Choctaw Corner

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Choctaw Corner
Map of modern Alabama showing location of Choctaw Corner

The Choctaw Corner is a former Native American boundary location near the modern border between Clarke and Marengo counties in Alabama, United States. It was established as the northernmost terminus for a mutually agreed upon boundary line between the Choctaw and Creek peoples during the Mississippi Territory period. [1] [2] This boundary line, now known as the “Old Indian Treaty Boundary,” starts at the Alabama River cut-off in southernmost Clarke County and follows a northward path through the county along the drainage divide between the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers to the Choctaw Corner, then turns ninety degrees to the west and follows the modern county-line between Clarke and Marengo to the Tombigbee River. [3]

Native Americans in the United States Indigenous peoples of the United States (except Hawaii)

Native Americans, also known as American Indians, Indigenous Americans and other terms, are the indigenous peoples of the United States, except Hawaii. There are over 500 federally recognized tribes within the US, about half of which are associated with Indian reservations. The term "American Indian" excludes Native Hawaiians and some Alaska Natives, while Native Americans are American Indians, plus Alaska Natives of all ethnicities. Native Hawaiians are not counted as Native Americans by the US Census, instead being included in the Census grouping of "Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander".

Borders are geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Borders are established through agreements between political or social entities that control those areas; the creation of these agreements is called boundary delimitation.

Clarke County, Alabama County in the United States

Clarke County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2010 census, the population was 25,833. The county seat is Grove Hill. The county was created by the legislature of the Mississippi Territory in 1812. It is named in honor of General John Clarke of Georgia, who was later elected governor of that state.

Contents

History

Beginning a decade prior to the eruption of the Creek War, the Choctaw Corner had its roots in white settlement of territory that the Creek saw as encroachment upon their western lands. They had already experienced white encroachment on their eastern lands in Georgia. The Choctaw claimed the lands in modern Clarke County from the Tombigbee River eastward to the watershed as theirs. [4] Although the Creek had traditionally claimed the lands from the Alabama River westward to the watershed, as early as 1802 the Alibamu people, as the closest members of the Creek Confederacy to the new settlers, claimed that their territory reached all the way across to the Tombigbee. [3]

Creek War regional war between opposing Creek factions, European empires, and the United States

The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the Red Stick War and the Creek Civil War, was a regional war between opposing Creek factions, European empires and the United States, taking place largely in today's Alabama and along the Gulf Coast. The major conflicts of the war took place between state militia units and the "Red Stick" Creeks.

Georgia (U.S. state) State of the United States of America

Georgia is a state in the Southeastern United States. It began as a British colony in 1733, the last and southernmost of the original Thirteen Colonies to be established. Named after King George II of Great Britain, the Province of Georgia covered the area from South Carolina south to Spanish Florida and west to French Louisiana at the Mississippi River. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788. In 1802–1804, western Georgia was split to the Mississippi Territory, which later split to form Alabama with part of former West Florida in 1819. Georgia declared its secession from the Union on January 19, 1861, and was one of the original seven Confederate states. It was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15, 1870. Georgia is the 24th largest and the 8th most populous of the 50 United States. From 2007 to 2008, 14 of Georgia's counties ranked among the nation's 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South. Atlanta, the state's capital and most populous city, has been named a global city. Atlanta's metropolitan area contains about 55% of the population of the entire state.

Alabama people Southeastern culture people of Native Americans

The Alabama or Alibamu are a Southeastern culture people of Native Americans, originally from Alabama. They were members of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy, a loose trade and military organization of autonomous towns; their home lands were on the upper Alabama River.

Historical marker detailing the history of the Choctaw Corner. Choctaw Corner Historical Marker.jpg
Historical marker detailing the history of the Choctaw Corner.

After much persuasion, veiled threats, and a payment of $50,000 plus an annuity in goods of $3000, the Choctaw signed the Treaty of Mount Dexter with the United States on November 16, 1805 that ceded 4,142,720 acres (16,765.0 km2) of their territory, including the disputed land east of the Tombigbee, to the Americans. [5]

Treaty of Mount Dexter

The Treaty of Mount Dexter was signed between the United States and the Choctaws. The treaty was signed November 16, 1805. The 4,142,720-acre (16,765.0 km2) area ceded was from the Natchez District to the Tombigbee Alabama River watershed, mostly in present-day Mississippi.

In about 1808 the two Native American peoples decided to settle their argument over control of the strip of land between the two rivers by a traditional ball game. The Choctaw won but the Creek were dissatisfied with the results. The two groups decided to let the women play, and the Choctaw women won as well, which settled the dispute. [2] [3]

Possibly disappointed that the treaty did not include the fertile lands on the east bank of the Mississippi River, President Thomas Jefferson had delayed ratification in the Senate for over two years after the signing. [5] The boundary line was finally surveyed in 1809, with both Creek and Choctaw assisting. [3] [6]

Mississippi River largest river system in North America

The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system on the North American continent, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. Its source is Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and it flows generally south for 2,320 miles (3,730 km) to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. The main stem is entirely within the United States; the total drainage basin is 1,151,000 sq mi (2,980,000 km2), of which only about one percent is in Canada. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth-longest and fifteenth-largest river by discharge in the world. The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Thomas Jefferson 3rd president of the United States

Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he had served as the second vice president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national level.

United States Senate Upper house of the United States Congress

The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, which along with the United States House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the legislature of the United States. The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C.

Several years after the Indian Removal in the 1830s, European-American settlers founded a new town named Choctaw Corner a few miles southeast of the old boundary marker. [3]

Choctaw Corner, Alabama in Alabama, United States

Choctaw Corner was a former town in Clarke County, Alabama, United States. It is named for the nearby Choctaw Corner, which marked the border between the native Choctaw and Creek peoples prior to the Indian removal. The community was one of the earliest settlements in the county.

See also

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Horse Creek is a stream and tributary of the Tombigbee River in southern Marengo County and northern Clarke County in Alabama.

The Treaty of Dewitts Corner ended the initial Overhill Cherokee town attacks which took place at the beginning of the American Revolution. Signed between the Cherokee and South Carolina, the treaty helped lay the foundation for the decades long Cherokee–American wars fought between the European-Americans and the Chickamauga Cherokee people.

References

  1. ↑ "Clarke County's Historical Markers". Clarke County Historical Society. Clarke County, Alabama official website. Archived from the original on July 30, 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Choctaw Corner". Clarke County Historical Society. The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Halbert, H. S.; Ball, T. H. (1895). The Creek War of 1813 and 1814. Chicago: Donohue and Henneberry. pp. 35–36. ISBN   0-8173-0775-3.
  4. ↑ ""Clarke County MPS"". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  5. 1 2 Clark, Thomas D.; John D. W. Guice (1989). The Old Southwest 1795–1830: Frontiers in Conflict. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN   0-8061-2836-4.
  6. ↑ Finlay, Louis M. Jr. (Summer 2000). "The Mitchell Reserve". Clarke County Historical Society Quarterly. 25 (1): 9.

Coordinates: 31°59′26″N87°49′11″W / 31.99046°N 87.81986°W / 31.99046; -87.81986

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