16. Creek Indians

16. Creek Indians

The Creek Indians, British, and Spanish colonists had established trading relationships in the American southeast since the seventeenth century. The Creeks were adept diplomats between these two European powers. However, the newly formed nation of the United States offered one dominant power block and relationships shifted from trade to the desire for land. Southeastern tribes were forcibly removed during the 1830s. The forced migration of the Creeks from the moist and verdant Chattahoochee Valley began in earnest in 1834. This period, referred to as the Trail of Tears, saw the removal of Creeks to the dry plains of Oklahoma.
Winn, W. W. (1992). The old beloved past: Daily life among the Indians of the Chattahoochee River Vally. Eufaula, ALA: Historic Commission. [Columbus, GA.]

Picture: Creek leader William McIntosh who ceded Creek territory in the Treaty of Indians Springs, 1825 (Courtesy Columbus State University Archives).