History
Kialegee emerged as an independent town from a larger Creek town, Tuckabatche, located along rivers in what is now Alabama. Before removal, the Muscogee Confederacy included about 50 towns. Kialegee was based on a matrilineal system, with status through the mother's clan. It was an agrarian community. Women and children grew crops, while men hunted for game.
On June 29, 1796 leaders from Kialegee signed a peace treaty with the United States. Townspeople joined the Red Stick Upper Creeks in the Creek Civil War. In 1813, US troops burned the town. In 1814, 1818, 1825, and 1826, Kialegee representatives signed treaties with the United States. Finally 166 families of Kialegee were forced to relocate to Indian Territory in 1835 under the Indian Removal Act.
The tribe settled south of what would become Henryetta, Oklahoma. They maintained a ceremonial ground and played stick ball against the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town. Their ground was put to sleep in 1912 when ethnologist John R. Swanton visited the town. He recorded that Kialegee was a Red Town or community of warriors.
After the passage of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act in 1936, the US federal government offered each of the Muscogee Creek tribal towns the opportunity to enroll as an individual tribe . Of more than 40 towns, only three accepted: Kialegee, Thlopthlocco, and the Alabama-Quassarte.
The tribe ratified its constitution and by-laws on June 12, 1941. The tribe is governed by a miko or town king. Additional officers are the First Warrior, Second Warrior, Secretary, and Treasurer.
The first tribal headquarters was the home of Martin Givens.
Read more about this topic: Kialegee Tribal Town
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