Georgia Indian Tribes

Apalachee. After the English and Creeks destroyed the Apalachee towns in Florida in 1704, they established a part of the tribe in a village not far below the present Augusta. In 1715, when the Yamasee war broke out, these Apalachee joined the hostile Indians and went to the Chattahoochee to live near that faction of the Lower Creeks which was favorable to Spain. Soon afterward, however, the English faction gained the ascendency among the Creeks, and the Apalachee returned to Florida. (See Florida.)

Apalachicola. From Hitchiti "Apalachicoli" or Muskogee "Apalachicolo," signifying apparently "People of the other side," with reference probably to the Apalachicola River or some nearby stream.
Also called:
   Talwa lako or Italwa lako, "big town," name given by the Muskogee Indians.
   Palachicola or Parachukla, contractions of Apalachicola.

     Connections. This was one of those tribes of the Muskhogean linguistic stock which spoke the Atsik-hata or Hitchiti language, and which included in addition the Hitchiti, Okmulgee, Oconee, Sawokli, Tamali, Mikasuki, Chiaha, and possibly the Osochi (but see Osochi).

     Location. The earliest known home of the Apalachicola was near the river which bears their name in the center of the Lower Creek country. Later they lived for a considerable period at the point where it comes into existence through the junction of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers. (See also Alabama and Florida.)

     Subdivisions and Villages. The following names of towns or tribes were given by a Tawasa Indian, Lamhatty, to Robert Beverley (1722) and may well have belonged to the Apalachicola: Aulbdley, Ephtppick, Sonepáh, and perhaps Socsoóky (or Socsósky). The census of 1832 returned two distinct bodies of Indians under the synonyms Apalachicola and Tälw łåko.

     History. According to Muskogee legend, the ancestors of the Muskogee encountered the Apalachicola in the region above indicated, when they entered the country, and they were at first disposed to fight with them but soon made peace. According to one legend the Creek Confederacy came into existence as a result of this treaty. Spanish documents of the seventeenth century are the earliest in which the name appears. It is there used both as the name of a town (as early as 1675) and, in an extended sense, for all of the Lower Creeks. This fact, Muskogee tradition, and the name Talwa Iako all show the early importance of the people. They were on more friendly terms with the Spaniards than the Muskogee generally and hence were fallen upon by the Indian allies of the English and carried off, either in 1706 or 1707. They were settled on Savannah River opposite Mount Pleasant, at a place which long bore their name, but in 1716, just after the Yamasee war, they retired into their old country and established themselves at the junction of Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers. Later they moved higher up the Chattahoochee and lived in Russell County, Ala., remaining in the general neighborhood until they removed to new homes in the present Oklahoma in 1836-40. There they established themselves in the northern part of the Creek Reservation but presently gave up their ceremonial ground and were gradually absorbed in the mass of Indians about them.

     Population. In 1715 just before the outbreak of the Yamasee war, there were said to be 2 settlements of this tribe with 64 warriors and a total population of 214. A Spanish census of 1738 also gave 2 settlements with 60 warriors in one and 45 in the other; a French census of 1750, more than 30 warriors; a British enumeration of 1760, 60; one of 1761, 20; an American estimate of 1792, 100 (including the Chiaha); and the United States Census of 1832, a total population of 239 in 2 settlements.

      Connection in which they have become noted. Apalachicola River,
Apalachicola Bay, and the name of the county seat of Franklin County, Fla., are derived from this tribe. The Spaniards applied their name to the Lower Creeks generally, and they were also noted as one of the tribes responsible for the formation of the Confederation.

Chatot. Some of these Indians lived at times in the southwest corner of this State. (See Florida.)

Cherokee. From early times the Cherokee occupied the northern and northeastern parts of Georgia, though from certain place names it seems probable that they had been preceded in that territory by Creeks. (See Tennessee.)

Chiaha. Meaning unknown though it may contain a reference to mountains or highlands. (Cf. Choctaw and Alabama tcaha, Hitchiti tcäihi, "high.") Also called:
   Tolameco or Solameco, which probably signifies "big town," a name reported by the Spaniards.

      Connections. The Chiaha belonged to the Muskhogean linguistic stock and in later times spoke the Muskogee' 'tongue, but there is every reason to class them in the Hitchiti group. (See Apalachicola.)

