The following is a brief history of our nation from our previous website. We will be updating, revising and added more info.
From THE North Carolina Historical Review ISSUED QUARTERLY Volume VIII Numbers 1-4 JANUARY- OCTOBER 1931
ReferencesThe Notowagas
Treaty of Long Island of Holston (EXCERPT)
Old Tassell came in and spoke to the Commissioners as follows. My Brothers may be certain I will tell them the truth. It was but the other day we were talking together when we promised we would tell all we knew to each other. I will now tell all I know about the Norward Indians that lately came to Chote, as their talk was to me. These mingoe^ came in after Vanns express arrived. They had met with the second man of Chilhowey on his way here, and he turned back with them, and next day I met them at Chote and spoke to them as follows. Brothers, I am Glad to see you once more; we have been at war and making Peace several years. Last year you came here and told me lies from your council, which did me and my people great hurt. But I now make you welcome; but your stay must be short. (I gave them a small string and told them this was the beloved Town where the Warriors speak together). I see by your looks that your hearts are bad, and that you have been doing mischief as you came here. I gave you this string that you may tell the truth. I am now going to the beloved men at the Island where our talks with the white people are good, and not as they used to be. You are come now contrary to my expectation. Some of your people came here last year and told lies, and set me and my people at war with a people that I never intended to be at War with; and it looked as if my Nation were but like one House against them. It was but the other day I was at the Island making Peace with my elder Brothers and all your bad Talks shall not again spoil it. I am now talking with you who I have called my elder Brothers. I find the days are dark between you and the white People; but that shall not spoil my good Talks. You may kill a great many of them, even four, five, or six thousand and as many more will come in their place. But the red men cannot destroy them. Your lies made me have the short trouble I had, but I am now carrying on good Talks and all you can say shall not prevent them. And I hope you will soon be doing the same, as our elder Brothers are very merciful to our women and children. They then answered Brothers we are only come to see you and not to hold talks. When we left our Towns all the Northern Tribes were ready to strike the white People. Only one man who desired them to wait untill he would go to the Lakes and see the white people there. We have been forty days on our Journey. Sixty of us set out together from our Towns and on our way attacted a Fort on Kentuckie where we lost one man and got two scalps. We left that Fort and attacted another small one, but no damage was done on either side that we know of. we then parted and forty nine went home; and we came to see if the Cherokees were cut off as had been reported. But we are now in haste to return to meet the Indians who are to invade the frontiers from this River to the Forks of Ohio. The Western Tribes have all been spoken too; and that Northern Tribes are all ready for War. The Nottawagoes had been spoken to by a great Town of white people far off, perhaps Quee- beck, who said "will you be always fools? will you never learn sense? "don*t you know there is a line fixed between you and the white people, "that if they set their foot over it you might cut it off ; and if they turn "and set their heels over, you might cut them off also ? Now they have "come over the line and encroached on your lands and why will you "suffer it? Don't you understand this?" These Indians then agreed this was truth, and immediately sent runners through all their land amongst all their Tribes, who agreed to send a few of their Warriors to strike the Blow, and then the white people might follow if they please, and go amongst them, and try to cut them off as they have done the Cherokees. These Notawagoes instantly sent out some warriors who killed two white men and then returned, and a large Body of them were about to set out a second time; but the white people at the great Falls (perhaps Niagara) said they should not go out untill they would give them a writing on paper to lay on every mans Breast they should kill, that the white people might know the reason of it. We were told by some Twightwes that a large Body of their people had set out to kill white people, and on our way here above the Falls of Ohio we saw signs of them returning with a vast number of Horses they had taken from the white people, and we dont doubt but they have done great Damages. The Nottawagoes said if the white people comes out against you they will be discovered as your men are always in the woods, then you must give us notice and we will come and fight them. There are three towns of the Shawnese & Delawares where the Cornstalk and Captain White eyes lives, whom we have spoken to and told them it was verry well for them to carry on their good Talks with the white people, for that these Towns & us had no connections. The Nottawagoe Warriors came to two Delaware Towns with Belts, and told them "they had agreed to go "to war with the white people and desired that they might moove off, 'least in the war they might be trod down by them, or the white people. "That they did not want them to join; but they must remove beyond "the mingoes, to be out of their way. And they might still carry on "their good Talks with the white people.'^ They also spoke to Cap*, "White Eyes and told him he was a great [chief?] and a warrior. "That they had given him the beloved Fire, and it gave them great "trouble to ask him to remove, as he was dreadful amongst the red men ; "for fear something might come out of the ground which would put "out that fire." This is all we can tell you which we can assure you is the truth. In the last part of the Talk they said "You are now making "peace for the security and safety of your Nation." We do not want "your assistance. If we suffer, we will bear the loss ourselves, for we "are looking for it, and deserve it; as our young men are determined to "go to war and try the white men. It may be that we and our elder "Brothers may yet talk together of Peace, and we will keep hold of the "friendship we have with the Cherokees, but we desire no assistance "from them, as we did not give them any when they were in trouble."
Read the entire event
Shawnee- Notowega History - Delaware / Mingo (people)
Shawnee Links
http://www.ohiokids.org/ohc/history/h_indian/tribes/shawnee.html
Shawnee (people), Native American tribe of the Algonquian language family and of the Eastern Woodlands culture area. In about 1700 they lived in present-day Ohio but were driven out by the Iroquois. Some migrated to Florida and by 1800 reached Texas. Most, however, went to what is now Georgia and South Carolina, where some remnants still reside an small isolated communities (Notowegas). But others of this group, known as the Eastern Shawnee, then moved to Pennsylvania with the Delaware and Nanticoke tribes. However another part settled in Tennessee. Both were pushed back to Ohio by other tribes in 1730-1750; American expansion forced some into Indiana by 1795. The Shawnee first supported the French against the British and later the British against the Americans. After 1805 the Shawnee leader Tecumseh organized a multitribal movement to resist white expansion (see Tippecanoe, Battle of). In the 1830s, pressured by the Iroquois and the whites, they moved again. The Eastern Shawnee settled in Oklahoma. The other Ohio group moved first to a Kansas reservation and later to Oklahoma; where they live among the Cherokee. The Texas group, known as the Absentee Shawnee, was pushed north into Oklahoma in the mid-19th century. Today, people claiming Absentee Shawnee ancestry dwell mostly in central Oklahoma and have a separate tribal government from that of the Eastern and Cherokee Shawnee.
The early Shawnee had an Eastern Woodland culture. In summer, they lived in bark-covered houses in villages while the women farmed and the men hunted, and in winter they split into small hunting camps. The Shawnee belonged to patrilineal clans and lineages. Today they farm, ranch, and do various other work. Some are Protestants, but many adhere to traditional religions.
Excerpts from The Indian Tribes of North America by John R. Swanton Meherrin - Meaning unknown.
Connections - The Meherrin belonged to the Iroquoian linguistic family, their closest connections probably being the Nottaway.
Location - Along the river of the same name on the Virginia-North Carolina border.
History - The tribal name Meherrin first appears in the form "Maharineck" in the account of an expedition by Edward Blande and others to North Carolina in 1650, and next in an Indian census taken in 1669. Later they seem to have adopted a body of Conestoga or Susquehanna fleeing from Pennsylvania after their dispersal by the Iroquois about 1675. This is the only way to account for the fact that they are all said to have been refugee Conestoga. They were living on Roanoke River in 1761 with the southern bands of Tuscarora and Saponi, and the Machapunga, and probably went north in the last Tuscarora removal in 1802. (For information regarding another possible band of Meherrin see "Nottaway")
Population - Mooney (1928) estimates the Meherrin population at 700 in 1600. In 1669 they are said to have had 50 bowmen, or approximately 180 souls. In 1755 they were said to be reduced to 7 or 8 fighting men, but in 1761 they are reported to have had 20.
Connection in which they have become noted - Meherrin River, an affluent of the Chowan, running through southern Virginia and north-eastern North Carolina, and a Virginia town perpetuate the name of the Meherrin.
Nottaway. Meaning "adders," in the language of their Algonquian neighbors, a common designation for alien tribes by peoples of that linguistic stock. Also called:
Cheroenhaka, their own name, probably signifying "fork of a stream."
Mangoak, Mengwe, another Algonquian term, signifying "stealthy," "treacherous."
Connections - The Nottaway belonged to the Iroquoian linguistic family, their closest connections probably being the Meherrin, Tuscarora, and Susquehanna.
Location - On the river of the same name in southeastern Virginia.
History - The Nottaway were found by the Virginia colonists in the location given above. Though they were never prominent in colonial history, they kept up their organization long after the other tribes of the region were practically extinct. In 1825 they are mentioned as living on a reservation in Southampton County and ruled over by a "queen." The name of this tribe was also applied to a band of Indians which appeared on the northern frontiers of South Carolina between 1748 and 1754. They may have included those Susquehanna who are sometimes confounded with the Meherrin, and are more likely to have included Meherrin than true Nottaway although they retained the name of the latter (see Swanton, 1946).
Population - The number of Nottaway, exclusive of those last mentioned, was estimated by Mooney (1928) at 1,500 in the year 1600. In 1709 Lawson reported one town with 30 fighting men, but in 1827 Byrd estimated that there were 300 Nottaway in Virginia. In 1825, 47 were reported. The band that made its appearance on the frontiers of South Carolina was said to number about 300.
Connection in which they have become noted - The name of the Nottaway is preserved by Nottoway River, Nottoway County, and two towns, one the county seat of the above, the other in Sussex county. There is a Nottawa in St. Joseph County, Mich.
An Excerpt of the Notoway
(Susquehanna - Seneca - Savana) Connection to the Nanticoke Moors adapted
from Kenneth Clark at http://www.globalclassroom.org/clark.html
From increasing murders, land theft and other pressure, some members of the tribe (Nanticokes) moved over to the tribe's "summer residence" on the Indian River in Maryland; which became under the control of William Penn after the mason-dixon settlement.Ca. 1742 the tribe under the influence of the Shawnee (Savana Indians) officially petitioned Penn and the Susquehannocks for permission to relocate into the Susquehanna valley due to the rude treatment at the hands of Maryland colonists, which was granted. Many of the Tribe relocated to the Susquehanna, under the protection of the Iroquois (Seneca).
During the Revolutionary War, the Nanticokes joined the intertribal Chickamauga forces and fought on the side of the British; and subsequently became persona non grata in the US afterwards. The tribe then split, some going into Canada,others joined the Six Nations Reservation, while others returned to the swamps along the Indian River . However, there were those who went to South Carolina to join relatives near the Chickasaw reservation, but unfortunately those lands were confiscated also by the new United States government because of the tribe's British alliance during the war. The Canada Nanticokes were subsumed into the Canada Iroquois. The Delaware Nanticokes have remained, and held onto their identity, throughout this persecution and exodus.
The Notowegans today are an amalgamation of the above tribes and carry some of the surnames associated with the Nanticoke Community i.e.Bumberry, Burke, Burton, Clark, Cormeans, Coursey, Davis, Drain, Hansor, Harmon, Hill, Jackson, Johnson, Kimmey, Layton, Miller, Morris, *Moseley, Newton, Norwood, Reed, Ridgeway, Rogers Sockum, Street, Thomas, Thompson, Walker and Wright.
*The Moseley family in South Carolina had married into the Moor and Reed families and were connected to the Moors as well as Indians.
(see the gilbert link on the tribal enrollment page).
