The Chacatos were a Native American people who lived in the upper Apalachicola River and Chipola River basins in what is now Florida in the 17th century. The Spanish established two missions in Chacato villages in 1674. As a result of attempts by the missionaries to impose full observance of Christian rites and morals on the newly converted Chacatos, many of them rebelled, trying to murder one of the missionaries. Many of the rebels fled to Tawasa, while others joined the Chiscas, who had become openly hostile to the Spanish. Other Chacatos moved to missions in or closer to Apalachee Province, abandoning their villages west of the Apalachicola River.
In the late 17th century, one village of Chacatos moved from the center of Apalachee Province to near where the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers join to form the Apalachicola River, close to a Sabacola village and mission. That village was abandoned after it was attacked by Apalachicolas and others. Other Chacatos lived in small settlements scattered across the Florida panhandle, and in Tawasa and Tiquepache villages in Alabama.
After the destruction of the Apalachee Province missions by the English of the Province of Carolina and their Native American allies in 1704, the surviving Chacatos moved west with Apalachees and other peoples of the province, settling in the vicinity of Pensacola and Mobile bays. Some of those Chacatos may have been absorbed into the Choctaw nation. When West Florida was transferred to Great Britain in 1763, other Chacatos moved west to Louisiana.
Name In the 17th and earliest 18th centuries, when they lived in the eastern panhandle of Florida, the Spanish usually called the people "Chacato", and less often, "Chacta", "Chacto", "Chata", and "Chato". "Chatot" is the name commonly used in English sources through most of the 20th century, although scholars have recently used "Chacato". After they moved west to the area around Mobile Bay, and later to west of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, they were often also called "Chactoo", "Chacchou", "Chaetoo" and "Chattoo". Other forms of the name have included "Chacâto", "Chaqto", and "Chactot". Galloway notes that chato is Spanish for "flat" or "roman-nosed", and speculates that the Spanish called the people that because they practiced artificial cranial deformation.
Milanich notes that confusion of the names "Chatot" and "Chactato" with the Choctaw of Mississippi may have been responsible for the name of Choctawhatchee Bay. Galloway says that the Chacatos and Choctaws should not be confused, that the names are phonetically distinct, and were consistently used to refer to distinct peoples in the 18th century. Swanton states that the Choctawhatchee River in Florida and Bayou Chattique, Choctaw Point, and Choctaw Swamp near Mobile are probably named after the Chacato.
Language The Chacato spoke a Muskogean language, which may have been the same as that of several other peoples in western Florida, including the Amacano, Chine, Pacara, and Pensacola peoples. Swanton states that the language of the Chacato is "undoubtedly" a member of the southern division of the Muskogean stock. While it has been suggested that the Chacato were part of the Apalachee people, Hann notes that the Spanish used interpreters to translate from Chacato to Apalachee, and other interpreters to translate from Apalachee to Spanish. Martin states that suggestions that the Chacato language is related to Choctaw are unreliable.
Origin The Chacato may have lived along one or more rivers flowing into Choctawhatchee Bay. A map in Martin shows the Chacato occupying an area along the Gulf Coast of Florida between the Apalachicola and Choctawhatchee rivers. At the time of first contact with the Spanish, the people they called Chacato lived in the upper part of the Chipola River basin and the adjacent section of the Appalachicola River in the area of the Fort Walton culture, primarily in what is now Jackson County, Florida. A number of archaeological sites in the area, including the Waddells Mill Pond Site, a fortified village site with two mounds, may have been occupied by the ancestors of the historic Chacato. Pottery found in the historic Chacato settlement area is more closely related to that of Apalachee Province than to that of the peoples of the Pensacola and Mobile bays. The subsistence economy of the Chacatos also resembled that of the Apalachees, rather than the peoples to their west.
The Chacatos appear to be an exception to their neighbors in that inheritance of the chieftainship did not necessarily pass to the offspring of the previous chief's eldest sister. The Chacato, along with the Apalachees and Muscogees, applied the title usinulo (beloved son) to one of the chief's sons. The Chacatos also shared use of the leadership titles inija (second-in-command) and chacal (assistant to an inija) with the Apalachee and the Timucua peoples.
Spanish contact and early missions The first mention of the Chacato in Spanish records was in 1638, when a representative of the Spanish governor of Florida was able to stop a war between the allied Chacato, Apalachicola, and Yamassee peoples, and the Apalachees. The next governor visited the Chacato and Apalachicola Province in 1646, when both peoples requested missionaries. The Chacatos requested missionaries again in the 1660s.
There are isolated Spanish reports of people migrating into the Chacato and Apalachee provinces in the 1660s and 1670s. They were described as "warrior Indians, their faces striped, and who use firearms". The Spanish called some of the invaders "Chichimecos" (probably Westos). Hann suggests that most of the migrants were Tama and Yamasee.
Two missions were established among the Chacato in June 1674. The first mission, San Carlos Borromeo, was in the principal Chacato village of Achercatane (later listed as Yatcatane), four days journey northwest of Apalachee Province. A second mission, San Nicolás de Tolentino, was established in the village of Atanchia. A third village, with a visita called San Antonio by the Spanish, may have been located in what is now Houston County, Alabama.
