A small tribe allied to the Chitimacha living in the alluvial country about the mouth of the Mississippi River. It is possibly this tribe which survivors of DeSoto’s expedition found using atlatls in 1543.
Their village and that of the related Washa was on Bayou Lafourche in 1699 when the colony of Louisiana was founded.
In 1713 British slave traders formed a party of Natchez, Chickasaw and Yazoo to attack the Chawasha under the guise of a peace embassy. They killed the head chief and took 11 prisoners including the chief’s wife.
There seems to have been 2 or possibly 3 successive villages by 1722 all on the Mississippi River. In 1730 in order to quiet panic fears of the French in New Orleans, Governor Perrier allowed a band of slaves to destroy the Chawasha town. Although he described it as a total massacre it is more likely the adult men were absent from the village on a hunting trip and possibly only 7 or 8 of the Indians were murdered.
In 1758 Governor de Kerlerec states they had formed a little village 3-4 leagues from New Orleans. Afterward the population steadily declined, and they seemed to disappear toward the close of the 18th or beginning of the 19th century.
Taensa (Tensas)—
The Taensa occupied 7 or 8 villages near Lake St. Joseph, on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Northeastern Louisiana.
In March, 1700 the temple near Newellton on the west end of the lake was destroyed by lightning and was never rebuilt, fearing raiding parties from the Yazoo and Chickasaw the tribe abandoned their villages in 1706 and moved down the Mississippi River to the Bayogoula village. The Bayogoula treated them well but soon after their arrival the Taensa turned on the Bayogoula killing many and driving the rest away. The Taensa had intended to return to their ancient villages after this massacre, but apparently they remained in the neighborhood of the old Bayogoula town, for they were at the Manchac in 1715. They also had a village during this period on the south side of the Mississippi, (about 30 miles) above New Orleans.
Before 1744 they had moved to the Tensaw River, to which they gave their name and where they remained until the country was ceded to England in 1763. They then removed to the Red River and were later granted permission to settle on the Mississippi at the entrance of Bayou Lafourche.
They were living beside the Apalachee, the settlements of the two tribes extending from Bayou d’Appo to Bayou Jean de Jean and their own village standing at the head of the turn. Subsequently both tribes sold their land and moved to Bayou Boeuf.