This essay is intended only as an introduction to the Southeastern Indians and is by no means comprehensive. Please consult our Suggested Readings and Links for resources on the history and culture of the groups discussed here.

The term Southeastern Indians is typically used to refer to the Cherokees, the Creeks, the Chickasaws, the Seminoles, and the Choctaws, as well as many, many other important tribes. The Southeastern Indians historically inhabited the territory bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, the dry regions beyond the Mississippi River on the west, the Ohio River valley to the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Although the majority of our documents relate to people and events in the states of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina, we also have quite a few related to areas of Mississippi, Louisiana and South Carolina, as well as a number originating from Philadelphia, New York, and Washington D.C., the political centers of the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Cherokees lived primarily along the southern chain of the Appalachian Mountains. The Upper Creeks inhabited the Coosa, Tallapoosa and Alabama river areas, along with the Alabamas, and Koasatis. The Lower Creeks lived in the area around the lower Chattahoochee River, in both Georgia and Alabama, as did the Yuchis (or Uchees). The Chickasaws populated areas of northern Mississippi and Alabama, while the Choctaws lived throughout regions of Mississippi. The Seminoles occupied the northern and central regions of Florida. In addition, there were a number of other groups living throughout the Southeast, such as the Timucuans, Apalachees, Guales, Chitimachas, Yamasees, Natchez, Houmas, Miccosukees, and Hitchitees, many of which were erroneously labeled by other names.

It is important to remember that the names currently used to describe the Native Americans living in the Southeast during the 18th and 19th centuries were largely invented and applied to them by Europeans, who often misidentified native groups or created artificial connections between relatively unrelated groups. For instance, the word 'Creek' was the shortened name given by English traders to Native Americans living on Ochese Creek in central Georgia and widely applied to Native inhabitants throughout the Southeast. (For information regarding spelling and standardization procedures, see our Editorial Policy.)

In addition, it should be noted that the Southeastern Indians are not absent from the present Southeastern United States. Descendants of some of the above-mentioned populations still inhabit areas of the Southeast, including western North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Many more dwell in Oklahoma and surrounding regions, the territories to which many of their ancestors were forcibly removed in the 1830's.

The majority of the documents originating from the University of Georgia collections pertain to the history and culture of the Creek Indians (Upper and Lower), and the Cherokee Indians, prior to their removal. In addition, the Georgia collections contain items relevant to the Seminole Indians, the Chickasaw Indians, and the Choctaw Indians. The majority of the documents originating from the Tennessee collections pertain to the history and culture of the Cherokee Indians.

Researching the Southeastern Indians

Most of the research on the Southeastern Indians has necessarily relied on written accounts of their lives and culture, frequently from an outsider's perspective. Only the Cherokees developed a written language, and that invention did not appear until 1819. (For more information on the invention of the Cherokee Syllabary, see our biography of its inventor, Sequoyah.) More often than not, accounts were either written in a European language by a person of European descent, or by a Native person writing in an adopted European language. In either case, we are often forced to rely on documents that contain an inherent cultural bias that privileges European languages over Native languages and written culture over oral culture. These are important considerations when viewing the documents presented here.

Nevertheless, since so few documents exist to chronicle the lives of the Southeastern Indians in their own languages and from their own perspectives, historical inquiry must frequently depend on the written record of outsiders. The documents presented here are primarily related to contact between whites and Natives in the Southeast and have an immediacy that no textbook can convey. But, we also learn a great deal from archaeologists who continue to develop new ways of understanding the history of the Southeastern Indians through innovative research and fieldwork. For instance, some of the images available here are associated with the Tellico Reservoir Archaeology Project, a series of excavations and research endeavors conducted by the University of Tennessee that provided a glimpse into the archaeological record of Cherokee town and house sites in the 18th and 19th centuries. (See the McClung Museum Images.)

