<A HREF="http://www.innercity.org/columbiaheights/newspaper/slavery.html">Cli ck here: WashingtonPost.com: How the Cradle of Liberty Became a Slave-Owning Nation</A> http://www.innercity.org/columbiaheights/newspaper/slavery.html Bright Star

<A HREF="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/wauhtml/aipnSubjects14.html">Cli ck here: American Indians of the Pacific Northwest: Subjects</A> http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/wauhtml/aipnSubjects14.html Bright Star

In a message dated 7/3/00 1:09:42 PM Eastern Daylight Time, HAWKL35 writes: << Thanks Bright Star for this Info >> YOU ARE VERY WELCOME. HUGS< BRIGHT STAR

In a message dated 7/3/00 11:55:16 AM Central Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: << History of the Creek Nation in Georgia >> Thanks Bright Star for this Info May Your Waters Run Gentle. Little Hawk.

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<A HREF="http://www.state.tn.us/sos/bluebook/countys.htm">Click here: Origin of Tennessee County Names</A> http://www.state.tn.us/sos/bluebook/countys.htm Bright Star

An Introduction to the Creek Nation by Larry Worthy, Editor-in-chief exclusively for About North Georgia History of the Creek Nation in Georgia Tribes of the Creek Confederacy in Georgia Apalachicola Oconee Chiaha Osochi Creek Okmulgee Guale Tacatacuru Hitchiti Tamathli Icafui Yamasee Kasihta Yui Prior to the early 18th Century, most of Georgia was home to Native Americans belonging to a southeastern alliance known as the Creek Confederacy. Today's Creek Nation, also known as the Muskogee, were the major tribe in that alliance. According to Creek traditions, the Confederacy migrated to the southeastern United States from the Southwest. The confederacy was probably formed as a defense against other large groups to the north. The name "Creek" came from the shortening of "Ocheese Creek" Indians -- a name given by the English to the native people living along the Ocheese Creek (or Ocmulgee River). In time, the name was applied to all groups of the confederacy. Most of the groups of the confederacy shared the same language (Muskogean), types of ceremonies, and village lay-out. The Creek people lived in large permanent towns or italwa with smaller outlying villages or talofa that were associated with the larger town. Italwa were centered around plazas(pascova) used for dancing, religious ceremonies and games. It was here that the Sacred Fire was rekindled annually at the Green Corn Festival (Busk). Plazas in the towns also contained a rotunda -- a round building made of poles and mud used for council meetings -- and an open-air summer council house. The people in the villages attended ceremonies in the towns with which they were associated. Surrounding the plaza area were the family homes. Towns were governed by a Chief, or "Mico", an assistant chief, and a "Mico Apokta", who acted as speaker for the Chief, announcing his decisions to the people. These characteristics are very similar to what is known about the prehistoric Mississippian Culture who occupied the Etowah Mounds village. The people of the Etowah Mounds are believed to be the ancestors of the Creeks who lived in the area until the early 1700's(see below). This description of the Creek culture and society is based on the writings of Benjamin Hawkins, "Indian Agent" to the Creek Nation. When a Creek town reached a population of about 400-600 people they would split, with about half moving to a new, nearby site. The new town would build its ceremonial center and develop its own villages, but would also retain a "mother-daughter" relationship with its original town. This is how the confederacies were formed. Creek legends tell of palisaded, compact towns. By the 1700's Creek towns began to spread out, reflecting a move to an agrarian lifestyle. At the end of this century it was not uncommon for each town to have outlying homes separated by a mile or more of crops. The Creek adopted the plow and raised livestock. While most Creek still lived in traditional huts (not teepees) roofed with wood shingles or grass some began to build log homes with chimneys. By the end of the century Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins described the Creek towns as being "well fenced with fine stocks of cattle, horses and hogs surrounded by fields of corn, rice and pototoes(sic)." The modern capitol of the Creek Nation is in Okmulgee, OK. Bright Star

Just when you thought you knew everything.... > > >1.To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl. Let the >"real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke >removes stains from vitreous china. > >2.To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a >crumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola. > >3.To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola >over >the terminals to bubble away the corrosion. > >4.To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the >rusted >bolt for several minutes. > >5.To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan; rap the >ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, >remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a sumptuous >brown gravy. > >6. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of Coke into a load of greasy >clothes, add detergent, And run through a regular cycle. >The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze >from your windshield. > >AND WE DRINK THIS STUFF! > >FYI: >1.The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. It's pH is >2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days. > >2.To carry Coca Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use >the Hazardous material placards reserved for Highly Corrosive materials. > >3.The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their >trucks for about 20 years! > >Drink up!? >**************************** > May Your Waters Run Gentle. Little Hawk.

