Family History Writing Challenge- Day 8-The Federal Road

The path that the Womacks and Colemans had followed from Georgia to the Tombigbee Settlement had been nothing but a primitive path through the wilderness. The treaty with the Creeks issued in 1790 required passports, issued by Benjamin Hawkins, for anyone to travel through the Creek Nation.  In 1805, that changed.

A treaty with the Creek Nation allowed the U.S. to have a horse path, four feet wide, from Washington to Mobile, and gave U.S. citizens the right to travel freely on the path. The U.S. government wanted a path for mail service between Washington (D.C.) to New Orleans, which the U.S. had acquired in 1803, along with the Louisiana Purchase from France. They also wanted a route for military to reach the southern border of the expanding United States territories more quickly, should they need to protect that area. The treaty agreed that the Creeks would provide rest houses for travelers and horses, and provide boats or ferries at river crossings- services for which they could charge fares. These services would be regulated by Benjamin Hawkins, the Indian agent, who worked on the route and hired Creeks as post riders for the rode. Hawkins encouraged Jim Cornells, and Sam Moniac, mixed-breed Creeks, to build inns near the path to house travelers and care for their horses. They built on the junction of the Federal Road and the path which headed south to Pensacola- a lucrative trading spot. By 1812, Sam Moniac had a tavern in this location, which was frequented by a local concoction of whites, mixed bloods, and Indians alike.

The Federal Road to Mobile, Saint Stephens, Natchez, and New Orleans

The road was widened again in 1811, this time by the U.S. army. Between 1811 and 1812, Hawkins reported approximately 3700 immigrants traveling west on the road- with at least 120 wagons and 30 carts. Some traveled as much as 30-40 miles per day- but most went half of that, burdened with large families accompanied by family slaves, their entire household belongings, and their farm animals. Meanwhile, the Creeks, who had at first thought to benefit from this arrangement, were realizing that the flow of humanity trudging along this road were not all just passing through. Many planned to make their homes along the way- lands on which the Creeks had long used for hunting, land on which they had their own villages and farms.

Wealthy Creeks, who had successfully assimilated to western ways, acquiring large herds of cattle, and extensive fields of crops worked by slaves, had situated their plantations on the Alabama River, which facilitated easy shipment downriver to the seaports of Mobile and Pensacola. But many other Creeks were soon worried about keeping their small farms or their more traditional Indian ways of life, safe from the onslaught of white settlers and white ways.

Familly History Writing Challenge Day 6- Life in the Tombigbee Settlement

George Gaines, the Indian agent at the time, recalls the early population of the Tombigbee Settlement.

"The Tombigbee settlement in 1805 was composed mainly of a few planters on the river (who generally owned large stocks of cattle) and persons employed in the care of the cattle. There was also a small settlement east of the Alabama river, ten miles above its confluence with the Tombigbee, know as the "Tensaw settlement." Mr. Mimms, a man of considerable property, resided near Tensaw Lake, and was surrounded by a pleasant neighborhood composed of the Lingers, Duns, Thompsons, and others. William and John Pierce, merchants, had a store near Mimm's." 

Along the Tombigbee, he recalls, among others;

" Mr. Young Gaines (his brother) lived about ten miles higher up the river. Major Frank Boykin, a Revolutionary officer, Thomas Bassett, Bowling, Brewers, and Callers were Mr. Gaines neighbors. John McGrew lived near St. Stephens. He owned a plantation on the east side of the river, opposite St. Stephens. Mr. Baker resided on the first bluff above St. Stephens, Mr. Bullock and Mr. Womack lived also in the neighborhood." (1)

 In 1803, James Wilkinson conducted a survey and placed the line between the Choctaw lands and American lands along the right bank of the Sintee Bogue, where he claims the most valuable lands lay, and the line of the creek provided a natural demarcation. In his letter to the Secretary of War, he goes on to remark  "- my purpose was strengthened by additional circumstances, for the line I ran touched on the settlements of two of our citizens, William Hunt and Jesse Warmack, and actually included an Indian settlement near the Tombigby-" (2)

                                     The Womacks did, indeed, live amongst the Choctaw.

Gov. William C. Claiborne and Gen. James Wilkinson taking possession of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. (3)

The Sinte Bogue lay less than 10 miles north of St. Stephens. Running directly into the Tombigbee, it was an ideal place for a plantation. According to another letter, it was a common practice for some of the local planters to free range their cattle (and hogs) on the west bank of the river, and plant their crops on the east bank (lands which they did not own but which the Choctaw had not complained about.) Corn was planted for personal consumption, and cotton for a cash crop. A kitchen garden would have been kept closer to the home cabin.

