iJOT3Ww!avMM5(, V^TOiJCClP/"^ GEORGIA fflSTORICAL COLLECTIONS VOL. Ill PART I BS- Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2010 witii funding from Lyrasis IVIembers and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/collectionsofgeo31hawk NffW Tons- COLLECTIONS OF THR GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY VOLUME III. PART I. COLLECTIONS OF THE GEOEGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, VOLUME III. PART I. NON SIBI SED ALUS. SAVANNAH: PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY. MDCCCXLVIII. I t, uos. NEW YORK: WILLIAM VAN NORDLN PRINTKK, NO. 39 WILLIAM STREET. American EtHnological Saciety. INTRODUCTION. The Georgia Historical Society having, for some years, been in possession of several manuscript volumes of the late Colonel Benjamin Hawkins, the earliest agent of the United States for Indian Affairs, their examination and publication by the Society, became an object of interest. Accordingly, they were referred to a committee, whose report attested their value, as materials for the early his- tory of Georgia, and especially for that of the confederacy of the Creek or Muscogee Indians, who formerly owned and swayed, the southwestern portion of the State. That report recommended the immediate publication of one of these manuscripts, which the author has called "yl Sketch of the Creek Country in the years 1798 and 1799." As a member of the Society, I proposed to superintend this publication, and to defi-ay its expense, as the resources of the Society were already anticipated by the erection of a Library and Historical Hall. The Society did me the honor to accept my proposition. The Georgia Historical Society has now been in exist- ence for nine years. During that period, it has published two volumes of Collections and Transactions, and the present publication wdl constitute the first part of the third volume. The introduction to the first volume, thus alludes to these manuscripts of Mr. Hawkins : " In relation to the department of Indian history, a department so interesting in itself, and so intimately blended with the early settle- ment of this State, the Society has obtained some very rare and valuable manuscripts, which contain long and minute accounts of the manners and customs of tiie In- dians ; proceedings of Indian agents ; treaties with vari- ous tribes ; all greatly augmenting the materials of abo- riginal history." 4 Introduction. Tlie eight volumes of manuscripts, in possession of the Society, attest the industry and enhghtened zeal of the author. He has preserved and transmitted to us, his talks and treaties, made with various Indian tribes ; his corres- pondence with the General Government and with State authorities ; vocabularies of aboriginal languages, and invaluable records of the manners, customs, rites and civil polity of the tribes. It is reported, that many valuable papers of Mr. Haw- kins have been irreparably lost to the world, by the burn- ing of his residence in the Creek country. The present manuscripts, it is supposed, have been preserved by their having been submitted to the Governor of the State, at Milledgeville, for his perusal. Colonel Hawkins was still living in the year 1825. In that year, these volumes were in Savannah, under the charge of Mr. Joseph Bevan, who had been appointed by the General Assembly "to collect, arrange and publish, all papers relating to the original set- tlement or political history of the State." I learn this fact from a published report of his, made to Governor Troup. At the decease of Mr. Bevan, they were prob- ably returned to the executive department at Milledge- ville. At the institution of the Historical Society, a for- tunate accident brought these valuable papers to the knowledge of J. K. TefTt, Esq., the corresponding secre- tary of the Society, and the actual cashier of the Bank of the State of Georgia, at Savannah. At his pressing in- stance, in favor of the Society, they were sohcited and obtained, for the Society's library. It is a singular fact, unparalleled in this age of printing, that there are five copies existing, of this " Sketch of the Creek Country." The most plausible motive for this cu- rious multiplication of written copies, was the desire of speculators in Indian lands, to learn the topography, re- sources and character of the Creek country. In this publication I have used the original manuscript of Mr. Hawkins, which has been attested by Mr. Tefft, who has a wide reputation for his collection of autographs, and for his admirable taStC in that department of aesthet- ics. The writing and condition of the volume, give evi- dence of its having been written as early as the year 1800. THE AUTHOR. Colonel Benjamin Hawkins, was for more than thirty years, employed by the Government of the United States, in its intercourse with Indian tribes. The in- fluence which he obtained and exercised among these tribes, is forcibly stated by Mr. Gallatin: " Mr. Hawkins, under the modest name of 'Beloved Man of the Four Na- tions,^ did govern, or, at least, exercise during his life, a considerable influence over the Creeks, Choctaws, and even the Chicasaws and Cherokees." A legitimate curi- osity prompts me to trace the public career of a man, who, on the highest authority, rendered efficient and valu- able services to his country, for a long series of years. The first official notice of Mr. Hawkins, presents him as joint commissioner with Andrew Pickens, Joseph Mar- tin, and Lachlan Mcintosh, to negotiate with the Creek Indians, in the year 1785. They concluded the treaty of Galphinton. In the same year, the treaty of Hopewell was concluded with the Cherokees, By the treaty of New York, in 1790, the Creek Indians placed themselves under the protection of the United States, and of no other Power. By the treaty of Galphinton, they had acknow- ledged themselves to be within the limits of Georgia, and members of the same. These two inconsistent states of political relationship, and which are the origin of all sub- sequent controversies between the State of Georgia and the Indian tribes, led to the appointment, by General Washington, of three commissioners to treat with the Creek confederacy. Accordingly, he nominated to the Senate, in June, 1795, Benjamin Hawkins, of North Car- 6 The Author. olina, George Clymer, of Pennsylvania, and Andrew Pickens, of South Carolina, as commissioners for that object. Mr. Hawkins was at this time, a Senator of the United States, from North Carolina. In the year 1801, he was appointed by Mr. Jefferson, " principal agent for Indian affairs south of the Ohio," and as joint commissioner with General Wilkinson and Andrew Pickens, he negotiated treaties with the Chica- saws, Choctaws and Natchez. Froui that period, he remained as agent of the United States among the Creek Indians, till the year 1816, when at his own request, as shown by his official letters, he was succeeded in that office, by David Brydie Mitchell, of Georgia. Colonel John Crowell succeeded this last agent ; and from a letter of complaint against Crowell, written to the War Department in 1825, by Mr. Hawkins, it ap- pears that he was then living in the Creek nation. I have not been able to learn the time of Mr. Hawkins's decease. From the several volumes of correspondence, official and private, of Colonel Hawkins, I have made some ex- tracts which very forcibly pourtray the high quahties of his mind, for the government and control of unlettered, semi-civilized tribes. This demands sound judgment and inflexible justice. An apparent indifference towards the women of the tribes, who are the objects of great jeal- ousy, is not an unimportant quality. I have been assured from high authority, that this was one of the sources of Mr. Hawkins's extraordinary influence. In another part of the w^orld, I have witnessed a like mfluence acquired by an agent of the United States, over a semi-civilized people. To their minds, it implies a moral superiority over other