11- As Long as Grass Grows

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The Creek Indians encouraged by Indian agents including Benjamin Hawkins, developed written laws to earn fair treatment as a nation. Codifying rules in print, they hoped, would help reduce misunderstandings with white settlers hemming them in on all sides. The Creeks published a final version of their laws in 1824.

The statutes, among other prohibitions, declared:

Georgia settlers agitated for change and eventually the prohibition against slavery was lifted. Both Georgia and Alabama became slave states under the United States Constitution, which allowed individual states to decide whether they allowed or banned slavery.

Relative peace reigned between whites and Native Americans in the early 1820's. A notable event in the Fort Benning region occurred when the aging Frenchman and Revolutionary War hero, Marquis de LaFayette, journeyed down the Federal Road in March 1825 on his triumphant tour of the country. LaFayette was one of the last, high-ranking officers of the Revolutionary War still alive.

LaFayette's entourage made its first stop on Fort Benning land at a trading post run by an American fur trader. The sky was just clearing after a spring storm when LaFayette's carriage, guarded by the Georgia militia, arrived. Auguste Levasseur, LaFayette's secretary, later wrote that there were two male Indians, "remarkable for their beauty and form," sitting near the doorway of the trading post. The youngest of the pair spoke impeccable English. His name was Hambly (or Hamley), and he was the son of Creek and white parents.

Hambly told the visitors that he had left Indian territory when he was younger to be educated in the United States, but returned to Indian lands because he preferred the native way of life. He had apparently married several Creek women.

Levasseur and another man, known only as George, who were traveling with LaFayette carried on a cordial conversation with Hambly who invited them (and apparently the rest of the caravan) to visit his nearby home. There he demonstrated Indian dances for the visitors. Levasseur reciprocated by performing French dances.

Researcher John Metcalf recently pinpointed the probable location of the Hambly farm in an eastern quadrant of Fort Benning. In a report on preliminary investigations at the site, archeologists Christopher Goodwin and Eric Poplin state there were apparent remains of a fireplace and a group of sandstone boulders perhaps used as footing stones for a cabin.

LaFayette and his caravan traveled on to the banks of the Chattahoochee River where they encountered a large delegation of Creeks. At the Kasita crossing, the elderly Frenchman climbed upon a barge. Then young Indian men, first wading, then swimming, dragged the barge across the river. On the other side, LaFayette climbed into a small carriage, and the Indians, using two long ropes, pulled the carriage up the steep slope.

Upon his arrival at Fort Mitchell, an elaborate welcoming ceremony unfolded. There were laudatory speeches in the Frenchman's honor by various dignitaries on the parade ground. The Creek chief, Little Prince, dazzled the crowd with a moving oration. He expressed joy at being able to welcome the honored war hero. After his speech, Little Prince explained to the visitors the lacrosse-type game sometimes called the "little brother of war." Indians then put on a demonstration game. It was one of the last times that local Native Americans and white settlers shared friendly relations.

Unrest had been smoldering for some months. Earlier in the year, the Creek chiefs gathered at the central Georgia community of Indian Springs to meet with Georgia government representatives. They negotiated at a tavern owned by William McIntosh, one of the five great chiefs of the Creek nation. McIntosh, whose father was a Scot and mother a Creek, was chief of the village of Kawita on the Alabama side of the river, not far from Fort Benning's boundaries.

McIntosh was a distinguished warrior, but his choice of foes did not endear him to some Native Americans. He had fought beside Andrew Jackson in the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend against the Upper Creeks, so there was probably already mistrust between him and some of the Creeks. McIntosh had also fought with American forces against the Seminoles in Florida. More damaging to his reputation was the rumor that he was susceptible to being bribed by white officials. He was also suspect because he maintained cozy relations with the Georgia governor, George McIntosh Troup, his first cousin.

