USA > Georgia > Wilkinson County > History of Wilkinson County > Part 2
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The adjoining province on De Soto's route was Cofaqui and was ruled by the brother of Ocute, but much more rich and powerful. Starting thither he was accompanied by four hundred Indians sent by the chieftain as burden bearers, and a messenger was also despatched to the
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Chief of Cofaqui acquainting him of the approach of the visitors.
If Jones is correct, then it is probable that Old Oconee Town is identical with Cofaqui.
The Chief of this province advanced to meet De Soto with a retinue of richly decorated warriors with head- dresses of tall plumes, and rich mantels of martin skins. He, too, gave up his mansion to De Soto.
This chief tried in vain to dissuade De Soto from going on to the northeast telling him of the great wilderness in- tervening. Failing in this he sent scouts out and assembled eight thousand of his subjects to accompany De Soto, four thousand as soldiers and four thousand retainers to carry supplies.
WILKINSON COUNTY'S FIRST WAR EXPEDITION
At the sight of so many armed Indians the Spaniards were alarmed but it soon developed that the wily old king had determined to make use of the Spanish army in wreaking a vengeance upon the inhabitants of Cofachiqui who were perpetually at war with his tribesmen and who frequently worsted them in battle. Calling his war chief, Patofa, he made known to him his plan. Irving in his "Conquest of Florida" gives a most vivid picture of this occasion :
"The Indian leader, whose name was Patofa, was of a graceful form and striking features. His expression was haughty and noble, promising dauntless courage for war, and gentleness and kindness in peace. His whole de- meanor showed that the cacique had not unwisely be- stowed his trust. He rose, and throwing aside his mantle of skin, seized a broadsword made of palmwood, which a servant carried behind him, as a badge of his rank. He cut and thrust with it, as skilfully as a master of fence, much to the admiration of the Spaniards. After going through many singular evolutions, he stopped suddenly before the cacique and made a profound reverence. 'I pledge my word,' said he, 'to fulfill your commands as far as in my
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HISTORY OF WILKINSON COUNTY
power ; and I promise, by the favor of the strangers, to re- venge the insults, the deaths, and the losses, our fathers have sustained from the natives of Cofachiqui. My ven- geance shall be such, that the memory of past evils shall be wiped away for ever. My daring to reappear in your presence, will be a token that your commands have been executed. For, should the fates deny my hopes, never again shall you behold me, never again shall the sun shine upon me ! If the enemy deny me death, my own hand will find the road ! I will inflict upon myself the punishment my cowardice or evil fortune will merit!' "
Not only was Patofa an orator but he was a born leader. The discipline he maintained over his eight thou- sand Indians equalled that of De Soto over his Spaniards, and his posting of sentinels, the order and regularity of his army was such that the Spaniards were in constant dread of their allies.
After losing the way and wandering for several days a frontier village of Cofachiqui was found and De Soto en- camped for several days :
"During which time Patofa and his warriors were not idle, but, sallying forth stealthily, ravaged the country for leagues round about, slaying and scalping man, woman, and child, sacking and pillaging villages and hamlets, tem- ples and sepulchres, and refraining only from setting fire to them, through fear that the flames might betray their doings to the Spaniards.
"When De Soto heard of this cruel ravage, he made all haste to get rid of his bloody allies. Sending for Patofa, he thanked him for his friendly conduct and valuable escort; and giving him presents of knives, trinkets, and clothing, for himself and his cacique, dismissed him and his fol- lowers.
"The savage warriors set off on his return, well pleased with the presents, but still more gratified at having fulfilled the vow of vengeance made to his chieftain." (Irving's Conquest of Florida, p. 216. )
CHAPTER III
INDIAN TRIBES
S WANTON in his history of the Creek Indians indicates several tribes here. The Oconee tribe whose town was a few miles below the present town of Milledgeville and lo- cated, according to the Purcell map, on the sharp bend in the river, about midway between the mouths of Buck Creek and Town Creek in the original Wilkinson County. Swanton's maps also locate the Tamali and Hitchiti towns near the forks of the Oconee and Ocmulgee and the Chiaha town in approximately the vicinity of Hawkins- ville. There was, according to Mrs. Sarah Allen, of Allen- town, who was near ninety years of age at her death, an old Indian village at Allentown, where two trails crossed, and that there are still to be found indications of the burial ground.
