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Origins of Hitchiti

Source: Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors #121

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THE HITCHITI
Hitchiti among the Creeks was considered the head or "mother" of a group of Lower Creek towns which spoke closely related languages distinct from Muskogee. This group included the Sawokli, Okmulgee, Oconee, Apalachicola, and probably the Chiaha, with their branches, and all of these people called themselves Atcik-ha'ta, words said by Gatschet to signify "white heap (of ashes)."4 If this interpretation could be relied upon we might suppose that the name referred to the ash heap near each square ground, but it is doubtful. Gatschet states that the name Hitchiti was derived from a creek of the name which flows into the Chattahoochee, and explains it by the Creek word ahi'tcita, "to look up (the stream)." * This interpretation would be entitled to considerable respect, since it probably came from Judge G. W. Stidham, a very intelligent Hitchiti, from whom Gatschet obtained much of his information regarding this people, were it not that history shows that the name belonged to the tribe before it settled upon the Chattahoochee.

In the following origin myth, related to the writer by Jackson Lewis, another meaning is assigned to it, but it is probably an ex post facto explanation. It is more likely that there was some connection with the general term Atcik-ha'ta.

"The origin of the Hitchiti is given in various ways, but this is what I have heard regarding them. The true name of these people was A'tcik ha'ta. They claim that they came to some place where the sea was narrow and frozen over. Crossing upon the ice they traveled from place to place toward the east until they reached the Atlantic Ocean. They traveled to see from where the sun came. Now they found themselves blocked by the ocean and, being tired, they lingered along the coast for some days. The women and children went down on the beach to gather shells and other things that were beautiful to look at. They were shown to the old men who said, "These are pretty things, and we are tired and cannot proceed farther on account of the ocean, which has intercepted us. We will stop and rest here. " They took the beautiful shells, pebbles, etc., which the women and children had brought up and made rattles, and the old men said, "Inasmuch as we cannot go farther we will try to find some way of enjoying ourselves and stop where we now are." They amused themselves, using those rattles as they did so, and while they were there on the shore with them people came across the water to visit them. These were the white people, and the Indians treated them hospitably, and at that time they were on very friendly terms with each other. The white people disappeared, however, and when they did so they left a keg of something which we now know was whisky. A cup was left with this, and the Indians began pouring whisky into this cup and smelling of it, all being much pleased with the odor. Some went so far as to drink a little. They became intoxicated and began to reel and stagger around and butt each other with their heads. Then the white people came back and the Indians began trading peltries, etc., for things which the white people had.

"Then the Muskogees, who claim to have emerged from the navel of the earth somewhere out west near the Rocky Mountains, came to the place where the Hitchiti were living. The Muskogee were very warlike, and the Hitchiti concluded it would be best to make friends with them and become a part of them. Ever since they have been together as one people. Hitciti is the Muskogee word meaning "to see," and was given to them because they went to see from whence the sun came. So their name was changed from A'tcik-ha'ta. The two people became allied somewhere in Florida."

Gatschet says that some Hitchiti Indians claimed that their ancestors had fallen from the sky. Chicote and Judge Stidham, however, told him the following story:
"Their ancestors first appeared in the country by coming out of a canebrake or reed thicket near the seacoast. They sunned and dried their children during four days, then set out; arrived at a lake and stopped there. Some thought it was the sea, but it was a lake. They set out again, traveled up a stream and settled there for a permanency."1
The origin on the seacoast and the migration upstream suggest that this last myth may have belonged to the Sawokli.

At one time the Hitchiti were probably the most important tribe in southern Georgia and their language the prevailing speech in that region from the Chattahoochee River to the Atlantic Ocean. Nevertheless the true Muskogee entered at such an early period that we can not say we have historical knowledge of a time when the Hitchiti were its sole inhabitants.
(Swanton)