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Hillabee was an important
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 Woodlands[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 ...]
before the
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 ...
s of the 1830s.
Hillabee was the center of a cluster of towns and villages, known as the Hillabee complex or, simply, Hillabee. The people living in the Hillabee complex area are sometimes called the Hillabees. That name does not refer to a separate tribe or clan but merely those Muscogees who lived in the Hillabee complex area.
The word "Hillabee" comes from the
Muscogee language
The Muscogee language (Muskogee, ''Mvskoke'' in Muscogee), also known as Creek, is a Muskogean languages, Muskogean language spoken by Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole people, primarily in the US states of Oklahoma and Florida. Along with Mikasuki ...
word /hílapi/, meaning quick or swift, perhaps referring to the streams in the area.
Location
Hillabee and its satellite villages were located along Little Hillabee Creek and Enitachopco Creek where they join to form Big Hillabee Creek. Villages within the complex, along these streams, included Echoseis Ligau, Enitachopko, Lanudshi Apala, and Oktasassi.
Nearby towns and villages associated with Hillabee include Oakfuskee, Little Oakfuskee, and Atchinalgi.
Today the area is in southern
Clay County Clay County is the name of 18 counties in the United States. Most are named for Henry Clay, U.S. Senator and statesman:
* Clay County, Alabama
* Clay County, Arkansas (named for John Clayton, and originally named Clayton County)
* Clay County, Flor ...
and northern
Tallapoosa County, north of
Alexander City
Alexander City, known to locals as "Alex City", is the largest city in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, United States, with a population of 14,843 as of the 2020 census. It has been the largest community in Tallapoosa County since 1910. It is know ...
. The present-day villages of
Millerville and
Bluff Springs lie within the former Hillabee complex area.
History
The Hillabee complex, focused along the Hillabee and Enitachopco Creeks, dates back at least to the late 17th century. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries the complex lay in the approximate center of the Creek Confederacy's territory. Its population probably peaked after the
Creek War
The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the Red Stick War and the Creek Civil War, was a regional war between opposing Indigenous American Creek factions, European empires and the United States, taking place largely in modern-day Alabama ...
(1813–14), then declined. Creek settlement in the area ended with the
forced removal of the Muscogee people during the 1830s.
During the
Creek War
The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the Red Stick War and the Creek Civil War, was a regional war between opposing Indigenous American Creek factions, European empires and the United States, taking place largely in modern-day Alabama ...
, part of the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
, the Muscogee (Creek) people were divided. Those who fought against the United States were known as the
Red Sticks
Red Sticks (also Redsticks, Batons Rouges, or Red Clubs), the name deriving from the red-painted war clubs of some Native American Creeks—refers to an early 19th-century traditionalist faction of these people in the American Southeast. Made u ...
. The Hillabee people had been Red Stick allies until the
Battle of Tallushatchee
The Battle of Tallushatchee was a battle fought during the War of 1812 and Creek War on November 3, 1813, in Alabama between Native American Red Stick Creeks and United States dragoons. A cavalry force commanded by Brigadier General John Coffee ...
and
Battle of Talladega
The Battle of Talladega was fought between the Tennessee Militia and the Red Stick Creek Indians during the Creek War, in the vicinity of the present-day county and city of Talladega, Alabama, in the United States.
Background
When General Joh ...
.
A large number of Hillabee Creeks fought General
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
's forces at Talladega. They were badly defeated and sued for peace, which Jackson granted on 17 November 1813. One day later the Hillabee villages were attacked by troops under General
William Cocke
William Cocke (1748August 22, 1828) was an American lawyer, pioneer, and statesman. He has the distinction of having served in the state legislatures of four different states: Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi, and was one of t ...
, who did not know about the peace. The villages of Little Oakfusky and Genalga were completely destroyed. Then main town of Hillabee was attacked. The Creeks, who thought they were at peace, were completely surprised and gave little resistance. During the attack 64 Creek were killed, 29 wounded, and 237 taken captive and sent to Fort Armstrong, near
Turkeytown. Feeling betrayed, the Hillabees returned to the Red Stick alliance and remained bitter enemies of the Americans for the rest of the war.
The complex was located near the junction of several important trading trails, notably the Oakfuskee Trail (Upper Creek Trading Path), the Weogulfga-Oakfuskee Trail, and the Cussetta Trading Path. After the 1814
Treaty of Fort Jackson
The Treaty of Fort Jackson (also known as the Treaty with the Creeks, 1814) was signed on August 9, 1814 at Fort Jackson near Wetumpka, Alabama following the defeat of the Red Stick (Upper Creek) resistance by United States allied forces at t ...
the United States and white settlers build or improved a number of roads crossing Creek lands. Roads that crossed the Hillabee area included the McIntosh Road (also called the Georgia Road), which connected
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 Muscogee (Creek), Creek Nation in Indian Territory before Oklahoma became a U.S. state, the town was first settled i ...
to
Talladega, the
Federal Road, which connected
Milledgeville, to
Mobile
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ( ...
, and was originally an Indian trail called the Three-Notch Road. Part of the Weogulfga-Oakfuskee Trail near Hillabee was widened and became known as the Chapman Road.
[East (2008), pp. 64–66]
See also
*
Tukabatchee
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.'' ...
References
External links
The Creek War in Alabama, An ABPP Case Study LAMAR Institute Publication Series Report Number 116, The LAMAR Institute, Inc., 2007.
Indian Villages and Forts of the Coosa-Tallapoosa River Region*
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Muscogee tribal towns
Tallapoosa County, Alabama
Clay County, Alabama
Native American history of Alabama
Former populated places in Alabama