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It took the white man years to understand how a tribe
of Indians, in profound silence, could alert their villages to go on the
warpath. In what appeared to be a simultaneous activity, suddenly the
whole tribe, scattered in several villages removed from each other, would begin
preparing food for battle. At a mysteriously designated time, the warriors
would assemble on the square of each village. Silently and in single file
they would leave for battle.
According to the eyewitness account given by Captain
Hugh Young, Corps of Topographical Engineers U.S.A., the messages were sent
through a set of precontrived signals. The head chief, upon deciding to go
to war, would send a bundle of "red sticks" to each of the tribal
villages. The number of sticks signified the number of days, and every day
the war chief of the village broke a stick. On the day of the last broken
stick, all eyes in the village were watching the council house for the signal.
A chain of wood, ingeniously whittled out of a single cedar bough, was placed
over the entrance to the council house, and it communicated two messages to the
villagers: to the warriors it meant the time had come to go to battle; to those
who waited, it was a sign of grief--a visual reminder of their need to sustain
one another through the long days. The wooden chain remained on the
council house until the battle ended, then it was replaced by garlands of
smilax, the symbol of joy and festivity. During the early history of the
lower Chattahoochee valley, there were many, many occasions for hanging the
chain of wood on the council house at the village of Oketeyeconne.
Nestled on the sunrise side of the Chattahoochee, two
and a half miles above the Chemochechobee Creek, Oketeyeconne village belonged
to a tribe known as "Hitchetees". The Hitchetees were Seminoles,
and their loyalties were with the Miccosukee Tribe. Also, they were
closely allied to the British.
The village of Oketeyeconne was built around a square
occupied by four cabins. Built for sessions of council, the cabins were
occupied only when the chief called for consultation on a subject of public
nature. One cabin was for the old men, one for warriors, one for the young
men, and one for women. The position of honor was always in the midst of
the old men and the village chief sat there.
On the meeting of the council, a chief particularly
designated prepared the "Black Drink" -- a strong tea made from
cassina leaves previously dried in the sun and parched in a clay pot over the
fire. The tea, believed to have a purifying effect, was served in a large
gourd: first, to the chief men; then, to the warriors and young men who would
vie with each other in the quantities they could drink. Pipes were smoked,
each man offering his tobacco pouch to his neighbor. The only pieces of
furniture in the council house were benches for sitting and utensils for
preparing the "Black Drink". The only ornaments were the painted
scalps of their enemies, which during war were suspended on a red pole in the
square, and in peace decorated the walls of the houses. Three sides of the
cabins were built of light trellis-work of cane and split pieces of wood.
The fourth side was open and faced the square.
Like most of the Indians of the southeast, the
Seminoles believed in one Supreme being--the Maker of Breath, or "He-sak-ke-te-mass".
However, they seldom had worship rituals but relied heavily on sorcery and
magic. Their sorcerers were attributed attributed with divine powers such
as controlling the elements, curing diseases, and killing their enemies.
The most important holiday for the village was the
Green Corn Feast, or "Boosketah". This took place when the corn
was ripe, usually the latter part of June. A cleansing ritual, it began by
first serving the "Black Drink" at the council meeting. All the
old fires were extinguished and new fires brought down from Heaven by rubbing
two sticks together.
Like the Creeks and Seminoles, the Oketeyeconnes buried
their dead in the earth, in a square pit, under the bed where the deceased lay
in his house. The corpse, before it became cold, was drawn up with cords
and made to assume a squatting position. In this manner it was placed in
the grave and covered with earth. The gun, tomahawk, pipe, and other
articles of the deceased were buried with him.
As for marriage, there were no ceremonial rites.
Application, accompanied by appropriate gifts, was made to the relations of the
girl who granted the suitor permission to make the trial. The lover then
went at night, to the corn-house where he was joined by the bride if she
approved the bridegroom. If not, the lover passed a lonely night.
This was tried three nights successively and if all failed the young man was
considered as ultimately rejected. If successful, the bride was carried to
the cabin of her husband and set about her domestic duties.
Although the tribes were defined through matriarchial
kinships, the women had no influence or rank. They were regarded as
servants obliged to perform all the drudgery of agricultural and domestic
duties.
It was quite different with the men. If they were
eloquent and persuasive their powers increased accordingly and they were named
chief. All tribes had a war chief and a peace chief. War was
considered a manly exercise.
Chief forms of recreation were ball playing and
dancing. Like war, ball play was also considered a manly exercise.
The warriors of one town challenged those of another, and when they decided the
time and place both teams readied themselves for battle by taking the
"Black Drink". The game was played with rackets similar to
Lacrosse. The death of one or two players was not an unusual outcome.
