Apalachicola Province facts for kids

The Apalachicola Province was a group of Native American towns. These towns were located along the lower part of the Chattahoochee River. This area is now in Alabama and Georgia. The Spanish gave it this name because they thought it was a single political group led by the town of Apalachicola.

Before the 1600s, most people in these towns likely spoke the Hitchiti language. Later, other towns where people spoke the Muscogee language moved into the area. At the end of the 1600s, all the Apalachicola towns moved to central Georgia. The English then called them "Ochese Creek Indians." After 1715, they moved back to the Chattahoochee River. The English then called them "Lower Creeks" or "Lower Towns of the Muscogee Confederacy." The Spanish still called them "Ochese."

Early History of the Apalachicola Towns

In the early 1600s, many towns were spread along 100 miles (160 km) of the Chattahoochee River. This was from south of Columbus to Barbour County, Alabama. Old tools and pottery show that the people living here in the 1600s had a culture that had grown in this area for hundreds of years. Some of their ancestors might have lived there as far back as 12,000 years ago.

Important centers like Kolomoki were part of their culture between 300 and 750 AD. Between 1300 and 1400, a special type of Lamar culture developed in these towns. It also had influences from the Fort Walton culture to the south. Because their culture stayed the same over time, it's thought that the towns along the Chattahoochee River spoke the Hitchiti language before Europeans arrived.

A powerful group, or chiefdom, from the South Appalachian Mississippian culture lived in the lower Chattahoochee River valley in the 1500s. Between 1550 and 1650, there were big changes in the types of pottery found. Also, the number of people in the area dropped a lot. The de Soto expedition in the 1540s did not go into the Chattahoochee Valley. However, the diseases they brought, like European and African diseases, caused many deaths.

Some experts believe only two main population centers survived in the late 1500s. These were south of Columbus, with large platform mounds used for ceremonies. While some towns stayed strong, others believe many new people moved into the Chattahoochee Valley. This changed the local culture. For example, some people from the Chattahoochee River may have moved south to Apalachee. Also, Muscogee people from the Coosa and Tallapoosa areas in Alabama might have moved in.

Stories from the Lower Towns of the Muscogee Confederacy support this idea. They say that Muscogee-speaking newcomers joined the Hitchiti-speaking people already living there. By the late 1600s, the Chattahoochee River area had towns speaking both Hitchiti and Muscogee. Speakers of the Koasati language, Apalachee people, and people called Chisca or Yuchi also settled in these towns.

The old Mississippian culture did not completely disappear after de Soto's visit. The Apalachicola Province had the "shape" of a chiefdom, but each town was mostly independent. Some historians even called it the "Apalachicola Confederacy" in 1679.

Spanish Encounters

The Spanish first met the towns on the Chattahoochee River in 1638. This was five years after they set up missions in Apalachee Province. The Spanish called this group of towns "Apalachicola Province." They named it after the town of Apalachicola, which they thought was the most powerful.

The Apalachicolas started asking for Spanish priests (friars) in the 1640s. Regular trade between the Spanish in Apalachee Province and the Apalachicola towns began in the 1650s. By the 1670s, deer skins from the Apalachicola area were being sent to Havana, Cuba.

In the 1670s, the Spanish heard that new groups were moving into Apalachicola Province. Around the same time, an English adventurer named Henry Woodward heard about the "Cowatoe." This was the first time Coweta was mentioned by Europeans. Coweta later claimed to be the oldest and strongest town on the Chattahoochee. However, it had only moved there in the 1660s or 1670s. It joined a province that already had at least eight Hitchiti-speaking towns.

The Spanish first thought that power was held in the southern part of the province. They saw Apalachicola as the most important town. Sabacola, at the southern end, also had a lot of influence because it was closest to the Spanish in Apalachee Province. The chief of Sabacola may have become Christian. At one point, the Spanish recognized him as the "grand cacique" (chief) of Apalachicola Province.

The number and names of towns on the Chattahoochee River changed in different Spanish reports. Two lists, from 1675 and 1685–1686, show many similarities and some differences.

Some towns on the Chattahoochee River might have moved there from other places. For example, Alapi might have come from a town east of Cofitachequi. Ocuti might have been linked to the Ocute chiefdom on the Oconee River. Casista (Kasihta) was on the Coosa River when de Soto visited.

Missionaries and Soldiers

The Apalachicolas had asked the Spanish for missionaries, but their requests were not met. When Henry Woodward visited Coweta in the late 1670s, the Spanish became worried. They started trying to get the Apalachicolas to move closer to Spanish missions.

In 1674, part of the town of Sabacola moved south. They built a new town called Sabacola el Menor. A mission was set up there. But fearing attacks from the Chisca people, the residents moved back north around 1677.

Sabacola el Grande was on the Chattahoochee River. Some of its people had become Christian and asked for missionaries. In late 1679, three missionaries were sent to Apalachicola Province. This was to counter the growing English influence. The Muscogee and Koasati-speaking towns were trading with the Westos, who were allies of the English.