There is a tradition that once a tribe of Indians built their village on the creek which flows into the river just above Dublin and that a great drought came, preventing any crops from being grown and the whole tribe almost starved, so that the survivors moved away, but before leaving named the creek, Hunger and Hardship. which name it bears to this day.
It is also said that there was an Indian village on what is known as Bear Camp Branch near Irwinton. Like- wise there was another on the homeplace of J. T. Dupree, Sr., six miles west of Irwinton.
THE OCONEE TRIBE
It is probable that Spanish explorers and priests traveled through this country, as they had a mission among the Indians south of the junction of the Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers. The Missionary Pareja mentions this tribe in 1602, and in 1608 Governor of Florida,
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HISTORY OF WILKINSON COUNTY
Ibarra, again mentions this tribe. The next time we hear of the Oconee Indians is in 1695, when, in order to avenge an invasion made by the Indians of this section against some of the Spanish Indians, seven Spaniards at the head of four hundred Indians invaded this country, and among the towns captured was Oconee Town.
Wilkinson county can justly lay claim to having for centuries belonged to the most remarkable tribe of In- dians that has ever dwelt on the American continent, a tribe whose loyalty to friends and whose hostility to its enemies has never been exceeded, whose bitter enmity to the Spaniards in Florida and whose friendship for the English might have, in no small way, determined the con- test between these nations for Georgia, in favor of the English.
The Oconee Indians were a part of the old Hitchitee group, and according to their traditions was the most an- cient of the tribes dwelling in this section: that they came across a sea which was narrow and frozen and traveled from there toward the east until they reached the Atlantic Ocean, seeking in vain for the place from which the sun came.
The fact that the Oconees were of the Hitchitee stock, that the Ocute of De Soto and Hitchitee are synonymous and the further fact that the chief of Cofaqui was the brother of the chief of Ocute, lends color to the idea that the town of Cofaqui visited by De Soto is none other than our Oconee town.
It is not known how the enmity arose between the Oconee Indians and the Spaniards, but it is possible the in- vasion in 1695 might have intensified it. History shows no deadlier hatred of one people for another than that of the Oconee Indians towards the Spaniards. We find them at every opportunity venting their hatred against every thing that pertained to Spain. Even the Indians friendly to that nation shared in their undying animosity. It is possible
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that this feeling of the Oconees and their allied tribes pre- vented the Spaniards from obtaining a foothold here.
As contrasted with the Spaniards, the English after planting settlements in the Carolinas made friends with the Oconees, and established trading posts among the In- dians of this section. As history shows no greater capacity for hatred than that of the Oconees for the Spaniards, at the same time, it shows no greater loyalty than that of the Oconees for the English, a loyalty that existed for cen- turies. This was tested in 1702 when the Spaniards and Indians were on their way to destroy the English settle- ments in the Carolinas, and the English traders and Creek Indians defeated them. In the following year they united with the English against the Spaniards. In order to avoid having friction, they gave up their town on the Oconee River about 1715 and moved to the Chattahoochee. We find the Oconee chieftain, Oueekachumpa, or "Long King" in the council held by Oglethorpe in 1733 and in this council he claims kinship with Tomochichi. Secoffee, or "Cowkeeper" who succeeded Oueekachumpa seems to have continued this friendship and we find him moving to Florida and spending most of his time fighting Spaniards, as did his nephew, Payne, who succeeded him and for whose services during the Revolution he was given a silver crown by the British. Even after the British were driven out during the Revolution the Oconee Indians who had now moved to Florida where they had formed the nucleus around which the Seminole Nation grew, yet they main- tained their friendship for the English and when the Eng- lish declared war against the United States in 1812, the Oconee sounded the warwhoop on the side of their old al- lies. Payne who was still king did not wait for the British armies to arrive but in 1812 committed depredations against the Georgia settlements.
THE MUSKOGEAN INVASION
A few years after the visit of De Soto, a hostile invader
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appeared from the far West. Apparently a great nation moved in one body to this section of America. We can imagine runners speeding from tribe to tribe calling them to arms to resist the great Muskogean invasion. Doubtless the bloodiest wars of the history of the Hitchitee tribes were now fought in an effort to save their hunting grounds. It appears that in the end peace was made and the invader was given portions of the hunting grounds and the Oconees became a part of the great Creek Confed- eracy at the same time retaining intact their ancient do- mains.
