USA > Alabama > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 1
USA > Georgia > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 1
USA > Mississippi > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 1
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Gc 976.1 P58h1 v.1 1753035
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAC GENEALOGY COLLECTION
{ GC
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02342 439 0
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyofalabama01pick_0
HISTORY
OF
-
ALABAMA, ١ AND INCIDENTALLY OF
GEORGIA AND MISSISSIPPI,
FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD.
BY 1
ALBERT JAMES PICKETT Of Montgomery.
. LUMES, V.I
SECOND EDITION.
CHARLESTON : WALKER AND JAMES, 1851.
: 657
1753035
HISTORY OF ALABAMA. ·VOL. I.
INDIANS EMPLOYED IN PLANTING CORN.
Drawn from life by Jacob le Moyne, in 1564.
2
DEDICATION.
As a token of my sincere esteem, and of the high respeet I feel for their talents and character, as well as in consideration of the deep interest which they have taken in my literary'enterprises,
I DEDICATE THESE VOLUMES TO
BENJAMIN FITZPATRICK, JOHN ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, ARTHUR FRANCES HOPKINS, THOMAS JAMES JUDGE, WILLIAM LOWNDES YANCEY, EDMUND STROTHER DARGAN, FRANCIS BUGBEE, THADDEUS SANFORD, WILLIAM PARISH CHILTON, BURWELL BOYKIN, JOSHUA LANIER MARTIN, ALEXANDER BOWIE, BASIL MANLY, SILAS PARSONS, NICHOLAS DAVIS AND CLEMENT C. CLAY, JR., Of Alabama;
GEORGE M. TROUP AND JOHN M. BERRIEN, Of Georgia; JOHN H. F. CLAIBORNE AND JOHN W. MONETTE, Of 'Mississippi;
LESLIE A. THOMPSON AND WALKER ANDERSON, Of Florida;
CHARLES GAYARRE AND SAMUEL F. WILSON, Of Lonisiana;
DANIEL GRAHAM, Of Tennessee;
ARTHUR P. HAYNE, FRANCIS W. PICKENS, JAMES H. HAMMOND, W. GILMORE SIMMS, RICHARD YEADON, MITCHELL KING AND HENRY W. CONNER, Of South . Carolina.
A. J. PICKETT.
-
PREFACE.
IN submitting my first book to the public, I re- frain from making apologies in its behalf, and shall only briefly allude to my labors, in order to show how strenuously I have endeavored to ensure its authenticity. I have sought materials for a correct history of my country, wherever they were to be procured, whether in Europe or Ame- rica, and without regard to cost or trouble. All the Atlantic States have Historical Societies, and books and manuscripts relating to those States have been collected. In addition to this, agents have been sent to Europe, by different Legislatures, who have transcribed the colonial records which relate to their history. I have had none of these aids. I have been compelled to hunt up and buy books and manuscripts connected with the history of Alabama, and to col- lect oral information, in all directions. I rejoice, however, to know that a Historical Society has
A
viii
PREFACE.
recently been formed at Tuscaloosa, by some lite- rary gentlemen ; and it gives me pleasure to reflect that the authors who may appear after my day, will not be subjected to the labor which it has been my lot to undergo. Believing that the historian ought to be the most conscientious of men, writing, as he does, not only for the present age, but for posterity, I have endeavored to divest myself of all prejudices, and to speak the truth in all cases. If it should be found, by the most scrutinizing reader, that any of my statements are incorrect, let me say in advance, that when I penned those statements I believed them to be true. So anxious have I been to record each incident as it really occurred, that upon several oc- casions I have travelled over four hundred miles, to learn merely a few facts.
About four years since, feeling impressed with the fact that it is the duty of every man to make him- self, in some way, useful to his race, I looked around in search of some object, in the pursuit of which I could benefit my fellow-citizens; for, although much interested in agriculture, that did not occupy one- fourth of my time. Having no taste for politics, and never having studied a profession, I determined to write a History. I thought it would serve to amuse my leisure hours; but it has been the hardest work of my life. While exhausted by
ix
PREFACE.
the labor of reconciling the statements of old au- thors, toiling over old French and Spanish manu- scripts. travelling through Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, for information, and corresponding with persons in Europe and elsewhere, for facts, I have sometimes almost resolved to abandon the attempt to prepare a History of my State.