men, when accompanied by ordinary manly energies. It is a self-control, the more respected by such people, as it is the object of their chief indulgence, and of their liveliest jealousies. Extract of a letter from Mr. Hawkins to a friend. CrssETUH, Nov. 25, 1797. A few days ago, whilst I was sorely afflicted with rheu- matism, so as not to be able to turn in my blanket, the The Author. "7 arrival of the Queen of Tuckabatchee was announced to me. That town is sixty miles distant. I invited herself and her friends, to spend two or three days with me, which they did. Early one morning, she came to my bed side and sat down. I awoke, and she accosted me thus : My visit is to you ; I am a widow ; I have a son so high ; (holding her hand three feet from the ground ;) I have a fine stock of cattle, and I wish them secured for my use and for my son. I know you arc the Isle-chate- lige-osetat-chemis-te-chcmgo, (the beloved man of the Four JNations,) and my relations are not careful of my inter- ests. If you will take the direction of my aflairs, the chiefs have told me you may settle my stock where you please, and it shall be safe. When you go to Tucka- batchee, you will have a home. Perhaps I am too old for you, but I'll do any thing I can for you. I shall be proud of you if you will take me. If you take a young girl into the house I shall not like it, but I will not say one word ; may be I can't love her, but I won't use her ill. I have brought some mis-ce (cassine yupon) for you. I want some clothes for my boy and for myself You can give them to me, and make the traders take cattle for pay. If you direct them they won't cheat me. I was taken prisoner by the Chickasaws, with my boy, when he was so high (about two feet.) I ran off from them, and was seventeen days in the woods, getting to my nation. I had no provisions when I set out, and was hke to perish. When you vvere in the upper towns last year, I went twice to see you, and dressed myself You took me by the hand nnd asked me to sit down. I wanted to speak to you then, but I could not. I said then I would never have an Iste-chate (red man.) I replied to her, you shall be gratified ; you may return home. I will have your cattle put out at a proper place, and I will take care of them and of ycur son. If you have any desire to call me cha-e-he, (my husband,) do so! But you must not forget, I have not yet determined to set up in that capacity in either of the Four Nations. But you are at liberty, as you already have one child, and know the trade, to carry it on under my name, and to choose any assistant you may deem suitable. The children will be mine and I will take care of them and of you. 8 The Author. It is not customary among the Creeks to associate with the women ; and it is a curious fact, that there are white men in the nation who have been here five years, without ever enterinn an Indian house. I visit them, take them by the hand, talk kindly to them, and eat frequentl}^ with them. This day I had four Indian women to dine with me, with some chiefs and white men, a thing, they tell me, unknown before, to either of them. One thing I have no- ticed, in all I have conversed with, they have a great pro- pensity to call every thing by its name. And, if the con- current testimony of the white husbands may be relied on, the wcmen have much of the temper of the mule, ex- cept when they are amorous, and then they exhibit all the amiable and gentle qualities of the cat. Extract of a letter to William Faulkner, Esq. CussETUH, November 25, 1797. I am now, and have been in this town, which is on the Chattahoche, among the lower Creek towns, (an hundred and sixty miles from Fort Wilkinson, the residence of Colonel Gaither on the Ocenee,) for more than a month, and much engaged in the duties enjoined on me by my office. It is not necessary to detail to you the difficulties I have encountered daily, in adjusting with these people the differences in the way of a friendly intercourse be- tween them and their neighbors. The men are bred in habits proudly indolent and insolent ; accustomed to be courted, and to think that they conferred a favor when they were naked, by receiving clothes and comforts from the British agents; and they will reluctantly and with great difliculty, be humbled to the level of rational life. 1 spend the day at their public places, in conversation ; or at my hut, where I entertain a number ; and the evenings I devote till midnight at the town house, to see their dan- cing and amusements, or at my hut, studying their lan- guage, or making arrangements to decide on disputed property, and adjusting the misunderstandings between the Four Nations. As business increased on me, I found my mind and exertions always ready to rise above it ; or as it would be better expressed, to be equal to my wishes, and even beyond my expectations. In this situation I The Author. 9 had one visiter sorely afflictive, a severe attack in ray left leg and foot of the gout ov rheumatism, for eight or ten nights, sometimes not able to turn in my blankets, yet constantly crowded with visiters, and obliged to attend to the head men and warriors of twelve towns, invited to convene at Cowetuh, a neighboring town. I have one faithful assistant in Mr. Barnard, one of the interpreters. The white and red men are much indebted to his constant, persevering and honest exertions to do justice to all applicants. It sometimes falls to the lot of one man, though apparently in the humble walks of life, to render more effectual service to his fellow creatures, than thousands of his neighbors. This has been the case with Mr. Barnard. He was a trader in this nation before the war, and remained in it during the whole progress of it, constantly opposing the cruel policy which pressed these people to war with the Americans, and urged their being neutral. He repeatedly risked his life and fortune in the cause of humanity, and he remains to witness that the purity of his actions has given him a standing among the red people, which could not be purchased with money. I have, since I left you, seen much of the western coun- try, witnessed the downfall of a character whom I highly valued, when I first had the pleasure of knowing you, and seen a check given, I hope an effectual one, to a base system for the destruction of the Four Nations by the JE-cmi-nau-nux-uIgee, (people greedily grasping after all their lands,) and I have the happiness to know, that I have contributed much to the establishment of the well grounded confidence which the Four Nations have in the justice of the United States ; and this confidence is so well grounded, that the malice or wickedness of the ene- mies of our Government cannot destroy it. I may here introduce some of the appellations and epi- thets applied by the Creek Indians to white men, one of which is used in the foregoing letter. E-cun-nau-nux-uIgee : People greedily grasping after the lands of the red men, against the voice of the United States. Tucke-mico : The Dirt King, applied to Governor Blount of Tennessee. The Cherokee name of this gentleman is 2 10 The Author. Dirt Captain ; and in both nations it arose from their opinion of his insatiate avidity to acquire Indian lands. Chesse-cup-pe-tun-ne : The Pumpkin Captain ; a name given to Captain Chisholm. E-cun-nau-au-po-po-hau : Always asking for land. This name was given to Governor Clark of Georgia. Iste-chate-li.ore-osetatc-chemis-te-chauoro : The beloved man of the Four Nations ; a name given to Colonel Hawkins. Iste-chate : Red man. Istc-hut-ke : White man. Iste-semols : Wild man ; a Seminole. Extract of a letter to James Burgess., Creek Interpreter. CussETUH, November 27, 1797. I have received your letter of the 14th of this month, in answer to mine of the 30th October. It is the first I have had from you. This letter you send me, I have read with attention ; and if you had not informed me you were sick, I should have supposed you were deranged in mind. Perhaps it is a dehrium arising from sickness ; in that case it is a misfortune, not a fault. If I did not believe something of this sort really to affect you, I would let you know, that if you do not know your duty, I know mine. Whoever heard of your being talked of about what was done at Coleraine ? Nobody but your own imagina- tion ! You were only an interpreter, and I know the In- dians never fault them, for doing their duty faithfully. I can tell you another thing. You overrate your standing, when you say the Indians blame you. The fact is they have not blamed you, and for a very obvious reason. The Indians do not suffer the white men in their land even to mention, much less to influence them in their treaties. Another thing. You talk of Chulapockey, and the com- plaint of the Indians about it, and the trifie of goods ; that these things must be settled before I leave the land. What do you mean by this stuff ? Do you not know the Chulapockey line was settled by Mr. Gillivray and the In- dians who went to New York ? Don't you know that this nation appointed agents to go and run the line, and that The Author. 