Creeks

          During the early stages of the American history, the Creeks occupied the greater portion lof the Alabama and Georgia area.  Before that, in the 1700's, the Seminoles were apart of their tribe, so they were a much bigger and more dangerous tribe.  They both relied on the Coosa and Tallapoosa river.  Then, a century before their removal, which took place between 1836 and 1840, they split up.  The Seminoles then went to go occupy Spanish Florida.  They had control of at least 50 towns and spoke six different languages (viz, Muscogee, Hittite, Koasati, Yuchi, Natchez, and Shawnee).  Then, in 1813-1814, the Creeks launched their most famous revolt against the Americans.  General Andrew Jackson took part in this war.  Of course, the Indians lost.  According to accessgenealogy.com, about 60% of all the Creeks died in that rebel against General Andrew Jackson. 

             When Andrew Jackson unleashed the Indian Removal Act on May 28, 1830, the Creeks and their Negro slaves were all forced to move westward.  There was reserved land for the removed Indians called Indian territory.  If you are wondering why the "T" in "territory" isn't capatilized, well there is a reason for that.  It is like that because the area reserved for the Native Americans was considered as an unorganized peice of land set aside for Indians.  This area was located in the heart of the present-day Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona region.  The Indians were set aside there until a Creek leader called Opothle Yohola proposed an agreement towards Andrew Jackson and the government of Alabama, where their native land was located.  On March 24, 1832, the Treaty of Cusseta was signed.  However, four years later, problems started up again about how much land the Creeks were allowed to occupy in Alabama.  So, the Creek War of 1836 broke out.  The violence had nothing o do with the Indian Removal Act of 1830. 

Creek Map
http://search.live.com/images/results.aspx?q=chickasaw%20removal&FORM=BIRE#focal=9e665f60ee940d4dc58998a6d0790a11&furl=http%3A%2F%2Fnationalhumanitiescenter.org%2Ftserve%2Fnattrans%2Fntecoindian%2Fimages%2Firchickasawregion.jpg

Seminoles

          In the early days of its existence, the United States government carried out a policy of displacement and extermination against the American Indians in the eastern US, removing them from the path of "white" settlement.  Until 1821, Florida remained under the control of the government of Spain but the US Territories of Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana was the surrounding states.  It was clear that the US wanted the Spaniards out of Florida and was willing to consider any means, including warfare, to acquire the rich land.  And speaking of warfare, Andrew Jackson was ordered to attack the Seminoles and drive them out of Spanish Florida.  The Seminoles lost and as it turned out, Spain could no longer afford to support Florida.  So they handed Florida and their part of the Oregon Territory.  They passed up on the other part of the deal, which was to let the United States patrol Spanish Florida.  Spain didn't want any part of that.

         On May 28, 1830, Andrew Jackson, the President fo the United States of America, put the Indian Removal Act into play.  So, all of the remianing Seminoles, Creeks, and other tribes remaining in east coast were forced brutaly out of their homes and onto their way towards the west.  Right around much of present-day Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona.  This was called the Indian territory.  But hereis something more interesting: Did you know that the removal of the Seminole tribe in Spanish FLorida began a good twenty years before the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was even passed?  Yeah, and Andrew Jackson had nothing to do with them, either.  One war that Andrew Jackson might have caused was the Second Seminole War, with the first one taking place during 1817-1818.  On December 28, 1835, Seminoles launched an uprise against Florida.  The main idea of this was to let the United States know that the Seminole tribe was a force to be reckoned with.  This attack was so suprising, only two American soldiers made it bcak to a base in Florida.  The after math of this whole war costs around fourty million dollars and fourty thousand U.S. troops.  But a victory nonetheless. 

          (The picture above is a map of the Spanish Florida and where the Seminoles lived before the Indian Removal Act of 1830.  It is from the website http://www.sonofthesouth.net/american-indians/seminole.htm.)

 


Seminole Map

http://search.live.com/images/results.aspx?q=chickasaw%20removal&FORM=BIRE#focal=9e665f60ee940d4dc58998a6d0790a11&furl=http%3A%2F%2Fnationalhumanitiescenter.org%2Ftserve%2Fnattrans%2Fntecoindian%2Fimages%2Firchickasawregion.jpg