Vorlage:Infobox Ethnic groupSaponi, also spelled Sappony is the name of one of the eastern Siouan tribes, related to the Tutelo, Occaneechi, Monacan, Manahoac and other eastern Siouan peoples, whose ancestral homeland is in North Carolina and Virginia. Two Saponi bands currently have state recognition in North Carolina: the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation and the Haliwa-Saponi. Several other groups and organizations currently claim Saponi ancestry, including the Mahenips Band of the Saponi Nation in the remote Ozark hills with its headquarters in West Plains, Missouri, the Saponi Descendents Association based in Texas, the Saponi Nation of Ohio, and the East Coast Siouan Nation. A number of Native American communities also claim to be descendants of the Saponi through Melungeon lines, such as the Carmel Indians of Carmel, Ohio, and a group in Magoffin County, Kentucky.Vorlage:Fact
History
The first known contact between European settlers and the Saponi was recorded in 1670 when John Lederer visited a Saponi village near Charlotte Court House, Virginia. In 1671 Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam led an expedition that passed through the same village as well as a second in Long Island in Campbell County, Virginia. The Saponi, as well as the closely related Occaneechi, were brutally and unjustifiably attacked by settlers during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 after raids from the unrelated Doeg tribe. The Saponis were nearly decimated at this point and they moved to settle three islands with their allies the Occaneechis and Tutelos at the confluence of the Dan River and the Staunton River in Clarksville.[1]
At the start of the 18th century, the Saponi and their two related tribes began moving between North Carolina and Virginia in an attempt to gain security with both the colonial governments and with several other tribes. They fought unceasingly with the northern Iroquois and also fought a war against the Tuscaroras. One record from 1728 indicated that Colonel William Byrd II made a survey of the border between Virginia and North Carolina with a Saponi hunter named Ned Bearskin as his guide. Byrd made note of several abandoned fields of corn, indicating serious disturbance among the local tribes. In 1740 a group of Saponis and Tutelos in Pennsylvania surrendered to the Iroqouis and joined them. After most of the Iroqouis sided with the British in the American Revolutionary War, the Saponis and Tutelos who had joined them were exiled to Canada along with their new allies after defeat by the Americans. After this point, recorded history is silent on the behalf of the tribe.[1]
Genealogical researchers with ancestors called "Blackfoot" from the eastern United States frequently find the term meant Saponi. Apparently Saponis who joined white, black, Cherokee, Melungeon and Goinstown Indian communities were frequently called "Blackfoot", supposedly because of wearing black moccasins. Their descendants are now forming groups using names such as "Eastern Blackfoot", "Southern Blackfoot" or just the "Other Blackfoot" to distinguish them from the Blackfoot of Montana,Idaho and Canada.[2]
Language
There is very little extant information on the now extinct Saponi language. According to William Byrd II, the Saponi spoke the same language as the Occaneechi and the Stenkenock, and it was probably the same as that spoken by the Meipontsky. By the time linguistic data was recorded, these related eastern Siouan tribes had settled together at Fort Christianna in Brunswick County, Virginia. While the language of the Tutelos was fairly well recorded by Horatio Hale, that of the Saponi is known from only two sources. It is unclear how the language spoken by the Saponi differed from that of the Tutelo, if at all. One source is a word list of 46 terms and phrases recorded by John Fontaine at Fort Christianna in 1716. The other is a few translated creek names given by William Byrd in his History of the Dividing Line betwixt Virginia and North Carolina in 1728. Fontaine's list is problematic with only 16 to 20 entries actually being Siouan, while the others are Iroquoian and Algonquian. Bryd's scant list also proved to include several unrelated Indian names. [3]