Andastes - Susquehannock - Notoweega - Mingo's
The Susquehannas, Minquas, or Conestogas
The Susquehannas is the general term applied to the Indians living on both sides of the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, in Pennsylvania, at the beginning of the historic period. Racially and linguistically, they were of Iroquoian stock, but were never taken into the league of the Iroquois, except as subjects. These related tribes were known by various names. Captain John Smith, the Virginia pioneer, who met them while exploring Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in 1608, called them the "Susquehannocks." The French called them the Andastes, while the Dutch and Swedes called them Minquas. In the latter days of their history as a tribe, they were called the Conestogas. To Captain John Smith, of the Colony of Virginia, belongs the distinction of being the first white man to see the Indians of Pennsylvania, though he never set foot on Pennsylvania soil; and the Indians meeting him and his companions, beheld for the first time the race that was coming to drive them from their streams and hunting grounds. These Indians were the Susquehannas. Smith held a conference with sixty of the Susquehannocks, near the head of Chesapeake Bay, about August 1, 1608, as he and twelve companions were making an exploring expedition. The sixty Susquehannocks had come from one of their principal towns in what is now Lancaster County, Penn- sylvania. Smith gives the following interesting description of these Indians:
"Such great and well proportioned men are seldom seen, for they seemed like giants to the English, yea, and to their neighbors, yet seemed of an honest and simple disposition. They were with much ado restrained from adoring us as gods. These are the strangest people of all these countries, both in language and attire; for their language it may well become their proportions, sounding from them as a voice in the vault. Their attire is the skins of bears and wolves; some have cossacks made of bears' heads and skins, that a man's head goes through the skin's neck, and the ears of the bear fastened to his shoulders, the nose and teeth hanging down his breast, another bear's face split behind him, and at the end of the nose hung a paw, the half sleeves coming to the elbows were the necks of bears, and the arms through the mouth with paws hanging at their noses. One had the head of a wolfe hanging in a chain for a jewel, his tobacco pipe three quarters of a yard long, prettily carved with a bird, a deer, or some such device at the great end, sufficient to beat out one's brains; with bows, arrows, and clubs, suitable to their greatness. Five of their chief Werowances came aboard us and crossed the bay in the barge. The picture of the greatest of them is signified in the map. The calf of whose leg was three-quarters of a yard about, and all the rest of his limbs so answerable to that proportion that he seemed the goodliest man we ever beheld. His hair, the one side was long, the other shorn close with a ridge over his crown like a cock's comb. His arrows were five quarters long, headed with the splinters of a white christall-like stone, in form of a heart, an inch broad, an inch and a half or more long. These he wore in a wolf's skin at his back for his quiver, his bow in the one hand and his club in the other, as is described."
Smith goes on to say that these Susquehannas were scarce known to Powhatan, the great Virginia chief, but that they were a powerful tribe living in palisaded towns to defend them from the Massawomeks, or Iroquois, and having six hundred warriors. During the ceremonies connected with the visit of this band of Susquehannas, Smith says that they first sang "a most fearful song," and then, "with a most strange, furious action and a hellish voice began an oration." When the oration was ended, they decorated Smith with a chain of large white beads, and laid presents of skins and arrows at his feet, meanwhile stroking their hands about his neck. They told him about their enemies, the Iroquois, who, they said, lived beyond the mountains far to the north and received their hatchets and other weapons from the French in Canada. They implored Smith to remain with them as their protector, which, of course, he could not do. "We left them at Tockwogh," he says, "sorrowing for our departure." Smith's account of the large stature of the Susquehannas has 30 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA been corroborated by subsequent discoveries, when burying grounds of this tribe, in Lancaster County, were opened and very large human skeletons found. The Susquehannas, in the early part of the seventeenth cen-tury, carried on war with the "River Indians," as the Delawares, or Lenape then living along the Delaware River, were called. The Susquehannas were friendly with both the Swedes and the Dutch, and shortly after the Swedes arrived on the Delaware in 1638, they sold part of their lands to them. The Swedes equipped these Indians with guns, and trained their warriors in European tactics. When the Hurons were being worsted by the Iroquois in 1647, the Susquehannas offered the friendly Hurons military assistance, "backed by 1300 warriors in a single palisaded town, who had been trained by Swedish soldiers." They were also friendly with the colony of Maryland in the early days of its history, selling part of their lands to the Marylanders, and receiving military supplies from them.
"The Indian wars of Pennsylvania : an account of the Indian events, in Pennsylvania, of the French and Indian war, Pontiac's war, Lord Dunmore's war, the revolutionary war, and the Indian uprising from 1789 to 1795 ; tragedies of the Pennsylvania frontier based primarily on the Penna. archives and colonial records / by C. Hale Sipe ; introduction by Dr. George P. Donehoo"
Excerpts from John Swanton concerning...
The Yamassee and the Yuchi of the Savanah River Yamasee.
Meaning unknown, though it has been interpreted by Muskogee yamasi, "gentle." The form given in some early writings, Yamiscaron, may have been derived from a Siouan dialect or from
Timucua.
Connections.- The Yamasee town and chief names indicate plainly that they spoke a Muskhogean dialect and tradition affirms that it was connected most closely with Hitchiti, a contention which may be considered probable.
Location.- The earliest references that we have place the Yamasee on Ocmulgee River not far above its junction with the Oconee. They seem to have ranged or extended northeastward of these rivers to or even slightly beyond the Savannah, but always inland. (See also Florida, Alabama, South Carolina.)
Subdivisions and Villages
Immediately before the outbreak of the Yamasee War there were the following:
Upper Towns:
Huspaw, near Huspaw Creek between Combahee River and the
Whale Branch.
Pocotaligo, near Pocotaligo River.
Sadkeche, probably near Salkehatchie, a hamlet at the
Atlantic Coast Line crossing of the Combahee River.
Tomatly, in the neighborhood of Tomatly, Beaufort County, S.C.
Yoa, near Huspaw.
Lower Towns:
Altamaha, location unknown.
Chasee, location unknown.
Oketee, probably near one of the places so called on New
River, in Jasper and
Beaufort Counties, S.C.
Poeasabo.
Tulafina (?), perhaps near Tulsfinny Creek, an estuary of
the Coosawhatchie River in Jasper County.
Other possible Yamasee settlements were Dawfuskee, Ilcombe, and Peterba.
History.- The first reference to the Yamasee appears to be a mention of their name in the form Yamiscaron as that of a province with which Francisco of Chicora was acquainted in 1521. The "Province of Altamaha" mentioned by De Soto's chronicler Ranjel in 1540 probably included at least a part of the Yamasee people. For a hundred years afterward the tribe remained practically unnoticed except for a brief visit by a Spanish soldier and two missionaries in 1597, but in 1633 they are reported to have asked for missionaries, and in 1639 peace is said to have been made between the allied Chatot, Lower Creeks, and Yamasee and the Apalachee. In 1675 Bishop Calderon of Cuba founded two missions in the Apalachee country which were occupied by Yamasee or their near relatives. The same year there were three Yamasee missions on the Atlantic coast but one of these may have been occupied by Tamathli. Later they moved nearer St. Augustine but in the winter of 1684-85 some act of the Spanish governor offended them and they removed to South Carolina, where the English gave them lands on the west side of Savannah River near its mouth. Some of these Indians were probably from the old Guale province, but the Yamasee now took the lead. Eighty-seven warriors of this nation took part in Barnwell's expedition against the Tuscarora (see North Carolina). In 1715 they rose in rebellion against the English and killed two or three hundred settlers but were defeated by Governor Craven and took refuge in Florida, where, until the cession of Florida to Great Britain. the Yamasee continued as allies of the Spaniards. Meanwhile their numbers fell off steadily. Some remained in the neighborhood of the St. Johns River until the outbreak of the Seminole War.
The Oklawaha band of Seminole is said to have been descended from them. Another band accompanied the Apalachee to Pensacola and Mobile, and we find them located near those two places on various charts. They may be identical with those who, shortly afterward, appear among the Upper Creeks on certain maps, though this is the only testimony we have of their presence there. At any rate, these latter are probably the Yamasee found among the Lower Creeks in the nineteenth century and last heard of among the Seminole of west Florida. Of some historical importance is a small band of these Indians who seem to have lived with the Apalachicola for a time, after the Yamasee War, and in 1730 settled on the site of what is now Savannah under the name of Yamacraw. There the Georgia colonists found them three years later, and the relations between the two peoples were most amicable. The name Yamacraw was probably derived from that of a Florida mission, Nombre de Dios de Amacarisse, where some of the Yamnsee once lived. Ultimately these Yamacraw are believed to have retired among the Creeks and later may have gone to Florida.
Population.- It is impossible to separate distinctly the true Yamasee from the Guale Indians. Mooney (1928) gives an estimate of 2,000 in 1650, probably too low. A mission list compiled by Gov. Salazar of Florida in 1675 gives 1,190 Yamasee and Tama. In 1708 the two tribes, united under the name Yamasee, were thought to have 500 men capable of bearing arms. In 1715 a rather careful census gives 413 men and a total population of 1,215. Lists dating from 1726 and 1728 give 313 and 144 respectively in the missions about St. Augustine. A fairly satisfactory Spanish census, taken in 1736, indicates that there were then in the neighborhood of St. Augustine more than 360 Yamasee and Indians of Guale. This does not include the Yamasee near Pensacola and Mobile, those in the Creek Nation, or the Yamacraw. In 1761 a body of Yamasee containing 20 men was living near St. Augustine, but by that time the tribe had probably scattered widely. In 1821 the "Emusas" on Chattahoochee River numbered 20 souls.
Connection in which they have become noted.- The Yamasee are famous particularly on account of the Yamasee War, which marked an epoch in Indian and White history in the Southeast. At the end of the seventeenth century a certain stroke was used in paddling canoes along the coast of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida, which was called the "Yamasee stroke." A small town in Beaufort County, S. C., is called "Yemasee," a variant of this name.
Yuch. Significance unknown, but perhaps, as suggested by Speck (1909), from a native word meaning "those far away," or "at a distance," though it is also possible that it is a variant of Ochesee or Ocheese, which was applied by the Hitchiti and their allies to Indians speaking languages different from their own. Also called:
Ani'-Yu'tsi, Cherokee name.
Chiska, probably a Muskogee translation of the name of one of their bands.
Hughchee, an early synonym.
Round town people, a name given by the early English colonists.
Rickohockans, signifying "cavelanders" (Hewitt, in Hodge, 1907), perhaps an early name for a part of them.
Tahogalewi, abbreviated to Hogologe, name given them by the Delaware and other Algonquian people.
Tamahita, so called by some Indians, perhaps some of the eastern Siouans.
Tsoyaha, "People of the sun," their own name, or at least the name of one band.
Westo, perhaps a name applied to them by the Cusabo Indians of South Carolina though the identification is not beyond
question.
Connections.- The Yuchi constituted a linguistic stock, the Uchean, distinct from all others, though structurally their
speech bears a certain resemblance to the languages of the Muskhogean and Siouan families.
Location.- The earliest known location of the Yuchi was in eastern Tennessee, perhaps near Manchester, but some of them
extended still farther east, while others were as far west as Muscle Shoals. On archeological grounds Prof. T. M. N. Lewis
believes that one main center of the Yuchi was on Hiwassee River. We find settlements laid down on the maps as far north as Green River, Kentucky. In later times a part settled in West Florida, near the present Eucheeanna, and another part on Savannah and Ogeechee Rivers. (See also Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and South Carolina.)
Subdivisions
There appear to have been three principal bands in historic times: one on Tennessee River, one in West Florida, and one on
Savannah River, but only a suggestion of native band names has survived. Recently Wagner has heard of at least three
subdivisional names, including the Tsoyaha, or "Sun People" and the Root People.
Villages
Most of their settlements are given the name of the tribe, Yuchi, or one of its synonyms. In early times they occupied a town in eastern Tennessee called by the Cherokee Tsistu'yl, "Rabbit place," on the north bank of Hiwassee River at the entrance of Chestua Creek in Polk County, Tenn., and at one time also that of Hiwassee, or Euphasee, at the Savannah Ford of Hiwassee River. The Savannah River band had villages at Mount Pleasant, probably in Screven County, Ga., near the mouth of Brier Creek, 2 miles below Silver Bluff on Savannah River in Barnwell County; and one on Ogeechee River bearing the name of that stream, though that was itself perhaps one form of the name Yuchi. Hawkins (1848) mentions former villages at Ponpon and Saltketchers in South Carolina, but these probably belonged to the Yamasee. The following Yuchi settlements were established after the tribe united with the Lower Creeks:
Arkansaw River, in Oklahoma.
Big Pond Town, Polecat Creek, and Sand Creek, in and near Creek County, Okla.
Blackjack Town.
Deep Fork Creek, Okla.
Duck Creek Town.
Intatchkalgi, on Opilthlako Creek 28 miles above its junction with Flint River, probably in Schley County, Ga.
