124-482: William Bartram (April 20, 1739 – July 22, 1823) was an American naturalist, writer and explorer. Bartram was the author of an acclaimed book, now known by the shortened title Bartram's Travels , which chronicled his explorations of the Southern Colonies of British North America from 1773 to 1777. Bartram has been described as "the first naturalist who penetrated the dense tropical forests of Florida". Bartram
248-434: A matrilineal kinship system, with children considered born into their mother's clan, and inheritance was through the maternal line. The Wind Clan is the first of the clans. The majority of micos have belonged to this clan. Britain, France, and Spain all established colonies in the present-day Southeastern woodlands. Spain established Jesuit missions and related settlements to influence Native Americans. The British and
372-447: A tustunnuggee or ranking warrior, the principal military adviser. The heles hayv or medicine maker 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 women elders. The Muscogee had
496-401: A Muscogee woman. In Muscogee culture, unmarried Muscogee women had great freedom over their own sexuality compared to European and European-American counterparts. Under the customs of Muscogee matrilineal society, their children belonged to their mother's clan. With the exception of McGillivray, mixed-raced Muscogee people worked against Muscogee Creek interests, as they understood them ; to
620-470: A Yamasee band that remained allies of Britain, allowed John Musgrove to establish a fur-trading post. His wife Mary Musgrove was the daughter of an English trader and a Muscogee woman from the powerful Wind Clan, half-sister of 'Emperor' Brim. She was the principal interpreter for Georgia's founder and first Governor Gen. James Oglethorpe , using her connections to foster peace between the Creek Indians and
744-434: A blood vessel. He walked [to] another pear tree near the west corner of the house, & returning, aided by the family, he reached the first, under which he was discovered, were he died." Numerous places and sites are named in his honor: Bartram died on July 22, 1823, at Bartram's Garden . Bartram%27s Travels Bartram's Travels is the short title of naturalist William Bartram 's book describing his travels in
868-560: A death sentence against George Washington 's Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins , who won the loyalty of the Lower Creeks. He built a tiny navy, and raided Spanish ships in the Gulf of Mexico , and, in 1800, declared war on Spain, briefly capturing the presidio and trading post of San Marcos de Apalache before being forced to retreat. Although a Spanish force that set out to destroy Mikosuki got lost in
992-429: A few days later he left Fort Prince George and Keowee ( 34°51′49″N 82°54′06″W / 34.863616°N 82.901575°W / 34.863616; -82.901575 ) after not being able to procure a guide . In addition to his botanizing, Bartram aptly described the journey: ...all alone in a wild Indian country, a thousand miles from my native land, and a vast distance from any settlements of white people. It
1116-514: A large rattlesnake that had entered their camp. They entreated "Puc Puggy" to come kill the snake, which Bartram reluctantly agreed to do. Later he saw three young men approaching. He wrote: I observed one of them was a young prince who had, on my first interview with him, declared himself my friend and protector, when he told me that if ever occasion should offer in his presence, he would risk his life to defend mine or my property. This young champion stood by his two associates, one on each side of him,
1240-399: A little sailboat. In three days Bartram landed at the plantation of Francis Philip Fatio at Switzerland . There he received information concerning the recent disturbances at Spalding's Stores. He paused the next day at Fort Picolata where he had failed as a planter seven years earlier. Bartram then kept to the west bank, or Indian shore, the river being the division between Indian country on
1364-424: A number of essays, contributed to several works anonymously, and helped run the family horticultural business. In 1802, Bartram met the school teacher Alexander Wilson and began to teach him the rudiments of ornithology and natural history illustration. Wilson's American Ornithology includes many references to Bartram and the area around Bartram's Garden . Among Bartram's more significant later contributions were
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#17328692245491488-595: A request to teach botany at the University of Pennsylvania, and in his sixties, declined an invitation from President Thomas Jefferson to accompany an expedition up the Red River in the Louisiana Territory , in 1806. Bartram died at his home in 1823, at the age of 84. According to a short biography penned by Robert Carr, "He wrote an article on the natural history of a plant a few minutes before his death." Details of
1612-847: A second edition in 1801. Muscogee people The Muscogee , also known as the Mvskoke , Muscogee Creek or just Creek , and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( pronounced [məskóɡəlɡi] in the Muscogee language ; English: / m ə s ˈ k oʊ ɡ iː / məss- KOH -ghee ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands in the United States . Their historical homelands are in what now comprises southern Tennessee , much of Alabama , western Georgia and parts of northern Florida . Most of
1736-506: A second proposal to publish the Travels , and among the subscribers were President George Washington , Vice President John Adams , and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson . Bartram dedicated the book to Pennsylvania governor Thomas Mifflin . The book was deposited for copyright on August 26, 1791, and printed in Philadelphia between that date and January 1792. The number of copies printed
1860-528: A sense of Muscogee nationalism and centralize political authority, struggling against village leaders who individually sold land to the United States. He also became a wealthy landowner and merchant, owning as many as sixty black slaves. In 1784, he negotiated the Treaty of Pensacola with Spain, recognizing Muscogee control over 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km ) of land claimed by Georgia, and guaranteeing access to
1984-864: A shortening of Ocheese Creek (the Hitchiti name for the body of water known today as the Ocmulgee River ), and broadly applies to all of the Muscogee Confederacy, including the Yuchi and Natchez . In 1704, Irish colonial administrator James Moore led the Carolina militia and Ochese Creek and Yamasee warriors on a series of raids against Spanish missions in the Florida interior during Queen Anne's War . These raids captured thousands of Spanish-allied Indians, primarily Apalachee , who were sold into slavery in Carolina and
