Book details historic Indian village sites in Wilcox County, Alabama

A good friend recently put me onto a great book called “Historic Indian Towns in Alabama, 1540-1838” by Amos J. Wright Jr. Published by the University of Alabama Press in 2003, this book describes nearly 400 ancient Indian sites based on information from 214 old maps and other reference documents. As you would expect, a number of old Indian sites in Wilcox County are mentioned in this book.

The first of these is a Choctaw village site called Bachcha Illi, which was also sometimes called “Bachele.” According to a 1733 map, this village was said to have been located on the east bank of the Alabama River about eight miles southwest of Camden. Noted historian Thomas M. Owen said that the name for this village meant “Dead Ridge” and that it was located at Gullette’s Bluff on the east bank of the Alabama River, just below Pursley Creek.

Another Indian site possibly located in Wilcox County was the Lower Creek village of Cusseta, which was sometimes called “Casaite.” While opinions vary widely about exactly where this village was located, one 1700 map shows this village to have been located in present-day Wilcox County on the west bank of the Alabama River near Pine Barren Creek. Other sources place this village in a wide variety of other locations, including Dallas County.

According to John R. Swanton’s 1939 “Final Report of the United States de Soto Expedition Commission,” the village of Humati was located on the west bank of the Alabama River, just north of Camden. Sources say that the famous Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto camped at Humati for one night on Oct. 7, 1540 and that it was about one day’s march from another village called Caxa. Other sources say that Humati may have possibly been located in Coosa County.

Another Indian site said to have been located in Wilcox County was a Choctaw site listed as “Old Mobiliens” on nine old maps that date back as far as 1733. Six of these maps place this site on the east bank of the Alabama River near the mouth of Pine Barren Creek in Wilcox County. Other sources say that this village was in Lowndes County or possibly near the mouth of the Cahaba River.

Last, but not least, there is the ancient Indian site of Uxapita. Swanton’s report on the De Soto expedition said that De Soto visited this village in 1540 and noted that it was located on the east bank of the Alabama River, at the mouth of Pursley Creek, in the southern portion Wilcox County. If you read this description closely, you’ll see that it closely resembles that of Bachcha Illi, mentioned above.

In the end, this 239-page book is jampacked full of information about ancient Indian villages throughout Alabama, so if you are interested in this subject, I highly recommend that you check out this book. The author notes that while his book does describe nearly 400 Indian village sites, his book doesn’t contain information about absolutely every Indian site that was within the borders of what is now Alabama. With that in mind, if you know of a Wilcox County Indian site not mentioned above, please contact me and let me know.