Archaeological Salvage in the Walter F. George Basin of the Chattahoochee River in Alabama
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Archaeological Salvage in the Walter F. George Basin of the Chattahoochee River in Alabama
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Overview
David L. DeJarnette, the founder of scientific archaeology in the state of Alabama, reports on archaeological surveys and excavations undertaken in the Chattahoochee River Valley between 1947 and 1962. The three contributors, Wesley R. Hurt, Edward B. Kurjack, and Fred Lamar Pearson Jr., each made signal contributions to the archaeology of the southeastern states. With their mentor, David L. DeJarnette, they worked out a viable cultural chronology of the region from the earliest Paleoindian and Archaic foragers to the period of early European-Indian contact. They excavated key sites, including the Woodland period Shorter Mound, the protohistoric Abercrombie village, and Spanish Fort Apalachicola, in addition to a number of important Creek Indian town sites of the eighteenth century. All are here, illustrated abundantly by site photographs, maps, and of course, the artifacts recovered from these remarkable investigations.
Copublication with the Historic Chattahoochee Commission
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780817385217 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Alabama Press |
| Publication date: | 07/07/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 237 |
| Sales rank: | 222,707 |
| File size: | 23 MB |
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Archaeological Salvage in the Walter F. George Basin of the Chattahoochee River in Alabama
By David L. DeJarnette
The University of Alabama Press
Copyright © 1975 The University of Alabama PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8173-8521-7
CHAPTER 1
The Historic Tribes in in the Survey Area
INTRODUCTION
In Part I of this publication only those historic tribes of the Chattahoochee that occupied the area covered by the preliminary survey will be considered. The purpose of Part I is to aid in the identification of those sites found in the survey. This attempt to associate historic tribes with archaeological sites involved great difficulties. The early maps depict areas in a most generalized fashion; the names and locations of streams often have changed through time; some areas have been buried by floods or eroded, while others, former town sites, are now covered with dense vegetation. Further complication is caused by the successive, consecutive occupation of a single site by tribes of diverse cultural affiliation. Thus the search for a particular historic site at a particular area usually leads to the discovery of several sites, all of which may fit the vague descriptions left by early explorers.
DESCRIPTION BY EARLY EXPLORERS
Several accounts of the area of the Chattahoochee by early explorers and travelers are available today, but only the journals of Benjamin Hawkins and William Bartram provide enough detail to identify the Indian village sites. In 1785 Benjamin Hawkins was appointed by the Congress of the United States to a commission to negotiate a treaty with the Creeks (Caughey 1938: 27), and in 1796 he became the United States Agent to the Creeks and general superintendent of the Indians south of the Ohio. He resided with the Creeks until after the War of 1812 (Caughey: 55, 95). In 1799 he visited the Chattahoochee Indian villages and left a detailed description of their locations that was published in the Georgia Historical Society Collections (1848).
William Bartram was a botanist and naturalist who traveled in the southeastern part of the present United States on an extended trip beginning in 1773. In July he visited several of the Creek towns in the Chattahoochee Valley, but because he visited so few of them, his descriptions are not quite so useful as those of Hawkins (Van Doren 1928: 312-317).
HISTORIC MAPS
Swanton has published in his Early History of the Creek Indians (1922) several maps and census lists that depict the historic towns of the Chattahoochee Valley. In this group are:
1. "The Territory between the Chattahoochee and Mississippi River." This map was compiled by Baron de Crenay, Commandant of the Post of Mobile, in March, 1733, and reproduced in the French archives for Peter J. Hamilton, who published it in the second edition of his "Colonial Mobile," 190-196.
2. "The Southeastern Part of the Present United States," from the Popple Map of 1733.
3. "The Southeastern Part of the Present United States," from the Mitchell Map of 1755.
4. "Part of Purcell Map" compiled not later than 1770 in the interest of British Indian Trade by John Stuart, H. M. Superintendent of Indian Affairs. The original is in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois.
