Atagi: A Tawasee Indian Town

Atagi

Atagi, a Tawasee Indian town, was located on the Alabama River at the mouth of Autauga Creek, in the southeastern corner of Autauga County. The first county seat of Autauga County was established at Washington, Alabama on the site of the town of Atagi, in 1819.

Atagi is an Alabama tribal name, referring to both a traditional Alabama Indian village and the band of people who lived there. The village name comes from the Alabama word Aatooka, which means “ballcourt.” Other variants of the same name include Autauga and Atagi.

Editor: It is not known for certain which ethnic group built the many towns with mounds in Autauga County. One possibility is that a branch of the Choctaws lived there, since a swamp in the western part of the county had a Choctaw name, Conchapita. Alternatively, they may have been related to the Alabama Indians who occupied the region in the late 1600s and most of the 18th century. Most of the Alabama’s left with the French in 1763 after France lost the Seven Years War with Great Britain. Members of the Creek Confederacy then moved into the region and absorbed the remaining Alabamas.