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Creek Indian
Tribe
Creek, A confederacy forming the largest division of the
Muskhogean family. They received their name form the English on
account of the numerous streams in their country. During early
historic times the Creek occupied the greater portion of Alabama and
Georgia, residing chiefly on Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, the two largest
tributaries of the Alabama river and on the Flint and Chattahoochee
Rivers. They claimed the territory on the east from the Savannah to
St. Johns river and all the islands, thence to Apalachee Bay, and from
this line northward to the mountains. The south portion of this territory
was held by dispossession of the earlier Florida tribes. They sold to
Great Britain at an early date their territory between Savannah and
Ogeechee rivers, all the coast to St Johns river, and all the islands up
to tidewater, reserving for themselves St Catherine, Sapelo, and Ossabaw
Ilands, and from Pipemakers Bluff to Savannah (Morse, N. Am., 218, 1776).
Thus occupying a leading position among the Muskhogean tribes the Creeks
were sufficiently numerous and powerful to resist attacks from the
northern tribes, as the Catawba, Iroquois, Shawnee, and Cherokee, after
they had united in a confederacy, which they did at an early day. The
dominating tribes at the time of the confederation seem to have been the
Abihka (or Kusa), Kasihta, Kawita, Oakfuskee, and some other tribe or
tribes at the junction of Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers. Nothing certain can
be said of their previous condition, or of the time when the confederacy
was established, but it appears from the narratives of De Soto's
expedition that leagues among several of these towns existed in 1540, over
which head chiefs presided.
For more than a century before their removal to the
west, between 1836 and 1840, the people of the Creek confederacy occupied
some 50 towns, in which were spoken 6 distinct languages, viz, Muscogee,
Hittite, Koasati, Yuchi, Natchez, and Shawnee. The first three were of
Muskhogean stock, the others were entirely alien incorporations. About
half the confederacy spoke the Muscogee language, which thus constituted
the ruling language and gave name to the confederacy. The meaning of the
word is unknown. Although an attempt has been made to connect it with the
Algonquian maskeg, 'swamp,' the probabilities seem to favor a
southern origin. The people speaking the cognate Hitchiti and Koasati were
contemptuously designated as "Stincards" by the dominant Muscogee. The
Koasati seem to have included the ancient Alibamu of central Alabama,
while the Hitchiti, on lower Chattahoochee river, appear to have been the
remnant of the ancient people of southeast Georgia, and claimed to be of
more ancient occupancy than the Muscogee. Geographically the towns were
grouped as Upper Creek, on Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, Alabama, and Lower
Creek, on middle or lower Chattahoochee river, on the Alabama-Georgia
border. While the Seminole (q. v.) were still a small body confined to the
extreme north of Florida, they were frequently spoken of as Lower Creeks.
To the Cherokee the Upper Creeks were known as Ani-Kusa use, from
their ancient town of Kusa, or Coosa, while the Lower Creeks were called
Ani-Kawita, from, their principal
town Kawita, or Coweta. The earlier Seminole emigrants were chiefly from,
the Lower Creek towns.
The history of the Creeks begins with the appearance of
De Soto's array in their country in 1540. Tristan de Luna came in contact
with part of the group in 1559, but the only important fact that can be
drawn from the record is the deplorable condition into which the people of
the sections penetrated by the Spaniards had been brought by their visit.
Juan del Pardo passed through their country in 1567, but Juan de la
Vandera, the chronicler of his expedition, has left little more than a
list of unidentifiable names. The Creeks came prominently into history as
allies of the English in the Apalachee wars of 1703-08, and from that
period continue almost uniformly as treaty allies of the South Carolina
and Georgia colonies, while hostile to the Spaniards of Florida. The only
serious revolt of the Creeks against the Americans took place in
1813-14-the well-known Creek war, in which Gen. Jackson took a prominent
part. This ended in the complete defeat of the Indians and the submission
of Weatherford, their leader, followed by the cession of the greater part
of their lands to the United States. The extended and bloody contest in
Florida, which lasted from 1835 to 1843 and is known as the Seminole war,
secured permanent peace with the southern tribes.
The removal of the larger part of the Creek and
Seminole people and their Negro slaves to the lands assigned them in
Indian Territory took place between 1836 and 1840.
The Creek woman was short in stature but well formed,
while the warrior, according to Pickett (Hist. Ala., 87, ed. 1896), was
"larger than the ordinary race of Europeans, often above 6 ft. in height,
but was invariably well formed, erect in his carriage, and graceful in
every movement. They were proud, haughty, and arrogant; brave and valiant
in war." As a people they were more than usually devoted to decoration and
ornament; they were fond of music, and ball play was their most important
game. Exogamy, or marriage outside the clan, was the rule; adultery by the
wife was punished by the relatives of the husband; descent was in the
female line. In government it was a general rule that where one or more
clans occupied a town they constituted a tribe under an elected chief, or
miko, who was advised by the council of the town in all important
matters, while the council appointed the "great warrior" or
tustenuggi-hlako. They usually buried their dead in a square pit under
the bed where the deceased lay in his house. Certain towns were
consecrated to peace ceremonies and were known as "white towns," while
others set apart for war ceremonials were designated as "red towns." They
had several orders of chiefly rank. Their great religious ceremony was the
annual puskita (see Busk), of which the lighting of the new fire
and the drinking of the black drink (q. v.) were important accompaniments.
The early statistics of Creek population are based on
mere estimates. It is not known what numerical relation the mixed bloods
hold to the full bloods and their former Negro slaves, nor the number of
their towns (having a square for annual festivities) and villages (having
no square). In the last quarter of the 18th century the Creek population
may have been about 20,000, occupying from 40 to 60 towns. Knox in 1789
(Am. State Pap., r, 1832) estimates them at 6,000 warriors, or a total of
24,000 inhabitants in 100 towns; but these evidently included the Seminole
of Florida. Bartram, about 1775, credits the whole confederacy, exclusive
of the Seminole, with 11,000 in 55 towns. Hawkins, in 1785, gave them 5,40
men, representing a total of about 19,000. Estimates made after the
removal to Indian Territory place the population between 15,000 and
20,000. In 1904 the "Creeks by blood" living in the Creek Nation, numbered
9,905, while Creek freedmen aggregated 5,473. The number of acres in their
reserve in 1885 was: 3,215,395, of which only a portion was tillable, and
90,000 were actually cultivated.
Some of the more important earlier treaties of the
United States with the Creek Indians are: Hopewell, S. C., Nov. 28, 1785;
New York, Aug. 7, 1790; Coleraine, Ga., June 29, 1796; Ft Jackson, Ala.,
Aug. 9, 1814; Creek agency on Flint River, Jan. 22, 1818; Indian Spring,
Creek Nation, Jan. 8, 1821; Washington, D. C., Jan. 24, 1826, and Mar. 24,
1832; Ft Gibson, Ind. Territory, Nov. 23, 1838.
At present the Creek Nation in Indian Territory is
divided into 49 townships ("towns"), of which 3 are inhabited solely by
Negroes. The capital is Okmulgee. Their legislature consists of a House of
Kings (corresponding to the Senate) and a House of Warriors (similar to
the National House of Representatives), with a head chief as executive.
Several volumes of their laws have been published.
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
Handbook
of American Indians, 1906
Index of Tribes or Nations
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