Summary of Native American Tribes

Native American Tribes - S - Page 7

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Stockbridge - A tribe of the Mahican confederacy, they were first known under the name Housatonic. They occupied part of the valley of Housatonic River, in south Berkshire County, Massachusetts. In 1734, missionary work began among them and two years later the bands were collected on a tract reserved for their use by the Colonial government. After the village of Stockbridge was established they were known as Stockbridge Indians. The French and Indian War, which broke out in 1754, proved disastrous to the Stockbridge. Many of them joined the English army and their town suffered from marauding parties, so that at the close of the war, there were only about 200 remaining. The whites were also closing in around them, and in 1785 the dispirited remnant, accepting an invitation of the Oneida, removed to a tract on Oneida Creek in Madison and Oneida Counties, New York.

The French and Indian War, Felix Octavius Carr Darley,

about 1875.

Under the protection of the Oneida the Stockbridge again increased, and in 1796 numbered 300. In 1833, with the Oneida and Munsee tribes moved to the head of Green Bay, Wisconsin, a tract which had been purchased from the Menominee tribe. Here, they became incorporated with the Munsee, and the two tribes formed one body. In 1839 the Stockbridge and Munsee, then numbering about 420, sold half of their reservation and agreed to remove to lands that were to be assigned to them west of the Mississippi River. On the remaining land, a town was laid out on the east shore of Winnebago Lake, where they intended to become citizens. About 80 of them moved to the Missouri River and remained for a time near Leavenworth, Kansas. The arrangement proved unsatisfactory, and they were once more brought together and the tribal government restored. In 1856 they removed, with the exception of a number who desired to become citizens, to a reservation west of Shawano, Wisconsin, where in 1909 the united tribes, including the Munsee, numbered some 582. There were also some who became citizens near their former home on Winnebago Lake.

Stehtsasamish - A division of Salish who lived on Budds Inlet near the present site of Olympia, Washington. In 1854, they numbered only about 20 people.

Stillaquamish - A division of Salish who lived on the Stillaquamish River in northwest Washington. They were a branch of, or closely related to, the Snohomish, and moved to the Tulalip Reservation.

Stony - See Assiniboine

Sugeree - A small tribe, supposed to have been Siouan, that lived near the Waxhaw in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and York County, South Carolina. They occupied a fertile district and, where many settlements had been made. They were doubtless greatly reduced by the Yamasee War of 1715 and later merged with the Catawba tribe.

Suislaw - Belonging to the Siuslawan division of the Yakonan linguistic stock, the lived on and near the Siuslaw River in Oregon. By 1910, they were reported to number only seven people.

Suquamish - A Salish division who lived on the west side of Puget Sound, Washington. They claimed the land from Appletree Cove in the north to Gig Harbor in the South. Seattle, who gave his name to the city, was chief of this tribe and the Dwamish in 1853. In 1857, they numbered 441, but by 1909 had been reduced to about 180 people.

Surruque - They were probably of the Timucuan linguistic group and lived near Cape Canaveral, Florida. When trouble arose between them and the Spaniards, their village was attacked. Sixty people were killed and another 54 captured. Later they probably united with the Timucua people.

Susquehannock - The tribe occupied the Susquehanna River and its branches from the north end of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland across Pennsylvania into southern New York. Called noble and heroic, they were also described as aggressive, warlike, imperialistic, and bitter enemies of the Iroquois. They may also have warred with the Mahican from the central Hudson Valley. Today, the tribe is gone, but there is most likely Susquehannock blood among the members of the Delaware, Tuscarora, Oneida, and Oklahoma Seneca.

Sutaio - An Algonquian tribe, who lived along the James River in South Dakota in the 18^th century. They were at war with the Cheyenne, their eastern neighbors to whom they were closely related linguistically. However, the two tribes finally formed an alliance and crossed the Missouri River together to the west. The Sutaio rapidly declined but kept their separate identity until about the year 1850, when they were absorbed by the Cheyenne.

Swallah/Swalash - A band of Salish Indians who lived on Orcas Island in northwest Washington. They were later removed to the Lummi Reservation.

Swinomish - A Salish tribe who lived on the south end of Whidbey Island, Puget Sound and the on the mainland opposite at the the mouth of Snohomish River, Washington. Their population in 1850 was 350. The were removed to the Tulalip Reservation, where they lived with other broken tribes.

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Compiled and edited by Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated January, 2010.

Primary Source: Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906

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