Misplaced Pages

The Eyeish were a Native American tribe from present-day eastern Texas.

History

The Eyeish were part of the Caddo Confederacy, although their relationship to other Caddo tribes was ambiguous, and they were often hostile to the Hasinai. They historically lived on the Eyeish Creek, located between the Neches and Sabine Rivers.

Spanish explorers encountered the tribe in 1542 and reported large herds of buffalo in the area. The tribe was not on the best terms with tribes located west of the Trinity River or those to the north near the Red River.

Franciscan monks who traveled on Domingo Ramón's 1716–17 expedition through Texas founded Mission Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de los Ais; however, the Eyeish were not generally accepting of Spanish missionary efforts. After 50 years, the mission only recorded eleven baptisms, seven burials, and three marriages.

In the 18th century, the tribe contracted European diseases such as smallpox and measles from the French and Spanish explorers in the region. The populations decreased but rebounded, from a low of 20 tribal members recorded by John Sibley in 1805, to 160 families recorded in 1828. By then, they lived between the Brazos and Colorado Rivers.

Ultimately, they joined the Wichita and Caddo tribes in Indian Territory.

Synonymy

The tribe is also known as the A'-ish, Aiaichi, Aliche, Aliches, Aiche, Ayays, Hais, Ays, Ahijitos, Aaya, Aays, or Aas. The group known as Hauydix may also have been the Eyeish.

They are not, however, considered to be the same tribe as the Aijados encountered by the Mendoza Expedition of 1683–84, nor are they the same as the Ais people from Florida.

Language

It has been suggested that this section be split out into another article titled Eyeish language. (Discuss) (August 2024)

Although the Eyeish people were clearly connected to the Caddo people politically, it is not clear what language they spoke nor how that language relates genealogically to other known languages. Explorer John Sibley wrote that the Eyeish language was one of three unique languages spoken by the Eyeish, the Adai and the Yatasi and Natchitoches people and that Eyeish was spoken by no other group: ‘ differs from all other, and is so difficult to speak or understand, that no nation can speak ten words of it.’ He collected a wordlist in 1807 for Thomas Jefferson, but this was lost when a thief stole Jefferson's linguistic papers as they were being moved from Washington DC to Monticello in Jefferson's second term. Sibley also reported that the Eyeish and Adai were bilingual in Caddo, which was used as a contact language. However, according to informant Caddo Jake's report to John R. Swanton, Eyeish was mutually intelligible with the Adai language. There is not sufficient evidence to conclusively relate Adai to Caddoan languages, the only documentation being a list of 275 words compiled by Sibley. Allan Taylor and Alexander Lesser and Gene Weltfish have speculated that Adai belonged to the Caddoan language family and was possibly a dialect of Caddo.

Notes

1. Sturtevant, 617
2. ^ Sturtevant, 616
3. Bolton, 32
4. ^ Eyeish Indian History. Access Genealogy. (retrieved 6 Sept 2009)
5. Heard, Joseph Norman (1987). Handbook of the American Frontier: Four Centuries of Indian-White Relationships Volume I: S. Scarecrow Press. p. 150. ISBN 0-8108-1931-7.
6. Clark, Patricia Roberts (21 October 2009). Tribal Names of the Americas: Spelling Variants and Alternative Forms, Cross-Referenced. McFarland. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-7864-5169-2.
7. Bolton, 55
8. Sturtevant, 616–7

References

• Bolton, Herbet E. The Hasinais: Southern Caddoans As Seen by the Earliest Europeans. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-8061-3441-3.
• Sturtevant, William C., general editor and Raymond D. Fogelson, volume editor. Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast. Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. ISBN 0-16-072300-0.

External links

• Caddo Nation
• Eyeish Indian History, from Access Genealogy

v t e Native American tribes in Texas
Federally recognized tribes	Alabama–Coushatta Kickapoo Traditional Tribe Ysleta del Sur Pueblo
Indigenous languages	Araname Atacapan Borrado Caddo Coahuiltecan Cotoname Garzan Pakawan Solano Tamaulipecan Tanpachoan Tiwa Tonkawan Wichita
Historical Indigenous peoples of Texas (Several are in Oklahoma today)	Adai Anxau Apache (Lipan Apache, Querecho) Aranama Atakapa (Akokna, Akokisa, Bidai, Deadose) Caddo (Eyeish, Hasinai, Hainai, Kadohadacho, Nabedache, Nabiti, Nacogdoche, Nacono, Nadaco, Nanatsoho, Lower Nasoni, Neche, Nechaui) Cherokee, Texas Coahuiltecan (Ervipiame, Pajalat, Payaya, Sijame, Xarames) Comanche Decose Emet Jumanos Karankawa (Copano) Kohani Mayeye Pachal Pacoa Paguame Pampopa Papanac Pastia Pasxa Patiri Pulacuam Sana Saracuam Semonam Tamique Teyas Tilijae Tomoacas Tonkawa Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Kichai, Taovaya, Tawakoni, Waco, Wichita proper) Yojuane
Related topics	Sam Houston and Native American relations
extinct language / extinct tribe / early, obsolete name of Indigenous tribe / people absorbed into other tribe(s) / headquartered in Oklahoma today

