The Creeks

1. The Creeks • in 1831, the Principal Chiefs of the Creeks wrote to the Secretary of War that they would not agree to remove • The Creek refusal to remove was also influenced by stories of death and disease on the trail by the Choctaws who were removed earlier • Time after time, they petitioned the federal government for help, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. • They learned that their only hope was to emigrate

2. The Creeks • In Washington, the delegation reluctantly signed a treaty with provisions that the Creeks thought would give them both time and protection. • That they would have to remove to the Territory was now certain, as they saw it. • In return for ceding their lands to the United States, the Creeks asked for a period of five years to dispose of their Alabama lands in an orderly fashion. • In return, the government promised to rid the Creek territory of the white intruders. • Instead of ridding the territory of the white intruders, the government did nothing. • Whites poured into the area in even greater numbers when they learned that the Creeks had agreed to remove

3. The Creeks • All kinds of schemes were used to defraud the Creek land owners. • State and federal governments had come to the conclusion that the Creeks had to go • Creeks rebelled but Secretary of War Cass ordered General Thomas Jessup to use the federal army to suppress the rebellion and remove them forthwith to the West.

4. The Creeks • Jessup’s army converged upon the forests and swamps where thousands of terrified Creek refugees had hidden. • 1600 Creeks were captured. • The men were manacled and linked together with chains and then marched westward. • Their women and children trailed behind. • Another 900 from an adjoining village were herded along with them. • By mid-winter, 15,000 Creek exiles stretched from border to border in Arkansas.

5. The Creeks • They lacked food, shelter, clothing, blankets, and medicine. They were completely dispirited and demoralized. • The sick were left untended and the dead un buried. • Creek spokesmen begged for an advance of promised federal annual payments to keep the nation alive and unmolested. • General Jessup offered to comply with the request if Creek warriors would volunteer to fight the Seminoles. Some 800 volunteered

6. The Creeks • The warriors fought and many died, but the federal troops did little or nothing as the remaining Creeks were driven from their homes and robbed of their horses, cattle, and food. • Their boys and old men were confined to compounds and their women assaulted. • The federal troops finally moved them to a concentration camp near Mobile Bay, where hundreds died from malnutrition and epidemics. • By the time the Creeks completed the removal of their tribe to Indian Territory, 40 percent of them had perished.

7. The Seminoles • The Seminoles were the smallest and most primitive of the Five Civilized Tribes. • They lived in Florida and took advantage of the hiding in the swamps to raid American settlers, then go back into hiding in the swamps. • The Seminoles farmed, but their chief means of making a living was hunting and fishing. • When Florida became a possession of the United States, white settlers who had feared the war-like tribe urged removal.

8. The Seminoles • The Seminoles agreed to send delegates to Indian Territory to explore the area and to see if the Creeks would be willing for them to move into the Creek Nation. • There the delegation unknowingly signed a removal treaty with the United States Government. • These delegates later told that they thought they were merely signing papers relating to their explorations. • Under the great Seminole warrior Osceola, they retreated into the swamps, and the war of the Seminole removal began.

9. The Seminoles • Under General Jessup, captured Seminoles were held in concentration camps until enough were assembled to make up a contingent for removal. • The wife of Osceola was captured and held among other Seminole captives. Three Seminole leaders — Osceola, Wild Cat, and Cloud — asked for a conference under a flag of truce. • The United States commander agreed to meet under a truce but tricked them and violated the truce and took them prisoner instead.

10. Seminoles • Ross protested vigorously, but the general refused to release them. • Osceola died in prison, but the Seminoles fought on until nearly 1,500 of them lost their lives or were captured and removed. • A few hundred moved into the most remote areas of the swamps and were left there. Descendants of those unconquered bands still live in Florida.

13. The most lawless area of the region was attached neither to the U.S. nor to Indian Territory. It was No Mans Land, which is now the panhandle of Oklahoma Left over after the Texas borders were set no one noticed this orphaned area. For many years the only people in No Mans Land were travelers- traders going to and from Santa Fe, Indians following Buffalo herds, gold-seekers on their way to the west coast, or settlers on their way to Oregon. There was little law in No Mans Land for no state law reigned over it and there was not immediate cause to exercise federal law It became a haven for outlaws. No Man’s Land No Man’s Land

14. 1.) What percent of the Seminoles died during their removal? a.) 100% b.) 40% c.) Very few died 2.) Describe the conditions in which the Seminoles were removed. a.) They were forcibly removed b.) They were removed peacefully c.) Their removal was the smoothest of all the Native American removals 3.) After the Seminoles were removed, who were they originally controlled by? a.) The Chickasaws b.) The Choctaws c.) The Creeks 4.) Where were the Seminoles located before their removal? a.) Florida b.) Tennessee c.) Georgia 5.) Describe the Seminoles relationships with their slaves. a.) They were very close with their slaves in comparison with other slave owners b.) They treated their slaves very poor in comparison to other slave owners c.) They did not own slaves 6.) What president demanded the Seminoles be removed? a.) Abraham Lincoln b.) Andrew Jackson c.) Thomas Jefferson 7.) Why did the Seminoles resent being teamed up with the Creeks? a.) Because the Creeks did not believe in slavery b.) Because the Creeks had already assimilated into the European culture c.) Because the Creeks had been part of slave raids in Seminole camps 8.) Name one famous Seminole leader? a.) Geronimo b.) Cochise c.) Osceola 9.) Name one thing the discovery of gold in California did? a.) It sped up the Western movement b.) It let the Indians stay in the East because so many settlers moved west to find gold c.) It made the Native Americans rich because they owned a lot of the land the gold was found on. 10.) Where was no man’s land? a.) On the Eastern border of the Louisiana territory b.) In Southeastern Oklahoma c.) In the panhandle of Oklahoma Chapter 8 Quiz

15. The Trail of Tears