     Location. In later historic times the Chiaha were on the middle course of Chattahoochee River, but at the earliest period at which we have any knowledge of them they seem to have been divided into two bands, one on Burns Island, in the present State of Tennessee, the other in eastern Georgia near the coast. (See also South Carolina and Florida.)

     Subdivisions. The Mikasuki of northern Florida are said to have separated from these people.

Villages

Hawkins (1848) gives the following:

     History. Some confusion regarding this tribe has been occasioned by the fact that in the sixteenth century there appear to have been two divisions. The name first appears in the De Soto narratives applied to a "province" on an island in Tennessee River which J. Y. Brame has identified in a very satisfactory manner with Burns Island close to the Tennessee-Alabama line. They were said to be "subject to a chief of Coca," from which it may perhaps be inferred that the Creek Confederacy was already in existence. Early in 1567 Boyano, Juan Pardo's lieutenant, reached this town with a small body of soldiers and constructed a fort, Pardo joining him in September. When Pardo returned to Santa Elena shortly afterward he left a small garrison here which was later destroyed by the Indians. Possibly Chehawhaw Creek, an eastern affluent of the Coosa indicates a later location of this band. The only remaining reference which might apply to them occurs in the names of two bodies of Creeks called "Chehaw" and "Chearhaw" which appear in the census rolls of 1832–33, but they may have gotten their designations from former residences on or near the creek so called. In 1727 there was a tradition among the Cherokee that the Yamasee Indians were formerly Cherokee driven out by the Tomahitans, i. e., the Yuchi, and in this there may be some reminiscence of the fate of the Chiaha.
In the Pardo narratives the name "Lameco or Solameco" is given as a synonym for the northern Chiaha, and this may have been intended for Tolameco, which would be a Creek term meaning "Chief Town." This was also the name of a large abandoned settlement near Cofitachequi on the middle course of Savannah River visited by De Soto in 1540. Since we know that Chiaha were also in this region, it is a fair supposition that this town had been occupied by people of this connection. There is a Chehaw River on the South Carolina coast between the Edisto and_ Combahee, and as "Chiaha" is used once as an equivalent for Kiawa, possibly the Cusabo tribe of that name may have been related. Moreover, we are informed (S. C. Docs.) that the Chiaha had their homes formerly among the Yamasee. In 1715 they withdrew to the Chattahoochee with other upper Creek towns, probably from a temporary abode on Ocmulgee River. After the Creeks moved to Oklahoma the Chiaha settled in the northeastern corner of the Creek Reservation and maintained a square ground there until after the Civil war, but they have now practically lost their identity. Some of them went to Florida and the Mikasuki are said by some Indians to have branched off from them. In the country of the western Seminole there was a square ground as late as 1929 which bore their name.

     Population. There are no figures for the northern band of Chiaha unless they could have been represented in the two towns of the 1832–33 census given above, which had total populations of 126 and 306 respectively. For the southern division a Spanish census of 1738 gives 120 warriors but this included also the Osochi and Okmulgee. In 1750 only 20 were reported, but in 1760, 160, though an estimate the following year reduces this to 120. In 1792 Marbury gives 100 Chiaha and Apalachicola, and the census of 1832–33 returned 381 of, the former. In 1799 Hawkins states that there were 20 Indian families in Hotalgi-huyana, a town occupied jointly by this tribe and the Osochi, but in 1821 Young raises this to 210. He gives 670 for the Chiaha proper.

     Connection in which they have become noted. The Chiaha tribe is of some note on account of the prominence given to one branch of it in the De Soto narratives. As above mentioned, its name, spelled Chehawhaw, is applied to a stream in the northern part of Talladega County, Ala.; it is given in the form Chehaw to a post hamlet of Macon County, Ala.; to a stream in Colleton County, S. C.; and also to a small place in Seminole County, Okla.

Chickasaw. A band of Chickasaw lived near Augusta from about 1723 to the opening of the American Revolution, and later they were for some time among the Lower Creeks. (See Mississippi and South Carolina.)