5. "Towns of the Creek Confederacy," from the Early Map of Georgia, 1818.
In addition Swanton has reproduced a map titled, "The Distribution of Indian Tribes in the Southeast," about the year 1715, redrawn from a blueprint of the original among the British Archives. Swanton states that the disposition of the tribes indicates that the map was prepared shortly before the outbreak of the Yamasee War of 1715. While this map is of little value in locating any of the village sites in Alabama, it does indicate the location of many of the tribes before they moved to the Chattahoochee after the Yamasee War. Swanton also published, in this same volume, two maps (Plates 1 and 2) that are a compilation of his work on the location of the Indian tribes of the Southeastern United States (1922).
TOWN LISTS AND CENSUS
In his volume on the Early History of the Creek Indians, Swanton includes a chart giving the comparative town censuses of the Southeastern Indians (1922, 434-437). Data are included from the Spanish census of 1738; French census of 1750; Census of 1760; Census of 1761; Taitt, 1772; Maybury, 1792; Hawkins, 1799; and U. S. Census of 1832.
A COMBINED LIST OF THE POST-1700 VILLAGES
In Swanton's (Charts IA-ID) the various Indian village sites visited by Bartram and Hawkins and the sites on the maps described above are summarized. Numbers indicate successive positions of the tribes. Letters are used where tribes separate into two or more bands. Taken together, these lists indicate the following village sites along the Chattahoochee:
Alabama side, moving down river
George side, moving down river
from Phenix City from Columbus
Kawita (3)
Kasihta (7)
Coweta Tallahassee (Likatcka 2)
Kasihta (6), later Chickasaw (3b)
Kawita (2)
Yucki (3b)
Kikatcka (1)
Osochi (4)
Okmulgee (2)
Chiaha (5a)
Hitchiti (4)
Chiahutci
Westo (Yuchi 4b)
Apalachicola (4)
Oconee (2a)
Kolomi (2)
Sawoklutci
Atasi (2)
Tamahita (2)
Tuskegee (2a)
Eufaula Hopai
Kasihita (5)
Okitiyagani
Okmulgee (1)
Eto-Hussee-Wakkes
Sawokli (3)
Chiaha (4a)
Okawaigi
Hogologee (Yuchi 3b)
Tamali (3)
Shawnee (3a)
Hitchiti (3)
Yamasee (4b, 6b)
LOCATION OF TOWNS VISITED BY HAWKINS IN 1799
Only the journals of Benjamin Hawkins and William Bartram describe the towns of the Chattahoochee in detail sufficient to make a reasonable identification of the various post-1700 archaeological sites. While this report is not primarily concerned with the identification of sites in Georgia, identification of a few of them is necessary for the location of the Alabama sites.
The following identification of three sites visited by Hawkins in 1799 begins with sites in the area of Phenix City, Alabama, and continues with succeeding downriver sites. The first Creek villages to be identified are, in Swanton's terminology, Coweta (3) and Coweta Tallahassee (or Likatcka: 2). The following is an abstracted version of Hawkins' description of these three towns (Hawkins 1848: 52-56).
Cow-e-tuh, on the right bank of Chat-to-ho-che, three miles below the falls, on a flat extending back one mile ... the fields of the settlers who reside in the town, are on a point of land formed by a bend of the river ...
Cow-e-tuh Tal-lau-has-see ... It is two and a half miles below Cowetuh, on the right bank of the river. In going down the path between the two towns, in half a mile cross Kotes-ke-le-jau, ten feet wide, running to the left is a fine little creek sufficiently large for a mill, in all but the dry seasons. On the right bank, enter the flat lands between the towns. These are good, with oak, hard-shelled hickory and pine: they extend two miles to Che-luc-in-ti-ge-tuh, a small creek five feet wide, bordering on the town. The town is half a mile from the river, on the right bank of the creek; it is on a high flat, bordered on the east by the flats of the river, and west by high broken hills; they have but a few settlers in the town ...
