Opothleyahola (also spelled Opothle Yohola, Opothleyoholo, Hu-pui-hilth Yahola, Hopoeitheyohola, and Hopere Yahvlv, c. 1778 – March 22, 1863) was a Muscogee Creek Indian chief, noted as a brilliant orator.

[2] The historian Angie Debo found evidence suggesting that the boy's father was David Evans, a trader of Welsh descent.

The Creek had a matrilineal kinship system of property holding and descent, and the mother's family and clan determined the status of her children.

Under pressure from European Americans, Lower Creek leaders had made treaties with the state of Georgia to cede former hunting lands in 1790, 1802 and 1804.

The Red Sticks of the Upper Creek wanted to revive traditional culture and religion, and resisted assimilation, as well as the land cessions.

This ended with defeat by General Andrew Jackson, who commanded a large allied force, including Lower Creek, at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

By then, McIntosh and others of the Treaty Party believed that removal was inevitable, given the increasing numbers of European-American settlers entering their region, and they wanted to get the best deal possible for the Creek Nation.

When the Alabama legislature also acted to abolish tribal governments and extend state laws over the Creek people, Opothleyahola appealed to the administration of President Andrew Jackson.

But he had already signed the 1830 Indian Removal Act and wanted the Creek and other tribes to move west, to extinguish their land titles in the east.

[7] In 1836, Opothleyahola, commissioned as a colonel by the U.S. government, led 1,500 of his warriors against remaining rebellious Lower Creek, who had allied with Seminole in Florida in fighting European-American occupation.

Over time, they began to specialize in stock raising and grain production there, as neither the land nor climate were suitable for subsistence farming.

[5] The Lower Creek and some of the other of the Southeastern tribes, who had specialized in cotton production, held numerous slaves and had more cultural contacts with white settlers.

[8] Refugee enslaved African Americans, free people of color, Chickasaw and Seminole Indians also began gathering at Opothleyahola's plantation.

On August 15, 1861, Opothleyahola and tribal chief Micco Hutko contacted President Abraham Lincoln to request help for the loyalists.

The letter directed Opothleyahola to move his people to Fort Row in Wilson County, Kansas, where they would receive asylum and aid.

Believing Federal promises of assistance, Opothleyahola led his band (including Seminole under Halleck Tustenuggee) toward Kansas.

He lost an estimated 2,000 of his 9,000 followers from the battles, disease, and bitter winter blizzards during their ill-fated trek to Fort Row.

Opothleyahola died in the Creek refugee camp near the Sac and Fox Agency at Quenemo in Osage County, Kansas, on March 22, 1863.