19 Facts About Opothleyahola

Opothleyahola was a Muscogee Creek Indian chief, noted as a brilliant orator.

Opothleyahola was a Speaker of the Upper Creek Council and supported traditional culture.

Opothleyahola was commissioned as a colonel and led forces against remaining Lower Creek and the Seminole in Florida in the first two wars of the US against them.

Opothleyahola died during the war at one of the refugee camps in Kansas.

Opothleyahola was born circa 1780 at Tuckabatchee, the Creek capital of the Upper Creek Towns, located in present-day Elmore County, Alabama.

Opothleyahola is believed to have allied with the British against the US forces as early as the War of 1812.

Opothleyahola was selected to the role as Speaker for the chiefs, which was a distinct position on the National Council.

Opothleyahola became a wealthy trader and owned a 2,000-acre cotton plantation near North Fork Town.

In other adaptations to European-American culture, Opothleyahola joined the Freemasons and accepted Christianity, becoming a Baptist.

Major Ridge, a Cherokee leader, recommended that the Creek retain his son, John Ridge, and David Vann, who were well-educated young men fluent in English, to travel with Opothleyahola and help prepare his negotiating positions.

The Creek National Council, led by Opothleyahola, went to Washington, DC, to protest the illegality of the 1825 treaty, saying its signatories did not have consensus of the council.

In 1834, Opothleyahola traveled to Nacogdoches, Texas, to try to purchase communal land for his people.

In 1836, Opothleyahola, commissioned as a colonel by the US government, led 1,500 of his warriors against remaining rebellious Lower Creek, who had allied with Seminole in Florida in fighting European-American occupation.

In 1837, Opothleyahola led 8,000 of his people from Alabama to lands north of the Canadian River in the Indian Territory, what were then called Unassigned Lands.

The letter directed Opothleyahola to move his people to Fort Row in Wilson County, Kansas, where they would receive asylum and aid.

At Round Mountain, Opothleyahola's forces drove back the Confederates to Fort Gibson.

Opothleyahola lost an estimated 2,000 of his 9,000 followers from the battles, disease, and bitter winter blizzards during their ill-fated trek to Fort Row.

Opothleyahola died in the Creek refugee camp near the Sac and Fox Agency at Quenemo in Osage County, Kansas, on March 22,1863.

Opothleyahola was buried beside his daughter near Fort Belmont in Woodson County, Kansas.