The Creek Essay, Research Paper
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. In time, the name was given to all groups of the Native American
Confederacy. All tribes living in Georgia were known to be good hunters
and farmers so food was usually not a problem within the tribes. Foods
ranging from coastal varieties to fruits and berries. Farmers were noted to
be very good at their job. Corn, rice, and potatoes were few of the favorites,
because they had large fields in their villages. Before the middle of the 16th
century the Creek’s controlled almost all of Georgia. At that time the
Cherokee began to pressure them to move more inland. A tremendous
battle occurred at, Slaughter Gap in Lumpkin County in the late 1600’s.
After this battle the Creek traveled to line just south of the Etowah River. A
later battle in Cherokee County made the Creek south to the Chattahoochee
and Flint Rivers, and west to the Coosa (mostly in Alabama), hence the
terms Upper Creek and Lower Creek became common references to the now
separate tribes. Different sections of the tribe fought on either the British or
American sides. In November 1783, two minor chiefs (Tallassee and
Cusseta) ceded Creek land between the Tugaloo and Apalachee Rivers.
After the cession, relations between the state of Georgia and the Creek
Nation worsened and on April 2, 1786, the Creek Nation declared war.
Attacks against settlers on Creek land were carried out. In spite of two tries
at the treaty (Shoulderbone, 1786; New York, 1790) there was no peace on
the Georgia frontier until after the War of 1812. Although most of the
incidents were mainly minor, settlers on the boundary between the Creek
Nation and the state of Georgia were always afraid of a raid. Before the
beginning of the 18th Century, most of Georgia was home to Native
Americans 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. The confederacy was probably formed as a
defense against other bigger groups to the north. When a Creek town
reached a population of about 400-600 people they would split up, with
about half moving to a new, nearby site. The new town would build its
ceremonial center and create its own villages, But the town would
correspond with the old villages. This is how the confederacies were formed.
Creek legends tell of small, compact towns. By the 1700’s Creek towns
began to spread out. By the end of 1700’st was not rare for each town to
have outlying homes separated by a mile or more of crops. The Creek
brought in the plow and raised livestock. While most Creek still lived in
traditional wooden 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 Creeks were intuited to be one of the five
civilized tribes. This was given to them from the Europeans. In conclusion,
the Indians I choose were sophisticated enough to be well known throughout
this region and all of North America. I chose the creeks because in the
book True Women by Janice Woods Windle, the creek people play a major
role in the story line so I thought it would be nice to find out about them. I
have found useful information on this tribe and it will help me know more
about not only this tribe but in Indians in general.
Bibliography
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