I was reviewing the Rowen report and found myself really frustrated. I know I wear my heart on my sleeve when it comes to the land and the people that were there, so forgive my passion. The report contained little new research and a disappointing treatment of Native American culture and history in the area. The entire Appalachee has long been a place of Native American presence. Before intense European settlement, the Cherokee had began to push the Muskogee (commonly called the Creek) out of the area. Within the Creek nation there was also division in the Lower and Upper Creeks that manifested in a Civil War of sorts. All of these forces were coming to bear when the United States began to expand their territory across the Appalachee which had been the national border as outlined in the 1790 Treaty of New York. I feel like Rowen could have used some of the written sources from that time to give a better perspective of the area. In the Area below the Lawrence Road/Brown’s Bridge Road over the Appalachee is an area known as Tanner’s Bottoms. For decades this area has yielded a number of articafts. The Rowen Report even mentions a point in the research. This area should be investigated further.

Rowen did not have to go far to do this research to make it part of the report. The National Archives and the Library of Congress have some fair information, but the Georgia State Archives in Morrow has in their possession hundreds of original source documents from this time period with specific references to the area. Making it even easier, in the 1930s the WPA typed up these documents and they are available for review at the State Archives and a number of libraries around the state. I’m betting the University of Georgia even has copies which would have meant the resources needed were mere feet from where the report was prepared.

Should you wish to read some of the WPA typed documents of the original versions, I’ve included a link below. Keep in mind these have pages are only a sampling of ones that I have done personally for specific topics important to me. The Creek and Cherokee letters collection is much larger.

Hope you Enjoy,

Eli

Creek and Cherokee Letters-Samples