Creek Indians

To get started in American Indian Research



Creek Indians were also known as Muskogee.

The Creek Indians are one of the Five Civilized Tribes.

Cultural area is the Southeast United States.

Linguistic group: Muskogean

Federal Status: Recognized

Clans: Wind, Bird, Alligator, Bear

Original homeland: along the banks of the Alabama, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Flint, Ocmulgee, and Chattahoochee Rivers, In the Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee

Creek Indians trace their ancestry through the female line. The children belong to the same clan as their mother. Clan members were closely related so they had to marry someone from a different clan than his or her own.

The Creek Nation is comprised of six political districts: 1. Coweta, 2. Deep Fork, 3. Eufaula, 4. Muscogee, 5. Okmulgee, 6. Wewoka; these districts functions like counties.

Tribal Headquarters
Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma P. O. Box 580 Okmulgee, Oklahoma 74447 Phone: 918-756-8700

Creek Nation: www.genealogynation.com/creek

History
Their ancestral homeland was in Alabama and Georgia.

Brief Timeline

 * 1540: First contact Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto
 * 1703-08: Creeks were allies of the English in the Apalachee Wars.
 * 1775: supported the British in the American Revolutionary War
 * November 25, 1785: Treaty at Hopewell, South Carolina
 * 1813-1814: Creek Wars, General Andrew Jackson, in command of some of the forces
 * 1796-1816: Benjamin Hawkins, was the federal agent to the Creeks
 * June 29, 1796: Coleraine, Georgia
 * 1816: after the death of Benjamin Hawkins, President James Madison appointed David B. Mitchell, a former governor of Georgia. He undermined the Creeks' sovereignty and initiated acts to take all of their lands in Georgia.
 * August 9, 1814: Fort Jackson, Alabama
 * January 22, 1818: Creek agency on Flint river
 * January 8, 1821 / February 12, 1825: Treaty of Indian Springs negotiated by Creek leader William McIntosh. He was later (1825) executed by the Creek Nation for the deed.
 * January 24, 1826: Washington D.C.; Creeks would sell their land. Ratified April 22, 1826
 * March 24, 1832: Treaty that the United States would remove intruders.
 * 1836-1837: removed from Georgia and Alabama to eastern Oklahoma. Some were taken by a southern route to New Orleans and then by steamboats (Monmouth) up the Mississippi River to Arkansas. The Monmouth collided with the Trenton more than 300 Creeks drowned. During removal 3,500 died of the 15,000.
 * November 23, 1838: Ft. Gibson
 * Creek Nation formed into six districts: Coweta District, Deep Fork District, Eufaula District, Muskogee District, Okmulgee District, and Wewoka District.
 * 1861-1865: United States Civil War the tribe was split; some allying with the Union others with the Confederate Army
 * 1867: Tribe adopted a new constitution
 * 1887: Dawes Act
 * 1907: Oklahoma became the 46th State.
 * Creek Nation divided into eight counties: Creek, Hughes, McIntosh, Muskogee, Okfuskee,Okmaulgee, Tulsa and Wagoner

Additional References to the History of the Tribe
Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Creek tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods. Additional details are given in John Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North America.

A Migration Legend of the Creek Indians. By Albert Samuel Gatschet and Daniel Garrison Brinton. NY Kraus Reprint CO., 1969. (six fiche)

Benjamin Hawkins. A Sketch of the Creek County, in the Years 1798-1799. Spartanburg, SC. Reprint Co., 1974.

Records
Creek Indians. University of West Florida. Special Collections Department. (Census, Genealogy, and Land Tenure)

Creek Nation. Oklahoma Historical Society. Indian Archives Division. 52 films

Biographies
The Southern Indians: a Biographical Guide to the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek Indians, 1700-1907

Census Records
Creek Census of 1832 (Upper Creeks) by Benjamin S. Parsons

Creek Census of 1832 (Lower Creeks) by Thos. J. Abbott.

Enrollment Records

 * Dawes Commission Enrollment Records

History
Duke Indian Oral History Collection and Index. Duke University

Military

 * Some Creek Indians are listed as serving in the Second Creek War (1836) in the Indian Wars Compiled Service Records Index, 1815-1858. This index includes the soldier’s name, rank, and unit along with the name of the war or disturbance.

Removal
The Indian Removal Act was signed May 26, 1830 by President Andrew Jackson. The Act initiated a policy of removal of American Indians tribes living east of the Mississippi River to land west of the river.

The Creeks were the second tribe of the Five Civilized Tribes to be removed.

Before the trek began the Tribe was gathered into groups and supervised by the military in temporary forts (concentration camps) in Georgia.

