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152-585: La Florida may refer to: Spanish Florida , the State of Florida and surrounding areas of the southeastern United States as a former Spanish territory Florida , a current U.S. State (Spanish name) La Florida (film) , a 1993 Canadian film La Florida , a solar power plant in Alvarado, Badajoz, Spain Geography [ edit ] La Florida y Luisiana ,

304-514: A Timucua group, and was at the center of an important chiefdom in the late 16th and 17th century. A series of missions were then established across the Florida panhandle , Georgia , and South Carolina during the 1600s; and Pensacola was founded on the western Florida panhandle in 1698, strengthening Spanish claims to that section of the territory. Spanish control of the Florida peninsula

456-434: A matrilineal kinship system, with children considered born into their mother's clan, and inheritance was through the maternal line. The Wind Clan is the first of the clans. The majority of micos have belonged to this clan. Britain, France, and Spain all established colonies in the present-day Southeastern woodlands. Spain established Jesuit missions and related settlements to influence Native Americans. The British and

608-447: A tustunnuggee or ranking warrior, the principal military adviser. The heles hayv or medicine maker officiated at various rituals, including providing black drink , used in purification ceremonies. The most important social unit was the clan . Clans organized hunts, distributed lands, arranged marriages, and punished lawbreakers. The authority of the micos was complemented by the clan mothers, mostly women elders. The Muscogee had

760-401: A Muscogee woman. In Muscogee culture, unmarried Muscogee women had great freedom over their own sexuality compared to European and European-American counterparts. Under the customs of Muscogee matrilineal society, their children belonged to their mother's clan. With the exception of McGillivray, mixed-raced Muscogee people worked against Muscogee Creek interests, as they understood them ; to

912-477: A Yamasee band that remained allies of Britain, allowed John Musgrove to establish a fur-trading post. His wife Mary Musgrove was the daughter of an English trader and a Muscogee woman from the powerful Wind Clan, half-sister of 'Emperor' Brim. She was the principal interpreter for Georgia's founder and first Governor Gen. James Oglethorpe , using her connections to foster peace between the Creek Indians and

1064-458: A band of settlers to found St. Augustine . Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales, the chaplain of the expedition, celebrated the first Thanksgiving Mass on the grounds. The formal Franciscan outpost, Mission Nombre de Dios , was founded at the landing point, perhaps the first mission in what would become the continental United States . The mission served nearby villages of the Mocama ,

1216-512: A circuitous route through the roughest country they could find. In any case, the expedition did not find the larger Apalachee towns. By the time the expedition reached Aute, a town near the Gulf Coast, it had been under attack by Indian archers for many days. Plagued by illness, short rations, and hostile Indians, Narváez decided to sail to Mexico rather than attempt an overland march. Two hundred and forty-two men set sail on five crude rafts. All

1368-613: A commission to drive non-Spanish adventurers from all of the land from Newfoundland to St. Joseph Bay (on the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico ). Menéndez de Avilés reached Florida at the same time as Ribault in 1565, and established a base at San Agustín (St. Augustine in English), the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in what is now the continental United States. Menéndez de Avilés quickly set out to attack Fort Caroline, traveling overland from St. Augustine. At

1520-775: A community in Cruz Alta Department, Argentina Club Social y Deportivo La Florida , a football team based in La Florida y Luisiana La Florida, Chile , a commune in Santiago Province La Florida, Nariño , a municipality in Nariño District, Colombia La Florida (wetland) , a wetland and park in Funza, close to Bogotá La Florida District , a district of San Miguel Province, Peru La Florida (L'Hospitalet de Llobregat) ,

1672-525: A death sentence against George Washington 's Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins , who won the loyalty of the Lower Creeks. He built a tiny navy, and raided Spanish ships in the Gulf of Mexico , and, in 1800, declared war on Spain, briefly capturing the presidio and trading post of San Marcos de Apalache before being forced to retreat. Although a Spanish force that set out to destroy Mikosuki got lost in

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1824-475: A drastic decline in the population of all the indigenous peoples of Florida , and large swaths of the peninsula were mostly uninhabited by the early 1700s. During the mid-1700s, small bands of Creek and other Native American refugees began moving south into Spanish Florida after having been forced off their lands by South Carolinan settlements and raids. They were later joined by African-Americans fleeing slavery in nearby colonies. These newcomers – plus perhaps

1976-480: A few surviving descendants of indigenous Florida peoples – eventually coalesced into a new Seminole culture. The extent of Spanish Florida began to shrink in the 1600s, and the mission system was gradually abandoned due to native depopulation. Between disease, poor management, and ill-timed hurricanes, several Spanish attempts to establish new settlements in La Florida ended in failure. With no gold or silver in

2128-542: A fortification that was under construction, while returning from raiding Santo Domingo and Cartagena in the Caribbean. His raids exposed Spain's inability to properly defend her settlements. The Jesuits had begun establishing missions to the Native Americans in Florida in 1567, but withdrew in 1572 after hostile encounters with the natives. In 1573 Franciscans assumed responsibility for missions to

2280-720: A hurricane in 1752, the Spanish relocated to the Presidio San Miguel de Panzacola, which developed into the city of Pensacola . In 1718, the Spanish founded the Presidio San Marcos de Apalachee at the existing port of San Marcos, under the authority of the governor in St. Augustine. This presidio developed into the town of St. Marks . Some Spanish men married or had unions with Pensacola, Creek, or African women, both slave and free, and their descendants created

2432-503: A mission to establish colonies at Ochuse ( Pensacola Bay ) and Santa Elena ( Port Royal Sound ). The plan was to land everybody at Ochuse, with most of the colonists marching overland to Santa Elena. A tropical storm struck five days after the fleet's arrival at the Bay of Ochuse, sinking ten of the thirteen ships along with the supplies that had not yet been unloaded. Expeditions into the interior failed to find adequate supplies of food. Most of

2584-540: A mixed-race population of mestizos and mulattos . The Spanish encouraged slaves from the southern colonies to come to Florida as a refuge, promising freedom in exchange for conversion to Catholicism . In 1693, King Charles II of Spain issued a royal proclamation freeing all slaves who fled to Spanish Florida and accepted conversion and baptism. Most went to the area around St. Augustine, but escaped slaves also reached Pensacola. St. Augustine had mustered an all-black militia unit defending Spain as early as 1683. During

2736-512: A neighbourhood in the L'Hospitalet de Llobregat municipality, Catalonia, Spain La Florida (park) in Álava, Spain See also [ edit ] Florida (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title La Florida . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to

2888-689: A result of the Anglo-Spanish War when the British captured Havana, the principal port of Spain's New World colonies. Peace was signed in February, 1763, and the British left Cuba in July that year, having traded Cuba to Spain for Florida (the Spanish population of Florida likewise traded positions and emigrated to the island). But while Britain occupied Floridan territory, it did not develop it further. Sparsely populated British Florida stayed loyal to