In reference to that portion of the work which relates to the Indians, I will state, that my father re- moved from Anson county, North-Carolina, and car- ried me to the wilds of the " Alabama Territory," in 1818, when I was a boy but eight years of age. He established a trading house, in connection with his plantation, in the present county of Autauga. During my youthful days, I was accustomed to be much with the Creek Indians-hundreds of whom came almost daily to the trading house. For twenty years I fre- quently visited the Creek nation. Their green corn dances, ball plays, war ceremonies, and manners and customs, are all fresh in my recollection. In my inter- course with them, I was thrown into the company of many old white men, called "Indian countrymen," who had for years conducted a commerce with them. Some of these men had come to the Creek nation be- fore the revolutionary war, and others, being tories, had fled to it during the war, and after it, to escape from whig persecution. They were unquestionably
X
PREFACE.
the shrewdest and most interesting men with whom I ever conversed. Generally of Scotch decent, many of them were men of some education. All of them were married to Indian wives, and some of them had intelligent and handsome children. From these Indian countrymen I learned much concerning the manners and customs of the Crecks, with whom they had been so long associated, and more particularly with regard to the commerce which they carried on with them. In addition to this, I often con- versed with the Chiefs while they were seated in the shades of the spreading mulberry and walnut, upon the barks of the beautiful Tallapoosa. As they leisurely smoked their pipes, some of them re- lated to me the traditions of their country. I occa- sionally saw Choctaw and Cherokee traders, and learned much from them. I had no particular ob- ject in view, at that time, except the gratification of a curiosity, which led me, for my own satisfaction alone, to learn something of the early history of Alabama.
In relation to the invasion of Alabama by De Soto, which is related in the first chapter of this work, I have derived much information in regard to the route of that earliest discoverer, from statements of General McGillivray, a Creek of mixed blood, who ruled this country, with eminent ability, from
-----
xi
PREFACE.
1776 to 1793. I have perused the manuscript his- tory of the Creeks, by Stiggins, a half-breed, who also received some particulars of the route of De Soto, during his boyhood, from the lips of the oldest Indians. My library contains many old Spanish and French maps, with the towns through which De Soto passed, correctly laid down. The sites of many of these are familiar to the present population. Besides all these, I have procured, from England and France, three journals of De Soto's expedition.
One of these journals was written by a cavalier of the expedition, who was a native of Elvas, in Portugal. He finished his narrative on the 10th February, 1557, in the city of Evora, and it was printed in the house of Andrew de Burgos, printer and gentleman of the Lord Cardinal, and the Infanta. It was translated into English, by Richard Hakluyt, in 1609, and is to be found in the supplementary volume of his voyages and discoveries ; London : 1812. It is also published at length in the Histori- cal Collections of Peter Force, of Washington city.
Another journal of the expedition was written by the Inca Garcellasso de la Vega, a Peruvian by birth, and a native of the city of Cuzco. His father was a Spaniard of noble blood, and his mother the sister of Capac, one of the Indian sovereigns of Peru. Garcellasso was a distinguished writer of
-
xii
PREFACE.
that age. He had heard of the remarkable invasion of Florida by De Soto, and he applied himself dili- gently to obtain the facts. He found out an intelli- gent cavalier of that expedition, with whom he had minute conversations of all the particulars of it. In addition to this, journals were placed in his hands, written in the camp of De Soto-one by Alonzo de Carmona, a native of the town of Priego, and the other, by Juan Coles, a native of Zafra. Garcellasso published his work, at an early period, in Spanish. It has been translated into French, but never into English. The copy in our hands is entitled " His- toire de la Conquete de la Floride ou relation, de ce qui s'est passé dans la découverte de ce pais, par Ferdinand De Soto, Composée en Espagnol, par L' Inca Garcellasso de la Vega, et traduite en Fran- çois, par Sr. Pierre Richelet, en deux tomes ; A Leide : 1731."
