Apalachicola (sometimes Palachacola) was the name of a Native American town and

chiefdom A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites form a ...

, and of the people living in it, and of a group of towns associated with it, located along the lower part of the Chattahoochee River in present-day

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The Spanish called the association of towns the Apalachicola Province. It is believed that before the 17th century, the residents of all the Apalachicola towns spoke the

Hitchiti The Hitchiti ( ) were a historic indigenous tribe in the Southeast United States. They formerly resided chiefly in a town of the same name on the east bank of the Chattahoochee River, four miles below Chiaha, in western present-day Georgia. The n ...

language, although other towns whose people spoke

Origins

In the first half of the 17th century, a number of towns were situated along of the Chattahoochee River in Alabama and Georgia, from the south of the falls at present-day

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

Barbour County, Alabama Barbour County is a county in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,223. Its county seat is Clayton. Its largest city is Eufaula. Its name is in honor of James Barbour, who served a ...

. Archaeological evidence indicates that the material culture of the 17th century lower Chattahoochee region had developed in place over several centuries. The ancestors of at least some of the people in the area may have been there as early as 12,000 years ago. In the Middle and Late

Woodland Period In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 Common Era, BCE to European con ...

(300–750) sites such as Kolomoki were important centers of the regional culture. A variant of the Lamar regional culture, with influences from the Fort Walton culture to the south, developed in the towns along the Chattahoochee between 1300 and 1400. A major change in ceramic types at sites along the Chattahoochee occurred between 1550 and 1650. There is also evidence of a large drop in the population in the area. The

de Soto expedition Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and ''conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire i ...

in the 1540s did not enter the Chattahoochee Valley, but appears to have caused many deaths there due to epidemics of European and African diseases introduced by the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance peoples, Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of National and regional identity in Spain, national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex Hist ...

. Some archaeologists state that only two population centers survived along the Chattahoochee in the late 16th century, situated on opposite sides of the river south of the falls at Columbus. Both sites had large

platform mound Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

s, and may have served as ceremonial centers. While some archaeologists believe that some sites along the Chattahoochee remained stable population centers, and became sites of later population expansion, other archaeologists believe that there were significant influxes of other people into the Chattahoochee Valley, changing the material culture of the area, and that similar processes occurred in the Tallahassee Hills region of Florida (the historic

Apalachee Province Apalachee Province was the area in the Panhandle of the present-day U.S. state of Florida inhabited by the Native American peoples known as the Apalachee at the time of European contact. The southernmost extent of the Mississippian culture, th ...

). At least some of the people of the Chattahoochee River towns may have migrated south towards Apalachee, while

Muscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsCoosa and Tallapoosa areas in Alabama may have moved into the Chattahoochee valley. Folklore of the Lower Towns of the Muscogee Confederacy supports an interpretation of Muscogee-speaking immigrants joining a Hitchiti-speaking resident population, with the Chattahoochee River area including both Hitchiti- and Muscogee-speaking towns by the later 16th century. Speakers of the

Koasati language Koasati (also Coushatta) is a Native American language of Muskogean origin. The language is spoken by the Coushatta people, most of whom live in Allen Parish north of the town of Elton, Louisiana, though a smaller number share a reservation nea ...

Apalachee people The Apalachee were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, specifically an Indigenous people of Florida, who lived in the Florida Panhandle until the early 18th century. They lived between the Aucilla River and Ochlockonee River,Bobby ...

, and people known as

Chisca The Chisca were a tribe of Native Americans living in present-day eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia in the 16th century, and in present day Alabama, Georgia, and Florida in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries, by which time they ...

Yuchi The Yuchi people, also spelled Euchee and Uchee, are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma. In the 16th century, Yuchi people lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley in Tennessee. In the late 17th century, they moved south to Alabama, G ...

also settled in the Chattahoochee towns in the later 17th century.