3040-528: A resupplying mission by Ribault failed to arrive, threatening the colony. Some mutineers fled Fort Caroline to engage in piracy against Spanish colonies, causing alarm among the Spanish government. Laudonnière nearly abandoned the colony in 1565, but Jean Ribault finally arrived with supplies and new settlers in August. At the same time, in response to French activities, King Philip II of Spain appointed Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Adelantado of Florida, with

3192-539: A sense of Muscogee nationalism and centralize political authority, struggling against village leaders who individually sold land to the United States. He also became a wealthy landowner and merchant, owning as many as sixty black slaves. In 1784, he negotiated the Treaty of Pensacola with Spain, recognizing Muscogee control over 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km ) of land claimed by Georgia, and guaranteeing access to

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3344-844: A shortening of Ocheese Creek (the Hitchiti name for the body of water known today as the Ocmulgee River ), and broadly applies to all of the Muscogee Confederacy, including the Yuchi and Natchez . In 1704, Irish colonial administrator James Moore led the Carolina militia and Ochese Creek and Yamasee warriors on a series of raids against Spanish missions in the Florida interior during Queen Anne's War . These raids captured thousands of Spanish-allied Indians, primarily Apalachee , who were sold into slavery in Carolina and

3496-456: A small island (almost certainly one of the Bahamas ) but did not land. On April 2, he spotted the east coast of the Florida peninsula and went ashore the next day at an exact location that has been lost to time. Assuming that he had found a large island, he claimed the land for Spain and named it La Florida , because it was the season of Pascua Florida ("Flowery Easter") and because much of

3648-456: A special emissary, Col. Marinus Willet , who persuaded him to travel to New York City, then the capital of the U.S., and deal directly with the federal government. In the summer of 1790, McGillivray and 29 other Muscogee chiefs signed the Treaty of New York , on behalf of the 'Upper, Middle and Lower Creek and Seminole composing the Creek nation of Indians,' ceding a large portion of their lands to

3800-733: A strategic buffer between the rest of New Spain and the expanding English colonies to the north. In contrast with the conquistadors of Mexico or of Peru, the Spaniards in La Florida found no gold or silver. Due to disease and, later, raids by colonists of the Province of Carolina (chartered in 1663) and their Native American allies, the native population was not large enough for an encomienda system of forced agricultural labor, so Spain did not establish large plantations in Florida. Large free-range cattle ranches in north-central Florida were

3952-760: Is a linguistic isolate , unrelated to any other language. The ancestors of the Muscogee people were part of the Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere , also known as Mississippian cultures . Between 800 and 1600 CE, they built complex cities with earthwork mounds with surrounding networks of satellite towns and farmsteads. Muscogee confederated town networks were based on a 900-year-old history of complex and well-organized farming and town layouts around plazas, ballparks, and square ceremonial dance grounds. The Muscogee Creek are associated with multi-mound centers, such as

4104-731: Is best described as a collection of moderately sized native chiefdoms (such as the Coosa chiefdom on the Coosa River ), interspersed with completely autonomous villages and tribal groups. The earliest Spanish explorers encountered villages and chiefdoms of the late Mississippian culture , beginning on April 2, 1513, with Juan Ponce de León 's landing in Florida. The 1526 Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón expedition in South Carolina also recorded encounters with these peoples. Muscogee people were gradually influenced by interactions and trade with

4256-469: Is generally credited as being the first European to discover Florida. However, that may not have been the case. Spanish raiders from the Caribbean may have conducted small secret raids in Florida to capture and enslave native Floridians at some time between 1500 and 1510. Furthermore, the Portuguese Cantino planisphere of 1502 and several other European maps dating from the first decade of

4408-516: Is historically safe to assert that Catholic Mass was celebrated in what is today the United States for the first time by these Dominicans, even though the specific date and location remains unclear. In 1527, Pánfilo de Narváez left Spain with five ships and about 600 people (including the Moroccan slave Mustafa Azemmouri ) on a mission to explore and to settle the coast of the Gulf of Mexico between

4560-490: Is now Parris Island, South Carolina , in 1562. However, the French Wars of Religion prevented Ribault from returning to resupply the fort, and the men abandoned it. Two years later, René Goulaine de Laudonnière , Ribault's lieutenant on the previous voyage, set out to found a haven for Protestant Huguenot colonists in Florida. He founded Fort Caroline at what is now Jacksonville in July 1564. Once again, however,

4712-776: Is now Georgia and South Carolina into North Carolina , then turned westward, crossed the Great Smoky Mountains into Tennessee , then marched south into Georgia. Turning westward again, the expedition crossed Alabama . They lost all of their baggage in a fight with Indians near Choctaw Bluff on the Alabama River , and spent the winter in Mississippi . In May 1541, the expedition crossed the Mississippi River and wandered through present-day Arkansas , Missouri and possibly Kansas before spending

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4864-533: Is recorded of his meeting with great Indian caciques (chiefs). Ybarra (Ibarra) in 1605 sent Álvaro Mexía , a cartographer, on a mission further South to meet and develop diplomatic ties with the Ais Indian nation, and to make a map of the region. His mission was successful. In February 1647, the Apalachee revolted. The revolt changed the relationship between Spanish authorities and the Apalachee. Following

5016-751: Is today the Southern United States. Paleo-Indians in the Southeast were hunter-gatherers who pursued a wide range of animals, including megafauna , which became extinct following the end of the Pleistocene age. During the time known as the Woodland period , from 1000 BC to 1000 AD, locals developed pottery and small-scale horticulture of the Eastern Agricultural Complex . The Mississippian culture arose as

5168-523: The Alabama and Mississippi area. The areas were inhabited by historic Muscogee Native Americans . De Soto brought with him a well-equipped army. He attracted many recruits from a variety of backgrounds who joined his quest for riches in the Americas . As the de Soto expedition's brutalities became known to the indigenous peoples, they decided to defend their territory. Chief Tuskaloosa led his people in

5320-533: The Battle of Mabila , where the Native Americans were defeated. However, the victory came at great cost to the Spanish campaign in loss of supplies, casualties, and morale. The expedition never fully recovered. Because of endemic infectious diseases carried unknowingly by the Europeans, but new to the Muscogee, the Spanish expedition resulted in epidemics of smallpox and measles, and a high rate of fatalities among

5472-477: The Carolina and Virginia colonies gradually pushed the frontier of Spanish Florida south. In the early 18th century, French settlements along the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast encroached on the western borders of the Spanish claim. Starting in 1680, Carolina colonists and their Native American allies repeatedly attacked Spanish mission villages and St. Augustine, burning missions and killing or kidnapping

5624-623: The Chattahoochee . French Canadian explorers founded Mobile as the first capital of Louisiana in 1702, and took advantage of the war to build Fort Toulouse at the confluence of the Tallapoosa and Coosa in 1717, trading with the Alabama and Coushatta . Fearing they would come under French influence, the British reopened the deerskin trade with the Lower Creeks, antagonizing the Yamasee, now allies of Spain. The French instigated

