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Archiver > Southern-Trails > 2002-07 > 1028117788


From: "Bill Woodward" <>
Subject: Re: [SouthernTrails] Road from GA
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 08:23:30 -0400
References: <126.14748c09.2a792818@aol.com>


Hi Betty,

It depends on time and direction. The first roads were negotiated with
Cherokees and with the Creeks in 1805. One road went northwest to what is
now Chatanooga and from there to Tennessee or northern Alabama. The other
road went more west and southwest into Mississippi territory. The point
here is that the US had territory in the west (Tennesee and Mississippi)
that no one could get to because Indians had land between (almost all of
Georgia and Alabama). Consequently, the government made treaties with the
Indians to create two main roads from the east (Georgia, SC, NC) that
connected settlers and mail service with the territory in the west. As time
went on, the US took more and more territory from the Indians and the roads
spread. By 1835 the Cherokees had been moved and all the land was US. The
same process slwoly nibbled away land from the Creeks until the east and
west parts of US territory connected and the Iniands were gone --- mainly
relocated to what is now Oklahoma. After 1835 people went whatever way they
wanted to.

One interesting historical note is that at least in the earliest days,
people who traveled these roads through Indian Territory had to have visas
issues by the State of Georgia. These have been published for the western
road and are available.

There is a book on the road that went west through the Creek territory and
another article on the northwest road written in 1950. The article can be
found at ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ga/history/federalroad.txt

The book is named the "The Federal Road" by Henry Deleon Southerland, Jr.
and Jerry Elijah Brown. It's in paperback and published by the University
of Alabama Press.

Hope this helps.

Bill Woodward
----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 7:46 AM
Subject: Re: [SouthernTrails] Road from GA


> What trail/road would early settlers have taken from GA to the west?
Betty.
>
>
> ==============================
> To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records,
go to:
> http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237
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