Padshilaika, at the junction of Patchilaika Creek with Flint River, Macon County, Ga.
Red Fork, location uncertain.
Snake Creek, location uncertain.
Spring Garden Town, above Lake George, Fla.
Tokogalgi, on Kinchafoonee Creek, an affluent of Flint River, Ga.
History.- The chroniclers of the De Soto expedition mention the Yuchi under the name Chisca, at one or more points in what is now Tennessee. In 1567 Boyano, an officer under Juan Pardo, had two desperate encounters with these Indians somewhere in the highlands of Tennessee or North Carolina, and, according to his own story, destroyed great numbers of them. In 1670 Lederer (1912) heard of people called Rickohockans living in the mountains who may have been Yuchi, and two white men sent from Virginia by Abraham Wood visited a Yuchi town on a head stream of the Tennessee in 1674. About this time also, English explorers and settlers in South Carolina were told of a warlike tribe called Westo (probably a division of Yuchi) who had struck terror into all of the coast Indians, and hostilities later broke out between them and the colonists. At this juncture, however, a band of Shawnee made war upon the Westo and drove them from the Savannah. For a time they seem to have given themselves up to a roving life, and some of them went so far inland that they encountered La Salle and settled near Fort St. Louis, near the present Utica, Ill. Later some were located among the Creeks on Ocmulgee River, and they removed with them to the Chattahoochee in 1715. Another band of Yuchi came to live on Savannah River about 20 miles above Augusta, probably after the expulsion of the Westo. They were often called Hogologe. In 1716 they also moved to the Chattahoochee but for a time occupied a town distinct from that of the other Yuchi. It was probably this band which settled near the Shawnee on Tallapoosa River and finally united with them. Still later occurred a third influx of Yuchi who occupied the Savannah between Silver Bluff and Ebenezer Creek. In 1729 a Kasihta chief named Captain Ellick married three Yuchi women and persuaded some of the Yuchi Indians to move over among the Lower Creeks, but Governor Oglethorpe of Georgia guaranteed them their rights to their old land until after 1740, and the final removal did not, in fact, take place until 1751.
A still earlier invasion of southern territories by Yuchi is noted by one of the governors of Florida in a letter dated 1639. These invaders proved a constant source of annoyance to the Spaniards. Finally they established themselves in West Florida not far from the Choctawhatchee River, where they were attacked by an allied Spanish and Apalachee expedition in 1677 and suffered severely. They continued to live in the same region, however, until some time before 1761 when they moved to the Upper Creeks and settled near the Tukabahchee. Eucheeanna in Walton County, Fla. seems to preserve their name.
A certain number of Yuchi remained in the neighborhood of Tennessee River, and at one time they were about Muscle Shoals. They also occupied a town in the Cherokee country, called by the latter tribe Tsistu'yl, and Hiwassee at Savannah Ford. In 1714, the former was cut off by the Cherokee in revenge for the murder of a member of their tribe, instigated by two English traders. Later tradition affirms that the surviving Yuchi fled to Florida, but many of them certainly remained in the Cherokee country for a long time afterward, and probably eventually migrated west with their hosts.
A small band of Yuchi joined the Seminole just before the outbreak of the Seminole War. They appear first in West Florida, near the Mikasuki but later had a town at Spring Garden in Volusia County. Their presence is indicated down to the end of the war in the Peninsula, when they appear to have gone west, probably reuniting with the remainder of the tribe.
The Yuchi who stayed with the Creeks accompanied them west and settled in one body in the northwestern part of the old Creek Nation, in Creek County, Okla.
Population.- For the year 1650 Mooney (1928) makes an estimate of 1,500 for the Yuchi in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, but this does not include the "Westo," for whom, with the Stono, he allows 1,600. The colonial census of 1715 gives 2 Yuchi towns with 130 men and 400 souls, but this probably takes into consideration only I band out of 3 or 4. In 1730 the band still on Tennessee River was supposed to contain about 150 men. In 1760, 50 men are reported in the Lower Creek town and 15 in one among the Upper Creeks. In 1777 Bartram (1792) estimated the number of Yuchi warriors in the lower town at 500 and their total population as between 1,000 and 1,500. In 1792 Marburg (1792) reports 300 men, or a population of over 1,000, and Hawkins in 1799 says the Lower Creek Yuchi claimed 250 men. According to the census of 1832-33 there were 1,139 in 2 towns known to have been occupied by Indians of this connection. In 1909 Speck stated that the whole number of Yuchi could "hardly exceed five hundred," but the official report for 1910 gives only 78. That, however, must have been an underestimate as the census of 1930 reported 216. Owing to the number of Yuchi bands, their frequent changes in location, and the various terms applied to them, an exact estimate of their numbers at any period is very difficult. In the first half of the sixteenth century they may well have numbered more than 5,000.
Connection in which they have become noted.- The Yuchi have attained an altogether false reputation as the supposed aborigines of the Gulf region. They were also noted for the uniqueness of their language among the Southeastern tongues. The name is preserved in Euchee, a posthamlet of Meigs County, Tenn.; Eucheeanna, a post village of Walton County, Fla.; Euchee (or Uchee) Creek, Russell County, Ala.; Uchee, a post station of Russell County, Ala.; Uchee Creek, Columbia County, Ga.; and an island in Savannah River near the mouth of the latter.
Forty Chickasaw families settled on the reservation to serve the purpose of protecting British pack trains against the French Indian allies north of the Ohio River. Captain John Reed (We-A-Se-Sa-Ka), a Savanah Indian was among the above pack horsemen. The Chickasaw reservation also extended into Georgia near Fort Augusta. The Georgia portion of reservation lands consisted of ten by ten miles was extended to the tribe for their contribution as valuable and expert scouts for the British army under Oglethorpe, against the Spanish in Florida during the Jenkins Ear War (1739-48). The exciled band of Chickasaws remained on the reservation until our lands were confiscated in 1783, because we had assisted the British in defending Pensacola against the Spanish around the Revolutionary War period. Most of the Exciled Chickasaws left the Savanah area to unite with the Chickasaws who were at Ooe-asa with the Alabama Creeks. However thirty Chickasaw men remained with their intertribal families near their old territory in the proximity of Fort Moore and Fort Augusta.
Edmond Atkin, the Royal British Superintendent of Indian Affairs who was a member of the Council, which had allotted the above reservation to the Savanah Band of Chickasaws stated in 1754 that.... "Their chief connection is with the Lower Creeks (Yamassee), with whom they had always preserved a friendship; and some of them had taken wives among the Lower Cherokees (Chickamauga)....." George Bennet and Captain Reed a.k.a. We-A-Se-Sa-Ka ( his Savanah name), were packhorsemen for Edmund Atkin. Both men were descended from the Chowanoc (Shawano) a.k.a. Savana Indian head chiefs who were residing on Shawano reservation lands held formerly in Gates Co. N.C. as stated in the following reference: James Bennett, Thos Hoyter (Hite, Hiter), Charles Beasley, Jeremiah Pushin, John Robins, John Reading (John Read) & Nuce Will Chief men of the Chowan Indians... [Chowan DeedBook W:250] (FREE AFRICAN AMERICANS by Paul Heinegg)
**In ca.1791 John Reed's son, John Jr. was christened in the same church, the Independent or Congregational Church, where Edmond Atkin owned a pew ca. 1750's. Edmund Atkin also engaged his packhorsemen inclusive of Captain John Reed and George Bennet in preventing goods of British origin from reaching those Chickasaws who were allies of the French. Regretfully, like many Indians and other Free People of Color of his era, John Reed was a slave holder and was listed on the Chickasaw Freedmen Rolls as being the owner of Sarah Reed born ca. 1828, on roll no. 3868.
An Excerpt From Indians of the Southeastern U.S. by John R. Swanton
Nottoway (Notowega, Nittaweega, or Nautaugue) "Notowega,"Nittaweega," or "Nautaugue," was given to a band of Indians which appeared on the frontiers of S.C. in the eighteenth century. It is possible that this body of Indians is intended by the "Andasses or Iroquois" mentioned in a French document, attributed to the third decade of that century, in association with some Shawnee (Savanah/Shawanoc)and Chickasaw, as living 70 leagues below the Kaskinampo on Tennessee River.
An Excerpt From Red Carolinians by C.J. Milling - Chapter 4 -The Savanah
The exact identity of the Notowega has been somewhat of a puzzle to S.C. historians, but the preamble to their "talk" to Gov. Glen, written soon after their arrival, suggest that they were a mixed band of Iroquois, Savanah, and Conestogah. This Document is titled " The Talk and Representation of Asaquah, the Head beloved Man of Nautaugue, Connewawtenty of Connetstageh and about Sixty others of different Towns of the Nitiwaga Nation of Indians now in Keowee in the Cherokees."
NOTE: What follows is an abstract from INDIAN TERRITORY: Descriptive Biographical and Genealogical, Including the Landed Estates, Country Seats, Etc., Etc., by D. C. Gideon, published 1901 by The Lewis Publishing Company, New York and Chicago. Generally, the content of this article was accurate with a few exceptions. KMA.
THE CHOCTAWS AND CHICKASAWS
From the fact that these tribes seem to have a common origin and to have been originally one people, with the same customs and modes of living, and inhabiting the same section of country, the early history of one tribe finds its counterpart in the other.
The traditional history of these tribes, the Choctaw signifying separation and the Chickasaw rebellion goes to show that both were members of the Muskogee nation prior to their migration to the country east of the Mississippi; and the tradition further states that two brothers, Chatah and Chicksah, both influential chiefs, headed the migration that is supposed to have started from western Mexico. Adair, in his American Indians, says that the Choctaws and Chickasaws descended from a people called Chickamacaws (Chickamaugas) , who were among the first inhabitants of the Mexican empire and at an early period wandered east with another tribe called Chockamaws. It may be easily inferred that the name Choctaw has its derivation from Chockamaws, and Chickasaw from Chickamacaws. It may be easily inferred that the name Choctaw has its derivation from Chockamaws, and Chickasaw from Chickamacaws ( a variant of Chickamauga).
Missionaries to these tribes as early as 1820 give their traditional history as related to them of the origin of the Choctaws and Chickasaws. Long years ago their ancestors lived in a country far toward the setting sun, and another great and powerful people greatly oppressed them (these are supposed to be the Spaniards under Cortez), and they decided to seek a country far removed from oppression; consequently a great council was called and after many days spent in deliberation it was decided that the whole people should leave on a given day and seek new homes, they knew not where.
The two brothers, Chatah and Chicksah, had been previously selected to lead them, and the brothers, trusting all to chance, firmly placed a pole in the center of their encampment and decided to move the next day in the direction it leaned the following morning. Their medicine men and prophets, after many days of fasting and supplication, to whom the "Great Spirit" had revealed the direction the pole would lean on the following morning, were ready, and without hesitation the journey was begun, as the pole inclined to the east. The pole was set up every night alternately by the two chiefs and brothers.
For weeks and months they journeyed through a country abounding in game, and yet the pole was found leaning to the east every morning, which indicated that their journey was not yet complete. For months more they moved on until they reached the greatest body of water ever known. This they named Misha Sapokni, meaning beyond age, whose source and terminus are unknown. But their talismanic pole still pointed eastward, and without a murmur the Indians set about building canoes and rafts, and in a few weeks all had been safely landed on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, and their eastward march was resumed until the bank of the Yazoo river was reached, when behold! the pole stood erect in the morning as when planted at night. The overjoyed messengers that observed this rushed through the encampment shouting "Fohah-hupishno-yak," by translation, "Rest we all of us here."
Their weary pilgrimage was ended, and in commemoration of that great event they made into a mound three acres of land forty feet high, with a hole in the center ten feet in diameter, and enclosed the mound by a deep ditch encompassing twenty acres. After this was completed it was discovered to lean a little, and it was named Nunih Wai-zah. This relic still remains, but is great disfigured by the hand of time.
The tradition further informs us that Chatah and Chicksah, in their capacity as chieftains, disagreed on some national question, and Chicksah proposed to divide the people. This was agreed upon and a game of chance was resorted to by which the country was to be divided. A pole was set up and facing each other the brothers held it firmly with both hands. At a given signal both were to let go, and the direction the pole fell decided the direction Chicksah was to take. The result of the game was that Chicksah and his followers were to have the northern part of the country, and from that date they became two separate and distinct tribes, each of whom ever afterward retained the names of their respective chiefs.