Spanish contacts

The

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

contacted the towns on the Chattahoochee River in 1638, five years after Spanish missions were first established in Apalachee Province. The Spanish called the association of towns on the Chattahoochee River "Apalachicola Province". Apalachicolas began asking for friars to be sent to them in the 1640s, and regular trade between the Spanish in Apalachee Province and the Apalachicola began in the 1650s. By the 1670s, deer skins from the Apalachicola were being shipped to Havana. The Spanish heard of outside people moving into Apalachicola Province in the 1670s. At the same time the English adventurer Henry Woodward, who had reached the upper reaches of the Savannah River, heard reports of the "Cowatoe", the first mention of

Coweta Coweta is a city in Wagoner County, Oklahoma, United States, a suburb of Tulsa. As of 2010, its population was 9,943. Part of the Creek Nation in Indian Territory before Oklahoma became a U.S. state, the town was first settled in 1840.Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

produced a list of potential targets for missions, which included Coweta ("Cueta" to the Spanish) in the northern part of Apalachee Province. While Coweta later claimed to be the most ancient and powerful town on the Chattahoochee, it had only moved there in the 1660s or 1670s, into the northern end of a province consisting of at least eight Hitchiti-speaking towns. The Spanish originally perceived political power to be concentrated in the southern part of the province. The Spanish recognized Apalachicola as the most important town in the province, while

Sabacola Sabacola (or Sowalki) was a Native American town and chiefdom in what is now the Southeastern United States of America during the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. Usually regarded as belonging to the Apalachicola people, Sabacola had poorly un ...

, at the southern end of the province, also exercised great influence, being closest to the Spanish in Apalachee Province. The chief of Sabacola may have converted to Christianinity, and was recognized by the Spanish at one point as the "grand

cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

" of Apalachicola Province. The number and names of towns on the Chattahoochee River varied in different Spanish reports. Two lists, from 1675 and 1685–1686, show many similarities, and a few differences. The towns listed by the Spanish, from south to north, were: Three towns that were on or close to the route of de Soto's expedition in 1540 may have later moved to the Chattahoochee River. Alapi may have derived from a town located east of

Cofitachequi Cofitachequi was a paramount chiefdom founded about 1300 AD and encountered by the Hernando de Soto expedition in South Carolina in April 1540. Cofitachequi was later visited by Juan Pardo during his two expeditions (1566–1568) and by Henry W ...

, the town of Ocuti may have been a successor to the

Ocute Ocute, later known as Altamaha or La Tama and sometimes known conventionally as the Oconee province, was a Native American paramount chiefdom in the Piedmont region of the U.S. state of Georgia in the 16th and 17th centuries. Centered in the Ocon ...

chiefdom of the

Oconee River The Oconee River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map Accessed April 21, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Georgia. Its origin is in Hall County and it terminates where it joins ...

valley, and Casist (Kasihta) was on the Coosa River at the time of de Soto's visit.

Missionaries and soldiers

The Apalachicolas had requested the Spanish to send missionaries to their towns, but the lack of available missionaries had caused those requests to be ignored. The visit of Henry Woodward to Coweta in the late 1670s alarmed the Spanish. Possibly in response to the English encroachment, the Spanish began courting the Apalachicolas, inviting them to move their towns closer to Apalachee Province so that missions could be established in them. At least part of the town of Sabacola moved in 1674 to a spot just south of the junction of the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers, where they established a new town of Sabacola el Menor, which became the site of the mission of La Encarnation a la Santa Cruz. Fearing attacks from the

in western Florida, who were at war with the Apalachee, the residents of Sabacola el Menor moved north up the Chattahoochee River some time around 1677. Sabacola el Grande was located on the Chattahooche River a few leagues south of the falls at Columbus. Some residents of Sabacola had become Christians when the town was located in Florida, and requested that missionaries be sent to them. In late 1679, three missionaries, including the friar at the former mission in Sabacola el Menor, were sent to Apalachicola Province to convert the Apalachicolas as a counter to the growing English influence in the Chattahoochee valley. The Muscogee and Koasati-speaking towns were in communication with

Westo The Westo were an Iroquoian Native American tribe encountered in the Southeastern U.S. by Europeans in the 17th century. They probably spoke an Iroquoian language. The Spanish called these people Chichimeco (not to be confused with Chichimeca i ...

s, who were allied with the English in the

Province of Carolina Province of Carolina was a province of England (1663–1707) and Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until partitioned into North and South on January 24, 1712. It is part of present-day Alaba ...

