The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsTranscribed documents
Sequoyah Research Center and the American Native Press Archives in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Their historical homelands are in what now comprises southern

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, much of

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, western

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and parts of northern

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. Most of the Muscogee people were forcibly removed to

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

(now

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

) by the federal government in the 1830s during the Trail of Tears. A small group of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy remained in Alabama, and their descendants formed the federally recognized Poarch Band of Creek Indians. Another Muscogee group moved into Florida between roughly 1767 and 1821, trying to evade European encroachment, and intermarried with local tribes to form the

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

. Through

ethnogenesis Ethnogenesis (; ) is the formation and development of an ethnic group. This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification. The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th-century neologism that was later introduce ...

, the Seminole emerged with a separate identity from the rest of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy. The great majority of Seminole were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory in the late 1830s, where their descendants later formed

federally recognized tribes This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes are legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United States.

. Some of the

, with the Miccosukee moved south into the

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of flooded grasslands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the K ...

, resisting removal. These two tribes gained federal recognition in the 20th century and remain in Florida. The respective languages of all of these modern-day branches, bands, and tribes, except one, are closely related variants called Muscogee, Mvskoke and Hitchiti-Mikasuki, all of which belong to the Eastern Muskogean branch of the Muscogean language family. These languages are mostly mutually intelligible. The Yuchi people today are part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, but their Yuchi language is a linguistic isolate, unrelated to any other language. The ancestors of the Muscogee people were part of the Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere, also known as Mississippian cultures. Between 800 and 1600 CE, they built complex cities with earthwork mounds with surrounding networks of satellite towns and farmsteads. Muscogee confederated town networks were based on a 900-year-old history of complex and well-organized farming and town layouts around plazas, ballparks, and square ceremonial dance grounds. The Muscogee Creek are associated with multi-mound centers, such as the Ocmulgee, Etowah Indian Mounds, and Moundville sites. Precontact Muscogee societies shared agriculture, transcontinental trade, craft specialization, hunting, and religion. Early Spanish explorers encountered ancestors of the Muscogee in the mid-16th century. The Muscogee were the first Native Americans officially considered by the early United States government to be "civilized" under

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

's civilization plan. In the 19th century, the Muscogee were known as one of the " Five Civilized Tribes", because they were said to have integrated numerous cultural and technological practices of their more recent

European American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

neighbors. Influenced by

Tenskwatawa Tenskwatawa (; also called Tenskatawa, Tenskwatawah, Tensquatawa or Lalawethika) (January 1775 – November 1836) was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe, known as the P ...

's interpretations of the 1811 comet and the New Madrid earthquakes, the Upper Towns of the Muscogee, supported by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh, actively resisted European-American encroachment. Internal divisions with the Lower Towns led to the Red Stick War (Creek War, 1813–1814). Begun as a civil war within Muscogee factions, it enmeshed the Northern Muscogee bands as British allies in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

against the United States, while the Southern Muscogee remained US allies. Once the northern Muscogee Creek rebellion had been put down by General

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

with the aid of the Southern Muscogee Creek, the Muscogee nation was forced to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson, which ceded 22,000,000 acres of land to the US, including land belonging to the Southern Muscogee who had fought alongside Jackson. The result was a weakening of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy and the forced cession of Muscogee lands to the US. During the 1830s Indian Removal, most of the Muscogee Confederacy were forcibly relocated to

. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Kialegee Tribal Town, and Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, all based in Oklahoma, are federally recognized tribes. In addition, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas are federally recognized. Formed in part originally by Muscogee refugees, the Seminole people today have three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Seminole Tribe of Florida, and Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.

History

Precontact

At least 12,000 years ago, Native Americans or Paleo-Indians lived in what is today the Southern United States. Paleo-Indians in the Southeast were

hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

s who pursued a wide range of animals, including

megafauna In zoology, megafauna (from Ancient Greek, Greek μέγας ''megas'' "large" and Neo-Latin ''fauna'' "animal life") are large animals. The precise definition of the term varies widely, though a common threshold is approximately , this lower en ...

, which became extinct following the end of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

age. During the time known as the

Woodland period In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BC to European contact i ...