The traditions of the Choctaws and Chickasaws all point toward the time that their ancestors came from a country beyond the "Big Waters" far to the northwest; and the Muskogees, Shawnees, Cherokees and other tribes have the same traditions, that point beyond Behring straits, to Asia, as the land from which their forefathers came in past ages. Truly their legends, romances and exploits would form, if but known, a literature of themselves about whom still cluster that wonderful system of mythical romance which has assumed so many phases. They owned this vast continent and had possessed it for ages.
De Soto was the first white man to invade the domain of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, in October 1540. He had a force of one hundred cavalry, and as many infantry. Mobila, or Mobile, was the Choctaw capital, and at that time it contained eighty houses, each being large enough to contain a thousand men. All these houses stood fronting a large square, and the entire town was surrounded by a high wall made of trees firmly set in the ground and strengthened with cross timbers fastened together with great vines. Towers, fifteen feet apart, that would hold eight men each, spanned the enclosure, and two gates, one on the east, the other on the west, afforded ingress and egress.
Tush-ka-lusa, then the chief of the Choctaws, welcomed the approach of De Soto into his village with songs and dancing of beautiful Indian girls, and De Soto's retinue were given seats under a canopy expressly provided. A son of the chief had previously visited De Soto with an invitation to visit his father, and he was held as a prisoner until this visit was made. After they had all remained seated for a time, Tush-ka-lusa asked that he be released, but to this request De Soto paid no attention, and Tush-ka-lusa indignantly arose and walked away to where a group of his warriors stood. De Soto felt much annoyed at this proof of independence on the part of the chief, and at once sent a man to invite Tush-ka-lusa to breakfast with him; but the chief refused to return, and directed the man to inform De Soto that "he had better take his troops and get out of my territory." De Soto gave word to his men to be prepared for an attack, but, being desirous of securing the chief, advanced toward him extending his hand; but this was declined by Tush-ka-lusa, who turned his back and was soon lost among his warriors. Just then a warrior ran out of the house denouncing the Spaniards as robbers and murderers, and declared that they should not longer hold their chief's son as a prisoner, when a Spaniard with one sweep of his sword cut him in two. The Choctaws, beholding the death of their comrade, with a defiant war whoop rushed upon De Soto and his men, and for three long hours the battle raged, first one, then the other securing the advantage; but the white soldiers, protected by coats of mail, hewed down the gates and rushing through the breach assailed the Choctaws and a fearful carnage ensued. For nine hours the hand-to-hand conflict raged, and it is estimated by Garcellasso, one of De Soto's men, that over six thousand were killed inside and outside of the town! The houses were set on fire and Mobila was left in ruins. Tush-ka-lusa perished with his people, who could not with bow and arrow cope with broadsword and buckler wielded by a trained Spaniard soldier clad in a suit of mail. In this battle eighty-two Spaniards and forty-five horses were killed. After the destruction of Mobila, De Soto and his band remained for several days around the ruins of the destroyed village, gathering up a large number of beautiful Indian girls which were taken into captivity and carried away.
There remains no doubt that the Mobilians, as described by early writers, were Choctaws, and they also state that the Choctaws and the "Hottak falaiahs" (or long men) spoke the same language. The present city of Mobile, Alabama, was named after the "Iksa" or Mobina clan of Choctaws, by Bienville. The aged Choctaws now living assert that originally their people were divided into two great "lksas," or clans, the first of which was known as "Hattak-i-hol-lihtah," the other "Kashapa-okla." The two were subsequently divided into six clans, named as follows: Hayip-tuk-lo-hash (the two lakes), Hattack-falaih-hosh (the long men), Okla-humali-hosh (the six people), Kusha (being broken), Apela (a help), and Chik-a-saw-ha (a Chickasaw).
The laws of all these clans forbade marriage between people belonging to the same clan, and to this day the same laws relating to marriage are strictly observed.
Tradition informs us that there were many wars between the Choctaws and Chickasaws for a period of more than one hundred years, during which time the Choctaws were mainly victorious; but the wars thinned the ranks of both, of their best and bravest warriors.
On the 13th of January 1733, the renowned Christian philanthropist, James Oglethorpe, with a hundred and twenty emigrants, landed at Charleston, South Carolina. A few days later he sailed down the coast and anchored his vessel at Beaufort, while he, accompanied by a few of his people, ascended the Savannah river to the point where the city of Savannah is now located, which place he selected as a desirable one to establish his colony. Tam-o-chi-chi, the great chief of the Yemacaws (a band of Yamassee Indians, on the Savanah River), made Oglethorpe a visit after a few days, and they smoked the pipe of peace together. The friendship then formed was never broken. The Yemacaws(a.k.a.Yamacraw) were supposedly a branch of the Choctaws, from the similarity of their language, habits and customs. When the venerable chief was ready to depart he presented Oglethorpe with a great buffalo robe, upon which was painted with great skill the picture of an eagle. Tam-o-chi-chi, handing the robe to Oglethorpe, called his attention to the picture of the eagle and said, "Accept this little token of good will of myself and people. See, the eagle is bold and fearless, yet his feathers are soft. As the eagle, so are my people, bold and fearless in war; yet, as his feathers, so are they soft and beautiful in friendship. The buffalo is strong and his hair is warm. As the buffalo, so is my people strong in war, yet as his robe, are they warm in love. Let this robe be an emblem of peace and love between me and you, mine and thine."
On the 29th of May following, Oglethorpe held a council with the Muskogees at Savannah, at which Long Chief, of the Ocona clan, with all their allies was present, and in token of peace and friendship Oglethorpe was presented with many large bundles of skins and furs of wild animals with which their country then abounded.
In 1777 the Choctaws sold to the English superintendent of Indian affairs a portion of their territory, known as the Natchez district, that lay on the Mississippi river and extended north from the bluff known as Loftus Cliffs to the mouth of the Yazoo river one hundred and ten miles above. Their territory in 1771 extended from middle Mississippi south to the gulf of Mexico, and from the Alabama river west to the Mississippi river.
The first treaty made between the Choctaws and the United States was held at Hopewell, on the Keowee river, January 3, 1786, followed by several other treaties, among which was the cession of most of their lands lying east of the Mississippi river, and in one, the treaty concluded October 18, 1820, in article 5th, for the purpose of aiding the poor Indians who wish to remove to the then unknown country, which they had purchased west of the Mississippi, the commissioners of the United States agreed to give to each war-riot "a blanket, kettle, rifle, bullet-mold, nippers and ammunition sufficient to last for one year;" and each warrior was also assured of having corn enough to support him and his family for the same time and whilst traveling to the country ceded the Choctaw nation. This magnanimous offer was given by the United States to secure the "happiness and protection, and to promote the civilization, of the Choctaw Indian."
TREATY WITH THE CHICKASAWS-- 1786
Articles of a treaty, concluded at Hopewell, on the Keowe'e, near Seneca Old Town, between Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, and Joseph Martin, Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, of the one Part; and Piomingo, Head Warrior and First Minister of the Chickasaw Nation; Mingatushka, one of the leading Chiefs; and Latopoia, first beloved Man of the said Nation, Commissioners Plenipotentiary of all the Chickasaws, of the other Part.
THE Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the United States of America give peace to the Chickasaw Nation, and receive them into the favor and protection of the said States, on the following conditions:
ARTICLE 1. The Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the Chickasaw nation, shall restore all the prisoners, citizens of the United States, to their entire liberty, if any there be in the Chickasaw nation. They shall also restore all the negroes, and all other property taken during the late war, from the citizens, if any there be in the Chickasaw nation, to such person, and at such time and place, as the Commissioners of the United States of America shall appoint.
ARTICLE 2. The Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the Chickasaws, do hereby acknowledge the tribes and the towns of the Chickasaw nation, to be under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other sovereign whosoever.
ARTICLE 3. The boundary of the lands hereby allotted to the Chickasaw nation to live and hunt on, within the limits of the United States of America, is, and shall be the following, viz: Beginning on the ridge that divides the waters running into the Cumberland, from those running into the Tennessee, at a point in a line to be run north-east, which shall strike the Tennessee at the mouth of Duck river; thence running westerly along the said ridge, till it shall strike the Ohio; thence down the southern banks thereof to the Mississippi; thence down the same, to the Choctaw line or Natches district; thence along the said line, or the line of the district eastwardly as far as the Chickasaws claimed, and lived and hunted on, the twenty-ninth of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two. Thence the said boundary, eastwardly, shall be the lands allotted to the Choctaws and Cherokees to live and hunt on, and the lands at present in the possession of the Creeks; saving and reserving for the establishment of a trading post, a tract or parcel of land to be laid out at the lower port of the Muscle shoals, at the mouth of Ocochappo, in a circle, the diameter of which shall be five miles on the river, which post, and the lands annexed thereto, shall be to the use and under the government of the United States of America.
ARTICLE 4. If any citizen of the United States, or other person not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the lands hereby allotted to the Chickasaws to live and hunt on, such person shall forfeit the protection of the United States of America, and the Chickasaws may punish him or not as they please.
ARTICLE 5. If any Indian or Indians, or persons residing among them, or who shall take refuge in their nation, shall commit a robbery or murder, or other capital crime, on any citizen of the United States, or person under their protection, the tribe to which such offender or offenders may belong, or the nation, shall be bound to deliver him or them up to be punished according to the ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled: Provided, that the punishment shall not be greater, than if the robbery or murder, or other capital crime, had been committed by a citizen on a citizen.
ARTICLE 6. If any citizen of the United States of America, or person under their protection, shall commit a robbery or murder, or other capital crime, on any Indian, such offender or offenders shall be punished in the same manner as if the robbery or murder or other capital crime had been committed on a citizen of the United States of America; and the punishment shall be in presence of some of the Chickasaws, if any will attend at the time and place, and that they may have an opportunity so to do, due notice, if practicable, of such intended punishment, shall be sent to some one of the tribes.
ARTICLE 7. It is understood that the punishment of the innocent under the idea of retaliation is unjust, and shall not be practiced on either side, except where there is a manifest violation of this treaty; and then it shall be preceded, first by a demand of justice, and if refused, then by a declaration of hostilities.
ARTICLE 8. For the benefit and comfort of the Indians, and for the prevention of injuries or oppressions on the part of the citizens or Indians, the United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right of regulating the trade with the Indians, and managing all their affairs in such manner as they think proper.
ARTICLE 9. Until the pleasure of Congress be known respecting the eighth article, all traders, citizens of the United States, shall have liberty to go to any of the tribes or towns of the Chickasaws to trade with them, and they shall be protected in their persons and property, and kindly treated.
ARTICLE 10. The said Indians shall give notice to the citizens of the United States of America, of any designs which they may know or suspect to be formed in any neighboring tribe, or by any person whosoever, against the peace: trade or interests of the United States of America.
ARTICLE 11. The hatchet shall be forever buried, and the peace given by the United States of America, and friendship re-established between the said States on the one part, and the Chickasaw nation on the other part, shall be universal, and the contracting parties shall use their utmost endeavors to maintain the peace given as aforesaid, and friendship re-established.
In witness of all and every thing herein contained, between the said States and Chickasaws, we, their underwritten commissioners, by virtue of our full powers, have signed this definitive treaty, and have caused our seals to be hereunto affixed.
Done at Hopewell, on the Keowee, this tenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six.
Benjamin Hawkins,
And'w. Pickens,
Jos. Martin,
Piomingo, his x mark,
Mingatushka, his x mark,
Latopoia, his x mark,
Witness:
Wm. Blount,
Wm. Hazard,
Sam. Taylor,
James Cole, Sworn Interpreter.
Treaty of New York - U.S. - Creek Treaty of New York, Aug. 7, 1790
A Treaty of Peace and Friendship made and concluded between the President of the United States of America, on the Part and Behalf of the said States, and the undersigned Kings, Chiefs and Warriors of the Creek Nation of Indians, on the Part and Behalf of the said Nation. /A/
The parties being desirous of establishing permanent peace and friendship between there United States and the said Creek Nation, and the citizens and members thereof, and to remove the causes of war by ascertaining their limits, and making other necessary, just and friendly arrangements: The President of the United States, by Henry Knox, Secretary for the Department of War, whom he hath constituted with full powers for these purposes, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, and the Creek Nation, by the undersigned Kings, Chiefs and Warriors, representing the said nation, have agreed to the following articles.