McIntosh signed his own death warrant when he put his name on the Second Treaty of Indian Springs on May 1, 1825, surrendering all remaining claims the Creeks had to Georgia land. The treaty relinquished Native American rights to land from the Flint River to the Chattahoochee River, including the area now occupied by Fort Benning and the city of Columbus. Reportedly, McIntosh accepted thousands of dollars in return for his signature. Outraged Upper Creek leaders angrily withdrew from the negotiations, branding McIntosh a traitor and the treaty a fraud.

The Creek council had earlier decreed that anyone who sold Creek lands without unanimous consent from the council would be sentenced to death. McIntosh knew he was in danger and sought protection from Georgia officials. No one, however, could save him from the fury of his kinsmen.

Soon after the signing of the detested treaty, Upper Creek warriors invaded McIntosh's plantation, near present day Carrollton, Georgia. They set his house on fire, and when McIntosh ran from the blaze, shot and stabbed him to death.

Violence spread as more settlers began moving onto land many Creeks still considered theirs. The Indians responded with raids on white settlements. The United States government ordered the 4th Infantry Regiment to Fort Mitchell to quell the unrest. The earlier fort had fallen into disrepair, and a new one was built.

The second Fort Mitchell was protected by wooden picket fences about 12 feet tall built in a square. Soldiers built blockhouses on two corners of the square where hiding sharpshooters could train their rifles on all approaches to the fort.

The controversy concerning the Indian Springs treaty escalated when Colonel John Crowell, an Indian agent, publicly criticized the document as invalid. Georgia's Governor Troup denounced Crowell, accusing him of inciting the Upper Creeks to kill McIntosh. He demanded that Crowell be suspended from office while there was an investigation of him. The governor also insisted that a survey of the Indian lands begin at once so that a lottery could be held to distribute free land to white settlers.

However, the Indians had an unexpected ally. The president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, also decided the treaty was flawed. He ordered a ban on surveying Indian lands until a new treaty could be negotiated. The president's action outraged Georgia's Governor Troup. He considered the president to be meddling illegally in the state of Georgia's affairs. Troup vehemently disagreed that there was anything wrong with the original treaty, saying that the Georgia legislature had already upheld the treaty's validity.

The president ignored Troup's protests and summoned Creek representatives to Washington, where a new treaty was hammered out more favorable to the Indians. Ratified by the U.S. Senate on April 22, 1826, this new treaty was scorned by Troup.

Backed by the Georgia legislation, the governor proceeded to launch the survey of disputed Indian lands anyway. His authority challenged, Adams dispatched a lieutenant with the U.S. Army, J. R. Minton, to hand deliver a dispatch to the Georgia governor, ordering him to halt the survey. The president also ordered the U.S. Attorney for Georgia to arrest anyone attempting illegal surveying on Indian land.

Adams wrote the Georgia governor, threatening to send in federal troops: "The pretensions under which these surveys are attempted are in direct violation of a treaty, and if persevered in, must lead to a disturbance of the public tranquility...the President will feel himself compelled to employ, if necessary, all the means under his control to maintain the faith of the nation by carrying the treaty into effect."

Troup's reply was equally blunt. If he wrote, the president ordered troops to Georgia to enforce the treaty, "From the first decisive act of hostility, you will be considered and treated as a public enemy... You, to whom we might constitutionally have appealed for our defense against invasion, are yourselves the invaders, and, what is more, the unblushing allies of the savage whose cause you have adopted."

The governor ordered two divisions of militia on alert to defend the state against a possible invasion by United States forces. Troup declared: "The argument is exhausted; let us stand by our arms."

With both sides threatening military action, powerful members of the U.S. Congress stepped into the breech. They persuaded the president that the dispute wasn't worth risking civil war. Armed conflict to protect Indian rights, they argued, wouldn't be politically palatable for many voters.

Adams backed down, ending a serious challenge to federal power. The president ordered the Indian agent, John Crowell, to negotiate yet another treaty. Signed November 27, 1827 at Fort Mitchell, the treaty committed the Creeks to relinquish all claims to Georgia. Settlement of the village that grew into the city of Columbus and the Fort Benning area could now legally proceed.

