The Creek Nation, a Native American tribe, lived on the Flint River. Upson, Talbot, and other surrounding counties belonged to the tribe. It is unclear whether any other settlers owned the land prior to the Creeks. The land that became Upson County was signed over to the Americans in the First Treaty of Indian Springs in 1821. The agreement, part of it, meant that the Native Americans would be forced to leave the land. Georgians were free to expand and settle into new areas.