Creek towns on the Chattahoochee (Part 4 of 4)

Northernmost section of the
Woodbine Map of 1814.
Click the image to enlarge.

This is the final part of a four part series on the newly discovered Woodbine Map of 1814.

The map was drawn by Capt. George Woodbine of Great Britain's Royal Marines. He arrived on the Apalachicola River in 1814 with weapons and other supplies for the Creek and Seminole Indians of the region. His instructions required him to make contact with as many of these groups as possible and to do so he set out up the river, mapping not only its bends, but also the villages, towns and camps that he encountered.

To read the previous parts in this series before continuing, please follow these links:

Part One: Map reveals details

Part Two: New details from 1814 map

Part Three: Creek Indian villages

The final towns visited by Woodbine in June 1814 were the Lower Creek towns on the Chattahoochee River between today's cities of Columbia and Eufaula, Alabama. These were located on both sides of the river and surrounded by extensive fields, most occupying sites they had staked out in 1717-1718 following the Yamassee War.

This section of the map is its upper or northernmost part. At the bottom you will see Emussee Talofa, which was covered in the last part of this series.

Beginning at Cedar Creek, which is visible on the west or Alabama side of the river near the bottom of today's section, we will move north up the river to the top of the map.

The first villages encountered as we move north up the map from Cedar Creek are a series of small ones on both sides of the river where creeks enter from the east and the west nearly opposite to each other. The stream flowing in from the west is today's Abbie Creek in Henry County, Alabama, while the one joining the river from the east is Brickyard Creek in Early County, Georgia.

Continuing upriver, Amuckah Creek can be seen entering the river from the east. Now called Factory Creek, it is noted for its series of beautiful waterfalls. These powered an important manufacturing operation during the 19th century. The creek is located in Early County, Georgia.

The massive platform mound at Kolomoki Mounds is
more than 50-feet tall and over 1,000 years old.

The next named stream moving north was called Oakolomokee Creek by Woodbine. This name survives today as Kolomoki Creek. It rises near the massive prehistoric ceremonial complex at Kolomoki Mounds State Park just north of Blakely, Georgia.

This mounds were long abandoned by the time of Woodbine's visit. They date from the Woodland era, represented in this region by the Swift Creek and Weeden Island cultures. Some researchers believe that Kolomoki may have been the largest city north of Meso-America at its height. Its importance peaked and faded away more than 1,000 years ago.

Moving upstream from the mouth of Oakolomokee Creek a stream can be seen entering the river from the west. This is today's Beaverdam Branch in Henry County, Alabama.

Carving of Otis Mico (Onis Mico) at Fort Gaines.
He was the chief of Etohussewakkes in 1814.

Above Beaverdam Branch, several small village symbols are shown on both banks of the river. These are in the approximate site of the known town of Etohussewakkes, which was three miles south of today's Fort Gaines, Georgia. This town was still occupied by Lower Creeks when the U.S. Army established Fort Gaines two years later.

Continuing up the river a stream can be seen entering from the east. This is Cemochechobee Creek at present-day Fort Gaines. It would soon mark the southern limits of the Creek Nation as defined by the Treaty of Fort Jackson.

Upstream is a town called Oakete Ackanee by Woodbine and Okitiyakani by other writers. This was the second town of this name that he encountered. The other was lower down the river. Like some of the towns near the forks of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers discussed in the first part of this series, it was led by mestizo chiefs from the Perryman family and was a large town.

Fort Mitchell has been restored on its original site
in Russell County, Alabama.

Woodbine does not appear to have traveled above this town as he shows the river using dashed lines from this point north. This usually indicates a presumed or believed route for a river or road on old maps. This was likely a wise decision on his part as the Cowetas who exerted great power from this vicinity forward were strong allies of the United States. The U.S. Army post of Fort Mitchell also served as a barrier to any further advance up the Chattahoochee.

He did note the presence of the Euphalla or Eufaula tribe on the west side of the river near today's city of Eufaula, Alabama, and mentioned the large towns (Coweta and Cusseta) higher up in the area of today's Columbus, Georgia, and Phenix City, Alabama.

Capt. Woodbine turned back downstream from Okitiyakani and was back at Prospect Bluff on the lower Apalachicola River by mid-June 1814. The British soon began the construction of a fort there and would build a second - Nicolls' Outpost - at present-day Chattahoochee, Florida, before the end of the War of 1812. 

Here are all of the sections of the Woodbine Map of 1814, presented in order as they show the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers, beginning in the vicinity of Eufaula, Alabama, and continuing downstream to Apalachicola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

Vicinity of Columbia, Alabama to vicinity of Eufaula, Alabama

Just below Alabama State Line to vicinity of Columbia, Alabama

Alabama State Line to Chattahoochee, Florida

Chattahoochee to Apalachicola

Newly discovered map shows key Creek Indian villages on Chattahoochee (Part 3)

Portion of the Woodbine Map of 1814
showing the Chattahoochee River in
Southwest Georgia and Southeast Alabama.
National Archives of Great Britain
(Click the map to enlarge)

This is the third part in a series of four articles about the newly discovered Woodbine Map of 1814.