5776-556: The Cherokee , Upper and Lower Creeks, Chickasaw and Choctaw . Bowles' first act was declaring the 1796 Second Treaty of San Ildefonso , which drew the boundary between the U.S. and West Florida , null and void , because the Indians were not consulted. He denounced the treaties Alexander McGillivray had negotiated with Spain and the U.S., threatening to declare war on the United States unless it returned Muscogee lands, and issuing

5928-601: The Coosa , Tallapoosa and Alabama rivers, were Tuckabatchee , Abhika , Coosa (Kusa; the dominant people of East Tennessee and North Georgia during the Spanish explorations), Itawa (original inhabitants of the Etowah Indian Mounds ), Hothliwahi (Ullibahali), Hilibi, Eufaula , Wakokai, Atasi, Alibamu , Coushatta (Koasati; they had absorbed the Kaski/Casqui and the Tali ), and Tuskegee ("Napochi" in

6080-539: The First Seminole War . As with earlier American incursions into Florida, Spain protested this invasion but could not defend its territory, and instead opened diplomatic negotiations seeking a peaceful transfer of land. By the terms of the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, Spanish Florida ceased to exist in 1821, when control of the territory was officially transferred to the United States. Juan Ponce de León

6232-580: The Mississippian culture along the Tennessee River in modern Tennessee , Georgia, and Alabama. They may have been related to the Tama of central Georgia. Muscogee oral history describes a migration from places west of the Mississippi River , in which they eventually settled on the east bank of the Ocmulgee River . Here they waged war against other bands of Native American Indians, such as

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6384-694: The Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( pronounced [məskóɡəlɡi] in the Muscogee language ; English: / m ə s ˈ k oʊ ɡ iː / məss- KOH -ghee ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands in the United States . Their historical homelands are in what now comprises southern Tennessee , much of Alabama , western Georgia and parts of northern Florida . Most of

6536-589: 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 . After

6688-506: The Ocmulgee , Etowah Indian Mounds , and Moundville sites. Precontact Muscogee societies shared agriculture, transcontinental trade, craft specialization, hunting, and religion. Early Spanish explorers encountered ancestors of the Muscogee in the mid-16th century. The Muscogee were the first Native Americans officially considered by the early United States government to be "civilized" under George Washington 's civilization plan . In

6840-772: The Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana , and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas are federally recognized. Formed in part originally by Muscogee refugees, the Seminole people today have three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma , Seminole Tribe of Florida , and Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida . At least 12,000 years ago, Native Americans or Paleo-Indians lived in what

6992-638: The Red Stick War , began as a civil war within the Muscogee Nation, only to become enmeshed within the War of 1812 . Inspired by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh (to whom 19th-century writers attributed fiery speeches that he "must have said") and their own religious leaders, and encouraged by British traders, Red Stick leaders such as William Weatherford (Red Eagle), Peter McQueen , and Menawa won

7144-694: The Seminole . Through ethnogenesis , the Seminole emerged with a separate identity from the rest of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy. The great majority of Seminole were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory in the late 1830s, where their descendants later formed federally recognized tribes . Some of the Seminole , with the Miccosukee moved south into the Everglades , resisting removal. These two tribes gained federal recognition in

7296-828: The Yamasee War , remnants of the 'mission Indians,' and escaped African slaves. Their name comes from the Spanish word cimarrones , which originally referred to a domestic animal that had reverted to the wild. Cimarrones was used by the Spanish and Portuguese to refer to fugitive slaves—" maroon " emerges linguistically from this root as well—and American Indians who fled the Europeans. In the Hitchiti language, which lacked an 'r' sound, it became simanoli , and eventually Seminole. Many Muscogee Creek leaders, due to intermarriage, have British names: Alexander McGillivray , Josiah Francis , William McIntosh , Peter McQueen , William Weatherford , William Perryman, and others. These reflect Muscogee women having children with British colonists. For instance, Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins married

7448-422: The deerskin trade ) and Indian slaves . The Spanish and their "mission Indians" burned most of the towns along the Chattahoochee after they welcomed Scottish explorer Henry Woodward in 1685. In 1690, English colonists built a trading post on the Ocmulgee River , known as Ochese-hatchee (creek), where a dozen towns relocated to escape the Spanish and acquire English goods. The name "Creek" most likely derived from

7600-473: The indigenous peoples . These losses were exacerbated by the Indian slave trade that colonists conducted in the Southeast during the 17th and 18th centuries. As the survivors and descendants regrouped, the Muscogee Creek Confederacy arose as a loose alliance of Muskogee-speaking peoples. The Muscogee lived in autonomous villages in river valleys throughout present-day Tennessee , Georgia , and Alabama , speaking several related Muskogean languages . Muskogee

7752-473: The "old chiefs" of the Creek national government. They were emboldened when Tecumseh rallied his followers and joined with a British invasion to capture Fort Detroit in August 1812. In February 1813, a small party of Red Sticks, led by Little Warrior, was returning from Detroit when they killed two families of settlers along the Duck River , near Nashville . Hawkins demanded that the Muscogees turn over Little Warrior and his six companions. Instead of handing

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7904-605: The 16th century show a landmass near Cuba that several historians have identified as Florida. This interpretation has led to the theory that anonymous Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to map the southeastern portion of the future United States, including Florida. This view is disputed by at least an equal number of historians. In 1512, Juan Ponce de León, governor of Puerto Rico , received royal permission to search for land north of Cuba. On March 3, 1513, his expedition departed from Punta Aguada , Puerto Rico, sailing north in three ships. In late March, he spotted

8056-464: The 18th century, the Native American peoples who would become the Seminoles began their migration to Florida, which had been largely depopulated by Carolinian and Yamasee slave raids. Carolina's power was damaged, and the colony nearly destroyed, during the Yamasee War of 1715–1717; after which the Native American slave trade was radically reformed. In 1763, Spain traded Florida to Great Britain in exchange for control of Havana , Cuba, and Manila in

8208-477: The 19th century, the Muscogee were known as one of the " Five Civilized Tribes ", because they were said to have integrated numerous cultural and technological practices of their more recent European American neighbors. Influenced by Tenskwatawa 's interpretations of the 1811 comet and the New Madrid earthquakes , the Upper Towns of the Muscogee, supported by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh , actively resisted European-American encroachment. Internal divisions with

8360-447: The 20th century and remain in Florida. The respective languages of all of these modern-day branches, bands, and tribes, except one, are closely related variants called Muscogee, Mvskoke and Hitchiti-Mikasuki , all of which belong to the Eastern Muskogean branch of the Muscogean language family . These languages are mostly mutually intelligible. The Yuchi people today are part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation , but their Yuchi language

8512-403: The British built Fort King George at the mouth of the Altamaha River . As the three European colonial powers established themselves along the borders of Muscogee lands, the latter's strategy of neutrality allowed them to hold the balance of power. The colony of Georgia was created in 1732; its first settlement, Savannah , was founded the following year, on a river bluff where the Yamacraw ,

