Ocmulgee National Monument

OCMULGEE CHRONOLOGY

Ocmulgee National Monument commemorates no great hero or single dramatic event. Instead, it is a tribute to untold numbers of people who interacted with their environment, and with each other, over a vast span of time at a place now known as the Ocmulgee Old Fields.

pre-9,000 BC Paleo Indian Period

Ice Age hunters arrive in the Southeast, leaving one of their distinctive

"Clovis" spear points on the Macon Plateau (in the 1930's this became

the first such artifact found in situ in the southern U.S.).

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8,000-9,000 BC Transitional Period

People adjust to gradually warming weather as the glaciers melt and

many Ice Age mammals become extinct.

1,000-8,000 BC Archaic Period

Efficient hunting/gathering; adaptation to a climate much like today; use

of the atlatl (spear thrower), woodworking tools, etc.; white-tail deer

becomes a staple; extensive shell mounds along the coast and some

inland rivers.

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2,500 BC First pottery in this country appears along the Georgia/South

Carolina coast and soon filters into what is now Middle Georgia;

it is tempered or strengthen with plant fibers which burn out

during firing, giving a worm-hole appearance to the vessel surface.

1,000 BC-AD 900 Woodland Period

Pottery tempered with sand and grit, sometimes decorated with

elaborate designs incised, punctated or stamped into its surface

before firing; cultivation of sunflowers, gourds, and several

other plants; construction of semi-permanent villages; stone

effigy mounds and earthen burial and platform mounds;

connections to the Adena/Hopewell Cultures farther

North and to Weeden Island in Florida and South Georgia.

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A.D. 900-1150 Early Mississippian Period

A new way of life, believed to have originated in the Mississippi

River area appears on the Macon Plateau. These people, whose

pottery is different from that made by the Woodland cultures in

the area, construct a large ceremonial center with huge earthen

temple/burial/domiciliary mounds and earthlodges, which serve

as formal council chambers. Their economy is supported by

agriculture, with corn, beans, squash and other crops planted

in the rich river floodplain. Indigenous Woodland people in

surrounding areas interact with these people, who possess

early symbols and artifacts associated with the

Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (Southern Cult).

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1150-1350 Mature Mississippian Period

The great Macon Plateau town declines and the Lamar and Stubbs

Mounds and Villages appear just downstream. These towns are a

combination of the old Woodland culture and Mississippian ideas.

The Southern Cult, distinguished by flamboyant artistic motifs and

specialized artifacts, flourishes at places like Roods Landing and

Etowah (GA), Moundville (AL), Hiwasee Island (TN), Cahokia (IL),

and Spiro (OK).

1350-1650 Late Mississippian Period (Protohistoric)

The Lamar Culture, named for the Lamar Mounds and Village Unit of

Ocmulgee National Monument, becomes widespread in the Southeast;

chiefdoms marked by smaller, more numerous, often stockaded villages

with a ceremonial center marked by one or two mounds; combination

of the both Woodland and Mississippian elements.

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1540 Chroniclers of Hernando DeSoto's expedition into the interior of

North America write the first descriptions of the Lamar and related

cultures, ancestors of the historic Creek (Muscogean), Cherokee

(Iroquoian), Yuchi (Euchee), and other Southeastern people. Most

of their main towns are situated near rich river bottomland fields of

corn, beans and squash. Many towns feature open plazas and earthen

temple mounds. Public buildings and homes are constructed of upright

logs, interwoven with vines or cane and plastered with clay (wattle and

daub). Some are elaborately decorated and contain large woodcarvings.

DeSoto visits a province named Ichisi (Spanish) or Ochesi

(Portuguese), whose main town is probably located on the present

Occur River. The expedition's 600 men and 300 horses devastate

local food supplies; epidemics of European diseases decimate many

populations. Whole towns are destroyed. Social disruption and

reorganization follows.

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1565 The Spanish establish their first permanent settlement at St. Augustine,

set up outposts at towns along the Atlantic coast to the North, and

begin to missionize the Indians. Priests and soldiers travel up the river

systems to other towns in the interior of the area which would become

Georgia.