They estimate their number of gun men at one hundred; but the agent has ascertained, by actual enumeration, that they have but sixty-six, including all who reside here, and in the villages belonging to the town.
In the adjacent area on the Georgia side of the Chattahoochee, Hawkins described the location of Kasihta (6), which later became Chickasaw town (3b).
Cus-se-tuh; this town is two and a half miles below Cow-e-tuh Tal-lau-has-see, on the left bank of the river ... In descending the river path from the falls in three miles you cross a creek running to the right, twenty feet wide; this creek joins the river a quarter of a mile above the Cowetuh town house....
The creek has its source nearly twenty miles from the river, and runs nearly parallel with it till within one mile of its junction; there it makes a short bend round north, thence west to the river; at the second bend, about two hundred yards from the river, a fine little spring creek joins on its right bank....
The flat of good land on the river continues two and a half miles below this creek, through the Cussetuh fields to Hat-che-thluc-co. At the entrance of the fields on the right, there is an oblong mound of earth; one quarter of a mile lower there is a conic mound forty-five yards in diameter at the base, twenty-five feet high, and flat on the top ... the river makes a short bend round to the right, opposite this mound, and there is a good ford just below the point ... the river from this point comes round to the west, then to the east ...
The land back from the fields to the east, rises twenty feet, and continues flat for one mile to the pine forest; back of the fields adjoining the rise of twenty feet, is a beaver pond of forty acres, capable of being drained at the small expense of labor; the large creek bounds the fields and the flat land to the south.
Continuing on down the river from the creek, the land rises to a high flat, formerly the Cussetuh town, and afterwards a Chickasaw town. This flat is intersected with one branch. From the southern border of this flat, the Cussetuh town is seen below, on a flat, just above flood mark, surrounded with this high flat to the north and east, and the river to the west ... (Hawkins 1848: 57-58).
The reconstruction of Hawkins' trip in this area is more difficult than would appear at first glance because of changes in topography, streams, and names of streams. The following reconstruction would appear most probable:
The Trip on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee.
(1) Falls. The falls visited by Hawkins were probably those that lie in the general area where Falls Creek enters the Chattahoochee on the west bank south of Phenix City.
(2) Coweta. Described as being 3 miles below the falls. In this area are sites 1 Ru 8 and 1 Ru 9. Site 1 Ru 9 is the larger and was probably the main village. Site 1 Ru 8 has the Ceramic Complex H and site 1 Ru 9 has the Complex I.
(3) Kotes-ke-le-jau Creek. Described as a half mile below Coweta. This is the exact location from site 1 Ru 9 of the modern creek called Cochgalachee Creek.
(4) Che-luc-in-ti-ge-tuh Creek. Described as 2 miles south of Kotes-kele-jau Creek. The small creek joining the Chattahoochee at Abercrombie Landing is at this distance.
(5) Coweta Tal-lau-has-see. A half mile from the river on the right bank of Che-luc-in-ti-ge-tuh Creek. In this location is a medium-sized site, 1 Ru 11, which has a mixture of Ceramic Complexes F (Fort Walton), G (Lamar), and H (Ocmulgee Fields). The Fort Walton and Lamar component at the site was probably earlier in time. Site 1 Ru 11 (1 Ru 62) is much smaller than 1 Ru 9, which agrees with the 1832 Census of 896 for Coweta and 438 for Coweta Tallahassee (listed as Broken Arrow). At the mouth of this creek at Abercrombie Landing is the large site 1 Ru 10 (1 Ru 61), described by C. B. Moore in his 1905 trip (Moore 1905: 449-450). It is very doubtful that this was ever the site of Coweta Tallahassee. The location does not fit Hawkins' description. At the site is a large mound that should have attracted Hawkins' attention, for he refers to other mounds in his journals. In addition, the pottery complex indicates a predominance of Fort Walton and Lamar and only a slight amount of Complex H (Ocmulgee Fields). [See Chapter 2 for description of pottery complexes.] Without doubt, however, many of the intrusive burials at 1 Ru 10 (1 Ru 61) belong to a late Creek occupation of the surrounding area.
