History's Currents (Or Current History): Ben Hawkins And The Georgia Creeks

At the Treaty of Coleraine, signed on the St. Marys River in 1796, a United States envoy, Ben Hawkins met the Creek Indians. He developed a sincere appreciation for the Creek culture. Hawkins, a Princeton graduate, returned to New York and asked President George Washington to appoint him as the Indian Agent to the Creek Nation in Georgia. Hawkins returned to Georgia and began to work with the Creek Indians in the area.

Under the guidance of Hawkins, the Creeks increased their agricultural production, improved their cattle herds through better animal husbandry, and became a prosperous Indian tribe. The Creeks codified their laws under the guidance of Hawkins and lived peacefully with the whites in the area. However, in 1802 Georgia lost its lands west of the Chattahoochee River due to the Yazoo Land Fraud. As part of the cession deal the United States promised to remove all Indians from Georgia as soon as possible.

By 1810 the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh had put together a Confederacy of western tribes which included the Creeks of Alabama. The Alabama Creeks, known as Red Sticks, began their war in 1813. Andrew Jackson defeated the Red Sticks in 1814 at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River (in present day Alabama). At the Treaty of Fort Jackson the Creeks were forced to cede two-thirds of their lands to the United States. This cession included a 90-mile tract of land across southern Georgia. These lands belonged to the Georgia Creeks who had taken the advice of Ben Hawkins and did not join the conflict.

As the cotton economy grew more demand was placed on the Creeks to cede land. By 1830 all Georgia Creeks had been relocated to the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. There with the other "civilized" tribes (the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw) the Creeks rebuilt their lives and cultures only to be pushed aside once again by the whites in the Oklahoma Land Rush (land grab) of 1889. The 'sooners' took lands promised to these tribes by the United States Government "forever". History's currents or current history? You decide!