I have still another journal, and the last one, of the expedition of De Soto. It was written by Bied- ma, who accompanied De Soto, as his commissary. The journal is entitled " Relation de ce qui arriva pendant le voyage du Captaine Soto, et details sur la nature du pas qu'il parcourut ; par Luis Her- nandez de Biedma," contained in a volume entitled " Recuil de Pieces sur la Floride," one of a series of "Voyages et memoires originaux pour servir a la
xiii
PREFACE.
L'Histoire de la decouverte de L'Amerique publies pour la premier fois en Francois ; par H. Ternaux- Compans. Paris : 1811."
In Biedma there is an interesting letter written by De Soto, while he was at Tampa Bay, in Florida, which was addressed to some town authorities in Cuba. The journal of Biedma is much less in detail than those of the Portuguese Gentleman and Gar- cellasso, but agrees with them in the relation of the most important occurrences.
Our own accomplished writer, and earliest pio- neer in Alabama history-Alexander B. Meek, of Mobile-has furnished a condensed, but well written and graphic account of De Soto's expe- dition, contained in a monthly magazine, entitled "The Southron," Tuscaloosa, 1839. He is correct as to the direction assumed by the Spaniards, over our soil, as well as to the character of that extraor- dinary conquest.
Theodore Irving, M.A., of New-York, has recently issued a revised edition of his Conquest of Florida. Its style is easy and flowing, when the author jour- nalizes in regard to marches through the country, and is exceedingly graphic, when he gives us a de- scription of De Soto's battles. As I have closely examined the sources from which Mr. Irving has collated his work, I am prepared to state that he has
xiv
PREFACE.
related all things as they are said to have occurred. For the complimentary terms which Mr. Irving has employed in the preface, and also in many of the notes of his late edition, in relation to my humble efforts in endeavoring to throw new light upon the expedition of De Soto, I beg him to accept my pro- found acknowledgments.
There are many gentlemen of talents and distinc- tion, who have unselfishly, nobly and generously in- terested themselves in my behalf, while engaged in the arduous labors which are now brought to a close. I will name John A. Campbell and George N. Stewart, of Mobile; Alfred Hennen and J. D. B. DeBow, of New-Orleans; the Rev. Francis Hawks, of New York; William H. Prescott and Jared Sparks, of Massachusetts ; the Rev. William Bacon Stevens, of Philadelphia ; W. Gilmore Simms, of South-Carolina; and particularly, John HI. F. Claiborne, of Mississippi, who placed in my hands the manuscript papers of his father, Gen. F. L. Claiborne, who commanded the southern wing of the army. during the Creek war of 1813 and 1814. The son has requested me to present the manuscript papers of his father, as a contribu- tion from him, to the Historical Society of Ala- bama. I shall comply with his request upon the first suitable occasion. There are many other per-
XV
PREFACE.
sons who have manifested an interest in my behalf, to enumerate all of whom, would be extending this preface to an unreasonable length. While I omit the mention of their names, I shall ever cherish the memory of their attentions with the most grateful recollections.
THE AUTHOR. May, 1851.
XVI - Xvii
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
CHAPTER I.
Page. Expedition of De Soto through Florida, Georgia, Alabama and
Mississippi, A. D. 1539, 1540 and 1541, 1
CHAPTER II.
PART I.
Aborigines of Alabama and the surrounding States -- A. D. 1540,
1564, 54
PART II.
The Modern Indians of Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi-be-
giuning with the Creeks or Muscogees, 74
PART III.
·
The. Mobilians, Chatots, Thomez and Tensaws, 128
PART IV.
The Choctaws and Chickasaws, - 134
PART V.
The Cherokees,
154
.
xviii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
Page.
Ancient Mounds and Fortifications in Alabama, 164
CHAPTER IV.
The French in Alabama and Mississippi, -
180
CHAPTER V.