, from 1000 BC to 1000 AD, locals developed pottery and small-scale horticulture of the Eastern Agricultural Complex. The Mississippian culture arose as the cultivation of maize from

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

led to agricultural surpluses and population growth. Increased population density gave rise to urban centers and regional chiefdoms. Stratified societies developed, with hereditary religious and political elites. This culture flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from 800 to 1500, especially along the Mississippi River and its major tributaries. The early historic Muscogee were descendants of the Mississippian culture along the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...

in modern

, Georgia, and Alabama. They may have been related to the Tama of central Georgia. Muscogee

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

describes a migration from places west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

, in which they eventually settled on the east bank of the

Ocmulgee River The Ocmulgee River () is a western tributary of the Altamaha River, approximately 255 mi (410 km) long, in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the westernmost major tributary of the Altamaha. William Bartram, ''Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws'' (2nd ed.), London 1794, pp
52–53
/ref> Here they waged war against other bands of Native American Indians, such as the Savanna, Ogeeche, Wapoo, Santee, Yamasee, Utina, Icofan, Patican and others, until at length they had overcome them, and absorbed some as confederates into their tribe. In the mid-16th century, when explorers from the Spanish made their first forays inland from the shores of the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

, many political centers of the Mississippians were already in decline, or abandoned. The region is best described as a collection of moderately sized native

chiefdom A chiefdom is a political organization of people representation (politics), represented or government, governed by a tribal chief, chief. Chiefdoms have been discussed, depending on their scope, as a stateless society, stateless, state (polity) ...

s (such as the Coosa chiefdom on the

Coosa River The Coosa River is a tributary of the Alabama River in the U.S. states of Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The river is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, ac ...

), interspersed with completely autonomous villages and tribal groups. The earliest Spanish explorers encountered villages and chiefdoms of the late Mississippian culture, beginning on April 2, 1513, with Juan Ponce de León's landing in Florida. The 1526 Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón expedition in

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

also recorded encounters with these peoples. Muscogee people were gradually influenced by interactions and trade with the Europeans: trading or selling deer hides in exchange for European goods such as muskets, or alcohol. Secondly, the Spanish pressed them to identify leaders for negotiations; they did not understand government by consensus.

Spanish expedition (1540–1543)

After Cabeza de Vaca, a castaway who survived the ill-fated Narváez expedition, returned to Spain in 1537, he told the Court that

Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1497 – 21 May 1542) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, ...

had said that America was the "richest country in the world". Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

who led the first expedition into the interior of the North American continent. De Soto, convinced of the "riches", wanted Cabeza de Vaca to go on the expedition, but Cabeza de Vaca declined his offer because of a payment dispute. From 1540 to 1543, de Soto explored through present-day Florida and

, and then westward into the

and

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

area. The areas were inhabited by historic Muscogee Native Americans. De Soto brought with him a well-equipped army. He attracted many recruits from a variety of backgrounds who joined his quest for riches in

the Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...

. As the de Soto expedition's brutalities became known to the indigenous peoples, they decided to defend their territory. Chief Tuskaloosa led his people in the Battle of Mabila, where the Native Americans were defeated. However, the victory came at great cost to the Spanish campaign in loss of supplies, casualties, and morale. The expedition never fully recovered.

Rise of the Muscogee Confederacy

Because of endemic

infectious diseases infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

carried unknowingly by the Europeans, but new to the Muscogee, the Spanish expedition resulted in epidemics of smallpox and measles, and a high rate of fatalities among the

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. These losses were exacerbated by the Indian slave trade that colonists conducted in the Southeast during the 17th and 18th centuries. As the survivors and descendants regrouped, the Muscogee Creek Confederacy arose as a loose alliance of Muskogee-speaking peoples. The Muscogee lived in autonomous villages in river valleys throughout present-day

, and

, speaking several related Muskogean languages. Muskogee was spoken from the Chattahoochee to the Alabama River. Koasati (Coushatta) and Alibamu were spoken in the upper Alabama River basin and along parts of the

. Hitchiti was spoken in several towns along the Chattahoochee River and across much of present-day Georgia. The Muscogee were a confederacy of tribes consisting of Yuchi, Koasati,

, Coosa, Tuskegee, Coweta, Cusseta, Chehaw (Chiaha), Hitchiti, Tuckabatchee, Oakfuskee, and many others. The basic social unit was the town ('' idalwa''). Abihka, Coosa, Tuckabutche, and Coweta are the four "mother towns" of the Muscogee Confederacy. Traditionally, the Cusseta and Coweta bands are considered the earliest members of the Muscogee Nation. The Lower Towns, along the

Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River () is a river in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida and Georgia border. It ...