2108-452: A special emissary, Col. Marinus Willet , who persuaded him to travel to New York City, then the capital of the U.S., and deal directly with the federal government. In the summer of 1790, McGillivray and 29 other Muscogee chiefs signed the Treaty of New York , on behalf of the 'Upper, Middle and Lower Creek and Seminole composing the Creek nation of Indians,' ceding a large portion of their lands to
2232-472: A trip to Cuscowilla ( Micanopy ) and Alachua Savannah, now Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park . In late May, Bartram traveled up the St. Johns River to Spalding's Upper Store at present-day Astor and to Blue Spring . Some of the most memorable events in Travels occurred during this trip upriver when a wolf stole his fish as Bartram slept, he was jostled and threatened by alligators while fishing from his boat, and he
2356-521: A two-part report of his travels. This report was not published during Bartram's lifetime and is not to be confused with the book. The present-day Bartram Trail system, including the Bartram Canoe Trail , commemorates William Bartram’s journey by marking segments of his approximate route in Alabama , Florida , Georgia , North Carolina , and South Carolina . Bartram remained in Philadelphia during
2480-738: Is a linguistic isolate , unrelated to any other language. The ancestors of the Muscogee people were part of the Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere , also known as Mississippian cultures . Between 800 and 1600 CE, they built complex cities with earthwork mounds with surrounding networks of satellite towns and farmsteads. Muscogee confederated town networks were based on a 900-year-old history of complex and well-organized farming and town layouts around plazas, ballparks, and square ceremonial dance grounds. The Muscogee Creek are associated with multi-mound centers, such as
2604-714: Is best described as a collection of moderately sized native chiefdoms (such as the Coosa chiefdom on the Coosa River ), interspersed with completely autonomous villages and tribal groups. The earliest Spanish explorers encountered villages and chiefdoms of the late Mississippian culture , beginning on April 2, 1513, with Juan Ponce de León 's landing in Florida. The 1526 Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón expedition in South Carolina also recorded encounters with these peoples. Muscogee people were gradually influenced by interactions and trade with
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#17328692245492728-461: Is much obliged to thee for his drawing paper...he hath drawn many rare birds in order to send to thee & dryed ye birds to send to his friend edwards to whome he is much obliged for those two curious bookes...he spent his time this spring in shooting & drawing ye rare birds of quick passage..." William Bartram arrived in Charleston on March 31, 1773. He learned that a Native American congress
2852-562: Is significant as a scientific work, as a historical source concerning American Indians and the American South , and as a contribution to American literature . The reviewer in the Massachusetts Magazine found Bartram's literary style "rather too luxuriant and florid", but overall the book was praised highly in the United States and Europe. Early readers were sometimes skeptical about the accuracy of Bartram's description of what
2976-713: Is today the Southern United States. Paleo-Indians in the Southeast were hunter-gatherers who pursued a wide range of animals, including megafauna , which became extinct following the end of the Pleistocene age. During the time known as the Woodland period , from 1000 BC to 1000 AD, locals developed pottery and small-scale horticulture of the Eastern Agricultural Complex . The Mississippian culture arose as
3100-473: Is under a pear tree that grewe at the south corner of the house. You have doubtless seen it. The old man, then in his 86th year, rose from the Table, taking with him a bit of bread & cheese, saying - "I will do as the boys do." In going out, he reached the pear tree - where he was shortly after discovered throwing up blood from his lungs. A crumb, it supposed, choaking him, he ruptured, in his efforts to dislodge it,
3224-446: Is unknown, but was probably fewer than 1,000. The price per copy was "two Spanish milled dollars." Bartram probably received 10 percent royalties . Bartram expressed dissatisfaction with the first edition of his book, which contained many errors, especially in the spelling of scientific names. He enclosed a list of 28 errata in a copy he gave to a neighbor. No second American edition was published in his lifetime. Bartram's Travels
3348-464: The Alabama and Mississippi area. The areas were inhabited by historic Muscogee Native Americans . De Soto brought with him a well-equipped army. He attracted many recruits from a variety of backgrounds who joined his quest for riches in the Americas . As the de Soto expedition's brutalities became known to the indigenous peoples, they decided to defend their territory. Chief Tuskaloosa led his people in
3472-763: The American South and encounters with American Indians between 1773 and 1777. The book was published in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania in 1791 by the firm of James & Johnson. The book's full title is Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws. Containing an Account of
3596-633: The Battle of Mabila , where the Native Americans were defeated. However, the victory came at great cost to the Spanish campaign in loss of supplies, casualties, and morale. The expedition never fully recovered. Because of endemic infectious diseases carried unknowingly by the Europeans, but new to the Muscogee, the Spanish expedition resulted in epidemics of smallpox and measles, and a high rate of fatalities among
3720-614: The Catskill Mountains , the New Jersey Pine Barrens , New England , and Florida . From his mid-teens, Bartram was noted for the quality of his botanic and ornithological drawings. He also had an increasing role in the maintenance of his father's botanic garden , and added many rare species to it. On "may ye 30th 1756", his father John wrote the following passage in a letter to the English naturalist Peter Collinson : "Billy
3844-655: The Chattahoochee . French Canadian explorers founded Mobile as the first capital of Louisiana in 1702, and took advantage of the war to build Fort Toulouse at the confluence of the Tallapoosa and Coosa in 1717, trading with the Alabama and Coushatta . Fearing they would come under French influence, the British reopened the deerskin trade with the Lower Creeks, antagonizing the Yamasee, now allies of Spain. The French instigated
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3968-546: The Cherokee , Upper and Lower Creeks, Chickasaw and Choctaw . Bowles' first act was declaring the 1796 Second Treaty of San Ildefonso , which drew the boundary between the U.S. and West Florida , null and void , because the Indians were not consulted. He denounced the treaties Alexander McGillivray had negotiated with Spain and the U.S., threatening to declare war on the United States unless it returned Muscogee lands, and issuing