As a result of the treaty, most Creek settlement was banished from the state. While the Indians sometimes still hunted in unsettled areas south of Columbus, their villages were clustered on the Alabama side of the river.

Archeologists are gradually learning more about Indian life in the 1820's and 1830's. Accumulating knowledge, however, is painstakingly slow because few homestead locations have been uncovered, making each discovery important.

Archeologist Dean Wood identified one homestead site on Fort Benning. Located on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee and north of Yuchi Town, the spot apparently once held the homestead of Jim Barnard, a Yuchi.

Barnard was probably the grandson of Timothy Barnard, a well-known frontier trader whose ancestors came from England. Timothy Barnard, like many traders, married an Indian, a Yuchi woman, with whom he had eight children. Besides his dealings with Indians, he was also a translator for various government officials and attended the signing of many significant treaties.

One of Timothy Barnard's sons was Timpoochee (John) Barnard, who became the principal chief of Yuchi Town and was also a renown warrior and major in the United States Army.

Timpoochee Barnard commanded about 100 warriors who fought the Upper Creeks in 1814. Later, he lived near Fort Mitchell and was buried in the cemetery at the fort.

Although they are not certain, researchers speculate that Timpoochee Barnard may have been Jim Barnard's father, or in some other way closely related.

On land where Jim Barnard apparently once lived, archeologist Christopher Espenshade located numerous potsherds. However, unlike nearby white settlements, there were few nails or other artifacts found associated with housing construction. This may mean that Barnard built his log cabin by carefully notching logs and fitting them together, avoiding expensive nails and window glass.

While there were more than 100 pieces of EuroAmerican pottery found, native-made potsherds dominated at the site. Archeologists speculate that the Indians used the pottery they obtained from whites as a type of luxury item that they proudly displayed. While they probably served food on trade pottery, they still cooked and stored food in containers they made themselves, following precedents established by ancestors over many years.

Archeologists also found no Euro-American smoking pipes. They speculate that Yuchis preferred their own handmade pipes to inexpensive, mass-produced ones. Even in the early l900's, Yuchis living in Oklahoma were observed still making their own tobacco pipes.

Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States in 1829, and with his inauguration the government stance toward Indians turned harsher. Jackson abandoned the policy of his predecessors of treating different Indian groups as separate nations. Instead, he aggressively pursued plans to move all Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi River to Oklahoma.

Early in his administration, Jackson addressed the Creeks and their allies:

Chief Speckled Snake gave this reply to Muscogee (Creek) Indians:

At Jackson's request, the United States Congress opened a fierce debate on an Indian Removal Bill. In the end, the bill passed, but the vote was close. The Senate passed the measure 28 to 19, while in the House it squeaked by, 102 to 97. Jackson signed the legislation into law June 30, 1830.

Most Creeks angrily opposed the idea of moving west. They had no desire to leave their homelands where they had lived and buried their loved ones for many years. Many had apparently done exactly what the federal government had urged. They had adopted the ways of white settlers. They owned farms, and some owned slaves and raised cattle. Jim Barnard, for example, according to the Indian Census of 1832, maintained a household where there were three males, three females, and three slaves.

But the push to take over Indian lands was relentless. There were more negotiations with the Indians, leading to another treaty in 1832. The Creeks and their allies surrendered all claims to land in the Southeast in exchange for an Indian territory west of the Mississippi River. The Creeks received firm assurances, however, that any individual native who wished to remain in Alabama was free to do so. Those who chose to stay were to receive property they could farm. Anyone remaining on the land for five years would gain a property' title and become undisputed owner. The federal government also guaranteed to protect any Indians remaining behind and to remove any whites who trespassed on their farms.

For those wishing to migrate west, the government agreed to pay transportation costs and to finance their subsistence for one year.