Alabama and Mississippi granted by the King of France to the rich Parisian Merchant, Crozat, 207
CHAPTER VI.
Alabama and Mississippi surrendered by Crozat to the King of France, who grants them to the French India or Mississippi Company, 240
CHAPTER VII.
Terrible Massacre of the French at Natchez, - 274
CHAPTER VIII.
The Colonization of Georgia by the English,
304
CHAPTER IX.
French Jesuit Priests or Missionaries of Alabama and Mississippi, 317
CONTENTS.
xix .
CHAPTER X.
Page.
The French Battles upon the Tombigby, 328
.
CHAPTER XI.
Thenville leaves the Colony-His Character, 354
CHAPTER XII.
Horrible Death of Beaudrot and the Swiss Soldiers, -
360
CHAPTER XIII.
Bossa's Visit to the French Forts upon the Alabama and Tom-
bighy Rivers, 366
HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
CHAPTER I.
DE SOTO IN ALABAMA, GEORGIA AND MISSISSIPPI.
THE first discovery of Alabama was by Hernando De Soto, CHAPTER a native of Spain, and the son of a squire of Xerez of Badajos. I. When a youth he went to Peru, enlisted under Pizarro, and, with no property but his sword, won distinguished military reputation. Returning to his native country, and making an imposing appearance at Court, he was made Governor of Cuba, and Adelantado of Florida. In the unknown regions of the latter, he resolved to embark his vast wealth in a splendid expedition, designed to conquer a people whom he 1. hevert to possess more gold than he had yet beheld in South America. Young men of the best blood in Spain and Portugal, sold their houses and their vineyards and flocked to hi, standard. Soon he was surrounded by an army of six 153 April hundred chosen men, with whom he put to sea, over the bar
1
1
2
DE SOTO IN ALABAMA,
CHAPTER of San Lacar de Barremeda. Arriving at Cuba, he consumed I. a year in arranging the affairs of his government, and in pre- paration for the great enterprise before him .* At the end of that period, he left his wife, Dona Isabel de Bobadilla, and 1539 May 12 the Lieutenant Governor in charge of the Island, and sailed for the coast of Florida, with a fleet of nine vessels-five large ships, together with caravals and brigantines.
May 30
A prosperous voyage soon enabled De Soto to pitch his camp upon the shores of Tampa Bay, in Florida, with an army now increased to one thousand men. Sending out detachments to capture Indians, from whom he expected to learn something of the country, he found them skilful with the bow and too wily to be easily taken. In one of these sallies, the soldiers under Baltasar de Gallegos charged upon a small number of Indians. At that moment a voice cried out, "I am a christian ! I am a christian !- slay me not." Instantly Alvaro Nieto, a stout trooper, drew back his lance, and lifting the unknown man up behind him, pranced off to join his comrades.
15:28
Pantilo de Narvaez had attempted to overrun this coun- try with a large expedition; but after disastrous wander- ings, he reached Apalache without finding any gold,-and from thenee went to the site of the present St. Marks, where his famished troops embarked for Cuba, in rude and hastily constructed boats, which were soon swallowed by
* Portuguese Narrative, pp. 695-700. Garceilasso de la Vega, pp. 59-60.
3
GEORGIA AND MISSISSIPPI.
the waves .* Jean Ortiz, the person taken prisoner, and who CHAPTER now, in all respects, resembled a savage, was a native of the I. town of Seville, in Spain. When a youth, he came to this coast with some others in search of Narvaez, and was captured by the Indians, who were about to burn him to death, when he was fortunately saved through the entreaties of the beautiful daughter of Uceta, the Chief. In the earlier periods of his slavery he was treated with barbarity, and compelled to guard, night and day, a lonely temple, in which the dead were depos- ited. After having been twelve years a prisoner among these savages, he was joyfully hastening to the camp of De Soto, when the Castilian words, which he so imploringly uttered, arrested the terrible lance of Alvaro Nieto.t
Gratified at the appearance of Jean Ortiz, who became his interpreter, De Soto gave him clothes and arms, and placed him upon a good charger. The Adelantado was now ready to penetrate the interior. His troops were provided with hel- mets, breastplates, shields, and coats of steel to repel the arrows of the Indians ; and with swords, Biscayan lances, rude guns called arquebuses, cross-bows, and one piece of artillery. His
* A history of the expedition of Narvaez will be found in Barcia, vol. 1, folio edition, Madrid, 1749, entitled " Navfragios de Alvar Nuñez Cabzea de Vaca y Relacion de la jornada que hizo a la Florida, con cl Adelantado Panfilo de Narvaez." See, also, Herrera's History of America, vol. 4, pp. 27-38, vol. 5, pp. 91-105. London: 1740.