. The Christians of Sabacola had not informed the chief of Coweta of their request for Spanish missionaries. On hearing of the arrival of the missionaries, the chief traveled to Sabacola with men from Coweta and other towns who were friendly with the Westos, and forced the missionaries to leave three days later. In 1680, the Carolinians turned on the Westos, who had been their allies and slave-raiders, killing most of them. The surviving Westos sought refuge at Coweta. Now wary of the English, the chief of Coweta renewed contact with the Spanish. In the fall of 1680 the chief of Sabacola went to St. Augustine and invited the Spanish to send missionaries and soldiers to Apalachicola.

Juan Márquez Cabrera Juan Márquez Cabrera was a Spanish soldier who served as governor of Honduras (1668 – 1672) and then of Spanish Florida (1680 – 1687), until he was dismissed for abuses in office against the native peoples and Spanish citizens of Florida. H ...

, who had become governor of Spanish Florida in 1680, sent missionaries back to Sabacola in 1681, with an escort of seven (or twelve) Spanish soldiers. At about the same time, some Apalachicolas killed a couple of Christian Apalachees in Apalachee Province. The Spanish sent more soldiers to Apalachicola, and relations worsened. The missionaries baptized 36 residents of Sabacola before being forced out again a few months later. Cabrera suspected English influence in the hostility shown the missionaries. Threats from Cabrera led to at least the Christianized residents of Sabacola moving south to a point west of the Flint River just above where it joins the Chattahoochee. A mission named San Carlos de Sabacola was established in the town before 1686. The mission last appears in Spanish records in 1690. The mission town may have included

Chatot The Chatot (also Chacato or Chactoo) were a Native American tribe who lived in the upper Apalachicola River and Chipola River basins in what is now Florida. They spoke a Muskogean language, which may have been the same as that of the Pensacola ...

s from the earlier mission of San Carlos de los Chacatos in present-day

Jackson County, Florida Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida, on its northwestern border with Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,319. Its county seat is Marianna. History Jackson County was created by the Florida Terri ...

. In the 1680s, the Spanish were using ''Uchise'' to refer to people living around Ochese Creek (now the Ocmulgee river) in central Georgia. In 1691, after the Apalachicola towns had mostly moved to the Ochese Creek area, the Spanish identified the people that had begun attacking missions that year as "Indians of Uchise, Yamasses, and Englishmen", where ''Uchise'' meant ''Apalachicola''. Hann takes this transfer of identity as an indication that the people who lived in the vicinity of Ochese Creek in the 1680s were related to the Hitchiti-speakers of the Apalachicola Province, and may have become part of the province by 1680. There were also Yamasee from Tama Province living in Apalachicola province in the 1680s. Many Apalachees disaffected with the Spanish presence in Apalachee Province moved to the Apalachicola towns in the 1680s. Qua, an Apalachee woman from a prominent family at Mission San Luis (in

Anhaica Anhaica (also known as Iviahica, Yniahico, and pueblo of Apalache) was the principal town of the Apalachee people, located in what is now Tallahassee, Florida. In the early period of Spanish colonization, it was the capital of the Apalachee Provi ...

, the principal town of Apalachee Province), married

Emperor Brim Emperor Brim, also known as Hoboyetly, (died 1733) was a Muscogee ''mico,'' or ruler, of Coweta who rose to power through a series of shifting alliances with France, England, and Spain. His two sons, Hollata Brim and Seepeycoffee Brim, both late ...

of Coweta. One of Brim's sons also had an Apalachee wife.