(before 1690 and after 1715), and farther east along the Ocmulgee, Oconee, and

Savannah River The Savannah River is a major river in the Southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and South Carolina. The river flows from the Appalachian Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, ...

rivers (between 1690 and 1715), were Coweta, Cusseta (Kasihta), Koloni, Tuskegee, Chiaha, Hitchiti, Oconee, Ocmulgee, Apalachicola, and Sawokli. King Site Aerial HRoe 2018

The Upper Towns, located on the Coosa, Tallapoosa and

rivers, were Tuckabatchee, Abhika, Coosa (Kusa; the dominant people of East Tennessee and North Georgia during the Spanish explorations), Itawa (original inhabitants of the Etowah Indian Mounds), Hothliwahi (Ullibahali), Hilibi, Eufaula, Wakokai, Atasi, Alibamu, Coushatta (Koasati; they had absorbed the Kaski/Casqui and the Tali), and Tuskegee ("Napochi" in the de Luna chronicles). The most important leader in Muscogee society was the ''mico'' or village chief. ''Micos'' led warriors in battle and represented their villages, but held authority only insofar as they could persuade others to agree with their decisions. ''Micos'' ruled with the assistance of ''micalgi'' or lesser chiefs, and various advisers, including a second-in-charge called the ''heniha'', respected village elders, medicine men, and a ''tustunnuggee'' or ranking warrior, the principal military adviser. The ''heles hayv'' or medicine maker officiated at various rituals, including providing black drink, used in purification ceremonies. The most important social unit was the

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

. Clans organized hunts, distributed lands, arranged marriages, and punished lawbreakers. The authority of the ''micos'' was complemented by the clan mothers, mostly women elders. The Muscogee had a

matrilineal Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...

kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

system, with children considered born into their mother's clan, and inheritance was through the maternal line. The Wind Clan is the first of the clans. The majority of ''micos'' have belonged to this clan.

British, French, and Spanish expansion

Britain, France, and Spain all established colonies in the present-day Southeastern woodlands. Spain established Jesuit missions and related settlements to influence Native Americans. The British and the French opted for trade over conversion. In the 17th century,

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friars in

Spanish Florida Spanish Florida () was the first major European land-claim and attempted settlement-area in northern America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and th ...

built missions along Apalachee Bay. In 1670, English colonists from

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

founded Charles Town (modern-day Charleston), the capital of the new colony of Carolina. Traders from Carolina went to Muscogee settlements to exchange

firearm A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

s, gunpowder, axes, glass beads, cloth and West Indian rum for

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

pelts (as part of the deerskin trade) and Indian slaves. The Spanish and their "mission Indians" burned most of the towns along the Chattahoochee after they welcomed Scottish explorer Henry Woodward in 1685. In 1690, English colonists built a trading post on the

Ocmulgee River The Ocmulgee River () is a western tributary of the Altamaha River, approximately 255 mi (410 km) long, in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the westernmost major tributary of the Altamaha.Yuchi and Natchez. In 1704, Irish colonial administrator James Moore led the Carolina militia and Ochese Creek and Yamasee warriors on a series of raids against Spanish missions in the Florida interior during Queen Anne's War. These raids captured thousands of Spanish-allied Indians, primarily Apalachee, who were sold into slavery in Carolina and the West Indies. A decade later, tensions between colonists and Indians in the American Southwest led to the Yamassee War of 1715–17. The Ochese Creeks joined the Yamasee, burning trading posts, and raiding back-country settlers, but the revolt ran low on gunpowder and was put down by Carolinian militia and their

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

allies. The Yamasee took refuge in

, the Ochese Creeks fled west to the Chattahoochee.

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

explorers founded Mobile as the first capital of

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

in 1702, and took advantage of the war to build Fort Toulouse at the confluence of the Tallapoosa and Coosa in 1717, trading with the

and Coushatta. Fearing they would come under French influence, the British reopened the deerskin trade with the Lower Creeks, antagonizing the Yamasee, now allies of Spain. The French instigated the Upper Creeks to raid the Lower Creeks. In May 1718, the shrewd Emperor Brim, ''mico'' of the powerful Coweta band, invited representatives of Britain, France, and Spain to his village and, in council with Upper and Lower Creek leaders, declared a policy of Muscogee neutrality in their colonial rivalry. That year, the Spaniards built the presidio of San Marcos de Apalache on Apalachee Bay. In 1721, the British built Fort King George at the mouth of the Altamaha River. As the three European colonial powers established themselves along the borders of Muscogee lands, the latter's strategy of neutrality allowed them to hold the balance of power. The colony of

was created in 1732; its first settlement,

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

, was founded the following year, on a river bluff where the Yamacraw, a Yamasee band that remained allies of Britain, allowed John Musgrove to establish a fur-trading post. His wife Mary Musgrove was the daughter of an English trader and a Muscogee woman from the powerful Wind Clan, half-sister of 'Emperor' Brim. She was the principal interpreter for Georgia's founder and first Governor Gen.

James Oglethorpe Lieutenant-General James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) was a British Army officer, Tory politician and colonial administrator best known for founding the Province of Georgia in British North America. As a social refo ...

