In 1790, after many battles in the south, the Chickamauga Cherokee made up of the Creek, Cherokee, Choctaws, Chickasaws and Shawnee and Black slaves plus some whites made their way north to join Chief Little Turtle early in 1790. Taking on General Harmon’s 1800 United States soldiers and killing over half of them, this in itself was a great victory for the Chickamauga. Later that same year the United States sent General Clair with 1400 United States Soldiers against the Chickamauga’s Cherokee and we killed over half of them again. But about that time Chief Little Turtle had this dream that he could not win again and signed a treaty with the United States taking his one thousand warriors out of the fight, leaving only the 2000 Chickamauga Cherokee Warriors. And when in 1791 we went against General Mad Wayne and his 2000 United States Soldiers and their cannons, we lost and returned south to Chattanooga, Tennessee carrying on the fight for a few more years. Then General Andrew Jackson moved south with over 6 thousand United States Soldiers. The Chickamauga Cherokee then moved into the northeastern Chickamauga towns in Alabama while still making raids into Tennessee, North Carolina, and part of north central Alabama.
As the war moved forward, the Chickamauga sent warriors to the aid of Chief Red Eagle at Fort Mims in south West Alabama where 2000 warriors killed 498 people early one morning while the gate to the fort stood open and could not be closed because of the red Alabama clay that had washed up against it so that it could not be shut. Most of our Chickamauga warriors were placed along the south part of Georgia and Alabama near the Florida line.
General Andrew Jackson with Six thousand United States Soldiers and the Cherokee of North Carolina and David Crockett were the mass murderers of hundreds of Creek Woman and Children and some warriors. David Crockett stood watch while a log house was burned with women and children in it, on the front porch were baskets of Sweet potatoes being cooked in the human oil from the bodies of the women and children in the cabin. Meanwhile, David Crockett said to Andrew Jackson, “I did not come here to kill women and Children”, and from that day on David Crockett tried to save the Native People from Andrew Jackson.
At this point many of our people moved into Florida; Chief Old Billy Bowleg’s (Halpatter Micco) was born in 1974 in the Creek Village of Eufaula just south of where Horseshoe Bend is located and close to where the Indian Creek Village was located, being the Chief over our people who relocated to what is now called Lake City, Florida today. But in the early 1800’s it was called Alligator Town because our Chief Billy Bowleg changed his name to Chief Alligator because there was a Seminole Chief called Billy Bowleg (Holata Micco)who was born in the early 1800’s in Florida. The war went on until 1845 in Florida when the American people said that they did not wish to fight this war no more. In Florida alone there were 2000 American soldiers who died as a cost of fighting. This war, just in Florida, is at a cost today of over $20,000,000.00.
Many of the Creek, and Chickamauga Cherokee Warriors in Alabama went underground and took up farming, other jobs and went into hiding to save their family. And many are still there today.
Today in the Indian Creek Tribe Chickamauga, Cherokee and Creek Inc. there is over 4380 members of our tribe, there is still today over 110,000 Chickamauga Cherokee Mixed Blood Indians in different tribes around this country. We are still here and still fighting for our homeland and the right to be free and live as we did before with our Religion, history and craft’s.
Wado
Principal Chief James Billy Chance
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