INDIANS

DOCUMENTS

Relating to the boundary line between the

Cherokees and Creeks

[Continued]

HEAD OF COOSA, 15th Dec. 1829

Thomas Caudray, a white man married to a Cherokee wife, says he was born in the State of Georgia, and when very small his father removed to East Florida, and afterwards to Pensacola, where he was raised until about twenty-two years old; his father kept a public house in Pensacola, and an Indian trader by the name of James Deriso was in the habit of putting up and boarding at his father's when in Pensacola selling his peltries and laying in his goods- he the said Deriso was then said to be living at the Buzzard Roost on Chattahoochy which was said to be inhabited by Creek Indians- the singularity of the name Buzzard Roost raised by curiosity to inquire where it was and who lived there, which led to the information mentioned. When I was about twenty-two years of age, I left my parents and came into the nation, and have been here ever since. I am sixty-six years of age, and have lived in the Cherokee Nation about forty-four years, and I have frequently been at the Buzzard Roost on Chattahoochy which is the only place by that name I ever knew; it has been fifty years or upwards since Deriso first traded from Buzzard Roost to Pensacola. At a treaty held many years since in the State of Georgia between the United States and the Creek Indians, where General Pickens, General Wilkinson, and Col. Hawkins were Commissioners, the Cherokees sent a delegation of chiefs to attend the treaty and try to fix the boundary line between the two nations more distinct than it previously had been known; I recollect that Sour Mush, Chulio, ' Dick Rowe were apart of the delegation that attended the treaty, and after they had returned, I had frequent conversations with them on the subject of the line.- They all agreed in their statements to me at that day, which was as follows, that they the Cherokees and the Chiefs of the Creek Nation had agreed-that the line should begin at the High Shoals of Appalachy and to run with the Old Hightower Trail by the Stone Mountain and to the Shallow Ford on Chattahoochy, and then to make an offset and run the line towards the Coosa River, so as to include all the Cherokee settlements on the Cherokee lands; at that time the Cherokees were living at Suwanney Old Town, at the Standing Peach Tree on Chattahoochy, on Sweet Water Creek which runs into the latter river near the Buzzard Roost, as low down as the Salt Lick, which is within four or five miles of its mouth-they were also settled on all the creeks which run into the Hightower on the south side. I never knew but one noted trail called the Hightower Trail and that is the one I have mentioned as crossing at the Shallow Ford on Chattahoochy and runs from there to the Hightower Old Town on the Hightower River.

THOMAS CAUDRAY.

Witness

Rob't. D. Harris.

CHEROKEE NATION, TWO RUNS VILLAGE, 14th December, 1829.

Thomas Petit, mixed blood Cherokee and white, thinks he is about 61 years of age, was born and raised on the head waters of Chattahoochy until he was thirteen or fourteen years old, towards the close of the Revolutionary War. General Pickens with an army burnt the town of Chohta and Sorta two villages on the Chattahoochy-he was taken prisoner with his mother and many others, but the General left my mother and myself in the nation when he took most of the prisoners away with him. Shortly after that my mother left that part of the country and moved down the Hightower River and settled the place called the Red Bank. We were among the first settlers of that town. After living there some years when I was nearly grown, my mother moved about twenty miles to the Pine Log Village, where I have lived and in the neighborhood of the same place ever since. A great many years ago there was a treaty held at Fort Wilkinson between the whites and Creeks, and the head chiefs of our nation were afraid the Creeks would sell some of our lands and sent Old Sour Mush, Old Chulio, Old Turkey and Eutalitta to attend the treaty and try to make a line with the Creeks; and they sent Old Segawee with them to interpret between the Cherokees and Creeks, and they sent Dick Rowe to interpret between the Cherokees and the whites. General Pickens and Col. Hawkins were Commissioners who held the treaty. After they came back from the treaty, Old Sour Mush told me that they had agreed upon a line with the Creeks, that at first they differed a little; the Cherokees proposed to make the Old Cherokee Corner the beginning corner of their country, but the Creeks refused to go so far back, but proposed to let the Cherokees begin at the High shoals of Appalachy which the Cherokees agreed to. They agreed the line should run from there to the Ten Islands on the Coosa River, so as to leave the Stone Mountain on the Cherokee lands. I have always understood among the Cherokees that they owned the country on both sides of the Coosa River as low as the Ten Islands. I was one of the commissioners for the Cherokee Nation who marked the line between the two nations in 1822, which had been agreed on in 1821. This is the only line I ever heard of between the two nations which said line runs from Buzzard Roost on the Chattahoochy to the mouth of Will's Creek on the Coosa River. The above statement is just and true to the best of my knowledge and belief. Thomas Petit further states that he is familiar with the story of the Indians taking Blackburn's whiskey, which is as follows: Blackburn was descending the Coosa River with a boat of Whiskey-when he arrived at Pathkiller's near Turkey Town. The Pathkiller informed Blackburn that there was a large camp of Creek Indians lying at the Ten Island, and he thought if he went there they would take his whiskey from him. On hearing this news, Blackburn determined he would not go down the river any further and got the Pathkiller to store up his whiskey which was put into one of his houses and locked up and he, Blackburn, went home-after he was gone the Creeks heard of the whiskey and came and demanded it of Pathkiller and threatened to break down the door if he would not open it for them--he was compelled to give his key and they took the whiskey and put it in the boat and carried it off down the river--there was said to be upwards of one hundred Creek Indians that came and took the whiskey. This has been the substance of the circumstance as I have always heard it.

his

THOMAS PETIT x

mark

Sworn to and subscribed before me the date above,

Walter Adair,

Circuit Judge.

OLD HIGHTOWER TOWN,

13th Dec. 1829

Wallen Eata, a full blood Cherokee, aged about 60 years, when young he lived at Tugalo Old Town on Tugalo River; and in the time of the Revolutionary War the white people drove them off and about thirty families of the Cherokees moved down the Chattahoochy and settled at the New York Towns on that river, which are about forty or fifty miles below the Buzzard Roost-the place had been occupied before they went there by the Creek Indians, but they had moved away-the Cherokees remained there about one year, and there being no Cherokees there but the clan or party that went there together, they broke up and moved over and settled at the Hightower Town, where he has lived ever since. He formerly understood they claimed the country down the water of Chattahoochy to a place called the Mineral Springs some distance below the Buzzard Roost, and from there to the Ten Islands on the Coosa River;- that after General M'Intosh married a Cherokee wife he asked liberty of the Cherokees to settle on their land on Chattahoochy the same place where he was afterwards killed by his own nation..

Wallen Eata always thought the Cherokees owned the land lower down to the south, then the line from Buzzard Roost to Will's Creek, but that was the only line ever run between the two nations.

Interpreted by

JOHN WRIGHT.

Witness

Robt. D. Harris