THE UCHEES
It would seem that the Uchee tribe of Indians once lived on the Oconee River not far from Toomsboro, pos- sibly Ball's Ferry vicinity, their hunting grounds probably extending up and down the river. There is a Uchee Creek not far from the Indian dance ground described by Mrs. Fordham: there was also an old Indian trail called the Uchee trail which led up and down the river when this territory was surveyed in 1804. The old plot and grant of land lot No. 311 to Jonathan Snider is in the writer's possession showing this trail. The old road from Tooms- boro to Messer's Bridge probably follows this route. In addition to this there was an old trail leading from the vicinity of White Bluff or Lord's Lake across Commis- sioner Creek near Claymont crossing the Irwinton and Macon road near the old home of J. J. McArthur, thence across Big Sandy and on through Twiggs County passing near Jeffersonville and thence to West Lake or Buzzard Roost, known as the Upper Uchee Trail.
In the description of the route followed by the Hart- ford road in the act creating this road, this trail is men- tioned as being the Uchee trail. In addition to this, there was what was formerly called the Lower Uchee trail lead- ing from the Ogeechee (Uchee) river to the Oconee river
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HISTORY OF WILKINSON COUNTY
at Carr's Bluff above Dublin, and a continuation of this trail crossed the Tauloohatchee (Palmetto or Turkey, as it is now called) Creek, thence by the present town of Coch- ran and on to the crossing where Hawkinsville now stands. (This trail, however, was explained to the author several years ago by a Mr. Grantham, then near ninety years old living near Cochran. He told the story as told him by his parents when a child. The trail was named for an Indian chief, Uchee Billy. He made a treaty with the white men and granted a lot of the hunting grounds. His tribesmen were incensed and made known their anger to their chieftain, who promised faithfully never to cede away any more land. Later, he violated this promise, and not only sold their hunting grounds but traced out a road from the white man's country on this way and into the In- dian country beyond the Ocmulgee. His tribe was so fu- rious that they hanged him.
In Swanton's History of the Creek Indians, Uchee Tus- tenaggi or Uchee Billy is mentioned as being the chief of the Uchee Indians from about 1785 and on up to at least 1823. In the treaty of Fort Wilkinson his name appears.
Another trail led from Carr's Bluff in a more westerly direction by Allentown, Danville, by Mt. Zion Church and on to Buzzard Roost or West Lake. At one time it was known as Jameson's Trail.
Although the Uchees had a language and customs dis- tinct from the Creeks, yet they were often uniting with them in their wars, and were considered members of the Creek Confederacy as their chief signed the treaty of Fort Wilkinson. However, their reputation among the other tribes was none too good. It seems that some tribes ac- cused the Uchees of being cannibals but Swanton says there was really no foundation for this charge. However, the other Indians feared them and the Creeks ever wel- comed them as allies.
Wherever they lived, the Uchees were bound to stir up
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trouble. Before the English settled in the Carolinas they were the bane of the Spaniards in Florida. Once in 1639 they tried to ally themselves with the Spaniards but they ended up by inducing another tribe to attack the Span- iards. For a while they were neighbors to the English in the Carolinas but they became so troublesome that a war broke out and the Uchees about 168 I were forced to move to some point between the Oconee and Ocmulgee. Swan- ton thinks they settled near Indian Springs but it is pos- sible that they moved to this section, and while here adopted these trails and caused the trails and the creek to be named for them. The Uchees were great hunters and fishermen and the trail up and down the river led to some of the finest fishing and hunting grounds to be found in the county today.
CHAPTER IV
OLD TRAILS
THE trail leading from Oconee Town to the Carolina Settlements was, perhaps, for many years the main artery uniting the Creek Indians of this section with the English, and over which practically all articles for trade were carried.
The English forces passed along this route in 1703 when Col. Moore at the head of fifty volunteers from the Carolina settlements marched through here where he was joined by one thousand Creek Indians in an expedition against the Spaniards on the west coast of Florida. Dur- ing this expedition Col. Moore writes of leaving the Oc- mulgee river and later destroying old Fort St. Lewis near the Gulf of Mexico. The route taken by these forces as shown by an old map of 1715 giving the location of the Indian tribes was the trail leading from Charles Town ( Charleston) by way of the Indian town near where Au- gusta now stands, thence to Oconee Town, thence south by southwest across the county and on to old Fort St. Lewis. It is probable that this trail followed the same path as the Carolina-St. Augustine path until it reached Steph- ensville and there diverged to the right passing through the lower part of the county and on through where Allen- town now stands.