The Womack family consisted of Jesse, who was by this time elderly, Phoebe, and their sons William, Richard, Francis Marion "Frank," and Jesse Jr. William and Richard soon had smaller farms near their parents. By 1807, Richard Womack had been appointed as the county constable, and before long he was with with a woman known only as "Martha" in a few family histories. She was to be the mother of his next three sons.

Jesse's eldest son, John N. Womack, had a more sizeable plantation, called "Womack Hill" which as located about 10 miles north of the Sinte Bogue Womack properties, and adjacent to his in-laws, the Colemans. When Francis and Margaret Coleman came with their family from Georgia, they brought 66 head of cattle with them. They also brought 11 slaves on the journey. Two more of their sons had married Womacks- Francis Jr. married Mary Womack, and Benjamin married Elizabeth Womack- both nieces of Jesse.  There is little doubt that the Coleman's and Womack's socialized as family together.

Other neighbors were thinly scattered throughout Washington County. William Hunt, the Womack's closest neighbor, was a justice of the peace. Other families in the county included the McGrews, David and Young Gaines (brothers of George,) the Boykins, Callers (James Caller serving in the fledgling house of representatives and John a justice in the county court,) the Baileys, Walkers, Pace's, McLendon's, Hainsworths, and Dents, among others. It was a tiny population of frontier families, striving to make a community out of the wilderness. In 1810 the total population of the county consisted of 733 free white men, women, and children. Indians were not counted.

The Womacks were slave holders, as they had been since their days in Virginia. In 1808 Jesse had 6 slaves, and William and John each had 4. Many of the settlers did not own slaves at all; most that did own slaves only had a few to help with the cattle and clearing planting the land for crops- but some of the most prosperous plantation owners had a sizeable number of slaves working their land. By 1810 Levin Hainsworth had 14 slaves, Francis Boykin 20, Young Gaines 32, and John McGrew had 31. The 1810 census shows almost as many slaves in the area as free whites- over 500.

More neighbors were soon to come. The first public land sales began at St. Stephens, with land selling at $1.25-$3 an acre. The land rush was on.



1- Reminiscences of George Strother Gaines, Pioneer and Statesman of Early Alabama and Mississippi 1805-1843, edited by James P. Pate, p.43-4

2-United States, Department of State, compiled and edited by Clarence Edwin Carter, The Territorial Papers of the United States Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1934-1962. 26 volumes. National Archives microfilm publications: M0721 Vols. V and VI, The Territory of Mississippi, p236, James Wilkinson to the Secretary of War. (online digital edition at
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010692377;view=1up;seq=13)
3- picture of gov. claiborne and Gen. James Wilkinson- http://mdah.state.ms.us/timeline/wp-content/uploads/1993.7.2-571x800.jpg

Family History Writing Challenge- Tecumseh Stamps his Foot

Rare News...rampant rumors..continuous uncertainty.

Fear was a constant companion in those days.

As Abe’s mother pounded corn to make meal for bread, she was watching the woods and the river. Would savage Creek warriors come running from the woods across the meadow to her cabin? Would she have enough warning to run and find a hiding place for she and her babies in the woods?

As she fetched water in heavy buckets from the Sinte Bogue she glanced up the slow moving stream. Would she look up one day to see war canoes coming down the creek? So far the Creeks had been reluctant to cross the Tombigbee into Choctaw territory. But how long would that last? Would they gather for all out war against the Choctaw as well as the American settlements?

As she cooked the midday meal and fed her babies she must have thought about her neighbors and relatives, several miles away. How were their families? Was everyone safe? With so many men away in the militia, and so many farms abandoned for the stockades, how would they manage to raise enough food to eat? Or would they live long enough to see another winter? Would her sweet babies grow to become men, or would their lives be cut short by a Red Stick tomahawk?

She weighed her few options. Would it be safer to leave their home and take shelter in one of the simple stockade forts that had been hastily constructed by the men in the district? She had heard from other women that the crowded stockades were full an abundance of rough mannered men who spent their time there drinking and partying. She wouldn’t want to be there amongst them unless there were other women she knew there as well.  What were her friends doing? Most people thought the west side, the Choctaw side of the river, was safe; in fact some families from the east of the Tombigbee had crossed over with their families to set up temporary refugee camps in tents, assuming this would be better than the potential threat they faced on the east banks….where the Creeks resided.

  Would it be safer to hide her children amongst the Choctaw children in the village? Or should she travel with them now and go to Womack Hill and stay with the Womack and Coleman relatives there? She expected that her husband, Richard, would provide the answers for her. But right now, like most of the men who were not very old or too young to carry a long rifle, he and his brothers were off training with the militia.