t Portuguese Narrative, pp. 702-704. Garcella-so, pp. 15-64.
1539 June
4
DE SOTO IN ALABAMA,
CHAPTER cavaliers, mounted upon two hundred and thirteen horses,
I. were the most gallant and graceful men of all Spain. Grey- hounds, of almost the fleetness of the winds, were ready to be turned loose upon the retreating savages ; and bloodhounds, of prodigious size and noted ferocity, were at hand, to devour them, if the bloody Spaniards deemed it necessary. To se- cure the unhappy Indian, handcuffs, chains and neck collars abounded in the camp. Workmen of every trade, with their various tools, and men of science, with their philosophical instruments and crucibles for refining gold, were in attendance. Tons of iron and steel, and much other metal, various mer- chandize, and provisions to last two years, were provided by the munificence of the commander and his followers. A large drove of hogs, which strangely multiplied upon the route, together with cattle and mules, was also attached to the expedition. The establishment of the Catholic religion ap- pears to have been one of the objects; for, associated with the army, were twelve priests, eight clergymen of inferior rank, and four monks, with their robes, holy relics, and sacra- mental bread and wine. Most of them were relatives of the superior officers. Never was an expedition more complete, owing to the experience of De Soto, who, upon the plains of Peru, had ridden down hundreds in his powerful charges, and had poured out streams of savage blood with his broad and sweeping sword ! It is not within our scope to detail the bloody engagements which attended the wanderings of this daring son of Spain, upon the territory of the now State of
1539
Jane
5
GEORGIA AND MISSISSIPPI.
Florida. Every where, but especially in narrow defiles, the CHAPTER natives showered clouds of arrows upon the invaders. Strong I. in numbers, and made revengeful by the cruelties inflicted by Narvaez, they had determined to fight De Soto until his army was destroyed or driven from their soil. No where in Florida did he find peace. His gallant troops, however, were success- ful. The Indians, often put to flight, and as often captured, were laden with chains, while the ponderous baggage of the expedition was unfeelingly thrown upon their backs for trans- portation. When in camp, they were made to pound corn, and to perform the most laborious and servile drudgery.
Cutting his way from Tampa, De Soto arrived at Anaica Apalache. in the neighborhood of the modern Tallahassee. Then, as it is yet, a fertile region, he drew from this town, and from others which surrounded it, breadstuffs to last him during the winter. The sea, only thirty miles distant, was explored by a detachment, and at the present St. Marks the bones of horses, hewn timbers, and other evidences of Narvaez, were discovered. During the winter all the detachments, in their various expeditions, were attacked by the Indians, and the main camp at Apalache was harrassed, day and night, in the fiercest manner, and with the most sanguinary results. At length Captain Maldinado, who had been ordered to sail to the west in some brigantines, which arrived from Tampa Bay, in search of a good harbor, returned in February, and reported the discovery of the bay of Ochus, since called Pensacola, which had a spacious channel, and was protected from the winds on
1539 October 27
1540 February
1*
1
6
DE SOTO IN ALABAMA,
CHAPTER all sides .* Delighted at this good news, which enabled the I. Governor to make a wide circuit in the interior, he now or- dered Maldinado to put to sea in the brigantines which then lay in the Apalache Bay, and to sail for Cuba. He was com- manded to sail from thence to Ochus with a fleet of provisions, clothes, and military supplies, with which to recruit the expe- dition, when it should have met him at that point in October.t
1540 March 3
Learning from an Indian slave that a country to the north- east abounded in gold, De Soto broke up his winter encamp- ment, and set out in that direction. He entered the territory of the present Georgia at its south-western border, and succes- sively crossing the Ockmulgee, Oconee and Ogechee,} finally rested upon the banks of the Savannah, immediately opposite the modern Silver Bluff. On the eastern side was the town of Cutifachiqui,S where lived an Indian Queen, young, beau-
* The Portuguese Narrative asserts that Maldinado was sent to the west, at the head of a detachment, by land ; but I adopt the more rea- sonable statement of Garcellasso, especially as he is sustained by Biedma, De Soto's commissary. See "Relation de ce qui arriva pendant le voyage du Captaine Soto par Luis Hernandez de Biedina," p. 59.
