The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-13

ida in 1918 and had with me many Creeks. who could point out places where the Spaniards under DeSoto had camped. and the marks of the old roads and causeways were then vist- ble. And with the single exception of DeSoto himself. all the early ex- plorers of that country. who were mostly Spanish and some French. would only ascend the navigable rivers in water craft constructed for the purpose and could have known but little Of the Indians in the interior. And as to the Red River. when Cortez conquered Mexico. 1t is a doubt with me. if 1t was then a tributary of the Mississippi River. as the Atehafalaha. was eyt- dentiy once the channel Of the Red River, and made It's way to the Gulf of Mexico through Berwick's Bay; and even In DeSoto's time did If go to the Mississippi 1t could hardly have been navigated. with small crafts as far up as Alexandria. for the river above the falls will show that it was not open to crafts, as far up as Long Prai- rie, in Arkansas. and that would have prevented the early explorers from Knowing much of the source of the river and what Indians, If any, lived upon It.
 All these circumstances lead me to believe that Colonel Pickett Is mistaken and the source from which he derives his informa tion was, or is. not reliable and So far as Indian tradition is con cerned, I think my chance to have ob- tained correct information in relation to Indian history Is equal, at least. to that of Colonel Pickett. The accounts that have had from the Indians them selves and from Colonel Hawkins. whose opportunity must have been as good as any one of his time, or any one who has lived since, that Cortez's object was gold and that the people he encountered in Mexico were some what civilized and very timid and that after subduing them and taking pos session Of the City of Mexico, If It could be called city, he then com menced extending his oonquests, or robberies. up the Gulf Coast, in the direction of what is now Tampico, and Tamaulipas. going as far as what is now Texas, where he encountered the Musquas. or Muscogees. and the Ala bamas. and others that l have men tioned; but finding them to be . much more hardy and war-llike race than the Mexicans. and in order to hold on to what he had taken or subdued of the timtd ones. he found 1t necessary to kill or drive these warlike tribes from the country. which. with his great advantage of firearms. he suc- ceeded in doing.
 HOW THE INDIANS CAME
 EAST TO ALABAMA. The Muscogees and their confeder- ates crossed the Mississippi and called halt at Baton Rouge, which is known to this day as Red Stick or Club. The Witches from the river in Texas which bears their name. crossed the Mtssis- sippi and settled near where the city of Natchez now is The Choctaws set tied the country on the Yazoo. Pearl. frlr ouar he ..rnA Ca. "A Tombehee. The Chickasaws settled at Chickasaw Bluff. or Memphis.
 The Creeks. after a short stay at Baton Rouge, moved and settled on the Alabama River and it's tributaries. the Black Warrior, the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers, and In time went as far east as the Oconee River, but never went further in that direction and never settled on the oconee until after the whites began to encroach on the Indians of that country from the l east.
 The sowanokees are known as. the Shawnees--the other Indians know them to this day by no other names than Sowanokees; and the Savannah river was known as Sowanokee Hat 1 chee Thlocka. which signifies the Big River of the Glades. or the Savannah as we know 1t.
 And these Indians the Creeks found to be their equal as warriors, but when the whites began to, approach them from the east, and the Creeks already very close to the west, the sowanokees or Shawnees fell back on the north and northwest. Tecumseh was of that stock. The other little tribes, with the Uchees. they being the same "fireside | Indians' with the Shawnees. all | dwindled away among the Greeks and a.... at. Uchees. who still retain theirs.
 One other circumstance that con vinces me that the Creeks and Ala | bamas had become pretty much ono people, before they settled In Alabama and Georgia is1 that the tribes they in corporated into their nation after set- | ting the Creek country. never would come into the family arrangement | which arrangement, I will try and ex- plain to you. They were laid off in families. that is Bears. Wolves, Pan thers. Foxes and many others and also that they termed the Wind family. which was allowed more authority than any family of the nation.
 There was nothing in their laws to prevent blood cousins from marrying but never to marry in the same fami- ly-thus, man of the Bear family or any other family he pleased and the children would be called Fox. Tn ali cases the children took the mothers family name. Years ago you could not find an Indian in the nation but could tell you his family. But whiskey has destroyed many of the old customs as well as the Indians themseives.
 There Is too much of this to pub fish. even if 1t were worth publishing. Read it. show 1t to Colonel Pickett. burn 1t and send me his history of Alabama
 Yours,
 T. E. W
 General Woodward was evidently not familiar with the history of the French settlement at Mobile as he could hardly have been in 1857. when the letters were written. tor the French archives had not been search ed nor had Peter J. Hamilton's excel lent work of Colonial Mobile been written. For Fort Toulosc. which later became Fort Jackson to which he alludes was established at the junction of the coosa and Tallapoosa rivers by Bienville In 1714. many years before the French came down the Mississippi But the accuracy of the information ne received from the Indians Is endorsed by the fact that the French did have a trading post there and that the old CT Indians that Woodward knew had traded there. The remnants of the old fort built as far back at TIA may still be seen. So clearly defined is 1t that its outlines may be dlscerned to this day. Editorial Note)
 Historic Boer Flag.