, using her connections to foster peace between the Creek Indians and the new colony. In 1735, Georgia constructed

Fort Okfuskee Fort Okfuskee (also spelled Ofuski or Oakfuskee) was the name of two separate forts built by Great Britain in what is now Tallapoosa County, Alabama, Tallapoosa County, Alabama. The first fort was built to ensure British trade with the Muscogee, C ...

near Oakfuskee to compete with French trade with the Creeks at Fort Toulouse. The deerskin trade grew, and by the 1750s,

exported up to 50,000 deerskins a year. In 1736, Spanish and British officials established a neutral zone from the Altamaha to the St. Johns River in present-day Florida, guaranteeing Native hunting grounds for the deerskin trade and protecting

from further British encroachment. Ca. 1750 a group of Ochese moved to the neutral zone, after clashing with the Muskogee-speaking towns of the Chattahoochee, where they had fled after the

Yamasee War The Yamasee War (also spelled Yamassee or Yemassee) was a conflict fought in South Carolina from 1715 to 1717 between British settlers from the Province of Carolina and the Yamasee, who were supported by a number of allied Native Americans in ...

. Led by Chief Secoffee ( Cowkeeper), they became the center of a new tribal confederacy, the

, which grew to include earlier refugees from the

, remnants of the 'mission Indians,' and escaped African slaves. Their name comes from the Spanish word ''cimarrones'', which originally referred to a domestic animal that had reverted to the wild. ''Cimarrones'' was used by the Spanish and Portuguese to refer to fugitive slaves—"

maroon Maroon ( , ) is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word , meaning chestnut. ''Marron'' is also one of the French translations for "brown". Terms describing interchangeable shades, with overlapping RGB ranges, inc ...

" emerges linguistically from this root as well—and American Indians who fled the Europeans. In the Hitchiti language, which lacked an 'r' sound, it became ''simanoli'', and eventually Seminole.

Intermarriage

Many Muscogee Creek leaders, due to intermarriage, have British names:

Alexander McGillivray Alexander McGillivray, also known as ''Hoboi-Hili-Miko'' (December 15, 1750February 17, 1793), was a Muscogee (Creek) leader. The son of a Muscogee mother, Sehoy II, and a Scottish father, Lachlan McGillivray, he was literate and received a ...

, Josiah Francis, William McIntosh, Peter McQueen, William Weatherford, William Perryman, and others. These reflect Muscogee women having children with British colonists. For instance, Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins married a Muscogee woman. In Muscogee culture, unmarried Muscogee women had great freedom over their own sexuality compared to European and European-American counterparts. Under the customs of Muscogee

society, their children belonged to their mother's clan. With the exception of McGillivray, mixed-raced Muscogee people worked against Muscogee Creek interests, as they understood them; to the contrary, in many cases, they spearheaded resistance to settler encroachment on Muscogee Creek lands. That they usually spoke English as well as Mvskoke, and knew European customs as well, made them community leaders; they "dominated Muskogee politics". As put by Claudio Saunt: As Andrew Frank writes, "Terms such as mixed-blood and half-breed, which imply racial categories and partial Indianness, betray the ways in which Native peoples determined kinship and identity in the eighteenth- and early-nineteen-century southeast."

American Revolutionary War

With the end of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

(also known as the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

) in 1763, France lost its North American empire, and British-American settlers moved inland. Indian discontent led to raids against back-country settlers, and the perception that the royal government favored the Indians and the deerskin trade led many back-country white settlers to join the Sons of Liberty. Fears of land-hungry settlers and need for European manufactured goods led the Muscogee to side with the British, but like many tribes, they were divided by factionalism, and, in general, avoided sustained fighting, preferring to protect their sovereignty through cautious participation. During the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, the Upper Creeks sided with the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

, fighting alongside the Chickamauga (Lower Cherokee) warriors of Dragging Canoe, in the Cherokee–American wars, against white settlers in present-day

. This alliance was orchestrated by the Coushatta chief

, son of Lachlan McGillivray, a wealthy Scottish Loyalist fur-trader and planter, whose properties were confiscated by Georgia. His ex-partner, Scots-Irish Patriot

George Galphin George Galphin (1708–1780) was an American businessman specializing in Indian Trade, an Indian Commissioner, and plantation owner who lived and conducted business in the colonies of Georgia and South Carolina, primarily around the area known ...

, initially persuaded the Lower Creeks to remain neutral, but Loyalist Capt. William McIntosh led a group of pro-British Hitchiti, and most of the Lower Creeks nominally allied with Britain after the 1779 Capture of Savannah. Muscogee warriors fought on behalf of Britain during the Mobile and Pensacola campaigns of 1780–81, where Spain re-conquered

British West Florida British West Florida was a colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1763 until 1783, when it was ceded to Kingdom of Spain, Spain as part of the Peace of Paris (1783), Peace of Paris. British West Florida comprised parts of the modern U.S ...