8664-463: The British firm Panton, Leslie & Co. which controlled the deerskin trade, while making himself an official representative of Spain. In 1786, a council in Tuckabatchee decided to wage war against white settlers on Muscogee lands. War parties attacked settlers along the Oconee River , and Georgia mobilized its militia. McGillivray refused to negotiate with the state that had confiscated his father's plantations, but President George Washington sent

8816-410: The Crown during the American Revolutionary War , and by the terms of the Treaty of Paris which ended the war, the territory was returned to Spain in 1783. After a brief diplomatic border dispute with the fledgling United States, the countries set a territorial border and allowed Americans free navigation of the Mississippi River by the terms of Pinckney's Treaty in 1795. France sold Louisiana to

8968-409: The Europeans had a significant impact on the natives, along with the rising power of the French and British. During the Queen Anne's War , the British destroyed most of the missions. By 1706, the missionaries abandoned their mission outposts and returned to St. Augustine. Spanish Governor Pedro de Ibarra worked at establishing peace with the native cultures to the South of St. Augustine. An account

9120-406: The Europeans: trading or selling deer hides in exchange for European goods such as muskets, or alcohol. Secondly, the Spanish pressed them to identify leaders for negotiations; they did not understand government by consensus. After Cabeza de Vaca , a castaway who survived the ill-fated Narváez expedition , returned to Spain in 1537, he told the Court that Hernando de Soto had said that America

9272-429: The Federal Road. In 1806, Fort Benjamin Hawkins was built on a hill overlooking the Ocmulgee Old Fields , to protect expanding settlements and serve as a reminder of U.S. rule. Hawkins was disheartened and shocked by the outbreak of the Creek War , which destroyed his life work of improving the Muscogee quality of life. Hawkins saw much of his work toward building a peace destroyed in 1812. A faction of Muscogee joined

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9424-454: The French opted for trade over conversion. In the 17th century, Franciscan friars in Spanish Florida built missions along Apalachee Bay . In 1670, English colonists from Barbados founded Charles Town (modern-day Charleston), the capital of the new colony of Carolina . Traders from Carolina went to Muscogee settlements to exchange firearms , gunpowder, axes, glass beads, cloth and West Indian rum for white-tailed deer pelts (as part of

9576-556: The Gulf coast towards Florida. In 1696, they founded the Presidio Santa Maria de Galve on Pensacola Bay near the present-day site of Fort Barrancas at Naval Air Station Pensacola , followed by the foundation of the Presidio Bahía San José de Valladares on St. Joseph Bay in 1701. These presidios were under the direct authority of the Viceroy of New Spain rather than the governor of Spanish Florida in St. Augustine. The French captured Bahía San José de Valladares in 1718, and Santa Maria de Galve in 1719. After losing Santa Maria de Galve,

9728-444: The Hitchiti Muscogee chieftain William Perryman , and later used this union as the basis for his claim to exert political influence among the Creeks. In 1781, a 17-year-old Bowles led Muscogee forces at the Battle of Pensacola . After seeking refuge in the Bahamas , he travelled to London. He was received by King George III as 'Chief of the Embassy for Creek and Cherokee Nations'; it was with British backing that he returned to train

9880-501: The Huguenots executed. The location became known as Matanzas . The 1565 marriage in St. Augustine between Luisa de Abrego, a free black domestic servant from Seville, and Miguel Rodríguez, a white Segovian conquistador, was the first known and recorded Christian marriage anywhere in what is now the continental United States. Following the expulsion of the French, the Spanish renamed Fort Caroline Fort San Mateo ( Saint Matthew ). Two years later, Dominique de Gourgues recaptured

10032-413: The Indian population. In 1702, James Moore led an army of colonists and a Native American force of Yamasee , Tallapoosa , Alabama , and other Creek warriors under the Yamasee chief Arratommakaw. The army attacked and razed the town of St. Augustine, but could not gain control of the fort. Moore, in 1704, made a series of raids into the Apalachee Province of Florida, looting and destroying most of

10184-498: The Indians adopted the practice of private property, built homes, farmed, educated their children, and embraced Christianity, these Native Americans would win acceptance from white Americans." Washington's six-point plan included impartial justice toward Indians; regulated buying of Indian lands; promotion of commerce; promotion of experiments to civilize or improve Indian society; presidential authority to give presents; and punishing those who violated Indian rights. The Muscogee would be

10336-405: The Indians' village, where they found corn . Further north they were met by a chief who led them to his village on the far side of the Suwannee River . The chief, Dulchanchellin, tried to enlist the Spanish as allies against his enemies, the Apalachee . Seizing Indians as guides, the Spaniards traveled northwest towards the Apalachee territory. Milanich suggests that the guides led the Spanish on

10488-410: 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

10640-414: The Lower Creeks, who had been in conflict with the Upper Creeks of Alabama for years. The Seminole originally occupied the wooded areas of northern Florida. Under pressure from colonists and the United States Army in the Seminole Wars, they migrated into central and southern Florida, to the Everglades . Many of their descendants live in this area today as one of the two federally recognized Seminole tribes in

10792-401: The Lower Towns led to the Red Stick War (Creek War, 1813–1814). Begun as a civil war within Muscogee factions, it enmeshed the Northern Muscogee bands as British allies in the War of 1812 against the United States, while the Southern Muscogee remained US allies. Once the northern Muscogee Creek rebellion had been put down by General Andrew Jackson with the aid of the Southern Muscogee Creek,

10944-729: The Muscogee as pirates to attack Spanish ships. In 1799, Bowles formed the State of Muskogee , with the support of the Chattahoochee Creeks and the Seminoles . He established his capital at Miccosuki , a village on the shores of Lake Miccosukee near present-day Tallahassee . It was ruled by Mico Kanache, his father-in-law and strongest ally. Bowles envisioned the State of Muskogee , with its capital at Miccosuki , encompassing large portions of present-day Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and incorporating

11096-794: The Muscogee nation was forced to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson , which ceded 22,000,000 acres of land to the US, including land belonging to the Southern Muscogee who had fought alongside Jackson. The result was a weakening of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy and the forced cession of Muscogee lands to the US. During the 1830s Indian Removal , most of the Muscogee Confederacy were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory . The Muscogee (Creek) Nation , Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town , Kialegee Tribal Town , and Thlopthlocco Tribal Town , all based in Oklahoma, are federally recognized tribes. In addition,

11248-569: The Muscogee people were forcibly removed to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma ) by the federal government in the 1830s during the Trail of Tears . A small group of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy remained in Alabama, and their descendants formed the federally recognized Poarch Band of Creek Indians . Another Muscogee group moved into Florida between roughly 1767 and 1821, trying to evade European encroachment, and intermarried with local tribes to form

11400-611: The Muscogee that the comet signaled his coming. McKenney reported that Tecumseh would prove that the Great Spirit had sent him by giving the Muscogee a sign. Shortly after Tecumseh left the Southeast, the sign arrived as promised in the form of an earthquake. On December 16, 1811, the New Madrid earthquake shook the Muscogee lands and the Midwest . While the interpretation of this event varied from tribe to tribe, one consensus

