Vacation
We had the opportunity to spend some time with my son’s fiancées parents at their home northeast of Atlanta in the Lake Oconee area. Vacations are wonderful as well as contributing to your general health. It gives you time to recharge your batteries, relax, enjoy family and friends, worship in a new area, and possibly learn some new interesting facts.
I had always heard the phrase “God willing and the Creek don’t rise” but I never really knew the underlying origin or meaning.
For centuries, the land that is known as the Lake Oconee area was inhabited by groups of Native Americans referred to as the Creek Indians. They were an agricultural society composed of dozens of independent tribes.
The European exploration of Georgia by James Oglethorpe set the stage for ongoing land acquisitions toward the Oconee River. Exploration of the rest of Georgia through English trade was increasingly dominated by direct land acquisition through negotiated land-grants between Georgia officials and Creek and Cherokee Indian tribes.
Counties around lake Oconee were named for Revolutionary War leaders like General Nathanael Greene (Green County), General Daniel Morgan (Morgan county), and General Israel Putnam (Putnam county).
During these trying times, the Creek Indians were known to ambush settlers moving west and during this time a settler by the name of Benjamin Hawkins coined the phrase. Hawkins was generally recognized as the Creek Indian "agent,” He also held the title of General Superintendent of all tribes south of the Ohio River. During the course of his 21 years in these positions he would oversee the longest period of peace with the Creek, only to watch his lifetime of work destroyed by a faction of this Indian Nation known as the "Red Sticks" during the War of 1812. He was a college-educated and a well-written man and would never have made a grammatical error in his writings, so the capitalization of Creek is the only way the phrase could make sense. He wrote it in response to a request from the President to return to our Nation's Capital and the reference is not to a creek, but The Creek Indian Nation. If the Creek "rose", Hawkins would have to be present to quell the rebellion.
So this is where the quote originated and its true meaning.
Interesting piece of trivia for those who like history!!
I had always heard the phrase “God willing and the Creek don’t rise” but I never really knew the underlying origin or meaning.
For centuries, the land that is known as the Lake Oconee area was inhabited by groups of Native Americans referred to as the Creek Indians. They were an agricultural society composed of dozens of independent tribes.
The European exploration of Georgia by James Oglethorpe set the stage for ongoing land acquisitions toward the Oconee River. Exploration of the rest of Georgia through English trade was increasingly dominated by direct land acquisition through negotiated land-grants between Georgia officials and Creek and Cherokee Indian tribes.
Counties around lake Oconee were named for Revolutionary War leaders like General Nathanael Greene (Green County), General Daniel Morgan (Morgan county), and General Israel Putnam (Putnam county).
During these trying times, the Creek Indians were known to ambush settlers moving west and during this time a settler by the name of Benjamin Hawkins coined the phrase. Hawkins was generally recognized as the Creek Indian "agent,” He also held the title of General Superintendent of all tribes south of the Ohio River. During the course of his 21 years in these positions he would oversee the longest period of peace with the Creek, only to watch his lifetime of work destroyed by a faction of this Indian Nation known as the "Red Sticks" during the War of 1812. He was a college-educated and a well-written man and would never have made a grammatical error in his writings, so the capitalization of Creek is the only way the phrase could make sense. He wrote it in response to a request from the President to return to our Nation's Capital and the reference is not to a creek, but The Creek Indian Nation. If the Creek "rose", Hawkins would have to be present to quell the rebellion.
So this is where the quote originated and its true meaning.
Interesting piece of trivia for those who like history!!
posted by Anonymous at 6:05 AM
2 Comments:
Welcome back Dr.Dan...I hope you got your batteries recharged.
I hope your vacation was a good one!
Yes...my great great great grandfather, Captain James Tate fought in the war of 1812 and subsequent Creek Indian Wars. I am both proud and ashamed of this fact.
The US government (Bureau of Indian Affairs) broke nearly all of the treaties made with native Americans, including the Creek and Cherokee. My GGG Grandpa had a company of his own, in which a Christianized Cherokee named "Brown Bear" was a scout/soldier against his own people. He had a daughter, whose Christian name was Parmelia and they took the name "Brown," from "Brown Bear." For his service, Capt.James Tate was given a bunch of land in Warren Co. Tennessee and retired as a Major. One of his sons, my Great Great Grandfather, John Tate, Sr., married Parmelia Brown, and went west with her during the "trail of tears" in the 1850s. They are burried in Oklahoma. His son, my Great g-father, John Tate, stayed in Tennessee and propegated my grand-dad.
So, you see, I really have mixed feelings regarding all of this. You are correct in your findings though.
Roz Tate
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