The treaty ink was barely dry when the promises began unraveling. For years, many whites had hated, underestimated, stereotyped, and feared the Indians, feelings that were in some instances fueled by grief over friends or family killed in Indian wars. Now all the pent up hostility, coupled with a desire for free land, exploded into violence.

White settlers invaded Indian farmsteads, beating, murdering, raping, and driving the natives off their allocated land. Still other Indians lost their land to trickery. Speculators, many of them headquartered in Columbus, hatched various schemes to induce Indians to abandon their allotments.

Many natives fled into the swamps and deep forests. They struggled to survive by hunting and gathering wild foods. There were reports of Indians starving. Conditions degenerated so much that Andrew Jackson dispatched an envoy, Francis Scott Key (composer of the Star Spangled Banner), to Fort Mitchell to try to curtail the violence. But tragedy continued to unfold.

In the winter of 1834, a group of 634 Indians departed for the West. The weather turned bitterly cold, and the natives were so poorly clad that they had to stop repeatedly to build fires, sometimes seven times a day, to keep from freezing. By the time the group reached Oklahoma, 161 had died.

The assaults and swindles perpetrated against the Indians remaining in Alabama continued, abetted by the state government, which did everything possible to pressure the Indians to leave. Native Americans were not allowed to testify in court and had no rights to file legal claims against their tormentors. There were few avenues to turn to for help.

Rumors swirled through the white settlements about impending Indian attacks. Members of the Georgia militia, in a state of high alert, erected a stronghold on what is now Fort Benning to defend against attacks in Georgia. Called Fort Twiggs, the post was apparently completed in March 1836, next to a spring about three quarters of a mile from the Chattahoochee. The stockade fences, about eight feet tall, enclosed an area of about 140 square feet.

There were two attached blockhouses, both two stories high, and a third blockhouse separate from the fort, not far from a horse corral, where guards were stationed around the clock. In a communication written to Georgia Governor William Schley, Major John Howard of the Georgia militia explained that he kept most fort supplies in one of the blockhouses "and my corn in the upper stories of the other two."

With about 180 soldiers stationed at the outpost, Major Howard thought he could fend off any attack and still allow half the force to scour the nearby countryside for hostile forces. He wrote the governor that soldiers should remain at the fort "until the emigration [of Indians] commences, to preserve peace, as well as to tranquilize the public's mind."

Howard alluded to how jittery white settlers in Georgia had become. "On Sunday morning last we had quite an alarm." Some settlers "came in from the other side of the river and informed us that the Indians had taken a flat [a boat] and had been crossing in the night in large numbers. Immediately [we] mustered 40 good and true men and returned to the place, where it was found they had, as usual," left no signs. "I continued the scout down the river until I had passed beyond all the trails they usually travel.... Satisfied that the information was from alarm only, I returned the same evening. Upon returning to the camp, [I] ascertained that the flat had only been turned loose by the Indians and had been found lodged against a snag after floating about two miles." Howard added, "Although I have no confidence in the frequent alarms, we attend to them all."

Within about a month, however, concerns about mounting Indian anger proved justified. Several chiefs, including Eneah Emathla, a Hitchitee Creek, and Jim Henry, a Yuchi or Hitchitee Creek, led warriors in attacks on white settlements. White settlers on both sides of the Chattahoochee were fleeing the area, while volunteers began pouring in from distant parts of Georgia to help squash the revolt.

Major General Armstrong Bailey of the Georgia militia wrote the governor on May 8 to report that a settler had been killed. The body of Mr. Flournoy "was pierced with two balls and the head scalped. The settlers in the neighborhood of the disaffected Indians have all left their plantations with their [slaves] and have come into this place [Columbus] and its neighborhood for protection. Several other murders are reported to have been committed yesterday and the day before. They [the murders], however, want confirmation (although some of them are believed).… I am clearly under the impression that the probabilities of an open rupture with a portion of the Creek Nation is daily increasing." Major General Armstrong Bailey hesitated to estimate how many natives would fight, but added, "Their number is beyond doubt rapidly increasing and will continue to do so until an efficient force is stationed in the territory of Alabama for the protection of her unfortunate and defenseless citizens."

