Delta Roundtable Meeting. Wednesday, July 29, 2015 Five Rivers Delta Center, Blakely Classroom

Transcription

1 Delta Roundtable Meeting Wednesday, July 29, 2015 Five Rivers Delta Center, Blakely Classroom Presentation on History and Culture of the Delta by George Shorter, Retired, Professor of Archeology, University of South Alabama, and Claudia Slaughter Campbell, Chair, Ft. Mims Restoration Association Welcome Kristen O Keefe with Coastal Alabama Partnership welcomed the group to the meeting at 3:08 p.m. Ms. O Keefe introduced the two speakers for the afternoon: George Shorter with the University of South Alabama and Claudia Campbell with the Fort Mims Restoration Association. The speakers were asked to talk about culture and history throughout the Delta. The Delta s Archaeological Riches and What Threatens Them George Shorter, Retired Professor of Archeology at the University of South Alabama Mr. Shorter began the presentation by playing a humorous game based loosely on Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon s Truth or Lies? Archeologists do dinosaur bones? This is a lie. o Archeologists do humans, not animals. Archeology is a branch of anthropology, which is the study of man. Was the lead character in Raiders of the Lost Ark a true archaeologist or not? o Not! Was doing it for money (a trader, treasure hunter), not for science and research as a true archaeologist does. Science and research alone is the mission. Is everything written in a letter or a book true or a lie? Ha! We all know the answer to that. o A good research project looks at everything as biases. Writing is ALWAYS biased. There are always misconceptions about everything, including the Delta. Mr. Shorter has worked in pre-history (before written language) and archeology (after human language). This is where archeology should focus. Mr. Shorter has lived here 40 years and he is encouraged to see this group seeking the truth about what the Delta really is. The Delta is huge! Most of us only see a small portion of it. Most people don t know how diverse the Delta really is. It s really like going to the moon! 1

2 How is archaeology done in Alabama or any state? The university is funded by the state and the Federal government. Can t follow up with everything we would like because we don t have funding. There is no such thing as the archeology police. Private land is sacrosanct in this area. USA is a very progressive university as they have supported archeology. Alabama is in the top 10 when it comes to the state supporting our archeology and our history. Truth or Lies? Lies! Florida does a much better job of this. Five Rivers is almost an anomaly. Wonderful that it was approved and funded. Archeology is a very labor intensive endeavor. Careful excavation is essential. Capitalism has been the best instigator of finding artifacts. Mr. Shorter has done a lot of work at St. Stephens. North Carolinians first started coming down and divvying up the Creek Indian land. Alabamians REALLY have a Carolina accent because of this historic connection. Mr. Shorter showed maps with all the archeological sites identified on the map of the Delta that we are aware of. Mostly are identified by a river as that is where artifacts have been seen actually falling out of the banks. Mr. Shorter believes that the map shows less than 10% of what there is likely to be in the Delta. A lot of time the area surveyed is because of where roads are built and they are required to be surveyed. We actually have sites that are 10,000-12,000 years old but just haven t had the funding or the passion to explore them. Throughout history, the U.S. has had three colonial powers vying for attention (English, Spanish and French). The English have done the best job of archeology. They concentrated their efforts on the East Coast and had a lot of people who were very interested and have preserved a lot of the ancient culture and history on the East Coast. The Spanish were mostly interested in South America. The French had a harder time getting it together. When LaSalle came down and planted his flag on the Mobile River he couldn t even find his way back out to the river and died on the expedition. The Sun King had spent too much money and coffers were bare. Sent D Iberville down to this area. He got to Dauphin Island in February, found bones and named it Massacre Island. He went to Biloxi and came back three years later and founded the first harbor at Dauphin Island. When D Iberville decided to move back to what is now Mobile because of the rivers, this was when history started to become very interesting for Mobile. Old Mobile was built just north of I-65, but the Port was still at Dauphin Island. Took a long time to get there. Then Old Mobile flooded because settlers built in the swamps and not along the rivers as the Indians recommended. 2

