Ray City History Blog

The people of the Native American village of Aumuculle had a long history of friendship with the American government and white settlers in Georgia. Yet, on the morning of April 23, 1818, soldiers of the Georgia militia massacred the village.

• The Chehaw Massacre and Lott Warren
• The Chehaw Expedition
• Attack On Aumuculle (Chehaw)
• Lott Warren and the Arrest of Obed Wright

Captain Obed Wright, led the expedition.  Lott Warren was a young lieutenant in one of the companies under Wright’s command.  Warren’s memoir, published in 1853 in Portraits of Eminent Americans now Living: With Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Their Lives and Actions: Volume 2, provided a brief sketch of the campaign against Aumuculle (Chehaw), “of which he [was], perhaps, the best if not the only living witness.” Warren later became the judge on the Southern Circuit Court of Georgia and presided over superior court trials at Troupville, GA and other county seats across Wiregrass Georgia.

Rise of Hostilities

The Chehaw Massacre followed on an escalating series of violent conflicts with factions of hostile Creek Indians who increasingly resisted the encroachment of white settlers on their lands, especially after the Red Stick War and the 1814 Treaty of Fort Jackson which ceded 22 million acres of Indian lands to the state of Georgia.

David Brydie Mitchell

The January 22, 1818 Treaty of the Creek Agency ceded two additional tracts of land to Georgia, a northern tract between the Appalachee and Chattahoochee rivers and a larger tract south of the Ocmulgee River. Of the southern tract Indian Agent David Brydie Mitchell wrote, “The number of acres will probably not exceed half a million, neither is the quantity of good land considerable, yet it is of vast importance to Georgia, as it stretches all along the Ocmulgee River for at least sixty miles….“

January 22, 1818 Treaty of Creek Agency Signed
Creek Indians signed the Treaty of Creek Agency ceding to Georgia land south of the Ocmulgee River, plus land between the Appalachee and Chattahoochee rivers.

On the southern tract, Native Americans and encroaching settlers were soon in violent conflict.  On the afternoon of March 9, 1818, the Battle of Breakfast Branch was fought. It was “a skirmish between the Indians and some of the citizens of Telfair, on the south side of the Ocmulgee River,” in which the Telfair militia was completely routed. The Battle of Breakfast Branch was reported by Isham Jordan, who in 1823 would assist General John Coffee in the construction of the Coffee Road opening Lowndes County for settlement.

Following the Battle of Breakfast Branch the situation quickly deteriorated:

Panic swept the area, and Major [Josiah D.] Cawthorn hastily penned a letter to Governor Rabun asking for assistance. Militia from Laurens county was dispatched to the area, and Rabun sent a request to Jackson that some of the militiamen under his command be released and sent to the Ocmulgee.

Receiving no reply, Rabun issued orders for Captain Obed Wright to lead Georgia militia companies in a reprisal raid on the Chehaw towns of Phillemmee and Hopaunee near the Flint river. However, on the way to the Flint, Wright received information that the raiding party came from the Chehaw town of Au-muc-cu-lee [and determined to punish that town contrary to his orders.]

Governor William Rabun’s Orders to Captain Wright.

Orders issued by the Executive to Cap. Wright.
Head Quarters, Georgia
Milledgeville, April 14, 1818

GENERAL ORDERS.