ARTICLE I.
There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between all the citizens of the United States of America, and all the individuals, towns and tribes of the Upper, Middle and Lower Creeks and Semanolies composing the Creek nation of Indians. /B/
ARTICLE II.
The undersigned Kings, Chiefs and Warriors, for themselves and all parts of the Creek Nation within the limits of the United States, do acknowledge themselves, and the said parts of the Creek nation, to be under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other sovereign whosoever; and they also stipulate that the said Creek Nation will not hold any treaty with an individual State, or with individuals of any State. /C/
ARTICLE III.
The Creek Nation shall deliver as soon as practicable to the commanding officer of the troops of the United States, stationed at the Rock-Landing on the Oconee river, all citizens of the United States, white inhabitants or negroes, who are now prisoners in any part of the said nation. And if any such prisoners or negroes should not be so delivered, on or before the first day of June ensuing, the governor of Georgia may empower three persons to repair to the said nation, in order to claim and receive such prisoners and negroes. /D/
ARTICLE IV.
The boundary between the citizens of the United States and the Creek Nation is, and shall be, from where the old line strikes the river Savannah; thence up the said river to a place on the most northern branch of the same, commonly called the Keowee, where a north east line to be drawn from the top of the Occunna mountain shall intersect; thence along the said line in a south-west direction to Tugelo river; thence to the top of the Currahee mountain; thence to the head or source of the main south branch of the Oconee river, called the Appalachee; thence down the middle of the said main south branch and river Oconee, to its confluence with the Oakmulgee, which form the river Altamaha; and thence down the middle of the said Altamaha to the old line on the said river, and thence along the said old line to the river St. Mary's. /E/
And in order to preclude forever all disputes relatively to the head or source of the main south branch of the river Oconee, at the place where it shall be intersected by the line aforesaid, from the Currahee mountain, the same shall be ascertained by an able surveyor on the part of the United States, who shall be assisted by three old citizens of Georgia, who may be appointed by the Governor of the said state, and three old Creek chiefs, to be appointed by the said nation; and the said surveyor, citizens and chiefs shall assemble for this purpose, on the first day of October, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, at the Rock Landing on the said river Oconee, and thence proceed to ascertain the said head or source of the main south branch of the said river, at the place where it shall be intersected by the line aforesaid, to be drawn from the Currahee mountain. And in order that the said boundary shall be rendered distinct and well known, it shall be marked by a line of felled trees at least twenty feet wide, and the trees chopped on each side from the said Currahee mountain, to the head or source of the said main south branch of the Oconee river, and thence down the margin of the said main south branch and river Oconee for the distance of twenty miles, or as much farther as may be necessary to mark distinctly the said boundary. And in order to extinguish forever all claims of the Creek nation, or any part thereof, to any of the land lying to the northward and eastward of the boundary herein described, it is hereby agreed, in addition to the considerations heretofore made for the said land, that the United States will cause certain valuable Indian goods now in the state of Georgia, to be delivered to the said Creek nation; and the United States will also cause the sum of one thousand and five hundred dollars to be paid annually to the said Creek nation. And the undersigned Kings, Chiefs and Warriors, do hereby for themselves and the whole Creek nation, their heirs and descendants, for the considerations above-mentioned, release, quit claim, relinquish and cede, all the land to the northward and eastward of the boundary herein described.
ARTICLE V.
The United States solemnly guarantee to the Creek Nation, all their lands within the limits of the United States to the westward and southward of the boundary described in the preceding article. /F/
ARTICLE VI.
If any citizen of the United States, or other person not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the Creeks lands, such person shall forfeit the protection of the United States, and the Creeks may punish him or not, as they please. /G/
ARTICLE VII.
No citizen or inhabitant of the United States shall attempt to hunt or destroy the game on the Creek lands: Nor shall any such citizen or inhabitant go into the Creek country, without a passport first obtained from the Governor of some one of the United States, or the officer of the troops of the United States commanding at the nearest military post on the frontiers, or such other person as the President of the United States may, from time to time, authorize to grant the same. /H/
ARTICLE VIII.
If any Creek Indian or Indians, or person residing among them, or who shall take refuge in their nation, shall commit a robbery or murder, or other capital crime, on any of the citizens or inhabitants of the United States, the Creek nation, or town, or tribe to which such offender or offenders may belong, shall be bound to deliver him or them up, to be punished according to the laws of the United States. /I/
ARTICLE IX.
If any citizen or inhabitant of the United States, or of either of the territorial districts of the United States, shall go into any town, settlement or territory belonging to the Creek nation of Indians, and shall there commit any crime upon, or trespass against the person or property of any peaceable and friendly Indian or Indians, which if committed within the jurisdiction of any state, or within the jurisdiction of either of the said districts, against a citizen or white inhabitant thereof, would be punishable by the laws of such state or district, such offender or offenders shall be subject to the same punishment, and shall be proceeded against in the same manner, as if the offence had been committed within the jurisdiction of the state or district to which he or they may belong, against a citizen or white inhabitant thereof. /J/
ARTICLE X.
In cases of violence on the persons or property of the individuals of either party, neither retaliation nor reprisal shall be committed by the other, until satisfaction shall have been demanded of the party, of which the aggressor is, and shall have been refused. /K/
ARTICLE XI.
The Creeks shall give notice to the citizens of the United States of any designs, which they may know or suspect to be formed in any neighboring tribe, or by any person whatever, against the peace and interests of the United States. /L/
ARTICLE XII.
That the Creek nation may be led to a greater degree of civilization, and to become herdsmen and cultivators, instead of remaining in a state of hunters, the United States will from time to time furnish gratuitously the said nation with useful domestic animals and implements of husbandry. And further to assist the said nation in so desirable a pursuit, and at the same time to establish a certain mode of communication, the United States will send such, and so many persons to reside in said nation as they may judge proper, and not exceeding four in number, who shall qualify themselves to act as interpreters. These persons shall have lands assigned them by the Creeks for cultivation, for themselves and their successors in office; but they shall be precluded exercising any kind of traffic. /M/
ARTICLE XIII.
All animosities for past grievances shall henceforth cease; and the contracting parties will carry the foregoing treaty into full execution, with all good faith and sincerity. /N/
ARTICLE XIV.
This treaty shall take effect and be obligatory on the contracting parties, as soon as the same shall have been ratified by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States. /O/
In witness of all and every thing herein determined, between the United States of America, and the whole Creek nation, the parties have hereunto set their hands and seals, in the city of New York, within the United States, this seventh day of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety. In behalf of the United States:
H. Knox, (L.S.)
Secretary of War and sole commissioner for treating with the Creek nation of Indians.
In behalf of themselves and the whole Creek nation of Indians:
Alexander McGillivray, (L.S.)
Cusetahs:
Fuskatche Mico, or Birdtail King, his x mark, (L.S.)
Neathlock, or Second Man, his x mark, (L.S.)
Halletemalthle, or Blue Giver, his x mark, (L.S.)
Little Tallisee:
Opay Mico, or the Singer, his x mark, (L.S.)
Totkeshajou, or Samoniac, his x mark, (L.S.)
Big Tallisee:
Hopothe Mico, or Tallisee King, his x mark, (L.S.)
Opototache, or Long Side, his x mark, (L.S.)
Tuckabatchy:
Soholessee, or Young Second Man, his x mark, (L.S.)
Ocheehajou, or Aleck Cornel, his x mark, (L.S.)
Natchez:
Chinabie, or the Great Natchez Warrior, his x mark, (L.S.)
Natsowachehee, or the Great Natchez Warrior's Brother, his x mark, (L.S.)
Thakoteehee, or the Mole, his x mark, (L.S.)
Oquakabee, his x mark, (L.S.)
Cowetas:
Tuskenaah, or Big Lieutenant, his x mark, (L.S.)
Homatah, or Leader, his x mark, (L.S.)
Chinnabie, or Matthews, his x mark, (L.S.)
Juleetaaulematha, or Dry Pine, his x mark, (L.S.)
Of the Broken Arrow:
Chawookly Mico, his x mark, (L.S.)
Coosades:
Coosades Hopoy, or the Measurer, his x mark, (L.S.)
Muthtee, the Misser, his x mark, (L.S.)
Stimafutchkee, or Good Humor, his x mark, (L.S.)
Alabama Chief:
Stilnaleeje, or Disputer, his x mark, (L.S.)
Oaksoys:
Mumagechee, David Francis, his x mark, (L.S.)
Done in the presence of - -
Richard Morris, chief justice of the State of New York,
Richard Varick, mayor of the city of New York,
Marinus Willet,
Thomas Lee Shippen, of Pennsylvania,
John Rutledge, jun'r,
Joseph Allen Smith,
Henry Izard,
Joseph Cornell, interpreter, his x mark. A/ Proclamation, Aug. 13, 1790. B/ Peace and friendship perpetual. C/ Indians acknowledge protection of United States. D/ Prisoners to be restored. E/ Boundaries. F/ Guarantee. G/ No citizen of United States to settle on Indian lands. H/ Nor hunt on the same. I/ Indians to deliver up criminals. J/ Citizens of United States committing crimes against Indians to be punished. K/ Retaliation restrained. L/ Indians to give notice of designs against United States. M/ United States to make presents to them. N/ Animosities to cease. O/ Ratification.
http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/creektre.htm/newyork.htm
An Excerpt of The Muscogees or Creek Indians,
from 1519 to 1893
By Dr. Marion Elisah Tarvin
From tradition, this once most powerful tribe, from the succession of their Chiefs on down, say that they originally crossed over to America from Asia, landing at the Isthmus of Darien, and finally settling in the northwestern part of Mexico, forming a separate Republic from that of Montezuma. Hernando Cortez, with some Spanish troops, landed at Vera Cruz and conquered the forces under Montezuma, in which battle Montezuma was killed. The Muscogees lost many of their warriors in this conflict and were unwilling to live in a country conquered by foreign assassins, so they determined to seek another country. They took up a line of march eastward until they struck Red River, upon which they built a town. The Alabamas, a tribe who were also traveling, east from Mexico, but unknown to them before, came in contact with a hunting party of Muscogees and killed several of them. The Muscogees resolved to be revenged. After this, the Muscogees again took up their march eastward, in the direction of the Alabamas. This incident led to the final conquest of the Alabamas by the victorious Muscogees, as will be seen. The great streams were crossed by the Muscogees in the order of their grade, the more aristocratic moving first; the Wind family, followed by the Bear and Tiger, on down to the humblest of the clan. The army, led by the Tustenugee or war Chief. The Alabamas finally settled on the Yazoo where De Soto, the Spanish invader, destroyed their fortress in 1541.
From the time the Muscogees left Mexico to the time of their settling On the Ohio, fifteen years had elapsed, which was in 1535. They were delighted with their new home. Their wisdom, prowess and numbers enabled them to subjugate the other and less powerful tribes. They had learned of the mild climate of the country on the Yazoo, occupied by the Alabamas, and they determined to possess it. They crossed the Ohio and Tennessee and settled on the Yazoo. The Alabamas, hearing of the approach of their old enemy, fled to the Alabama and Tallahoosa Rivers and built their Capital at the present Montgomery, now the capital of Alabama. Here they found a charming region, rich in soil, navigation, and remote from their enemies, and made permanent homes there. The Muscogees remained some years on the Yazoo, then hearing what a delightful country the Alabamas possessed, took up a line of march for it, arriving in safety in full force with their tribe in the best plight, and without opposition took possession of it; the Alabamas fled in all directions, This is suppose to have been about 1620. Gaining a firm foothold in this new region, enjoying health, increasing population and prosperity, they advanced to the Okmulgee, Oconee and Ogechee, and established a town where now reposes the beautiful city of Augusta, Georgia. With the Indians of Georgia they had combats, but overcame them all. In 1714 the Muscogees and Alabamas, under the influence of, and in the presence of Bienville, the French Governor, became lasting friends, The Alabamas then joined the Muskogees and returned to their homes on the Alabama, Tallapoosa and Coosa Rivers. The Muscogees were living on the Ohio River when De Soto and his army passed through Alabama in 1540. They had heard of him and the strange people with him, and that they were like those they had seen and fought in Mexico. The Tookabatches( a predominantly Savana a.k.a. Shawnee band), also joined the Muscogees confederacy. The reputation the Muscogees had acquired for strength and a warlike spirit induced other tribes who had become weak, to seek an asylum among them. The Uchees, Tuskegees, Ozeills, and the remaining band of the Natches, the Muscogees (who appear to have been a wise and hospitable race) adopted, besides a host of other smaller bands, and thus become greatly strengthened.
