People of One Fire Collections

Why the History of the Era is Confusing

Many people of Creek descent, who are not professional historians, have written me over the past few months with questions about the Creeks during the English Colonial Period. They are totally confused by the conflicting information presented by web sites, books, tour guides and historical markers. The information seems to vary by state. I feel their pain! I was in the same boat for years! I will try to give complete answers to their questions with a six part News Update – rather than answering everybody individually. I can’t emphasize enough that the most important source of confusion is the … Read more

Why and How did Native Americans Build Mounds

“Indian mound” is the common name for a variety of solid structures erected by some of the indigenous peoples of the United States. Most Native American tribes did not build mounds. The majority were constructed in the Lower Southeast, Ohio River Valley, Tennessee River Valley and the Mississippi River Valley. Some shell mounds can be found along the entire length of the United States’ Atlantic Coast.

Where was Hernando de Soto’s Guaxale?

Guaxale was a Native American village visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition in late spring of 1541. De Soto and his small army of conquistadors explored what was to become the Southeastern United States between the years 1539 and 1543. Despite the fact that de Soto’s men only visited Guaxale briefly, and the village was not large, it’s location has been a major focus for scholars, studying the earliest Spanish explorers. In North Carolina one suggested location of Guaxale has even been a key element of tourism promotion.

Where was Chiaha?

The Native American town of Chiaha was visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition in July of 1541. It was visited at least twice by the Juan Pardo Expedition of 1567.

The Trail to Yupaha

An AccessGenealogy Exclusive: The Trail to Yupaha – Is Yupaha the Mayan connection to the Indians of the United States? This is a highly contentious look by Richard Thornton at the possibility of a trail he found in the Track Rock Gap area of Georgia being the connection to the Mayan of South America… The History Channel premiered it’s new show “American Unearthed” investigating this very issue. One of the people they interviewed on the show, now tells you in his own words, how this discovery all came about.

The Teepee

The teepee, a versatile and historically significant structure, has been widely associated with the Lakota Sioux in popular culture, particularly through depictions in Hollywood Westerns. However, the use of conical dwellings like the teepee extends beyond the Plains tribes to other indigenous peoples across North America, as well as to groups in northern Scandinavia and Siberia. This article explores the origins, construction, and cultural significance of the teepee, with a particular focus on its architectural features and adaptations to various environments. It also addresses misconceptions about indigenous housing styles, highlighting the diverse ways in which Native American tribes built their homes, depending on their resources and needs.

The Tamatli

Little known today outside the State of Louisiana, the Tamatli branch of the Creek Indians apparently had a culture with substantial Mesoamerican influences.

The Native American History of Levy County Florida

Map of Levy County in 1865Map of Levy County in 1865

An overview of the Native American History of Levy County Florida from the earliest cultural periods: looking at the Levy County area during each of the Native American cultural periods up until the final Seminole surrender. Richard also discusses the Cedar Key Shell Mounds, found within Levy County, providing a brief view of the archeological findings.

The Muskogean Peoples of French Louisiana

What is now the State of Alabama and the northwest corner of the State of Georgia had a very different ethnic pattern before and after 1763. That was the year that Great Britain decisively defeated the Kingdom of France and established a claim on all North America, east of the Mississippi and north of the Great Lakes. British Colonial leaders had promised the lands of France’s Creek, Koasati and Alabama Indian allies to the Cherokees and those Creek towns in Georgia and South Carolina that were allied with Great Britain. With this change, Creek territory in Alabama changed from being … Read more

The Late Slave Raiding Period 1705-1721

This is the period when Native Americans increasingly became the pawns of France and Great Britain in their struggle over North America. For a quarter of a century, France had formally claimed all lands within the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio River Basins, based on the explorations of LaSalle. With the founding of the first capital of the Province of Louisiana, Mobile, in 1702, France also claimed the basin of the Mobile-Alabama-Tallapoosa-Coosa-Etowah-Coosawattee River System. At the same time, France recognized the claim of the Kingdom of Spain to the Chattahoochee-Flint River System all the way to what is now the northeastern … Read more

The Cultural Periods of the Creek Indians

In the late 20th century anthropologists established the names and chronological spans of Southeastern Native American cultural periods. They were based on the study of the Woodland peoples of New England and the Midwest.

