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Georgia Genealogy Trails "Where your Journey Begins" |
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Carroll County Georgia
The land for Lee, Muscogee, Troup, Coweta, and Carroll counties was ceded by the Creek people in the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs. This land was the last remaining portion of the Creek's Georgia territory, and was ceded by William McIntosh, chief of the Lower Creeks or White Sticks. This cession resulted in his murder at McIntosh Reserve near present day Whitesburg by fellow Creeks from northern Alabama called Red Sticks or Upper Creeks. The Muscogee (or Muskogee), also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Their language, Mvskoke, is a member of the Muscogee branch of the Muscogean language family. The county's boundaries were created by the Georgia General Assembly on June 9, but they were not named until December 14 of 1826. Carroll County was named for Charles Carroll of Maryland, at that time the last surviving signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence when the county was created in 1826. Carrollton, the county seat, was also named for this reason. The county originally extended from the Chattahoochee River to the Alabama state line on the East and West with the northern boundary just north of present day I-20 with the Cherokees. This land was carved up over time to become Carroll, Douglas, Heard, parts of Haralson and Troup counties. A portion that became Douglas was once Campbell County which no longer exists (divided between Douglas and Fulton counties). Because of the small slave population the county was known as the Free State of Carroll in the 1850s. Even before the cession of the territory some white settlers were in the northern part of the county in the Villa Rica area. For a time Carroll County was the home of Horace King (architect). King helped build Moores Bridge over the Chattahoochee River at Whitesburg. Moores Bridge was burned by Union Soldiers during the Civil War. During the American Civil War, the county provided the Bowdon Volunteers and the Carroll Boys, which were a part of Cobb's Legion. In Feb. 2008 several tornadoes hit Carroll County destroying several homes and damaging many more. Then on May 11, 2008(Mother's Day) some of the same areas were hit by more tornadoes.The Mother's Day tornadoes destroyed and damaged many homes and businesses. On Sept. 21 2009 portions of Carroll County were flooded after eight days of heavy rainfall, resulting in multiple fatalities. The flooding initially closed more than 60 roads and destroyed a number of bridges. Early damage estimates were $22 million. —Wikipedia Transcribed by Sandy Denney Treaties of Indian Springs There are two Treaties of Indian Springs with the Creek Indians. The first treaty was signed January 8, 1821. In it, the Lower Creek ceded land to the state of Georgia in return for cash payments totaling $200,000 over a period of 14 years. The state of Georgia was to receive payment from the Federal Government, to satisfy claims of citizens of Georgia against the Creek for seizure or destruction of property prior to the 1802 act of Congress that regulated relations with Indian tribes. The leading signatory for the Lower Creek was the chief William McIntosh. The son of a Creek woman of the prominent Wind Clan and a Loyalist Scots officer, he supported the 'civilizing mission' of the U.S. Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins. He led the Lower Creek Towns in the Creek War of 1813-14, against the traditionalist Red Stick faction of the Upper Creek, and the First Seminole War. He acquired slaves and developed a medium-sized cotton plantation on the Chattahoochee at Lockhau Talofau (Acorn Bluff) in present-day Carroll County. For his role in signing the First Treaty of Indian Springs, McIntosh received 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) of land at Indian Springs. There he built a second plantation and a hotel to draw tourists to the local hot springs, then a popular destination. The second treaty was signed at the Indian Springs Hotel on February 12, 1825 and ratified March 7, 1825. It was negotiated by McIntosh and his first cousin, Georgia Governor George Troup. Under this treaty the Lower Creek surrendered all of their lands east of the Chattahoochee, including the sacred Ocmulgee Old Fields, and accepted relocation west of the Mississippi River to an equivalent parcel of land along the Arkansas River. In compensation for the move to unimproved land, and to aid in obtaining supplies, the Creek nation would receive $200,000 paid in decreasing installments over a period of years. A controversial article provided additional payments to McIntosh for the lands granted to him in 1821. The treaty was popular with Georgians, who re-elected Troupe in the state's first popular election in 1825. It was signed by only six chiefs, and the Creek National Council denounced it, ordering the execution of McIntosh and the other Muscogee signatories, as it was a capital crime to alienate tribal land. On April 29, the Upper Creek chief Menawa took 200 warriors to attack McIntosh at his plantation at Lokchau Talofau. They killed him and another signatory, and set fire to the house. The second Treaty of Indian Springs was ratified by the U.S. Congress by one vote, but a delegation from the Creek National Council, led by Chief Opothleyahola, traveled to Washington with a petition to John Quincy Adams to have it revoked. They negotiated the 1826 Treaty of Washington, in which the Muscogee surrendered most of the lands sought by Georgia under more generous terms, retaining a small piece of land on the Georgia-Alabama border and the Ocmulgee Old Fields. They were not required to move west. Troup refused to recognize the new treaty, and ordered the Creek lands surveyed for a land lottery. He began forcibly evicting the Lower Creek. Adams threatened federal intervention, but backed down after Troup mobilized Georgia militia. The area around the spring is protected as Indian Springs State Park between Jackson and Flovilla in Butts County, Georgia. -- Wikipedia Transcribed by Sandy Denney
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