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The word, Muskogee, did not appear in the colonial archives until just before the American Revolution. Mvskoke means “People who have herbs.”
- Creek Indians were also known as Muskogee Creek.
- The Creek Indians are one of the Five Civilized Tribes: Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole
- Cultural area is the Southeast United States.
- Linguistic group: Muskogean
- Federal Status: Recognized
- Clans: Wind, Bird, Alligator, and Bear
- Original homeland: along the banks of the Alabama, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Flint, Ocmulgee, and Chattahoochee Rivers, In the Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee
- Creek Indians trace their ancestry through the female line. The children belong to the same clan as their mother. Clan members were closely related so they had to marry someone from a different clan than his or her own.
- The Creek Nation is comprised of six political districts: 1. Coweta, 2. Deep Fork, 3. Eufaula, 4. Muscogee, 5. Okmulgee, 6. Wewoka; these districts function like counties.
- Creek Confederacy included : Hitichita, Koasti and Yuchia.
- Band others associated with the Creek: Natchea, Tuskegee,
- Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma
- Website: https://www.muscogeenation.com/
- History: Their ancestral homeland was in Alabama and Georgia.
[https://peopleofonefire.com/there-was-no-creek-migration-legend.htm...]
Muskogee (Maskoke, Mvskoke) – This is a relatively new term that first appeared in the late 1740s, during the reign of High King Malatchi. Its meaning is not obvious, because masko is not in the Muskogee-Creek dictionary. It possibly was derived from the Ladino (Spanish Sephardic) verb, meaning “to mix.” Malatchi was probably the son or grandson of a Jewish trader, because he had a Hebrew name. Maskoke was coined to give a name to the members of the Creek Confederacy, who originally spoke several languages and dialects. However, until the late 1780s, Itsate (Hitchiti) was spoken by more people in Georgia, than either English or Muskogee. The Muskogee language was originally derived from the dialects spoken by a militarily powerful minority in the 1717 Creek Confederacy.
[https://peopleofonefire.com/original-members-of-creek-confederacy-w...]
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The Creek Confederacy was a loose coalition of ethnically and linguistically diverse Native American towns that slowly coalesced as a political entity in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Its towns existed in Georgia, Alabama, and northern Florida, and for most of its preremoval history, these towns operated as autonomous entities. Several Creek leaders tried to consolidate power and create a more centralized polity, but these attempts at nation building largely failed. Instead, a fragile and informal confederacy connected the towns together for various cultural rituals as well as for purposes of diplomacy and trade. Disputes over centralization, as well as a host of other connected issues, ultimately led to the Creek War of 1813–1814. In the 1830s, the United States forced most members of the Creek Confederacy to vacate their eastern lands and relocate their nation to Indian Territory. Today, their western descendants are known as the Muskogee (Creek) Nation. Those who remained in the east include members of the federally recognized Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians who live in Alabama.
Keywords: Creek Confederacy, Creek Indians, civilization plan, Muskogee, Indian slave trade, deerskin trade, Indian removal, Native South, Creek War of 1813–1814 (or Red Stick War), Mississippians, Alexander McGillivray [
https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/97801993...]6
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Tukabatchee or Tuckabutche (Creek: Tokepahce [1]%29 is one of the four mother towns of the Muscogee Creek confederacy.[2] The pre-removal tribal town was located on the Tallapoosa River in the present-day state of Alabama.
The town is believed to be the first site of the ancient 'busk' fire which began the Green Corn Ceremony. Tukabatchee was the home of Big Warrior, one of the two principal chiefs of the Creeks until his death in 1826. Chief Opothleyahola was born here in 1780.[3]
In 1811 Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa (better known as the Prophet) addressed Creek leaders in the Tukabatchee town square. Tecumseh was so disappointed in Big Warrior's response at the end of his speech against American expansion that he said upon reaching Chalagawtha the Prophet would "...stamp his foot and all of Tuckabatchee's cabins would fall." The town was leveled by the New Madrid earthquake a month later.[citation needed]
During the Creek War in 1813, Red Stick rebels surrounded the town. The siege was lifted by Creeks from the nearby town of Cusseta.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tukabatchee]
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Chekilli (from achikilläs, making a short step backward. Gatschet). The principal chief of the Creek confederacy at the period of the settlement of the Georgia colony in 1733, having succeeded the “Emperor Bream” on the death of the latter. He appears to have been one of the Creeks who visited England with Tomochichi in that year. In 1735, as “Emperor of the Upper and Lower Creeks,” he headed a delegation in a council with the English at Savannah, on which occasion he recited the national legend of the Creeks, as recorded in pictographs upon a buffalo skin, which was delivered to the commissioners and afterward hung up in the London office of the colony. It is now lost, but the translation has been preserved, and has been made the subject of a brief paper by Brinton and an extended notice by Gatschet. In 1752 Chekilli was residing at Coweta, and although still regarded as principal ruler of the confederacy had delegated his active authority to Malatche, the war chief, a younger man. The name appears also as Chiggilli and Tchikilli.
