Abstract
The Indian population in West Florida was relatively small in 1830 when Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. In addition to the approximately 800 Creeks settled on reservations along the Apalachicola River, small groups of fifty to sixty people made their homes near Choctawhatchee Bay and Blackwater Bay, and a few Indians and half-bloods lived in Pensacola. From time to time individuals and small bands came to the area to hunt and fish, to find pasture for their cattle, and to obtain supplies in Pensacola.1 Most of the Indians had become at least partially acculturated. Some of the more isolated bands had accepted only a few items of material culture such as guns, metal tools, and calico clothing. Others, including the mixed-bloods and groups living near white settlements, had adopted an almost totally white life style. The “homes and fields” of the Apalachicola, according to Territorial Governor William P. DuVal, were “equal to the best of the improvements among the white people in this section of Florida.“
Recommended Citation
Ellsworth, Lucius F.
(1980)
"West Florida's Forgotten People: The Creek Indians From 1830 until 1970,"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 59:
No.
4, Article 4.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol59/iss4/4
