Digital Alabama (/article/alabama-native-american-tribes/cherokee-indian/page/2)
During the American Revolution, the Chickamauga, a pro-British faction of Cherokees, split from the Upper Towns on the Little Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers in east Tennessee. Led by war chief Dragging Canoe and supported by British agents and sympathetic traders, the Chickamauga left to establish towns farther down the Tennessee River. Two of these, Long Island Town and Crow Town, were located on the river near present-day Bridgeport, Jackson County.
Some Cherokee worked their way down the Tennessee River as far as Muscle Shoals, constituting the Chickamauga band. They had settlements at Turkeytown on the Coosa, Willstown on Wills Creek, and Coldwater near Tuscumbia, occupied jointly with the Creeks and destroyed by the Whites in 1787.
By 1782, the Cherokees had begun to establish settlements in what is now northeast Alabama in present-day Madison, Jackson, Marshall, DeKalb, Cherokee, and Etowah Counties and even as far west as Colbert County.
By 1800 many Cherokees lived on dispersed farmsteads in northeast Alabama. They established communities at Turkey Town, Wills Town, Sauta, Brooms Town, and Creek Path at Gunter’s Landing, all of which provided leadership within the Cherokee Nation.
Christian missionaries established schools at Creek Path (1820) and Wills Town (1823)
In 1806, as hunting declined among the Cherokees, the U.S. sought and won a land cession, significantly shrinking Cherokee land in Alabama by 1,602 square miles.
When war broke out in 1813, the Cherokees refused to join the faction of Creeks known as the Red Sticks, who were hostile to the United States. Instead, they fought alongside the Tennessee and U.S. troops under Andrew Jackson. Together they raided Creek villages along the Black Warrior River and fought in the November 1813 Battles of Tallushatchee and Talladega, from which they emerged victorious. Cherokee warriors played a major role in the attack on the Creeks of the Hillabee towns, who were members of the Red Stick faction. Following orders issued by Gen. John Cocke, the attacking party was unaware that the Hillabee had recently surrendered to Jackson. This one-sided assault became known as the Hillabee Massacre.
After American setbacks at the Battles of Emuckfaw and Enotachopco Creek in January 1814, the main Cherokee force joined Jackson for his assault on a large body of Red Sticks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River in east-central Alabama on March 27, 1814. Here the Cherokees crossed the river and created a rear diversion. This unplanned but successful action allowed Jackson’s troops to make a frontal assault over a formidable defensive log barricade and resulted in the killing of approximately 800 Red Sticks. This outcome decisively ended the war.
Land Cessions
Cherokee Lands in Alabama
After the war, the U.S. government negotiated the Treaties of 1817 and 1819, which called for more Cherokee land cessions. Up to this time, the Chickasaw-Cherokee and the Cherokee-Creek boundary lines were not officially established. The United States paid the Chickasaws and the Cherokees, both allies during the late war, for lands north and south of the Tennessee River, as well as west of the Coosa River. Some Cherokees refused to leave their farms on ceded land and took advantage of a clause to claim private reserves. Most left their farms to relocate onto the shrinking tribal lands. Several hundred chose to journey across the Mississippi River to join the Old Settler Cherokees, a group that had emigrated prior to 1820.
In 1830, the federal government approved the Indian Removal Act, which required most eastern tribes to relinquish their lands and remove west to Indian Territory, now the state of Oklahoma. John Ross led the Cherokee Nation’s struggle to stay, taking the battle for sovereignty to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1832. Though the court ruled for the Cherokees, then-Pres. Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the decision and the forced removal of the Cherokees began in September 1838.
Morgan County Alabama was created by an act of the Alabama Territorial General Assembly on February 6, 1818, preceding Alabama’s statehood by almost two years. The county was originally named Cotaco for a creek that flows through it.
Indian Villages and Forts
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ALABAMA INDIAN VILLAGES, TOWNS AND SETTLEMENTS INDEX PAGE
Alabama has been the home of indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Over 100 Indian villages and towns have been identified and research leads to believe there are many more not yet identified. Our research is ongoing therefore you must consider there is much more to do and take into consideration that our information is incomplete and may contain errors. Research of historical documents is our primary source of information. Much of the information is followed-up with boots-on-the-ground research – but not all.
Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama. As of the 2010 census, the population of Muscle Shoals was 13,146. The estimated population in 2015 was 13,706
Turkeytown Alabama
Turkeytown, also called Turkey’s Town, was a Native American settlement found in 1788 by the Chickamauga Cherokee chief, Little Turkey. It was the largest Cherokee town in Alabama – at one time it covered 25 miles along both banks of the Coosa River. Little Turkey built the settlement as a refuge for his people because of the ongoing hostilities between the Cherokee Indians and the whites. Turkeytown Alabama History
During the Creek War of 1813, specifically in October, the Red Stick Indians were planning an attack on Turkey Town, The Cherokee Chief at that time, Pathkiller, sent word to Andrew Jackson for help. Jackson sent a detachment let by General James White.
Cullman Alabama
Cullman is a city in Cullman County. Cullman is located along Interstate 65, about 50 miles north of Birmingham and about 55 miles south of Huntsville. Cullman was founded by Col. Johann Gottfried Cullmann, a German refugee who came to America in 1866. While working at a bookstore in Cincinnati, Ohio, he began formulating ideas of a special colony of working people – specifically a place for immigrants from countries such as his native Germany.
Ft. Likens
Fort Likens was established at Barry Springs in northern Cherokee County. All Cherokee Indians including men, women and children living in the area surrounding the fort would have been rounded up and held there until they were sent to Fort Payne. Ft. Likens housed the federal troops responsible for rounding up the Cherokees on May, 24, 1838 and placing them in an internment camp located nearby at Barry Springs where they were held until they were transported to Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) on the infamous Trail of Tears.
Colbert County Alabama is a beautiful area with a deep history dating back to the Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians and the early French traders around 1715. These early residents and settlers were attracted by the Tennessee River; the section in Colbert County earned the name “Muscle Shoals” because of the strength of the river in this area and the several different species of mussels. Colbert County has a population of 54,428. The county seat is Tuscumbia Alabama. Colbert County gets its name is in honor of brothers George and Levi Colbert, Chickasaw Indian chiefs.