Hitchiti Tribe. 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.”
Hitchiti Connections. The Hitchiti belonged to the Muskhogean linguistic family and were considered the mother town of the Atcik-hata group. (See Apalachicola)
Hitchiti Location. The Hitchiti are oftenest associated with a location in the present Chattahoochee County, Georgia, but at an earlier period were on the lower course of the Ocmulgee River. (See also Florida and Oklahoma.)
Hitchiti 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.
Hitchiti 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, Georgia, but after 1715 they moved to the Chattahoochee, settling first in Henry County, Alabama, but later at the site above mentioned in Chattahoochee County, Georgia. From this place they moved to Oklahoma, where they gradually merged with the rest of the Indians of the Creek Confederacy.
Hitchiti 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, Oklahoma, preserves the name.