Sioux Pit House

Shell and Sand Mounds of Tick Island, Florida

Sand Shell Mound: Probable appearance of Tick Island, FL around 3200 BC

On Tick Island, near Jacksonville, Florida contractors were merrily tearing away at another shell mound when workers found stone tools and weapons mixed with the shells. Word got out. Some amateur collectors began poking around the site looking for perfect spear points, ornaments and pottery. Before the ancient structures were totally destroyed, Ripley Bullen, a professional archeologist investigated the site.

Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713)

In 1702 war broke out in Europe over the question of who should succeed the Spanish throne, a relative of the King of France or a relative of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In reality, it was a continuation of the wars in the 1600s between the Roman Catholics and Protestants. In North America much of the initial warfare preceded formal declarations of hostilities in Europea and was between the French army garrisoned in Quebec and the New England militia. Great Britain did not provide significant military assistance to New England until considerable combat had already occurred. The … Read more

Potawatomi in the Early 1800’s

Never heard of the Potawatomi Indian Tribe? The Potawatomi Nation is a sister tribe to the Ottawa and Ojibwe (Chippewa.) At one time, they were part of the same tribe and living somewhere in the vicinity of Canadas Maritime Provinces or perhaps, New England. As the tribe gradually migrated westward along the edge of Lake Erie, it eventually broke up into three bands, which eventually became distinct tribes. The three tribes still share very similar cultural traditions and languages. Although they never lived in permanent villages until the early 1800s, the Three Sister Tribes had very rich cultural traditions. Still … Read more

Peachtree Mound near Murphy, North Carolina

The Peachtree Site had one of the few Hierarchal Period mounds in the North Carolina Mountains that has been excavated by professional archaeologists. The Heye Foundation studied the mound during the early 1900s in the same period that it excavated the Nacoochee Mound in the Georgia Mountains. Unfortunately, this work was done in an era when neither precise aerial photography nor radiocarbon dating was possible. Also, archaeologists of this era were primarily interested in obtaining ‘trophy’ artifacts for their museum and benefactors in the Northeast. Little attention was given to the town as a whole, or its chronology. Most of the mound was destroyed. Farmers leveled what remained after the archaeologists left. However, many mounds are still visible on satellite color and infrared maps.

Origins of the Muskogee Branch of the Creek Indians

Muskogee or Mvskoke is generally translated as “people who have herbal medicine.” It nowadays is considered synonymous with “Creek Indian,” but did not appear on any maps until very, very late in the 18th Century. The most common name for the “Creek Indians” at that time was “Coweta.”

Old Stone Fort

Old Stone Fort is one of the most beautiful Native American archaeological sites. When the Scottish, Ulster Scots and English settlers first arrived in eastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia, they discovered a continuous chain composed of hundreds of fieldstone structures on the mountain and hill tops between Manchester, TN and Stone Mountain, GA. Some were merely piles of stones that archaeologists call cairns. Others formed small cylinders. Others were small rings. Still others were complex combinations of concentric rings with some perpendicular walls. At least two appeared to be walled villages. The Cherokees, who had moved into the region during … Read more

Navajo Hogan Home

The Diné, the second largest Native American tribe in the US, originated from the sub-arctic region of Canada, with their ancestors being Athabaskans. The tribe is now spread across numerous regions in the US, Mexico, and Canada. Once primarily farmers, the Diné later adopted hunting and animal rearing practices. Traditional Navajo architecture, known as hogans, were earth-sheltered, insulated structures with both female and male versions serving different purposes. Although modern conventional houses are now more prevalent, hogans still hold cultural significance for the Navajo people.

Native Uprisings Against the Carolinas (1711-17)

In 1957 University of Georgia archaeologists, under the leadership of Dr. Joseph Caldwell, were working on several archaeological sites on the tributaries of the Savannah River that were to be flooded by Lake Hartwell. The best known of these town sites are Tugaloo and Chauga. Because they were last occupied by Lower Cherokees in the early 1700s, the archaeologists assumed that excavation of their mounds would prove that the Cherokees built all the mounds in the Southern Highlands. The archaeologists were shocked to find that the Cherokee occupation of both sites was very brief and much smaller than the ancestors … Read more