. Loyalist leader Thomas Brown raised a division of King's Rangers to contest Patriot control over the Georgia and Carolina interior and instigated Cherokee raids against the

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

back-country after the Battle of King's Mountain. He seized Augusta in March 1780, with the aid of an Upper Creek war-party, but reinforcements from the Lower Creeks and local white Loyalists never came, and

militia led by Elijah Clarke retook Augusta in 1781. The next year an Upper Creek war-party trying to relieve the British garrison at

was routed by

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

troops under Gen. 'Mad' Anthony Wayne. After the war ended in 1783, the Muscogee learned that Britain had ceded their lands to the now independent United States. That year, two Lower Creek chiefs, Hopoithle Miko (Tame King) and Eneah Miko (Fat King), ceded of land to the state of Georgia.

led pan-Indian resistance to white encroachment, receiving arms from the Spanish in Florida to fight trespassers. The bilingual and bicultural McGillivray worked to create a sense of Muscogee nationalism and centralize political authority, struggling against village leaders who individually sold land to the United States. He also became a wealthy landowner and merchant, owning as many as sixty black slaves. In 1784, he negotiated the Treaty of Pensacola with Spain, recognizing Muscogee control over of land claimed by Georgia, and guaranteeing access to the British firm Panton, Leslie & Co. which controlled the deerskin trade, while making himself an official representative of Spain. In 1786, a council in Tuckabatchee decided to wage war against white settlers on Muscogee lands. War parties attacked settlers along the Oconee River, and Georgia mobilized its militia. McGillivray refused to negotiate with the state that had confiscated his father's plantations, but President

sent a special emissary, Col. Marinus Willet, who persuaded him to travel to New York City, then the capital of the U.S., and deal directly with the federal government. In the summer of 1790, McGillivray and 29 other Muscogee chiefs signed the Treaty of New York, on behalf of the 'Upper, Middle and Lower Creek and Seminole composing the Creek nation of Indians,' ceding a large portion of their lands to the federal government and promising to return fugitive slaves, in return for federal recognition of Muscogee sovereignty and promises to evict white settlers. McGillivray died in 1793, and with the invention of the

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

white settlers on the Southwestern frontier who hoped to become cotton planters clamored for Indian lands. In 1795, Elijah Clarke and several hundred followers defied the Treaty of New York and established the short-lived Trans-Oconee Republic.

Muscogee and Choctaw land dispute (1790)

In 1790, the Muscogee and

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

were in conflict over land near the Noxubee River. The two nations agreed to settle the dispute by ball-play. With nearly 10,000 players and bystanders, the two nations prepared for nearly three months. After a day-long struggle, the Muscogee won the game. A fight broke out and the two nations fought until sundown with nearly 500 dead and many more wounded.

State of Muskogee and William Bowles

William Augustus Bowles was born into a wealthy

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

family, enlisting with the Maryland Loyalists Battalion at age 14 and becoming an ensign in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

by age 15. Cashiered for dereliction of duty after returning too late to his ship at

Pensacola Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only city in Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Pensacola metropolitan area, which ha ...

, Bowles escaped north and found refuge among the Lower Creek towns of the Chattahoochee basin. He married two wives, one

and the other a daughter of the Hitchiti Muscogee chieftain William Perryman, and later used this union as the basis for his claim to exert political influence among the Creeks. In 1781, a 17-year-old Bowles led Muscogee forces at the Battle of Pensacola. After seeking refuge in the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

, he travelled to London. He was received by King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

as 'Chief of the Embassy for Creek and Cherokee Nations'; it was with British backing that he returned to train the Muscogee as pirates to attack Spanish ships. In 1799, Bowles formed the State of Muskogee, with the support of the Chattahoochee Creeks and the Seminoles. He established his capital at Miccosuki, a village on the shores of Lake Miccosukee near present-day Tallahassee. It was ruled by ''Mico'' Kanache, his father-in-law and strongest ally. Bowles envisioned the State of Muskogee, with its capital at Miccosuki, encompassing large portions of present-day Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and incorporating the

, Upper and Lower Creeks,

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

and

. Bowles' first act was declaring the 1796 Second Treaty of San Ildefonso, which drew the boundary between the U.S. and West Florida, null and void, because the Indians were not consulted. He denounced the treaties

had negotiated with Spain and the U.S., threatening to declare war on the United States unless it returned Muscogee lands, and issuing a death sentence against

's Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins, who won the loyalty of the Lower Creeks. He built a tiny navy, and raided Spanish ships in the

