Chulioa or The Boot¹ is not a “Beloved Chief” to the Cherokee Nation. He is not a Chief. He is one of the most important people in Turkey’s Town. He is listed as one of the “Headman” of Turkey’s Town. This is how he is listed at the Grand Council meeting on 1 June 1792.

Present, the Little Turkey, great beloved man of the whole nation; the Badger, the beloved man of the Southern division; the Hanging Maw, beloved man of the Northern division; the Boot, the Black Fox, the Cabin, Path Killer, head-men of Turkey’s town.²

Chulioa was raised in a Creek village. The Reverend Daniel Butrick, born in Massachusetts, did not understand his title. Butrick did appreciate his importance.

“This man I believe is some like a prince regent.  He attends to business when the king is absent or in ill health, and is his Creek interpreter.  Though a Cherokee, he was brought up among the Creeks, and though he now lives with the Cherokees & is one of their principal Chiefs, yet he is also a chief, and attends councils of the Creek Nation.  He can neither talk nor understand English, and yet perhaps few men in any nation understand the art of pleasing & of rendering their company pleasant and agreeable better than he.”  ⁵

Chulioa served as an advisor and Creek interpreter to Principal Chief Little Turkey⁶. He led Chief Little Turkey to a location for his village. Turkey’s Town was the first settlement of the Cherokee in the Creek territory. (Now Northeast Alabama.) Review, archive, 12 February 2025, post, Location by the People of Turkey’s Town. Settlement of Turkey’s Town is one of the most important events in Northeast Alabama’s history during the 18th century. The following is found in the Alabama Territories Papers.

There is a track of land lying on Wills Creek and between that creek and the Coosa River on the West side of the latter, and north of the Treaty line of Fort Jackson which they may be prevailed upon to part with, in treating for which they are willing to discuss and settle the subject of the boundary between them and the Cherokee. They however contend that their present boundary with the Cherokee is by the Suwannee path where it leaves the Western line of Jackson County to the old town on the Chatahotchie River and from thence by a drift line to the Mouth of a certain water course called by them, Little River where it unites with the Coosa. They have furnished me with a copy of certain question put by the Creeks to an old Cherokee Chief and the Cherokee Interpreter (who was their mutual interpreter on the first settlement of the Cherokee in the Creek Country) . . .⁷

This has to be Chief Little Turkey and Chulioa.

Chulioa played a very important role in the Creek War, 1813-1814. His service in the Creek War was significant to Chief Pathkiller and the US. Chulioa served as the Creek Interpreter. We see in Dr. Susan M. Abram’s Doctoral Dissertation titled Souls in the Treetops, Cherokee War, Masculinity and Community, 1760-1820. She received her Doctor of Philosophy from Auburn University in 2009. Footnote 27, page 118, Cherokee Muster Rolls, RG 94, AGO. Jackson personally oversaw the mustering in of Pvt. Chulio, who was Path Killer’s aid. He served as a private under Capt. James Brown for his first tour of duty. During his second tour, Chulio earned a promotion to 1st Lt. under Capt. Frog.  The footnote is attached to these sentences. Intelligence gathered by the Creek interpreter Chulio soon indicated that a considerable force of Red Sticks had gathered near Ten Islands on the Coosa River while others were about forty miles south of Tuckabatchee. Another group was at Oakchoi Town, not far from Turkey Town near the Creek-Cherokee border.

Chulioa should not be confused with another Cherokee warrior who was killed during the Creek War. The Boot. This Boot was in Captain McLemore’s Company. ⁸

Chulioa made his mark on the Treaty Ratified in Turkey’s Town in October 1816.⁹

Chulioa will be the go-to guy in Turkey’s Town. Rev. Butrick would go to him to gain a meeting with the headmen and Chief Pathkiller in 1822.

Friday 18th. With Br. John Arch started for Turkey’s Town where we arrived on Saturday evening, and called on the Boot.  He is the King’s Creek interpreter & one of his confidential consellors.  I told him the object of our journey, and that if he saw fit to notify a meeting we should be pleased to see the king – Path Killer, and all the people of the town together.  He seemed thankful and said he would lay the subject before the head men of his Town, and let us know their minds.¹⁰

Conclusion

Chulioa or the Boot is a very important person in Turkey’s Town. He is the link to how Chief Little Turkey would settle there. He was very involved with the Creek War. Next post we will see his family and their connections in the Cherokee Nation. We will see a very tragic part of the Trail of Tears.

1. His name is rendered by English writers as Chuleoa, Chulioa, Chuli-o-a, Chulcoh, Tsu-le-o-a, Chutcoe, or generically as ‘the Creek interpreter’ ↩︎
2. Indian Affairs, Volume 1, ASP IA Vol. 1, searchable online the Library of Congress American State Papers web site, pages 271-273, 26 June – 1 July 1792. ↩︎
3. 19 Jan 1822, Journal of Reverand Daniel S. Butrick, pages 143-2, 143-3, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM), 18.3.1 V3, Michael Wren personal copy. Original and transposed copy. ↩︎
4. Ibid ↩︎
5. Ibid. ↩︎
6. See American State Papers Vol 1 pp 271, 276, 277, 328, 447, 657.  See also American State Papers Vol 2 pp 145, 153-154 (where is incorrectly called ShoeBoots), 283, 486-487, 489-490.  He was one of the headmen of Turkey’s Town and part of the Cherokee leaders at the signing of the Treaty of Holston of 1791 where he delivered an address.  See Lyman Draper Papers 15 U 5-56.  Specifically, see 35-36 & 39-46.   ↩︎
7. Alabama Territory, Territorial Papers, pages 183-184, images 207-208, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010692468&seq=208 page183-184 ↩︎
8. Dr. Susan M. Abram’s Doctoral Dissertation titled Souls in the Treetops, Cherokee War, Masculinity and Community, 1760-1820. Doctor of Philosophy from Auburn University in 2009. Page 228 ↩︎
9. National Archives, Record Group 11, General Records of the United States
   Government, Series Indian Treaties; RIT #83; Ratified Indian Treaty #83,
   Cherokee, Chickasaw Council House, September 14, 1816. There are 231 images
   of this with correspondence of letters and a journal. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/100220646 ↩︎
10. 18 Jan 1822, Journal of Reverand Daniel S. Butrick, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM), 18.3.1 V4, Unit 6, reel 754 1819-1845, Michael Wren personal copy. Original and transposed copy. ↩︎

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3: 5-6 CSV