Citico Town and Mound was a major center of the Coosa confederacy, at the mouth of Citico Creek in the area of what is now

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

. It was second in size to Etowah at the time of

Hernando de Soto 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 ...

's march through the area in 1540 CE. In archaeological terms it is considered as part of the '

Dallas phase The Dallas phase (c. 1300–1600 CE) is an archaeological phase, within the Mississippian III period, in the South Appalachian Geologic province in North America.Sullivan and Prezzano 281 Geography Dallas peoples moved into what is now southwest ...

' of Mississippian/

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 Woodlandsmuskogean Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a Native American language family spoken in different areas of the Southeastern United States. Though the debate concerning their interrelationships is ongoing, the Muskogean languages are generally div ...

version and origin of the name, see " Satapo." Isaac H. Bonsall photographed the site during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

era in 1864 when it was part of a garden for convalescent Union soldiers. Citico mound was the center of Citico town, and survived essentially intact up to the

US Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

when it was dug into and used to store gunpowder. It was partially excavated by

Clarence Bloomfield Moore Clarence Bloomfield Moore (January 14, 1852 – March 24, 1936), more commonly known as C.B. Moore, was an American archaeologist and writer. He studied and excavated Native American sites in the Southeastern United States. Early life The ...

in 1914 and subsequently destroyed in 1915 to create a road extending east upriver from downtown

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

. The

Tennessee Division of Archaeology The Tennessee Division of Archaeology (TDOA) is a division of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation responsible for managing prehistoric archaeological sites on lands owned by the U.S. state of Tennessee, conducting archaeologic ...

designates the site as "40HA65". The site is scheduled for destruction in 2016–17 as part of the City of

- Hamilton County Cannon brownfield development, Central Avenue extension through Lincoln Park and north across Citico Creek to Riverside Drive, and private college-student housing development.

Notes

References

*Evans, E. Raymond & Smith, Gerald, ''Test Excavations at Citico (40HA65) Hamilton County, Tennessee'' 1988 *Moore, Clarence B., ''The Tennessee, Green, and Lower Ohio River Expeditions of Clarence Bloomfield Moore''. Richard Polhemus, ed., University of Alabama Press 2002 *Hatch, James W., "The Citico Site (40HA65): A Synthesis", 'Tennessee Anthropologist', journal of the Tennessee Anthropological Association, 1:2 Fall 1976 * Honerkamp, Nicholas, Beth Fowler, Tracy Little, Robby Mantooth, "An archaeological Survey of the Citico Site (40HA65), Chattanooga, Tennessee"; Research Contributions 2, Jeffrey L. Brown Institute of Archaeology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, December 1989 {{coord missing, Tennessee Archaeological sites in Tennessee South Appalachian Mississippian culture Buildings and structures in Chattanooga, Tennessee History of Chattanooga, Tennessee Geography of Chattanooga, Tennessee