Treaty of Fort Jackson

The Treaty of Fort Jackson (also known as the Treaty with the Creeks, 1814) was an international treaty between the United States and the "Creek Nation", a part of which had been defeated in the Creek War's decisive Battle of Horseshoe Bend in what is now Tallapoosa County. The treaty was signed by Major General Andrew Jackson and several "chiefs, deputies, and warriors" of the Creek Nation on August 9, 1814 at Fort Jackson, near Wetumpka, Elmore County.

By the terms of the treaty, the United States claimed 23 million acres of territory in Alabama (then part of the Mississippi Territory) and southern Georgia, most of which had been controlled by the Upper Creek tribes. The treaty instructed surveyors to define the boundary thus:

"Beginn at a point on the eastern bank of the Coosa river, where the south boundary line of the Cherokee nation crosses the same; running from thence down the said Coosa river with its eastern bank according to its various meanders to a point one mile above the mouth of Cedar creek, at Fort Williams, thence east two miles, thence south two miles, thence west to the eastern bank of the said Coosa river, thence down the eastern bank thereof according to its various meanders to a point opposite the upper end of the great falls, (called by the natives Woetumka,) thence east from a true meridian line to a point due north of the mouth of Ofucshee, thence south by a like meridian line to the mouth of Ofucshee on the south side of the Tallapoosa river, thence up the same, according to its various meanders, to a point where a direct course will cross the same at the distance of ten miles from the mouth thereof, thence a direct line to the mouth of Summochico creek, which empties into the Chatahouchie river on the east side thereof below the Eufaulau town, thence east from a true meridian line to a point which shall intersect the line now dividing the lands claimed by the said Creek nation from those claimed and owned by the state of Georgia."

The Creeks were also forbidden to have any communication with British or Spanish posts. In return for these cessions, the United States agreed to guarantee the integrity of the Lower Creek territory in northeast Alabama, with the exception that American military and trading posts, roads and river routes were to be unimpeded. In addition, any "chief or warrior" who actively supported the United States during the Creek War was entitled to claim as a 1 square-mile "reserve" centered on his existing dwelling or other improvement. The reserve would be, "protected by and subject to the laws of the United States" but would be considered private property only so long as it was occupied by the grantee or his descendants and could not be sold.

The text of the treaty was entered into the United States Statutes at Large in August 1814. Congress provided the method for granting the "reserves" in 1817, and a method for purchasing them back from willing sellers in 1819.

References

• Statutes at Large, Vol. 7, page 120

External links

• "Fort Jackson Treaty" at firstpeople.us