Contact with Europeans

1690s-1770s

Early contact between Europeans and the Southeastern Indians began in the 1500s but was not sustained until near the end of the 1600s. By this point, French, Spanish and British explorers had traversed most of the Southeast and had founded early colonies from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the coastal regions of Virginia. One of the most devastating effects of this early contact between Southeastern Indians and European settlers was the proliferation of diseases against which the native populations had no natural defenses. It is estimated that some groups were reduced by 50% or more in the first hundred years of contact, and some died out completely.

Many of the Southeastern Indians, especially those who had prolonged contact with Europeans, engaged in trading animal skins and furs for manufactured trade goods such as iron, brass, and tin cookware and farming implements, and most significantly, guns. The success of the fur trade meant that game gradually became more scarce; hunters using European weapons were able to bring home larger and larger numbers of skins. Simultaneously, white settlers were putting increasing pressure on the eastern borders of the Indian populations. In addition, the growth of the fur trade made some groups of Southeastern Indians largely dependent on contact with Europeans to sustain their new ways of living. A great deal of the early conflicts between Southeastern Indians and European settlers grew from the uneasy and often dangerous interactions connected to Indian/white trade. Officially, traders were to receive passes or licenses to conduct trade with the surrounding Native American populations and a number of these licenses appear in our database.

In addition to the commercial relationships, Southeastern Indians were often caught up in conflicts between European colonists. Many of the tribes refrained from aligning themselves with any particular nation until it was unavoidable. Many others established alliances as they became convenient, first allying with one nation, then with its adversary. The Cherokees and Creeks were particularly affected by the conflicts between European settlers that sometimes resulted in the exacerbation of inter- and intra-tribal conflicts. In addition, many Native populations experienced retaliation by the winners of these conflicts for having supported the losers. The Revolutionary War provides a convenient example. During the Revolutionary War, the vast majority of Cherokees had supported the British. After the conflict subsided, many Cherokees were attacked and dispossessed as "punishment" for having supported the King.

1780s-1820s

After the war, the newly formed United States began to enact specific policies to govern Indian affairs. The Constitution of the United States contains several articles pertinent to the relations between white and Native populations, especially with regard to commerce and trade. In addition, Presidents such as George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson devised specific strategies for dealing with the sustained contact between Indian tribes and white settlers who were putting greater and greater pressure on their borders. The Indian policies of these early leaders reflected a parent/child dynamic in which the U.S. government saw itself as the responsible guardian and protector of the naïve and ignorant native populations. One important aspect of this relationship was the dispatch of Indian agents, such as Benjamin Hawkins (U.S. agent to the Creeks) and Return J. Meigs (U.S. agent to the Cherokees), sent to live among each tribe. A significant portion of the documents available here represent correspondences, orders, and reports to and from these and other influential government officials sent to interact with the Indians.

Despite attempts to strengthen Native/white relations, border conflicts gradually became more frequent and intense. White settlers who had moved to the frontiers began to allege that their property was being stolen or destroyed by Indians. Many of these white settlers were squatting beyond the existing boundary lines, yet petitioned state governors for protection from the "wanton depredations" of the Indians on whose land they were squatting. In addition, larger and larger numbers of slaves had either escaped to Indian land or were alleged to have been kidnapped.

One of the results of the increasing tensions along the borders between Indian populations and white settlers was the Georgia Compact of 1802. This agreement essentially promised that the U.S. government would extinguish the Indian title to all lands within the territory of Georgia within an undetermined number of years, and established the precedent for the Indian Removal policies that would characterize the 1820s and 1830s. The state of Georgia and its counterparts expected prompt fulfillment of this compact, and settlers and state governments quickly became impatient for Indian land. A significant number of the documents presented here relate to troubled interactions between Indians and frontier whites, with voluminous complaints rising from both sides. In addition, a number of important treaties were negotiated during the period from the 1790s through the 1820s that provided for the cession of millions of acres of Indian land throughout the Southeast.

Just before the War of 1812, a series of Ghost Dance movements began among the Southeastern Indians. These movements were intensely spiritual revitalization efforts, but they were also influenced by the deteriorating conditions of Native/white relations in the early 19th century. The Ghost Dance movement has often been characterized as a "search for order" in the chaotic world of border wars, shifting alliances, and economic uncertainties.