1670 The British establish Charles Town (Charleston, SC) on the Atlantic

coast. Despite Spanish opposition, English explorers initiate contact

and trade with towns in the interior.

1690 A British trading post is constructed on Ochese Creek (present

Ocmulgee River at the site now protected within Ocmulgee National

Monument). A number of Muscogee towns move from the

Chattahoochee River to this vicinity to be near the English. At this time,

the Ocmulgee river is called Ochese-hatchee or Ochisi-hatchi (various

spellings). The towns are known as the Ochese Creek Nation. The

British eventually refer to them simply as the "Creeks." They speak

variations of the Muscogean language, but their confederacy

incorporates other groups, such as the Yuchi, who speak different

languages.

The Creeks acquire horses from Spanish Florida and guns from

the British. Their culture and dress is modified by use of trade goods

such as iron pots, steel knives, and cotton cloth.

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1704 Col. James Moore, with a band of some fifty men from Charles Town,

leads 1,000 warriors from the Creek towns on the Ocmulgee River to

Florida. They devastate the Spanish Apalachee Mission system and

drive the Spaniards back to St. Augustine. After many of the inhabitants

of northern Florida are exterminated, some of the Creeks move into the

area and incorporate the survivors into their own group. These people

are subsequently known as the Seminole and Miccosuki.

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1715 The Yamassee War erupts in protest against British indignities related

to the fur trade, including the taking of Indian shipped as slaves to work

in Carribean sugar plantations. Many traders in Indian territory are killed.

In retaliation, the British burn Ocmulgee Town on Ochese Creek. The

Creek towns withdraw to the Chattahoochee River and the Yuchis move

with them. The people are known as the Lower Creeks. The Upper

Creeks are centered on the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers to the

northeast.

1733 The Georgia Colony settles on lands along the banks of the Savannah

River given to General James Oglethorpe by Chief Tomochichi of the

Yamacraws, a group related to the Lower Creeks. The Colony serves

as a buffer between South Carolina and Spanish Florida.

1739 General James Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia Colony, travels

the ancient trading path through the mounds and old planting fields at

Ocmulgee enroute to Coweta (near what is now Columbus, GA) to

meet with the Creeks. One of his Rangers writes a short description

of the mounds at what is now Ocmulgee National Monument. A

western boundary for the colony is defined along the Ogeechee River.

The area extends along the coast to the present northern border of

Florida.

1773 The Georgians are still confined to a narrow strip along the coast.

British Indian Superintendent, John Stuart, and Georgia Governor

James Wright meet with the Creeks at Augusta. As a result of

indebtedness to English fur traders, the Indians cede the lands

between the Little and Tugeloo Rivers. Settlers poured rapidly into

the region.

Names such as Musgrove, McGillivray, McIntosh, resulting

from intermarriage between Europeans and Indians, proliferate

among the Creeks. The children of these unions were often

educated in both European and native cultures.

1774 William Bartram, reknown naturalist and botanist, follows the Lower

Creek Trading Path from Augusta through the area. In his journal, he

records this account of the Ocmulgee Old Fields:

"On the heights of these low grounds are yet visible

monuments, or traces, of an ancient town, such as artificial

mounts or terraces, squares and banks, encircling considerable

areas. Their old fields and planting land extend up and down

the river, fifteen or twenty miles from this site. If we are to

give credit to the account the Creeks give of themselves, this

place is remarkable for being the first town or settlement, when

they sat down (as they term it) or established themselves, after

their emigration from the west..."

William Bartram again passes through the Old Ocmulgee Fields and

notes:

"On the east bank of the river lie the famous Oakmulgee fields,

where are yet conspicuous very wonderful remains of the

power and grandeur of the ancients of this part of America..."

1778 During the Revolutionary War, many Creeks want to remain neutral,

but Alexander McGillivray (of Creek-Scottish descent,educated in

South Carolina, Principal Chief of both the Upper and Lower Creeks)

leads them into an alliance with England.