Located in the National Archives of Great Britain, the map is believed to have been drawn by Capt. George Woodbine of the British Royal Marines.

The captain was the advance officer for a planned landing of British Royal Marines in Spanish Florida. The War of 1812 was then underway and the British were coming to enlist maroons (runaway slaves) and Native American warriors forplanned attacks against Mobile, New Orleans and the southern United States.

The map is remarkably narrow and long so it has been necessary to break it into four parts for this series.  If you missed the two earlier articles, you can read them here before continuing with this post:

Part 1: Map reveals details of Jackson County's Native American population.
Part 2: New details from 1814 British map of Apalachicola & Chattahoochee Rivers.


In today's segment, we look at the section of the map that covers the lower Chattahoochee River in Alabama and Georgia.

Admiral Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane
He sent Capt. Woodbine to the Apalachicola River
with orders to make contact with as many Creek
and Seminole groups as possible.
National Gallery of Scotland

Beginning at the bottom of the map, you will notice the Creek Indian village of "Red Ground" on the left or west bank of the Chattahoochee. This village stood at today's Neals Landing Park in what is now Jackson County, Florida. This is where State Road 2 crosses the river to connect Malone, Florida, with Donalsonville, Georgia.

The creek shown on the west side just above the village is Irwin's Mill Creek, which rises just across the state line in Houston County, Alabama, and then flows southeast through Chattahoochee State Park to cross the Florida border and empty into the river a short distance north of State Road 2.

Moving upriver you will next see the location of the ancient Lower Creek village of "Chiskee Tallofa" (Chiscatalofa or Chisca Town).

The Chisca were living in Northwest Florida when first encountered by the Spanish and the Purcell-Stuart Map of 1778 shows an area surrounding the town of Ekanachatte or "Red Ground" as the Chisca Old Fields, an indication that this had been their home-site at some point in the past.

Portion of the Purcell-Stuart Map of 1778 showing the
"Cheeske Old Field" adjacent to Ekanachatte.
National Archives of Great Britain

Some speculate that the Chisca were the ancestors of the better known Yuchi (or Euchee), but this remains an unproved theory. It is known that they were bitter enemies of the Spanish and joined with the neighboring Chacato to rebel against Franciscan missionaries in 1675. They successfully drove Spanish friars from their territory, but were defeated in a retaliatory attack. Some went to live in the area around Pensacola Bay while the main group of Chisca moved up into the Lower Creek towns, took part in the migration of that group to the Ocmulgee and Savannah Rivers. The Chisca joined with the rest of the Lower Creeks in migrating back to the Chattahoochee River in 1716-1718. From that point on Chiscatalofa was regarded as one of the principal towns of the Lower Creeks.

The town had been the scene of one of the councils that approved the massive Forbes Purchase of 1804. That agreement transferred 1.2 million acres of land from the Creek Nation to John Forbes & Company as payment for debts owed to the company. It included most of today's Apalachicola National Forest.

From "Chiskee Tallofa" continue to follow the river north. The creek shown entering from the west just above the town was Bryan's Creek in present-day Houston County, Alabama. A small settlement or village is marked by the circular symbol on the south side of the creek's mouth.

On the Georgia side of the river will next be seen the village of the "Conoloah Tribe." This town was located adjacent to a natural spring that flows into the Chattahoochee at a point just south of the border between today's Seminole and Early Counties.

The next town encountered as you continue to trace your way up the river is "Emassee Town" (Omussee Talofa). The name Omussee remains in use today in eastern Houston County, Alabama. Omussee Creek flows into the Chattahoochee river just south of Columbia, Alabama.

The Omussee of 1814, however, was located well-south of that point in the vicinity of today's Gordon, Alabama.

Like the Chisca, the Omussee were an ancient town. Their name is better known in the history of Florida and Georgia as Yamassee. These people were encountered by the Hernando de Soto expedition as it passed through Georgia and later allied themselves with the British and took part in slave-catching raids against the Apalachee and other groups in Florida.

The Yamassee joined with the Lower Creeks and other groups to rise up against the British in 1717 but were defeated. Most fled south to the St. Augustine area of Florida where they formed an alliance with the Spanish, but one group wound up living among the Lower Creeks on the Chattahoochee River. They remained there until they were forced west on the Trail of Tears in 1836.

Several unnamed small villages are shown on the river above "Emassee Town." Finally, the Cedar Creek shown flowing into the Chattahoochee from the west still bears that name today and is located just north of Gordon, Alabama.

I will post a final part of this series in the next few days to show and explore the uppermost part of the map which extends up the Chattahoochee River from Cedar Creek to Eufaula.  Watch for it!