4092-582: The Coosa , Tallapoosa and Alabama rivers, were Tuckabatchee , Abhika , Coosa (Kusa; the dominant people of East Tennessee and North Georgia during the Spanish explorations), Itawa (original inhabitants of the Etowah Indian Mounds ), Hothliwahi (Ullibahali), Hilibi, Eufaula , Wakokai, Atasi, Alibamu , Coushatta (Koasati; they had absorbed the Kaski/Casqui and the Tali ), and Tuskegee ("Napochi" in
4216-741: The Gulf coast and up the Mississippi River beyond Baton Rouge . Sailing again to Mobile, he traveled inland late in the year to the Creek Indian settlements on the Tallapoosa River . In January 1776 Bartram returned to Georgia, shipped the last of his plant specimens to London from Savannah , and returned home to Philadelphia. The sequence of his journey is not reproduced exactly in Bartram's Travels . Between 1774 and 1776 Bartram sent 59 drawings and 209 dried plant specimens to Fothergill, along with
4340-562: The Mississippian culture along the Tennessee River in modern Tennessee , Georgia, and Alabama. They may have been related to the Tama of central Georgia. Muscogee oral history describes a migration from places west of the Mississippi River , in which they eventually settled on the east bank of the Ocmulgee River . Here they waged war against other bands of Native American Indians, such as
4464-578: The North Carolina back-country after the Battle of King's Mountain . He seized Augusta in March 1780, with the aid of an Upper Creek war-party, but reinforcements from the Lower Creeks and local white Loyalists never came, and Georgia militia led by Elijah Clarke retook Augusta in 1781. The next year an Upper Creek war-party trying to relieve the British garrison at Savannah was routed by Continental Army troops under Gen. 'Mad' Anthony Wayne . After
4588-501: The Ocmulgee , Etowah Indian Mounds , and Moundville sites. Precontact Muscogee societies shared agriculture, transcontinental trade, craft specialization, hunting, and religion. Early Spanish explorers encountered ancestors of the Muscogee in the mid-16th century. The Muscogee were the first Native Americans officially considered by the early United States government to be "civilized" under George Washington 's civilization plan . In
4712-737: The Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana , and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas are federally recognized. Formed in part originally by Muscogee refugees, the Seminole people today have three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma , Seminole Tribe of Florida , and Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida . At least 12,000 years ago, Native Americans or Paleo-Indians lived in what
4836-616: The Red Stick War , began as a civil war within the Muscogee Nation, only to become enmeshed within the War of 1812 . Inspired by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh (to whom 19th-century writers attributed fiery speeches that he "must have said") and their own religious leaders, and encouraged by British traders, Red Stick leaders such as William Weatherford (Red Eagle), Peter McQueen , and Menawa won
4960-487: The Romantic writers of the day. William Wordsworth , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , and François-René de Chateaubriand are known to have read the book, and its influence can be seen in many of their works. Although Bartram has often been characterized as a recluse, all evidence shows that he remained active in commercial, scientific, and intellectual pursuits well into the nineteenth century. He tutored nieces and nephews, penned
5084-666: The Seminole . Through ethnogenesis , the Seminole emerged with a separate identity from the rest of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy. The great majority of Seminole were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory in the late 1830s, where their descendants later formed federally recognized tribes . Some of the Seminole , with the Miccosukee moved south into the Everglades , resisting removal. These two tribes gained federal recognition in
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5208-691: The St. Johns River and the Alachua Savanna peopled by Seminole Indians . Returning to Charleston , Bartram set out for the southern Appalachians and the Cherokee country in April 1775, unaware that war had broken out in New England. Bartram crossed the Chattahoochee River into what later became the state of Alabama , then traveled to Mobile and Pensacola . Despite illness, he continued his journey west along
5332-625: The Suwannee River . He traveled one last time up the St. Johns River in September and left Florida forever in November 1774. On April 22, 1775 Bartram left Charleston, South Carolina on horseback to explore the Cherokee Nation. After passing through Augusta May 10, Dartmouth on May 15 ( 35°19′41″N 82°52′28″W / 35.328003°N 82.874571°W / 35.328003; -82.874571 ),
5456-881: The Yamasee War , remnants of the 'mission Indians,' and escaped African slaves. Their name comes from the Spanish word cimarrones , which originally referred to a domestic animal that had reverted to the wild. Cimarrones was used by the Spanish and Portuguese to refer to fugitive slaves—" maroon " emerges linguistically from this root as well—and American Indians who fled the Europeans. In the Hitchiti language, which lacked an 'r' sound, it became simanoli , and eventually Seminole. Many Muscogee Creek leaders, due to intermarriage, have British names: Alexander McGillivray , Josiah Francis , William McIntosh , Peter McQueen , William Weatherford , William Perryman, and others. These reflect Muscogee women having children with British colonists. For instance, Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins married
5580-478: The deerskin trade ) and Indian slaves . The Spanish and their "mission Indians" burned most of the towns along the Chattahoochee after they welcomed Scottish explorer Henry Woodward in 1685. In 1690, English colonists built a trading post on the Ocmulgee River , known as Ochese-hatchee (creek), where a dozen towns relocated to escape the Spanish and acquire English goods. The name "Creek" most likely derived from
5704-521: The indigenous peoples . These losses were exacerbated by the Indian slave trade that colonists conducted in the Southeast during the 17th and 18th centuries. As the survivors and descendants regrouped, the Muscogee Creek Confederacy arose as a loose alliance of Muskogee-speaking peoples. The Muscogee lived in autonomous villages in river valleys throughout present-day Tennessee , Georgia , and Alabama , speaking several related Muskogean languages . Muskogee