In 1811, Shawnee revolutionaries Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa (often known as "The Prophet") visited the Creek Nation and proposed the formation of a confederacy of Indians united against the Americans. The appearance of a fiery comet, and a series of earthquakes between December 1811 and April 1812, underscored the general feeling of an impending upheaval. Alarmist reports on the effects of the Ghost Dance inspired frontier whites to new levels of hysteria and violence throughout the Southeast.

From 1812-1814, nearly every tribe of Southeastern Indians was experiencing violent bouts of internal conflict and external pressure. The Seminoles found themselves under attack by a group of militiamen and federal troops who invaded Spanish Florida, in part to annihilate settlements of freed and escaped slaves living among the Florida Indians. The result was a series of bloody battles collectively referred to as Payne's War, after the Seminole leader who lead the successful resistance. This war strengthened the desire to secure Florida from the Spanish, and by so doing, to calm Georgia slave owners who feared reprisal from groups of escaped slaves and incensed Seminoles living just across the border. Meanwhile, the Creeks had become embroiled in civil strife.

The Upper Creeks, whose leaders included Big Warrior, and Opoithle Yoholo, lived in central Alabama just south of the Cherokee Lower Towns. Some of the Upper Creeks were eventually labeled "the hostile Indians" for their revolt against the influence of white officials like Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins, and the power and influence of the Lower Creeks, particularly mixed bloods. The Lower Creeks, including influential figures such as William McIntosh and Little Prince, lived in southern Georgia and were generally more sympathetic to the interests of the whites, thus the appellation applied to them was "the friendly Creeks."

A party of Upper Creeks, also known as the "Red Stick Creeks" for the red tinted war clubs that symbolized their resistance, began acting out their rhetoric of rebellion in 1813, and the Lower Creeks joined with the Americans to punish them for the atrocities they committed. The Creek War lasted until 1814 when Andrew Jackson, along with significant numbers of Creek and Cherokee soldiers, annihilated Red Stick forces at the decisive Battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. The Treaty of Fort Jackson was signed in August 1814 and ceded more than half of all remaining Creek territory, including a significant portion belonging to the Lower Creeks, as well as 2.2 million acres belonging to the Cherokees, both of whom had fought with Jackson against the Upper Creeks.

During the period from 1815 to 1820, the Cherokee Nation also underwent an internal revolution in which many of the younger chiefs revolted against and undermined the power of the more conservative elders. The Cherokees had initiated a series of dramatic social and political changes that ultimately resulted in the establishment of a body of written laws, a bi-cameral council, a judiciary body, and a written Cherokee constitution (1827). John Ross, who would become Principal Chief of the Cherokees and remain at that post for 38 years, was instrumental in drafting and enacting this new body of laws. These actions were viewed with apprehension by officials in Georgia and Tennessee since they imbued the Cherokee nation with a greater sense of autonomy and permanence. It was during this period that Andrew Jackson, an active land speculator himself, and Governor Joseph McMinn of Tennessee, among others, resurrected the idea of wholesale removal of the Southeastern Indians.

Indian Removal - 1830s

Many of our documents relate to the social and political issues leading up to Indian Removal. While most of the documents pertain specifically to the Creek and Cherokee removal efforts, it is important to understand the larger historical context in which these forced migrations occurred. Many of the documents are related to land speculation controversies and border disputes that formed part of the impetus for the passage of the Indian Removal Act (1830), one of the first pieces of legislation proposed and enacted after Andrew Jackson took office as President. This bill endowed the President with the authority to negotiate removal treaties with each of the Southeastern tribes. Many of the southern states saw the passage of this bill as an opportunity to extend their state jurisdiction over the various Indian tribes living within state borders. Subsequently, many of these states systematically began to enact laws designed to oppress and dispossess the Indians.