Frequently high water made it impossible for streams of this county to be crossed and at Stephensville there was a bridge maintained by the Indians. The author is in- debted to Mr. James E. Lord of near Toomsboro for this information. He was eighty years old and remem- bered his teacher, Mr. Littleton Jenkins, telling him dur- ing the Forties that the reason the bridge was known as "Lightwood Knot" bridge was on account of the fact that
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HISTORY OF WILKINSON COUNTY
this was on the old Indian trail leading from Augusta to St. Augustine and the Indians built a bridge there by pil- ing large heaps of lightwood knots and using them as piers and laying logs from one to another. .
The old Mitchell map of 1755 shows a trail leading from Augusta by way of Oconee town, thence westward, crossing the Ocmulgee where Macon now stands thence on to the Mississippi River. The map 'states this trail was followed by Col. Welch in 1698, and since then followed by traders. This map also indicates that the English had factories and traders in all the Indian towns except the Alabama ; and that they had established them as early as 1687.
There is frequent mention in Indian Affairs, Vol. I, of the Cussetah Path leading from Fort Fidius or Rock Land- ing across this section to Buzzard Roost. This trail must have passed near Gordon.
The old English, Purcell map of 1770 shows a trail leading from the east probably from Savannah crossing the Oconee River below Oconee Town, at White Bluff, thence crossing both Commissioner and Big Sandy creeks and crossing the Ocmulgee about Macon.
With the settlement of Savannah the trail leading by way of Ball's Ferry, thence to Macon by way of Irwinton probably became an important one as it was the most di- rect route between Savannah and the tribes on the Chatta- hoochee River to the northwest of Macon, although for the tribes further south the route known as the Chicken or Chickasaw Trail by way of Dublin and Hawkinsville might have been more often traveled. The other trails through the county were probably traveled a great deal both by the traders and the Indian hunters who still owned these hunting grounds, the Uchees even using the Ogeechee River as hunting grounds up to 1740. It is also probable that a few families of Indians continued to live here even after the main body of the tribe had moved away. In 1775 Bartram, the English naturalist, visited
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HISTORY OF WILKINSON COUNTY
this section and among the trails mentioned is that leading from the old Ocmulgee town at Macon to Old Oconee Town. Benjamin Hawkins in his letters gives a vivid de- scription of this route in his journal dated 1797.
RIVER CROSSINGS AND FERRIES
The ancient crossings of the Oconee give us an inkling as to the location of the Indian Trails. There was a cross- ing at or near Rock Landing and later a ferry was estab- lished near this known as McKensie's Ferry, now as Tuck- er's, still another, known as Tom's Ford three miles above the Rock Landing : another at White Bluff : another near the home of P. M. Jackson : another farther down the river known as Rutherford's Ferry (this ferry is mentioned in an old Milledgeville newspaper ) . Ball's Ferry was evident- ly owned by John Ball, Senator of Wilkinson county, as his administrator, Anson Ball, in 1816 operated it, and paid a rent to the estate for it. Still another, Fordham's Crossing below the mouth of Big Sandy: another at Carr's Bluff near the present Blackshear's Ferry : another at the pres- ent site of Dublin called Jenck's Ferry.
THE OLD FEDERAL TRAIL
Mr. J. F. Billue, Sr., described what was called in his childhood "The Old Federal Trail," which led from the direction of Toomsboro crossing Big Sandy about the home of E. J. Helton's, thence across Cedar Creek and on by way of Allentown. He merely recalled its name and having seen traces of this old trail, but did not know how long since it had been used or its origin. It would seem that in order to have that name it must have been established by the Federal garrison at Milledgeville or officials prior to the treaty at Fort Wilkinson as an artery of travel to the Indian country to the south, and to the Spanish posts at Tallahassee, St. Mark's and Pensacola. This trail was used later as the mail route and stage road leading from Milledgeville to Tallahassee, Fla.