11 Bowles's* coming, prevented it ? Did you not hear the chiefs tell me this publicly at Coleraine ; and did you not know they told the truth 't What do you mean when you say if the Indians suffer you must suffer ? Have you not, as it was your duty to do, told them boldly and plainly, what all the interpreters at Coleraine were ordered to do, that the Indians have now nothing to fear. The United States have o-uarantied their country to them. Did you not hear the plan of government explained at Coleraine, to better the condi^ tion of the Indians ? And don't you know I am here to carry that plan into execution ? Don't you know the Indians took part with Great Britain against the United States, and did us much injury ; and that the retaliation on our part is to forgive them, because they were a poor, deluded people ; to enlighten their understandings and to better their condition, by assisting them with tools and im- plements of husbandry, and teaching them the use of them, by furnishing them with blacksmiths, and spinning wheels, cards, looms and weavers. Where have you been that you have forgotten these things ? Don't you know that we have placed an army, at great expense, to protect the Indians in the enjoyment of their rights, and that we established two stores, to supply the Indians at cost and charges ? You want me to clear you. Of what ? Can you clear yourself, if you have not explained these things faithfully to the Indians ? You cannot. You ask me to send you a certificate of what is done here, signed by two or three chiefs. What do you mean by this ? Must Iste-chate- lige-osetat-chamis-te-chaugo have a certificate from three Indians ? You are surely dreaming. One piece of information I can give you. The Indians have appointed seven commissioners to see the fine run, agreeably to the treaty of New York, and it will be run just after the new year. You must visit me about the 25th of next month, at the store on Oconee, there to explain your conduct, and re- ceive you salary. BENJAMIN HAWKINS. * This man Bowles, was at one time a portrait painter in Savannah. THE CREEK CONFEDERACY. All tradition among the Creeks points to the country- west of the Mississippi, as the original habitat of those tribes. This universal tradition is confirmed by Du Pratz, Bernard Romans, Adair, Bartram and Hawkins. Our au- thor asserts their migration, on the authority of Tusselo- iah Micco, from the forks of Red river, Wcchate-hatche 'Aufuskee. We may entirely defer to the result of Mr. Gallatin's investigation of this subject, as the most cor- rect. His comprehensive research and powerful analysis, have presented to the scientific world, all that can be known, perhaps, of that which is involved in the Cimme- rian darkness of ante-historical periods. In the second volume of the " Archseologia Americana," he says : " In the year 1732, when Georgia was first settled, the terri- tory of the Creek Confederacy, including at that time the Seminolcs, Avas bounded on the west by Mobile river, and by the ridge that separates the waters of the Tombigbee, from those of the Alabama ; on the north by the Chero- kees, on the northeast by the Savannah, and on every other quarter by the Atlantic and the gulf of Mexico. It is believed, that at the end of the seventeenth century, the Creeks occupied south of the 34th degree of north lati- tude, the eastern as well as western banks of the Savan- nah. " It is not possible to ascertain, when the Confederacy was consolidated to that extent. It now consists of sev- eral tribes, speaking different languages. The Muskho- gees are the prevailing nation, amounting to more than seven-eights of the whole. The Hitchittees who reside on the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers, though a distinct 14 The Creek Confederacy. tribe, speak a dialect of the Muskhogee. The Seminoles or Isty-Semole, (' wild men,') who inhabit the peninsula of Florida, are pure Muskhogees, who have gradually de- tached themselves from the confederacy, but who were still considered as members of it, till the United States treated with them as an independent nation. The name of Seminoles was given to them, on account of their be- ing hunters, and attending but little to agriculture. A vocabulary is wanted, in order to prove conclusively, the identity of their language with the Muskhogee. " There is some diversity in the accounts given by the Muskhogees of their origin. The chiefs of the delega- tion, who attended at Washington, in the year 1826, agreed, that the prevailing tradition among them was, that the nation had issued out of a cave near the Alabama river. The Hitchittees said, that their ancestors had fallen from the sky. These modes of speaking, common to several of the tribes, only show that they have lost the recollection of any ancient migration, and that they con- sider themselves as aborigines. " The Utchees and the Natchez, who are both incorpor- ated in the confederacy, speak two distinct languages, altogether different from the Muskhogee. The Natchez, a residue of the well known nation of that name, came from the banks of the Mississippi and joined the Creeks less than one hundred years ago. The original seats of the Uchees were east of the Coosa, and probably of the Chattahoochee, and they consider themselves the most ancient inhabitants of the country. It appears certain, that at the beginning of the eighteenth century, they were, at least in part, seated on the western banks of the Sa- vannah. It has already been seen, that in 1736, they claimed the country above and below Augusta. In the year 1715, was that of the signal defeat of the Yamassees (in South Carolina.) The Yamassees were driven across the river, (Savannah,) and it is probable that the Uchees were amongst their auxiliaries, and that weakened by this defeat, they found it safer to remove to a greater distance from the English settlements, towards Flmt river," (and Florida.) " These five languages, the Muskhogee, the Hitchittee, Uchee, Natchez and the Alabama or Coosada, are, it is The Creek Confederacy. 