11552-776: The Muscogee to side with the British, but like many tribes, they were divided by factionalism, and, in general, avoided sustained fighting, preferring to protect their sovereignty through cautious participation. 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

11704-594: The Native Americans, eventually operating dozens of missions to the Guale , Timucua and Apalachee tribes. The missions were not without conflict, and the Guale first rebelled on October 4, 1597, in what is now coastal Georgia . The extension of the mission system also provided a military strategic advantage from British troops arriving from the North. During the hundred-plus year span of missionary expansion, disease from

11856-524: The Pan-American Indian movement of Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh , rejecting accommodation with white settlers and adaptation of European-American culture. Although Hawkins personally was never attacked, he was forced to watch an internal civil war among the Muscogee develop into a war with the United States. A comet appeared in March 1811. The Shawnee leader Tecumseh , whose name meant "shooting star", traveled to Tuckabatchee , where he told

12008-776: The Philippines, which had been captured by the British during the Seven Years' War . As Britain had defeated France in the war, it took over all of French Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, except for New Orleans . Finding this new territory too vast to govern as a single unit, Britain divided the southernmost areas into two territories separated by the Apalachicola River : East Florida (the peninsula) and West Florida (the panhandle). The Spanish officials, soldiers and settlers departed following

12160-580: The Savanna, Ogeeche, Wapoo, Santee , Yamasee, Utina , Icofan, Patican and others, until at length they had overcome them, and absorbed some as confederates into their tribe. In the mid-16th century, when explorers from the Spanish made their first forays inland from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico , many political centers of the Mississippians were already in decline, or abandoned. The region

12312-400: The Spaniards required Apalachees who lived at the missions to send workers to St. Augustine every year to perform labor in the town. The missions were destroyed by Carolina and Creek raiders in a series of raids from 1702 to 1704, further reducing and dispersing the native population of Florida and reducing Spanish control over the area. Great Britain took possession of Florida as part of

12464-741: The Spanish established the Presidio Bahía San José de Nueva Asturias on St. Joseph Point in 1719, as well as a fort at the mouth of the Apalachicola River . Spain regained the Pensacola Bay area from the French in 1722 and established the Presidio Isla Santa Rosa Punta de Siguenza on Santa Rosa Island , abandoning the Bahía San José site. After Isla Santa Rosa Punta de Siguenza was destroyed by

12616-414: The Spanish established the colony of Santa Elena on what is now Parris Island, South Carolina . Juan Pardo led two expeditions (1566–1567 and 1567–1568) from Santa Elena as far as eastern Tennessee, establishing six temporary forts in interior. The Spanish abandoned Santa Elena and the surrounding area in 1587. In 1586, English privateer Francis Drake plundered and burned St. Augustine, including

12768-654: The Spanish governor at Pensacola . The Red Sticks fled the scene, and the U.S. soldiers looted what they found, allowing the Red Sticks to regroup and retaliate with a surprise attack that forced the Americans to retreat. The Battle of Burnt Corn , as the exchange became known, broadened the Creek Civil War to include American forces, and was interpreted as a good omen, showing that in fact the Creeks could defeat

12920-548: The United States in 1803. The U.S. claimed that the transaction included West Florida , while Spain insisted that the area was not part of Louisiana and was still Spanish territory. In 1810, the United States intervened in a local uprising in West Florida , and by 1812, the Mobile District was absorbed into the U.S. territory of Mississippi , reducing the borders of Spanish Florida to that of modern Florida. In

13072-410: The Upper Creeks to raid the Lower Creeks. In May 1718, the shrewd Emperor Brim , mico of the powerful Coweta band, invited representatives of Britain, France, and Spain to his village and, in council with Upper and Lower Creek leaders, declared a policy of Muscogee neutrality in their colonial rivalry. That year, the Spaniards built the presidio of San Marcos de Apalache on Apalachee Bay . In 1721,

13224-731: The West Indies. A decade later, tensions between colonists and Indians in the American Southwest led to the Yamassee War of 1715–17. The Ochese Creeks joined the Yamasee, burning trading posts, and raiding back-country settlers, but the revolt ran low on gunpowder and was put down by Carolinian militia and their Cherokee allies. The Yamasee took refuge in Spanish Florida , the Ochese Creeks fled west to

13376-475: The agreements ending the Seven Years' War in 1763, and the Spanish population largely emigrated to Cuba. The new colonial ruler divided the territory into East and West Florida, but despite offers of free land to new settlers, Britain was unable to increase the population or economic output, and traded Florida back to Spain in 1783 after the American War of Independence . Spain's ability to govern or control

13528-409: The boundaries of Florida over Spanish objections. The War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–1748) included a British attack on St. Augustine and a Spanish invasion of Georgia , both of which were repulsed. At the conclusion of the war, the northern boundary of Spanish Florida was set near the current northern border of modern-day Florida. Great Britain temporarily gained control of Florida beginning in 1763 as

13680-657: The boundaries. Spain gained possession of West Florida and regained East Florida from Britain in the Peace of Paris of 1783, and continued the British practice of governing the Floridas as separate territories: West Florida and East Florida. When Spain acquired West Florida in 1783, the eastern British boundary was the Apalachicola River, but Spain moved it eastward to the Suwannee River in 1785. The purpose

13832-423: The boundary between West Florida and the newly independent U.S. at 31° . However, in the companion Peace of Paris between Britain and Spain, West Florida was ceded to Spain without its boundaries being specified. The Spanish government insisted that its claim extended fully to the 1767 boundary at 32° 28′. The British line at 32° 28′ was close to Spain's old claim of 32° 30′, which can be justified by referring to

13984-486: The central and western Gulf coast to the Yucatán Peninsula in 1519. In 1521, Ponce de León sailed from Cuba with 200 men in two ships to establish a colony on the southwest coast of the Florida peninsula, probably near Charlotte Harbor . However, attacks by the native Calusa drove the colonists away in July 1521. During the skirmish, Ponce de León was wounded in his thigh and later died of his injuries upon

14136-460: The colonial settlements, traveling periodically to Pensacola and the Georgia trading posts to unload their skins and pick up more trade goods. As Andrew Frank writes, "Terms such as mixed-blood and half-breed, which imply racial categories and partial Indianness, betray the ways in which Native peoples determined kinship and identity in the eighteenth- and early-nineteen-century southeast." With

14288-497: The colonists from Ochuse and occupy Santa Elena. Villafañe led 75 men to Santa Elena, but a tropical storm damaged his ships before they could land, forcing the expedition to return to Mexico. The establishment of permanent settlements and fortifications in Florida by Spain was in response to the challenge posed by French Florida : French captain Jean Ribault led an expedition to Florida, and established Charlesfort on what

14440-399: The colony continued to erode, and, after repeated incursions by American forces against the Seminole people who had settled in Florida, Spain finally decided to sell the territory to the United States. The parties signed the Adams–Onís Treaty in 1819, and the transfer officially took place on July 17, 1821, over 300 years after Spain had first claimed the Florida peninsula. Spanish Florida

