The Hitchiti ( ) were a historic indigenous
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...
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
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 ...
, in western present-day
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 natives possessed a narrow strip of good land bordering on the river. The Hitchiti had a reputation of being honest and industrious.
Their autonym was possibly ''Atcik-hata'', while the
Coushatta
The Coushatta ( cku, Koasati, Kowassaati or Kowassa:ti) are a Muskogean-speaking Native American people now living primarily in the U.S. states of Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.
When first encountered by Europeans, they lived in the terri ...
knew them as the ''At-pasha-shliha'', "mean people". Under pressure from European Americans, the Hitchiti moved into Florida. While some survived there, others signed a treaty for their land in exchange for lands in
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
, and were forced west.
English "Hitchiti" was Spanish "Achito".
Location
![USA Südosten-Hitchiti](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/USA_S%C3%BCdosten-Hitchiti.png)
The Hitchiti are often associated with an area in present-day
Chattahoochee County. But at an earlier period, they occupied land on the lower course of 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. . Early English maps show their town on the site where present-day
Macon, Georgia later developed.
After 1715 they moved to
Henry County, Alabama
Henry County is a county in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, its population was 17,146. Its county seat is Abbeville. The county was named for Patrick Henry (1736–1799), famous orator and Governor of ...
, en route to their most well-known location of Chattahoochee County. By 1839, under
Indian Removal, nearly all Hitchiti had been relocated to Native American reservations in
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
(admitted as the state of Oklahoma in 1907.) There they gradually merged with the Muscogee/Creek and other tribes of the Creek Confederacy.
Some of their villages were Hihnje, location unknown; Hitchitoochee, on 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 ...
below its junction with
Kinchafoonee Creek Kinchafoonee Creek ( ) is a creek in southwest Georgia. It originates near Buena Vista and flows southeasterly for to the Flint River near Albany, Georgia.
Its name comes from the Creek word for "mortar nutshells", which refers to a type of nu ...
; and Tuttallosee, on a creek of the same name, 20 miles west from Hitchitoochee.
Around 1800, Hitchiti was located on the east bank of the Chattahoochee River. Satellite settlements (''talofas'') of Hitchiti included Cheauhooche, near Hitchiti on Ihagi Creek west of the Chattahoochee River, Hitcheetoochee (Little Hitchiti), located on 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 ...
, and Tuttallosee (
Fowltown), located on the headwaters of Tuttalloseehatchee (Fowltown Creek). Tuttallosee, with a population of about 50 circa 1800, had recently built its own square ground, possibly indicating that it becoming a tribal town separate from Hitchiti.
Population
The population of the Hitchiti is not known with precision because it was usually recorded with those of the other confederate tribes. Only the number of males was usually recorded. In 1738 there were 60 males in the tribe; in 1750 only 15; 50 in 1760; 40 in 1761; and 90 in 1772. Sixty years later in 1832 the entire population, males and females, was estimated at 381.
History
Hitchiti lived in the region that became Georgia for hundreds of years prior to the arrival of Europeans. They were not nomadic and occupied most of southern Georgia. The Hitchiti were part of the Creek Confederacy, which occupied almost two-thirds of the current state of Georgia.
Hitchiti-speaking people lived along the Chattahoochee River since at least the early 17th century, and possibly long before then. They were joined by Muscogee-speaking people during the middle part of the 17th century. Late in the 17th century all of the towns on the Chattahoochee River moved to central Georgia, primarily to what is now called the Ocmugee River. After the Yemassee War in 1715, almost all of the towns moved back to the Chattahoochee River.
Archaeological site 9Sw50 in Georgia is named "Hitchiti". It is "an extensive village midden" on the east side of the Chattahoochee near the mouth of Hitchitee Creek, which has been identified as the site of Hitchiti in the 18th century, site 9Ce59 is a possible satellite settlement across Hitchitee Creek from the main Hitchiti site.
