Creek Town example essay topic

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 Cuss eta) 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 (Shoulder bone, 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 alway 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 Winkle, 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.