Consult Further:
Bosomworth, MS. Jour., 1752, copy in B. A. E. ; Brinton, Nat. Leg. Chahta-Muskokee Tribes, in Hist. Mag., Feb., 1870; Gatschet, Creek Migr. Leg., i, n, 1884, 1888.
[https://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/creek-indian-chiefs-and-lead...]
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[https://fivecivilizedtribes.cherokee.org/Five-Tribes/Creek/Creek-H]istory
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Creek Confederacy
Prior to the early 18th Century, most of Georgia was home to American Indians belonging to a southeastern alliance known as the Creek Confederacy. Today’s Creek Nation, also known as the Muskogee, were the major tribe in that alliance.
According to Creek traditions, the Confederacy migrated to the southeastern United States from the Southwest. The confederacy was probably formed as a defense against other large groups to the north. The name “Creek” came from the shortening of “Ocheese Creek” Indians — a name given by the English to the native people living along the Ocheese Creek (or Ocmulgee River). In time, the name was applied to all groups of the confederacy.
Most of the groups of the Creek Confederacy shared the same language family (Muskogean), the same types of ceremonies, and village lay-out. The Creek people lived in large permanent towns, or italwa, with smaller outlying villages, or Talofa, that were associated with the larger town. Italwas were centered around plazas (pascova) used for dancing, religious ceremonies and games. It was here that the Sacred Fire was rekindled annually at the Green Corn Festival (Busk).
Plazas in the towns also contained a rotunda — a round building made of poles and mud used for council meetings — and an open-air summer council house. The people in the villages attended ceremonies in the towns with which they were associated. Surrounding the plaza area were the family homes. Towns were governed by a Chief, or “Mico”, an assistant chief, and a “Mico Apokta”, who acted as speaker for the Chief, announcing his decisions to the people.
These characteristics are very similar to what is known about the prehistoric Mississippian Culture who occupied the Etowah Mounds village. The people of the Etowah Mounds are believed to be the ancestors of the Creeks who controlled the area until the early 1500’s.
The Spanish incursions into the Southeast in the sixteenth century devastated these peoples. European diseases such as smallpox may have killed 90 percent or more of the native population. But by the end of the 1600s Southeastern Indians began to recover.
They built a complex political alliance, which united native peoples from the Ocmulgee River west to the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers in Alabama. Although they spoke a variety of languages, including Muskogee, Alabama, and Hitchiti, the Indians were united in their wish to remain at peace with one another. By 1715 English newcomers from South Carolina were calling these allied peoples “Creeks.” At that time, they numbered about 10,000. This description of the Creek culture and society is based on the writings of Benjamin Hawkins, “Indian Agent” to the Creek Nation.
When a Creek town reached a population of about 400-600 people they would split, with about half moving to a new, nearby location. The new town would build its ceremonial center and develop its own villages, but would also retain a “mother-daughter” relationship with its original town. This is how the confederacies were formed.
Creek legends tell of palisaded, compact towns. By the 1700’s Creek towns began to spread out, reflecting a move to an agrarian lifestyle. At the end of this century it was not uncommon for each town to have outlying homes separated by a mile or more of crops. The Creek adopted the plow and ax and raised livestock. While most Creek still lived in traditional huts (not teepees) roofed with wood shingles or grass, some began to build log homes with chimneys. By the end of the century Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins described the Creek towns as being “well fenced, with fine stocks of cattle, horses and hogs surrounded by fields of corn, rice and potatoes.”