1783 The Peace of Paris officially ends the American Revolution. England

returns Florida to Spain and cedes Creek territory to the new nation,

informing her Creek allies only as an afterthought. Both the Spaniards

and the Georgians hope to bring the Creeks under their influence.

New waves of American settlers pour into Georgia. Many

of them covet the rich river bottomlands possessed by the Creeks.

They see the Indians as obstacles to "progress" and press the

federal government to remove all Indians to areas west of the

Mississippi River. The state of Georgia negotiates an illegal treaty

at Augusta taking Creek lands from the Ogeechee to the Oconee

River. A council of the entire Creek nation warns the Georgians

not to claim the land, but the message is greeted with contempt

and efforts begin to divide the area.

1784 The Creek Council continues to disavow the fraudulent Treaty of

Augusta. Alexander McGillivray makes a treaty with the Spanish on

behalf of the entire Creek-Seminole nation, stating that in return for

protection and trade the Creeks will obey the orders of the Spanish

and admit no white people to their land without Spanish agreement.

1785 The United States appoints a commission to negotiate with the

Creeks. McGillivrey writes them a letter stating that after peace was

made with England, the Creeks expected the United States to settle

differences with them and confirm their territory. Instead, the

encroachments and aggression of the Georgians have forced them

to accept Spanish protection.

Georgia establishes Houston County, including the territory

north of the Tennessee River in what is now the state of Alabama.

Settlers try to hold the land, but the Indians drive them off.

A council is called at Shoulderbone Creek on the Oconee

River; only the friendly chiefs of Tallasi and Cusseta come. Upon

their arrival, a group of rough, frontier Georgia militiamen surround

them, brandish their swords and threaten to kill them unless they

sign a treaty confirming the former illegal grants. They are taken

as hostages to Augusta where they remain confined until liberated

by James White, who has been sent by the U.S. Congress to

investigate.

1786 The new American Congress under the Articles of Confederation

asserts jurisdiction over all Indian matters.

1789 The administration of President George Washington institutes the

policy of purchasing all lands ceded by Indians. Creek leaders

travel to New York where the Treaty of Shoulderbone is renegotiated.

The Creeks are to receive an annual payment of $1,500, with

assurances that the United States will not allow encroachment of

whites upon Indian lands. They are given permission to punish

trespassers and will be provided implements and livestock to aid

in their progress toward "civilization." The terms of the treaty

require that the Creeks recognize the sovereignty of the United

States.

1793 Invention of the cotton gin greatly accelerates the desire for rich

river bottomland. Creek Indians, most of them excellent farmers,

quickly adapt to a cotton-based economy.

Alexander McGillivray dies. Frontier settlers build houses

Across the Indian boundary and allow their cattle to roam miles

into Indian territory. Skirmishes along the frontier increase.

Shawnees from the North urge the Creeks to join them in a

general war against the whites. Two Upper Creek towns are

responsive to their talk, but the Lower towns work for peace.

Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins, headquartered on the Flint

River near present Roberta, GA, encourages the Creeks to settle

in villages away from their main towns and work their own

individual fields. He supplies spinning wheels and looms to

the Indian women, along with livestock, and cotton seed.

Much of the population of the old towns drains away, but

their public squares continue to be the sites of rituals,

celebrations and deliberations. Hawkins also encourages the

centralization of Creek government with each town sending five

or six delegates to a National Council which would legislate for the

entire nation.

1802 The Treaty of Fort Wilkinson cedes a strip of land west of the

Oconee and Apalachee Rivers, along with a narrow corridor south

of the Altamaha River.

1805 The first Treaty of Washington cedes the remainder of the land

between the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers, excluding a 3x5-mile strip

known as the Old Ocmulgee Fields Reserve at present Macon, which

the Muscogee (Creek) people refuse to give up. The treaty allows

the United states to construct a road across the Creek Nation to the

Alabama River and facilities for public accomodations along this

road. Much of this "Federal Road" follows the ancient Lower Creek

Trading Path and eventually stretches from Washington, D.C. to New

Orleans.