14592-411: The colony moved inland to Nanicapana, renamed Santa Cruz, where some food had been found, but it could not support the colony and the Spanish returned to Pensacola Bay. In response to a royal order to immediately occupy Santa Elena, Luna sent three small ships, but they were damaged in a storm and returned to Mexico. Angel de Villafañe replaced the discredited Luna in 1561, with orders to withdraw most of

14744-641: The contrary, in many cases, they spearheaded resistance to settler encroachment on Muscogee Creek lands. That they usually spoke English as well as Mvskoke , and knew European customs as well, made them community leaders; they "dominated Muskogee politics". As put by Claudio Saunt : These offspring of mixed marriages occupied a different position in the economy of the Deep South than did most Creeks and Seminoles. They worked as traders and factors . ... By virtue of their ancestry and upbringing, they had greater cultural, social, linguistic, and geographic ties to

14896-548: The cultivation of maize from Mesoamerica led to agricultural surpluses and population growth. Increased population density gave rise to urban centers and regional chiefdoms . Stratified societies developed, with hereditary religious and political elites. This culture flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from 800 to 1500, especially along the Mississippi River and its major tributaries. The early historic Muscogee were descendants of

15048-443: The de Luna chronicles). The most important leader in Muscogee society was the mico or village chief. Micos led warriors in battle and represented their villages, but held authority only insofar as they could persuade others to agree with their decisions. Micos ruled with the assistance of micalgi or lesser chiefs, and various advisers, including a second-in-charge called the heniha , respected village elders, medicine men, and

15200-527: The deerskin trade and protecting Spanish Florida from further British encroachment. Ca. 1750 a group of Ochese moved to the neutral zone, after clashing with the Muskogee -speaking towns of the Chattahoochee , where they had fled after the Yamasee War . Led by Chief Secoffee ( Cowkeeper ), they became the center of a new tribal confederacy, the Seminole , which grew to include earlier refugees from

15352-458: The earlier disruptions caused by the Spanish and were wary when not outright hostile. De Soto seized Indians to serve as guides and porters. The expedition reached Apalachee in October and settled into the chief Apalachee town of Anhaica for the winter, where they found large quantities of stored food, but little gold or other riches. In the spring de Soto set out to the northeast, crossing what

15504-518: The early 1800s, tensions rose along the unguarded border between Spanish Florida and the state of Georgia as settlers skirmished with Seminoles over land and American slave-hunters raided Black Seminole villages in Florida. These tensions were exacerbated when the Seminoles aided Great Britain against the United States during the War of 1812 and led to American military incursions into northern Florida beginning in late 1814 during what became known as

15656-564: The end of the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years' War ) in 1763, France lost its North American empire, and British-American settlers moved inland. Indian discontent led to raids against back-country settlers, and the perception that the royal government favored the Indians and the deerskin trade led many back-country white settlers to join the Sons of Liberty . Fears of land-hungry settlers and need for European manufactured goods led

15808-471: The existing Spanish settlements in Mexico and Florida. After storms and delays, the expedition landed near Tampa Bay on April 12, 1528, already short on supplies, with about 400 people. Confused as to the location of Tampa Bay (Milanich notes that a navigation guide used by Spanish pilots at the time placed Tampa Bay some 90 miles (140 km) too far north), Narváez sent his ships in search of it while most of

15960-480: The expedition marched northward, supposedly to meet the ships at the bay. Intending to find Tampa Bay, Narváez marched close to the coast, through what turned out to be a largely uninhabited territory. The expedition was forced to subsist on the rations they had brought with them until they reached the Withlacoochee River , where they finally encountered Indians. Seizing hostages, the expedition reached

16112-603: The expedition's return to Havana . In 1521, Pedro de Quejo and Francisco Gordillo enslaved 60 Indians at Winyah Bay , South Carolina . Quejo, with the backing of Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón , returned to the region in 1525, stopping at several locations between Amelia Island and the Chesapeake Bay . In 1526, de Ayllón led an expedition of some 600 people to the South Carolina coast. After scouting possible locations as far south as Ponce de Leon Inlet in Florida,

16264-550: The federal government and promising to return fugitive slaves, in return for federal recognition of Muscogee sovereignty and promises to evict white settlers. McGillivray died in 1793, and with the invention of the cotton gin white settlers on the Southwestern frontier who hoped to become cotton planters clamored for Indian lands. In 1795, Elijah Clarke and several hundred followers defied the Treaty of New York and established

16416-514: The first Native Americans to be "civilized" under Washington's six-point plan. Communities within the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole tribes followed Muscogee efforts to implement Washington's new policy of civilization. In 1796, Washington appointed Benjamin Hawkins as General Superintendent of Indian Affairs dealing with all tribes south of the Ohio River . He personally assumed

16568-427: The first U.S. president, and Henry Knox , the first U.S. Secretary of War, proposed a cultural transformation of the Native Americans. Washington believed that Native Americans were equals as individuals but that their society was inferior. He formulated a policy to encourage the "civilizing" process, and it was continued under President Thomas Jefferson . Noted historian Robert Remini wrote, "[T]hey presumed that once

16720-538: The first solely missionary expedition in la Florida. Following decades of native contact with Spanish laymen who had ignored a 1537 Papal Bull which condemned slavery in no uncertain terms, the religious order's effort was abandoned after only six weeks with de Cancer's brutal martyrdom by Tocobaga natives. His death sent shock waves through the Dominican missionary community in New Spain for many years. In 1566,

16872-538: The fort from the Spanish and slaughtered all of the Spanish defenders. However, he did not leave a garrison, and France would not attempt to settle in Florida again. To fortify St. Augustine, Spaniards (along with forced labor from the Timucuan, Guale, and Apalache peoples) built the Castillo de San Marcos beginning in 1672. The first stage of construction was completed in 1695. They also built Fort Matanzas just to

17024-425: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=La_Florida&oldid=806413150 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Spanish Florida Florida was never more than a backwater region for Spain that came to serve primarily as

17176-472: The local Indians a decade earlier when he was sent ashore from a ship searching for Narváez. Ortiz passed on the Indian reports of riches, including gold, to be found in Apalachee, and de Soto set off with 550 soldiers, 200 horses, and a few priests and friars. De Soto's expedition lived off the land as it marched. De Soto followed a route further inland than that of Narváez's expedition, but the Indians remembered

17328-477: The lower third of the present states of Mississippi and Alabama, including the valuable Natchez District . During this time, Creek Indians began to migrate into Florida, leading to the formation of the Seminole tribe. The aboriginal peoples of Florida had been devastated by war and disease, and it is thought most of the survivors accompanied the Spanish settlers when they left for other colonies (mostly French) in 1763. This left wide expanses of territory open to

17480-518: The marauders over to the federal agents, Big Warrior and the old chiefs decided to execute the war party. This decision was the spark which ignited the civil war among the Muscogee. The first clashes between Red Sticks and the American whites took place on July 21, 1813, when a group of American soldiers from Fort Mims (north of Mobile, Alabama ) stopped a party of Red Sticks who were returning from West Florida , where they had bought munitions from

