Summary of Native American Tribes - "C"

Native American Tribes - C - Page 2

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Canarsee - Formerly one of the leading tribes on Long Island, New York, the tribe once occupied most of what is now Kings County and the shores of Jamaica Bay. At the time of the Dutch settlement of New York, they were apparently paying tribute to the Irquois. They were also at war with the Mohawk, from whom they had asserted their independence. However, after the Dutch settled on the island, the Mohawk attacked them again and nearly exterminated them. They also suffered considerably during the war of the Long Island tribes with the Dutch. The city of Brooklyn was obtained from them. The last known survivor of the tribe died about 1800.

Caparaz - A small tribe or band documented in 1674 as having been located on the Apalachee coast of Florida, along with two other bands called Amacano and Chine. They may have been survivors of the Capachequi encountered by Hernando De Soto in 1540. The three bands were estimated to contain 300 people.

Cape Fear Indians - These Native Americans once lived on the Cape Fear River (now Carolina Beach State Park, North Carolina). In 1715 their population was just a little more than 200 people living in five villages. By the early 19th century, they were totally gone.

Capinans - A small tribe or band that was documented in 1699, together with the Biloxi and Pascagoula tribes in Mississippi. The three tribes then numbered 100 families.

Catawba - Their name is probably derived from the Choctaw word meaning divided or separated, but, the tribe calls themselves, yeh is-WAH h'reh, meaning "people of the river." One of the most important of the eastern Siouan tribes, they first came into contact with Europeans in 1540 when Hernando de Soto came through South Carolina. During this time, they were noted to be both farmers and good hunters, and the women, proficient at at making baskets and pottery. They also practiced the custom of head-flattening to a limited extent, as did several of the neighboring tribes.

Trade with the Europeans became important in the late 17th century with Virginia and Carolina settlers. However, these many immigrants also brought disease, and in 1759, smallpox swept through the Catawba villages for a fourth time in a century, reducing the tribe's population to less than 1,000 by 1760. These strong people survived; however, and many warriors went on to serve in the American Revolution.

By the 1760's, a reservation had been established for them within the present-day York and Lancaster Counties of South Carolina. However, by 1826, their numbers had been reduced to only about 110 people and nearly the whole of their reservation was leased to white settlers. In 1841, another treaty with the South Carolina government, stipulated that the tribe sell their remaining 144,000 acres of land in return for promised payments buy land elsewhere, as well as additional annual payments. However, the plan was unsuccessful as other tribes, who had moved west did not want the Catawba because they would have to share land, government money, and services. In the end, the Catawba had no home and by 1847, the South Carolina Governor declared: "They are, in effect, dissolved."

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More than a century later, the tribe began another battle to regain federal recognition in 1973. Though it would take two decades, they finally succeeded, receiving federal recognition in November, 1993. Today, the Catawba Indian Nation is the only federally recognized Indian tribe in the state of South Carolina. The tribe's reservation is located in York County, nearby the Charlotte, North Carolina area.

See the Catawba Indian Nation for more information.

Cathlacomatup - A Chinookan tribe, who according to Lewis and Clark on the south side of Sauvies Island, in the present Multnomah County, Oregon in 1806. They were estimated at that time to have about 170 people.

Cathlacumup - A Chinookan tribe formerly living on the west bank of the lower mouth of Willamette River, in Oregon. Lewis and Clark estimated their number at 450 in 1806. They were later mentioned in 1850 as being associated with the Namoit and Katlaminimim tribes.

Cathlakaheckit - A Chinookan tribe living at the cascades of Columbia River in Oregon in 1812, when their number was estimated at 900.

Cathlamet - A Chinookan tribe formerly residing on the south bank of Columbia River near its mouth, in Oregon. They adjoined the Clatsop and claimed the territory from Tongue Point to the neighborhood of Puget Island. In 1806 Lewis and Clark estimated their number at 300. In 1849 there numbers were reported at 58 people, but by the early 20th Century, they were extinct.

Cathlanahquiah ('people of the river, Nagoaix' ). A Chinookan tribe living in 1806, according to Lewis and Clark, on the south west side of Wappatoo, now Sauvies Island, Multnomah County, Oregon, and numbering 400 souls.

Cathlapotle - A Chinookan tribe formerly living on the lower part of Lewis River and on the south west side of Columbia River, in Clarke County, Washington. In 1806 Lewis and Clark estimated their number at 900 living in 14 large wooden houses. Their main village was Nahpooitle.

Cathlathlalas - A Chinookan tribe living on both sides of Columbia River, just below the cascades, in Oregon. In 1812 their number was estimated at 500.

Cathlakaheckit - A Chinookan tribe living near the cascades of the Columbia River in Oregon. In 1812 number was estimated at 900.

Cayuga - A tribe of the Iroquoian confederation, they formerly occupied the shores of Cayuga Lane, New York. Its local council was composed of four clan kinship groups, which became the pattern of the Iroquoian Confederation. In 1660 they were estimated to number 1,500 and in 1778, 1,100. At the beginning of the American Revolution a large part of the tribe removed to Canada and never returned, while the rest were scattered among the other tribes of the confederacy. Soon after the Revolution these latter sold their lands in New York, some going to Ohio, where they joined other Iroquois and became known as the Seneca of the Sandusky. These were later moved to Indian Territory.

Today, there are three Cayuga bands. The two largest, the Lower Cayuga and Upper Cayuga, live in Ontario, Canada both at Six Nations of the Grand River. Only a small number remain in the United States—the Cayuga Nation of New York in Versailles. The combined Cayuga-Seneca Nation lives in Oklahoma.

Cayuse – Of the Waiilatpuan language stock, the Cayuse tribe were originally located in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington state. They call themselves the Tetawken, which means "we, the people." The tribe was always closely associated with the neighboring Nez Percé and Walla Walla, and was regarded by the early explorers and writers as belonging to the same stock. However, they were linguistically independent. The Cayuse were noted for their bravery and as being skilled horsemen, often using their horse-riding prowess to intimidate other tribes.

The tribe acquired wide notoriety in the early days of the white settlement of the territory. In 1838 a mission was established among the Cayuse by Marcus Whitman at the site of the present town of Whitman, Washington. In 1847 smallpox carried off a large part of the tribe and the Cayuse, believing the missionaries to be the cause, attacked them, murdering Whitman and a number of others. and destroyed the mission. The event is referred to as the Whitman Massacre which led to the Cayuse War. After the battles raged for seven years, the Cayuse were defeated and moved to the Umatilla Reservation in 1855. By the turn of the century, their number was estimated at about 400, but all were of mixed blood and their language was extinct.

Today, the Cayuse tribe shares a reservation in northeastern Oregon with the Umatilla and the Walla Walla tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

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