The treaty also provides for a United States military fort on the

Reserve to guard the frontier along the Ocmulgee River. This outpost

is called Fort Hawkins in honor of Benjamin Hawkins, U.S. Indian

Agent to the Creeks and friend of George Washington.

1806 Fort Hawkins is built a short distance from the mounds. It serves as

a frontier outpost, trading and center and location for treaty payments

to the Creeks until the United States boundary is later extended to

Alabama Territory. For the entirety of its existence as a U.S. military

fort, it sat on land owned by the Muscogee (Creek) Confederacy.

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1807 Aaron Burr travels, under guard, through the Reserve after his capture

in Alabama.

1811 Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, working with his brother the Prophet,

travels up and down the frontier exhorting the Indians to discard their

plows, whiskey and the white man’s ways. Some of the Creeks join

his movement and nearly every town has a so-called "Red Stick"

faction. The leaders are as divided as their people. William McIntosh

emerges as leader of the faction loyal to the U.S. government. William

Weatherford (Red Eagle) becomes the most important leader of the

Red Sticks.

1812 General Andrew Jackson (later President) stops at Fort Hawkins

during the War of 1812. The fort is an important port of rendezvous

for dispatching troops. This war with Great Britain concerns the issues

of neutral maritime rights and British involvement in Indian problems

along the frontier.

Hostilities between Creek loyalists and traditionalist Red Sticks

increases. Red Sticks attack and destroy Tuckabatchee and several

other Upper Creek towns in northern Alabama. A Red Stick band

returning from Spanish Florida is attacked by militia.

1813 In retaliation, the Red Sticks attack Fort Mims near Mobile and

kill 247 people. After the Fort Mims "massacre, an article in the

Nashville Clarion declares that the Creeks "have supplied us with

a pretext for a dismemberment of their country." The event supports

Andrew Jackson’s effort to enlist volunteers to fight the Red Sticks.

Loyalist Creeks, Cherokees and Choctaws join him.

In the first battle of the ensuing war, a band of loyalist Creeks

attacks and defeats 150 Euchees (Yuchis) who are on their way to

join the Red Sticks. Shortly afterward, Gen. Jackson dispatches

Gen. John Coffee with 900 mounted troops to destroy the town of

Tallushatchee on the Coosa River where 186 Indians, including women

and children, are killed. Describing the event, Lt. Richard Keith writes:

"We found as many as eight or ten bodies in a single cabin.

Some of the cabins had taken fire, and half-consumed bodies

were seen amidst the smoking ruins. In other instances dogs

had torn and feasted on the mangled bodies... Heart sick I

turned from the revolting scene."

1814 The decimation of this village convinces many Creek towns to

side with Jackson, who heads South into Creek territory as the

Georgia militia enter from the east and federal troops proceed from

the South. The Creek Nation is laid waste. The carnage ends after

Jackson and his combined forces attack the Red Stick stronghold

at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River in Alabama on March 27.

More than 500 Red Sticks are killed, many surrender, while others

flee to their kinsmen, the Seminoles.

Following the war, the treaty of Fort Jackson takes 22-million

acres of Creek land bordering Spanish Florida. The loyalist Creeks

are paid nothing for this cession, but the government agrees to

indemnify them for damages suffered during the war. Of the

$195,000 award, $85,000 is paid to them in 1817. The remainder is

not appropriated until 1853. The land is sold to settlers and

speculators for more than $11,250,000.

1818 The Treaty of Fort Mitchell takes a small strip of land east of the

upper Apalachee River.

1819 Thousands of Muscogee (Creek) people gather for the last time in

a great encampment at Ocmulgee to receive payment for their lands

east of the river. General William McIntosh and the great orator Little

Prince are present.

The ancient Lower Creek Trading Path, now called the Federal

Road , is the major artery from North to Southwest for many years

(State Highway 49 follows much of this route through Central Georgia).

It serves as the postal route from New York to New Orleans. A ferry

is built near the mounds on the Old Ocmulgee Fields Reserve, and

the first white child, later Mrs. Isaac Winship, is born in the area.

1821 The Creeks give up the lands between the Ocmulgee River and

the Flint River.