, and, in 1800, declared war on Spain, briefly capturing the presidio and trading post of San Marcos de Apalache before being forced to retreat. Although a Spanish force that set out to destroy Mikosuki got lost in the swamps, a second attempt to take San Marcos ended in disaster. After a European armistice led to the loss of British support, Bowles was discredited. The Seminole signed a peace treaty with Spain. The following year, he was betrayed by Lower Creek supporters of Hawkins at a tribal council. They turned Bowles over to the Spanish, and he died in prison in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

, the first U.S. president, and Henry Knox, the first U.S. Secretary of War, proposed a cultural transformation of the Native Americans. Washington believed that Native Americans were equals as individuals but that their society was inferior. He formulated a policy to encourage the "civilizing" process, and it was continued under President

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

. Noted historian Robert Remini wrote, " ey presumed that once the Indians adopted the practice of private property, built homes, farmed, educated their children, and embraced Christianity, these Native Americans would win acceptance from white Americans." Washington's six-point plan included impartial justice toward Indians; regulated buying of Indian lands; promotion of commerce; promotion of experiments to civilize or improve Indian society; presidential authority to give presents; and punishing those who violated Indian rights. The Muscogee would be the first Native Americans to be "civilized" under Washington's six-point plan. Communities within the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole tribes followed Muscogee efforts to implement Washington's new policy of civilization. In 1796, Washington appointed Benjamin Hawkins as Principal Temporary Agent for Indian Affairs, dealing with all tribes south of the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

. He personally assumed the role of principal agent to the Muscogee. He moved to the area in Creek country that is now Crawford County in

. He began to teach agricultural practices to the tribe, starting a farm at his home on the Flint River. In time, he brought in

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

and workers, cleared several hundred acres, and established mills and a trading post as well as his farm. The goal was to transform the Natives into "respectable Americans" in the republic, in a way that didn't involve violence. One of the ways Hawkins did this was that he worked to change the gender roles that had been established in Creek society long before, to how the new American republic considered gender roles. For example, convincing the men to take up things like ranching and planting, and giving up things like hunting and being warriors, and for the women to leave behind their roles in farms and instead participate in "household manufactures". Hawkins also tried to convince the men to take over family property and "assume command over their wives and daughters". There were many different factors that explained how men and women considered the plan of civilization: "Deep-seated tensions, characterized relations between sexes in the 1700s, rather than static balance; etc." Men and women were separated starting from childhood, including having masculine and feminine versions of the Muscogee language where both genders had different dialects. The men and women would live separated for weeks on end; men hunting and going to war and the women caring for the children, elderly, and making clothes and preparing food. There were many instances where men and women avoided each other in ceremonies due to fear of any type of consequences, like war, childbirth, or menstruation. Defeat during war was seen as feminine, which was considered negative. Enemies who lost or ceded land would be degraded by being called "old women", and how it was seen as a disgrace and humiliating to be referred to as a woman. Later around the 1760s, there were changes to the deerskin trade that affected the relationship between women and men. European markets had an increased need for raw deerskin which meant that the labor of women who would dress the skins was no longer needed, while before that happened both men and women shared labor from the deerskin trade. There was also a huge issue with drunkenness, in which the state of being drunk was associated with madness and bravery of warriors as well as distancing themselves from "household-oriented and feminine trade in clothing", because they traded deerskin for sugar-cane liquor. Creek men drank much more than the women did, many young Creek men when drunk thinking they were warriors. The women were against the behavior of how these warriors acted as well as against drinking rum. Women's labor and manufacturing grew less needed as deerskin trade increased and the clothing was from foreign traders, their main job later being to finish the clothes with beads and gartering, but women had no say in the actual material or use of it. Even most kettles and bowls grew to be from foreign traders. There were also plantations that were started by traders, these plantations were pushing women who farmed and traded produce out of the market. Creek women didn't agree with the "masculine pursuits" that their male family members had done, including instances of hostility towards women, humiliating enemies and others by calling them "old women", the raping, murder, and mutilation of white women that happened because of how some Creek warriors violently expressed their masculinity, as well as the Creek women thinking of the safety of their own households. The women considered Hawkins "plan of civilization" around 1797 with interest compared to most of the men. The plan didn’t agree with the warrior culture and promised availability of goods like food and clothing. The ranchers and planters also seemed in agreement with Hawkins, while many warriors didn’t agree with his ideas nor liked his plan because they didn’t want to give up hunting or their warrior culture. The Plan of Civilization wanted them to take up farming, which was seen as women's work and the Creek warriors resisted that because they saw it as their masculinity being taken away. The alcohol consumption among Creek men had increased because of this shift in their gender roles as many of the warriors resisted being farmers, and the violence against women, mainly domestic, also increased. While the women agreed with many of the changes and reforms that started happening from Hawkins' plan, they refused to submit to the patriarchy, and they used the economic changes to their advantage. The Creeks had started to gain property of their own, and Hawkins had said that "they had began to know the value of property and the necessity of defending it". From the lead of Hawkins, the Creeks had formed a national police force to force Muscogees to "respect their neighbor's property", also because there were some Creeks who were protective of their land and violent in the defense of the land. There were different changes in the settlement, those who were going by Hawkins' plan of civilization and those who didn't go along with the plan that was happening under fenced communities in the Deep South. This was causing conflict between the Creek settlements. For years, Hawkins met with chiefs on his porch to discuss matters. He was responsible for the longest period of peace between the settlers and the tribe, overseeing 19 years of peace. In 1805, the Lower Creeks ceded their lands east of the Ocmulgee to Georgia, with the exception of the sacred burial mounds of the Ocmulgee Old Fields. They allowed a Federal Road linking