American Indian Land Cessions in Georgia >From the editors of About North Georgia Since the first Creek(Yamacraw) cession by Mico Tomochichi to James Oglethorpe in 1733, land had been a major concern of the settlers. Cessions by both Creek and the Cherokee did nothing to quench the insatiable thirst for land that the Georgians had. Indian land cessions prior to 1800 1763 The Treaty of Augusta used trails and rivers to create the first defined line between the Creeks and the colony of Georgia. 1773 Creek and Cherokee debts to Georgians were assumed by the state in payment for the land. This included a small portion of North Georgia. 1782-1783 Land to the south and west of the Tugaloo and Savannah Rivers were ceded by the Cherokee and Creek. Both had laid claim to ownership. 1790 Alexander McGillivray, a mixed race Upper Creek ceded land from the Altamaha to the Oconee in The Treaty of New York, signed by President George Washington. When the United States took the western claims from Georgia in 1802, the federal government promised to remove the Indians from Georgia soil. That year, and again in 1804, the federal government secured cessions of land for the state. Georgia changed the headright system to one it deemed fairer, where any white man with $4.00 could enter a lottery for land stolen from Native Americans. Portrait courtesy Library of Congress. Used with permission. Andrew Jackson Immensely popular, Jackson intimidated friend and foe alike. His Indian Removal policy led to many Native cultures being forcibly removed. During the Creek War, General Andrew Jackson routed the Red Sticks, a violent faction of Creeks who had been agitated by Tecumseh, a Shawnee who came from rousing the Seminoles in Florida. As a result the entire Creek tribe was forced to cede the southern third of present day Georgia to the state to prevent further contact with the Seminoles. This was the single largest cession of land to the state, and the beginning of the end of the Creek in Georgia. The Creek ceded additional land in 1818 and 1821. The Cherokee ceded small portions of land in 1817 and 1819. Both political parties in Georgia favored Indian removal, but when George Troup became governor in 1823 he aggressively moved to resolve the situation. The Creek, first to be removed, were a loose confederation of tribes with various histories and customs. A small faction of the Lower Creek headed by William McIntosh, the son of a Scottish trader and a Creek woman, negotiated with the state although he did not represent the entire tribe. First cousin to Governor Troup, he gave all remaining Creek land in Georgia to the state in the Treaty of Indian Springs in 1825. After ratification by the federal government, Troup moved to swiftly survey and distribute the land. Realizing they were in danger of losing the last of the Georgia land, the Creek murdered McIntosh. John Quincy Adams, the new President, did not consider the Treaty of Indian Springs valid and pressured Troup to stop moving on the Indian Territory. Emboldened by his victory in the 1825 election, Troup reaffirmed his belief that the Treaty of Indian Springs was valid. President Adams quickly negotiated the Treaty of Washington in January, 1826. This treaty left a small piece of land on the Georgia-Alabama border in Creek hands. Not pleased with the new treaty, Troup ordered the land surveyed for a lottery, including the piece that was to remain in Creek hands. Since the federal government had no real love for Native Americans they allowed Troup to quickly renegotiate the treaty and take all Creek lands in the state. By 1827 the Creek were gone. The last piece of land controlled by the Cherokee was North Georgia. In 1828 the state attempted to bring the Cherokee Nation under Georgia law. The conviction and execution of a Native American by the state for the murder of a Cherokee on tribal land in 1830 resulted in an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1831. In Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia Chief Justice John Marshall denied the right of the Cherokee to bring a suit against the state. However, a year later, in a more properly formulated case, Worcester vs. Georgia, the court ruled that the laws of Georgia were invalid in Cherokee land. The ruling was unenforced by the executive branch. Georgia proceeded with the land lottery of 1832 and gave Cherokee land to whites who began to move in. Despondent and divided the Cherokee Nation broke into two factions, for or against removal. Chief John Ross led the larger group against removal. Chief Major Ridge, his son John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot, the first publisher of the Cherokee Phoenix, led the smaller group supporting removal. In 1835 Major Ridge and his faction signed a treaty with the U.S. government agreeing to removal in exchange for 5 million dollars. Both the federal and state government were fully aware that Ridge did not represent the majority of the tribe, but they validated the treaty anyway. The three prominent signers of The Treaty of New Echota were murdered by their tribe, just as William McIntosh had been by the Creek. The quest for land was over. The insatiable thirst that drove Georgia now was quenched. Bright Star

<A HREF="http://www.ls.net/~newriver/nc/wnc6.htm">Click here: History of Western North Carolina - Chapter VI - The State of Franklin</A> http://www.ls.net/~newriver/nc/wnc6.htm Bright Star

<A HREF="http://ngeorgia.com/history/cherokeeforts.html">Click here: Cherokee Removal Forts - The Trail of Tears</A> http://ngeorgia.com/history/cherokeeforts.html Bright Star

<A HREF="http://ngeorgia.com/people/ross.html">Click here: John Ross, leader of the Cherokee</A> http://ngeorgia.com/people/ross.html Bright Star

<A HREF="http://public.csusm.edu/public/guests/raven/cherokee.dir/cherlexi.html"> Click here: A Small Lexicon of Tsalagi (Cherokee) words</A> May Your Waters Run Gentle. Little Hawk.

