Kentucky extract from
John Reed Swanton's

The Indian Tribes of North America

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(Kentucky) Extract from

The Indian Tribes of North America

by John R. Swanton

Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 145—1953

[726 pages—Smithsonian Institution]

(pp. 229-230)

Kentucky

Cherokee. The Cherokee claimed some land in southeastern Kentucky and traces of culture of Cherokee type are said to be found in archeological remains along the upper course of the Cumberland, but no permanent Cherokee settlement is known to have existed in historic times within this State. (See Tennessee.)

Chickasaw. The westernmost end of Kentucky was claimed by the Chickasaw, and at a very early period they had a settlement on the lower course of Tennessee River, either in Kentucky or Tennessee. (See Mississippi.)

Mosopelea. This tribe may have lived within the boundaries of Kentucky for a brief time, perhaps at the mouth of the Cumberland River, when they were on their way from Ohio to the lower Mississippi. (See Ohio, and see also Ofo under Mississippi.)

Shawnee. The Shawnee had more to do with Kentucky in early times than any other tribe, but maintained few villages in the State for a long period. Their more permanent settlements were farther south about Nashville. At one Shawnee town, located for a short time near Lexington, Ky., the noted Shawnee chief, Blackhoof, was born. The tribe crossed and recrossed the State several times in its history and used it still more frequently as a hunting ground. (See Tennessee.)

Yuchi. According to some early maps, the Yuchi had a town in this State on a river which appears to be identical with Green River. (See Georgia.)

Hunting bands of Illinois, Miami, Iroquois, and Delaware at times visited Kentucky, but these tribes can hardly be said to have played much of a part in Kentucky history. (See New York, New Jersey, Indiana, and Illinois.)