Fowltown Creek, near modernAlbany, Georgia, was where "Neamathla's band ofTuttollossees had lived...before relocating down to modern Decatur and Seminole Counties."[1]: 167 Although some of Neamathla's people at one time lived inSeminole County, Georgia,[1]: 80 Fowltown was never in that county.
There were multiple different locations for Fowltown, all settled by the same group ofMikasuki people who were led byNeamathla, forced to relocate four times in three years.
1. The oldest and largest one was on the southeastern bank of theFlint River (Georgia), a few miles from its merger with theChattahoochee to form theApalachicola River, in southwest Georgia (modernDecatur County). European references to it begin in the late 18th century. "The name is translated from the termTutakosi Talofa, which in theHitchiti language means 'Chicken Town' or 'Fowl Town'."[2]: 1 It was evacuated in 1813–1814. In 1799 its population was about 59, "but this number had grown to several hundred by 1813".[2]: 11
2. The second (1814–1816) was inSpanish Florida, on the west bank of theChattahoochee River, across fromTocktoethla ("River Junction"), in modernJackson County, Florida.[2]: 24
3. The third (1816) was also on the south bank of the Flint, four miles southwest of modernBainbridge, Georgia, adjacent to Fowltown Swamp, also in Decatur County, Georgia.[1]: 99–100
This was the location of theBattle of Fowltown, a symbolically important but militarily very minor encounter. ChiefNeamathla of Fowltown became embroiled in a dispute with the commander ofFort Scott over ownership of the land on the southeastern side of the Flint River, claimingMikasuki sovereignty over the area. The land in southern Georgia had been ceded by theRed Sticks in theTreaty of Fort Jackson, but the Mikasukis did not consider themselvesCreek, and did not feel bound by the treaty which they had not signed, and did not accept that the Creek people had any right to cede Mikasuki land.[3]
In November 1817,General Gaines sent a force of 250 men to destroy Fowltown and capture Neamathla. The first attempt was beaten back by the Mikasukis. A few days later, an attack by a larger party of U.S. soldiers forced the Mikasuki to retreat into the surrounding swamp, abandon this land, and reestablish themselves further south. Neamathla was not captured. Some historians date the start of theFirst Seminole War to the 1817 attack on this Fowltown, which immediately preceded theScott Massacre. Also,David Brydie Mitchell, former governor of Georgia and CreekIndian agent at the time, stated in a report toCongress that this attack on Fowltown was the start of the First Seminole War.[3]: 33–37
4. The final Fowltown was also in Spanish Florida, on the eastern shore ofLake Miccosukee, in modernJefferson County, Florida.[2]: 141
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
30°47.942′N84°36.619′W / 30.799033°N 84.610317°W /30.799033; -84.610317