CHAPTER V REVOLUTIONARY AND POST REVOLU- TIONARY PERIOD
A LTHOUGH this section lay on the direct route lead ing from the Indian Towns to the Georgia Settle- ments and across which the Indians were obliged to travel during the Revolution, yet there is but little written his- tory covering this section during this period. McGillivray had left the counting house of Samuel Elbert and had gone back to his mother's people and was claiming his right as chieftain of the whole Creek nation. Having re- ceived a commission from the British government as Col- onel it had become his duty to keep the Creek Indian warriors on the warpath against the Georgia settlements. How well he succeeded is told in the history of Georgia's bloody days during the Revolution. The paths across this section were filled with the raiding bands of hostile Creeks en route to or returning from the frontiers laden with booty and scalps of the Georgians.
During the latter days of the Revolution when the ban- ners of the patriots were in the ascendancy and the once victorious Tories were being compelled to flee from their homes and take refuge wherever they might, it was in this section they sought a rallying place. We thus find them here in 1782 uniting into a strong band their own forces with those of the Creeks and preparing to attack Georgia. The alarm, however, was carried to the frontiers by. Jesse Spears who had been living with the Indians. He stated that on a certain day these foes would rendezvous on the west side of the Oconee and from there make a stroke on the Georgia settlements. In addition to his regiment of faithful Wilkes county veterans, Elijah Clarke placed himself at the head of one hundred South Carolinians
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HISTORY OF WILKINSON COUNTY
who had been sent to reinforce him and with these made forced marches to the scene of the rendezvous. Appar- ently the enemy having both the Ogeechee and the Oconee rivers between them and the Georgians was feeling secure at this distance from the frontier and was not keeping proper sentries, as Clarke was able to cross and march a few miles on the west side of the Oconee and to make a surprise attack, defeat and scatter the Tories and Indians without any loss on his part. (Am. State Papers, Ind. Affairs Vol. 1, page 317. McCall's History. )
The end of the Revolution in favor of the American arms brought much trouble to the Creek nation which had risked so much in anticipation of a British victory. The Cussetahs and certain other tribes, however, had re- mained neutral during the war and immediately upon its close extended the olive branch by gathering an immense quantity of property stolen from the Georgians during the Revolution and bringing it to the Oconee river, at the same time sending messengers to the seat of government at Savannah that they were ready to deliver up this prop- erty.
The memories of the bloody massacres during the Rev- olution was not to be so easily wiped out and the cession of the lands east of the Oconee was demanded at the trea- ties of Augusta, Galphinton and Shoulderbone. During the same period Georgia was confiscating the properties of the Tories which were still to be found in the state. Lachlan McGillivray, the father of Alexander, had fled the state and his enormous holdings were promptly seized. Seeing the rush of settlers to the east banks of the Oconee and at the same time the wealth of his father which he hoped some day to inherit swept into the hands of the Georgians, McGillivray's rage knew no bounds. The In- dian in his blood seems to have now dominated him and he gave himself up to that hate for Georgia of which the Indian nature is capable. He seems to have been willing
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to sacrifice all in order to wreak his vengeance on Georgia.
His English allies were no longer in reach but there was Spain in both East and West Florida and in Louisiana, an- cient enemy of Georgia, and with whom a quarrel was al- ready brewing over the boundary question. To Pensacola he went in 1784 and entered into a treaty with the Spanish governor, granting to that power the trade of the Creek nation and forming an alliance through which Spain agreed to come to the aid of the Creeks in case of war; to supply the Creeks with arms and ammunition and to give McGillivray a commission as Colonel in the Spanish army.
Recognizing the vast possibilities of an alliance with such a strong nation on the frontiers of the weak Ameri- can Government, Spain lost no time in carrying out her agreement as to the arms and ammunition. Her arsenals at Pensacola, St. Augustine and New Orleans were opened to the Creeks and in a short time McGillivray was enabled to turn his warriors against the Georgia settle- ments on the Oconee. His repeated demands as his price for peace were that the Georgians retire from the Oconee lands to the lines formerly occupied by the British.
And Georgia was in no condition to withstand an In- dian war. Left to her own devices by an almost impotent national government, from which she could expect no aid at all; bankrupt from the untold ravages of the Revolu- tion and unable to purchase arms and munitions for de- fense ; her credit gone and her citizens impoverished; ade- quate protection could not be provided. As best they could the frontiersmen had to bear the brunt of the Indian hordes, forming bands for mutual protection, building rude forts in which refuge could be taken when the Indian alarms were given. So helpless were these forts, that mas- sacres would occur almost in their very shadows.
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