Cusseta, also known as Kasihta, was a Peace Town of the Lower Towns, a division of the

Muscogee Confederacy 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 WoodlandsApalachicola Province Apalachicola (sometimes Palachacola) was the name of a Native American tribal town, and of a group of towns associated with it, which the Spanish called Apalachicola Province, located along the lower part of the Chattahoochee River in present-da ...

on the

Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and 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 confluence of the Chatta ...

, then in what is now the state of Georgia near the Ocmulgee River, and finally again on the Chattahoochee River."History."
''Unified Government Offices of Cusseta-Chattahoochee County.'' 2004. Retrieved 20 Aug 2012. It was one of the two major towns of the Lower Creek, with a population of 1,918 in 1832.

Origins

According to Muscogee

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

, early Creek from

Ocmulgee 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.

settled Cusseta and Coweta, approximately around 900–1000 CE.Isham, Theodore and Blue Clark
"Creek (Mvskoke)."
''Oklahoma History Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.'' Retrieved 29 Oct 2013.

18th–19th centuries

After 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 ...

, the people of Cusseta moved from the

and rebuilt their town on the Ocmulgee River. Until the 1830s forced removal of the Creek Indians from Georgia and Alabama, Cusseta was one of the oldest and most significant Creek towns. The census of 1832–33 recorded 1,918 residents living in Cusseta. At the town on 24 March 1832, representatives of the Creek Nation signed the

Treaty of Cusseta The Treaty of Cusseta was a treaty between the government of the United States and the Creek Nation signed March 24, 1832 (). The treaty ceded all Creek claims east of the Mississippi River to the United States. Origins The Treaty of Cusseta, ...

, ceding all the Nation's lands east of the Mississippi River to the United States as part of

Indian Removal Indian removal was the United States government policy of forced displacement of self-governing tribes of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands in the eastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi Riverspecifically, to a de ...

. They were to receive territory in exchange west of the Mississippi, in what was then called Indian Territory, and annuities for their land.

Today

Lawson Army Airfield in

Fort Benning Fort Benning is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama–Georgia border. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employees ...

, Georgia was developed on the former site of Cusseta. The modern-day municipality of

Cusseta, Georgia Cusseta ( ) is a city in Chattahoochee County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Columbus, Georgia-Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 11,267 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Chattahoochee County, w ...

is named after the Muscogee Creek town and located closest to the historic site.

Cusseta, Alabama Cusseta is a town in Chambers County, Alabama, United States. Situated between Opelika and Lanett, it was named for the ancient Creek Indian town of Cusseta. As of the 2010 census, its population was 123. Pat Garrett, the lawman famed for ...

is also named after the historic town.

Notes

External links

Kasihta (Cusseta)
historical marker {{DEFAULTSORT:Cusseta Tribal Town Muscogee tribal towns Geography of Muscogee County, Georgia Native American history of Georgia (U.S. state)