Tookabatcha, the Capital for their confederacy, was situated on the west bank of the Tallapoosa. The Chiefs were chosen from the Wind or mother family in early days, but since 1800 the Hickory Ground.
CHICKASAW LINKS
Chickasaw Historical Research Page
Foot Notes:
*South Carolina Indians, Indian Traders and Other Ethnic Connections, beginning in 1670 edited by Theresa M. Hicks,1998,page 40; Red Carolinians by C.J. Milling, 1969 pages 188 to 202. ** see church records of the Latter Day Saints - The International Genealogical Index
from http://www.innernet.org/tsalagi/history.html
http://sciway3.net/clark/allendale/nativeamericans.html and title it Indians
at Allendale County S.C. (formerly part of Barnwell and Hampton Counties)
Captain Reed signed the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 as Hahgoosekaw, one of the chiefs Shawnee (Savanah). On other treaties he was known by other names i.e. We-A-Se-Sa-Ka and Long Hair by the Chickamaugans.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~itquapaw/greenvil.html
The Treaty of Greenville
August 3, 1795
A treaty of peace between the United States of America, and the tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pattawatimas, Miamis, Eel Rivers, Weas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws, and Kaskaskias.
To put an end to a destructive war, to settle all controversies, and to restore harmony and friendly intercourse between the said United States and Indian tribes, Anthony Wayne, major general commanding the army of the United States, and sole commissioner for the good purposes above mentioned, and the said tribes of Indians, by their sachems, chiefs, and warriors, met together at Greenville, the head quarters of the said army, have agreed on the following articles, which, when ratified by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, shall be binding on them and the said Indian tribes.
Article 1
Henceforth all hostilities shall cease; peace is hereby established, and shall be perpetual; and a friendly intercourse shall take place between the said United States and Indian tribes.
Article 2
All prisoners shall, on both sides, be restored. The Indians, prisoners to the United States, shall be immediately set at liberty. The people of the United States, still remaining prisoners among the Indians, shall be delivered up in ninety days from the date hereof, to the general or commanding officer at Greenville, fort Wayne, or fort Defiance; and ten chiefs of the said tribes shall remain at Greenville as hostages, until the delivery of the prisoners shall be effected.
Article 3
The general boundary line between the lands of the United States and the lands of the said Indian tribes, shall begin at the mouth of Cayahoga river, and run thence up the same to the portage, between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, thence down that branch to the crossing place above fort Lawrence, thence westerly to a fork of that branch of the Great Miami river, running into the Ohio, at or near which fork stood Loromie's store, and where commences the portage between the Miami of the Ohio, and St. Mary's river, which is a branch of the Miami which runs into lake Erie; thence a westerly course to fort Recovery, which stands on a branch of the Wabash; thence southwesterly in a direct line to the Ohio, so as to intersect that river opposite the mouth of Kentucke or Cuttawa river. And in consideration of the peace now established; of the goods formerly received from the United States; of those now to be delivered; and of the yearly delivery of goods now stipulated to be made hereafter; and to indemnify the United States for the injuries and expenses they have sustained during the war, the said Indian tribes do hereby cede and relinquish forever, all their claims to the lands lying eastwardly and southwardly of the general boundary line now described: and these lands, or any part of them, shall never hereafter be made a cause or pretence, on the part of the said tribes, or any of them, of war or injury to the United States, or any of the people thereof. and for the same considerations, and as an evidence of the returning friendship of the said Indian tribes, of their confidence in the United States, and desire to provide for their accommodations, and for that convenient intercourse which will be beneficial to both parties, the said Indian tribes do also cede to the United States the following pieces of land, to wit:
2) One piece two miles square, at the head of the navigable water or landing, on the St. Mary's river, near Girty's town.
3) One piece six miles square, at the head of the navigable water of the Auglaize river.
4) One piece six miles square, at the confluence of the Auglaize and Miami rivers, where fort Defiance now stands.
5) One piece six miles square, at or near the confluence of the rivers St. Mary's and St. Joseph's, where fort Wayne now stands, or near it.
6) One piece two miles square, on the Wabash river, at the end of the portage from the Miami of the lake, and about eight miles westward from fort Wayne.
7) One piece six miles square, at the Ouatanon, or Old Wea towns, on the Wabash river.
8) One piece twelve miles square, at the British fort on the Miami of the lake, at the foot of the rapids.
9) One piece six miles square, at the mouth of the said river, where it empties into the lake.
10) One piece six miles square, upon Sandusky lake, where a fort formerly stood.
11) One piece two miles square, at the lower rapids of Sandusky river.
12) The post of Detroit, and all the land to the north, the west and the south of it, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or English governments: and so much more land to be annexed to the district of Detroit, as shall be comprehended between the river Rosine, on the south, lake St. Clair on the north, and a line, the general course whereof shall be six miles distant from the west end of lake Erie and Detroit river.
13) The post of Michilimackinac, and all the land on the island on which that post stands, and the main land adjacent, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the Frewnch or English governments; and a piece of land on the main to the north of the island, to measure six miles, on lake Huron, or the strait between lakes Huron and Michigan, and to extend three miles back from the water of the lake or strait; and also, the Island De Bois Blane, being an extra and voluntary gift of the Chippewa nation.
14) One piece of land six miles square, at the mouth of Chikago river, emptying into the southwest end of lake Michigan, where a fort formerly stood.
15) One piece twelve miles square, at or near the mouth of the Illinois river, emptying into the Mississippi.
16) One piece six miles square, at the old Piorias fort and village near the south end of the Illinois lake, on said Illinois river. And whenever the United States shall think proper to survey and mark the boundaries of the lands hereby ceded to them, they shall give timely notice thereof to the said tribes of Indians, that they may appoint some of their wise chiefs to attend and see that the lines are run according to the terms of this treaty.
And the said Indian tribes will allow to the people of the United States a free passage by land and by water, as one and the other shall be found convenient, through their country, along the chain of posts hereinbefore mentioned; that is to say, from the commencement of the portage aforesaid, at or near Loromie's store, thence along said portage to the St. Mary's, and down the same to fort Wayne, and then down the Miami, to lake Erie; again, from the commencement of the portage at or near Loromie's store along the portage from thence to the river Auglaize, and down the same to its junction with the Miami at fort Defiance; again, from the commencement of the portage aforesaid, to Sandusky river, and down the same to Sandusky bay and lake Erie, and from Sandusky to the post which shall be taken at or near the foot of the Rapids of the Miami of the lake; and from thence to Detroit. Again, from the mouth of Chikago, to the commencement of the portage, between that river and the Illinois, and down the Illinois river to the Mississippi; also, from fort Wayne, along the portage aforesaid, which leads to the Wabash, and then down the Wabash to the Ohio. And the said Indian tribes will also allow to the people of the United States, the free use of the harbors and mouths of rivers along the lakes adjoining the Indian lands, for sheltering vessels and boats, and liberty to land their cargoes where necessary for their safety.
Article 4
In consideration of the peace now established, and of the cessions and relinquishments of lands made in the preceding article by the said tribes of Indians, and to manifest the liberality of the United States, as the great means of rendering this peace strong and perpetual, the United States relinquish their claims to all other Indian lands northward of the river Ohio, eastward of the Mississippi, and westward and southward of the Great Lakes and the waters, uniting them, according to the boundary line agreed on by the United States and the King of Great Britain, in the treaty of peace made between them in the year 1783. But from this relinquishment by the United States, the following tracts of land are explicitly excepted:
1st. The tract on one hundred and fifty thousand acres near the rapids of the river Ohio, which has been assigned to General Clark, for the use of himself and his warriors.
2nd. The post of St. Vincennes, on the River Wabash, and the lands adjacent, of which the Indian title has been extinguished.
3rd. The lands at all other places in possession of the French people and other white settlers among them, of which the Indian title has been extinguished as mentioned in the 3d article; and
4th. The post of fort Massac towards the mouth of the Ohio. To which several parcels of land so excepted, the said tribes relinquish all the title and claim which they or any of them may have.
And for the same considerations and with the same views as above mentioned, the United States now deliver to the said Indian tribes a quantity of goods to the value of twenty thousand dollars, the receipt whereof they do hereby acknowledge; and henceforward every year, forever, the United States will deliver, at some convenient place northward of the river Ohio, like useful goods, suited to the circumstances of the Indians, of the value of nine thousand five hundred dollars; reckoning that value at the first cost of the goods in the city or place in the United States where they shall be procured. The tribes to which those goods are to be annually delivered, and the proportions in which they are to be delivered, are the following:
1st. To the Wyandots, the amount of one thousand dollars.
2nd. To the Delawares, the amount of one thousand dollars.
3rd. To the Shawanees, the amount of one thousand dollars.
4th. To the Miamis, the amount of one thousand dollars.
5th. To the Ottawas, the amount of one thousand dollars.
6th. To the Chippewas, the amount of one thousand dollars.
7th. To the Pattawatimas, the amount of one thousand dollars, and
8th. To the Kickapoo, Wea, Eel River, Piankeshaw, and Kaskaskia tribes, the amount of five hundred dollars each.
Provided, that if either of the said tribes shall hereafter, at an annual delivery of their share of the goods aforesaid, desire that a part of their annuity should be furnished in domestic animals, implements of husbandry, and other utensils convenient for them, and in compensation to useful artificers who may reside with or near them, and be employed for their benefit, the same shall, at the subsequent annual deliveries, be furnished accordingly.
Article 5
To prevent any misunderstanding about the Indian lands relinquished by the United States in the fourth article, it is now explicitly declared, that the meaning of that relinquishment is this: the Indian tribes who have a right to those lands, are quietly to enjoy them, hunting, planting, and dwelling thereon, so long as they please, without any molestation from the United States; but when those tribes, or any of them, shall be disposed to sell their lands, or any part of them, they are to be sold only to the United States; and until such sale, the United States will protect all the said Indian tribes in the quiet enjoyment of their lands against all citizens of the United States, and against all other white persons who intrude upon the same. And the said Indian tribes again acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the said United States, and no other power whatever.
Article 6
If any citizen of the United States, or any other white person or persons, shall presume to settle upon the lands now relinquished by the United States, such citizen or other person shall be out of the protection of the United States; and the Indian tribe, on whose land the settlement shall be made, may drive off the settler, or punish him in such manner as they shall think fit; and because such settlements, made without the consent of the United States, will be injurious to them as well as to the Indians, the United States shall be at liberty to break them up, and remove and punish the settlers as they shall think proper, and so effect that protection of the Indian lands herein before stipulated.
Article 7
The said tribes of Indians, parties to this treaty, shall be at liberty to hunt within the territory and lands which they have now ceded to the United States, without hindrance or molestation, so long as they demean themselves peaceably, and offer no injury to the people of the United States.
Article 8
Trade shall be opened with the said Indian tribes; and they do hereby respectively engage to afford protection to such persons, with their property, as shall be duly licensed to reside among them for the purpose of trade; and to their agents and servants; but no person shall be permitted to reside among them for the purpose of trade; and to their agents and servants; but no person shall be permitted to reside at any of their towns or hunting camps, as a trader, who is not furnished with a license for that purpose, under the hand and seal of the superintendent of the department northwest of the Ohio, or such other person as the President of the United States shall authorize to grant such licenses; to the end, that the said Indians may not be imposed on in their trade.* And if any licensed trader shall abuse his privilege by unfair dealing, upon complaint and proof thereof, his license shall be taken from him, and he shall be further punished according to the laws of the United States. And if any person shall intrude himself as a trader, without such license, the said Indians shall take and bring him before the superintendent, or his deputy, to be dealt with according to law. And to prevent impositions by forged licenses, the said Indians shall, at lease once a year, give information to the superintendent, or his deputies, on the names of the traders residing among them.