15 believed, the only one spoken by the different tribes of the Creek confcderncy. '1 he Uchee is the most guttural, uncouth, and difficult to express with our alphabet and orthography, of any of the Indian languages within our knowledge. " Although partial and transient collisions with the Creeks, occurred subsequently to the settlement of Geor- gia, no actual war with them took place for near fifty years. They took an active part in that of the Revolution, against the Americans, and continued their hostilities till the treaty concluded at Philadelphia, in 1795. They then re- mained at peace eighteen years ; but at the beginning of the last war with Great Britain, a considerable portion of the nation, excited, it is said, by Tecumseh, and probably receiving encouragement from other quarters, took arms, without the slightest provocation, and at first committed great ravages. They received a severe chastisement; and the decisive victories of General Jackson, at that time and some years later, over the Seminoles, who had renewed the war, have not only secured a permanent peace with the southern nations, but have placed them all under the absolute control of the United States. The Creeks and Seminoles, after some struggles among themselves, have ceded the whole of their territory, and accepted in ex- change, other lands beyond the Mississippi." Such is the succinct, but comprehensive account of the Creek Confederacy, by Mr. Gallatin. Bernard Romans, who wrote his book in 1770, says that, '* this confederacy, of remnants of tribes, are very cunning fellows. They are a mixture of Cowittas, Talepoosas, Corsas, Apalach- ias, Conshaes or Coosadas, Oakmulgees, Oconees, Ok- choys, Alibamons, Natchez, Wetumkas, Pakanas, Taen^ sas, ( hacsihoinas, Abekas, and other tribes." Classifying these numerous tribes by the science of philology, they must be reduced to the number of five, as Mr. Gallatin has shown. They are jealous, says Romans, of their lands, and en- deavor to enlarge their territories by conquest, and claim- ing large tracts from the Cherokees and Choctaws. They have foiced these two tribes into alliance, and they wish to unite a!! tribes and languages under one general con- federation or commonwealth. As an instance of their 16 The Creek Confederacy. jealous policy, it may be related, that in 1764, Messrs. Rea and G^lphin, having contracted to supply Pensacola with beef, the Creeks would not allow any other cattle than oxen to pass through their territory. To my mind, it is evident, that the whole Atlantic coast, from the Mississippi to the country of the Six Na- tions, in the north, has for centuries past been the theatre of constant revolutions among the aborigines of the soil. Wars, conquests, subjugations, extinctions and productions of new races, migrations and new settlements, I do not doubt, have marked the life of western as well as of eastern nations. On this continent there are no Perse- politan, Etruscan, Egyptian or Runic inscriptions, to at- test the rise and decay of nations, their wars, conquests and migrations ; and where no records have been made of such movements among races and tribes, the modern science of comparative philology has detected, by speech, the far distant emigration of tribes of men, with as great certainty, as the comparative anatomist detects congeners, amon"- fossil mammals. Tluis, the An^lo-Saxon derives his origin through Teutonic and Zend, to Sanscrit in cen- tral Asia, with positive certainty. The historians of Carohna and Georgia, have pre- served some slight vestiges of the original inhabitants. The Shawnees appear to have been a peculiarly roving, romantic race. Lawson reports that the Catawbas in Carolina, drove back the Shawnees from the Pedee and Santee rivers. At one time, they were repelled by the Six Nations and retired to the valley of the Ohio. At another, they were found on the Savannah river, which was called Ckisketalia fan liatche ; and sometimes Sau- vannogee^ the name for Shawanoe. This is the report of Mr. Hawkins. It was called Isundiga, by the Carolina tribes. My own opinion is, that the river was so called, from the tribe of Savannahs occupying its banks; who belonged to the great Uchee family. There are many indications however, which favor the settlement of Shaw- nees on this river. Hawkins says, thai* " the village of Sauvanogee, on the waters of Coosa and Tallapoosa, is inhabited by Shawa- nee. They retain the language and customs of their countrymen to the northwest, and aided them in their late The Creek Confederacy. 17 war with the United States. Some lichees have settled with them." Entertaining the suspicion, that these Shawanee were in reahty Uchees, I found confirmation in Bartram. He says, " their (Uchees) own national language is radically different from the Muscogulgee tongue ; and is called Sa- vanna or Savannuca, Savanogee. I was told by the tra- ders, that it was the same as the dialect of the Shawa- nese. The Uchees are in confederacy with the Creeks, but do not mix with them." The language of the Shawnese is most certainly not likelUchee ; and this contradiction of the traders I can- not well explain. Yet I have the conviction, that the tribe of Savannahs were Uchees. All travellers concur in as- signing to the Uchees great influence in the confederacy ; and Bartram asserts that " they excite the jealousy of the whole Creek union." Palachoocla or Parachoocla, the cap- ital of the confederacy, with two thousand inhabitants, on the waters of the Chattahoochee, is a very ancient Uchee town. There is at this day an old Indian station in Car- olina, on the Savannah river, called Parachoola, which is Uchee. Saukechih, (saltketchers,) where Governor Cra- ven defeated the Yamassees, is most likely to be a Uchee word. Indeed, until the contrary shall be proved by com- parative vocabularies, I shall think that the Savannahs, Sevannahs and Uchees, who conquered and expelled the Westos and Stonos, were one people with the Yamassees. The Yamassees were, in turn, expelled from Carolina by the English, and took refuge in Florida. The Yama- craws belonged to this tribe. The Uchees seem to have been a conquering people, whose tide of success havmg been checked, flowed back towards the west, and there met the advancing waves of the Muscogee emigration from the west, rolling eastwardly. Policy and self-pre- servation combined to suggest a coalition. And thus, from these principles, acting upon other nomadic or mi- grating tribes, may have sprung the powerful Creek or Muscogee confederacy. The existence of the numerous aboriginal tribes within the borders of the United States will, ere long, belong only to history. The generations of Indians that have passed away since the first English settlements in Amer- 3 18 The Creek Confederacy, ica, have left no monuments to attest their dominion. There exist in the valleys of the great west, striking evi- dences of an anterior civilization, which are objects of wonder to the Indians of our day as well as to ourselves. The only vestiges of their creation, that will be left to posterity, are the books of missionaries printed in their idioms, and vocabularies, unsatisfactory but invaluable to science. Too much honor and praise cannot be accorded to those enlightened men, who have devoted themselves to the preservation of these vestiges which are to become the fossil, organic remains of intellectual hu- manity. Du Ponceau and Gallatin are the two names which stand pre-eminent in this department of scientific labor. The one has closed his honorable career ; the other still devotes, with advancing years, his philosophic mind to these subjects of human and scientilic interest. At this moment he is preparing for press a volume of ethnographic investigations in Cahfornia and New Mex- ico. The labors of the scholar and historian, will beauti- fully close the career of the benevolent and disciplined statesman. WxM. B. HODGSON. June 20, 1848. A SKETCH OF THE CREEK COUNTRY, IN THE YEARS 1798 AND 1799. ^ TiiE origin of the name Creek is uncertain. The tra- dition is, tliat it was given by white people, from the num- ber of Creeks and water courses in the country. The Indian name is Muscoor e.