5828-473: The "old chiefs" of the Creek national government. They were emboldened when Tecumseh rallied his followers and joined with a British invasion to capture Fort Detroit in August 1812. In February 1813, a small party of Red Sticks, led by Little Warrior, was returning from Detroit when they killed two families of settlers along the Duck River , near Nashville . Hawkins demanded that the Muscogees turn over Little Warrior and his six companions. Instead of handing
5952-477: The 19th century, the Muscogee were known as one of the " Five Civilized Tribes ", because they were said to have integrated numerous cultural and technological practices of their more recent European American neighbors. Influenced by Tenskwatawa 's interpretations of the 1811 comet and the New Madrid earthquakes , the Upper Towns of the Muscogee, supported by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh , actively resisted European-American encroachment. Internal divisions with
6076-447: The 20th century and remain in Florida. The respective languages of all of these modern-day branches, bands, and tribes, except one, are closely related variants called Muscogee, Mvskoke and Hitchiti-Mikasuki , all of which belong to the Eastern Muskogean branch of the Muscogean language family . These languages are mostly mutually intelligible. The Yuchi people today are part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation , but their Yuchi language
6200-452: The Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan . In Specimens of the Table Talk of S.T. Coleridge , Coleridge is noted as having said, "It is a work of high merit every way." (March 12, 1827) Bartram's Travels appeared in Europe when an edition was published in London in 1792, and another in Dublin in 1793. Also in 1793, the Travels appeared in German as William Bartram's Reisen , translated by Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann. The book
6324-403: The British built Fort King George at the mouth of the Altamaha River . As the three European colonial powers established themselves along the borders of Muscogee lands, the latter's strategy of neutrality allowed them to hold the balance of power. The colony of Georgia was created in 1732; its first settlement, Savannah , was founded the following year, on a river bluff where the Yamacraw ,
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#17328692245496448-463: The British firm Panton, Leslie & Co. which controlled the deerskin trade, while making himself an official representative of Spain. In 1786, a council in Tuckabatchee decided to wage war against white settlers on Muscogee lands. War parties attacked settlers along the Oconee River , and Georgia mobilized its militia. McGillivray refused to negotiate with the state that had confiscated his father's plantations, but President George Washington sent
6572-410: The Cherokee Country, etc. It was considered at the time one of the foremost books on American natural history. Many of Bartram's accounts of historical sites were the earliest records, including the Georgia mound site of Ocmulgee . In addition to its contributions to scientific knowledge, Travels is noted for its original descriptions of the American countryside. Bartram's writing influenced many of
6696-400: The Chief and his party had determined to break up the business, and return the shortest way home, and forbad the surveyors to proceed any farther: however, after some delay, the complaisance and prudent conduct of the Colonel made them change their resolution; the Chief became reconciled, upon condition that the compass should be discarded, and rendered incapable of serving on this business; that
6820-401: The Chief himself should lead the survey; and, moreover, receive an order for a very considerable quantity of goods. Bartram returned to Savannah in mid-July and spent the fall and winter on the coast of Georgia, exploring the Altamaha River, writing his report, and preparing his seeds for shipment to England. In March 1774, Bartram began his much-anticipated trip to East Florida . He landed on
6944-406: The Europeans: trading or selling deer hides in exchange for European goods such as muskets, or alcohol. Secondly, the Spanish pressed them to identify leaders for negotiations; they did not understand government by consensus. After Cabeza de Vaca , a castaway who survived the ill-fated Narváez expedition , returned to Spain in 1537, he told the Court that Hernando de Soto had said that America
7068-429: The Federal Road. In 1806, Fort Benjamin Hawkins was built on a hill overlooking the Ocmulgee Old Fields , to protect expanding settlements and serve as a reminder of U.S. rule. Hawkins was disheartened and shocked by the outbreak of the Creek War , which destroyed his life work of improving the Muscogee quality of life. Hawkins saw much of his work toward building a peace destroyed in 1812. A faction of Muscogee joined
7192-454: The French opted for trade over conversion. In the 17th century, Franciscan friars in Spanish Florida built missions along Apalachee Bay . In 1670, English colonists from Barbados founded Charles Town (modern-day Charleston), the capital of the new colony of Carolina . Traders from Carolina went to Muscogee settlements to exchange firearms , gunpowder, axes, glass beads, cloth and West Indian rum for white-tailed deer pelts (as part of
7316-444: The Hitchiti Muscogee chieftain William Perryman , and later used this union as the basis for his claim to exert political influence among the Creeks. In 1781, a 17-year-old Bowles led Muscogee forces at the Battle of Pensacola . After seeking refuge in the Bahamas , he travelled to London. He was received by King George III as 'Chief of the Embassy for Creek and Cherokee Nations'; it was with British backing that he returned to train
7440-498: The Indians adopted the practice of private property, built homes, farmed, educated their children, and embraced Christianity, these Native Americans would win acceptance from white Americans." Washington's six-point plan included impartial justice toward Indians; regulated buying of Indian lands; promotion of commerce; promotion of experiments to civilize or improve Indian society; presidential authority to give presents; and punishing those who violated Indian rights. The Muscogee would be
7564-433: The Indians were primitive "savages." In addition to the Travels Bartram wrote other documents concerning his impressions of the southern Indians and the necessity of a humane public policy toward them. Among Bartram's admirers in England were the poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge . By his own account, Coleridge had Bartram's Travels in mind when he devised the exotic imagery in his poems The Rime of
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#17328692245497688-410: The Lower Creeks nominally allied with Britain after the 1779 Capture of Savannah . Muscogee warriors fought on behalf of Britain during the Mobile and Pensacola campaigns of 1780–81 , where Spain re-conquered British West Florida . Loyalist leader Thomas Brown raised a division of King's Rangers to contest Patriot control over the Georgia and Carolina interior and instigated Cherokee raids against
