SUMMARYBiloxi and Pascagoula: from 1,000 people to "the last statement we have" (Gulf Coast to Red River and Texas, 1650–1914) [Connections: Gulf, Louisiana, Texas & Mexico, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDSwanton (BAE Bulletin 145, 1953) records Pascagoula moving from their river to Louisiana, on Red River "at its junction with the Rigolet du Bon Dieu." In 1795 they moved to Bayou Boeuf, and "a third group accompanied some Biloxi to Texas," settling about 15 miles up Biloxi Bayou from the Neches. His estimates: about 1,000 Biloxi, Pascagoula and Moctobi in 1650; 25 Pascagoula (Sibley, 1805); 111 (Schoolcraft, 1829), "the last statement we have bearing upon the point." In 1914, two people among the Alabama said their mother was Pascagoula. The Tunica-Biloxi absorbed Biloxi, Ofo, Avoyel and Choctaw remnants; Wikipedia notes that Louisiana's white/Black binary "often denied Indian identity to mixed-race people," and the tribe was federally recognized on September 25, 1981
PATTERNNations recorded in hundreds vanish from the government count without any record of their deaths. Where did the Pascagoula of 1829 go on the 1840–1860 censuses?
LENS (WW9)The count didn't die out. It stopped counting them as Indian
OPENNeeds deep research: trace Bayou Boeuf (Rapides Parish) and Biloxi Bayou (Texas) families on the 1830–1860 censuses for "free colored" or "mulatto" entries