The Muscogee were the first Native Americans considered to be “civilized” under George Washington’s civilization plan. In the 19th century, the Muscogee were known as one of the “Five Civilized Tribes“, because they had integrated numerous cultural and technological practices of their more recent European American neighbors.
Influenced by their prophetic interpretations of the 1811 comet and earthquake, the Upper Towns of the Muscogee, supported by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh, began to resist European-American encroachment. Internal divisions with the Lower Towns led to the Red Stick War (Creek War, 1813–1814), begun as a civil war within the Muscogee Nation, it enmeshed them in the War of 1812 against the United States.
The modern capitol of the Creek Nation is in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Today Muscogee people live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. They once also lived in Tennesee.
Their primary language, Mvskoke, is a member of the Muscogee branch of the Muscogean language family. Tribes in the Creek Confederacy also spoke several other related Muskogean languages. Hitchiti was the most widely spoken in present-day Georgia; Hitchiti speakers were the first to be displaced by white settlers, and the language died out. Muskogee was spoken from the Chattahoochee to the Alabama River. Koasati (Coushatta) and Alibamu were spoken in the upper Alabama River basin and along parts of the Tennessee River.
The most important leader in Muscogee society was the mico or village chief. Micos led warriors in battle and represented their villages, but held authority only insofar as they could persuade others to agree with their decisions. Micos ruled with the assistance of micalgi or lesser chiefs, and various advisors, including a second in charge called the heniha, respected village elders, medicine men, and a tustunnuggee or ranking warrior, the principal military advisor. The yahola or medicine man officiated at various rituals, including providing black drink, used in purification ceremonies.
The most important social unit was the clan. Clans organized hunts, distributed lands, arranged marriages, and punished lawbreakers. The authority of the micos was complemented by the clan mothers, mostly elderly women. Clan membership is matrilineal. The Wind Clan is the first of the clans. The majority of micos have belonged to this clan
Alabama– Their territory was centered on the upper Alabama River, which like the state through which it runs, was named after them. The Alabama were strong allies of the French, whom they allowed to build Fort Toulouse in their territory. When the French lost their American holdings after the French and Indian War, most of the Alabama retreated into French Louisiana. After that was purchased and settled by the United States, they retreated farther into Texas, where they now have a reservation with the Coushatta. Their languge still exists in Texas. Other Alabama were exiled to Oklahoma with the Creeks in the 1830’s.
Tribes of the Creek Confederacy Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town (Oklahoma)
Blount Band of Apalachicola Creek Indians (Unrecognized)
Chehaw (Chiaha) – A lower Creek village in Southwest Georgia which was removed to Oklahoma.
Cher-O-Creek Intra Tribal Indians (State Recognized)
Coosa – Coosa was one of the four mother towns of the Muscogee Creek confederacy. It was associated with a series of communities in Georgia which were inhabited from about 1300AD- 1600AD. As a modern archaeological site it is known as “Little Egypt”, and had a large plaza and three platform mounds, as well as residential dwellings. Researchers have found various Mississippian culture pottery types, the most substantial of which reflect the site’s Middle and Late South Appalachinian Mississippian culture (a regional variation of the Mississippian culture). Archeologists have defined these as the Dallas, Lamar, and Mouse Creek phases of pottery. These type variations could indicate that the chiefdom underwent three archaeological phases and changes in culture, each with distinct pottery and artifact styles. Only one other village had a mound; the others associated with the chiefdom had only residential dwellings.
Hernando de Soto and his expedition entered the Coosa chiefdom in 1540. Chroniclers recorded that the chiefdom then consisted of eight villages. Archaeologists have identified the remains of seven of these, including the capital. The population of the Coosa is thought to have been between about 2,500 to 4,650 people. The chief of Coosa ruled over a significantly wider confederation of other chiefdoms, whose territory spread 400 miles along the Appalachian Mountains across northern Georgia into eastern Tennessee and central Alabama, and whose populations totaled in the tens of thousands. This paramount chiefdom consisted of seven or more smaller chiefdoms, representing about 50,000 people.
Following contact with Europeans and the associated introduction of Old World diseases, the populations of the Coosa and other local chiefdoms suffered extensive fatalities; the societies went into precipitous decline. By the close of the 16th century, most of the core area of the Coosa was abandoned. The surviving population withdrew to a few villages along the Coosa River in Alabama.