* The Creeks came from the west. They have a tra- dition among them, that there is, in the fork of ]{ed river, west of the iMississippi, two mounds of earth ; that at this place, the Cussetuhs, Conetuhs and Chickasaws, found themselves ; that being distressed by wars with red people, they crossed the Mississippi, and directing their course eastwardly, they crossed the fidls of Tal-lapoo-sa, above Took-au-bat-che, settled below the falls of Chat-to- ho-che, and spread out from thence to Oc-mul-gec, O-co- nee. Savannah, and down on the seacoast, towards Charles- ton. Here, they first saw white people, and from hence they have been compelled to retire back again, to their present settlemejits. The country lying between Coosau, Tallapoosa and Chat-to-ho-clie, above their falls, is broken. The soil is stiffs, with coarse gravel, and in some places, stone. The trees are post oak, white and black oak, pine, hickory and chesnut, all of them small. The whole is well wa- tered, and the rivers and creeks have rocky beds, clad in many places with moss greatly relished by cattle, horses and deer, and are margined with cane or reed, on narrow strips or coves, of rich flats. On the Coosau, sixty miles above its junction with Tallapoosa, there is limestone, and it is to be found in several places from thence up to Etow- woh, and its western branches. * G is always hard in Greek. Mus-co-gee, a Creek Indian ; Mus-co-gul-gt-e, the Creeks. Ghe-io-kee, a Cherokee. Ghe-loc-ul-gee, the Cherokees. 20, A Sketch of the Creek Country. The country above the falls of Oc-mul-gee and Flint rivers, is less broken than that of the other rivers. These have their sources near each other, on the left side of Chattohoche, in open, flat, land, the soil stiff, the trees post and black oak, all small. The land is generally rich, well watered, and lies well, as a waving country, for culti- vation. The growth of timber is oak, hickory, and the short leaf pine ; pea-vine on the hill sides and in the bot- toms, and a tall, broad leaf, rich grass, on the richest land. The whole is a very desirable country. Below the falls of these two rivers, the land is broken or waving. The streams are, some of them, margined with oak woods ; and all of them with cane or reed. The upland of Oc- mul-gee is pine forest ; the swamp wide and rich ; the whole is fine for stock. On its right bank, below the old Uchee path, there is some light pine barren, with saw palmetto and wiregr.'iss.' Flint river, below its falls, has some rich swamp, for not more than twenty miles. Its left bank is then poor, with pine flats and ponds, down within fifteen miles of its confluence with Chat-to-ho-che. These fifteen miles is waving, with some good oak in small veins. On its right bank there are several large creeks, which rise out of the ridge dividing the waters of Fhnt and Chattohoche. Some of them are margined with oak woods and cane ; and all the branches, for seventy miles below the falls, have reed ; from thence down there are bay galls and dwarf ever- greens, and cypress ponds, with some live oak. Between these rivers, there is some good post and black oak land, strewed over with iron ore, and the ridge dividing their waters has a vein of it, extending itself in the direction with the ridge. Within twenty-five miles of the conflu- ence of the rivers, the live oak is to be seen near all the ponds, and here are limestone rocks. The land here is good in veins, in the flats and on the margins of the rivers. The trees of every description are small. The range is a fine one for cattle. That exclusive body of land between Flint river, O-ke- fi-no-cau, A-la-ta-ma-ha and the eastern boundary of the creek claims, is poor pine land, with cypress ponds and bay galls. The small streams are margined with dwarf evergreens. The uplands have yellow pine, with dwarf A Sketch of the Creek Country. 21 saw palmetto and wiregrass. The bluffs on St. Illas, are, some part of them, sandy pine barren ; the remainder is a compact, stiff, yellowish sand or clay, with large swamps ; the growth is the loblolly bay, gum and small evergreens. The whole of these swamps is bogs. In the rainy sea- son, which commences after midsummer, the ponds fill, and then the country is, a great part of it, covered with water ; and in the dry season it is difficult to obtain water in any direction, for many miles. Bees abound in the 0-ke-fin-a-cau and other swamps, eastward of Flint river. The wortleberry is to be found in the swamps, and on the poorest of the land bordering on the cypress ponds. When the woods are not burnt for a year or more, the latter are on dwarf bushes, grow larger, and in great abundance. The dwarf saw palmetto, when the woods are not burnt, in like manner bears a cluster of berries on a single stem, which are eaten by bear, deer, turkeys and Indians. The berries are half an inch in diameter, covered with a black skin, and have a hard seed ; they are agreeable to the taste, sweet, accompanied with bitter, and when full ripe they burst, and the bees extract much honey from them. The China briar is in the flat, rich, sandy margins of streams. The Indians dig the roots, pound them in a mortar, and suspend them in coarse cloth, pour water on them and wash them. The sediment which passes through with the water is left to subside ; the water is then poured off, and the sediment is baked into cakes or made into gruel sweetened with honey. This briar is called Coonte, and the bread made of it, Coon-te-tuc-a-li-sa, and is an important article of food among the hunters. In the old beaver ponds, in thick boggy places, they have the bog potatoe (Uc-lau-wau-he-aha) a small root, used as food in years of scarcity. The 0-ke-fin-o-cau is the source of the St. Mary's and Little St. Johns, called by the Indians Sau-wau-na. It is sometimes called E-cun-fin-o-cau, from E-cun-nau, earth ; and Fin-o-cau, quivering. The first is the most common amongst the Creeks. It is from Ooka a Chactau word for water, and Fin-o-cau, quivering. This is a very ex- tensive swamp, and much of it a bog ; and so much so, 22 A Skelch of the Creek Country* that a little motion will make the mud and water quiver to a great distance. Hence tlie name is given. Ho-ith-Jepoie Tus-tun-nug-ge-thluc-co, an Indian who resided in it many years, says that, " the Little St. John's may be ascended far into the swamp, and that it is not practicable to go far up the St. Mary's, as it loses itself in the swamp ; that there is one ridge on the west side of the St. John's, and three on the east. The growth is pine, live and white oak ; the soil good ; the lakes abound in fish and alli;2;ators. On the ridges and in the swamps there were a great many bear, deer, and tigers. He lived on the ridge west of the St. John's, and was, with his fam- ily, very healthy. Being unwillin;^ to take part in the war between the United States and Great Britain, he moved there to be out of the way of it, was well pleased with his situation, and should have continued to reside there, but for the beasts of prey, which destroyed his cattle and horses. He could walk round the swamp in five days." The land between Chat-to-ho-che and Alabama, border- ing on the southern boundary of the United States, is bet- ter than that on the east side of Flint river. The Ko-e- ne-cuh rises between these two rivers, and makes the bay Escambia at Pensacola. Between Ko-e-ne-cuh and Chat-to-ho-che, the land is broken or waving. The ridge dividing their waters, has high flats of light land, well set with willow-leaved hickory, and iron ore in places, and all the streams have reed or cane on their margins. This country has the appearance of being a healthy one, and the range is fine for cattle, hogs, and horses. The pine flats have the wiregrass, and in some places, the saw palmetto. The soil of the waving land is, some of it, stiff and red, with stones on the ridges. The pine land is stiff, generally, and pretty good for corn. The Tal-la-poo-sa from its falls to its confluence with the Coosau, about thirty miles, has some good flat land. The broken land terminates on its right bank, and the good land spreads out on its left. There are several pine creeks on this side, which have their source in the ridge dividing these waters from Ko-e-ne-cuh. The land bor- dering on them is rich ; the timber large, and cane abund- ant. This good land extends to the Alabama, and down it for thirty miles, includmg the plains, (He-guc-pul-gee.) A Sketch of the Creek Country. 