Land in Georgia The Pine Barrens Speculation and Yazoo Land Fraud Until 1803 Georgia distributed land based on the "headright" system. Each head of family had the "right" to 200 acres of land for himself and 50 acres of land for each member of his family, up to 1000 acres. After the Revolutionary War a number of governors signed land grants of significantly greater amounts than the law allowed. These grants, most of which were signed by Governors George Walton, George Mathews, George Handley, Edward Telfair and Jared Irwin, served to fuel land speculation that would briefly put Georgia in the national spotlight. Governor Mathews granted a million and a half acres to a single man. In Montgomery County Richmond Dawson received grants of 987,000 acres, James Shorter received grants of 1,219,000 acres and Micajah Vassar received grants of 458,000 acres of land. These grants alone totaled 2,664,000 acres of land in a county with an area of only 407,680 acres of land. By the end of his term outstanding land grants totaled three times the amount of land available in Georgia. In the early 1790’s lands "rich in hickory and oak with streams..." were sold to investors caught up in the intense land speculation fever sweeping the country. From the descriptions the land would be suitable for farming. Actually the land was a pine barren that covered 4 counties. The Pine Barren Scandal was quickly overshadowed in 1795 by the Yazoo speculative land fraud. The Yazoo Land Fraud and the Pine Barren Speculation are two episodes of Georgia history that are not only frequently misunderstood but often merged. The Yazoo Land Fraud began in 1785 with the organization of the Combined Society and the creation of Bourbon County Georgia. The Combined Society was a secret society those only purpose was "By means of certain influences brought to bear upon those in authority to obtain from the State(Georgia) large grants of land, either for immigration or for sale, in either case for the end of making a large sum of money out of the transaction". Bourbon County Georgia was located on the Mississippi and included the site of the future city of Natchez. Georgia appointed civil and judicial officers for Bourbon County but repealed the Bourbon County Act in 1788. The Combined Society faded away but the evil lingered on. In 1789 three companies, The South Carolina Yazoo Company, The Virginia Yazoo Company, and the Tennessee Company formed to buy land from the Georgia Assembly. On the 21st of December 1789 Governor Telfair signed into law a bill selling 20,000,000 acres of land to the Yazoo Companies for $207,000. The deal fell through when the companies tried to pay in old, and in some cases worthless, currency. The Virginia Yazoo Company was headed by Patrick, if you can't give me liberty or death at least give me a big chunk of graft, Henry. In 1794 four new Yazoo companies, the Georgia Company, the Georgia-Mississippi Company, the Upper Mississippi Company, and the Tennessee Company bribed and intimidated a bill through the assembly that sold them more than twice the amount of land for $500,000. It passed the house 19 to 9 on January 2, 1795, and the Senate 10 to 8 the following day and was signed into law by Governor Mathews on January 7, 1795. A bid of $800,000 with a $40,000 deposit in hard money by the Georgia Union Company was ignored. U. S. Senator James Gunn was a major stockholder in the companies, as were a number of Georgia legislators. Public outcry at the bill and the methods used to pass it resulted in a major upheaval in Georgia politics. Later that year the electorate expressed its’ dissatisfaction by voting most of the bill’s supporters out of office. Reformers, led by U.S. Senator James Jackson, took office and the Act was rescinded on February 18, 1796. According to some sources he vowed to repeal Yazoo if it cost him his life and was prepared to call out and shoot every person involved in passing the act. All records of the bill and resulting sales except the one sent to President Washington were collected in front of the Capital on February 21, 1796 and consumed by Holy Fire from Heaven summoned with the aid of a magnifying glass. The state refunded the money paid for the land, but some of the land had been resold to people who refused the money, preferring the land instead. The state did not recognize the claims and the matter ended up in court. The United States accepted the transfer of the Yazoo Land Fraud claims along with the cession of Georgia’s western claims in 1802. In 1810 the U.S Supreme Court struck down the reform act as unconstitutional(Fletcher vs. Peck), ruling the state had infringed on a valid contract. Bright Star

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<A HREF="http://www.georgetown.edu/departments/amer_studies/limit/maddox.html">Cl ick here: Civilization or Extinction?</A> Cherokee Bright Star

North America, indigenous peoples This article deals with the peoples who inhabited North America before the arrival of the Europeans. Now often called Native Americans, they have long been called Indians because it was initially believed that COLUMBUS had reached the East Indies. Migrating in waves from Asia (see AMERICAS, PREHISTORY OF THE), these peoples spoke widely varying NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES, but all had straight black hair, dark eyes, and yellow- to red-brown skin. In 1492 they numbered 1 to 2 million N of Mexico, in six major cultural areas: Northwest Coast, Plains, Plateau, Eastern Woodlands, Northern, and Southwest. Bright Star