Ockfuskenena, a Creek
Indian Town, and the Events that Lead to its Attack and Destruction
The quarterly meeting of the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society will
be held at 3:00 pm ET on October 18, 2015 at the Bradshaw Library in Valley,
AL. The Bradshaw Library is
located on Highway 29 in Valley, Alabama, approximately one mile south of I-85
Exit 79. The public is invited and
encouraged to attend.
Joseph
H. Thompson, retired Historic Site Manager II, with the Georgia Department of
Natural Resources, will present “Okfuskenena, a
Creek Indian Town, and the Events that Lead to its Attack and
Destruction.” Joe is a graduated from West Point High School. He received his A.A. degree from Middle Georgia
College, and his B.S. degree in History from LaGrange College. He served as Historic Site Manager at Sunbury
Historic Site and as Historic Site Manager II at Wormsloe Historic Site, both
Georgia Department of Natural Resources sites located on the Georgia
coast. Joe serves as a board member of
The Friends of Horseshoe Bend, Fort Tyler, The Troup County Archives, and the
Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society.
The presentation, “Okfuskenena, a
Creek Indian Town, and the Events that Lead to its Attack and
Destruction,” will establish the Creek town’s origin and the events that
brought about its demise. A
chronological order will be established putting into perspective the events
that came about with the end of the American Revolution and the establishment
of a new U.S. government and their effects on the Creek Nation and the town of
Okfuskenena.
The conclusion of the American Revolution brought about the
end of British Trade and support for the Indians. The State of Georgia made treaties with the
Indians but not all were in agreement.
The eventual push back of the Native People against expansion and white
settlements became known as the Oconee War.
With the ratification of the Constitution of February 6, 1788, it became
illegal for states to make treaties and maintain a standing army. The United
States efforts to establish a treaty at Rock Landing in 1789 on the Oconee
River ended prematurely with Alexander McGillivray leaving with the Creek
delegation. In a second attempt the
Creeks were invited to New York to sign a treaty on August 7, 1790. McGillivray after returning home found that
neither the Creeks nor the Georgians were satisfied. With the Georgians continued desire for more
land the Indian raids continued. The
Indian raids increased with the death of Alexander McGillivray in February,
1793. The south was on the eve of an all-out
war. In retaliation the Green County
Militia burned a Creek town on the Chattahoochee, Ofuskeenena. During the Creek war 1813-14 General David
Adams returned to the river crossing twenty years after burning Okfuskenena
with orders to burn the Okfuskee town of Neuyauka on the Tallapoosa River.
In the mid-1960s the site of Burnt Village became an
important archaeological site during the construction of the West Point Dam and
reservoir.