English contacts

In 1682, Henry Woodward and others from the Carolina colony began trading with the people of what is now western

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

and Georgia, reaching the Chattahoochee River in 1685. The Spanish reacted immediately.

, governor of Florida, sent soldiers from St. Augustine to Apalachee Province. Antonio Matheos, deputy governor in Apalache Province, set out in September for the Apalachicola Province before the reinforcements arrived, hoping to capture the English traders. The English and many of the Apalachicolas fled. Matheos destroyed a half-built English stockade north of the falls of the Chattahoochee, and returned to Apalachee. The Carolinians quickly returned to the Apalachicola towns, and in December Matheos returned up the river, under orders from Governor Cabrera to burn the towns if they did not surrender the English traders to him. The traders and many of the Apalachicolas again fled. Matheos summoned the chiefs of the towns to meet him at Coweta. Eight chiefs attended the meeting, and were pardoned. The chiefs of Coweta, Kasihta, Tuskeegee, and Koloni refused, and their towns were burned. Matheos then returned to Apalachee. Tuskeegee and Koloni quickly rebuilt after their towns had been burned, and behaved in a friendly manner towards the Spanish. Coweta and Kasihta did not initially return to the former sites of their towns, and became openly hostile towards the Spanish, ceasing trade with them. The English traders soon returned to the Chattahoochee. The Spanish sent three more expeditions to capture the English in the following three years, without success. In 1689 the Spanish built a stockade near the town of Coweta, and left 20 Spanish soldiers and 20 Apalachees to hold it. In 1690 the towns of Cueta (Coweta) and Casista (Cusseta) moved to the interior of Georgia, closer to their trading partners in Carolina. Pirates threatened St. Augustine in 1690, and the garrison in the stockade on the Chattahoochee was withdrawn to St. Augustine, destroying the stockade as they left. Other towns along the Chattahoochee left later for central Georgia, as well. Spanish records state that Apalachicola Province was completely abandoned by the spring of 1692.

Ochese Creek

Most of the towns from the Chattahoochee River that moved to central Georgia settled in the area of what the English called Ochese Creek (''Uchise'' to the Spanish), which is now known as the

Ocmulgee River The Ocmulgee River () is a western tributary of the Altamaha River, approximately 255 mi (410 km) long, in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the westernmost major tributary of the Altamaha.

, a tributary of the

Altamaha River The Altamaha River is a major river in the U.S. state of Georgia. It flows generally eastward for 137 miles (220 km) from its origin at the confluence of the Oconee River and Ocmulgee River towards the Atlantic Ocean, where it empt ...

. The town of Apalachicola was established on the lower Savannah River (the English called the town ''Palachacola''), and the town of Oconi was established on another branch of the Altamaha, now called the

. English reports placed eleven (unnamed) towns in the Ochese Creek area in 1708, while ten were reported in 1715, with 600 to 730 males of fighting age ("gun men"), and a total population of 2,406 in 1715. A map drawn circa 1715 shows ten named towns around Ochese Creek, with the number of men in each town indicated. Another map, originally drawn in 1725, and redrawn in 1744, shows six towns around Ochese Creek prior to 1715, including one or two that do not appear on the 1715 map. Many of the names on the maps correspond to towns that had been on the Chattahoochee River. The Muskogee- (and Koasati-) speaking towns, Coweta, Kasihta, Tuskegee, and Koloni, were located on the north side of the cluster, near where the

Towaliga River The Towaliga River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 21, 2011 tributary of the Ocmulgee River in central Georgia. The Towaliga begins in Henry County and passes ...

joins the Ocmulgee. Some of the Hitchiti-speaking towns, including Ocmulgee, and Hitchiti (Echeetes), were located to the southern part of the Ochese Creek cluster, where

Walnut Creek A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bo ...

joins the Ocmulgee River (the location of present-day Macon). Sabacola (Sawokli) was located close to the northern group of primarily Muscogee-speaking towns. Other towns joined the Ochese Creek grouping between 1692 and 1715, including the Muskogee-speaking Atasi (Addasleas or Attases) and Gowalege (Kwadledji), which had previously been located along the

Tallapoosa River The Tallapoosa River runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 from the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia, United States, southward and wes ...