In the winter of 1675, Bishop Gabriel Díaz Vara y Calderón estimated San Carlos's population to be just over 100, and San Nicolas's just over 30. Later that year, acting deputy governor Andrés Pérez estimated San Carlos's population to be about 300, and that of San Nicolas, about 100. Hann suggests that the differences may be due to many of the people of the villages being on hunting or fishing trips at the time of the bishop's visit. Another report places about 80 men at San Antonio in that year.
The missionaries at the two missions claimed to have converted more than 300 Chacatos, including the chiefs of the settlements, to Christianity by late September. Three warriors complained that they were being pressured to convert, and threatened to have Chiscas living in the Chacato villages and in their own nearby village make trouble for the missionaries and converts. The Spanish lieutenant-governor in Apalachee Province took some soldiers and 25 Apalachees armed with harquebuses to the Chacato missions. The three reluctant warriors were nominally converted to Christianity and the Chiscas were expelled from the Chacato villages while the Spanish-Apalachee party was there.
Conspiracy In the summer of 1675, three Chacato warriors, who may have been the same as those who threatened trouble the previous year, conspired against the missionaries. They initially claimed only to want to expel Fray Barreda, the missionary at San Carlos and the sole missionary in the Chacato lands at the time, but it was soon revealed that the plan was to kill Fray Barreda. One of the conspirators, Juan Fernández de Diocsale, was the son of a Chisca woman and had been chief of the village where San Carlos was located. He resented being forced by Barreda to attend mass and to give up three of his four wives. Another conspirator, Ubabesa, had been scolded by Barreda in Sunday mass for having an affair with a Christian woman while her husband was away. Other alleged conspirators including Chacatos and Chiscas were later named in a Spanish inquiry.
The conspiracy quickly gained support in the community. Hann notes that this may partly be because of discontent over pressure on the Chacato from the missionaries to strictly adhere to Christian standards. Another factor was threats from the conspirators to have their Chisca friends kill anyone who did not support the conspiracy. Diocsale also falsely claimed to be supported by the Apalachicola. The Spanish found little evidence, however, that any Chisca had been involved in the conspiracy. The conspirators planned to seek refuge at Tawasa after killing Barreda.
Attack on a missionary The conspirators spoke to Chacato leaders about expelling Barreda, but the leaders supported Barreda. When the conspirators then revealed that they intended to kill Barreda, the Chacato leaders placed guards to protect Barreda. Barreda sent a plea for help to the Spanish authorities in San Luis, the capitol of Apalachee Province. Some of the loyal Chacatos defected to the conspirators and those remaining loyal advised Barreda to flee to the mission of Santa Cruz de Sabacola, on the Apalachicola River. Barreda's guides were chosen by an official who had secretly joined the conspirators, and he told them to kill Barreda after they had left San Carlos. The attack failed, although Barreda was wounded. Barreda killed one of the attackers with his musket and escaped to Santa Cruz.
In the absence of the deputy governor for Apalachee Province, the acting deputy governor, Andrés Pérez, sent a few Spanish soldiers and Apalachees to help guard Barreda. On hearing that the number of loyalists guarding Barreda was shrinking, Pérez sent 26 archers after the first group. Later the same day word reached San Luis that Barreda had fled to Sabacola. Pérez sent 11 gunmen after the earlier party with orders to bring Barreda and Fray Juan Ocon, the missionary at Sabacola, back to San Luis. After the failed attempt on Barreda's life, many Chacato, including essentially all of San Antonio, most of the population of San Nicolás, and an unknown number of people from San Carlos, fled to Tawasa.
Amnesty and punishment The deputy governor for Apalachee, Juan Fernandez de Hita y Salazar, soon returned to San Luis, and the governor of Florida, Pablo de Hita y Salazar sent a few more soldiers to Apalachee. Before the Spanish could decide on a course of action, Fray Juan de Paiva, the missionary assigned to San Nicolás de Tolentino, persuaded Pérez to spare the lives of the conspirators who had fled to Tawasa if they returned to San Carlos. Some of the exiles returned to San Carlos, but others rejected the amnesty and remained in Tawasa.
The Spanish conducted inquiries into the revolt is late 1675 and again 1676. At the first inquiry, the Spanish honored the promise to spare the lives of the conspirators, but Diocsale and two others were taken to San Luis for further trial. Diocsale was exiled from San Carlos for life and held in house-arrest in St. Augustine while the other two were sentenced to four years of labor for the colonial government.
The Chisca threat In 1676, the Chisca moved their village from near the eastern mouth of the Apalachicola River to the Choctawhatchee River. After the move, the Chisca began openly raiding missions in Apalachee and Timucua provinces. While the Chacato conspirator Diocsale was held under house arrest in St. Augustine, he was allowed visitors. Informants told Spanish officials that he had sent messages by those visitors inciting the Chisca to attack Spanish missions. Apalachees were killed in raids on Ivitachuco, Patale, Bacuqua, Escambé, and Ayubale, although some of the raids may have been carried out by Yamassees.