7812-401: The Lower Towns led to the Red Stick War (Creek War, 1813–1814). Begun as a civil war within Muscogee factions, it enmeshed the Northern Muscogee bands as British allies in the War of 1812 against the United States, while the Southern Muscogee remained US allies. Once the northern Muscogee Creek rebellion had been put down by General Andrew Jackson with the aid of the Southern Muscogee Creek,
7936-551: The Muscogee as pirates to attack Spanish ships. In 1799, Bowles formed the State of Muskogee , with the support of the Chattahoochee Creeks and the Seminoles . He established his capital at Miccosuki , a village on the shores of Lake Miccosukee near present-day Tallahassee . It was ruled by Mico Kanache, his father-in-law and strongest ally. Bowles envisioned the State of Muskogee , with its capital at Miccosuki , encompassing large portions of present-day Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and incorporating
8060-622: The Muscogee nation was forced to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson , which ceded 22,000,000 acres of land to the US, including land belonging to the Southern Muscogee who had fought alongside Jackson. The result was a weakening of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy and the forced cession of Muscogee lands to the US. During the 1830s Indian Removal , most of the Muscogee Confederacy were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory . The Muscogee (Creek) Nation , Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town , Kialegee Tribal Town , and Thlopthlocco Tribal Town , all based in Oklahoma, are federally recognized tribes. In addition,
8184-463: The Muscogee people were forcibly removed to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma ) by the federal government in the 1830s during the Trail of Tears . A small group of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy remained in Alabama, and their descendants formed the federally recognized Poarch Band of Creek Indians . Another Muscogee group moved into Florida between roughly 1767 and 1821, trying to evade European encroachment, and intermarried with local tribes to form
8308-439: The Muscogee that the comet signaled his coming. McKenney reported that Tecumseh would prove that the Great Spirit had sent him by giving the Muscogee a sign. Shortly after Tecumseh left the Southeast, the sign arrived as promised in the form of an earthquake. On December 16, 1811, the New Madrid earthquake shook the Muscogee lands and the Midwest . While the interpretation of this event varied from tribe to tribe, one consensus
8432-473: The Muscogee to side with the British, but like many tribes, they were divided by factionalism, and, in general, avoided sustained fighting, preferring to protect their sovereignty through cautious participation. During the American Revolution , the Upper Creeks sided with the British , fighting alongside the Chickamauga (Lower Cherokee) warriors of Dragging Canoe , in the Cherokee–American wars , against white settlers in present-day Tennessee . This alliance
8556-437: The Native Americans questioned the accuracy of the surveyor's course. When the surveyor said it was right because the compass told him so the chief, Young Warrior, said that, ... the little wicked instrument was a liar; and he would not acquiesce in its decisions, since it would wrong the Indians out of their land. This mistake (the surveyor proving to be in the wrong) displeased the Indians; the dispute arose to that height, that
8680-453: The Pan-American Indian movement of Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh , rejecting accommodation with white settlers and adaptation of European-American culture. Although Hawkins personally was never attacked, he was forced to watch an internal civil war among the Muscogee develop into a war with the United States. A comet appeared in March 1811. The Shawnee leader Tecumseh , whose name meant "shooting star", traveled to Tuckabatchee , where he told
8804-443: The Revolutionary War. There he wrote the manuscript of his book while restoring the botanical garden established by his father at the family home in Kingsessing . The German scientist Johann David Schöpf saw the unpublished manuscript during a visit in 1783. A first effort to publish the Travels , by Philadelphia publisher Enoch Story, Jr. in 1786, apparently failed to attract subscribers . Finally in 1790 James and Johnson issued
8928-563: The Savanna, Ogeeche, Wapoo, Santee , Yamasee, Utina , Icofan, Patican and others, until at length they had overcome them, and absorbed some as confederates into their tribe. In the mid-16th century, when explorers from the Spanish made their first forays inland from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico , many political centers of the Mississippians were already in decline, or abandoned. The region
9052-595: The Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions; Together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians. William Bartram was a Quaker and the son of naturalist John Bartram . In 1772, Dr. John Fothergill of London commissioned William Bartram to explore the Florida territories, collecting seeds, making drawings, and taking specimens of unfamiliar plants. Bartram sailed from Philadelphia in March 1773, explored Georgia , and began exploring East Florida in March 1774, especially
9176-632: The Spanish governor at Pensacola . The Red Sticks fled the scene, and the U.S. soldiers looted what they found, allowing the Red Sticks to regroup and retaliate with a surprise attack that forced the Americans to retreat. The Battle of Burnt Corn , as the exchange became known, broadened the Creek Civil War to include American forces, and was interpreted as a good omen, showing that in fact the Creeks could defeat
9300-517: The Upper Creeks to raid the Lower Creeks. In May 1718, the shrewd Emperor Brim , mico of the powerful Coweta band, invited representatives of Britain, France, and Spain to his village and, in council with Upper and Lower Creek leaders, declared a policy of Muscogee neutrality in their colonial rivalry. That year, the Spaniards built the presidio of San Marcos de Apalache on Apalachee Bay . In 1721,
9424-697: The West Indies. A decade later, tensions between colonists and Indians in the American Southwest led to the Yamassee War of 1715–17. The Ochese Creeks joined the Yamasee, burning trading posts, and raiding back-country settlers, but the revolt ran low on gunpowder and was put down by Carolinian militia and their Cherokee allies. The Yamasee took refuge in Spanish Florida , the Ochese Creeks fled west to
9548-677: The area while he awaited the conclusion of the Native American congress. The conference ended on June 3, 1773 with the Treaty of Augusta. In return for dissolving their debts to the traders in Augusta, the Creeks and Cherokees gave up 674,000 acres of land in northeast Georgia. Bartram joined the survey party as it marked the boundary. An incident occurred at a place known as the Great Buffalo Lick when