17632-403: The most successful agricultural enterprise and were able to supply both local and Cuban markets. The coastal towns of Pensacola and St. Augustine also provided ports where Spanish ships needing water or supplies could stop and resupply. Beginning in the 1630s, a series of missions stretching from St. Augustine to the Florida panhandle supplied St. Augustine with maize and other food crops, and

17784-514: The new colony. In 1735, Georgia constructed Fort Okfuskee near Oakfuskee to compete with French trade with the Creeks at Fort Toulouse. The deerskin trade grew, and by the 1750s, Savannah exported up to 50,000 deerskins a year. In 1736, Spanish and British officials established a neutral zone from the Altamaha to the St. Johns River in present-day Florida, guaranteeing Native hunting grounds for

17936-540: The peoples he met (likely the Timucua , Tequesta , and Calusa ) were mostly hostile at first contact and knew a few Castilian words, lending credence to the idea that they had already been visited by Spanish raiders. Popular legend has it that Ponce de León was searching for the Fountain of Youth when he discovered Florida. However, the first mention of Ponce de León allegedly searching for water to cure his aging (he

18088-461: The period from 1514 to 1516, Pedro de Salazar led an officially sanctioned raid which enslaved as many as 500 Indians along the Atlantic coast of the present-day southeastern United States. Diego Miruelo mapped what was probably Tampa Bay in 1516, Francisco Hernández de Cordova mapped most of Florida's Gulf coast to the Mississippi River in 1517, and Alonso Álvarez de Pineda sailed and mapped

18240-474: The principle of actual possession adopted by Spain and England in the 1670 Treaty of Madrid . The now independent United States insisted that the boundary was at 31°, as specified in its Treaty of Paris with Britain. After American independence, Spain claimed far more land than the old British West Florida, including the east side of the Mississippi River north to the Ohio and Tennessee rivers. This expanded claim

18392-721: The rafts were wrecked on the Texas coast. After eight years, four survivors, including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca , reached New Spain (Mexico). Hernando de Soto had been one of Francisco Pizarro 's chief lieutenants in the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire , and had returned to Spain a very wealthy man. He was appointed Adelantado of Florida and governor of Cuba and assembled a large expedition to 'conquer' Florida. On May 30, 1539, de Soto and his companions landed in Tampa Bay, where they found Juan Ortiz , who had been captured by

18544-479: The region, Spain regarded Florida (and particularly the heavily fortified town of St. Augustine) primarily as a buffer between its more prosperous colonies to the south and west and several newly established rival European colonies to the north. The establishment of the Province of Carolina by the English in 1639, New Orleans by the French in 1718, and of the Province of Georgia by Great Britain in 1732 limited

18696-508: The remaining Spanish missions and killing or enslaving most of the Indian population. By 1707, the few surviving Indians had fled to Spanish St. Augustine and Pensacola, or French Mobile . Some of the Native Americans captured by Moore's army were resettled along the Savannah and the Ocmulgee rivers in Georgia. At the end of the 17th century and early in the 18th century, the Spanish attempted to block French expansion from Louisiana along

18848-418: The revolt, Apalachee men were forced to work on public projects in St. Augustine or on Spanish-owned ranches. In 1656, the Timucua rebelled, disrupting the Spanish missions in Florida . This also affected the ranches and food supplies for St. Augustine. The economy of Spanish Florida diversified during the 17th century, with cattle ranching playing a major role. Throughout the 17th century, colonists from

19000-537: The role of principal agent to the Muscogee. He moved to the area that is now Crawford County in Georgia . He began to teach agricultural practices to the tribe, starting a farm at his home on the Flint River. In time, he brought in slaves and workers, cleared several hundred acres, and established mills and a trading post as well as his farm. For years, Hawkins met with chiefs on his porch to discuss matters. He

19152-425: The same time, Ribault sailed from Fort Caroline, intending to attack St. Augustine from the sea. The French fleet, however, was pushed out to sea and decimated by a squall. Meanwhile, the Spanish overwhelmed the lightly defended Fort Caroline, sparing only the women and children. Some 25 men were able to escape. When the Spanish returned south and found the French shipwreck survivors, Menéndez de Avilés ordered all of

19304-428: The settlement of San Miguel de Gualdape was established in the vicinity of Sapelo Sound , Georgia . Disease, hunger, cold and Indian attacks led to San Miguel being abandoned after only two months. About 150 survivors returned to Spanish settlements. Dominican friars Fr. Antonio de Montesinos and Fr. Anthony de Cervantes were among the colonists. Given that at the time priests were obliged to say mass each day, it

19456-530: The short-lived Trans-Oconee Republic . In 1790, the Muscogee and Choctaw were in conflict over land near the Noxubee River . The two nations agreed to settle the dispute by ball-play. With nearly 10,000 players and bystanders, the two nations prepared for nearly three months. After a day-long struggle, the Muscogee won the game. A fight broke out and the two nations fought until sundown with nearly 500 dead and many more wounded. William Augustus Bowles

19608-575: The signing of the treaty, with the entirety of St Augustine emigrating to Cuba. The British soon began an aggressive recruiting policy to attract colonists to the area, offering free land and backing for export-oriented businesses. In 1767, the British moved the northern boundary of West Florida to a line extending from the mouth of the Yazoo River east to the Chattahoochee River (32° 28′ north latitude), consisting of approximately

19760-500: The south to look for enemies arriving by sea. In the eighteenth century, a free black population began to grow in St. Augustine, as Spanish Florida granted freedom to enslaved people fleeing the Thirteen Colonies . Fort Mose became another fort, populated by free black militiamen and their families, serving as a buffer between the Spanish and British. In 1549, Father Luis de Cáncer and three other Dominicans attempted

19912-588: The state. Britain retained control over East Florida during the American Revolutionary War , but the Spanish, by that time allied with the French who were at war with Britain, recaptured most of West Florida. At the end of the war the Peace of Paris (1783) treaties (between the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Spain) ceded all of East and West Florida to Spanish control, though without specifying

20064-663: The support of the Upper Creek towns. Allied with the British, they opposed white encroachment on Muscogee lands and the "civilizing programs" administered by Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins , and clashed with many of the leading chiefs of the Muscogee Nation, most notably the Lower Creek Mico William McIntosh , Hawkins' most powerful ally. Before the Muscogee Civil War began, the Red Sticks attempted to keep their activities secret from

20216-467: The swamps, a second attempt to take San Marcos ended in disaster. After a European armistice led to the loss of British support, Bowles was discredited. The Seminole signed a peace treaty with Spain. The following year, he was betrayed by Lower Creek supporters of Hawkins at a tribal council. They turned Bowles over to the Spanish, and he died in prison in Havana, Cuba two years later. George Washington ,

20368-488: The turn of the 19th century, with real control limited to the immediate vicinity of St. Augustine, Pensacola, and a few small towns and forts scattered across the north of the territory. Tension and hostility between Seminoles and American settlers living in neighboring Georgia and over the Florida border grew steadily. Muscogee The Muscogee , also known as the Mvskoke , Muscogee Creek or just Creek , and

