The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-20

very intelligent. and had taken great pains to make himself acquainted with the history of the Creeks. From the early day In which he came among
 them, and Knowing at that time but little of the whites, their traditions at
 that time, were. no doubt, much more reliable than anything that can now be
 obtained from them. From what
 have learned from this man and from
 those who learned 1t from him. the
 Muscogees, or as they were originally
 known to the other tribes, Musquas, and all the little towns or bands that
 composed the Creek Confederacy was a Confectionery before the Indians cross
 ed the Mississippi River to tho east
 Besides. knew a Capt. John < For
 ter, formerly of the United States Army, who some thirty years ago with
 a few Creeks of the Mcintosh party in
 Arkansas, visited California and went
 up the Pacific Coast to the Columbia
 River. and returned by way of the
 Salt Lake and on his return to Arkan.
 sas he wrote to me giving account of
 his travels. The writing covered some
 three or four sheets of paper; a great
 deal of it was very interesting. do
 to George Stiggins or MT. Whitta-
 ksr of Charleston. s. C.
 SOME OF THE CREEKS
 WENT UP TO COLORADO.
 But I recolect among the many acc
 counts of his travels that, on the head
 waters or at least on the waters of the Colorado, he found a remnant of
 the tribes of the original Musquas.
 They spoke mostly a Spanish dialect.
 but still retained much of their old
 family language and old family cus- toms. They gave pretty much the
 same account of being driven from
 their old homes that I have learned from the Creeks. These people in-
 formed Captain Porter that their na-
 ton was once strong and they had
 many languages, and that they inhab-
 tied the country between the Rio Del Norte and the Mississippi. or Owea Cofka or River of Cane. They also
 gave him the original Indian name or
 the Del Norte. but that have forgot
 ten: but owea Cofka is what the
 Greeks called the Mississippi. They
 also stated to him that they lived near the Gulf, or what they called Owea
 Thlocko Marine, signifying the largest water"
 They say that they were driven off by the Echo Thlocl<o Uiges, or horsemen, or what the Greeks in our language would call the Big Deer men. Echlo- I thlock Is a big deer. as stated be- fore, end the proper name of the horse,
 as stated before. Ulgee means horse- man. They also stated that long af- ter they left their old home. horses
 became plentiful and the Indians learn | ed the use of them. and that number of the little tribes that lived on the
 Gulf and the rivers had taken 70 the | orafries. They also gave Captain Por- ! Ger an account of q war with some tribes high up on the Rio Del Norte and that one of the most warlike | tribes had gone east. They called
 them. as the present Creeks do. Ho- pungiesaw and what are now known to | the whites as Pyankeshaws- recoi- feet two women that Tuskenea carried to the Creek Nation, of the Pyanke- shaws, as the whites called them. but | the Creeks called them Hopengiesaw, or dancing Indians"
 1 You see that I differ from Colonel
 Pickett as to the early settlement of the Creek Indians in Alabama. and | should be correct, it need not mat ter with the Colonel. for you know. i most people believe history whether | it Is correct or not. I have not seen | his History of Alabama, and all I have | seen or heard of him was his answer to MT. Hobbs inquiry; and I have no ! Idea that he has written anything but what he felt authorized to do from ms | sources of information. But authors may sometimes err and others wilfully misrepresent. When that is the case we have to judge from circumstances The Colonel says that Soto passed | through the country before the Mus cogees reached that country. The In- dians say that they were there and fought him, and from the number of cooper shields and brass swivel. that | an old mar named Tooley worked up
 into brass bells, would go to show and prove that the Indians were correct
 have often seen the copper plates or shields. and piece of the swivel ana from the cuttings or carvings on 1t, It was evidently of Spanish make. And
 it was only some twenty years after | Cortez conquered Mexico that Soto commenced his march from Tampa | Ray. And he had too few men to sac- rihce them on storming a strong work
 when 1t could offer nothing for an | Indian fort in a remote wilderness
 could have interfered but little Wltn his march westward. And how could
 the Alabams have known that he in-
 tended passing westward?
 | INDIANS WE'RE NOT
 BUILDERS OF FORTS. | IT seems to me that a people so lily | prepared to build forts. having no | axes, spades or anything of the sort
 would have found 1t much easier 10
 conceal themselves in some of those
 large swamps which abound in the Yazoo country, and from what I know | of Indians they would not give one | swamp or canebrake for forty forts. | And as to the Muskogees having been | inhabitants of the Great Mexican Elm | pire. it is very doubtful, for Mexico ! was the name of the city itself and
 applied only to the town. It was the | city or town where the principal chiefs or bodies of the Aztecs. Anahuacs or | as the other Indians called them, Au-
 chinang. resided.
 The Creeks or Muscogees. and Iro- ouois. or Six Nations, were all the In | dians that have known or heard of | forming themselves anything like 1 confed deration. The balance. as far as nv information extends, have been | separate tribes. with separate lam l guages with their own peculiar cus- | toms, except in a few instances. where l two or more tribes would unite in case | of war. The Creeks, as I mentioned before. originally inhabited the skirts | of the ttmbered country between the l Del Norte and the Mississippi. and bor- dering on the Gulf of Mexico.
 When the Muscogees, Witches. Choc- | jaws and Chlack sasaws crossed east | of the Miississippi River a town of | Indians was built by the Creeks the Autisees or Otisees which has for
 years been called Red Stick. They 1 settled at Baton Rouge, and is was no | doubt from that tribe or town that the early French settlers gave 1t its pres ent name Eto-chatty signifies red tree | ar wood but ask an Indian that is acquaInted with the original names or
 customs. what Red Stick Warrior
 ts and he will tell you that it is an
 Autosee. l have taken great pains to | have these things explained to me by | Tn.