9672-455: The colonial settlements, traveling periodically to Pensacola and the Georgia trading posts to unload their skins and pick up more trade goods. As Andrew Frank writes, "Terms such as mixed-blood and half-breed, which imply racial categories and partial Indianness, betray the ways in which Native peoples determined kinship and identity in the eighteenth- and early-nineteen-century southeast." With
9796-464: The completion of his travels and the publication of his book, Bartram missed the opportunity to be recognized as the first describer of several more species. German botanists considered Bartram to be the only noteworthy American botanist of his time. Critics were often skeptical of Bartram's sympathetic description of the Creek , Seminole , Cherokee , and Choctaw Indians, which challenged presumptions that
9920-635: The contrary, in many cases, they spearheaded resistance to settler encroachment on Muscogee Creek lands. That they usually spoke English as well as Mvskoke , and knew European customs as well, made them community leaders; they "dominated Muskogee politics". As put by Claudio Saunt : These offspring of mixed marriages occupied a different position in the economy of the Deep South than did most Creeks and Seminoles. They worked as traders and factors . ... By virtue of their ancestry and upbringing, they had greater cultural, social, linguistic, and geographic ties to
10044-602: The cultivation of maize from Mesoamerica led to agricultural surpluses and population growth. Increased population density gave rise to urban centers and regional chiefdoms . Stratified societies developed, with hereditary religious and political elites. This culture flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from 800 to 1500, especially along the Mississippi River and its major tributaries. The early historic Muscogee were descendants of
10168-443: The de Luna chronicles). 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 advisers, including a second-in-charge called the heniha , respected village elders, medicine men, and
10292-414: The deep his rival champion. They suddenly dart upon each other. The boiling surface of the lake marks their rapid course, and a terrific conflict commences. They now sink to the bottom folded together in horrid wreaths. The water becomes thick and discolored. Again they rise, their jaws clap together, re-echoing through the deep surrounding forests. Again they sink, when the contest ends at the muddy bottom of
10416-463: The deerskin trade and protecting Spanish Florida from further British encroachment. Ca. 1750 a group of Ochese moved to the neutral zone, after clashing with the Muskogee -speaking towns of the Chattahoochee , where they had fled after the Yamasee War . Led by Chief Secoffee ( Cowkeeper ), they became the center of a new tribal confederacy, the Seminole , which grew to include earlier refugees from
10540-519: The din of thunder; the tempestuous scene damps my spirits, and my horse sinks under me at the tremendous peals, as I hasten for the plain. I began to ascend the Jore Mountains , which I at length accomplished, and rested on the most elevated peak; from whence I beheld with rapture and astonishment, a sublimely awful scene of power and magnificence, a world of mountains piled upon mountains. Having contemplated this amazing prospect of grandeur, I descended
10664-468: The earth; the birds afraid to utter a chirrup, and in low tremulous voices take leave of each other, seeking covert and safety; every insect is silenced, and nothing heard but the roaring of the approaching hurricane; the mighty cloud now expands its sable wings, extending from North to South, and is driven irresistibly on by the tumultuous winds, spreading his livid wings around the gloomy concave, armed with terrors of thunder and fiery shafts of lightning; now
10788-609: The end of the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years' War ) in 1763, France lost its North American empire, and British-American settlers moved inland. Indian discontent led to raids against back-country settlers, and the perception that the royal government favored the Indians and the deerskin trade led many back-country white settlers to join the Sons of Liberty . Fears of land-hungry settlers and need for European manufactured goods led
10912-399: The event were described in a letter by Thomas L. McKenney to Dolley Madison , dated July 28, 1835: "My Dear Madam, / You once did me the favor to send me some lines on the traveller & Botanist Bartram. I send with this a likeness of that excellent man ... On a visit receently [sic] to Bartram's garden Mr. Car pointed out the spot where the old man died. You will doubtless remember it. It
11036-491: The federal government and promising to return fugitive slaves, in return for federal recognition of Muscogee sovereignty and promises to evict white settlers. McGillivray died in 1793, and with the invention of the cotton gin white settlers on the Southwestern frontier who hoped to become cotton planters clamored for Indian lands. In 1795, Elijah Clarke and several hundred followers defied the Treaty of New York and established
11160-503: The first Native Americans to be "civilized" under Washington's six-point plan. Communities within the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole tribes followed Muscogee efforts to implement Washington's new policy of civilization. In 1796, Washington appointed Benjamin Hawkins as General Superintendent of Indian Affairs dealing with all tribes south of the Ohio River . He personally assumed
11284-427: The first U.S. president, and Henry Knox , the first U.S. Secretary of War, proposed a cultural transformation of the Native Americans. Washington believed that Native Americans were equals as individuals but that their society was inferior. He formulated a policy to encourage the "civilizing" process, and it was continued under President Thomas Jefferson . Noted historian Robert Remini wrote, "[T]hey presumed that once
11408-618: The illustrations for his friend Benjamin Smith Barton 's explanation of the Linnaean system, Elements of Botany (1803–04). After the War of 1812, when many of his colleagues, contacts, and friends had died, Bartram settled into a long period of work, observation, and study at the family's garden in Kingsessing. He maintained a "Diary" that records bird migrations, plant life, and the weather. He refused
11532-415: The lake, and the vanquished makes a hazardous escape, hiding himself in the muddy turbulent waters and sedge on a distant shore. The proud victor exulting returns to the place of action. The shores and forests resound his dreadful roar, together with the triumphing shouts of the plaited tribes around, witnesses of the horrid combat. During the summer Bartram made another excursion to Alachua Savannah and on to
