the majority of seminole, who were once considered lower creeks, hailed from georgia before the latter half of the 18th century and before the trail of tears.
the majority of seminole, who were once considered lower creeks, hailed from georgia before the latter half of the 18th century and before the trail of tears.
where did the majority of seminole , who were once considered lower creeks, hail from before the latter half of the 18th century and before the trail of tears?
georgia
during the american revolution, the upper creeks sided with the british, fighting alongside the chickamauga (lower cherokee) warriors of dragging canoe, in the cherokee–american wars, against white settlers in present-day tennessee. this alliance was orchestrated by the coushatta chief alexander mcgillivray, son of lachlan mcgillivray, a wealthy scottish loyalist fur-trader and planter, whose properties were confiscated by georgia. his ex-partner, scots-irish patriot george galphin, initially persuaded the lower creeks to remain neutral, but loyalist capt. william mcintosh led a group of pro-british hitchiti, and most of the lower creeks nominally allied with britain after the 1779 capture of savannah. muscogee warriors fought on behalf of britain during the mobile and pensacola campaigns of 1780–81, where spain re-conquered british west florida. loyalist leader thomas brown raised a division of king's rangers to contest patriot control over the georgia and carolina interior and instigated cherokee raids against the north carolina back-country after the battle of king's mountain. he seized augusta in march 1780, with the aid of an upper creek war-party, but reinforcements from the lower creeks and local white loyalists never came, and georgia militia led by elijah clarke retook augusta in 1781. the next year an upper creek war-party trying to relieve the british garrison at savannah was routed by continental army troops under gen. 'mad' anthony wayne.
muscogee
bands from various tribes in the southeastern united states had moved into the unoccupied lands in florida in the 18th century. these included alabamas, choctaw, yamasees, yuchis and creek people. the creeks were the largest group, and included lower creeks and upper creeks, and both hitchiti and muscogee speakers. one group of hitchiti speakers, the mikasuki, settled around what is now lake miccosukee near tallahassee. another group of hitchiti speakers settled around the alachua prairie in what is now alachua county. the spanish in st. augustine began calling the alachua creeks "cimarrones", which roughly meant "wild ones" or "runaways", and which is the probable origin of "seminole". this name was eventually also applied to the other groups in florida, although the native americans still regarded themselves as members of different tribes. other groups in florida at the time of the seminole wars included "spanish indians", so called because it was believed that they were descended from calusas, and "rancho indians", persons of native american ancestry, possibly both calusa and creek, and mixed native american/spanish ancestry, living at spanish/cuban fishing camps on the florida coast.
second seminole war