Many Native American relics have been found in
Jones County. The western boundary of the county is the Ocmulgee River, one of the favored places of the Hitchiti tribe. Arrowheads may still be found there, and numerous Indian trails are visible (and usable) in the area.
In 1685 the Spanish found Achito (Hitchiti) in Apalachicola Province on the Chattahoochee River, between the town of Apalachicola to the south and Ocute to the north, with Osuchi next to the north.
The tribe is not often mentioned in historical records. It was first recorded in 1733, when two of its delegates were noted as accompanying the
Lower Creek
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[James Oglethorpe
James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) was a British soldier, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist, as well as the founder of the colony of Georgia in what was then British America. As a social reformer, he hoped to r ...]
at
Savannah.
When U.S. Indian agent
Benjamin Hawkins
Benjamin Hawkins (August 15, 1754June 6, 1816) was an American planter, statesman and a U.S. Indian agent He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a United States Senator from North Carolina, having grown up among the planter elite ...
visited the Hitchiti in 1799, he found "Hitchetee" on the Chattahoochee River between Paláchoocle (Apalachicola) to the south and Ceauhau (Chiahah) to the north with Oseoochee just to the north of it. Hawkins recorded that they had spread out into two branch settlements. The Hitchitudshi, or Little Hitchiti, lived on both sides of Flint River below the junction of Kinchafoonee Creek, which passes through a county once named after it. The Tutalosi lived on a branch of Kinchafoonee Creek, 20 miles west of the Hitchitudshi.
The language appears to have been used beyond the territorial limits of the tribe: it was spoken in Native American villages on the
Chattahoochee River, such as
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 ...
, Chiahudshi, Hitchiti, Oconee, Sawokli, Sawokliudshi, and
Apalachicola, and in those on the Flint River, and also by the
Miccosukee
The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida is a federally recognized Native American tribe in the U.S. state of Florida. They were part of the Seminole nation until the mid-20th century, when they organized as an independent tribe, receiving f ...
tribe of Florida. Traceable by local names in Hitchiti, the language was used by peoples over considerable portions of Georgia and Florida. Like
Creek, this language has an archaic form called "women's talk," or female language.
Scholars believe that the
Yamasee
The Yamasees (also spelled Yamassees or Yemassees) were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans who lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida. The Yamas ...
also spoke Hitchiti, but the evidence is not conclusive. Other evidence points toward their speaking a different language, perhaps one related to
Guale
Guale was a historic Native American chiefdom of Mississippian culture peoples located along the coast of present-day Georgia and the Sea Islands. Spanish Florida established its Roman Catholic missionary system in the chiefdom in the late 16t ...
.
The Hitchiti were absorbed into and became an integral part of the
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 ...
, though preserving to a large extent their own language and customs. Similarly, those Mikasuki speakers who joined the Lower Creek migrations to Florida maintained their culture.
For years the Miccosukee were considered to be part of the
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...
, which formed a new society from remnant peoples in Florida. In the 20th century, they gained independent state recognition in 1957, and federal recognition in 1962 as the
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida
The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida is a federally recognized Native American tribe in the U.S. state of Florida. They were part of the Seminole nation until the mid-20th century, when they organized as an independent tribe, receiving fed ...
.
Some sources list Hitchiti as an extant language in the 1990s.
The Native Americans of Georgia were officially removed from the state and forcibly resettled in Oklahoma by 1839. Few remained in the state of Georgia.
Remnants of the Hitchiti culture have been found all over the state of Georgia. A collection of Hitchiti artifacts was found in one location at one of their former villages. The collection includes a large copper disc which center is surrounded by
Guntersville points, a variety of trade beads that indicate a deep involvement in fur trade with the English, two ear plugs, five worked silver circles typical of the silver work of the Seminole, a stone pendant, and a highly polished flaking tool.
References
Sources
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External links
Battle of Hitchityhistorical marker
{{authority control
Muskogean tribes
Native American tribes in Alabama
Extinct languages of North America
Native American tribes in Georgia (U.S. state)
People from Chattahoochee County, Georgia