Sites on the Georgia Side of the Chattahoochee
(1) Falls of Chattahoochee. In the absence of contradictory data, assumed to be the falls described by Hawkins on his trip down the west side of river. They are located south of Phenix City, Alabama.
(2) Hawkins mentions encountering a creek on the east bank of the Chattahoochee, 3 miles below the falls. He states that it originates nearly 20 miles from the river, runs parallel with it until nearly within its bounds; there it bends north and then west to the river. On the right bank a small stream enters. The only stream south of the area of Columbus, Georgia, fitting this description is now called Bull Creek. Hawkins noted that this creek entered the Chattahoochee a quarter of a mile upriver from the Coweta town house. This is an exact description of the geographical relationship between the mouth of Bull Creek and site 1 Ru 9, which supports the hypothesis that this site was the location of Coweta.
(3) Mounds. Two and a half miles below the creek (probably Bull Creek) Hawkins observed an oblong mound and a quarter mile downriver, a conical mound. No mounds remain there, but records indicate their presence in this area in the 1800's. C. B. Moore states that on the property of J. Kyle, of Willet, Georgia, in view of the river, is the remnant of a mound that repeated floods have washed away (Moore 1907: 450). His map places this mound in the general area under discussion. Apparently the Kyle Mounds were washed away by the flood of 1886 and were in the vicinity of the Woolfolks village site. Hawkins states that the mounds were near the place where the Chattahoochee bends to the right, the location of the Woolfolks site. According to Peter Brannon, "About 1885 the river began to wash into what was later known as the Kyle mound and the celebrated flood of 1886 carried away much of it." (1925: 44)
(4) Large Creek South of Mounds. Hawkins mentions a creek entering the river below the mounds. The present-day Upatoi Creek matches this description.
(5) Old Cussetuh and Chickasaw Town. Hawkins says this village was downriver from the mound creek on a high flat. This description roughly coincides with the area of the Sergeants' Club on the Fort Benning Military Reservation. Mrs. Isabel Patterson reported a site in this area, which was not visited by the writer.
(6) Cussetuh Town. Located on a flat that could be seen from the southern border of the high flat occupied by the Chickasaw town. The large village site that was destroyed by the construction of the airport at the Fort Benning Military Reservation fits this description.
PETER A. BRANNON'S RECONSTRUCTION OF HAWKINS' JOURNEY
Peter A. Brannon locates the sites of Coweta and Coweta Tallahassee visited by Hawkins in this manner:
The town [referring to Coweta Tallahassee] was on the right bank of the Chattahoochee River, one-half mile inland, on a beautiful, level plateau, extending about one and one-half miles back to the hilly wooded country, two miles below the present post office of Brickyard and immediately on the left of the Columbus and Andalusia branch (the old Mobile and Girard division) of the Central of Georgia R.R. It is on the plantation of the late Major Moffit Flournoy, in Sec. 23, Township 16, Range 30 East, Russell County, Alabama. The site is 81/2 miles, as the crow flies and about 15 miles by river, below Columbus, and about 21/2 miles above old Fort Mitchell, immediately on the right bank of and one-half miles above the mouth of, a small stream now called Broken Arrow Creek (Brannon 1930:37).
The site in the area described by Brannon was given the number 1 Ru 25 by the 1947 survey.
To support his thesis that site 1 Ru 25 was the Coweta Tallahassee visited by Hawkins, Brannon gives this reconstruction: "In conclusion, going down the path between the two points, as Hawkins did in 1797, we still cross, in a half mile, Kooteshalijau Creek, and after passing the mound, arrive at Che-luc-in-te-getuh, now known as Broken Arrow, a name given it by the wife of the former owner of the property (Mr. Flournoy) ..." (Brannon 1930: 45).
