A Migration Legend of the Creek Indians Collections – Page 3 of 3

The Creek Indians or Maskoki proper occupy, in historic times, a central position among the other tribes of their affiliation, and through their influence and physical power, which they attained by forming a comparatively strong and permanent national union, have become the most noteworthy of all the Southern tribes of the United States territories. They still form a compact body of Indians for themselves, and their history, customs and antiquities can be studied at the present time almost as well as they could at the beginning of the nineteenth century. But personal presence among the Creeks in the Indian Territory … Read more

Creek Ethnographic Notes

Abundant material for the study of ethnography is on hand for the earlier and later periods of the Creek nation; but here we have to restrict ourselves to some points which are especially adapted to the illustration of the migration legends. The relation of husband to wife and family being the foundation of all tribal, social and political life, should certainly be treated as fully as it deserves, but in this context only incident notes can be given on this subject. Condition of Females. Although succession among all Maskoki tribes was in the female line, the females occupied a subordinate … Read more

Civil Government Of The Creek Tribe

Chicasa Indian Tribe

The northern parts of Mississippi State contain the earliest homes of the warlike tribe of Chicasa Indians which historical documents enable us to trace. Pontotoc County was the centre of their habitations in the eighteenth century, and was so probably at the time of the Columbian discovery; settlements of the tribe scattered along the Mississippi River, in West Tennessee and in Kentucky up to Ohio River, are reported by the later chroniclers. In the year 1540 the army of Hernando de Soto crossed a portion of their territory, called by its historians ” Chicaça provincia,” and also visited a town … Read more

Cherokee Indian Tribe

The Cheroki spelling is a derivative of Cherokee, so the following information is referencing the Cherokee Indians. The Cheroki, or more correctly, Tsalagi nation is essentially a hill people; their numerous settlements were divided into two great sections by the watershed ridge of the Alleghany mountains, in their language Unéga katúsi (“white, whitish mountains”}, of which even now a portion is called “Smoky Mountains.”

Chahta Tribes Of The Gulf Coast

Cha’hta Tribes Of The Gulf Coast

Chahta Indian Tribe

Cha’hta Indians

Calusa Indian Language

The Calusa held the southwestern extremity of Florida, and their tribal name is left recorded in Calusahatchi, a river south of Tampa bay. They are called Calos on de Bry’s map (1591), otherwise Colusa, Callos, Carlos, and formed a confederacy of many villages, the names of which are given in the memoir of Hernando d Escalante Fontanedo.

Atákapa Indian Tribe

The Atákapa tribe once existed upon the upper Bayou Tèche northwest and west of the Shetimasha, north and northwest of the Opelousa Indians, and from the Tèche extended beyond Vermilion river, perhaps down to the sea coast. The Atákapa of old were a well-made race of excellent hunters, but had, as their name indicates, the reputation of being anthropophagites.

Arkansas Indian Tribe

Editor’s Note: Arkansas is a name by which the Quapaw tribe were recorded in history. None of the numerous Algonkin tribes lived in the immediate neighborhood of the Maskoki family of Indians, but of the Dakotan stock the Arkansas (originally Ákansä the Akansea of Father Gravier), dwelt in close proximity, and had frequent intercourse with this Southern nation. Pénicaut relates that the French commander, Lemoyne d Iberville, sailed up the Mississippi river, and sixty leagues above the mouth of the Yazoo found the mouth of the Arkansas River; eight leagues above, on the same western shore, was the nation of … Read more

Apalachi Indian Tribe

Apalachi Indians

Allophylic Languages Among Southern Tribes

Alibamu Indian Tribe

Alibamu Indians

Adái Indian Tribe

Of this small and obscure Indian community mention is made much earlier than of all the other tribes hitherto spoken of in this volume, for Cabeça de Vaca, in his Naufragios, mentions them among the inland tribes as Atayos. In the list of eight Caddo villages, given by a Taensa guide to L. d Iberville on his expedition up the Red River (March 1699), they figure as the Natao (Margry IV, 178). The Adái, Ada-i, Háta-i, Adayes (incorrectly called Adaize) seem to have persisted at their ancient home, where they formed a tribe belonging to the Caddo confederacy. Charlevoix (Hist, … Read more

A Modern Translation of the Migration Legend of the Creek People

Here we present Richard Thornton’s modern translation of the Migration Legend of the Creek People with extensive annotations. His annotations provide important historical references bringing the much famed Creek Legend into better understanding for researchers.