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

to Washington, D.C. to be built through their territory. A number of Muscogee chiefs acquired slaves and created cotton plantations, grist mills and businesses along the Federal Road. In 1806, Fort Benjamin Hawkins was built on a hill overlooking the Ocmulgee Old Fields, to protect expanding settlements and serve as a reminder of U.S. rule. Hawkins was disheartened and shocked by the outbreak of the Creek War, which destroyed his life work of improving the Muscogee quality of life. Hawkins saw much of his work toward building a peace destroyed in 1812. A faction of Muscogee joined the Pan-American Indian movement of

and Tecumseh, rejecting accommodation with white settlers and adaptation of European-American culture. Although Hawkins personally was never attacked, he was forced to watch an internal civil war among the Muscogee develop into a war with the United States.

A comet, earthquakes, and Tecumseh (1811)

A comet appeared in March 1811. The Shawnee leader Tecumseh, whose name meant "shooting star", traveled to Tuckabatchee, where he told the Muscogee that the comet signaled his coming. McKenney reported that Tecumseh would prove that the Great Spirit had sent him by giving the Muscogee a sign. Shortly after Tecumseh left the Southeast, the sign arrived as promised in the form of an earthquake. On December 16, 1811, the New Madrid earthquake shook the Muscogee lands and the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

. While the interpretation of this event varied from tribe to tribe, one consensus was universally accepted: the powerful earthquake had to have meant something. The earthquake and its aftershocks helped the Tecumseh resistance movement by convincing, not only the Muscogee, but other Native American tribes as well, that the Shawnee must be supported. The Muscogee who joined Tecumseh's confederation were known as the Red Sticks. Stories of the origin of the Red Stick name varies, but one is that they were named for the Muscogee tradition of carrying a bundle of sticks that mark the days until an event occurs. Sticks painted red symbolize war.

Red Stick rebellion

The Creek War of 1813–1814, also known as the ''Red Stick War'', began as a civil war within the Muscogee Nation, only to become enmeshed within the

. Inspired by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh (to whom 19th-century writers attributed fiery speeches that he "must have said") and their own religious leaders, and encouraged by British traders, Red Stick leaders such as William Weatherford (Red Eagle), Peter McQueen, and Menawa won the support of the Upper Creek towns. Allied with the British, they opposed white encroachment on Muscogee lands and the "civilizing programs" administered by Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins, and clashed with many of the leading chiefs of the Muscogee Nation, most notably the Lower Creek ''Mico'' William McIntosh, Hawkins' most powerful ally. Before the Muscogee Civil War began, the Red Sticks attempted to keep their activities secret from the "old chiefs" of the Creek national government. They were emboldened when Tecumseh rallied his followers and joined with a British invasion to capture Fort Detroit in August 1812. In February 1813, a small party of Red Sticks, led by Little Warrior, was returning from Detroit when they killed two families of settlers along the Duck River, near

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Hawkins demanded that the Muscogees turn over Little Warrior and his six companions. Instead of handing the marauders over to the federal agents, Big Warrior and the old chiefs decided to execute the war party. This decision was the spark which ignited the civil war among the Muscogee. The first clashes between Red Sticks and the American whites took place on July 21, 1813, when a group of American soldiers from Fort Mims (north of

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

) stopped a party of Red Sticks who were returning from West Florida, where they had bought munitions from the Spanish governor at