In Brannon's reconstruction of Hawkins' trip the following assumptions are made:
(1) The present mouth of Cochgalachee Creek (Hawkins' Kotes-ke-le-jau Creek) does not correspond to the mouth of the creek during Hawkins' time. To support this assumption, Brannon states, "Originally the stream entered the Chattahoochee at what we know at the present time as the Fitzgerald mound near Bickerstaff's Brickyard of today [mound at Abercrombie Village, 1 Ru 61]. By the construction of the brick manufacturing establishment in the vicinity of the original Abercrombie Brickyard (now the Bickerstaff Brickyard), the flow of the stream has been turned so that it enters the Chattahoochee higher up." (Brannon 1924: 67)
(2) That Abercrombie Village, 1 Ru 10 (1 Ru 61) occupies the general area of Coweta visited by Hawkins.
(3) That site 1 Ru 25, at the mouth of Broken Arrow Creek, was Coweta Tallahassee visited by Hawkins.
(4) That the creek now called Broken Arrow Creek was the Che-luc-in-ti-ge-tuh visited by Hawkins.
If we accept Brannon's reconstruction of Hawkins' journey, the following difficulties are encountered:
(1) The falls near Falls Creek, by Phenix City, Alabama, are not the falls described by Hawkins. As Hawkins stated that they were 3 miles upstream from Coweta (Abercrombie Village, according to Brannon), they would have been in the vicinity of the Kyle Mounds. Locating the falls at this point makes reconstruction of Hawkins' description of his trip down the east side of the Chattahoochee impossible. Hawkins' description of the location of the streams and their physical features on the east bank of the Chattahoochee simply makes little sense unless the falls were located in the general area of Phenix City.
(2) If the reconstruction given previously of Hawkins' trip down the east bank is accepted as correct, then site 1 Ru 9 rather than Abercrombie Village 1 Ru 10 (1 Ru 61) was the "Coweta" visited by this explorer. It should be noted that the Coweta town house was said by Hawkins to be a quarter mile below the mouth of a creek that appears to have been Bull Creek. In this area is site 1 Ru 9 and not 1 Ru 25.
Brannon's location of Kasihta on the east side of the river is identical with location of this village derived by the writer's reconstruction of the east river journey of Hawkins. Brannon states in regard to Kasihta:
The old Cusseta town of later days was located on the hill up the river from Hall's landing and where the present Fort Benning Military Reservation quarters now sit. History records the fact that the town house was about where the General's official residence is now located. The old town was doubtless located about the lower landing and opposite the river ferry crossing at Fort Mitchell (Brannon 1925: 44).
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Archaeological Salvage in the Walter F. George Basin of the Chattahoochee River in Alabama by David L. DeJarnette. Copyright © 1975 The University of Alabama Press. Excerpted by permission of The University of Alabama Press.
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Table of Contents
ContentsIntroduction
Part I The Preliminary Archaeological Survey of the Chattahoochee Valley Area in Alabama
1. The Historic Tribes in the Survey Area
2. Study and Analysis of the Survey Material
Archaeological Complexes
Ceramic Types Defined in the Chattahoochee Valley, Alabama, 1947
3. Summary and Conclusions
Part II Archaeological Investigations in the Walter F. George Basin
4. Excavations
1 Br 15, The Shorter Site
1 Br 15 × 1
1 Br 35, The Jackson Site
1 Br 37, The Fontaine Reeves Site
1 Ru 28, The McLendon Site
1 Ru 61, The Abercrombie Site
1 Ru 66, The Patterson Site
1 Ru 69, The Cottonton Site
5. Summary and Conclusions
Part III Special Investigation of 1 Ru 101, The Spanish Fort Site
6. Historical Background
7. Excavations
8. Summary and Conclusions
Bibliography
Index