1823 The Creek Council passes a law providing the death penalty for

anyone ceding land without the authority of the Council. Pressures

for Indian removal continue to increase. Some Creeks, including

William McIntosh, believe removal is inevitable.

The City of Macon is laid out across the river from Fort

Hawkins. The first newspaper in Middle Georgia, the Georgia

Messenger, is published at Fort Hawkins, and a post office

is established there.

1824 A Muscogee (Creek) Council approves a policy stating: "On no

account whatever will we consent to sell one foot of our land, neither

by exchange or otherwise. This talk is not only to last during the life

of our present chiefs, but to their descendants after them." Fourteen

chiefs sign the document.

1825 The infamous Treaty of Indian Springs ceding the last Creek lands

in Georgia is signed by Chief William McIntosh. (Argument continues

as to whether he signed the treaty believing it was in the best interests

of his people in mind or whether he was bribed.) Whatever his

motivation, he is consequently assassinated by his own people.

The treaty is declared illegal by the federal government, but Georgia

authorities disagree. They press harder for removal.

1826 The second Treaty of Washington officially surrenders the last

Creek lands in Georgia. Some of the Creeks join the Seminole in

Florida, others move into Alabama. About 1,300, mostly members

of the McIntosh faction, resettle to the valley of the Arkansas River

in "Indian Territory," now the state of Oklahoma, on lands given to

them under the government’s voluntary removal program

1828 The Old Ocmulgee Fields Reserve, including Fort Hawkins and

the mounds, is surveyed and laid off into land lots incorporated

into the city of Macon. Roger and Eliazar McCall purchase a portion

of the Old Fields and establish a successful flatboat manufacturing

enterprise. Of the mound area, the local newspaper reported:

"The site is romantic in the extreme; that, with the burial

mounds adjacent, have long been favorite haunts of our

village beaux and belles, and objects of curiosity to strangers.

We should regret to see these monuments of antiquity and of

our history levelled by the sordid plow - - we could wish that

they might always remain as present, sacred to solitude, to

reflection and inspiration."

1832 Voluntary removal is too slow for the ever-growing tide of settlers

and cotton plantation owners. The government presses harder.

Creek delegates sign a treaty giving up part of their lands in Alabama.

Each Indian family receives 320 acres and each chief is given 640

acres. They may stay on their allotments or sell them and move west

at government expense to lands where they are promised autonomy.

Deceit and violence follow immediately. Unscrupulous land

agents defraud Indians who cannot testify in Alabama courts. Creek

farms are burned and families physically forced from their land.

Homeless, demoralized bands roam the countryside, foraging to

keep from starving, but refusing to leave the neighborhood of their

former homes. Some of the displaced Indians lash back by

destroying cabins, burning crops, and killing white settlers.

1836 The so-called Creek War of 1836 ends when about 2,500 people,

including several hundred warriors in chains, are marched on foot

to Montgomery, AL, and crowded onto barges during the extreme

heat of July. They are pushed by steamboats down the Alabama

River, beginning their forced removal to Indian Territory.

During the summer and winter of 1836-early 1837, over 14,000

Creeks make the three-month journey to Oklahoma, a trip of over

800 land miles and another 400 by water. Most leave with only

what they can carry.

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1839 The Cherokee begin their "Trail of Tears." A few escape and remain

in the mountains of East Tennessee and North Carolina where most

of their descendants now live on the Qualla Reserve around

Cherokee, NC.

1842 For over six years, the Seminoles fiercely fight an invading army ten

times their size. Driven into almost inaccessible swamps and hunted

like wild animals, their removal is finally completed, except for a few

hundred who manage to escape the soldiers and become the

ancestors of the present Florida Seminole and Miccasuki.

1843 The Central Railroad constructs a railroad line into Macon through

the Ocmulgee Old Fields destroying a portion of the Lesser Temple

Mound and the great prehistoric town. A locomotive "roundhouse"

is located near the Funeral Mound.

