- Treaty & boundary
- Early
- January 8, 1821
- City of Atlanta
- General area only
First Treaty of Indian Springs (1821)
On January 8, 1821, Muscogee leaders including William McIntosh ceded about 4 million acres east of the Flint River, including nearly all of present DeKalb County and the Atlanta side of the Chattahoochee.
The record
Article 1 ran the line up the east bank of the Flint to the head of its principal western branch, then straight to the Chattahoochee and 'up the eastern bank of the said river, along the water's edge, to the shallow Ford, where the present boundary line between the state of Georgia and the Creek nation touches the said river.' If the line struck the river below the Creek village of Buzzard Roost, a set-off was to keep that village a mile inside the Creek Nation. The United States agreed to pay about $200,000 over fourteen years, and McIntosh personally received $40,000 and 1,000 acres at Indian Springs (Wikipedia). Near Atlanta the cession's northern edge was the older line along the Hightower Trail, later part of the DeKalb-Gwinnett line (GHS). Georgia gave the land away in the 1821 lottery.
Today: The Chattahoochee still forms Atlanta's and Fulton's western edge.
Where on the map: East bank (water's edge) of the Chattahoochee from near Buzzard Roost at the mouth of Utoy Creek (just southwest of the map) upstream past Standing Peachtree to the Shallow Ford near Roswell; on the north, the older Georgia-Creek line along the Hightower Trail; on the southwest, a straight line to the head of the Flint's principal western branch.