water" orsa:p oni: meaning "shallow tree."[7]
EthnographerJames Mooney suggested the word might come from the Siouan termsapa meaning "black."[8]
German explorerJohn Lederer suggested their name came from Sepy, a female immortal in their religion. He wrote that either four tribes or clans were named for this spirit and three other closely related female spirits from whom the Saponi believed they descended. Evidence came from a short list of names given by the missionarySamuel Kirkland.[9]
The Saponi language, now extinct, was aSiouan language, closely related toTutelo.[4][3]
The Saponi dialect is known from only two sources. One is a word list of 46 terms and phrases recorded by John Fontaine at Fort Christanna in 1716. This contains a number of items showing it to be virtually the same language as recorded by Hale.[10] The other source is William Byrd II'sHistory of the Dividing Line betwixt Virginia and North Carolina (1728), in which he recorded the names of some local creeks. Byrd's scant list has been found to have included several names from unrelated Indian tribes.[11][failed verification]
By the time linguistic data was recorded, many related eastern Siouan tribes had settled together atFort Christanna inBrunswick County, Virginia, where the colonists sometimes referred to them as the Christanna Indians. In 1870, philologistHoratio Hale recorded an elderNikonha's information about theTutelo language inBrantford, Ontario.[2]
At the time of European contact up to the early 18th century, the Saponi lived in present-dayVirginia andNorth Carolina. Their settlements extended into theNew River inWest Virginia.[5] In the 17th and 18th centuries, some Saponi settled along theRoanoke River, its tributary theStaunton River, and theYadkin River.[4] Lands in theVirginia Piedmont were dominated by oak, hickory, and pine forests.[12] In the mid-18th century, most surviving Saponi migrated toPennsylvania andNew York.[1]
Their primary town was called Saponi. In 1670 Lederer visited their nearby settlement, Pintahae, near present-dayLynchburg, Virginia.[1]
The Saponi were an Eastern Siouan people with amatrilineal society.[13] They had settled villages and built houses of post-and-pole frames with central hearths.[13] In the 17th century, men worebreechclouts and women wore deerhide aprons.[13] Important leaders, such asmedicine men, wore feather cloaks.[13] British explorerJohn Lawson wrote that the Saponi were governed by a headman, an elders' council,[13] and, when necessary, a war chief.[14]
Historically, Saponi people hunted deer, bear, beaver, squirrel, turkey, and other fowl. They may have huntedwoodland bison and elk.[5] They fished in rivers and theAtlantic Ocean.[13] They farmed maize, beans, and squash and harvested wild plants including various nuts, berries, and stone fruits.[13] Chiefs used staffs ofhickory wood.[13]
In 1600, James Mooney estimated there were 2,700 Saponi.[15] English explorerEdward Bland wrote in 1650 about the "Occononacheans and Nessoneicks" living on Roanoke River. The "Nessoneicks" were Saponi.[16] In 1670,John Lederer visited what he described as "Sapon, a Village of the Nahyssans," who were the Saponi.[16] Lederer wrote about the Saponi: "The nation is governed by an absolute Monarch; the People of a high stature, warlike and rich."[16]
In 1671Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam led anexpedition that passed through several Saponi villages.[16] After their visit, the Saponi and Tutelo moved downriver and settled with Occaneechi people.[17]Nathanial Bacon led an attack against the tribes in 1676. This move was likely to avoid increasing attacks fromHaudenosaunee people.[1]
Nearly decimated, the Saponi relocated to three islands at theconfluence of theDan andStaunton rivers inClarksville with their allies, the Occaneechi, Tutelo, and Nahyssans.[1][18]
In 1677, the Virginia colonial government named the Saponi as tributary Indians under the colonial governor's protection.[17]
English explorerJohn Lawson wrote about the Saponi in 1701. He noted they fought against theSeneca and trapped beaver for thefur trade.[17] Shortly after his visit, the Saponi migrated to North Carolina.[19] A band of Saponi returned to Virginia in 1708.[19] There Occaneechi and Stukanox joined them.