Names and Claims of Creek Indians who moved at their own expense, 1830-1840. "Stidham Roll". by Larry S. Watson.

Removal was supervised by the United States Army, the Creeks were divided into groups to be removed. Dates of removal by groups:


 * 1827 seven hundred and three Creeks and eighty six Slaves with Chief William McIntosh left and traveled by Keel boats, the Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers to Fort Gibson
 * 1828: 400
 * June 1829: 1,200 steam boat Virginia ran aground on the Arkansas River
 * Dec 1834 six hundred thirty- under Captain John Page, four hundred sixty nine arrived 28 Mar 1835, two men in the group: Sampson Grayon with 34 Slaves and Widow Stidham with 23 Slaves.
 * 10 July 1836: nine hundred of the Encah Emalhea Band - shipped in chains
 * 1 Aug 1836 left Alabama, 2,700 leader Opthleyaholo
 * 5 September 1836 1,984 Lt. J.T. Sprague (known as 5th group of Friendly Creek)
 * 1836: 2,700 arrived at Ft Gibson - (1st group Friendly Creek)
 * 18 &amp; 22 Dec 1836; (2nd group Friendly Creek)
 * March 1837: 4,000 Lt. Edward Deas, arrived 2 Jun 1837 at Little rock Arkansas. with 500. 3,500 still at Mobile Point
 * 29 Oct 1837 1,600 Lt. T.P. Sloan three steamboats: Monmoth 611- 311 drowned when it struck the steamboat Trenton

Trade
Superintendent of Indian Trade. Letter Book of the Creek Trading House, 1785-1816.

Treaties
The year link,the date of the treaty will connect to an online copy of the Treaty.


 * 1785:
 * 1790 August 7, at New York
 * 1796 June 29, at Colerain
 * 1802 June 16, at Fort Wilkinson
 * October 27, 1805,
 * 1805 November 14, at Washington
 * 1814 August 9,
 * March 22, 1816, - Cherokee
 * 1818 October 19, with the Chickasaw, Flint River
 * 1821 January 8, at Indian Spring
 * 1821
 * 1824 February 12, at Indian Spring
 * 1825: Population estimated at 20,000 for Creek Indians in Georgia and Alabama, reported by T.C. McKenny - of the Indian Office
 * 1825 June 29, at Broken Arrow - unratified
 * 1826 January 24,at Washington
 * 1827 November 15, at Creek Agency
 * 1832 March 24,at Washington
 * May 9, 1832, Seminole
 * 1833 February 14, at Fort Gibson
 * March 28, 1833
 * June 18, 1833, Appalachicola Band
 * 1835August 24, at Camp Holmes, with the Comanche
 * 1838 November 23, at Fort Gibson
 * 1845 January 4,with the Seminole
 * April 1, 1850 - Wyandot
 * 1853: Population estimated at 25,000 by Commissioner of Indian Affairs at the request of the Department of Census
 * 1854 June 13,
 * 1856 August 7, at Washington
 * September 13, 1865, at Fort Smith - unratified
 * 1866 June 14, at Washington
 * 1867: Population estimated at 14,396 by Commissioner of Indian Affairs
 * 1910: Population as reported from census 6,945

Vital Records

 * Crow Creek Agency, M595, births and deaths 1924-1932,

Indian Pioneer Papers
In 1936, the Oklahoma Historical Society and University of Oklahoma requested a writer's project grant from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in which interviews would be conducted with early settlers in Oklahoma who had lived on Indian land. More than 100 writers conducted over 11,000 interviews and were asked to "call upon early settlers and (record) the story of the migration to Oklahoma and their early life here." The University of Oklahoma Western History Collection has digitized the Indian Pioneer Papers which consists of approximately 80,000 indexed entries arranged alphabetically by personal name, place name, or subject. An index to the Indian Pioneer Papers may also be found at OkGenWeb Oklahoma Genealogy. A separate index of Indians interviewed, including the Creek, may be viewed at: “Indians in the Indian Pioneer Papers” Some of the surnames from the Creek tribe found in the collection are: Barnett, Beam (Stevens), Berryhill, Bond, Breeding, Canard, Coker, Fisher (Postoak), Jobe, Postoak, Sells (Jobe). Family History Library microfiche number: 6,016,865(first microfiche number)

Important Web Sites

 * Muscogee (Creek) Indians Wikipedia
 * Creek Native Americans http://creeknativeamericans.blogspot.com
 * Native American Research http://nativeamericanresearch.blogspot.com
 * Indian Research http://researchindians.blogspot.com

Access Genealogy http://www.acessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/creek/index.htm

Family History Library
The Family History Library catalog has over 500 titles of interest to the Creek Indians