The Christian people of Sabacola had not told the chief of Coweta about their request for missionaries. When the chief of Coweta heard the missionaries had arrived, he forced them to leave. In 1680, the English turned on the Westos, who had been their allies in slave raids, and killed most of them. The surviving Westos found safety at Coweta.

Now wary of the English, the chief of Coweta contacted the Spanish again. In 1680, the chief of Sabacola went to St. Augustine and invited the Spanish to send missionaries and soldiers. The governor of Spanish Florida, Juan Márquez Cabrera, sent missionaries back to Sabacola in 1681 with soldiers. Around the same time, some Apalachicolas killed Christian Apalachees. The Spanish sent more soldiers, and relations got worse. The missionaries baptized 36 people in Sabacola before being forced out again.

Cabrera thought the English were causing the hostility. Threats from Cabrera led the Christian people of Sabacola to move south. A mission called San Carlos de Sabacola was built there before 1686. This mission was last mentioned in Spanish records in 1690. This mission town might have included Chatot people from an earlier mission.

In the 1680s, the Spanish used "Uchise" to describe people living near Ochese Creek (now the Ocmulgee River). In 1691, after the Apalachicola towns moved to the Ochese Creek area, the Spanish called the attackers "Indians of Uchise, Yamasses, and Englishmen." This suggests that the people near Ochese Creek were related to the Hitchiti-speakers of Apalachicola Province. Many Apalachees who were unhappy with the Spanish also moved to the Apalachicola towns in the 1680s. A woman from a leading Apalachee family married Emperor Brim, the chief of Coweta.

English Encounters

In 1682, Henry Woodward and others from the Carolina colony started trading with Native Americans in what is now western South Carolina and Georgia. They reached the Chattahoochee River in 1685. The Spanish reacted quickly. Governor Juan Márquez Cabrera sent soldiers from St. Augustine. Antonio Matheos, a Spanish leader, went to Apalachicola Province to capture the English traders. The English and many Apalachicolas ran away. Matheos destroyed an English fort and went back.

The English quickly returned. In December, Matheos came back with orders to burn the towns if they didn't hand over the English traders. The traders and many Apalachicolas fled again. Matheos called the chiefs to meet him at Coweta. Eight chiefs attended and were forgiven. But the chiefs of Coweta, Kasihta, Tuskegee, and Koloni refused, so their towns were burned.

Tuskegee and Koloni quickly rebuilt and were friendly to the Spanish. Coweta and Kasihta did not return to their old sites. They became openly hostile to the Spanish and stopped trading with them.

English traders soon returned to the Chattahoochee. The Spanish sent three more groups to capture them but failed. In 1689, the Spanish built a fort near Coweta. They left 20 Spanish soldiers and 20 Apalachees there. In 1690, the towns of Coweta and Cusseta moved deeper into Georgia, closer to their English trading partners. Pirates threatened St. Augustine, so the soldiers left the fort on the Chattahoochee, destroying it as they went. Other towns also left for central Georgia. Spanish records say that Apalachicola Province was completely empty by spring 1692.

Life on Ochese Creek

Most of the towns from the Chattahoochee River moved to central Georgia. They settled near what the English called Ochese Creek, now known as the Ocmulgee River. This river flows into the Altamaha River. The town of Apalachicola settled on the lower Savannah River. The town of Oconee settled on another branch of the Altamaha, now called the Oconee River.

English reports in 1708 mentioned eleven towns in the Ochese Creek area. In 1715, there were ten towns with 600 to 730 fighting men. The total population was 2,406. Maps from around 1715 and 1725 show these towns. Many names matched towns that had been on the Chattahoochee River.

The Muscogee-speaking towns, like Coweta and Kasihta, were in the northern part of the group. Some Hitchiti-speaking towns, like Ocmulgee and Hitchiti, were in the southern part. Sabacola was near the northern group.

Other towns joined the Ochese Creek group between 1692 and 1715. These included Atasi and Gowalege from the Tallapoosa River, Chiaha from Tennessee or North Carolina, and a Westo town. Some experts believe the "Ewches" town on a 1715 map might be Yuchi, Hitchiti, or Uchisi people. These Uchisi might have been descendants of the Ichisi people, who de Soto met in the area 150 years earlier.

The Ochese Creek towns started a big trade relationship with the English in Carolina. Men spent more time hunting deer for hides and capturing other Native Americans to sell to the English. They became dependent on the English for guns and ammunition. They almost stopped using bows and arrows. Even though they used many European trade goods, their pottery still looked like what they made on the Chattahoochee.

Traditionally, the people of the Lamar culture built both winter and summer houses. A "winter house" was a round house with a sunken floor and a central fireplace. It had strong walls and was used for sleeping in winter. Summer houses were lighter and usually rectangular. Towns also had a large round building called a rotunda, or tcokofa, near the town square. This building could be used for meetings in cold weather.

As people became more involved in the deerskin trade in the early 1700s, adults spent much of the winter hunting deer in the woods. The large rotundas were big enough for children and older adults who stayed in town to sleep there. Within a few years, they stopped building separate winter houses.

