Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/132

96 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. It has been ascertained that two other small tribes intimately connected together, to wit, the Alibamons and the Coosadas or Quesadas, who reside near the river Talapoosa, also speak a language or a dialect distinct from that of the Muskhogees ; but its vocabulary has not been obtained. The Talapoosa and the Coosa form by their junction Alabama River ; and the Alibamons must certainly be the residue of the nation of that name, mentioned by the French writers as living in the vicinity of the old French fort on the Alabama. These five languages, the Muskhogee and the Hitchittee, the Uchee, the JNatches, and the Alibamon or Coosada are, it is believed, the only ones spoken by the different tribes of the Creek confederacy. The Appalachicolas, with whom a separate treaty has recently been made by the United States, are a portion of the Seminoles, residing west of St. Mark's near the mouth of the Appalachicola or Chatahoochee River. It may be here observed, that, al- though we have no vocabulary of the Piankishaws and of the Kickapoo, it is fully ascertained that they respectively speak dialects of the Miami and of the Saukee. The Alibamons are the only existing tribe, east of the Mississippi, of whose language we have no positive knowledge, and cannot say whether it is peculiar to them, or belongs to the same stock as some of the other tribes. I incline to the opinion that it is a dialect of the Choctaw, or Muskhogee. Although partial and transient collisions with the Creeks occurred subsequent to the settlement of Georgia, no actual war w T ith them took place for near fifty years. They took an active part in that of the Revolution against the Americans, and continued their hostilities till the treaty concluded at Phila- delphia, in 1795. They then remained at peace eighteen years ; but, at the beginning of the last war with Great Britain, a considerable portion of the nation, excited, it is said, by Tecumseh, and probably receiving encouragement from other quarters, took arms without the slightest provocation, and at first committed great ravages in the vicinity of their western frontier. They received a severe chastisement ; and the de- cisive victories of General Jackson at that time, and some years later over the Seminoles, who had renewed the war, have not only secured a permanent peace with the Southern Indians, but, together with the progress of the settlements, have placed them all under the absolute control of the United States. The Creeks and Seminoles after some struggles