Creeks. A part, and perhaps a large part, of the Indians who after-ward constituted the Creek Confederacy were living in the sixteenth century in what the Spaniards called the province of Guale on the' present Georgia coast. Some of them moved inland in consequence of difficulties with the Whites, and in the latter half of the seventeenth century most of those afterward known as Lower Creeks were upon Chattahoochee and Ocmulgee Rivers, the latter river being then called Ocheese Creek, from the Hitchiti name given to the Indians living on it. After the Yamasee War (1715) all assembled upon Chattahoochee River and continued there, part on the Georgia side of the river, part on the Alabama side, until they removed to the present Oklahoma early in the nineteenth century. (See Creek Confederacy and Muskogee under Alabama.)

Guale (See Guale)

Hitchiti. Perhaps from Atcik-hata, a term formerly applied to all of the Indians who spoke the Hitchiti language, and is said to refer to the heap of white ashes piled up close to the ceremonial ground. Also called:
   At-pasha-shliha, Koasati name, meaning "mean people."

     Connections. The Hitchiti belonged to the Muskhogean linguistic family and were considered the mother town of the Atcik-hata group. (See Apalachicola.)

     Location. The Hitchiti are oftenest associated with a location in the present Chattahoochee County, Ga., but at an earlier period were on the lower course of the Ocmulgee River. (See also Florida and Oklahoma.)

Villages

   Hihaje, location unknown.
   Hitchitoochee, on Flint River below its junction with Kinchafoonee Creek.
   Tuttallosag, on a creek of the same name, 20 miles west from Hitchitoochee.

     History. The Hitchiti are identifiable with the Ocute of De Soto's chroniclers, who were on or near the Ocmulgee River. Early English maps show their town on the site of the present Macon, Ga., but after 1715 they moved to the Chattahoochee, settling first in Henry County, Ala., but later at the site above mentioned in Chattahoochee County, Ga. From this place they moved to Oklahoma, where they gradually merged with the rest of the Indians of the Creek Confederacy.

     Population. The population of the Hitchiti is usually given in conjunction with that of the other confederate tribes. The following separate estimates of the effective male Hitchiti population are recorded: 1738, 60; 1750, 15; 1760, 50; 1761, 40; 1772, 90; in 1832 the entire population was 381.

     Connection in which they have become noted. In early days, as above mentioned, the Hitchiti were prominent as the leaders in that group of tribes or towns among the Lower Creeks speaking a language distinct from Muskogee. Hichita, McIntosh County, Okla., preserves the name.

Kasihta. One of the most important divisions of the Muskogee, possibly identical with the Cofitachequi of the De Soto narratives. (See Muskogee under Alabama.)

Oconee. Significance unknown.

      Connections. The Oconee belonged to the Muskhogean linguistic stock, and the Atcik-hata group. (See Apalachicola.)

     Location. Just below the Rock Landing on Oconee River, Ga. (But see also Florida.)

     History. Early documents reveal at least two bodies of Indians bearing the name Oconee and probably related. One was on or near the coast of Georgia and seems later to have moved into the Apalachee country and to have become fused with the Apalachee tribe before the end of the seventeenth century. The other was at the point above indicated, on Oconee River. About 1685 they were on Chattahoochee River, whence they moved to the Rock Landing. A more northerly location for at least part of the tribe may be indicated in the name of a Cherokee town, though that may have been derived from a Cherokee word as Mooney supposed. About 1716 they moved to the east bank of the Chattahoochee in Stewart County, Ga., and a few years later part went to the Alachua Plains, in the present Alachua County, Fla., where they became the nucleus of the Seminole Nation and furnished the chief to that people until the end of the Seminole war. Most of them were then taken to Oklahoma, but they had already lost their identity.

     Population. The following estimates of effective Oconee men in the Creek Nation are preserved: 1738, 50; 1750, 30; 1760, 50; 1761, 50. In 1675 there were about 200 Indians at the Apalachee Mission of San Francisco de Oconi.

     Connection in which they have become noted. The name Oconee is perpetuated in the Oconee River, the town of Oconee, Oconee Mills, and Oconee Siding, all in Georgia, but not necessarily in the name of Oconee County, S. C., which is of Cherokee origin, although there may be some more remote relationship. There is a place of the name in Shelby County, Ill.

Okmulgee. Signifying in the Hitchiti language, "where water boils up" and referring probably to the big springs in Butts County, Ga., called Indian Springs. Also called:
   Waiki łako, "Big Spring," Muskogee name.