v t e Mississippian and related cultures
List of Mississippian sites Timeline of Mississippi valley
Middle Mississippian	American Bottom and Upper Mississippi Aztalan Big Eddy Cahokia Monks Mound Mound 34 Mound 72 Ramey state Woodhenge Cloverdale Dickson Mounds Emerald Acropolis Emmons Cemetery Horseshoe Lake John Chapman Kuhn Station Larson Lunsford-Pulcher McCune Mitchell Orendorf Sleeth Starr Steed-Kisker culture Sugarloaf Mound Lower Ohio River and Confluence area Adams site Dogtooth Bend Mounds Kincaid Mounds Marshall Site Millstone Bluff Orr-Herl Rowlandton Mound Towosahgy Turk Site Twin Mounds Ware Mounds Wickliffe Mounds Middle Ohio River Angel Mounds Angel phase Annis Mound Bone Bank Caborn-Welborn culture Ellerbusch Hovey Lake-Klein Hovey Lake District Murphy Prather Slack Farm Tolu Welborn Village Yankeetown Tennessee and Cumberland Backusburg Beasley Mounds Brentwood Library Brick Church Castalian Springs Dunbar Cave Fewkes Group Hiwassee Island Link Farm Mound Bottom Riverview Sellars Obion Old Town Swallow Bluff Central and Lower Mississippi Belle Meade Boone's Boyd Campbell Carson Chucalissa Denmark Eaker Janet's Menard-Hodges Murphy Nodena Nodena phase Owl Creek Parkin Quigualtam Tipton phase Tunica Koroa Yazoo Walls phase
South Appalachian Mississippian	Adamson Avery Beaverdam Creek Bell Field Mound Bessemer Biltmore Blair Bussell Island Chauga Chiaha Chota Citico Coosa Dallas phase Dyar Etowah Garden Creek Hoojah Branch Irene Jere Shine Joara Joe Bell King Lamar Lamar phase Liddell Little Egypt Long Swamp Mabila Mandeville McMahan Moccasin Bend Moundville Mouse Creek phase Mulberry Muscogee (Creek) Nacoochee Nikwasi Ocmulgee Park Mound Pisgah phase Punk Rock Shelter Rembert Roods Landing Rucker's Bottom Savannah Shiloh Sixtoe Summerour Taskigi Tomotley Toqua Town Creek Waddells Mill Pond Wilbanks
Fort Walton culture	Anhaica Apalachee Apalachee Province Cayson Corbin–Tucker Fort Walton Mound Lake Jackson Leon-Jefferson culture Letchworth Velda Yon
Pensacola culture	Bottle Creek Dauphin Island Fort Walton Hickory Ridge Cemetery Naval Live Oaks Cemetery Pensacola people
Plaquemine Mississippian	Anna Atchafalaya Basin Emerald Fitzhugh Flowery Fosters Ghost Glass Grand Village of the Natchez Holly Bluff Jaketown Jordan Julice Mangum Mazique Medora Mott Natchez Taensa Pocahontas Routh Scott Place Sims Transylvania Venable Winterville
Caddoan Mississippian	Battle Belcher Blue Spring Shelter Bluffton Caddo Caddoan Mounds Gahagan Hughes Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village Keller Spiro
Upper Mississippian cultures	Oneota Anker Beattie Park Blood Run Carcajou Point Fifield Fisher Mound Group Gentleman Farm Grand Village of the Illinois Griesmer Hartley Fort Hotel Plaza Hoxie Farm Huber Juntunen Knoll Spring Mero site Moccasin Bluff Oak Forest Palos Plum Island Roche-a-Cri Petroglyphs Schwerdt Summer Island Fort Ancient culture Alligator Effigy Mound Clover Dodge Leo Petroglyph Serpent Mound SunWatch Indian Village
Culture	Agriculture Beans Chenopodium Little barley Maize Marshelder Pumpkin Squash Sunflower Three Sisters Tobacco Artwork Emmons mask Copper plates Rogan plates Spiro plates Wulfing cache Duck River cache Long-nosed god maskette Mill Creek chert Pottery Shell gorget Stone statuary Languages Caddoan Central Algonquian Cherokee Mobilian Jargon Muskogean Natchez Taensa Siouan Timucuan Tunican Yuchi Religion Ballgame (Southeastern) Northern Black drink Burial mound Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Earth/fertility cult Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Platform mound Red Horn Sacred bundle Village bundle Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stone box grave Thunderbird Underwater panther
Related topics Chevron bead Clarksdale bell Mound Builders de Soto Expedition

• Caddoan peoples
• Native American history of Texas
• Native American tribes in Texas
• Unclassified languages of North America