Tecumseh

In the fall of 1811, Tecumseh and his brother, the prophet, had come to rouse up the Creeks. Thank goodness Pushmataha and the Choctaw had stood up against him, or the settlers would all be dead by now. Some of the Creeks, though, listened, and their local prophet, Josiah Francis, stirred up a group of “Red Stick” warriors to prepare to fight those who would not return to traditional Indian ways. Rumors went around that when Tecumseh returned to his home, he would give a sign that the time had come for the Indians to revolt and then he would “stamp his foot” and the earth would rumble and shake. And sure enough, a great shooting star appeared in the sky, night after night, and was called “Tecumseh’s Comet.”  Then, in mid-December, the worst happened. The earth truly trembled and shook in a way that terrified everyone- Indian and white alike. It was like the end of the world had come. Lights flashed from the ground, and thunder shook the sky. And this happened again in January and in February. Those who believed in the prophesy attributed it to Tecumseh. This was a powerful omen… so powerful that whole villages were destroyed….so powerful that they say the Mississippi River actually ran backwards. Who would not be afraid?? Perhaps it was the end of the world. (1)

The Red Sticks were greatly empowered by these signs. Their numbers grew….and they seemed more and more ready to attack the fragile settlements of the Tombigbee and Tensaw regions. 

And it is true that terrible things soon transpired.

Resources:

1-http://www.new-madrid.mo.us/index.aspx?nid=132

Family History Writing Challenge Day 10- Tecumseh and Pushmataha

The path and the problem

The Native Americans in the region saw the signs of inevitable change at their doorstep. The federal horse path from Washington had become a Federal Road, and white settlers were flooding their way into the territory, with oxen pulling wagons full of their children and worldly goods or mules dragging the hogsheads of those families who could not even afford a wagon. The wealthy brought their slave families along the road, who in turn drove herds of cattle. The rich rode horses; the poor walked. The road was a muddy, rutted mess, crowded with newcomers looking for cheap land and a new life. It was a death knell for Indians wanting to preserve their old life.

The settlements were rapidly encroaching on Indian lands, and the settlers and their government were hungry to procure more land. Cattle and hogs from the settlement trampled Indian hunting grounds and their fields of corn. Deer and other game, which had once been plentiful, were now scarce. The influx of people had thinned the existing herds and wildlife. The Indians faced famine. The settlers also brought diseases which assaulted the Indians- small pox and fevers. The people were hungry, and many were dying. They faced extinction, expulsion (to lands west) or forced assimilation. There was little hope for the survival of their people, let alone of their culture.

Tecumseh (1)

Tecumseh 

In September, 1811, the great Shawnee leader, Tecumseh, came with his brother, Prophet Tenskwatawa, and twenty of his warriors, to speak to the southeastern tribes. He had spoken to the Chickasaws, and traveled across Okitbbeha Creek to meet with the Choctaws. After leaving the Six Towns region, he traveled on to the village of Mushulatubbee, and on to the village of Hoentubbee. Here he requested that all of the leaders come to meet with him. The great Choctaw mingoes and chiefs of all the districts gathered to hear him- Pushmataha, Mushulatubbee, Puckshenubbe, Hoentubbee, and David Folsom, and John Pitchlynn. Hoentubbee later told of the gathering.

“All were dressed, and painted alike. Their arms were rifles, with tomahawks and scalping knives in their belts. Their dress was a buckskin hunting shirt, a cloth flap, with buckskin leggings and moccasins profusely fringed and beaded. All wore garters below the knees. Their hair was plaited in a long cue of three plaits hanging down below the shoulders, while each temple was closely shaven. The heads of all, except Tecumseh, were adorned with plumes of hawk and eagle feathers. Tecumseh word, descending from the crown of his head, two long crane feathers, one white, the other dyed a brilliant red. According to Indian symbolism, the white feather was an emblem of peace….peace among the various Indian tribes. The red feather was a war emblem….war to their enemies, the Americans. They wore silver bands on each arm, one around the wrist, one above and below the elbow, and a few wore silver gorgets suspended from their necks…..Semi-circular streaks of red war-paint were drawn under each eye, extending outward on the cheek bone.” (1)

A great orator, Tecumseh spoke as follows to the gathering.

”…. The whites are already nearly a match for us all united, and too strong for any one tribe alone to resist; so that unless we support one another with our collective and united forces; unless every tribe unanimously combines to give check to the ambition and avarice of the whites, they will soon conquer us apart and disunited, and we will be driven away from our native country and scattered as autumnal leaves before the wind.”