23 These are seventeen miles through, going parallel to Ala- bama south 20 west. They are waving, hill and dale, and appear divided into fields. In the fields the grass is short, no brush ; the soil in places is a lead color, yellow underneath, within the abode of the ants, and very stiff. In the wooded parts the growth is generally post oak, and very large, without any under brush, beautifully set in clumps. Here the soil is a dark clay, covered with long grass and weeds, which indicate a rich soil. One observ- ation applies to all the fields; in the centre the land is poorest, the grass shortest, and it rises gradually to the wooded margins, where it is tall, and the land apparently rich. Four large creeks meander through the plains to the Alabama. They all have broad margins of stiff, level, rich land, well wooded and abounding with cane. There is, notwithstanding these creeks, a scarcity of water in the dry season, and all the creeks were dry in 1799, and not a spring of water was to be found. The Alabama is margined with cane swamps, and these, in places, with flats of good land or poor pine flats. The swamps at the confluence with the Tombigby and below on the iMobile, is low and subject to be overflowed every spring. Above, it is of great width, intersected with lakes, slashes, and crooked drains, and much infested with musketoes. The people who cultivate this swamp, never attempt to fence it, as the annual freshes, always in the spring, rise from three to ten feet over it. The land, borderincr on the swamp, and for a mile back, is a poor, stiff clay ; the growth is pine and underbrush, back of this broken pine barren, there are cypress ponds, and veins of reeds in the branches. The range is said to be a fine one for cattle. The settlement of Ta-cn-sau bor- ders on the Mobile and Alabama, on the left side. On the same side of Alabama, fifty miles above its confluence with the Tombigby, the high broken lands commence and extend for sixty or seventy miles upwards, and abound in places with large, fine, tall cedar. The land between Alabama and Ko-o-ne-cuh, below the plains, is broken or waveing; the soil is stiff, very red in places, and gravelly ; for thirty miles then succeeds stiff pine barren. Limestone, a creek which enters the Alabama, has some good broken land, with limestone, 24 A Sketch of the Creek Country. which gives name to the creek. At its sources there is a fine body of land called the " dooj woods," the growth is oak, chesnut, poplar, lind and dogwood. This vein of land is nearly twenty miles in length, and eight wide* The dogwood is very thick set, and some of them large, ten inches diameter. The whole is finely watered. The Coosau has its source high up in the Cherokee country. E-tow-woh and Oos-te-nau-lih, are its main branches. The land on these rivers is rich, and abounds with limestone. Sixty miles above the confluence of the Coo-sau with Tallapoosa, there is a high, waving, hme- stone country settled by the Indians of Coo-sau, Au-be- coo-che nau-che and Eu-fau-lau-hat-che. The settlements are generally on rich flats of oaks, hickory, poplar, wal- nut and mulberry. The springs are fine ; there is cane on the creeks, and reed on the branches. The surround- ing country is broken and gravelly. The land fit for cul- ture, is generally the margins of the creeks, or the waving slopes from the high broken land. Throughout the whole of this country, there is but little fruit of any kind ; in some of the rich flats there are fox grapes and muscadines ; the small cluster grapes of the hills is destroyed by fire, and the persimmon, haw and chesnut, by the hatchet ; there are a few blackberries in the old fields, red haws on the poor sand hills, and strawberries thinly scattered, but not a gooseberry, rasp- berry or currant, in the land. The traveller, in j)assing through a country as extensive and wild as this, and so much in a state of nature, ex- pects to see game in abundance. The whole of the creek claims, the Seminoles inclusive, cover three hundred miles square; and it is difficult for a good hunter, in passing through it, in any direction, to obtain enough for his sup- port. The towns, with a description of their position, and the lands of their neighborhood. There are thirty-seven towns in the Creek nation ; twelve on the waters of Chat-to-ho-che, and twenty-five on the waters of Coo-sau and Tal-la-poo-sa. The small towns or villages belong to some one of these. The old A Sketch of the Creek Country. 25 towns have the exclusive right of governing the ceremony of the Boos-ke-tuh.* The towns on Chat-to-ho-che. 1 Cow-e-tuh. 7 Hitch-e-tee. 2 Cow-c-tuh-tal-lau-has-see. 8 Pa-la-chooc-la. 3 Cus-se-tuh. 9 O-co-nee. 4 U-chee. 10 Sau-woog-e-lo. 5 Oo-se-oo-che. 11 Sau-woog-e-loo-che. 6 Che-au-hau. 12 Eu-fau-lau. The towns on Coo-sau and Tal-la-poo-sa. 1 Tal-e-see. 14 O-che-au-po-fau. 2 Took-au-bat-che. 15 We-wo-cau. 3 Aut-tos-see. 1 6 Puc-cun-tal-lau-has-see, 4 Hoith-le Waulee. 17 Coo-sau. 5 Foosce-hat-che. 18 Au-be-coo-chee 6 Coo-loome. 19 Nau-chee. 7 E-cun-hut-kee. 20 Eu-fau-lau-hat-che. 8 Sau-va-no-gee. 21 Woc-co-coie. 9 Mook-lau-sau. 22 Hill-au-bee. 10 Coo-sau-dee. 23 Oc-fus-kee. 11 Hook-choie. 24 Eu-fau-lau. 12 Hook-choie-oo-che. 25 Ki-a-li-jee. 13 Tus-ke-gee. The towns of the Simenolies deserve a place here, as they are Creeks. The}'' inhabit the country bordering on the gulf of Mexico, from A-pa-la-che-co-la, including Little St. John's and the Florida point. They have seven towns. 1 Sim-e-no-le-tal-lau-haf-see 5 Oc-le-wau-hau thluc-co. 2 Mic-co sooc-e. 6 Tal-lau-gue chapco pop-cau 3 We-cho-took-me. 7 Cull-oo-sau hat-che. 4 Au-lot-che-wau. Sim-e-lo-le or Sim-e-no-le, means wild. These towns * Hereafter described. 26 A Sketch of the Creek Country. are made from tlie towns 0-co-nee, Sau-woog-e-lo, Eu- fau-lau, Tuin-rnault-lau, I'a-lri-chooc-le arid Hitch-e-tee. Tliey are called vild people, because they left their old towns and made irregular settlements in this country to which they were invited by the plenty of game, the mild- ness of the climate, the richness of the soil, and the abundance of food for cattle and horses. The range is equally fine for hogs, but they are raised with difficulty, as the ponds and swamps abound with alligators. A description of the towns on Coosaii and Tal-la-poo-sa, gen- erallij called Upper Creeks. I. Tal-e-scc^ from Tal-o-fau, a town, and e-see, taken. Situated in the fork ot Eu fau-le on the left bank of Tal- ja-poo-sa, opposite Took-au-l'at-che. Eu-fau-be has its source in the ri ge dividing the waters of Chat-to-ho-che, from Tal-la-poo-sn, and runs nearly west to the junction with the rrer; there it is sixty feet wide. The land on it is poor for some miles up, then rich flats, bordered with pine Ian': with reedy l)ranches, a fine range for cattle and horses. The Indians have mostly Kft the town, and settled up the creek, or on its waters, for twenty miles. The settle- ments are some of them well chosen, and fenced with worm fences. The land bordering on the streams of the right side of the creek, is better than that of the left; and here the settlements are mostly made. Twelve miles up the (reek from its mouth it forks ; the large fork of the left side has some rich flat swamp, large white oak, pop- lar, ash and white pine. 'Ihe trading path from Cus-se- tuh to the Upper Creeks crosses this li;rk twice. Here it is called big swamp, (opil-lhluc-co.) The waving land to its source is stiff". The growth is post oak, pine and hard shelled hickory. The Indian- who have settled out on the margins and branches of the creek, have, several of them, cattle, hogs and horses, and begin to be attentive to them. The head warrior of the town, Teter iVIcQueen, a half breed, is a snug trader, has a valuable property in negroes and stock and beiJins to know their value. These Indians were very friendly to the United States, during the revolutionary war, and their old chief, Ho-bo- A Sketch of the Creek Country. 