     Connections. The Okmulgee belonged to the Muskhogean linguistic stock and the Atsik-hata group. (See Apalachicola under Georgia.)
Location.—In the great bend of the Chattahoochee River, Russell County, Ala.; earlier, about the present Macon, Ga. (See also Alabama and Oklahoma.)

     History. The Okmulgee probably separated from the Hitchiti or one of their cognate towns when these towns were on Okmulgee River and settled at the point above indicated, where they became closely associated with the Chiaha and Osochi. They went west with the other Creeks and reestablished themselves in the most northeastern part of the allotted territory, where they gradually lost their identity. Although small in numbers, they gave the prominent Perryman family to the Creek Nation and its well-known head chief, Pleasant Porter.

      Population. A French census of about 1750 states that there were rather more than 20 effective men among the Okmulgee, and the British census of 1760 gives 30. Young, quoted by Morse, estimates a total population of 220 in 1822. There are few other enumerations separate from the general census of the Creeks.

      Connection in which they have become noted. The name of the city of Okmulgee and that of Ocmulgee River were derived independently from the springs above mentioned. The name Okmulgee given to the later capital of the Creek Nation in what is now Oklahoma was, however, taken from the tribe under consideration. It has now become a flourishing on city.

Osochi. A division of the Lower Creeks which lived for a time in southwestern Georgia. (See Alabama.)

Sawokli. A division of the Creeks belonging to the group of towns that spoke the Hitchiti language. (See Alabama.)

Shawnee. The Shawnee band which settled near Augusta concerns South Carolina and Georgia almost equally. Their history has already been given in treating the tribes of the former State. (See also Tennessee.)

Tamathli. The name is possibly related to that of a Creek clan with the Hitchiti plural ending, in which case it would refer to "flying creatures," such as birds.

     Connections. Tamathli belonged to the Atsik-hata group in the Creek Confederation.

      Location. The historic seats of the Tamathli were in southwestern Georgia and neighboring parts of Florida.

     History. It is believed that we have our first mention of the Tamathli in the Toa or Toalli of the De Soto narratives. When De Soto passed through Georgia in 1540, it is believed that this tribe was living at Pine Island in Daugherty County. They may have been connected with the Altamaha Yamasee living between Ocmulgee and Oconee Rivers whose name sometimes appears in the form Tama. They afterward drifted into Florida and were established in a mission called La Purificaci6n de la Tama on January 27, 1675, by Bishop Calderon of Cuba, in the Apalachee country 1 league from San Luis. In a mission list dated 1680 appears the name of another mission, Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria de in Tama. The Tamathli suffered the same fate as the Apalachee in general when the latter were at-tacked by Moore in 1704. At least part of these Indians afterward moved to the neighborhood of St. Augustine, where another mission was established for them, but this was attacked by the Creeks on November 1, 1725, while mass was being celebrated. Many Indians were killed and the remainder moved to other missions. In 1738 we hear of a "Tamaxle nuevo," as the northernmost Lower Creek settlement and a southern division called "Old Tamathle," and are informed that "in the town of Tamasle in Apalachee [i. e., Old Tamathle] there were some Catholic and pagan families." We hear again of these Tamathli Indians from Benjamin Hawkins (1848), writing in 1799, who sets them down as one of the tribes entering into the formation of the Florida Seminole. A town of the same name also appears in the Cherokee country "on Valley River, a few miles above Murphy, about the present Tomatola, in Cherokee County, N. C." The name cannot be interpreted in Cherokee and there may once have been a northern division of the Tamathli.

     Population. The Spanish census dated 1738 enters Old Tamathli, with 12 men, and New Tamathli with 26, but the latter probably was in the main a Sawokli settlement. The French estimate of 1750 entered only the former town with 10 men. In Young's enumeration of Seminole towns (in Morse, 1822) this is given a total population of 220.

Timucua. One contact between the Timucua Indians and Georgia is mentioned later in connection with the Osochi. When the Spaniards first came in contact with them, the Timucua occupied not merely northern and central Florida but Cumberland Island and a part of the adjacent mainland. The Timucua evidently withdrew from this territory as a result of pressure exerted by northern Indians in the latter part of the seventeenth century or the very beginning of the eighteenth. (See Utina under Florida.)

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, as there is no r in any of the Muskhogean tongues.

     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:

Lower towns:

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 Yamasee 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.

Yuchi (See Yuchi)

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