Tukabatchee or Tuckabutche (
Creek: ''Tokepahce'') is one of the four mother towns of the
Muscogee Creek confederacy.
[Isham, Theodore and Blue Clark]
"Creek (Mvskoke)."
''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.'' Retrieved 20 Aug 2012. The pre-removal tribal town was located on the
Tallapoosa River
The Tallapoosa River runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 from the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United Sta ...
in the present-day state of
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
.
The town is believed to be the first site of the ancient 'busk' fire which began the
Green Corn Ceremony
The Green Corn Ceremony (Busk) is an annual ceremony practiced among various Native American peoples associated with the beginning of the yearly corn harvest. Busk is a term given to the ceremony by white traders, the word being a corruption of ...
. Tukabatchee was the home of
Big Warrior, one of the two principal chiefs of the Creeks until his death in 1826. Chief
Opothleyahola
Opothleyahola (also spelled Opothle Yohola, Opothleyoholo, Hu-pui-hilth Yahola, Hopoeitheyohola, and Hopere Yahvlv, – March 22, 1863) was a Muscogee Creek Indian chief, noted as a brilliant orator. He was a Speaker of the Upper Creek Co ...
was born here in 1780.
[Eddings, Anna. ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. " Opothleyahola."]
In 1811
Tecumseh
Tecumseh ( ; (March 9, 1768October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the Territorial evolution of the United States, expansion of the United States onto Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...
and
Tenskwatawa
Tenskwatawa (; also called Tenskatawa, Tenskwatawah, Tensquatawa or Lalawethika) (January 1775 – November 1836) was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe, known as the P ...
(better known as the Prophet) addressed Creek leaders in the Tukabatchee town square. Tecumseh was so disappointed in Big Warrior's response at the end of his speech against American expansion that he said upon reaching Chalagawtha the Prophet would "...stamp his foot and all of Tuckabatchee's cabins would fall." An ahistorical legend subsequently developed stating that the town was leveled by the
New Madrid earthquake
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995
* "New" (Daya song), 2017
* "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
a month later but there is neither documentary nor archeological evidence that the town was destroyed.
During the
Creek War
The Creek War (also the Red Stick War or the Creek Civil War) was a regional conflict between opposing Native American factions, European powers, and the United States during the early 19th century. The Creek War began as a conflict within th ...
in 1813,
Red Stick
Red Sticks (also Redsticks, Batons Rouges, or Red Clubs)—the name deriving from the red-painted war clubs of some Native American Creek—refers to an early 19th century traditionalist faction of Muscogee Creek people in the Southeastern Uni ...
rebels surrounded the town. The siege was lifted by Creeks from the nearby town of
Cusseta.
Notes
Muscogee tribal towns
Creek War
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