Led by a tustenúggi of their choice, they pursued the Alibamu, and finally caught up with them near a forest on the banks of the Missouri river. The war-chief ordered the wind gens, to which he belonged, to cross the river first, then followed the bear gens, then the tiger gens, and so forth. On their march the vanguard was formed by the young braves, the rear-guard by the old men, and the non-combatants were placed in the centre. They surprised the Alibamu, who then inhabited subterranean dwellings (souterrains), and massacred a large number of them; then these retreated in haste along the Missouri river, descending on its right or southern banks. When again closely pressed by the pursuing Moskoquis, who had defeated them more than once, the Alibamu crossed over to the left side of the river; but this did not save them from pursuit, for the Moskoquis followed them to the opposite side, defeated them in a sharp encounter, and drove them in the direction of Mississippi river, in which many found a watery grave in their hasty flight.
The two belligerent tribes now crossed Mississippi river, and the Alibamu, having an advance of eight days over their pursuers, fled before them into the interior parts to the east. The Moskoquis discovered their tracks and followed them to the Ohio river, north shore, thence to the influx of Wabash river, then crossed Ohio river into what is now Kentucky, continued their march in a southern direction, and finally arrived in the Yazoo country, where they stayed for several years. The caves in which they lived exist to the present day; some of them were excavated by themselves, while others were found ready for occupation.
In the meantime the Alibamu had remained in the fertile tracts along Coosa river. Their warriors cut off and scalped some of the Moskoqui scouts, who had come to ascertain their whereabouts. This deed so embittered the injured tribe, that their míkos resolved to dispossess the enemy of their territory for the third time. They crossed Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, followed Coosa river in marching along its banks from south to north,[146] but were too late for the Alibamu, who had previously left the country, partly for Mobile, partly for the tracts held by Cha'hta Indians.
The Moskoquis then quietly occupied the country which they had conquered and spread out along the rivers Coosa, Tallapoosa, Chatahutchi, Flint, Okmulgi, Great and Little Okoni and Ogitchi, till they reached Savannah river at the place where Augusta is now standing.
The Moskoquis, after taking possession of this wide extent of territory, sent their warriors down Mobile river in pursuit of the Alibamu, who had placed themselves under the protection of the French. The French commander sought to prevent a war between the two bodies of Indians, and succeeded in arranging a truce of six months and in determining with accuracy the hunting grounds of both. Leaders and warriors of the Moskoquis then descended the river and concluded a lasting peace with the hostile tribe in the presence of the French commander. They even invited the Alibamu to join their confederacy by offering them a tract of land on what is now Alabama river, with the privilege of preserving their own customs. The Alibamu accepted the offer, settled on the land, built a town on it, called Coussehaté, and since then form an integral part of the Moskoqui people, which now assumed the name of Creeks.
As a sequel to his wonderful story of the pursuit of the Alibamu by the Creeks and the final peaceable settling down of both, Milfort adds some points on the early doings and warrings of the Creeks, which had occurred but a limited number of years before his stay in the tribe, and were recounted to him by one of the míkos from their memorial beads, like the legendary migration:
About the time of Coussehaté's foundation an Indian tribe dismembered by the Iroquois and Hurons, the Tukabatchi, fled to the Creeks, and asked for shelter. Lands were assigned and the fugitives built on it a town, which they named after themselves, and where the general assemblies of the entire people are sometimes meeting. This kind reception encouraged the Taskígi and the Oxiailles (Oktcháyi) who were also annoyed by their warlike neighbors, to seek a place of safety among the Creeks. Their request was granted also. The former settled at the confluence of Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, the Oxiailles ten leagues to the north of them, in a beautiful prairie near a rivulet.
Shortly after this event, the small tribe of the Yuchi (la petite nation des Udgis), partly dismembered by the British, also fled to the Creek towns and were given a territory on Chatahutchi river. Likewise did a part of the Chicasa apply for help; they were assigned seats on Yazoo river, "at the head of Loup river,"[147] and soon extended their habitations up to the Cheroki boundaries. A few years after, the unhappy Naktche took refuge among the Chicasa, who by protecting them underwent the displeasure of the French colonists. They attacked the Chicasa and in spite of their superior artillery were disastrously beaten near Loup river. A second attack of theirs was warded off by the tribe, by acceding to the peace arrangements proposed by the French. The Naktche then passed over to the Creeks and obtained lands on Coosa river; they built there the towns of Natchez and of Abikudshi, near two high mountains having the appearance of sugar-loaves. The head men of the Creeks went to New Orleans in order to arrange matters amicably with the French and permitted them to erect a fort at Taskigi, subsequently called Fort Toulouse, and the tribes were helpful in erecting it.
Jealous of the erection of this advanced trade-post by their hereditary enemy, the British asked for permission to build a fort on Ogītchi river, twenty miles west of Augusta, Georgia, but were roundly, and in unmistakable terms, refused by the Creek towns. After the loss of the Canadian provinces, Fort Toulouse was evacuated by the French. The Creeks, much dismayed at the departure of their friends, and filled with aversion against the British and Spaniards, were compelled to open their towns to the English traders, to obtain the needed articles of European manufacture.