t Portuguese Narrative, p. 709. Garcellasso, pp. 211-214.
# Biedma states that De Soto crossed a river (while in this part of the country) called the Altapaha. The substitution of only one letter would make it the Altamaha. p. 62.
§ All Indian tradition locates this town at the modern Silver Bluff, which is situated on the east bank of the Savannah, in Barnwell
7
GEORGIA AND MISSISSIPPI.
tiful and unmarried, and who ruled the country around to a CHAPTER vast extent. She glided across the river in a magnificent I. canoe, with many attendants, and, after an interesting inter- view with De Soto, in which they exchanged presents, and passed many agreeable compliments, she invited him and his numerous followers over to her town. The next day the 1540 April expedition crossed the Savannah upon log rafts and in canoes, and quartered in the wigwams and under the spreading shades of the mulberry. Many interesting things occurred at this place, which are mentioned at length by both of the journalists of De Soto, particularly by Garcellasso, but which are here reluctantly omitted in our anxiety to reach the bor- ders of Alabama.
District, South-Carolina, and which is now the property of Governor Hanmond. .
In 1736, George Golphin, then a young Irishman, established himself as an Indian trader at this point, and gave the old site of Cutifachiqui the name of Silver Bluff. The most ancient Indians informed him that this was the place where De Soto found the Indian Princess ; and this tradition agrees with that preserved by other old traders, and handed down to me. Golphin became a very wealthy man, and was for many years one of the most influential persons in Georgia and South-Carolina, as we will see hereafter. He left many descendants ; among others, the wife of the late Governor Millege, was his daughter ; Dr. Thomas G. Holmes, an intelligent man, of Baldwin county, Alabama, is his grand-on.
Bartram, in his " Travels," page 313, speaking of Silver Bluff, says: " The Spaniards formerly fixed themselves at this place in the hopes of finding silver."
8
DE SOTO IN ALABAMA,
CHAPTER After a halt of several weeks at Cutifachiqui, De Soto I. broke up his camp, and, in company with the beautiful young Queen, whom he retained about his person as a hostage, to 1540 May 3 ensure obedience among her subjects, and who did not escape from him until the army had nearly accomplished its route through northern Georgia,-marched up the Savannah to its head waters, and rested, for a short time, at a town in the present Habersham county, Georgia. From this place the expedition assumed a direct western course, across northern Georgia, until they struck the head waters of the Coosa river, where they advanced upon the town of Guaxule, containing three hundred houses, and situated between several streams which had their sourees in the surrounding mountains. The Chief met De Soto with five hundred warriors clothed in light costume, after the fashion of the country, and conducted him to his own house,-surrendered at the instance of his wife,-which stood upon a mound, and was surrounded by a terrace wide enough for six men to promenade abreast .* Having but little corn for the famished troops, the natives collected and gave them three hundred dogs, which the Spaniards had been accustomed to eat in the pine barreus of lower Georgia, "esteeming them as though they had been fat wethers."t Gaining much information about the country, in conversations with the Chief, conducted by the interpreter, 1540 May Jean Ortiz, the Governor, after the fourth day's sojourn at Guaxule, marched to the town of Conasauga, in the modern
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