Always preceding a ball play, as part of the ceremony, was dancing accompanied
by music, both vocal and instrumental. Rather primitive instruments were
used--the tambour, rattle-gourd, and flute made from the joint of a cane or the
tibia of the deer's leg.
The Oketeyeconnes were advanced in civilization--they
could spin and weave and use the plough. Because their land was easily
cultivated, they produced an abundance of corn, beans, squash, cucumbers and
peas.
Like most of the Indians on the Chattahoochee, they had
developed trade relations with the house of Forbes & Co. (formerly Panton,
Leslie and Company). Regular trading excursions were made down the
Chattahoochee and Appalachicola waterway to the house of Forbes & Co. who
made an immense fortune by this trade with the lower Creeks and Seminoles.
Some of the items exchanged by the Indians with the factors on the Appalachicola
were:
Deer skins .....................................$0.25 per lb.
Raccoon skins .............................. .12-1/2 each
Fox skins ..................................... .18-3/4 each
Otters - best ..................................... 3.00 each
Cow-hides ..........................................1.00 each
Wild cat skins ..................................... .25 each
Tiger skins .......................................... .25 each
Corn ........................................... .75 per bushel
Pease ......................................... .75 per bushel
Rice .......................................... 1.50 per bushel
Bacon .......................................... .12-1/2 per lb.
Cow and calf ............................................. 10.00
Cow ........................................................... 8.00
Aged Steer ............................................... 10.00
Three year old ............................................. 8.00
Two year old ............................................... 6.00
Yearling ...................................................... 4.00
Fowles ............................................ 3.00 per doz.
Bees wax ............................................. .25 per lb.
In exchange, the Indians received money, woolens,
coarse linens, calicos, cutlery, farming utensils, axes, hatchets, hoes, powder
and shot, sugar, coffee, salt. A gallon of run, or "tafia"
donated by the house of Forbes & Co., usually consummated the agreement.
This practice proved successful in helping the house of Forbes & Co. develop
one of the most powerful trading house monopolies in the country.
Known for their fierceness, the Oketeyeconnes were
inveterately hostile to Americans and allied to the British. In the summer
of 1814, the British landed at Deer Island at the mouth of the Appalachicola
brining with them a large supply of arms and military stores which they
distributed among the Creeks and the Seminoles. Oketeyeconne's share of
the British munitions was four kegs of cartridges, of one hundred pounds each,
plus some short muskets with slings, and other articles.
Hearing that there was a heavily armed village hostile
to Americans in the heart of the lower Creeks was disturbing news, indeed, to
Gen. Andrew Jackson as he proceeded to Fort Jackson during the summer of 1814.
Consequently, in drawing up the terms of the treaty with the Creeks at Fort
Jackson, Gen. Jackson placed the line of limits between the United States and
the Creek nation, two and a half miles below the village of Oketeyeconne, then
ordered troops to the Chattahoochee to cut off any further communication by the
Oketeyeconnes with the British.
In the spirit of the Seminoles who fight briefly and
well--then run away to fight again another day, the indomitable Oketeyeconnes
fled their villages on the Chattahoochee and slipped downstream.
Resettling near the forks of the Chattahooche and the Flint rivers, they joined
forces with the Miccosukee Tribe. Together they continued to fight the
Americans, and in their tradition they never surrendered. Remnants of
their forces are living today in the Florida Everglades.
As for Gen. Andrew Jackson's fortification on the
Chattahoochee river, it became known later as Fort Gaines.
Bibliography
Citations to original documents have been
omitted from this publication because they
seem both pedantic and superfluous.
Extensive use was made of the following
sources:
Bartram, John and William,
John and William Bartram's
America, Selections from the Writings of the Philadelphia Naturalists, edited
with an Introduction by Helen Gere Cruickshank, foreward by B. Bartram Cadbury,
illustrated by Francis Lee Jacques. New York: The Devin-Adair Company,
1957.
Hawkins, Benjamin, "Unpublished Letters of Benjamin Hawkins
1796-1815". Georgia Department of Archives and History. Atlanta.
Young, Capt. Hugh, "A Topographical Memoir on East and West Florida With
Itineraries of General Jackson's Army, 1818", Records of Reports, July 3,
1812 - October 4, 1823, Office of the Chief of Engineers, U.S.A.
American State Papers. U.S. Congress, Legislative and Executive Documents.
From the first session of the first to the second session of the Fifteenth
Congress. Selected and edited under the authority of Congress by Walter
Lowrie and Matthew St. Clair Clarke. Vol. III. Washington: Gales and
Seaton, 1832.
"The History of Clay County"
Chapter II, pages 17-19
Submitted by Donna Eldridge
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Clay Co., GAGenWeb Project
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