Chiaha Chiaha was a Native American chiefdom located in the lower French Broad River valley in modern East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. They lived in raised structures within boundaries of several stable villages. These overlooked the ...

, from eastern Tennessee or western North Carolina, and a

town. Worth states that the town spelled ''Ewches'' shown on the 1715 map in the southern cluster of towns may be a mistransciption of any of ''

'', ''Hitchiti'' (''Echeetes'' on the 1725/1744 map), or ''Uchisi''. The Uchisi may have been descendants of the Ichisi people, encountered in the area 150 years earlier by the de Soto expedition, who may have still been living along Ochese Creek when the towns from Apalachicola Province moved there. The Ochese Creek towns entered into an extensive trade relationship with the English of Carolina. Males became increasingly involved in hunting deer for hides and raiding other Native American peoples for captives to sell to the English. They became dependent on the English for firearms and ammunition, almost completely abandoning the use of bow and arrow. While European trade goods became common in the Ochese Creek towns, ceramics showed strong continuity with those produced in the towns while they were on the Chattahoochee. The peoples of the Lamar culture region had traditionally built both winter and summer houses in their towns. A "winter house" or "hot house" was a round house with a sunken floor and a central fireplace, with fully enclosed

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

walls, used as winter lodging. Summer houses were less substantial, and generally rectangular. Towns also had a rotunda (Muscogee ''tcokofa'') next to the public buildings on the town square. This was a large (up to across) round structure with wattle and daub walls with a central fireplace, which could be used as a meeting place during cold weather. Rotundas were called "hot houses" because of their resemblance to the winter houses of households. As the people of the towns on Ochese Creek became more involved in the

deerskin trade __NOTOC__ The deerskin trade between Colonial America and the Native Americans was one of the most important trading relationships between Europeans and Native Americans, especially in the southeast. It was a form of the fur trade, but less know ...

with the English early in the 18th century, adults spent much of the winter living in the woods hunting deer. The town rotundas were big enough for the children and older adults who stayed behind in the towns during the winter to sleep there. Within a few years, construction of winter houses in the Ochese Creek towns had ceased.

Attacks on Spanish missions

The people of the Ochese Creek towns began attacking Spanish missions in 1691. The mission of San Juan de Guacara, where the Spanish trail connecting St. Augustine to Apalachee Province crossed the Suwannee River, and other places were attacked in August 1691. Many of the people at the Chacato missions, west of Apalachee Province, fled in fear. The mission of San Carlos de los Chacatos was attacked in the fall of 1694. Five Chacatos were killed and 42 captives were taken for sale to the English in Carolina. The attack on the Chacatos was reported to have been conducted by men from the towns of Sabacola, Apalachicola, Coweta, and Tiquepache. In retaliation, 400 Apalachee men and seven Spaniards attacked those towns in central Georgia. The Spanish/Apalachee force surprised one town, rescuing eight Chacato captives, and capturing 50 people from the town. The other three towns had been abandoned and were burned by the Apalachees. Hostilities died down for a few years after 1694. In the winter of 1698–1699, 24 men from Tasquique (Tuskegee) headed to Apalachee with buffalo skins, leather shirts, and

bezoar A bezoar is a mass often found trapped in the gastrointestinal system, though it can occur in other locations. A pseudobezoar is an indigestible object introduced intentionally into the digestive system. There are several varieties of bezoar, s ...