3 The Delta is really the key to history and pre-historic sites in Mobile. There are some other great parks: Tanner Hill is a great park and Blakely State Park is great for this type of exploration. On maps from the early 1880s, all the named creeks are after people and families that had settled there, but there is simply not enough funding to explore them. We ARE adding more sites all the time, but not as much as we would like. USA has a nice museum out at the University and he welcomes all to come. Mr. Shorter then showed the group pamphlets and a monograph written by University archeologists. Mr. Shorter then opened up the floor to questions: Q: What is your best recent discovery or find? A: Mr. Shorter s best find is a spoon engraved with HLT, whose home is a site he has been working on for many years. Old Mobile and St. Stephens are wonderful sites to explore. St. Stephens Park was created by the state legislature, but is not part of the park system, State Lands, or the Alabama Historic Commission. It was the first place in Alabama where the US flag was raised. There were three key milestones in the state s history, but there is no money to pay for more exploration. Are struggling to keep gates open with admission fees. Q: What is the biggest threat to these relics? A: Threat is not as much looting as erosion. Have found human skulls on the ground near the water but they cannot be touched with going through many protocols. Q: Since there are two known Indian mounds on Live Oak Landing that has been bought by the Baldwin County Commission, how could we allow a proposal to develop the park move forward without them being excavated? A: Mr. Shorter says that there is a law that it would have to be excavated if it is a significantly important site. There are ways to test that. Mike Malsom with the Army Corp of Engineers stated that if there are wetlands on the site, then they would have to do a stage IV wetland survey. Mr. Shorter suggests a call to Stacey Hawthorne, archeologist at Alabama Historical Commission, to determine if it should be surveyed. Claudia Slaughter Campbell/Ft. Mims Restoration Association and the Historic Fort Mims 200 th anniversary, August 30, 2013 Claudia Campbell grew up in the Tensaw and learned about Fort Mims since infancy. Ms. Campbell gave the history of Fort Mims. Early History 3

4 The rivers were the way that the Creek Indians moved material around. Mims moved to the territory and established his plantation here. Wagons moved in in the early 1800s. Paths began to widen enough to be settled by those up north and more settlers came. Initially there was good relations between the native Indians and the settlers. But in the spring of 1813, there was a lot of talk of what was going on between the European men and the Creek Indian women, as several generations of mixed race families had been born. The Creeks felt their culture and history were being diluted. There was a lot of unrest. In July 1813, a group of militia understood that the Creek Indians were getting rifles from the English in Pensacola. They ambushed the Indians, but the Indians still defeated them. Even though victorious, the Creeks were still upset that war had not been declared but they had been seized upon. On August 30, 1813, one thousand Creek Indians stormed Ft. Mims and the battle ensued for 5 hours. The blood ran ankle deep. There was some effort at negotiation and settlers tried to make women and children off limits. But hot August heat made tempers high and all settlers but 53 were massacred. The 53 survivors escaped into the swamps. The tragic thing was that those inside the Ft. were kin to those who were attacking them. Two weeks later, the troops came from St. Stephens and found 500 or more in mass graves including 100 of the Indians who were massacred. This marked the beginning of the Creek Indian War which ended in Andrew Jackson led them. The 7 th President formed a hatred of Indians because of the massacre at Ft. Mims and began removal of the Indians from the South along the Trail of Tears. Millions of acres of land were ceded to the US and Indian policy was set for 100 years at this time - removal or death. The place went unnoticed for many years. Nobody wanted to remember or talk about it as it was too painful, but 103 years later, the Daughters of 1812 came to Tensaw and placed a monument in 1916 in the woods about ½ mile from Ft. Mims. The roads were so bad they chose a passable road instead of the actual site. 1950s 1990s In 1953, the Fort was rediscovered near Ms. Campbell s father s potato field. The whole family began finding and picking up items in the woods, which were arrow heads, pottery, etc. Ms. Campbell s mother founded the 1949 Fort Mims chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and began to write letters to find out where the actual site was. Her father got on a bulldozer and cleared enough of the area that he found the charred remains of Ft. Mims. The family called the state historical society and they came down and have been doing excavations ever since. 4