Georgia Governor William Schley received various reports on the flight of whites to Columbus and Fort Mitchell. One communique from Russell County, Alabama indicated that the Indian agent, Colonel John Crowell, had advance word about the outbreak of war. According to the communique, Crowell "stated that Ne ha micco, the principal chief of the lower Creeks, advised him and a few of his particular friends not to sleep in his house, but to go to the Fort [Mitchell] or leave the Nation for his people were determined to fight and he could not prevent it. This disposition was not confined to a few Indians but was a general feeling among them.... Two white men have been murdered, William B. Flourney and a Mr. Hobbs, and there are rumors of others. Ne ha micco further advised Col. Crowell to inform the citizens of Columbus that they might expect an attack. The mayor has called a meeting of the citizens."

Another letter to the governor from a Georgia citizen, Levi Simpson, urged seeking a peaceful solution. "...the Indians are at this time almost in a state of starvation for want of bread... [the fighting] might be stopped by sending them something to eat by such persons as they know to be their friends… I think such a course of conduct might have a tendency to pacify them."

Simpson's pleas were ignored. The war was already out of control. More Georgia militia forces were ordered to reinforce Fort Twiggs. Not everyone, however, wanted to follow the orders. Major William Holland and others living in Randolph County wrote Governor Schley from Cuthbert, Georgia (just south of the Fort Benning area), complaining that they shouldn't be required to go to Fort Twiggs. "A great many men have deserted [this county] to [go] to other and stronger parts of the state. Most of our women and children are gone-some, God knows where - we don't [know]. We are commanded to march tomorrow to Fort Twiggs. . . . But what for?

"To guard Columbus and its vicinity, leaving our farms and [slaves], our sacred firesides to the ravages of ruthless savages.

"The weak are compelled to contribute their might to aid the strong. Is this impartial administration?... No, it is because men of influence with public officers entrusted with the management of Indian affairs live about Columbus and in that direction."

A dispatch from Colonel John Dill at Fort Gaines, Georgia (also south of the Fort Benning area) expressed similar reservations about diverting militia to Fort Twiggs. According to Dill's letter, most of the white settlements in the area, all the way north to Columbus, had been abandoned.

The Creeks and their allies did cross the Chattahoochee and attacked settlements in Georgia. Their most devastating assault came at the small community of Roanoke, just south of the Fort Benning area, in Stewart County, Georgia, where Hitchiti Indians killed 12 people and torched the town.

On at least two occasions, Creek Indians also attacked steamboats carrying troops through the Fort Benning area. The paddle wheeler Hyperion was about eight miles south of Columbus when Indians opened fire. The ship engineer and one or two others were wounded. The boat pilot, John Brockway, was shot dead and fell at the wheel, leaving the craft without anyone at the helm. The steamboat drifted aimlessly toward the Georgia side of the river before crewmen managed to wrestle it back under control and steer safely to Columbus.

In another incident, the Metamora was steaming upriver near Uchee Shoals with armed state militia aboard. The craft was patrolling the Chattahoochee to prevent Creek warriors from crossing to attack Georgia settlements. Suddenly, Indians began shooting from the river banks. The boat engineer, one of the first to be hit, fell dead on the deck. Several others were wounded.

Incensed, the boat captain decided to retaliate. He swung the vessel around, reversing course, toward where the first shots had been fired. As he steered alongside where the Indians were hiding, the soldiers on board opened fire. The Indians fired back, while the steamboat continued to float with the current. During the exchange of gunfire, there were several more casualties on board. Warriors also probably died, but numbers of Indian dead and wounded are unknown.

The captain decided against another engagement. He maneuvered the craft farther down river and docked so soldiers could carry the bodies of their comrades ashore and bury them.