stones as trade goods. A party of 40 Chacatos led by a Spaniard, who were hunting buffalo, found the sleeping Tasquique party and killed 16 of them. Nevertheless, relations between the towns around Ochese Creek and Spanish Florida remained relatively peaceful for a few more years. In June 1702, 100 men from the Ochese Creek towns who had assembled at Achete (Hitchiti) attacked and burned the Spanish mission of

Santa Fe de Toloca Santa Fe de Toloca (Teleco, Toloco or Señor Santo Tomás de Santa Fe) was a Spanish mission that existed near the Santa Fe River in the northwestern part of what is now Alachua County, Florida, United States during the 17th century. It became ...

on the Santa Fe River. The towns on Ochese Creek decided on war against the Apalachee in the fall of 1702, and attacked the missions of San Antonio de Bacugua and San Cosme y San Damián de Cupaica north of the Apalachee capitol of San Luis (Anhaica). A force of 800 Apalachee men assembled to attack the Ochese Creek towns in retaliation. That force was met on the trail near the

Flint River The Flint River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains of western Georgia, flowing south from the u ...

by just over 400 warriors, primarily from the Muscogee- and Hitchiti-speaking towns, but including Chiscas and Westos. The Ochese Creek force was better armed than the Apalachees and caught the Apalachees by surprise. More than half of the Apalachees were killed or captured, and most of the 300 that escaped abandoned their weapons. The

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

, known as

Queen Anne's War Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. In E ...

in the English colonies in North America, had begun in 1701. The English in Carolina attacked Spanish Florida in November 1702. The peoples of what is now the southeastern United States that were allied with the English embarked on continued attacks on Spanish missions and on all the native peoples associated with the Spanish. In early 1704, James Moore, governor of the English colony of Carolina, led a force of English and Native American fighters in a major assault on Apalachee Province. Demoralized by the defeat on the Flint River two years earlier, the province put up little resistance to the invaders. A substantial part of the Apalachee population went with Moore's force when it left the province. Another force from the Ochese Creek towns attacked Apalachee Province in June 1704, destroing most of the remaining missions. The Spanish and remaining Apalachees then abandoned the province. Spanish holdings in the interior of Florida were quickly reduced to the

Mission San Francisco de Potano Mission San Francisco de Potano was a Spanish mission near Gainesville, Florida, United States. The mission of San Francisco de Potano was founded in 1606 by the Franciscans Father Martín Prieto and Father Alonso Serrano. It was the first ''doc ...

near present-day Gainesville, the recently created created settlement of Apalachee refugees at Abosaya near

Payne's Prairie Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is a Florida State Park, encompassing a savanna in Alachua County, Florida lying between Micanopy and Gainesville. It is also a U.S. National Natural Landmark. It is crossed by both I-75 and U.S. 441 (which ha ...

, and the missionn at Salamototo, serving the ferry crossing of the

St. Johns River The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...

on the trail to St. Augustine. In August and September 1705 forces from the Ochese Creek towns attacked Abosaya, Salamototo, and a villege just outside of St. Augustine. The Spanish soon abandoned Potano and Salamototo, and the Ochese Creek forces raided the remaining Spanish territory repeatedly. The Spanish governor estimated that 10,000 to 12,000 Christain natives had been captured and sold to the English as slaves, and only 300 or remained in the vicinity of St. Augustine. In 1705, the English entered into an alliance with several of the towns in the Ochese Creek area, including Coweta, Kasihta, Okmulgee, and Kealedji, and others, such as Tukabatchi, Uchises, Oakfusees, and Alabamas.

