You’ve probably never wondered what a “Cultural Affiliation Overview” is. Chances are, you’ve never even heard of one. But for the Corps of Engineers it is an important tool we use to determine which modern day federally recognized American Indian tribes have a connection to the area covered by the Memphis District.
     Similar studies can be conducted for any ethnic group, organization, or even single families. In basic terms, we wanted to know which historic Indian tribes were within the Memphis District boundaries, when they first arrived, when they departed (if they did), and if possible why they come into the area. This information is then available as a resource for compliance with various cultural resource laws.
     This effort is not something new for us. In 2001 the Memphis District began working with the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma after researchers discovered prehistoric human remains on some Memphis District projects. By 2004 the effort had expanded significantly and we were holding consultation meetings with 28 tribes that had expressed an interest in District projects. 
     In spite of this, however, the road to cooperation has not always been smooth. Through the subsequent years of consultation several tribes decided that they no longer cared to consult with the District and asked to be removed from our consultation list. As some tribes removed themselves from the consultation list another tribe contended that this was their “home land” and the other tribes did not belong at the consultation table. In an effort to settle this and other questions the District commissioned a cultural affiliation study.
     It should be noted that if any federally recognized Indian tribe requests to be included in consultation we are required by law to do so with that tribe regardless of whether or not that tribe has an affiliation with the District. The study showed that 18 of the 28 tribes originally contacted did in-fact have a connection to the Memphis District. Many (but not all) of the 10 tribes not affiliated with the District had already asked to be removed from the consultation list.
     So how does a tribal group qualify? We used four factors to determine if a Federally recognized tribe could justify affiliation with the Memphis District:

1. The tribe was living in the area when French explorers first arrived. The Quapaw, and perhaps the Choctaw and Michegamea (part of Peoria) fit this category.
2. The tribe moved into the area during colonial times with the permission of the tribes already present and the Europeans in power. This includes the Cherokee in Arkansas and the Shawnee and Delaware in Missouri.
3. The tribe crossed the area, in organized movements, during their removal to Indian Territory by the U.S. This includes the Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah, Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Creek Nation and its assorted Tribal Towns, and Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. Most of these tribes crossed the geographic area of the Memphis District along rivers or followed roads including the Memphis to North Little Rock Military Road and the Arkansas Post-Cadron Road (present-day Conway).
4. The U.S. government recognized the tribal claim to territory in the present-day Memphis District through a treaty. This includes the Osage, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Peoria.

Cherokee	Includes three federally recognized Cherokee tribes: the Cherokee Nation and the Keetoowah Band in Oklahoma and the Eastern Band of Cherokees in North Carolina.
Chickasaw	Like the other southeastern Indian nations known as the “Five Civilized Tribes,” the Chickasaw people were forced to move to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears.
Choctaw	The Choctaw people were also forced to move to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears.
Creek	Creek or Muskogee, is a Muskogean language of the American Southeast.
Delaware	Lenapé or Unami Delaware were of Algonquian heritage and originally lived in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania.
Keetoowah	Described by outsiders as a single nation under the title of Cherokees, the Keetoowah called themselves the Principal People (A-ni-yuh-wee-yuh) and KEETOOWAH people (A-ni-kee-too-wah-gee).
Michegamea	A tribe of the Illinois confederacy, first visited by Marquette when he descended the Mississippi in 1673. Their village was situated at that time on the west side of the Mississippi and near a lake bearing the same name as the tribe, probably Big lake, between the St Francis and Mississippi rivers, Arkansas.
Osage	Plains Indians, the Osage culture depended on both buffalo hunting and the corn harvest.
Peoria	One of the principal tribes of the Illinois confederacy. Early maps locate them on a river west of the Mississippi above the mouth of Wisconsin River, probably the upper Iowa River.
Quapaw	Plains Indian people whose native name is O-gah-pah, the Quapaw Nation were also known as the Akansea and gave that name to the state of Arkansas.
Seminole	Originally an alliance of Creek, Miccosukee and other southeastern Indian tribes, the Seminole Nation became known for taking in escaped African-American slaves.
Shawnee	The nomadic Shawnee people made settlements from New York State to Georgia, but were forcibly reunited when the Americans sent them to an Oklahoma reservation.

     The cultural affiliation study is broken into two sections—the Protohistoric Period, AD 1500-1700 and the Historic Period beginning with the arrival of the French in the late 1600s.
     The Protohistoric Period, 1500-1700 A.D., was a time of great political and social disruption, sometimes accompanied by population collapse. It began with Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto’s initial contact between 1541 and 1543. A 130-year poorly documented “gap” followed in which widespread and significant cultural changes took place. This included epidemics and droughts resulting in population losses and movements. The first French explorers arrived in 1673 followed by frequent and eventually sustained French contacts.
     Current scholarly interpretations indicate that three ethnohistoric groups inhabited the area during the “Protohistoric Period.” These were the Natchez, Quapaw, and Tunica. Natchez speakers occupied much of the lower Arkansas Valley, St. Francis Basin, and Yazoo Basin. Quapaw, speakers of a Siouan language, arrived in the central Mississippi Valley during the mid (about 1640) to late 17th century, perhaps from the Ohio River Valley in northeastern Kentucky. They were present when early French colonials appeared in the late 17th century. Tunica speakers were north of the Natchez in the central Arkansas River Valley, northeastern Arkansas, and northwestern Mississippi portions of the area during this time. They were also presumably in southeastern Missouri, western Tennessee and western Kentucky, but no data exist to confirm this.
     The “Historic Period” began with the arrival of the French in the late 1600s. These explorers and settlers built Arkansas Post at the mouth of the Arkansas River in 1686 to establish a trade and military alliance with the Quapaw Indians. The Quapaw were the predominant people living in the present-day Memphis District when the French arrived and the only tribe to live there throughout the colonial and territorial periods. The colonial period lasted until 1763 when the lands east of the Mississippi became part of the U.S. and until 1803 when the U.S. purchased the lands west of the Mississippi from France. The U.S. begin moving American Indians out of the area, and by 1850, no tribal presence remained.
     Assessing cultural affiliation within the Memphis District has been a complex task. During the protohistoric period European contact disrupted tribal alignments and geographic locations. After contact, Euro-Americans left accounts of American Indians through legal documents such as treaties, but also through more casual intercourse; journals, letters, and newspaper articles.

     Maps are also useful tools in identifying where the various groups lived historically. Yet many of these maps do not clearly or accurately indicate where the lines should be drawn in sufficient detail to provide more than general locations. The cultural affiliation overview study combines the scholarly literature that includes primary sources and traditional accounts where available. Sources used in this report are accessible to the public through libraries and universities.

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