Georgia Natives
Modern scientists tell us that the Native Americans migrated
by way of Beringia. This land bridge
connected the two continents of Asia and North America across what
became known as the Bering Strait. By
contradiction, oral traditions said that
the indigenous people
originated in the Americans and did not migrate from somewhere
else.
During
the Paleolithic Period, highly mobile hunters used stone to make crude tools
and weapons. Later, in the 13,000 BC to 8,000 BC, some tribes began gathering
their food. In the Archaic Period (8,000 BC to 1,000 BC), the tribes
started to sustain themselves through agriculture. From
2,000 BC to 1,000 AD, there was the rise of the Woodland Indian Tribes that
could be found along the eastern border of North America.
It was around this time (2,500 BC to 1,560 AD)
that the Mound Builder’s Cultures developed. This unique cultural
development arose in northeast Louisiana
during the late Archaic era, spreading inland along the Mississippi-Missouri-Ohio River
areas.
According to oral tradition, the mighty Creek Nations
migrated from the west of the Mississippi to
present-day Alabama and Georgia. The Creeks, as named by
the early Europeans explorers and settlers, were thought to have descended from
the Mississippian Mound Builders. Their common culture and language were
similar to the Seminole. The Creek Confederacy consisted of about 12
independent tribes in Georgia.
The largest tribe in the Creek world was the Muskogee (Muscogee).
For about 400 years, the Cherokee ruled not only present-day
North Georgia but significant areas of North and South
Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. They also
possessed hunting grounds in Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, and
parts of Virginia.
By oral tradition, the Cherokee, Tsalagi
or Aniyvwiyai, migrated from the north and were thought to be a southern
branch of the Iroquois. Due to conflict with the Iroquois, the migration of the
white settlers, and cessions of their
land, the Cherokee was pushed farther south and eventually into Georgia.
A
conflict arose between the Creeks and the Cherokee. In 1755,Taliwa could be
found Long-Swamp Creek and the Etowah
River. Here, a great
Cherokee War Chief by the name of Oconostota
led 500 of his warriors to victory over a larger band of Creeks. So
complete was the defeat that the Creeks retreated south of the Chattahoochee
River, leaving to their opponents the region later to become the heart of the
ill-fated Cherokee Nation.(028-1 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1953)
Through the land cessions to the white man, the Creeks and
Cherokee piece by piece lost their homelands. In 1733, the First Creek Cession
was to James Oglethorpe which led to the establishment of the city of Savannah. The 1763 Treaty
of Augusta further defined lines between the Creeks and the Georgia Colony. In
1773, the Creek and Cherokee ceded land to pay traders for debts owed. The land
to the south and west of Tugaloo and Savannah
Rivers was relinquished
by the Creeks and Cherokee in 1782-83. The 1790 Treaty of New York gave up the Upper Creek land from the Altamaha to Oconee Rivers. In 1802, Georgia gave up its western land claims to the
Mississippi River to the United
States.
In turn, the federal government promised to remove the remaining Indian
Tribes from Georgia.
In
1825, William McIntosh, the leader of the Creek Nation, signed the Treaty of
Indian Springs. This Treaty led to the removal of the Creek Tribes by 1827. An
estimated 3,500 Creeks died in Alabama and on
their way westward to Indian Territory. Some
of those who remained took refuge in the Cherokee Nation. Others in effort not
to starve ate death animals or boiled
tree bark just to survive.
In 1830, the Federal Indian Removal Policy was endorsed by
Congress. This act led to the forced
removal of those remaining tribes to
Indian Territory west of the Mississippi.
In the Cherokee Nation, there was a conflict between those who wanted to remove
to Indian Territory and those who wanted to stay east of the Mississippi
River. The Cherokee successfully challenged the state of Georgia in the
U.S. Supreme Court. (Worcester v. Georgia, 1832) However, President Andrew
Jackson, when hearing of the Court’s decision, reportedly said, “[Chief
Justice] John Marshall has made his decision; let him enforce it now if he can.”
In
December of 1835, the United
States sought out a small group of Cherokee.
These men become the signers of the New Echota Treaty. Only 300 to 600 Cherokee
were at New Echota at the time and none of them were elected officials of the
Cherokee Nation. Twenty signed the treaty, ceding all of the Cherokee land east
of the Mississippi to the federal government
in exchange for $5 million and new homelands in Indian
Territory. Chief John Ross fought for the Cherokee to remain in
their lands. However, in the Spring of 1838, the Cherokee were rounded up and
marched to prepared stockades. As many as 4,000 Cherokees may have died while
in the stockades and on the 800 mile journey west. Their ordeal has become
known as the "Trail of Tears."
Sources:
http://sos.georgia.gov/Archives/
http://www.nationaltota.org/
Shadburn, Don L.; Pioneer History of Forsyth County
Bagley,Garland; History of
Forsyth County. Vol. 1 and Vol. 2
http://ngeorgia.com/history/cherokeeindex.html