27 ith-le Mic-co, of the halfway house, (improperly called the Tal-e-see king,) could not be prevailed on by any of- fers from the agents of Great Britain, to ta'e part with them. On the return of peace, and the establishment of friendly arrangements between the Indians and citizens of the United iStates, this chief felt himself neo-lectrd bv Mr. Seagrove, which resenting, he robbed and insulted that gentleman, compelled him to leave his house near Took-au-bat-che, ami fly into a swamp. He has since then, as from a spirit of contradiction, formed a party in opposition to the will of the nation, which has given much trouble and difficulty to the chiefs of the land. His principal assistants were the leaders of the banditti who insulted the commissioners of Spain and ihe United States, on the 17th September, 1799, at the confluence of Flint and Chat-to-ho-che. 'I he exemplary punishment inflicted on them by the warriors of the nation, has effectually checked their mischief-making and silenced them. And this chief has had a solerrm warning from the national council, to respect the laws of the nation, or he should meet the punishment ordained by the law. He is one of the great medal chiefs. This spirit of party or opposition, prevails not only here, but more or less in every town in the nation. I'he plainest proposition for ameliorating their condition, is immediately opposed ; and this opposition continues as long as there is hope to obtain presents, the infallible mode heretofore in use, to gain a point. 2. Took-au-bat-che. The ancient name of this town is Is-po-co-gee ; its derivation uncertain ; it is situated on the right bank of the Tallapoosa, opposite the junc- tion of Mu-fau-be, two and a half miles below the falls of the river, on a beautiful level. The course of the river from the falls to the town, is south ; it then turns east three-quarters of a mile, and short round a point opposite Eu-fau-be, thence west and west-by-north to its conflu- ence with Coosau, about thirty miles. It is one hundred yards wide opposite the town house to the south, and here are two good fords during the summer. One just below the point of a small island, the other one hundred yards still lower. The water of the falls, after tumbling over a bed of 28 A Sketch of the Creek Country. rock for half a mile, is forced into two channels ; one thirty, the other fifteen feet wide. The fall is forty feet in fifty yards. The channel on the right side, which is the widest, falls nearly twenty feet in ten feet. The fish are obstructed here in their attempts to ascend the river. From appearances, they might be easily taken in the sea- son of their ascending the rivers, but no attempts have hitherto been made to do so. The rock is a light gray, very much divided in square blocks of various sizes for building. It requires very little labor to reduce it to form, for plain walls. Large masses of it are so nicely fitted, and so regular, as to im- itate the wall of an ancient building, where the stone had passed through the hands of a mason. The quantity of this description at the falls and in the hill sides adjoining them, is great ; sufficient for the building of a large city. The falls above spread out, and the river widens to half a mile within that distance, and continues that width for four miles. Within this scope are four islands, which were formerly cultivated, but are now old fields margined with cane. The bed of the river is here rocky, shoally, and covered with moss. It is frequented in summer by cattle, horses, and deer ; and in the winter, by swans, geese and ducks. On the right bank opposite the falls, the land is broken, stoney and gravelly. The hill sides fronting the river, exhibit this building rock. The timber is post oak, hick- ory and pine, all small. From the hills the land spreads off level. The narrow flat margin between the hills and the river is convenient for a canal for mills on an ex- tensive scale, and to supply a large extent of flat land around the town with water. Below the falls a small distance, there is a spring and branch, and within five hundred yards a small creek ; thence within half a mile, the land becomes level and spreads out on this side two miles, including the flats of Wol-lau-hat-che, a creek ten feet wide, which rises seventeen miles from its junction with the river, in the high pine forest, and running south- south-east enters the river three miles below the town house. The whole of this flat, between the creek and the river, bordering on the town, is covered with oak and the small hard shelled hickory. The trees are all small ; A Sketch of the Creek Country. 29 the land is light, and fine for corn, cotton or melons. The creek has a little cane on its margins, and reed on the small branches ; but the range is much exhausted by the stock of the town. On the left bank of the river, at the falls, the land is broken pine forest. Half a mile below there is a small creek which has its source seven miles from the river, its margins covered with reed or cane. Below the creek the land becomes flat, and continues so to Tale^ee on the Eu- fau-bee, and half a mile still lower, to the hills between this creek and Ca-le-bc-hat-che. The hills extend nearly two miles, are intersected by one small creek and two branches, and terminate on the river in two high bluffs ; from whence is an extensive view of the town, the river, the flat lands on the opposite shore and the range of hills to the northwest ; near one of the bluffs there is a fine spring, and near it a beautiful elevated situation for a set- tlement. The hills are bounded to the west by a small branch. Below this, the flat land spreads out for one mile. It is a quarter of a mile from the branch on this flat to the residence of Mr. Cornells, (Oche Haujo,) thence half a mile to the public establishment, thence two miles to the mouth of Ca-le-be-hat che. This creek has its source thirty miles to the east in waving, post oak, hick- ory and pine land ; in some places the swamp is wide, the beach and white oak very large, with poplar, cy- press, red bay, sassafras, Florida magnolia, and white pine. Broken piny woods and reedy branches on its right side ; oak flats, red and post oak, willow leaved hickory, long and short leaf pine and reedy branches on its left side. The creek at its mouth is twenty-five feet wide. The flat between it and the river is fine for corn, cotton and melons, oak, hickory, and short leaf pine. From this flat to its source, it is margined with cane, reed, and palmetto. Ten miles up the creek, between it and Kebihatche, the next creek below and parallel with this, are some licks in post and red oak saplin flats ; the range on these creeks is apparently fine for cattle ; yet from the want of salt or moss, the large ones appear poor in the fall, while other cattle, where moss is to be had, or they are regularly salted, are fat. They have 116 gun men belonging to this town ; they 30 A Sketch of the Creek Country. were formerly more numerous, but have been unfortunate in their wars. In the last they had with the Chickasaws, they lost thirty- five gun men ; they have begun to settle out in villages for the conveniency of stock raising, and having firewood ; the stock which frequent the mossy shoals above the town, look well and appear healthy ; the Indians begin to be attentive to them, and are increasing them by all the means in their power. Several of them have from fifty to one hundred, and the town fiirniMied seventy good beef cattle in 1799. One chief, Toolk-au- bat-che Haujo, has five hundred, and although apparently very indigent, he never sells any ; while he seems to deny himself the comforts of life, he gives continued proofs of unbounded hospitality ; he seldom kills less than two large beeves a fortnight, for his friends and acquaintances. The town is on the decline. Its appearance proves the inattention of the inhahitants. It is badly fencrd ; they have but a few plum trees, and several clumps of cassine yupon ; the land is much exhausted with continued cul- ture, and the wood for fuel is at a great and