11656-411: The lofty forests bend low beneath its fury, their limbs and wavy boughs are tossed about and catch hold of each other; the mountains tremble and seem to reel about, and the ancient hills to be shaken to their foundations: the furious storm sweeps along, smoaking through the vale and over the resounding hills; the face of the earth is obscured by the deluge descending from the firmament, and I am deafened by
11780-513: The marauders over to the federal agents, Big Warrior and the old chiefs decided to execute the war party. This decision was the spark which ignited the civil war among the Muscogee. The first clashes between Red Sticks and the American whites took place on July 21, 1813, when a group of American soldiers from Fort Mims (north of Mobile, Alabama ) stopped a party of Red Sticks who were returning from West Florida , where they had bought munitions from
11904-462: The new colony. In 1735, Georgia constructed Fort Okfuskee near Oakfuskee to compete with French trade with the Creeks at Fort Toulouse. The deerskin trade grew, and by the 1750s, Savannah exported up to 50,000 deerskins a year. In 1736, Spanish and British officials established a neutral zone from the Altamaha to the St. Johns River in present-day Florida, guaranteeing Native hunting grounds for
12028-559: The north end of Amelia Island and traveled through Old Fernandina to Lord Egmont's plantation where modern Fernandina now stands. Bartram was entertained by Stephen Egan, Egmont's agent, who rode with him around the entire island observing the plantation and Indian mounds. Bartram and Egan sailed from Amelia Island through the Intracoastal Waterway to the St. Johns River and to the Cow Ford ( Jacksonville ) where Bartram purchased
12152-488: The pinnacles...(probably Wayah Bald 35°10′49″N 83°33′38″W / 35.1803705°N 83.5604395°W / 35.1803705; -83.5604395 ) Bartram returned to Philadelphia in January 1777 and assisted his brother John in all aspects of running Bartram's Garden . In the late 1780s, he completed the book for which he became most famous, Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida,
12276-579: The region of Fort Barrington on the Altamaha River . John and William Bartram had discovered two new trees there in 1765, but they had no flowers for the season was late. William described these trees in Travels , the Franklin tree ( Franklinia alatamaha ) and fevertree ( Pinkneya pubens ). The Franklin tree no longer exists in the wild and all living trees are descended from seeds collected by William Bartram. Bartram then traveled to Augusta and explored
12400-526: The role of principal agent to the Muscogee. He moved to the area that is now Crawford County in Georgia . He began to teach agricultural practices to the tribe, starting a farm at his home on the Flint River. In time, he brought in slaves and workers, cleared several hundred acres, and established mills and a trading post as well as his farm. For years, Hawkins met with chiefs on his porch to discuss matters. He
12524-523: The short-lived Trans-Oconee Republic . In 1790, the Muscogee and Choctaw were in conflict over land near the Noxubee River . The two nations agreed to settle the dispute by ball-play. With nearly 10,000 players and bystanders, the two nations prepared for nearly three months. After a day-long struggle, the Muscogee won the game. A fight broke out and the two nations fought until sundown with nearly 500 dead and many more wounded. William Augustus Bowles
12648-636: The support of the Upper Creek towns. Allied with the British, they opposed white encroachment on Muscogee lands and the "civilizing programs" administered by Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins , and clashed with many of the leading chiefs of the Muscogee Nation, most notably the Lower Creek Mico William McIntosh , Hawkins' most powerful ally. Before the Muscogee Civil War began, the Red Sticks attempted to keep their activities secret from
12772-463: The swamps, a second attempt to take San Marcos ended in disaster. After a European armistice led to the loss of British support, Bowles was discredited. The Seminole signed a peace treaty with Spain. The following year, he was betrayed by Lower Creek supporters of Hawkins at a tribal council. They turned Bowles over to the Spanish, and he died in prison in Havana, Cuba two years later. George Washington ,
12896-450: The two affecting a countenance and air of displeasure and importance, instantly presenting their scratching instruments, and flourishing them, spoke boldly, and said that I was too heroic and violent, that it would be good for me to loose some of my blood to make me more mild and tame, and for that purpose they were come to scratch me; they gave me no time to expostulate or reply, but attempted to lay hold on me, which I resisted, and my friend,
13020-476: The war ended in 1783, the Muscogee learned that Britain had ceded their lands to the now independent United States. That year, two Lower Creek chiefs, Hopoithle Miko (Tame King) and Eneah Miko (Fat King), ceded 800 square miles (2,100 km ) of land to the state of Georgia. Alexander McGillivray led pan-Indian resistance to white encroachment, receiving arms from the Spanish in Florida to fight trespassers. The bilingual and bicultural McGillivray worked to create
13144-470: The west bank and English land on the east. He observed a Seminole village on the bluff where Palatka now stands and where he was invited to a watermelon feast that summer. Just south of Palatka, at Stokes Landing, James Spalding built his Lower Store where Bartram made his headquarters while in Florida. One day while working at his desk Bartram heard a disturbance in the adjacent Indian camp. Stepping outside he discovered his Seminole neighbors were alarmed by
13268-411: The whites. On August 30, 1813, Red Sticks led by Red Eagle William Weatherford attacked Fort Mims , where white settlers and their Indian allies had gathered. The Red Sticks captured the fort by surprise, and carried out a massacre, killing men, women, and children. They spared only the black slaves whom they took as captured booty. After the Indians killed nearly 250–500 at the fort, settlers across
13392-519: The young prince, interposed and pushed them off, saying that I was a brave warrior and his friend, that they should not insult me, when instantly they altered their countenance and behaviour; they all whooped in chorus, took me friendly by the hand, clapped me on the shoulder and laid their hands on their breasts in token of sincere friendship, and laughing aloud, said I was a sincere friend to the Siminoles,... Bartram joined Spalding's traders in mid-April on
13516-558: Was a member of the American Philosophical Society , elected in 1768. The standard author abbreviation W.Bartram is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name . The son of Ann ( née Mendenhall) and the naturalist John Bartram , William and his twin sister Elizabeth were born in Kingsessing, Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . As a boy, he accompanied his father on many of his travels to
