confederacy--Next in importance to the Cherokee, among the southern
tribes, were the Indians of the Creek confederacy, occupying the
greater portion of Georgia and Alabama, immediately south of the
Cherokee. They are said to have been called Creeks by the early traders
on account of the abundance of small streams in their country. Before
the whites began to press upon them their tribes held nearly all the
territory from the Atlantic westward to about the watershed between
the Tombigby and the Pearl and Pascagoula rivers, being cut off
from the Gulf coast by the Choctaw tribes, and from the Savannah,
except near the mouth, by the Uchee, Shawano, and Cherokee. About
the year 1800 the confederacy comprised 75 towns, the people of 47 of
which were the Upper Creeks, centering about the upper waters of the
Alabama, while those of the remaining 28 were the Lower Creeks, upon
the lower Chattahoochee and its branches (Hawkins). Among them were
represented a number of tribes formerly distinct and speaking distinct
languages. The ruling tribe and language was the Muscogee (plural,
Muscogûlgee), which frequently gave its name to the confederacy. Other
languages were the Alabama, Koasati, Hichitee, Taskigi, Uchee, Natchee,
and Sawanugi or Shawano. The Muscogee, Alabama, Koasati, Hichitee,
and Taskigi (?) belonged to the Muskhogean stock, the Alabama and
Koasati, however, being nearer linguistically to the Choctaw than
to the Muscogee. The Hichitee represent the conquered or otherwise
incorporated Muskhogean tribes of the Georgia coast region. The
Apalachi on Appalachee bay in Florida, who were conquered by the
English about 1705 and afterward incorporated with the Creeks, were
dialectically closely akin to the Hichitee; the Seminole also were
largely an offshoot from this tribe. Of the Taskigi all that is known
has been told elsewhere (see number 105).
The Uchee, Natchee, and Sawanugi were incorporated tribes, differing
radically in language from each other and from the Muskhogean
tribes. The territory of the Uchee included both banks of the middle
Savannah, below the Cherokee, and extended into middle Georgia. They
had a strong race pride, claiming to be older in the country than the
Muscogee, and are probably identical with the people of Cofitachiqui,
mentioned in the early Spanish narratives. According to Hawkins,
their incorporation with the Creeks was brought about in consequence
of intermarriages about the year 1729. The Natchee or Natchez were
an important tribe residing in lower Mississippi, in the vicinity of
the present town of that name, until driven out by the French about
the year 1730, when most of them took refuge with the Creeks, while
others joined the Chickasaw and Cherokee. The Sawanugi were Shawano
who kept their town on Savannah river, near the present Augusta,
after the main body of their tribe had removed to the north about