Tomochichi negotiated the treaty that allowed the settlement of Georgia

Tomochichi was the Mico, or chief, of the Yamacraw, a band of the Creek nation. When James Oglethorpe arrived at the bluff on the Savannah River, the existence of the new colony depended entirely on the agreement of the local people. On 21 May 1733, Tomochichi and Oglethorpe formally ratified a treaty that allowed the English to settle the land. Without this alliance, the colony would have lacked the support necessary to hold the territory as a military outpost against Spanish Florida.

In 1734, at 84 years old, the chief sailed to England with his wife Senauki. He was received by the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and observers consistently noted his great dignity. When he died on 5 October 1739 at the Yamacraw village, he requested burial among the English in Savannah. He was laid to rest in the middle of this square with military honours, and Oglethorpe served as one of his pallbearers.

A pyramid of stones originally marked the burial site. Over the following century, the structure weathered into a mound of rock. In 1883, the city removed the stones to clear space for the tall monument to William Washington Gordon, who founded the Central Railroad and Banking Company. While the Gordon monument now occupies the centre of the square, the grave of Tomochichi remains undisturbed beneath it.

The granite boulder you see today was placed in the south-east corner of the square on 21 April 1899. The Georgia Society of the Colonial Dames of America dedicated the marker, which they sourced from Stone Mountain.

Mary Musgrove, the daughter of an English trader and a Creek mother, served as the principal interpreter between Tomochichi and Oglethorpe for ten years.