Tomo-chi-chi and other Yamacraws Native Americans

The Yamacraw were a Native American band that emerged in the early 18th century, occupying parts of what became

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, specifically along the bluffs near the mouth of the

Savannah River The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the nor ...

where it enters the Atlantic Ocean. They were made up of Lower Creek and Yamasee, and remained independent for about 20 years before integrating again with the main part of the Lower Creek people. This area was later developed as the city of

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

History

The Yamacraw tribe was formed in the late 1720s by leader

Tomochichi Tomochichi (to-mo-chi-chi') (c. 1644 – October 5, 1741) was the head chief of a Yamacraw town on the site of present-day Savannah, Georgia, in the 18th century. He gave his land to James Oglethorpe to build the city of Savannah. He remains a p ...

from some bands of

Yamasee The Yamasees (also spelled Yamassees or Yemassees) were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans who lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida. The Yamas ...

and

Lower Creek The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsYamasee War The Yamasee War (also spelled Yamassee or Yemassee) was a conflict fought in South Carolina from 1715 to 1717 between British settlers from the Province of Carolina and the Yamasee and a number of other allied Native American peoples, incl ...

of 1715. By 1728 the Yamacraw had settled along the Savannah River near its mouth. This was later developed as the present-day city of Savannah. In 1733

James Oglethorpe James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) was a British soldier, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist, as well as the founder of the colony of Georgia in what was then British America. As a social reformer, he hoped to r ...

, interested in founding a colony at the site because of its strategic location on the water, negotiated with Tomochichi and the Yamacraw agreed to move their village upriver. A mid-19th century history of

noted dissension over the status of this name and people. Charles Colcock Jones wrote that the Creek did not acknowledge any people known as the Yamacraw. Also he said that neither the Maskoki (Muskogee) nor

Yuchi The Yuchi people, also spelled Euchee and Uchee, are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma. In the 16th century, Yuchi people lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley in Tennessee. In the late 17th century, they moved south to Alabama, G ...

dialects of the region used the "r" in such a way as in that name.Jones, Charles Colcock. ''Historical Sketch of Tomo-chi-chi, Mico of the Yamacraws''
Albany, NY: J. Munsell, 1868, at Internet Archive; reprint: Millwood, NY: Kraus Reprint, 1975

References

External links

Yamacraw Indian information
{{authority control Native American tribes in Georgia (U.S. state) History of Savannah, Georgia

History

References

Further reading

External links