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana
Coushatta (Koasati, Quassarte) (Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee) – Their territory lay between the Coos and Tallapoosa Rivers where they join the Alabama. When the French lost their holdings in the southeast, the Coushatta tended to remain with the Alabama. Some fled as far west as Texas, where they now share a reservation with the Alabama. Others that remained in Alabama, were forced to move to Oklahoma, and are now found there near the town of Kinder. Others are members of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.
Coweta (Koweta) – The Coweta were the second great Muskogee tribe among the Lower Creeks, and they headed the war side while the Kasihta headed the peace side. As the principal body of Muskogee in Georgia, aside from the Kasihta, it is possible that these are the Chisi, Ichisi, or Achese of the De Soto chroniclers.
Coweta and its chief, McIntosh, played a conspicuous part in the removal of the Creek Indians to the west. McIntosh was the leader of that party which favored removal and was killed by the conservative element in consequence. After the emigration Coweta and its branches settled in the northern part of the new country on the Arkansas, where most of their descendants still live.
Cusseta (Kashita) – Cusseta, also known as Kasihta was a peace town of the Lower Creeks, a division of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy. It was located in what is now the state of Georgia. After the Yamasee War, the people of Cussetta moved from the Chattahoochee River and rebuilt their town on Ocmulgee River. Until the 1830s forced removal of the Creek Indians from Georgia and Alabama, Cusseta was one of the oldest and most significant Creek towns.
Hitchiti – They were formerly situated along the Ocmulgee River in Georgia where De Soto, who called them Ocute, encountered them. The city of Macon, Georgia, is founded on the site of a Hitchiti town. In the 1700s, they associated themselves with the Lower Creeks. At this time their numbers fell so low that they had nearly gone extinct, but by 1832 their population had risen to 381.
Many of this tribe united with members of the related Creek nation to form the Seminole tribe. Most of the Seminoles spoke Creek, but those who spoke Hitchiti were known as the “Hitchiti-Mikasuki Seminole“. The Hitchiti speaking tribes founded the towns of Hitchiti and Mikasuki in Florida as parts of this tribe. However, because of their linguistic differences from the rest of the Seminole, they tended to be somewhat isolated from the Creek speaking Seminole towns.
The Mikasuki speak a slightly different dialect of Hitchiti, but the two tribes find their languages mutually intelligible. Among the Seminole they lived in log cabins spaced 50-100 yards apart and each family cultivated its own fields. The Georgia and Alabama Hitchiti were moved along with the Creeks to Oklahoma, where the town of Hichita preserves their name.
Kialegee Tribal Town(Oklahoma) Lower Muskogee Creek (State Recognized) Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida (Mikasuki)(Florida) Machis Lower Creek Indian Tribe (State Recognized)
Muscogee Creek Nation (Oklahoma)
Oakfuskee – Was located on the Tallapoosa River in present-day Alabama. The site is now covered by the lower part of Lake Martin, created by a dam. People of this village were removed to Indian Territory in Oklahoma in the 1830s.
Ochese Creeks – British name for the Muscogee Creek Nation Poarch Band of Creeks (Alabama) Prinicipal Creek Indian Nation E. of the Mississippi (Unrecognized) Seminole Nation of Oklahoma Seminole Tribe of Florida (Florida) Star Clan of Muscogee Creeks (Alabama) (State Recognized) Thlopthlocco Tribal Town(Oklahoma) Tuckabatchee Tuskeegee
Yuchi (Tennessee) – (Euchee, Uchee) — The Yuchi call themselves Coyaha or Tsoyaha, which means, “Children of the Sun.” In the 1600s, they lived in northern Alabama, Georgia, and in South Carolina; but previously, they had a homeland in the Tennessee River area of east Tennessee. One of their major towns in Tennessee was Chestowee, which was attacked and destroyed in 1714 by their enemies, the Cherokee. They suffered significant depopulation due to the spread of diseases from the Europeans. In the 1830’s they were removed along with the Creeks to Oklahoma, where they founded the towns of Duck Creek, Polecat, and Sand Creek. Some Yuchi joined the Seminole nation. One of their major ceremonies, the Green Corn Ceremony, is still practiced today in midsummer. Their language is unique, but by 2011 they were reduced to just five speakers. However, a language program is being conducted among children to keep the language alive.
and many other tribes.
