The Coushatta occupied many villages in their Alabama homeland. They
lived in towns and farmed the surrounding lands. The tribe was divided
into clans. Each clan was allotted specific fields and a portion of
their crops were collected for the public granary to protect against
poor harvests, war emergencies and to feed the needy and hungry
travelers.
The clans elected their best orator as chief who in turn appointed a
town chief and war chief for each town. In the center of the town was a
square where the tribal leaders met to discuss the religious, political
and economic affairs.
The Coushatta were primarily farmers who supplemented their crops of
maize, peas, beans, squashes, pumpkins, melons, potatoes, and rice by
hunting, fishing and trading with other tribes. They were accomplished
archers and were reluctant to accept the use of guns. They also used
their bows and arrows for fishing or they used blow guns, hook and
lines, spears, traps and handnets.
In 1540 a Spanish exploration party led by DeSoto robbed an outlying
Coushatta village, kidnapping the chief and other leaders. They
threatened to burn their hostages alive unless the tribe agreed to give
future explorers whatever they wanted.
Co-existence with the Spanish and French assumed relatively peaceful
proportions and was mutually beneficial until the end of the
Revolutionary War when land seeking settlers pushed farther and farther
into Coushatta territory.
The years were marked by a continuing struggle over land, warfare,
broken treaties, migration away from white settlements and a dwindling
Coushatta population. The final blow came when 3,000 warriors were
killed and 22 million acres of Indian land lost in the Creek War of
1813-1814.
The Coushatta migrated through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana
and Texas in their search for unclaimed land where they could
re-establish their peaceful agricultural way of life.
By the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, some 250 Coushattas had
settled along the Calcasieu River near Kinder. Here the tribe continued
its traditions and enjoyed amicable relations with their neighbors,
until their peaceful and prosperous existence was again lost when
American settlers became interested in Coushatta lands. In 1884 most of
the Coushattas remaining in Louisiana moved to a site 15 miles east of
the Calcasieu River and 3 miles north of Elton in Allen Parish. Life was
hard for the Coushattas, but by 1920 individual tribespeople had carved
out an Indian community that encompassed more than 1,000 acres of
farmland, forest and lush, green swamps.
In 1898 the United States government placed 160 acres in trust for the
tribe and assumed partial responsibility for educating the children.
Later a federally sponsored elementary school for grades 1-5 was
established and medical services were added for the tribal members.
During the repudiated “termination” policy in 1958 the United States
government ended its trusteeship of tribal lands and discontinued its
meager services. Legally this meant the Coushatta tribe no longer
existed.
In 1973 a newly formed corporation, the Coushatta Alliance, Inc. finally
succeeded in getting the United States government to legally
re-establish recognition of the Coushatta tribe.
With the development of a strong tribal government came the revival of a
culture almost lost; a heritage almost forgotten.