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Origins of the Alabama Indians

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

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THE ALABAMA
Next to the Muskogee themselves the most conspicuous Upper Creek tribe were the Alabama, or Albamo. As shown by their language and indicated by some of their traditions they were connected more nearly with the Choctaw and Chickasaw than with the Creeks. Stiggins declares that the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Hitchiti, and Koasati languages were mutually intelligible,1 and this was true at least of Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Koasati.
According to the older traditions the Alabama had come from the west, or perhaps, rather from the southwest, to their historic seats, but these traditions do not carry them to a great distance. Adair, referring to the seven distinct dialects reported as spoken near Fort Toulouse, said that the people claimed to have come from South America.2

The following account of their origin was obtained originally from Se-ko-pe-chi ("Perseverance"), who is described as "one of the oldest Creeks ...in their new location west of the Mississippi," about the year 1847, and was published by Schoolcraft: 2
"The origin of the Alabama Indians as handed down by oral tradition, is that they sprang out of the ground, between the Cahawba and Alabama Rivers. . . . The earliest migration recollected, as handed down by oral tradition, is that they emigrated from the Cahawba and Alabama Rivers to the junction of the Tuscaloosa [Tombigbee ?] and Coosa [Alabama ?] Rivers. [Note: The name Coosa was once extended over the Alabama as well as the stream which now bears the name; there is some reason to think that the Tombigbee may occasionally have been called the Tuscaloosa. At any rate tins construction would reconcile the present tradition with the one following.] Their numbers at that period were not known. The extent of the territory occupied at that time was indefinite. At the point formed by the junction of the Tuscaloosa and Coosa Rivers the tribe sojourned for the space of two years, after which their location was at the junction of the Coosa and Alabama Rivers, on the west side of what was subsequently the site of Fort Jackson. It is supposed that at this time they numbered fifty effective men. They claimed the country from Fort Jackson to New Orleans for their hunting-grounds. They are of the opinion that the Great Spirit brought them from the ground, and that they are of right possessors of this soil."

From Ward Coachman, an old Alabama Indian in Oklahoma, Dr. Gatschet obtained the following:
"Old Alabama men used to say that the Alabama came out of the ground near the Alabama River a little up stream from its junction with the Tombigbee, close to Holsifa (Choctaw Bluff). After they had come out an owl hooted. They were scared and most of them went back into the ground. That is why the Alabama are few in number. The Alabama towns are Tawasa, Pawokti, Oktcaiyutci, Atauga, Hatcafa'ski (River Point, at the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa), and Wetumka."

From one of the oldest women among the Alabama living in Texas I obtained a long origin myth in which the tribe is represented as having come across the Atlantic, but this is evidently mixed up with the story of the discovery of America by the white people and is of little value in restoring the old tradition.

The relationship recognized between the Alabama and Koasati is illustrated by the following story, said to have been told by an old Indian now dead:
"The Alabama and Koasati came out of the earth on opposite sides of the root of a certain tree and settled there in two bodies. Consequently these differed somewhat in speech, though they always kept near each other. At first they came out of the earth only during the night time, going down again when day came. Presently a white man came to the place, saw the tracks, and wanted to find the people. He went there several times, but could discover none of them above ground. By and by he decided upon a ruse, so he left a barrel of whisky near the place where he saw the footsteps. When the Indians came out again to play they saw the barrel, and were curious about it, but at first no one would touch it. Finally, however, one man
tasted of its contents, and presently he began to feel good and to sing and dance about. Then the others drank also and became so drunk that the white man was able to catch them. Afterward the Indians remained on the surface of the earth."

The tradition of a downstream origin may have been due to the former residence of the Tawasa Alabama near Mobile. This has certainly given its entire tone to the story which Stiggins relates.1

Finally, mention may be made of Milfort's extravagant Creek migration legend in which the Creek Indians proper are represented as having pursued the Alabama from the western prairies near Red River across the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio in succession until they reached their later home in central Alabama.
(Swanton)