Attacks on Spanish Missions

The Ochese Creek towns began attacking Spanish missions in 1691. Missions like San Juan de Guacara on the Suwannee River were attacked in August 1691. Many people from the Chacato missions, west of Apalachee Province, fled in fear. The mission of San Carlos de los Chacatos was attacked in fall 1694. Five Chacatos were killed, and 42 were taken captive to be sold to the English. This attack was done by men from Sabacola, Apalachicola, Coweta, and Tiquepache.

In return, 400 Apalachee men and seven Spaniards attacked these towns in central Georgia. They surprised one town, rescued eight Chacato captives, and captured 50 people from the town. The other three towns were empty and were burned.

Fighting calmed down for a few years after 1694. In winter 1698–1699, 24 men from Tuskegee went to Apalachee to trade. A group of 40 Chacatos, led by a Spaniard, found them sleeping and killed 16 of them. Still, relations between the Ochese Creek towns and Spanish Florida stayed mostly peaceful for a few more years.

In June 1702, 100 men from the Ochese Creek towns gathered at Achete (Hitchiti). They attacked and burned the Spanish mission of Santa Fe de Toloca on the Santa Fe River. In fall 1702, the Ochese Creek towns decided to go to war against the Apalachee. They attacked missions north of the Apalachee capital.

A force of 800 Apalachee men gathered to attack the Ochese Creek towns. They met over 400 warriors, mostly from Muscogee- and Hitchiti-speaking towns, near the Flint River. The Ochese Creek force was better armed and surprised the Apalachees in the Battle of Flint River. More than half of the Apalachees were killed or captured. Most of the 300 who escaped left their weapons behind.

The War of the Spanish Succession, also known as Queen Anne's War in North America, began in 1701. The English in Carolina attacked Spanish Florida in November 1702. Native American groups allied with the English kept attacking Spanish missions and other native peoples linked to the Spanish. In early 1704, James Moore, the governor of Carolina, led a large attack on Apalachee Province. The province offered little resistance after their defeat at the Flint River. A large part of the Apalachee population left with Moore's force.

Another force from the Ochese Creek towns attacked Apalachee Province in June 1704, destroying most of the remaining missions. The Spanish and remaining Apalachees then left the province. Spanish control in Florida was soon reduced to a few small settlements. In August and September 1705, forces from the Ochese Creek towns attacked these remaining Spanish areas. The Spanish governor estimated that 10,000 to 12,000 Christian natives had been captured and sold as slaves to the English. Only about 300 remained near St. Augustine. In 1705, the English formed an alliance with several Ochese Creek towns, including Coweta, Kasihta, Okmulgee, and Kealedji.

Later History

A count in 1708 described the Apalachicola on the Savannah River as the "Naleathuckles." They had 80 men living in a town about 20 miles up the river. A more accurate count in 1715 by John Barnwell showed the Savannah River Apalachicola living in two villages. They had 214 people: 64 men, 71 women, 42 boys, and 37 girls.

In the Yamasee War of 1715, the Apalachicola joined other Native American groups attacking South Carolina. After the war, the survivors returned to the Apalachicola River. They settled near where the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers meet. Some later moved north to live along the Chattahoochee River in what is now Russell County, Alabama.

Lower Towns of the Muscogee Confederacy

Experts now believe the Muscogee Confederacy (what the English called the Creek Confederacy) formed in the 1700s. The towns on the Chattahoochee River, which the Spanish called Apalachicola Province, formed a political group centered around Coweta. Similar groups existed on the Tallapoosa River (centered on Tuckabatchee) and the Middle Coosa River (centered on Abihka). These three groups joined to form the Confederacy. The towns of the old Apalachicola Province became known as the Lower Towns of the Muscogee Confederacy.

In 1717, leaders from the Muscogee Confederacy visited St. Augustine. The Spanish identified six main groups in the confederacy, including:

• Cauetta (Coweta) or Apalachicola, with 12 towns.
• Talapusas (on the Talapoosa River), with 26 towns.
• Chiscas, with 70 towns.
• Ayabanos (Alabama), with 29 towns.
• Apisca (Abihka), with 29 towns.
• Cuasatte (Coushatta), with 6 towns.

The Lower Towns of the Muscogee Confederacy in the mid-1700s were a mix of old Apalachicola people and other groups like Westo and Yuchi. Even with new groups joining, their material culture, especially pottery, stayed the same. In 1716, a Spanish explorer noted that some Alafay (from the Tampa Bay area), Timucua (from northern Florida), and Mocama (from coastal Florida and southern Georgia) people were living in the Chattahoochee River towns.

The town of Apalachicola moved to different spots along the Chattahoochee River in the 1700s. One known move happened in 1755. In the 1770s, William Bartram visited both Apalachicola and Apalachicola Old Town. Several old sites in Russell County, Alabama, might have been where the Apalachicola lived at different times.

Legacy

The Apalachicola River is named after this province. The Spanish considered the Chattahoochee River and the Apalachicola River as one long river. They called the whole river, from the Appalachian foothills to the Gulf of Mexico, the Apalachicola. Apalachicola Bay and the city of Apalachicola, Florida are also named after the river.

See also

In Spanish: Apalachicola para niños