“….Where the Narragansetts, the Mohawks, Pocanokets, and many other once powerful tribes of our race? They have vanished before the avarice and oppression of the white men, as snow before a summer sun. In the vain hope of alone defending their ancient possessions, they have fallen in the wars with the white men. Look abroad over their once beautiful country, and what see you now? Naught but the ravages of the paleface destroyers meet our eyes. So it will be with you Choctaws and Chickasaws! Soon your mighty forest trees, under the shade of whose wide spreading branches you have played in infancy, sported in boyhood, and now rest your wearied limbs after the fatigue of the chase, will be cut down to fence in the land which the white intruders dare to call their own. Soon their broad roads will pass over the grave of your fathers, and the place of their rest will be blotted out forever. The annihilation of our race is at hand unless we unite in one common cause against the common foe. Think not, brave Choctaws and Chickasaws,  that you can remain passive and indifferent to the common danger, and thus escape the common fate. Your people, too, will soon be as falling leaves and scattering clouds before their blighting breath. You, too, will be driven away from your native land and ancient domains as leaves are driven before the wintry storms.”

Sleep not longer, O Choctaws and Chickasaws, in false security and delusive hopes. Our broad domains are fast escaping from our grasp. Every year our white intruders become more greedy, exacting, oppressive and overbearing. 

Shall we give up our homes, our country, bequeathed to us by the Great Spirit, the graves of our dead, and everything that is dear and sacred to us, without a struggle? I know you will cry with me: Never! Never! Then let us by unity of action destroy them all, which we now can do, or drive them back whence they came. War or extermination is now our only choice. Which do you choose? I know your answer. Therefore, I now call on you, brave Choctaws and Chickasaws, to assist in the just cause of liberating our race from the grasp of our faithless invaders and heartless oppressors. The white usurpation in our common country must be stopped, or we, its rightful owners, be forever destroyed and wiped out as a race of people. I am now at the head of many warriors backed by the strong arm of English soldiers. Choctaws and Chickasaws, you have too long borne with grievous usurpation inflicted by the arrogant Americans. Be no longer their dupes. If there be one here tonight who believes that his rights will not sooner or later be taken from him by the avaricious American pale-faces, his ignorance ought to excite pity, for he knows little of the character of our common foe.” (2) 

(It should be noted that Tecumseh spoke strongly against the killing of women in children in war, and insisted that their lives should be spared during the ensuing conflict.)

Pushmataha

Pushmataha

The great Choctaw Mingo Pushmataha, who was present, conferred with other chiefs and councils, and a day later gave this answer to Tecumseh.

 
“Halt! Tecumseh, listen to me. You have come here, as you have often gone elsewhere, with a purpose to involve peaceful people in unnecessary trouble with their neighbors. Our people have no undo friction with the whites. Why? Because we have had no leaders stirring up strife to serve their selfish personal ambitions.

You heard me say our people are a peaceful people. They make their way not by ravages upon their neighbor, but by honest toil. In that regard they have nothing in common with you. I know your history well. You are a disturber! You have ever been a trouble-maker. When you have found yourself unable to pick a quarrel with the white man, you have stirred up strife between different tribes of your own race. Not only that! You are a monarch, an unyielding tyrant within your own domain; every Shawnee, man, woman, and child must bow in submission to your imperious will. The Choctaws and Chickasaws have no monarchs. Their chieftains do not undertake the mastery of their people, but rather are they the people's servants, elected to serve the will of the majority. The majority has spoken on this question, and it has spoken against your contention. Their decision has, therefore, become the law of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, and Pushmataha will see that the will of the majority, so recently expressed, is rightly carried out to the letter.

If, after this decision, any Choctaw should be so foolish as to follow your imprudent advice and enlist to fight against the Americans, thereby abandoning his own people and turning against the decision of his own council, Pushmataha will see that proper punishment is meted out to him, which is death.

You have made your choice; you have elected to fight with the British. The Americans have been our friends and we shall stand by them. We will furnish you safe conduct to the boundaries of this Nation, as properly befits the dignity of your office. Farewell, Tecumseh. You will see Pushmataha no more until we meet on the fateful warpath.” (3)  

After various speeches, the mingoes met with Tecumseh and advised him to leave their lands or be put to death. Hoentubbee and David Folsom escorted the Shawnee warriors across the Tombigbee, and out of Choctaw lands. Tecumseh and his followers rode on to seek support among the Creeks and the Seminoles to the east.

Resources:

Benton- The Very Worst Road, 1998

Halbert and Ball- the Creek War of 1812 and 1813

 Quotes

1    1- Halbert and Ball- the Creek War of 1813 and 1814 p. 43

2- "Sleep No Longer, O Choctaws and Chickasaws" (1811 by Tecumseh) Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com

      3- http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/nativeamericans/chiefpushmataha.htm

       

      Illustrations

1- Tecumseh by Jacques Reich (Public domain via wikimedia commons)

2- 1824 portrait of Pushmataha by Charles Bird King.
Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.