By 1701, the Saponi and allied tribes, often collectively referred to as the Nahyssan, had begun moving to the location of present-daySalisbury, North Carolina to gain distance from the colonial frontier.[1] By 1711 they were just east of theRoanoke River and west of modernWindsor, North Carolina. In 1712, they asked Virginia to prohibit alcohol sales in their settlement.[19]
In 1714,Alexander Spotswood, governor of theColony of Virginia, resettled them in anIndian Reservation atFort Christanna nearGholsonville, Virginia.[1] The tribes agreed to this for protection from hostile Haudenosaunee. In 1716, the combined Saponi, Tutelo, andManahoac population at the reservation was 200.[15] Although in 1718 theHouse of Burgesses voted to abandon the fort and school, the Siouan tribes continued to stay in that area for some time. They gradually moved away in small groups over the years 1730 to 1750. One record from 1728 indicated that ColonelWilliam Byrd II made a survey of the border between Virginia andNorth Carolina, guided by Ned Bearskin, a Saponi hunter. Byrd noted several abandoned fields of corn, indicating serious disturbance among the local tribes.
Hostilities between the Haudenosaunee and the Saponi and their neighbors ceased with the signing of the1722 Treaty of Albany.[1][20]
In 1740, the majority of the Saponi and Tutelo moved toShamokin inPennsylvania.[1][20] In 1753, theCayuga people adopted them into their nation during the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee.[1] In 1711 the majority of Saponi migrated with the Cayuga to nearIthaca, New York, while some remained in Pennsylvania until 1778.[21]
A band with 28 adult Saponi remained nearGranville County, North Carolina until 1755.[1]
In 1765, Saponi settled atTioga Point,[2] where theChemung River joins theSusquehanna River in north-central Pennsylvania. They also settled as Pony Hollow, just southwest ofNewfield, New York,[2] which connected to other Nahyssan and Haudenosaunee communities nearby.[22] "Pony Hollow" is a corruption of Saponi Hollow.[23] An estimated 30 Saponi warriors lived among these communities.[2]
Shortly after the American Revolutionary War, Samuel Kirkland noted a community of them living near Fort Niagara who was later believed to have joined the Mohawk, whereas others continued into Canada alongside the Cayuga.[24][page needed] Since most of the Iroquois sided with the British in theAmerican Revolutionary War, after the victory by the United States, the Saponi and Tutelo who had joined the Iroquois were forced with them into exile in Canada. After that point, recorded history was silent about the tribe.[18]
Americans destroyed Saponi communities in Pennsylvania and New York in 1779.[23] In 1779, most of the Saponi were driven to Fort Niagara, where the Saponi separated from the Tutelo,[25] who migrated north toOntario, Canada. Those Saponi settled inSeneca County, New York in 1780.[15] and they were forced to cede their lands to the state of New York in 1789, but some remained in the Cayuga homelands.[23]
Distinct from thePerson County Indians, a group of Saponi who remained in North Carolina merged with theTuscarora,Meherrin, andMachapunga and migrated north into New York with them by 1802.[15]
North Carolina has threestate-recognized tribes that descend from the historical Saponi people.[26] They are not currentlyfederally recognized as aNative American tribe.[27]
They are:
Numerousunrecognized tribes and other organizations claim Saponi ancestry. These include the Mahenips Band of the Saponi Nation of Missouri in theOzark Hills, with headquarters inWest Plains, Missouri.[30] In 2000, the Saponi Nation of Missouri submitted a letter of intent to Petition for Federal Acknowledgement of Existence as an Indian Tribe;[31] however, they did not follow through with submitting a petition.[32]
Ohio is home to the second-largest population of people who claim Saponi ancestry.[33] Ohio has no federally recognized[34] or state-recognized tribes.[35] Director of the Haliwa-Saponi Historic Legacy Project, Dr. Marty Richardson wrote, "A large group of Meadows Indians migrated to Ohio after 1835 and took advantage of fewer race-based restrictions."[36] However, 1818 to 1842 markedIndian removals in Ohio.[37] In 1998, a group called Saponi Nation of Ohio submitted a letter of intent to petition for recognition;[38] however, they never submitted a completed petition.[32]
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