The Creek Migration Legend is REAL history, not a fable

It is really the Upper Creek Migration Legend, for it describes the migration of Toltec tribes, from the region around the Orizaba Volcano in southern Mexico to the Upper Tennessee Valley then down into Georgia. In Mexico, these Toltec tribes called themselves Taske, Taskete or Tesketa. Anglicized versions of those names can be found on the landscapes of Tennessee, Alabama, western North Carolina, Georgia and Florida today. Tuskegee, Tusquitee and Tesketa are three of the Anglicized versions

Although Muskogee Creeks in Oklahoma are taught that it was their migration story, it was not. The story of the migrations of Muskogee-speaking Creeks is found in a chapter of a book written by Charles de Rochefort in 1658 and is very different than this one.

The legend was presented as part of a speech by High King Chikili to the leaders of Savannah on June 7, 1735. Chikili timed the diplomatic visit to Savannah so that he could return to the Green Corn Festivals being held around the Creek Confederacy with a treaty that was mutually beneficial to the Creeks and their new allies, the British colonists of Georgia.

The original handwritten manuscript of the Upper Creek Migration Legend was lost for 280 years. With the essential assistance of HRH Prince Charles and his Assistant Private Secretary, Dr. Grahame Davies, I found the “Creek Migration Legend” and many other priceless documents from the early days of the Province of Georgia in a storage room of Lambeth Palace in London, England.

Not your typical migration legend

Around the Americas and really the entire planet, the origins of various peoples are typically filled with a pantheon of deities, miraculous events, great kings and supernatural beasts. None of these can be found in this story. There are no personal names mentioned. The key character in the story is always translated into English as “the people.”

I found the documents in early April 2015. Prince Charles paid for one the top archival photographers in the world to produce perfect, high resolution images of the original documents. These were not sent to me until early June. It took several months for me to transcribe the handwriting of Thomas Christie into an MS-word file . . . another month or so to convert the transcription into modern English.

Since that time, I have been intermittently linking sections of the Migration Legend to specific archaeological sites and artifacts in Mexico and the Southeastern United States. The last key to the puzzle was solved this week, when I matched an unusual style of pottery that first appeared at Hiwassee Island, Tennessee then spread into northern Georgia and then western North Carolina . . . to an identical pottery that can also be found in the region, where the Migration Legend says “the people” originated.

Native American History Day – 2023

A summary of the findings will be presented on Native American History Day (formerly Columbus Day) in early October 2023. During the winter months, I will be writing a scholarly book on The Migrations of the Creek Peoples, which incorporates several of the reports written by Georgia Colonial Secretary Thomas Christie then placed in a wooden chest for shipment to King George II and Archbishop Thomas Wake.