The first state to initiate a removal effort was Mississippi. After informing the Choctaws that the U.S. government could no longer protect them from the state of Mississippi, The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed on September 27, 1830 (ratified and proclaimed on February 24, 1831) and effected the cession of all lands belonging to Choctaws east of the Mississippi River. Removal was disorganized and attacks on the emigrants en route were common. This was the first large-scale removal of indigenous peoples within the U.S. and took place between 1831 and 1833.

Similarly, Alabama and Georgia quickly enacted laws that deprived Indians within state borders of any rights. Ultimately, the Treaty of Washington was signed at Brown's Hotel on March 24, 1832 (ratified and proclaimed on April 4, 1832) and provided for the cession of all remaining Creek Indian lands east of the Mississippi, with the exception of individual reservations which would persist for up to five years. Creek removal (1836-1837) was particularly devastating, in part because by the time removal occurred, many of the Creeks were absolutely destitute. In addition, during the Creek removal, the Creek leaders were called upon by the U.S. government to help capture Seminoles resisting removal in Florida.

The attempt to remove the Seminoles, as with the other tribes, was characterized by deception and fraud. A treaty was negotiated at Payne's Landing on May 9, 1832 that would relocate the Seminoles to the west and subject them to the authority of the Creeks, an agreement that included surrendering their annuity and their slaves to Creek control. Reaction to this dubious compact led in part to the Second Seminole War. A number of the troops sent to remove the Seminoles encountered fierce resistance from leaders like Osceola, who opposed removal at all costs. Meanwhile, some Seminoles characterized as "friendly" had already removed to the west. Shortly after Osceola was captured, a Cherokee delegation was enlisted to convince the Seminoles of the decent intentions of the U.S. government. This resulted in the undue arrest of other Seminole leaders by U.S. military officials, and the strength of the Seminole resistance began to fade. More were forced to remove during the mid-late 1830s, but the United States continued to assault the Seminoles still remaining in Florida well into the twentieth century.

During the removal frenzy, the Chickasaws also negotiated a treaty that agreed to cede all their remaining lands east of the Mississippi River. The Treaty of Pontotoc Creek was signed October 22, 1832 (ratified and proclaimed March 1, 1833) and committed the Chickasaws to removal. Long before the Chickasaw lands were lotteried, large numbers of white squatters began settling illegally, and as with the other tribes, the federal government was either unwilling or unable to prevent such crimes. The forced migration of the Chickasaws took place from 1837-1838 and many settled on parcels of land that had been bought from the newly relocated Choctaws in the west.

The Cherokees actively fought removal from before the passage of the Indian Removal act, until the last days before actual removal began. After several unsuccessful negotiations between U.S. commissioners and Cherokee leaders, a small party of Cherokees including Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot, editor of the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, signed the New Echota Treaty in December of 1835 (To access the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, select the Databases link at the top of the page, and then select Georgia Historic Newspapers). This treaty ceded the remainder of Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi and was widely considered fraudulent among the rest of the Cherokee Nation because it was signed by a tiny, but vocal, minority. Forced removal of the Cherokees began in 1838 and is widely known as the Trail of Tears because approximately one-fourth of the population died en route to Oklahoma. A small number of Cherokees managed to escape capture and settled in the mountains of Western North Carolina where the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Tribe still resides. We have presented a number of documents from the papers of William H. Thomas, an adopted Cherokee and legal representative for the Eastern Cherokees, that provide insight into the survival of the Eastern Band during and after Cherokee Removal.

Conclusion

The history of the Southeastern Indians is more expansive and complicated than any summary or overview can convey. The primary lesson the documents on this site teach us is that no single version of "history" can prevail. The overwhelming complexity of these peoples, this era, and these events urges us to appreciate the fact that many histories emerge from documents such as we have presented. We encourage you to approach these histories with a questioning attitude, considering issues of audience, tone, context, and purpose, in each document. For more information on any of the topics covered in this essay, or for more context on the documents available here, please visit our Suggested Readings and Links.

Text by Angela Pulley
Photographs from the New Echota State Historic Site by Tara Hottenstein