swakton] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 133 
bank of the river above the inundations. The other bands pursued different routes, 
as their inclinations Led them, settling villages lower down the river; some continued 
their migration towards the sea coast, seeking their kindred and countrymen amongst 
the Lower Creeks in East Florida, where they settled themselves. 1 
While this account apparently throws a great deal of light upon 
the history of the Apalachicola, it actually introduces many per- 
plexities. At the present time Coweta is indeed recognized as the 
head war (own of the Lower Creeks, but the head peace town among 
tin in. so far as anyone can now recall, is and always was Kasihta. 
Still, the name by which this Apalachicola town is now known to the 
Creeks proper is, as stated above, Talwa lako, or Big Town, from 
which a former prominence may be inferred. Moreover, in the 
migration legend told to Oglethorpe the priority of Apalachicola as a 
peace town seems to be taught, Kasihta having acquired the "white" 
character later. 2 Therefore it is probable that this town did 
anciently have a sort of precedence among the peace towns of the 
Lower Creeks. Again it is perplexing to find that Bartram appears 
to have been entirely unaware of the former residence of the Apalachi- 
cola on Savannah River, though their removal had not taken place 
much over 60 years earlier. In the light of other facts brought out 
this seems still more confusing. He explains the reference to 
''human blood undeservedly spilt in this old town" in a footnote, 
which runs as follows: 
About fifty in - sixty years ago almost all the white traders then in the nation were 
massacred in this town, whither they had repaired from the different towns, in hopes 
of an asylum or refuge, in consequence of the alarm, having been timely apprised of 
the hosl ile intentions of the Indians by their temporary wives. They all met together 
in one house, under the avowed protection of the chiefs of the town, waiting the. 
event; but whilst the chiefs were assembled in council, deliberating on ways and 
means to protect them, the Indians in multitudes surrounded the house and set fire 
to it; they all, to the number of eighteen or twenty, perished with the house in the 
flames. The trader showed me the ruins of the house where they were burnt. 3 
This wholesale massacre reminds us so strongly of the sweeping 
character of the Yamasee rebellion, which the fact itself can not have 
followed by many years, that one is at first tempted to think reference 
l- made to that uprising. But at that time the Apalachicola were 
upon Savannah River, and, since the trader was able to show Bar- 
tram the ruins of the house in which the unfortunate victims were 
burned, it is evident that the massacre could not have taken place 
there. Another suggestion is that only part of the Apalachicola 
were on Savannah River, but of this we have not the slightest 
evidence. It is surprising, to say the least, that Bartram's trading 
acquaintance could not or would not tell him about the comparatively 
recent immigration of this tribe among the Lower Creeks. The 
i Bartram, Travels, pp. 386-390. 3 Bartram, Travels, pp. 388-389, note. 
» Gatschet, Creek Mig. Leg., I, pp. 244-251. 