Article 9
Lest the firm peace and friendship now established, should be interrupted by the misconduct of individuals, the United States, and the said Indian tribes agree, that for injuries done by individuals on either side, no private revenge or retaliation shall take place; but instead thereof, complaint shall be made by the party injured, to the other: by the said Indian tribes or any of them, to the President of the United States, or the superintendent by him appointed; and by the superintendent or other person appointed by the President, to the principal chiefs of the said Indian tribes, or of the tribe to which the offender belongs; and such prudent measures shall then be taken as shall be necessary to preserve the said peace and friendship unbroken, until the legislature (or great council) of the United States, shall make other equitable provision in the case, to the satisfaction of both parties. Should any Indian tribes meditate a war against the United States, or either of them, and the same shall come to the knowledge of the before mentioned tribes, or either of them, they do hereby engage to give immediate notice thereof to the general, or officer commanding the troops of the United States, at the nearest post.
*See, in relation to this licensed trade, the "first explanatory article" of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, between the United States and Great Britain, of the 19th of November, 1974.
And should any tribe, with hostile intentions against the United States, or either of them, attempt to pass through their country, they will endeavor to prevent the same, and in like manner give information of such attempt, to the general, or officer commanding, as soon as possible, that all causes of mistrust and suspicion may be avoided between them and the United States. In like manner, the United States shall give notice to the said Indian tribes of any harm that may be meditated against them, or either of them, that shall come to their knowledge; and do all in their power to hinder and prevent the same, that the friendship between them may be uninterrupted.
Article 10
All other treaties heretofore made between the United States, and the said Indian tribes, or any of them, since the treaty of 1783, between the United States and Great Britain, that come within the purview of this treaty, shall henceforth cease and become void.
In testimony whereof, the said Anthony Wayne, and the sachems and war chiefs of the before mentioned nations and tribes of Indians, have hereunto set their hands and affixed their seals.
Done at Greenville, in the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, on the third day of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety five.
Wyandots
J. Williams, jun. his x mark, L.S.
Teyyaghtaw, his x mark, L.S.
Haroenyou, or half king's son, his x mark, L.S.
Tehaawtorens, his x mark, L.S.
Awmeyeeray, his x mark, L.S.
Stayetah, his x mark L.S.
Shateyyaronyah, or Leather Lips, his x mark, L.S.
Daughshuttayah, his x mark L.S.
Shaawrunthe, his x mark L.S.
Delawares
Lemantanquis, or Black King, his x mark, L.S.
Wabatthoe, his x mark, L.S.
Maghpiway, or Red Feather, his x mark, L.S.
Kikthawenund, or Anderson, his x mark, L.S.
Bukongehelas, his x mark, L.S.
Peekeelund, his x mark, L.S.
Wellebawkeelund, his x mark, L.S.
Peekeetelemund, or Thomas Adams, his x mark, L.S.
Kishkopekund, or Captain Buffalo, his x mark, L.S.
Amenahehan, or Captain Crow, his x mark, L.S.
Queshawksey, or George Washington, his x mark, L.S.
Weywinquis, or Billy Siscomb, his x mark, L.S.
Moses, his x mark, L.S.
Shawanees
Cutthewekasaw, or Black Hoof, his x mark, L.S.
Kaysewaesekah, his x mark, L.S.
Weythapamattha, his x mark, L.S.
Nianysmeka, his x mark, L.S.
Waytheah, or Long Shanks, his x mark, L.S.
Weyapiersenwaw, or Blue Jacket, his x mark, L.S.
Nequetaughaw, his x mark, L.S.
Hahgoosekaw, or Captain Reed, his x mark, L.S.
Ottawas
Keenoshameek, his x mark, L.S.
La Malice, his x mark, L.S.
Machiwetah, his x mark, L.S.
Thowonawa, his x mark, L.S.
Secaw, his x mark, L.S.
Chippewas
Nahshogashe, (from Lake Superior), his x mark, L.S.
Kathawasung, his x mark, L.S.
Masass, his x mark, L.S.
Nemekass, or Little Thunder, his x mark, L.S.
Peshawkay, or Young Ox, his x mark, L.S.
Nanguey, his x mark, L.S.
Meenedohgeesogh, his x mark, L.S.
Peewanshemenogh, his x mark, L.S.
Weymegwas, his x mark, L.S.
Gobmaatick, his x mark, L.S.
Ottawa
Chegonickska, an Ottawa from Sandusky, his x mark, L.S.Pattawatimas
Nawac, for himself and brother Etsimethe, his x mark, L.S.
Nenanseka, his x mark, L.S.
Keesass, or Run, his x mark, L.S.
Kabamasaw, for himself and brother Chisaugan, his x mark, L.S.
Sugganunk, his x mark, L.S.
Wapmeme, or White Pigeon, his x mark, L.S.
Wacheness, for himself and brother Pedagoshok, his x mark, L.S.
Wabshicawnaw, his x mark, L.S.
La Chasse, his x mark, L.S.
Meshegethenogh, for himself and brother, Wawasek, his x mark, L.S.
Hingoswash, his x mark, L.S.
Anewasaw, his x mark, L.S.
Nawbudgh, his x mark, L.S.
Missenogomaw, his x mark, L.S.
Waweegshe, his x mark, L.S.
Thawme, or Le Blanc, his x mark, L.S.
Geeque, for himself and brother Shewinse, his x mark, L.S.
Pattawatimas of Huron
Chamung, his x mark, L.S.
Segagewan, his x mark, L.S.
Nanawme, for himself and brother A. Gin, his x mark, L.S.
Marchand, his x mark, L.S.
Wenameac, his x mark, L.S.
Miamis
Meshekunnoghquoh, or Little Turtle, his x mark, L.S.
Miamis and Eel Rivers
Cochkepoghtogh, his x mark, L.S.
Eel River Tribe
Shamekunnesa, or Soldier, his x mark, L.S.Miamis
Wapamangwa, or the White Loon, his x mark, L.S.
Weas, for themselves & the Piankeshaws
Acoolatha, or Little Fox, his x mark, L.S.
Francis, his x mark, L.S.
Kickapoos and Kaskaskias
Nemighka, or Josey Renard, his x mark, L.S.
Paikeekanogh, his x mark, L.S.
Delawares of Sandusky
Peyamawksey, his x mark, L.S.
Reyntueco, (of the Six Nations, living at Sandusky), his x mark, L.S.
H. De Butts, first A.D.C. and Sec'ry to Major Gen. Wayne,
Wm. H. Harrison, Aid de Camp to Major Gen. Wayne,
T. Lewis, Aid de Camp to Major Gen. Wayne,
James O'Hara, Quartermaster Gen'l.
John Mills, Major of Infantry, and Adj. Gen'l. Caleb Swan, P.M.T.U.S.
Gen. Demter, Lieut. Artillery,
Vigo,
P. Frs. La Fontaine,
Ast. Lasselle,
Sworn interpret
ers. H. Lasselle,
Wm. We
lls, Js. Beau Bien,
Jacques Lasse
lle, David Jones, Chaplain U.S.S.
M. Morins,
Lewis Beaufait,
Bt. Sans Crainte,
R. Lachambre,
Christopher Miller,
Jas. Pepen,
Robert Wilson,
Baties Coutien,
Abraham Williams, his x mark
P. Navarre.
Isaac Zane, his x mark
Tribal history links
Susquehannock History
The Meherrin Tribe of North Carolina (unlinked)
MINGO INDIAN (Iroquois or Six Nations)
Native Americans in Allendale Count (unlinked)
http://anthro.org/paleo98.htm (unlinked)
The SCGenWeb Project
Hernando De Soto's Trail through South Carolina
Free African Americans - The author Paul Heinegg classifies many of the ancestors of contemporary Eastern Native Americans as Free People of Color. The colonial government as well as the U.S. government especially in the early years was in the habit of denouncing Native ancestry in order to facilitate European encroachment. According to many Native tribes if your mother was a Indian than you would be considered a Indian, it did not matter if you were a mestizo (part European) or a mustee (part African). In fact in the early records of S.C., a mullato, was a person of Native and European parentage (Hicks,98). Many of your African slaves were forced to inter-breed with enslaved Native women. There was a greater percentage of African male slaves between the ages of nine and seventeen held captive and very few African females. Many of the Native warriors of S.C. were killed or vanquished into foreign slavery to the West Indies, Europe or New England. The prime human chattel in the south was the mustee. Through generations these mustee children began to marry newly arriving African slaves which gave prominence to a African heritage.
Wapakoneta and Lewistown
The region where Wapakoneta and Lewistown are located, near the Indiana border, were important places to the Ottawa prior to their move west and out of Ohio. By 1798, The Shawnee had made Wapakoneta their headquarters. Lewistown was a small town of less than 200 Shawnee and Seneca Indians, but was located very close to Wapakoneta. By 1808, there were reports of more than 500 Shawnees living at Wapakoneta, including Black Hoof and Captain Reed (Wee-A-Se-Sa-Ka a.k.a. Haugoosekaw and Long Hair by the Chickamauga). The Indians of Wapakoneta and Lewistown had adopted the agricultural methods that the Quakers had introduced to them and worked to prove that they had indeed adopted the life of the white settlers. Wapakoneta was the location of the first saw mill and grist mill in north west Ohio. In 1810, a government agent was sent to help the Indians and to hire a blacksmith. However, this did not last since the agent was removed for a lack of paperwork.
The Shawnee and Senecas continued to live at Wapakoneta until they were forced to leave in 1831. The Treaties of Wapakoneta and Lewistown forced the removal of the Shawnees and Senecas to Kansas but some families had relocated to the south over the past century. In South Carolina this band was referred to as Notowega whose steady influx into South Carolina occurred around 1748, when three hundred families had settled among the Chickamauga (Lower Cherokee) at Keowee.
The Wapakonetta Shawnee History
By George Bluejacket
Transcribed and edited by John Allen Raynor, 1886
Wapaughkonnetta [Wapakoneta, Ohio], October 29, 1829.
I have been told by Nath-the-wee-law [Geo. C. Johnston] to write a story of our tribe. Nath-the-wee-law is our brother and friend of our people. My father [Bluejacket] was great Chief and told us many things of the old Shawanoes [Shawnees].
Other old Chiefs have told us many things too.
I was born two winters after the Gin-e-wane Al-ag-wa ["rain of stars" - the spectacular meteor shower of 1800] at our Pe-quaw town [Piqua] on Big Miami Se-pe [Great Miami "River"].
My father was Head-Chief then at that town.
My Father Chief was buried there by our White Father [John Johnston] near the school-house.
Many of our people [are] buried there.
Our White Father has told us to go sit by our dead on his farm any time. Some of our tribe go there every summer. We all love that place.
We all love our White Father John Johnston too.
I now tell about our tribe.
Old Chief Black-hoof has told us that our tribe came from the great salt water, where Ke-sath-wa ["the sun"] came out of the Kitch-e-ca-me ["lake"] in the morning, and hid in the Me-to-quegh-ke ["forest"] at night.
We were a great people. Our men were great warriors. They fought many tribes and always beat them.
The beginning of the Shawanoe tribe was when the Co-cum-tha ["Grandmother"] of our people come up out of the great salt water holding to the tail of the Me-she-pe-she ["panther"].
Her Wash-et-che ["husband"] was carried to the shore by a very big Wa-be-the ["swan," or "goose"].
The land where their people had lived was swallowed up in the great salt water by Watch-e-me-ne-too ["bad spirit", or "devil"], but Mish-e-me-ne-toc ["the great god", or "good spirit"] saved these two and they were the first of our tribe.
Many animals and birds were saved too, so there was plenty hunting in the new Me-to-quegh-ke ["forest"].
This was many Te-pa-wa-Ko-te ["hundred seasons", or years] ago, and our people soon became many.