Later history

A colonial census taken in 1708 described the Apalachicola of the Savannah River as the "Naleathuckles", with 80 men settled in a town about 20 miles up the Savannah River. A more accurate census was taken by Irish colonist

John Barnwell John Barnwell (born 24 December 1938) is an English former football player and manager. He was the chief executive of the League Managers Association. Career Arsenal Born in Newcastle, Barnwell first played as an amateur for Whitley Bay and ...

in early 1715. It described the Savannah River Apalachicola as living in two villages and having a population of 214 people: 64 men, 71 women, 42 boys, and 37 girls. In the

Yamasee War The Yamasee War (also spelled Yamassee or Yemassee) was a conflict fought in South Carolina from 1715 to 1717 between British settlers from the Province of Carolina and the Yamasee and a number of other allied Native American peoples, incl ...

of 1715, the Apalachicola joined in the Native American attacks on South Carolina. Afterward, the survivors returned to the Apalachicola River, forming near the confluence of the

Chattahoochee The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the con ...

and

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

rivers. Some later moved north to live along the Chattahoochee River in present-day

Russell County, Alabama Russell County is a county in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 59,183. Its county seat is Phenix City. Its name is in honor of Colonel Gilbert C. Russell, who fought in the wars agai ...

Lower towns of the Muscogee Confederacy

John Swanton concluded that the Muscogee Confederacy (what the English called the Creek Confederacy) was already in existence in the 16th century. Scholars now hold that the Confederacy arose in the 18th century. The towns on the Chattahoochee River, which the Spanish called Apalachicola Province, formed a political complex, centered on Coweta. Similar political units existed on the

, centered on

Tuckabatchee Tukabatchee or Tuckabutche ( Creek: ''Tokepahce'' ) is one of the four mother towns of the Muscogee Creek confederacy.Isham, Theodore and Blue Clark"Creek (Mvskoke)." ''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.'' ...

, and the Middle Coosa River, centered on Abihka. Those those three entities merged to form the Confederacy, with the towns of the old Apalachicola Province becoming known as the Lower towns of the Muscogee Confederacy. Lower Creek towns of the middle 18th century were an amalgamation of old Apalachicola and other groups (Westo, Yuchi, and others). Lower Creek material culture, especially ceramics, was maintained, despite absorption of other groups. The town of Apalachicola moved to different locations along the Chattahoochee River in the 18th century, including in a move known to have occurred in 1755. In the 1770s,

William Bartram William Bartram (April 20, 1739 – July 22, 1823) was an American botanist, ornithologist, natural historian and explorer. Bartram was the author of an acclaimed book, now known by the shortened title ''Bartram's Travels'', which chronicled ...

visited both Apalachicola and Apalachicola Old Town. Forster lists a number of archaeological sites in Russell County, Alabama that may have been occupied by Apalachicola at various times/. Following Congressional passage of the

Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for ...

in 1830, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

pressured the Apalachicola to sign two treaties, in 1833 and 1834, to cede their lands in the Southeast in exchange for land west of the Mississippi River. In 1836-1840, the Apalachicola moved to

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

(present-day

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

). They merged there with other Creek peoples and descendants are enrolled in the federally recognized

Muscogee (Creek) Nation The Muscogee Nation, or Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is a federally recognized Native American tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The nation descends from the historic Muscogee Confederacy, a large group of indigenous peoples of the South ...

Legacy

The Apalachicola River is named after the province. The Spanish included what is now called the Chattahoochee River as part of one river, calling all of it from its origins in the southern Appalachian foothills down to the Gulf of Mexico the ''Apalachicola''.

Apalachicola Bay Apalachicola may refer to: * Apalachicola people, a group of Native Americans who lived along the Apalachicola River in present-day Florida Places * Apalachicola, Florida *Apalachicola River * Apalachicola Bay * Apalachicola National Forest * Apa ...

and the city of

Apalachicola, Florida Apalachicola ( ) is a city and the county seat of Franklin County, Florida, United States, on the shore of Apalachicola Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The population was 2,231 at the 2010 census. History The Apalachicola people, after ...

are named after the river.

Notes

References

Sources

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External links

Georgia Indian Tribes: "Apalachicola"
hosted at AccessGenealogy

Native American tribes in Alabama Native American tribes in Florida Native American tribes in Georgia (U.S. state) Native American tribes in Louisiana Muskogean tribes {{NorthAm-native-stub