inconvenient distance, unless boats or land carriages were in use ; it could then be easily supplied ; the river is navigable for boats drawing two and a half feet in the dry season, from just above the town, to Alabama. From the point just above the town to the tails, the river spreads over a bed of flat rock in several places, where the depth of water is something less than two feet. This is the residence of Efau Haujo, one of the great medal chiefs, the speaker for the nation at the national council. He is one of the best informed men of the land, and faithful to his national engagements. He has five black slaves, and a stock of cattle and horses ; liut they are of little use to him ; the ancient habits instilled in him by French and British agents, that the red chiefs are to live on presents from their white friends, is so riveted, that he claims it as a tribute due to him, and one that never must be dispensed with. At the public establishment there is a smith's shop, a dwelling house and kitchen built of logs, and a field well fenced. And it is in the contemplation of the agent, to have a public garden and nursery. The assistant and interpreter, Mr. Cornells, (Oche A Sketch of the Creek Country. 31 Haujo,) one of the chiefs of the Creek nation, has a farm well fenced and cultivated with the plough. He is a half breed, of a strong mind, and fulfils the duties enjoined on him by his appointment, with zeal and fidelity. He has nine negroes un ler good government. Some of his family have good farms, and one of them, Zachariah McGive is a careful, snug farmer, has good fences, a fine young orchard, and a stock of hogs, liorses and cattle. His wife has the neatness and economy of a white woman. This family and Sullivan's, in the neighborhood, are spinning.* 3, Aut-tos-se, en the left side of Tallapoosa, below and adjoining Ca-le-be-hat-che. A poor, miserat>le look- ing place, fenced with small poles ; the first on forks in a fine and two others on slakes hardly sufficient to keep out cattle. They have some plum and peach trees ; a swamp back of the town and some good land back of that, a fiat of oak, hickory and pine. On the right bank of the river, just below the town, they have a fine rich cove of land which was formerly a cane brake, and has been cultivated. There is, below the town, one good fiirm made by the late Richard Bailey, and an orchard of peach trees Mrs. Bailey, the widow, is neat, clean and industrious, and very attentive to the interests of her family ; qualities rarely to be met with in an Indian woman. Her example has no efl[ect on the Indians, even her own family, with the exception of her own children. She has fifty bee-hives and a great supply of honey every year ; has a fine stock of hogs, cattle and horses, and they all do well. Her son, Richard Bailey, was educated in Philadelphia by the Government, and he has brought with him into the nation so much contempt for the Indian mode of life, that he has got himself into discredit with them. His young brother is under the direction of the Quakers in Philadel- phia. His three sisters promise to do well, they are in- dustrious and can spin. Some of the Indians have cattle ; but in general, they are destitute of property. * January 1st, 1801. Mr. Cornells has a flock of sheep presented to him by the agent, of which he is very careful. His farm is in fine order, the fences well made and straight, his garden 150 feet square, well paled, laid off and planted with the variety usual in good gardens. He has a nursery of peach trees, and two bushels of peach stones to plant, by order of the agent, for a public nursery. He is very attentive to all imprcvenients suggested to him, and has now pepared a field of two acres for cotioii. He ha? a field of rye which looks well, and is about to sow a field of oats. He retains his Indian dress, but has the manners of a well bred man. 32 A Sketch of the Creek Country. ' In the year 1766 there were forty-three gun men, and lately they were estimated at eighty. This is a much greater increase of population than is to be met with in other towns ! they appear to be stationary generally, and in some towns are on the decrease ; the apparent differ- ence here, or increase, may be greater than the real ; as formerly men grown were rated as gun men, and now boys of fifteen, who are hunters, are rated as gun men ; they have for two years past been on the decline ; arc very sickly, and have lost many of their inhabitants ; they are now rated at fifty gun men only.* 4. Ho-ith-le Waule, from Ho-ith-le, war, and wau-le, to share out or divide. This town had, formerly, the right to declare war ; the declaration was sent first to Took-au- bat-che, and thence throughout the nation, and they ap- pointed the rendezvous of the warriors. It is on the right bank of the Tallapoosa, five miles below Aut-tos-see. In descending the river on the left side from Aut-tos-see, is two miles across Ke-bi-hat-che ; thence one mile and a half O-fuck-she, and enter the fields of the town ; the fields extend down the river for one and a half miles ; the town is on the right bank, on a narrow strip of good land ; and back of it, under high red cliffs, are cypress ponds. It borders west on Autoshatche twenty-five feet wide. These peeple have some cattle, and a few hogs and horses ; they have some settlements up O-fuck-she ; the increase of property among them, and the inconvenience attendant on their situation, their settlement being on the right side of the river, and their fields and stock on the left, brought the well-disposed to listen with attention to the plan of civilization, and to comment freely on their bad management. The town divided against itself; the idlers and the ill-disposed remained in the town, and the others moved over the river and fenced their fields. On this side the land is good and level, and the range out from the river good to the sources of 0-fuc-she. On the other side, the hif Stewart, with the Cherokees and Creeks. This treaty fixes the eastern bounds of the Cherokees to be from the tree marked by the Cherokees, near the head of a branch falling into the Oconee river, and from thence to Savannah river. TREATY AT HOPEWELL, NOVEMBER 28, 1785. From Tugalo river, " thence a direct line to the top of Currohe moun- tain ; thence to the head of the South fork of Oconee river." In 1803, at the treaty near Fort Wilkinson, this boundary admitted by the Creeks, and that a line from the High Shoals of Apalatche, along the old path to Sauwanna, on Chat-to-ho-che, bounds the Creek claims on this quarter. TREATY AT NEW YORK, AUGUST 1, 1790. Article III. " The Creek Nation shall deliver, as soon as practicable, to the com- manding officer of the troops of the United States, stationed at the Rock- landing on the Oconee river, all citizens of the United States, white in- habitants or negroes, who are now prisoners in any part of said nation. And if any such prisoners or negroes should not be so delivered on or before the 1st day of June ensuing, the Governor of Georgia may empower three persons to repair to the sard Nation in order to claim and receive such prisoners and negroes.^' 88 Appendix. Treaty at colerain, june 29, 1796. Article VII. " The Creek Nation shall deliver, as soon as practicable, to the Super- intendent of Indian affairs, at such place as he may direct, all citizens of the United States, white inhabitants and negroes, who are now pris- oners in any part of the said Nation, agreeable to the treaty of New York, and also all citizens, white inhabitants, negroes and property taken since the signing of that treaty. And if any such prisoners, negroes or property should not be delivered, on or before the first day of January next, the Governor of Georgia may empower three persons to repair to the said Nation, in order to claim and receive such prisoners, negroes, and property, under the direction of the President of the United States." ^>?^ I / ia#. ik.** W.M.J' mm , . .^ L f ,;* i ^ V.