5 In 1959, the first monument was placed at Ft. Mims. It was a proud moment for the DAR ladies who worked so hard to recover the history of the place. USA Professor and Archeologist Greg Waselkov wrote a book explaining both sides of the story and that it wasn t just a savage attack of the Indians on the settlers as some had later believed. Ms. Campbell then showed photos from 1960 and the early days of excavation by Alabama Dept. of Parks and Recreation. The archives are in the warehouse of Ft. Toulouse in Jackson, Alabama. In 1988, they formed the Ft. Mims Restoration Association In 1998, the Red Eagle Society Children of American Revolution was formed. Ft. Mims discovery, exploration, restoration and celebration has been a family affair for many generations of Claudia s family Today In 2004, Ms. Campbell and the Ft. Mims Restoration Association began working with Dr. Waselkov and replaced the stockade (though it is a replica and not at the original site). What is historically ironic is that some of Creek Chief Weatherford s descendants actually came and helped to restore the stockade Began preparing the site for the th anniversary of the Massacre at Ft. Mims. The work has truly a partnership between many families, public and private organizations and the County. New Monument: The Association placed the names of many of those who were in the battle on a monument on the site. 237 names of more than 400 people were researched and placed there (both those who were killed and those who survived). Almost all were of mixed heritage. The Steadham family had 14 members at Ft. Mims who were of Swedish and Creek descent. Only 2 of the Steadhams survived. Other settlers who went to St. Stephens the night before were spared. The record also lists slaves who were taken by the Creeks when they left. Some of the original monuments had been vandalized and had to be repaired or replaced. Either Bonnie Gums or Greg Waselkov, both USA archeology professors, came to excavate all the area. Had to remove and replace the block house due to Al Historical Commission rules (A block house is a place of last stand : The top floor is larger than the bottom and is cantilevered so no one can t enter from the bottom floor.) Moved reproduction blockhouse from George to site. Tried to place it in precisely the same spot as maps indicated. Erected a stockade made to look like the original one. 175 or more native plants have been planted on the site. Botanist Fred Nation came and helped to mark all the native plants. Built a building to house all the artifacts. The state brought down artifacts for the 200th anniversary celebrations. 5

6 Erected a split level fence like the one at the USA museum th anniversary of the Massacre at Ft. Mims Promotion: The event was promoted through the internet. Interviewed by National Geographic (appeared in magazine), DAR magazine, and Muzzle Loader magazine. Alabama Tourism Dept. promoted the event as a Top 20 in the state for the year. Thought 400 people would come. Attendees: Had 4,500-5,000 people on the first day alone! Robert Thrower from the Poarch Bank of Creek Indians and other elders from the Poarch Band, as well as descendants from Oklahoma and the Trail of Tears came to the 200 th commemoration event. People came from all over the US and Europe. Mary Blake Francis a descendant of the Steadham survivor who was 100 years old came and said she lived to see this day. Developed a website Ft. Mims commemorates the anniversary each year and invites everyone to the celebration. The next reenactment is August 29th, The park is also open every day from dawn to dusk and there is a kiosk for self-guided tours. Call Ms. Campbell for a special tour the number on the website, Charge $5 admission. Ft. Mims is a blue star museum and retired or active duty soldiers are admitted free. Next Roundtable August 28 th, 2015 Ms. O Keefe thanked the speakers and everyone for their participation. She announced that the next Delta Roundtable will be held August 28 th, It will be a Delta Roundtable trip to Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in New Orleans. She passed out the itinerary and reminded everyone to RSVP by August 12 th. The meeting adjourned at 4:33 p.m. 6