The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-11-14
PIONEER DAYS
BY MARY COR DON DuFFEE.

Donald of the army and Gen. John Sever, one of the heroes of Kings mountain. On the side of the Indians there were Billy Mcintosh, Big Warrior, Alexander kunnells, and many others. Kunnells was the Interpreter, wearing hls notable Iroquois coat; he exhibited, on that oc- casion, many Indian curiosities; among them was the bucks horn resembling a mans hand, which subsequently, came into ny possession. Some years ago 1 gave the horn to Bishop Soule of Nash vile, Tenn. General Sevier lived but a few days after this meeting, and his remains were laid to rest in the hill near old Fort Decatur"
 Continuing, General Woodward says: Colonel Pickett is correct as to the Ala bama town being just below Montgomery, for l was at it when they lived there, and it was called Ecanchatty, from tie red bluffs on which a portion of Mont gomery is built. The Tarwassaw town was a little lower down the river than Colonel Pickett has 1t, though it is a matter of no importance. The Autauga, or what the Indians called Autauga or Dumplin town, was at the place where Washington is in Autauga county. The Alabamas and those little towns con- nected with them extended down the river as far as Beach creek. that empties into the Alabama river just above Selma, and up the river to where Coosawda is, on the Autauga side. To spell it the way the Indians pronounced it. and the way Colonel Hawkins spelt. is Coowar- sartda. The Alabama differed from the Musqua, or Muscogee, as do the Choc- taws from the Chickasaws; but were what the Indians call the same fireside' people. There was much of their dia- lect that differed from that of the com mon Creek, as the western Indians used to call them, and no doubt once they were a different tribe.
 About the close of the American revo- lution, a large portion of the Alabama and the Coowarsartda returned to Texas on the Trinity, being under the control of a chief named Red Shoes, or Stilla- pihachatta. l visited those Indians in the year 1916, in company with MT. Angus Gilchrst and MT. EdwaGd Me Lauchlin, who was the best Indian inter- preter I ever knew, except Hamly, who was raised by Forbes and Panthon, in Florida, who needed an expert in their great mercantile business, covering sev- eral states and territories Red Shoes was then living, and lived for years after. I inquired much into his history and that of his people. He gave the same account of their being driven from their old home in the west and their settlement Alabama and a part of Georgia as has been given mo by the Creeks. And If Indian tradition and what I have heard from Colonel Hawkins (who, 1 think, was the most sensible man I ever was acquainted with and whose opportunities were as good if not much better than anyone else of his day possessed, to col lect information in relation to the early settlements of the Creeks in Alabama and Georgia), are to be relied on, this seems to be a very strong link in the chain of evidence.
 It has always been a contested point with the Indians whether Tuckabatchee, or old Cusetaw, opposite Fort Mitchell, on the Chattahoochee river, was settled first, but 1t is generally conceded that Cusetaw is the oldest. These two towns have, in almost every instance, furnished the head chiefs of the nation; Tucka- batchee furnishing the upper town chief. Cusetaw the lower town chief. This fact is well known to all who have been well acquainted with the Creek Indians Be- sides, Hernando De Soto. after landing his forces in Florida, passed through portion of Georgia and across the entire state of Alabama before he could have reached the Yazoo river in Mississippi And in addition to this, one of the sever est battles that De Soto fought with the Indians was fought with the Greeks at what Is now known as Cuwally: It Is either in Montgomery or Tallapoosa county. Cuwa11y Is name given It by the whites they not knowing how to give 1t the Indian pronunciation. To spell 1t as the Indians pronounced 1t, It would be Thleawalla, which signifies roll ing bullet Thlea is an arrow or bullet, walla is to roll. The Indians say 1t was there that a spent ball was seen rolling on the ground, and from that incident the place took its name Besides this proof the Tuckabatchees have now in their possession number Of plates or copper in various shapes, which the tx.d @f n protect themselves from the arrows Of the Indians. These plates were taken from the Spaniards at that fight, and from the accounts of the fights upon the sources of Red river. 1t would appear that the Indians were some years on their route going east. have not seen or heard any traditionary account of any thing of the sort in my intercourse with the various tribes that I have been among; and the sources of Red river must have been very imperfectly known in that day (between the years 1535 and 154o) by any of the Europeans that had visited this country and are still very imperfectly known by many Of our own people to this day for Red river does not head in the Rocky mountains, but Is a. mere leak or drain from the prairies, except those little streams that head in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas. Be- sides, 1t Is not such country as Indians would likely stop long in especially trav- cling on foot, as they were obliged to do: for the southwestern Indians knew nothing of horses until they were intro duced into the country by the Spaniards All that I have seen and heard satisfies me. at least that the Greeks, Alabainas and the other little bands connected with them. originally inhabited the skirts of timbered country between the Rio Grande or Del Norte and the Mississippi river, near the gulf coast, which the names of the creeks, rivers and many other things will show. The Choctaws, Chiokasaws, Nitches, Nacogdoches and Natehitoohes Indians inhabited pretty much the same country.
 The Creeks themselves said that there was once among them a giant chief, Tustanugga Lusta, or Black Warrior, who fought with De Soto, and that his home was on the river of that name. The French knew something of Mobile at an early day, and of It's immediate vicinity. but they knew very little of the interior of Alabama until after the dereat of General Braddock, in the year l73o, near where Pittsburg, Pa., now stands. The next year they came down the ono and Mississippi rivers and drove the Nitches Indians from where the present city of Natchez Mississippi. now stands. The Witches Indians immediately emil grated to join their old western friends, inc Creeks. and settle at the Talisee old fields. or Taliseehatchy, or Talisee creek. now in Talladega county, Ala; and the French very shortly after moved up the Alabama river to the Junction or Coosa and Talapoosa rivers, and built a little village near to old Fort Jackson. have seen Indians and negroes who traded with the French while there, tL.,,,.L +bair etay was but a few years.