Pascagoula

The Pascagoula (also Pascoboula, Pacha-Ogoula, Pascagola, Pascaboula, Paskaguna) were an indigenous group living in coastal Mississippi on the Pascagoula River.

The name Pascagoula is a Mobilian Jargon term meaning "bread people". Choctaw native Americans using the name Pascagoula are named after the words for "bread nation".[1] The Biloxi called them Pascoboula.

Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville encountered the tribe in 1699 and was impressed by the beauty of Pascagoula women. According to local Euro-American legend, the peace-loving tribe walked single file into the Singing River (now known as the Pascagoula River) because the local Biloxi tribe were planning to attack.[2] Anola, a Biloxi "princess", eloped with the Pascagoula chief Altama, although she was engaged to a Biloxi chieftain. Anola's angry would-be husband led his soldiers into battle with the Pascagoula. Outnumbered and fearing enslavement by the Biloxi, the tribe joined hands and walked into the river singing a death song. The river became known as the "Singing River" because of this death song, which reportedly can still be heard at night.[3][4]

John Sibley reported that they spoke their own language which was different from neighboring languages in addition to Mobilian Jargon. Their language is undocumented.