Ye Pleasant Mount: 1989 1990 Excavations - Open site which ...

Ebenezer, he purposed to quit the water, having appointed some of our principal Indian
Traders to wait his coming there, with a Number of Horses, as well as for sumpture as
Riding: and also some of our Rangers to assist; intending from thence to travel on to the
Creek Nation & c. (Stephens 1742, 2:67)
The Detailed Reports of the Salzburgers at Ebenezer include numerous references to
Yuchi and Creek Indians camping near their settlements. On March 28,1741, Bo1tzius
reponed that a Yuchi family had been camping between Ebenezer and the plantations
located to the south for one-half year (Jones 1985:123).
A letter, dated June, 1751, from Governor Glen of South Carolina reponed the
movement of the Yuchis away from the Savannah River region: "The Euchees whom you
also mention, did in like manner till lately live in this Province at Silver Bluff, but being a
Tribe belonging to the Lower Creeks, they were called Home, when they broke out war
with the Cherokees." (McDowell 1958:170).
Although most Yuchi had desened Mount Pleasant by 1740, their continued presence in
the area is recorded until the late l750s. In September, 1756, eight European refugee
familes from the Ogeechee area fled to Mount Pleasant following an Indian attack. As late
as May, 1757, a few Indians remained near Mount Pleasant. William Moore, a resident of
the Mount Pleasant vicinity, stated that there were "40 [Indian] gun men in his
neighborhood near Mount Pleasant who were willing under his command" to aid the
Chickasaw (CRG 7:206, 390, 549).
Governor Glen's letter suggests that the Yuchi were no longer settled along the
Savannah River by the 1750s, and had moved westward to join the Lower Creek tribes,
most likely on the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers. Their resilience as a people is proven
by the survival ofthe Yuchi people, their language, and their culture into the present day, in
Oklahoma (Speck 1909; Bauxer 1957; Rogers 1979).
Other Yuchi Settlements. In addition to the Yuchi town at Mount Pleasant, several other
Yuchi settlements have been documented in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and South
Carolina. In Tennessee, sites containing Mouse Creek type pottery tentatively have been
identified as Yuchi, although some researchers disagree with this association. The best
known of the eighteenth-century Yuchi towns is located on the Chattahoochee River in
Russell County, Alabama. This also was one ofthe largest towns reponed (Ruscher 1958;
Chase 1960; SchneI11982).
The Chattahoochee River town reponedly was first settled by an old chiefof Cussetuh
[Kasita] whom the English referred to as Captain EIlick. Captain EIIick married three
Yuchi women and brought them to Kasita. The Kasitas were not pleased, as apparently the
Creeks and Yuchi infrequently bonded in such fashion. Captain Ellick along with his
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