Description
Early documents reveal at least two bodies of Indians bearing the name Oconee and probably related. One was on or near the coast of Georgia and seems later to have moved into the Apalachee country and to have become fused with the Apalachee tribe before the end of the seventeenth century. The other was at the point above indicated, on Oconee River. About 1716 they moved to the east bank of the Chattahoochee in Stewart County, Georgia, and a few years later part went to the Alachua Plains, in the present Alachua County, Florida, where they became the nucleus of the Seminole Nation and furnished the chief to that people until the end of the Seminole war. Most of them were then taken to Oklahoma, but they had already lost their identity.
Language
Their language appears to have been either a dialect of Miccosukee or a closely related language
Culture
The economy of the Southeast was mostly agricultural. The leading crop was corn, followed by beans and squash. Southeast peoples grew several varieties of corn. Some varieties were baked or roasted on the cob, and some were boiled into succotash—a dish of stewed corn and beans. Other varieties were pounded into hominy or cornmeal. Some corn, beans, and squash were dried and stored for later use. Southeast peoples also raised sunflowers, which were processed for their oil, and tobacco. Wild plant foods, including greens, berries, nuts, acorns, and sap, were acquired through gathering. Southeast peoples enhanced the fertility of their agricultural fields by burning off any stalks or vines that remained from the previous harvest.