Despite such intense battles, the days when the Creeks and their allies could mount a serious challenge to white settlers had long since past. The warriors were soon overwhelmed. Many were rounded up and held at

Fort Mitchell until they could be transported out of the area. Jacob Motte, an Army surgeon stationed at the fort, observed one cluster of 500 hostile Creeks being marched West. "The men were handcuffed two together, and a long chain passing between the double file connected them all together.… The women followed drowned in tears...."

A large group of Indians still at large tried to escape south to join forces with the Seminoles in Florida. Federal troops commanded by Winfield Scott, however, moved along the Chattahoochee and bottled up the Indians' avenue of retreat. Then, in June 1837, federal troops led by General Thomas S. Jesup captured the Creek chief, Eneah Emathla. Soon after, about a thousand of his followers surrendered.

A report written at the time described the scene as U.S. soldiers herded defeated Indian warriors toward Fort Mitchell. "On the 22 June, we witnessed the grand entree of a drove of [Indians] into the Fort, consisting of men, women, and children, in all about one thousand. Among them [were] 200 warriors… brought in… under the command of Major General Patterson... They were all ages, from a month old to a hundred years.... The old 'Blind King' as he is called, [one of the chiefs], rode in the center of the throng... his feeling of hostility continued to rankle at his heart."

In July, about 2,500 Indians, including about 900 Yuchis, were loaded on two steamboats and carried down the Alabama River to Mobile. From there, they were transferred to the Indian territory in present-day Oklahoma.

Federal authorities were about to remove a final group of Creeks when conflicts erupted anew with the Seminoles further south. A force of 700 Lower Creek warriors agreed to patrol in Florida in support of the American military. The warriors' families were kept in concentration camps where they were supposedly under federal protection.

However, mobs from Alabama and Georgia broke in and ransacked the camps. They raped women, killed some occupants, and carted others away to be slaves. Some of the Indians managed to flee into nearby swamps, only to be pursued by the Alabama militia, which killed many of them.

About 4,000 Creeks were moved to concentration camps in Mobile, Alabama in March 1837. When Lower Creek warriors returned from the Florida war, they found the remnants of their families in the camps. Soon, all the Indians from the camps were loaded onto steamships and sent to the Indian territory, whether they had supported the United States or not.

Often, the steamboats used to transport the Indians, either from Montgomery or Mobile, were seriously overcrowded. Many Indians were kept in chains. Conditions were unsanitary, resulting in many deaths. Others died when the steamboat Monmouth smashed into another boat and sank. Tustennuggee Emathla, who had been a staunch supporter of U.S. policy, was one of the 611 Indians on board. More than half the Indian passengers, 311, died, including four of Tustennuggee Emathla's children.

Once in Oklahoma, the Indians discovered that the promised provisions from the federal government never materialized. The lack of supplies was just one of many problems plaguing the Indians. Being uprooted from their homes and losing so many loved ones left them demoralized. Now they faced the physical and psychological strain of adapting to a wholly different environment. Starvation and various diseases, including smallpox, influenza, cholera, and others, took a heavy toll. Many more people died.

By 1838, the transport of Indians from Alabama and Georgia ended, although small groups of natives continued to migrate west for about 10 more years. A few Indians, some as slaves, remained behind. But the vast majority of native people, whose ancestors had thrived in the Southeast for thousands of years, were gone.

The overall effect of the Creek trail of tears was staggering. There were 21,792 Creeks in Georgia and Alabama in 1832. Twenty years after the "removal" ended, there were only 13,537 Creeks left in Oklahoma. Some 8,000 people apparently had died. Counted as a percentage of their population, the Creeks and related tribes suffered more deaths than the Cherokee in their own, far better known trail of tears.

The Fort Benning area on both sides of the Chattahoochee River soon lost its label as a frontier. The era of steamboats and cotton had begun.

Chapter 12: A Forgotten Church

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