Antiquities of the Southern Indians, Particularly of the Georgia Tribes

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VII. Tumuli on the Ocmulgee River, opposite Macon.-Brown's Mount.-Mound on Messier's Plantation, in Early County. OF the mounds on the left bank of the Ocmulgee River, opposite the city of Macon, the largest auel most noteworthy (A, Plate IV.), lying farthest down the river, is located upon the summit of a natural hill, and occupies a commanding position. The earth of which it is composed was gathered in the valley and convej ~ed to the top of the hill so as, in the end, to increase its elevation by some forty-five or fiftj~ feet. The sumulit diameters of this tumulus, measured north and south, aUll east aud ,vest, are respectively one hundred alld eighty and two hundred feet. On the west is an artificial plateau., still about eight feet high, seventy-two feet long and ninety-three feet wide. On the north a11d east are three spurs or ele,rated approaches , over which, as paths, the laborers, during the construction of the mound, carried their burdens of sand ancl clay in cane baskets, a11d, by means of vvhich, whe11 the tumulus was completed, ascent to its summit was rendered more facile. It is not improbable that thie \vas a temple-mound, used by priests allcl tlevotees ill tlleir established worshi11 of the sun. toO·o·~ .. OJ] " 2:.: "PrOjl1ei pearances, it seemed a l1atural reservoir , although it may be that the natives originally made this excavation witl1 a view to supplying then1selves with water in the event of a siege. The natural supply of this fluid, upon ordinary occasions, ,vas probably derived frOlll four springs issuing fronl the northern , eastern, southern, and western faces of the hillin each instance, ,vithin not mucll more than fifty yards of the wall. Indications still exist tending to establish the fact that the paths leading to at least SOlne of these springs ,vere protected by stone ,valls or partially-covered ways. The Sllmmit of this hill is well adapted to cultivation, and, ill one locality, I observed a circular depression, abollt fOl~ty feet in on the narrow valley of the Little Colomokee Creek. Cro,vning the natural hill with an artificial elevation of fiftyfive feet, from its top is afforded a commanding view of tIle surrounding cOllntry. In the vicinity of this tumuIus ancl stretching away to the ,vest, are seen the culti1 Page 168. Charleston, 1851. II Page 425. New YOl'l{, 1854:. MOUND IN EARLY COUNTY, GEORGIA. 16'; vated fields of Mr. Messier, while on the east, north, and south, are the swamps of Colomokee and its tributaries, beautiful in the luxuriant and 'variegated foliage native to this selni-tropical region. The lllOst facile approach to the mound is frOlll the west, access from any other quarter being rendered difficult by natural obstacles not easily overcome. The Messier IllOUlld is not one of a group, but stands apart, prominent in size and nlarked in its physical peculiarities. Other tumuli exist ill the vicinity, one of them near enough to appear on the scale of the accompanying map; but none of these pmaller nloullds differ in any essential respect froln the nunlerous hemispherical heaps of eartIl erected as burial-places by the Indialls who formerly inhabited Southwestern Georgia and Southeastern Alabama. Tradition, speaking through the Inouths of the descendallts of early European settlers, declares that the modern Indians lived 11ere in large numbers, and that, while claiming tIle smaller mounds as the last resting.. places of their noted dead, they regarded the great nlollncl '\vith commingled ,vonder, ignorance, and superstition . This traditional testimony is confirmed by the presence of numerous arrow and spear heads, fragments of pottery, pipes, and other relics of the skill and industry of the red race. Whether viewed near by or from a distance, the large tumulus seems but a huge lnass of foliage-the outlines of this earth"rork being concealed by leafy terraces of huge trees cov"ering the sides and growing along the slopes from base to summit. The top of the mound is a lev'el plane, and was long since denuded of all vegetatioll for the p.urpose of cultivati~n. Beneath the trees a tangled undergro,vth of vines, bUAhes, and briers, in inextricable confusion, forms an inviting retreat for the lGS .A..NTIQUITIES O~' THE SOUTHERN INDIA.NS. rabbit and the rattlesnake. It is only at some risk, and with indefatigable industry that the...