20520-685: The vegetation was in bloom. After briefly exploring the area around their landing site, the expedition returned to their ships and sailed south to map the coast, encountering the Gulf Stream along the way. The expedition followed Florida's coastline all the way around the Florida Keys and north to map a portion of the Southwest Florida coast before returning to Puerto Rico. Ponce de León did not have substantial documented interactions with Native Americans during his voyage. However,

20672-476: The war ended in 1783, the Muscogee learned that Britain had ceded their lands to the now independent United States. That year, two Lower Creek chiefs, Hopoithle Miko (Tame King) and Eneah Miko (Fat King), ceded 800 square miles (2,100 km ) of land to the state of Georgia. Alexander McGillivray led pan-Indian resistance to white encroachment, receiving arms from the Spanish in Florida to fight trespassers. The bilingual and bicultural McGillivray worked to create

20824-411: The whites. On August 30, 1813, Red Sticks led by Red Eagle William Weatherford attacked Fort Mims , where white settlers and their Indian allies had gathered. The Red Sticks captured the fort by surprise, and carried out a massacre, killing men, women, and children. They spared only the black slaves whom they took as captured booty. After the Indians killed nearly 250–500 at the fort, settlers across

20976-449: The winter in Oklahoma . In 1542, the expedition headed back to the Mississippi River, where de Soto died. Three hundred and ten survivors returned from the expedition in 1543. Although the Spanish had lost hope of finding gold and other riches in Florida, it was seen as vital to the defense of their colonies and territories in Mexico and the Caribbean. In 1559, Tristán de Luna y Arellano left Mexico with 500 soldiers and 1,000 civilians on

21128-399: Was based on Spain's successful military operations against the British in the region during the war. Spain occupied or built several forts north of the old British West Florida border, including Fort Confederación , Fort Nogales (at present-day Vicksburg ), and Fort San Fernando (at present-day Memphis ). Spain tried to settle the dispute quickly, but the U.S. delayed, knowing that time

21280-411: Was born into a wealthy Maryland Tory family, enlisting with the Maryland Loyalists Battalion at age 14 and becoming an ensign in the Royal Navy by age 15. Cashiered for dereliction of duty after returning too late to his ship at Pensacola , Bowles escaped north and found refuge among the Lower Creek towns of the Chattahoochee basin. He married two wives, one Cherokee and the other a daughter of

21432-480: Was broken into pieces; and most of the Indians thought that the Great Spirit, angry with the human race, was about to destroy the world. The Muscogee who joined Tecumseh's confederation were known as the Red Sticks. Stories of the origin of the Red Stick name varies, but one is that they were named for the Muscogee tradition of carrying a bundle of sticks that mark the days until an event occurs. Sticks painted red symbolize war. The Creek War of 1813–1814, also known as

21584-493: Was established in 1513, when Juan Ponce de León claimed peninsular Florida for Spain during the first official European expedition to North America. This claim was enlarged as several explorers (most notably Pánfilo Narváez and Hernando de Soto ) landed near Tampa Bay in the mid-1500s and wandered as far north as the Appalachian Mountains and as far west as Texas in largely unsuccessful searches for gold. On September 8, 1565, Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés landed with

21736-469: Was much facilitated by the collapse of native cultures during the 17th century. Several Native American groups (including the Timucua , Calusa , Tequesta , Apalachee , Tocobaga , and the Ais people ) had been long-established residents of Florida, and most resisted Spanish incursions onto their land. However, conflict with Spanish expeditions, raids by the Carolina colonists and their native allies, and (especially) diseases brought from Europe resulted in

21888-541: Was on its side. By Pinckney's Treaty of 1795 with the United States, Spain recognized the 31st parallel as the border, ending the first West Florida Controversy. Andrew Ellicott surveyed this parallel in 1797, as the border between the United States and Spanish territories. In 1798, Ellicott reported to the government that four American generals were receiving pensions from Spain, including General James Wilkinson . Spain, beset with independence movements in its other colonies, could not settle or adequately govern Florida by

22040-473: Was only 40) came after his death, more than twenty years after his voyage of discovery, and the first that placed the Fountain of Youth in Florida was thirty years after that. It is much more likely that Ponce de León, like other Spanish conquistadors in the Americas , was looking for gold, land to colonize and rule for Spain, and Indians to convert to Christianity or enslave. Other Spanish voyages to Florida quickly followed Ponce de León's return. Sometime in

22192-399: 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

22344-487: Was responsible for the longest period of peace between the settlers and the tribe, overseeing 19 years of peace. In 1805, the Lower Creeks ceded their lands east of the Ocmulgee to Georgia, with the exception of the sacred burial mounds of the Ocmulgee Old Fields . They allowed a Federal Road linking New Orleans to Washington, D.C. to be built through their territory. A number of Muscogee chiefs acquired slaves and created cotton plantations, grist mills and businesses along

22496-523: Was spoken from the Chattahoochee to the Alabama River . Koasati (Coushatta) and Alibamu were spoken in the upper Alabama River basin and along parts of the Tennessee River . Hitchiti was spoken in several towns along the Chattahoochee River and across much of present-day Georgia. The Muscogee were a confederacy of tribes consisting of Yuchi , Koasati , Alabama , Coosa , Tuskegee , Coweta , Cusseta , Chehaw (Chiaha), Hitchiti , Tuckabatchee , Oakfuskee , and many others. The basic social unit

22648-432: Was the "richest country in the world". Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the first expedition into the interior of the North American continent. De Soto, convinced of the "riches", wanted Cabeza de Vaca to go on the expedition, but Cabeza de Vaca declined his offer because of a payment dispute. From 1540 to 1543, de Soto explored through present-day Florida and Georgia , and then westward into

22800-570: Was the town ( idalwa ). Abihka , Coosa , Tuckabutche , and Coweta are the four "mother towns" of the Muscogee Confederacy. Traditionally, the Cusseta and Coweta bands are considered the earliest members of the Muscogee Nation. The Lower Towns , along the Chattahoochee River (before 1690 and after 1715), and farther east along the Ocmulgee , Oconee , and Savannah River rivers (between 1690 and 1715), were Coweta, Cusseta (Kasihta), Koloni, Tuskegee, Chiaha , Hitchiti , Oconee, Ocmulgee, Apalachicola, and Sawokli . The Upper Towns, located on

22952-422: Was to transfer San Marcos and the district of Apalachee from East Florida to West Florida. After American independence, the lack of specified boundaries led to a border dispute with the newly formed United States, known as the West Florida Controversy . The two 1783 treaties that ended the American Revolutionary War had differences in boundaries. The Treaty of Paris between Britain and the United States specified

23104-414: Was universally accepted: the powerful earthquake had to have meant something. The earthquake and its aftershocks helped the Tecumseh resistance movement by convincing, not only the Muscogee, but other Native American tribes as well, that the Shawnee must be supported. The Indians were filled with great terror ... the trees and wigwams shook exceedingly; the ice which skirted the margin of the Arkansas river

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