1840 The huge oak trees on the mounds are cut for timber. Until this

time, the Old Ocmulgee Fields and Brown’s Mount (another scenic

prehistoric town about 6 miles down river) had been favorite resorts

for picnics and parties, first by the officers at Fort Hawkins then by

the residents of Macon.

Much of the Macon Plateau site becomes part of the Dunlap

Plantation. Clay for brick manufacturing is mined near the Great

Temple Mound and a fertilizer factor is constructed nearby.

1852 Ex-President James K. Polk rides the Central Railroad through

the mound area into Macon.

1859 A census taken this year (after some time has elapsed for recovery

following the drastic loss of lives during the removal) lists 13,539

Creeks. Over 23,000 Creeks are accounted for by name and town

in 1832 shortly before the removal, giving some indication of the

extent of decimation suffered during the removal.

1864 Union General George Stoneman nears the city of Macon in July.

Governor Brown, who is in Macon, calls for every able-bodied Man

to defend the city. A battery is stationed near the site of Fort

Hawkins. Big guns are loaded on flatcars at the railroad bridge

over the Ocmulgee River inside the boundary of what is now the

Ocmulgee National Monument. Gen. Stoneman destroys Griswoldville,

continues to Macon and burns the railroad bridge over Walnut Creek

on the Dunlap property. He uses the Dunlap's farm house as his

headquarters during the ensuing battle.

Failing to take the city, Stoneman and his troops are pursued

into nearby Jones County, where they are defeated at Sunshine

Church. General Stoneman and his officers are incarcerated at Camp

Oglethorpe in Macon and his enlisted men are sent to the infamous

prisoner of war camp at Andersonville. Stoneman is the highest

ranking Union officer taken prisoner during the Civil War.

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Later in the year Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy,

passes through the Old Ocmulgee Fields on business in Macon.

1874 A second huge cut for a railroad (still in use) is excavated through

the mound area and destroys a large portion of the Funeral Mound.

According to Charles C. Jones, in his book, Antiquities of the

Southern Indians, many relics and human burials are removed

during this work.

1900 Despite continued hardships after their removal and the loss of

much of their lands after it was divided into allotments, citizens of

the once-mighty Muscogee (Creek) Confederacy continue to carve

a life for themselves in Oklahoma, where they remain a proud and

sovereign people.

1933 A large portion of McDougal Mound is removed to use as fill dirt

for Main Street. Motorcycle hill-climbing leaves scars on the slopes

and summit of the Great Temple Mound.

A group of local citizens are convinced that the mounds are of

great historical significance and should be preserved. Led by General

Walter A.Harris, Dr. Charles C. Harrold, and Linton Solomon, they

seek assistance from the Smithsonian Institution, which sends Dr.

Arthur Kelly to organize and conduct archeological excavations

on the Macon Plateau.

1934 Archeological treasures are unearthed. As the work progresses,

a bill is passed by Congress to authorize establishment of a 2,000-acre

Ocmulgee National Park.

The archeological effort is largest excavation ever, until this time,

undertaken in the country. Labor is provided by hundreds of workers

employed under several Great Depression-era public works programs.

1936 President Franklin D. Roosevelt on December 12th signs the

Proclamation establishing Ocmulgee National Monument and

directing the National Park Service to preserve and protect 2,000

acres of "lands commonly known as the Old Ocmulgee Fields..."

Due to economic constraints, only 678.48 are acquired, including

40 acres at the detached Lamar Mounds and Village.

Later, an additional 5 acres are added to the Lamar Mounds

and Village Unit and the parcel known as Drakes Field is donated to

the nation for inclusion in Ocmulgee National Monument by the City

of Macon. The park presently encompasses 702 acres.

1940 Great Depression Relief-era crewmen, including members of Civilian

Conservation Corps Company 1426 stationed at Ocmulgee National

Monument, are drafted into military service as the United States enters

World War II. Man are sent to nearby Camp Wheeler which becomes

the largest infantry training camp in the nation.

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1960's An interstate highway (I-16), constructed through the Macon Plateau

Unit, cuts the primary visitor use area off from the park's mile-long river

boundary and causes significant hydrological changes to lands located

in the river floodplain. During archeological excavation within the

highway corridor inside the park, evidence of Muscogee (Creek) and

earlier settlement, along with three human burials, are discovered.

