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There may have been two distinct bands of Chiaha
Source: Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors #121
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When the veil of obscurity which covered these regions for more than a hundred years after [1567] is again lifted [the Chiaha] are found only in the south on the Ocmulgee and Chattahoochee. Now, since, according to the testimony of the English trader already quoted, the Chiaha among the Lower Creeks had come from the Yamasee, are we to suppose that these northern Chiaha had in the interval first joined the Yamasee and then moved back to the Ocmulgee and Chattahoochee, or did they join the Chiaha whom I have indicated as probably already existing among the Yamasee after they had retired westward? On this point our information is almost entirely wanting. There are, however, a few indications that there may have been during all this period a body of Chiaha among the Upper Creeks separate from those whose history we have already traced, in which case we must assume that they did not unite with their relatives before they emigrated west of the Mississippi, if at all. One of these indications is the name ''Chiaha" applied by Coxe to the Tallapoosa River,1 another the name of a creek in Talladega County, Alabama, Chehawhaw Creek, known to have borne it as far back as the end of the 18th century,2 and a third the enumeration of two bodies of Upper Creek Indians in the census of 1832 under names which appear to be intended to represent the name of this tribe [Note: these "Upper Cheehaws" are also mentioned in a volume of treaties between the U. S. A. and the Several Indian Tribes from 1778 to 1837, and, according to a letter dated June 17, 1796, their chiefs took part in a meeting at Coleraine, though there is some reason to think that part of them were Natchez.] One of these is given as "Chehaw" with 126 people and the other as "Chearhaw" with 306. This is greater than tbe combined population of the Chiaha and Hotalgihuyana towns among the Lower Creeks, and it is difficult to see how they could have persisted as a distinct people for such a long period without separate notice. While there are no Upper Creek Chiaha now there seems to be a tradition of such a body as having existed in former times; and if so, we may consider it almost certain that they were descendants of those whom De Soto and Pardo encountered at the very dawn of American history. (Swanton)
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