The executive having received information through sources which cannot be doubted, that the wanton and cruel murders so frequently committed on the frontier inhabitants of this state, and which are almost daily practised by the savages, ascertained to be the Phelemmes and Hoponnes, inhabitants of two small villages of their names, on or near Flint river, who have during the late hostilities endeavored to conceal their blood-thirsty and hostile disposition under a cloak of friendship- and the combined regular and militia force under Major Gen. Jackson being too far advanced into the heart of the Creek nation to admit of any speedy operations against them from that quarter; the commander in chief of the state deems it expedient for the safety of the frontier inhabitants, and to prevent further depredations by them, that a sufficient military force should be marched immediately against those towns, to effect their complete destruction; and for the speedy accomplishment of which, Capt. Obed Wright, commanding as senior officer of the militia stationed on the frontier, will order captains Dean [Elijah Dean] and Chiles [Daniel Childs], who are stationed at different points on the Ocmulgee, to proceed immediately with their respective companies to Hartford, or such other places as he shall deem expedient between that place and Point Early, with the exception of a small guard placed under the command of a subaltern or non-commissioned officer to defend the posts they now occupy; he is also authorized to receive such companies as may voluntarily join him. Cap. Timothy L. Roger, commanding a volunteer troop of light dragoons in Jones, and captain John Permenter, commanding a volunteer company of riflemen in Twiggs county, will join capt. Wright at Hartford. So soon as the respective companies shall have arrived at that place, capt. Wright will proceed with the whole to fort Early, where he is authorsed to call on captain Bothwell, or the commanding officer of that station, for the whole of his command, except so many as are actually necessary for its immediate protection.-
The utmost precaution will be necessary to the accomplishment of this important object, and to effect which, it will be necessary that a profound secresy should be observed, and the expedition prosecuted with the greatest possible dispatch, in order to take the Indians by surprise; as this is the only probably means of obtaining an effectual and decisive victory over an enemy who will not come into contact on equal terms.
By order of the commander in chief,
E Wood, Secretary

The Georgia Militia

Wright’s forces assembled at Hartford, GA: Captain Elijah Dean’s company of Laurens County Militia, with Lott Warren serving as Lieutenant; and Captain Daniel Childs’ company of Wilkinson County Militia, with Henry Shepard as Lieutenant.  Dean and Childs had been stationed at Hartford, Georgia, for the purpose of guarding supplies and military stores.  Joining the expedition there were Captain Jacob Robinson’s company of Laurens County Light Dragoons, Charles S. Guyton and John Underwood serving as lieutenants; and Captain Timothy L. Rogers’ Company of Georgia Cavalry; also, two detachments under Lieutenants Cooper and Jones.

Seminole War service record of Lott Warren. Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers who Served During the Cherokee Disturbances and Removal in Organizations from the State of Georgia; (National Archives).

For this service, the state paid:  Captains, $1.87 per day; 1st Lieut, $1.53 per day; 2nd Lieut, $1.37 per day; Cornet, $1.20 per day; Sergeants, $0.86 per day; Corporals, $0.80 per day; Trumpeter, $0.80 per day; Privates, $0.70 per day; Wagon & Team, $5.00 per day.

Leaving a third of the companies to garrison Hartford, Wright led the rest of his forces on a “secret expedition.”  Presented here are the available muster rolls of men serving under the command of Captain Obed Wright.  It is not known which of these men marched on the expedition against Chehaw (Aumuculle) and which remained behind at Hartford.

MUSTER ROLL OF CAPT. ROGERS’ COMPANY OF GEORGIA CAVALRY
ORDERED INTO SERVICE BY THE EXECUTIVE
FROM CAPT. HEAD’S COMPANY (Militia District) – Official History of Laurens County

MUSTER ROLL OF THE LAURENS TROOP OF LIGHT DRAGOONS, GEORGIA MILITIA,
COMMANDED BY CAPTAIN JACOB ROBINSON
AND ORDERED INTO SERVICE BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR – Official History of Laurens County

CAPTAIN DANIEL CHILDS’ COMPANY GEORGIA MILITIA, WILKINSON COUNTY
*Compiled from Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers who Served During the Cherokee Disturbances and Removal in Organizations from the State of Georgia; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M907, 1 roll); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, RG 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

DEAN’S COMPANY OF GEORGIA MILITIA
*Compiled from Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers who Served During the Cherokee Disturbances and Removal in Organizations from the State of Georgia; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M907, 1 roll); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, RG 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Related Posts:

• The Chehaw Massacre and Lott Warren
• Attack on Aumuculle (Chehaw)
• Judge Lott Warren
• Isham Jordan Fought Indians, Opened Early Wiregrass Roads