13640-587: Was born into a wealthy Maryland Tory family, enlisting with the Maryland Loyalists Battalion at age 14 and becoming an ensign in the Royal Navy by age 15. Cashiered for dereliction of duty after returning too late to his ship at Pensacola , Bowles escaped north and found refuge among the Lower Creek towns of the Chattahoochee basin. He married two wives, one Cherokee and the other a daughter of
13764-587: Was broken into pieces; and most of the Indians thought that the Great Spirit, angry with the human race, was about to destroy the world. The Muscogee who joined Tecumseh's confederation were known as the Red Sticks. Stories of the origin of the Red Stick name varies, but one is that they were named for the Muscogee tradition of carrying a bundle of sticks that mark the days until an event occurs. Sticks painted red symbolize war. The Creek War of 1813–1814, also known as
13888-443: Was now after noon; I approached a charming vale, amidst sublimely high forests, awful shades! Darkness gathers around, far distant thunder rolls over the trembling hills; the black clouds with august majesty and power, moves slowly forwards, shading regions of towering hills, and threatening all the destructions of a thunderstorm; all around is now still as death, not a whisper is heard, but a total inactivity and silence seems to pervade
14012-622: Was one of the first ornithologists born in America. In 1756, at the age of 17, he collected the type specimens of 14 species of American birds, which were illustrated and described by the English naturalist George Edwards in Gleanings of Natural History vol. 2 (1760). These accounts formed the basis of the scientific descriptions of Linnaeus (1707–1778), Johann Friedrich Gmelin (1748–1804) and John Latham (1740–1837). Bartram also made significant contributions to botanical literature. Like his father, he
14136-450: Was orchestrated by the Coushatta chief Alexander McGillivray , son of Lachlan McGillivray , a wealthy Scottish Loyalist fur-trader and planter, whose properties were confiscated by Georgia. His ex-partner, Scots-Irish Patriot George Galphin , initially persuaded the Lower Creeks to remain neutral, but Loyalist Capt. William McIntosh led a group of pro-British Hitchiti , and most of
14260-591: Was published almost simultaneously in Berlin and Vienna . A second London edition of the Travels appeared in 1794, and this is the edition owned by Wordsworth and Coleridge. In the same year, Jan David Pasteur's Dutch translation was published in Haarlem . It was published again in 1797. A French translation by Pierre Vincent Benoist, Voyage dans le parties sud de l'Amérique septentrionale , appeared in 1799 in Paris, followed by
14384-548: Was responsible for the longest period of peace between the settlers and the tribe, overseeing 19 years of peace. In 1805, the Lower Creeks ceded their lands east of the Ocmulgee to Georgia, with the exception of the sacred burial mounds of the Ocmulgee Old Fields . They allowed a Federal Road linking New Orleans to Washington, D.C. to be built through their territory. A number of Muscogee chiefs acquired slaves and created cotton plantations, grist mills and businesses along
14508-640: 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 . Hitchiti was spoken in several towns along the Chattahoochee River and across much of present-day Georgia. The Muscogee were a confederacy of tribes consisting of Yuchi , Koasati , Alabama , Coosa , Tuskegee , Coweta , Cusseta , Chehaw (Chiaha), Hitchiti , Tuckabatchee , Oakfuskee , and many others. The basic social unit
14632-489: Was the "richest country in the world". Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the first expedition into the interior of the North American continent. De Soto, convinced of the "riches", wanted Cabeza de Vaca to go on the expedition, but Cabeza de Vaca declined his offer because of a payment dispute. From 1540 to 1543, de Soto explored through present-day Florida and Georgia , and then westward into
14756-407: Was the guest of Lachlan McIntosh . In Travels , Bartram related an incident at this point that most probably took place in 1776. As he traveled through the sparsely populated country of South Georgia, he encountered an "intrepid Siminole" who had resolved upon killing the next white man he met but was disarmed by Bartram's unexpected friendliness. During his trip along the coast, Bartram revisited
14880-620: Was the town ( idalwa ). Abihka , Coosa , Tuckabutche , and Coweta are the four "mother towns" of the Muscogee Confederacy. Traditionally, the Cusseta and Coweta bands are considered the earliest members of the Muscogee Nation. The Lower Towns , along the Chattahoochee River (before 1690 and after 1715), and farther east along the Ocmulgee , Oconee , and Savannah River rivers (between 1690 and 1715), were Coweta, Cusseta (Kasihta), Koloni, Tuskegee, Chiaha , Hitchiti , Oconee, Ocmulgee, Apalachicola, and Sawokli . The Upper Towns, located on
15004-400: Was then an exotic part of the world. But as the regions became more familiar to scientists in the nineteenth century, Bartram's accuracy was confirmed. He is considered the scientific discoverer of several plant species, including the Franklin tree ( Franklinia alatamaha) , which was rare when Bartram described it and later became extinct in the wild. Because of the sixteen-year delay between
15128-622: Was to take place in Augusta, Georgia in June and was invited by Superintendent of Indian affairs, John Stuart , to join the party that would survey a new land cession. After attending to some business Bartram traveled on to Savannah , arriving in that city on either April 11 or 12. While he awaited the beginning of the Native American congress he traveled to the coast of Georgia . He first visited some rice plantations in Midway then traveled on to Darien where he
15252-566: Was universally accepted: the powerful earthquake had to have meant something. The earthquake and its aftershocks helped the Tecumseh resistance movement by convincing, not only the Muscogee, but other Native American tribes as well, that the Shawnee must be supported. The Indians were filled with great terror ... the trees and wigwams shook exceedingly; the ice which skirted the margin of the Arkansas river
15376-421: Was witness to a territorial battle between two of the monsters. He wrote: Behold him rushing forth from the flags and reeds. His enormous body swells. His plaited tail brandished high floats upon the lake. The waters like a cataract descend from his opening jaws. Clouds of smoke issue from his dilated nostrils. The earth trembles with his thunder. When immediately from the opposite coast of the lagoon, emerges from
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