A number of important prehistoric and historic sites outside the

park are destroyed or heavily damaged, including the nearby

Gledhill I, II and III (where an Ice Age Clovis spearpoint is found

by an artifact collector during removal of fill dirt for road construction),

along with the New Pond site, Adkins mound, and Shellrock Cave.

Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian and historic Creek villages and

campsites across the river, such as Mile Track, Napier, Mossy Oak

and Horseshoe Bend, are already damaged by levee construction in

the 1940's.

1970's The Swift Creek Mounds and Village, type-site for a widespread

Woodland Period culture, is destroyed for construction of a Bibb

County Sheriff's Department firing range. Dr. Kelly's early

archeological collections, still under the care of the National Park

Service, are all that remain of this large site, which was located on

the Ocmulgee Old Fields near the Lamar Village Unit of Ocmulgee

National Monument.

1986 Ocmulgee National Monument celebrates it's 50th anniversary

with a year-long series of special events. The new Discovery Lab

is dedicated and its Teachers Guide made available to area schools.

The Lab is visited by representatives from museums and educational

centers from across the Southeast and the idea subsequently

becomes widely emulated.

1988 The National Park Service presents the Freeman Tilde Award, its

highest commendation for interpretive and educational excellence,

to the Occur National Monument staff. The same year, the park

also receives a national award from the Secretary of the Interior

recognizing its efforts to educate the public concerning the

importance of good stewardship for the nation's public lands.

1992 Descendants of Roger and Eliazar McCall donate almost 300 acres,

adjoining the park's Walnut Creek boundary, to the National Park

Service. The Archeological Conservancy accepts ownership pending

legislation to incorporate it into Ocmulgee National Monument. The

land, owned by this family for almost 175 years, has been designated

the Scott-McCall Archeological Preserve.

1997 The Old Ocmulgee Fields are determined eligible to become the first

National Register of Historic Places listing for a Traditional Cultural

Property, or District, east of the Mississippi River. This distinction

recognizes the area's great significance to the Muscogee (Creek)

people and its Ice Age to Space Age legacy.

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Present The park's staff, the Ocmulgee National Monument Association,

the Friends of Ocmulgee Old Fields, and the park's many

volunteers remain dedicated to the mission of protecting and

preserving this very special place for the enjoyment of today's

citizens and future generations.

(Compiled by Sylvia Flowers)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Corkran, David H. The Creek Frontier, 1540-1783. Norman: University of Oklahoma, Press, 1967.

Cotterill, Robert S. The Southern Indians, The Story of the Five Civilized Tribes Before Removal.

Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1954.

Debo, Angie. The Road to Disappearance: A History of the Creek Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1941.

Eggleston, George Cary. Red Eagle and the Wars With the Creek Indians of Alabama. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1878.

Foreman, Grant. The Five Civilized Tribes. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1934.

Foreman, Grant. Indian Removal. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1932.

Foreman, Grant. Indians and Pioneers. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1932.

Green, Donald. The Creek People. Indian Tribal Series. Phoenix, 1973.

Griffith, Benjamin W., Jr. McIntosh and Weatherford, Creek Indian Leaders. University of Alabama Press. 1988.

Hudson, Charles M. The Southeastern Indians. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1976.

Swanton, John R. Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors.

Bureau of American Ethnology, 73rd Bulletin, Washington, D.C., U. S. Gov't Printing Office, 1922.

White, George. Historical Collections of Georgia. New York: Rodney & Russell, 1854

American Indian Land Cessions in Georgia

Cahokia Mounds Archeological Park

Civil War HomePage

Crystal River State Archeological Site (Florida)

Etowah State Park (Georgia)

National Archives

NPS/Archeology and Ethnography Program

NPS/National Archeological Database

NPS/Southeastern Archeology Center

NPS/Links to the Past

University of Georgia-Georgia Indian History

Ocmulgee National Monument

Ocmulgee National Monument Information