'https://www.aaanativearts.com/creek-confederacy'''[]
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The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Me-Na-Wa, A Creek warrior Me-Na-Wa, A Creek warrior
Also called the Muscogee, the Creek were made up of several separate tribes that occupied Georgia and Alabama in the American Colonial Period. Their confederacy, which formed the largest division of the Muscogean family, included other Muscogean tribes such as the Catawba, Iroquois, and Shawnee, as well as the Cherokee. Together, they were sufficiently numerous and powerful to resist attacks from the northern tribes. They received their name form the English on account of the numerous streams in their territory.
It is believed that the Creek culture began as a way to guard against other larger conquering Indian tribes of the region. One of the Five Civilized Tribes, they formed the Creek Confederacy with other Muscogean speaking tribes, the Alabama, Hitchiti, and Coushatta. The Creek Confederacy was in constant flux, its numbers and land possessions ever-changing as small bands joined and withdrew from the alliance. Society was organized in matrilineal, exogamous clans, each bearing the name of its totem animal.
The economy centered upon agriculture, growing corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, melons, and sweet potatoes. When war erupted in 1813 between the United States and the Red Stick faction of the Creek Nation, a series of raids were launched against the white settlements. These raids culminated in the sacking of Fort Mims, in which 400 settlers were killed. General Andrew Jackson defeated the Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend, and exacted a disastrous cession of 23 million acres of land from the Creek tribe.
When Jackson became president, he forcibly removed the Creek to what is now Oklahoma. Today, the Creek Confederation has its capital in Okmulgee, Oklahoma; but there are a few surviving bands in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.
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 Spanish explorer, Hernando 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 six distinct languages — Muscogee, Hittite, Koasati, Yuchi, Natchez, and Shawnee. The first three were of Muscogean stock.
About half the confederacy spoke the Muscogean 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, 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 the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers in Alabama, and Lower Creek, on middle or lower Chattahoochee River, on the Alabama-Georgia border.
While the Seminole 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 Creek begins with the appearance of De Soto’s array in their country in 1540. Spanish conquistador, 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. Another Spanish explorer, 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.
Creek Warrior by Frederic Remington, 1906 Creek Warrior by Frederic Remington, 1906
The Creek came prominently into history as allies of the English in the Apalachee Wars of 1703-08, and from that period continued 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 Creek against the Americans took place in 1813-14, in the well-known Creek war, in which General Andrew 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 Seminole War in Florida, from 1835-1843, secured permanent peace with the southern tribes.
The removal of the larger part of the Creek and Seminole people and their black 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, was generally larger than the Europeans, often above six feet in height, said to have been erect in his carriage, and graceful in every movement. They were described as proud, haughty, and arrogant; brave and valiant in war. As a people, they were more than usually devoted to decoration and ornament, were fond of music, and ball play was their most important game. Marriage outside the clan was the rule, adultery by the wife was punished by the relatives of the husband, and 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, of which ,the lighting of the new fire and the drinking of the black drink were important accompaniments.
The early statistics of Creek population are based on mere estimates. In the last quarter of the 18th century the Creek population may have been about 20,000, occupying from 40 to 60 towns. Estimates made after the removal to Indian Territory placed the population between 15,000 and 20,000.
After being forceably removed to Indian Territory, most of the Lower Muscogee located farms on the Arkansas and Verdigris Rivers. The Upper Muscogee re-established their farms and towns on the Canadian River and its northern branches.
The Civil War was disastrous for the Muscogee people, even though the majority of the tribe desire neutrality. The first three battles of the war in Indian Territory occurred when Confederate forces attacked a large of neutral band led by Opothle Yahola. Eventually, hundreds of Muscogee men fought on both the Union and Confederate sides. After the war ended, the reconstruction treaty of 1866 required the cession of approximately half of the Muscogee land — some 3.2 million acres.
References
- Guide to Muscogee (Creek) Nation ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and other agency records. < FamilySearch >
- [https://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-creek/]
- [https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/20760/Thesis-1991D-W265g...]
- http://www.goathillhistory.com/blog/2016/5/12/tukabatchee?fbclid=Iw...
- https://books.google.com/books?id=ulOUAGGnQjcC&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&d...
- https://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tukabahchee-tribe.htm---