They have always been called Shawanoes ["Water People"] and the Me-she-pe-she ["panther"] and Wa-be-the ["swan"] have always been the signs [or totems] of this tribe.
After a time the white people got too many for [the] red men and then we followed the best hunting toward the north.
The Al-wa-ma-ke ["bottom land"] was good for the corn, and the Ma-vuegh-ke ["hills"] full of game.
The Mean-e-lench ["young men"] hunted and ran on the warpath.
The Pash-e-to-the ["old men"] caught A-ma-tha ["fish"] in the Bo-with-e ["small streams"] and the E-qui-wa ["women"] worked in the Da-me ["maize", or corn].
Then many seasons passed, the tribe always going to the north, to when Black-hoof was a Mean-e-lench ["young man"] and they were all north of the Great Se-pe [Great "River" or, the Ohio River].
Here we were given much land by our brothers, the Wyandots. We built many towns and lived long time in peace, till the white men behind the Great Se-pe tried to drive us away.
They sent their Shem-a-noes ["Long Knives"] to our lodges and killed our E-qui-wa and A-pe-to-the ["women" and "children"].
Then our great Chief called all our warriors to a Big Council at the Chillicothe Town.
Here they made talk to use the war-paint till all the bad spirits of our enemies were dead.
Black Hoof told us all this. My father told me, and so told me too that himself he remember these wars along the Big Se-pe [Ohio River].
Then he spoke to me too about [the] great army of General Clarke [George Rogers Clark] and Logan [Benjamin Logan]; how the Watch-e-men-e-toc ["evil spirit"] was with the warriors at our Pe-quaw town on Mad River, where many of us were killed and our town burned; how we came to the Big Miami [Great Miami River] and built a new Pe-quaw town; how many died in the winter from hungry and cold, though our brothers, the Wyandots, gave us some corn and beans.
He told me too how angry our warriors were and how they made war medicine; how they went in the summer to the pale-face houses, killed many and took many scalps.
How after two summers Clarke come again and burned our towns on Big Miami; then how all the tribes above the Great Se-pe [Ohio River] met in council at Pe-quaw town; how all the war-chiefs struck the war-post and made words that the pale-face people must stay behind [south and east of] the Great Se-pe .
My Father Bluejacket, Little Turtle and Tarhe made much talk at council, and for many summers our war bands camped along the Great Se-pe .
Then came a time when an army of Shem-a-ga-ne ["soldiers"] come over the old salt trail to the Miami towns, but our tribes beat them so they ran home [Harmar's Defeat -1790].
The next season a great army come up back [west] of the Big Miami [Great Miami River] to the Maumee towns, and our warriors killed so many that some only got back home [St. Clair's Defeat - 1791].
My Father show me many many scalp from that big battle. My Father told me too that all the tribes now much angry and make all ready to go on war-path over the Great Se-pe into Kentucky, but Simon Girty tell them another big army coming, so our warriors stay home and wait.
They wait one, two seasons, then Tota [a Frenchman] tell them big army coming up old trail and camp on Greenville Creek.
My Father Chief Bluejacket tell me this: He send runners [scouts] to see this big army and tell him how many. He keep runners all time watch this army, and all tribes wait on Maumee Se-pe ["river"].
He send war band to catch Big White Chief [Anthony Wayne] sleepy, but that army never sleepy, so wait for him come to fort on Maumee where British Chief [Maj. William Campbell] say they help Indians beat Wayne [Fort Miamis].
This time Indian get beat and also get no help from fort army [Battle of Fallen Timbers - 1794].
My Father Chief Bluejacket told me British fort army all liars, and next season most all tribes go to big council at Greenville [Treaty of Greenville].
Here they make treaty with Wayne, bury tomahawk, and give much land to Shem-a-noes [Americans].
My Father Chief Bluejacket never after dig up tomahawk against Shem-a-noes , but after a few times [years] Tecumseh and his Brother [The Prophet] make war medicine with the British Chief at Detroit and try [to] make our tribe fight Shem-a-noes [Americans] but my father say no, and other tribes say yes, but get beat by Big White Chief Harrison [William Henry Harrison] at Tippecanoe on Wabash Se-pe . [Battle of Tippecanoe - 1811: Tecumseh Sites].
Our tribe then live at Wapaughkonnetta, above treaty line [Treaty of Greenville Line], but soon when British want us [to] make war medicine our great White Father at Washington [President James Monroe] move our tribe back to our old Pe-quaw Town [Upper Piqua], where some of Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, and Senecas stay peaceful under council of our white Father, John Johnston.
This I know myself, for I was then big boy [10 years old] and many time play at post with John Johnston A-pe-to-the ["children"].
Captain John Logan and some more [of] our tribe were runners for General Harrison, and were all brave men.
Some time after this war [was] over we were moved back to Wapaughkonnetta, but our White Father, John Johnston, [was] still our agent and many time come [to] talk with our people there.
My Father Chief Blue Jacket, Black-Hoof, [and] Wi-wel-i-pea were big friends with John Johnston and many times went to his post at Pe-quaw [Upper Piqua], and I too sometime went with them too. For many seasons [years] we live peaceful at Wapaughkonnetta, then when I am young man [19 years old - 1821] John Johnston take me to his post and let me go [to] school-house on his farm.
I live in John Johnston post, and our master [school teacher] live there too.
Our master [James Laird - an Irishman] much red-head man and beat everybody with stick, but we soon know how read, write, [and] spell like he himself.
Some boys name Winans, Widney, Russell, McIntire, Bill Johnston, [and] Steve Johnston go same time to school-house I do, and get beat too.
I like to live at John Johnston, but one, two, three winter, then I go back [to] Wapaughkonnetta and other boys go back down to school-house.
Not much go past [happens] for some seasons [years] then Nath-the-wee-law [Geo. C. Johnston] buy trading-store of Skip-a-ge-tha [Nicholas Greenham] at Wapaughkonnetta and me I sometime make help in store.
We make big friends together, and he have me write some all [the] time.
Frank Duchouquet [Francis Duchouquet, an early French trader among the Ohio Indian tribes], George Moffett [a European-American raised by the Shawnee from childhood], [and] John Elliott [official blacksmith at John Johnston's post] were big friends with us too, and sometimes we make big hunt all together in the Mis-ke-ko-pe ["swamp-land"] toward the Maumee Se-pe [River].
George Moffett's Indian name [is] Kit-er-hoo; Frank Duchouquet's [is] So-wah-quo-the, and both belong to our tribe.
In the last moon myself, Geo. Moffett, and Nath-the-wee-law [Geo. C. Johnston] make big deer hunt near to the big Kitch-e-ca-me [Lake Erie] and brought in 63 skins.
Many of us kill a-magh-qua ["beaver"], Osh-as-qua ["muskrat"], and ki-ta-te ["otter"] in the cold season.
Jan. 9, 1830.
I have not make much write in book for two moons. Nath-the-wee-law [Geo. C. Johnston] and Skip-a-ge-tha [Nicholas Greenham] with some head chiefs of our tribe and Wyandots, make long walk to see our Great White Father at Washington, and tell him about Indians trouble since John Johnston no more Father [agent] for our tribes.
Our now White Father [agent] make much talk about our goods, but no make goods come to Indian.
Our tribe get much winter goods from John Johnston anyway, for John Johnston always friend of poor Indian.
One time in corn season some many white people come form Piquatown to our New Corn Dance. Nath-the-wee-law [Geo. C. Johnston] dance with us a make them people much laugh.
We had much good time but some Indians drink much fire-water and fight one [an]other till one two die.
Also we make some big race and shoot at post but Geo. Moffett too *****
[Here an entire leaf was missing from the "Diary" and the following was probably written in the Fall of 1830, for they were congregated at St. Marys in December of that year. J. A. Raynor, editor]
***** have come to tell us all Indians must move right away to Girty's Town [St. Marys] to make more ready to go to new Indian land on big Ta-was-ko-ta ["prairie"] near "Night Lodge of Ke-sath-wa " [Sun].
Our old people make much sorry [sorrow] for they not wish to leave old home.
Nath-the-wee-law [Geo. C. Johnston] and John Johnston sorry too, but say Indian must do like the Great White Father at Washington say, for white people must have all land before the Big Se-pe [East of the Mississippi River].
Our tribe is no more a great people. Our old chiefs most all gone.
Our warriors sit down most like E-qui-wa ["women"]. We take what our White Father gives us. Now we must go to new land. Soon more times we will have to move again. Soon there will be no more Shaw-anoes. Our hearts [are] full of sorry [sorrow] for all the tribes.
But we will listen to the voice of our Mish-eme-ne-toc ["good spirit"] in the great Me-to-quegh-ke ["forest"] and he tells his A-pe-to-the ["children"] when they all gone from this Mel-che-a-sis-ke ["poor land", or "poor earth"] he will lead them to their their We-che-a-sis-ke ["good land"] where all place is for Indian; where pale-face never come.
Then poor Indian more again be happy.
Girty's Town [St. Marys, Ohio] June, 1831
Nath-the-wee-law [Geo. C. Johnston] tell me to write more in book. Soon Nath-the-wee-law go back home to Piquatown. When our White Father [agent] have plenty much Me-she-wa ["horses"] then Indian start on long walk to new home.
Our tribe [will] go down to old Pe-quaw Town at John Johnston post, and sit sometime on the graves of our fathers.
Then we will tell good-by to John Johnston and Nath-the-wee-law [Geo. C. Johnston].
Then we will tell good-by to the Me-to-quegh-ke ["forest"] by the Se-pe ["river"], and leave our old home forever.
George Bluejacket.
Note added by John A. Rayner:
From other authority we learn that just previous to their removal west, and by special invitation of their former agent, Col. John Johnston, this tribe did come down in a body to their old home at Upper Piqua and remained several days on the site of their old home and burial grounds.
Their parting from these old-time scenes, and especially their final farewell to their kindly old Agent and his family, was very affecting, and was the occasion of much shedding of tears by all the participants.
Not long after the removal of this tribe to their western reservation, Bluejacket became Chief, and according to Major Stephen Johnston, is still living at this date.
Appendix
Original Preface to George Bluejacket's narrative:
An Indian's Own Story
Transcribed and Edited by John Allen Rayner
In March, 1886.
Preface
Among the papers, accounts, and manuscript left by the late Geo. C. Johnston, were several important documents relating to that period in his life when he conducted a licensed trading post at "Wapaughkonnetta", and later at St. Marys.
His dealings were confined principally to the Indian trade, especially with the Shawanoes, for the members of this tribe far outnumbered all the others at these posts just previous to their removal to the West.
These tribes had been under the guidance and protection Col. John Johnston at Upper Piqua for many years, but a new administration at Washington had removed him from office and placed them under the control of his successor at Wapaughkonnetta.
Geo. C. Johnston had been adopted into this branch of the Shawanoe tribe, so when they were taken away from Upper Piqua he soon followed them to their new post above the treaty line.
One interesting relic of this period, with dates running from Nov. 8, 1829 to June 1, 1831, is a large number of unpaid notes (in book form) given by the different members of the tribe to Johnston for goods, and as they went west so after this date these notes undoubtedly stand for a large loss sustained by the trader.
But the most interesting is the "Diary" or "Story of the Shawanoes" written by George Bluejacket, one of their own number.
Bluejacket was a son of the Old Chief of that name, and was one of the many Indian boys who were placed in school at Upper Piqua by Col. John Johnston in the early twenties.
Young Bluejacket must have spent several winters at school, for although his orthography is poor and his punctuation minus, the handwriting is very good.
But the poor quality of the paper, the faded ink, and the general dilapidation of the manuscript, makes the task of editing it considerable.
All I can claim in rendering this old story readable, is better spelling, some punctuation, and the interpretation of the Indian words and metaphor which he has used extensively.
Instead of using foot-notes for the interpretations I will place the words in parenthesis directly after the Indian form, and thus avoid detraction from the point of interest.
The white men that Bluejacket speaks of as being at the post, were Francis Duchouquet, an early French trader among the Ohio tribes, and later Indian interpreter for Col. John Johnston at Upper Piqua.
George Moffett, a great hunter and an excellent rifle shot, had been a captive in this tribe when a young boy.
John Elliott, the official black-smith at the post, afterward moved to Piqua.
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