Southern-Style
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Houston County,
Alabama, Heritage
Indian Heritage
There is a possible error on the Marker. Thanks to Robert Register for making history matter.
There was definitely an important Indian town called Chisca Talofa [various spellings include Cheeska Talofa, Ichiscatalonfa, Chiscotafa and Clisteofa] but it wasn't located anywhere near Shorterville or Henry County. Chisca Talofa was located where the present-day states of Alabama, Georgia & Florida intersect in present-day Houston County southeast of Dothan
Location: Located near the McKemie Bridge on Alabama Highway 10,
fourteen miles east of Abbeville, Alabama.
Marker Dedication or Erection Date: January 21, 1979
Marker Text:
The frontier village of Franklin was established here by Colonel Robert
Irwin in 1814 on the site of
the Indian town of
Cheeska Talofa. It was the first colonial village in east Alabama.
Fort Gaines, Georgia, was constructed in 1816 to protect the early
settlers in this former Creek Indian Nation, West. Twenty-one blocks were
laid off for this promising river port of Abbeville. This prospective
early city never recovered from the destructive flood of 1888.
Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Henry County Historical Society, 1978. |
1804: At Chisca Talofa on
May 25, 1804, James Innerarity and William Hambly represented
John Forbes & Co. in negotiations for a land grant. The company sought this
payment
from the Indians to counterbalance Bowles' destruction of the company's Wakulla
store
and the tribe's accumulated debt. This deed of cession was signed by 24 chiefs
and
ultimately deeded to John Forbes & Co. 1,200,000 acres east of the Apalachicola.
Under the terms of this pact, the company agreed to immediately open a store at
Prospect Bluff on the Apalachicola near present-day Sumatra, Florida. This store
led to the later establishment of Nichol's British Fort, the Negro Fort and U.S.
Fort
Gadsden near Prospect Bluff.
Click here to see a large map of the Forbes Purchase
http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1821f6.jpg
1810: At Chisca Talofa on April 10, 1810,
Edmund Doyle, principal agent of John Forbes & Co.
on the Apalachicola, and William Hambly, interpreter & representative of the
company, secured the cession of three more tracts of land that joined the
original 1804
grant. This included St. Vincent Island. These Indians also ceded to John Forbes
personally an island in the Apalachicola River. This 9,811 acre island is known
today as Forbes Island.
1814: On August 9, 1814, the chief of
Chisca Talofa was one of the Creek chiefs who signed
the Treaty of Ft. Jackson which ceded over 20 million acres of present-day
Alabama
Georgia to the United States.
1816: At Chisca Talofa on April 17, 1816,
William Hambly attempted to unite the Upper
Towns friendly to the Americans and the Lower Towns friendly to the British in
an
attack upon the Negro Fort on Prospect Bluff. This meeting was a disaster and
Hambly
was forced to flee.
The Negro Fort was destroyed by the U.S. Navy on July 27, 1816.
270 of the fort's occupants were killed instantly by a single explosion
of the fort's powder magazine. Captured British arms and supplies were
valued at not less that $200,000
A MAP OF THE NEGRO FORT BASED
UPON ITS LOCATION TO FORT GADSDEN
NOT ONLY WAS THE FORBES & CO. STORE LOCATED NEAR
HERE BUT BOWLES ALSO USED PROSPECT BLUFF AS ONE OF HIS HEADQUARTERS BEFORE HIS
LAST ARREST IN 1803
1818: Captain Hugh Young, a soldier with
General Jackson's U.S. Army, included
Chisca Talofa on a town list for the First Seminole War. It was listed as one of
four Seminole towns on the lower Chattahoochee. He estimated the population at
580 persons (65 warriors) under the halfbreed chief Yaholamico. He located the
town on the west bank of the Chattahoochee two miles above the Florida line.
1982: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY AT GEORGE
W. ANDREWS LAKE &
CHATTAHOOCHEE did "not extend even to the top of the river bank
in the vicinity of this site[Chisca Talofa], consequently...had little chance
of identifying this site."
Copyright 1996 These are my own working genealogy files that I share with you. The errors are my own. But, perhaps they will give you a starting point. All original writing is copyrighted. Webmaster
Copyright 1996 These are my own working genealogy files that I share with you. The errors are my own. But, perhaps they will give you a starting point. All original writing is copyrighted. Webmaster