. The Red Sticks fled the scene, and the U.S. soldiers looted what they found, allowing the Red Sticks to regroup and retaliate with a surprise attack that forced the Americans to retreat. The Battle of Burnt Corn, as the exchange became known, broadened the Creek Civil War to include American forces, and was interpreted as a good omen, showing that in fact the Creeks could defeat the whites. On August 30, 1813, Red Sticks led by Red Eagle William Weatherford attacked Fort Mims, where white settlers and their Indian allies had gathered. The Red Sticks captured the fort by surprise, and carried out a massacre, killing men, women, and children. They spared only the black

whom they took as captured booty. After the Indians killed nearly 250–500 at the fort, settlers across the American southwestern frontier were in a panic. Although the Red Sticks won the battle, they had lost the war. The Fort Mims Massacre was followed two days later by the smaller Kimbell-James Massacre. The only explanation of this catastrophic event is that the Upper Creek leaders thought that fighting the United States was like fighting another Creek tribe, and taking Fort Mims was an even bigger victory than the Battle of Burnt Corn had been. The Red Stick victory spread panic throughout the southeastern United States, and the cry "Remember Fort Mims!" was popular among the public wanting revenge. With Federal troops tied up on the northern front against the British in Canada, the

, and the

Mississippi Territory The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that was created under an organic act passed by the United States Congress, Congress of the United States. It was approved and signed into law by Presiden ...

militias were commissioned and invaded the Upper Creek towns. They were joined by Indian allies, the Lower Creek under William McIntosh and the Cherokee under Major Ridge. Outnumbered and poorly armed, much too far from Canada or the Gulf Coast to receive British aid, the Red Sticks put up a desperate fight. On March 27, 1814, General

's Tennessee

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

, aided by the 39th U. S.

Infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

Regiment and

and Lower Creek warriors, crushed the Red Sticks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. Though the Red Sticks had been soundly defeated and about 3,000 Upper Muscogee died in the war, the remnants held out several months longer.

Muscogee diaspora (1814)

In August 1814, the Red Sticks surrendered to Jackson at Wetumpka (near the present city of

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

). On August 9, 1814, the Muscogee nation was forced to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson. It ended the war and required the tribe to cede some of land—more than half of their ancestral territorial holdings—to the United States. Even those who had fought alongside Jackson were compelled to cede land, since Jackson held them responsible for allowing the Red Sticks to revolt. The state of Alabama was created largely from the Red Sticks' domain and was admitted to the United States in 1819. Many Muscogee refused to surrender and escaped to Florida. They allied with other remnant tribes, becoming the

. Muscogee were later involved on both sides of the Seminole Wars in Florida.

Seminole War

The Red Stick refugees who arrived in Florida after the Creek War tripled the Seminole population, and strengthened the tribe's Muscogee characteristics. In 1814, British forces landed in West Florida and began arming the Seminoles. The British had built a strong fort on the

Apalachicola River The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately long, in the state of Florida. The river's large drainage basin, watershed, known as the ACF River Basin, Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint (ACF) River Basin, drains an area of approximately ...

at Prospect Bluff, and in 1815, after the end of the

, offered it, with all its ordnance (

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...

s, cannons, powder, shot, cannonballs) to the locals: Seminoles and

s (escaped slaves). A few hundred maroons constituted a uniformed

Corps of Colonial Marines The Corps of Colonial Marines were two different Royal Marines, Royal Marine units raised from former Black people, black slavery, slaves for service in the Americas at the behest of Alexander Cochrane. The units were created at two separate ...

, who had had military training, however rudimentary, and discipline (but whose English officers had departed). The Seminole only wanted to return to their villages, so the maroons became owners of the Fort. It soon came to be called the ' Negro Fort' by Southern planters, and it was widely known among enslaved blacks by word of mouth – a place nearby where blacks were free and had guns, as in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. The white pro-slave holding planters correctly felt its simple existence inspired escape or rebellion by the oppressed African-Americans, and they complained to the US government. The maroons had not received training in how to aim the Fort's cannons. After notifying the Spanish governor, who had very limited resources, and who said he had no orders to take action, U.S. General

quickly destroyed the Fort, in a famous and picturesque, though tragic, incident in 1816 that has been called "the deadliest cannon shot in American history" (see Battle of Negro Fort). The Seminole continued to welcome fugitive black slaves and raid American settlers, leading the U.S. to declare war in 1817. The following year, General

invaded Florida with an army that included more than 1,000 Lower Creek warriors; they destroyed Seminole towns and captured

. Jackson's victory forced Spain to sign the Adams–Onís Treaty in 1819, ceding Florida to the U.S. In 1823, a delegation of Seminole chiefs met with the new U.S. governor of Florida, expressing their opposition to proposals that would reunite them with the Upper and Lower Creek, partly because the latter tribes intended to enslave the Black Seminoles. Instead, the Seminoles agreed to move onto a reservation in inland central Florida.

Treaties of Indian Springs

''Mico'' William McIntosh led the Lower Creek warriors who fought alongside the U.S. in the Creek War and the

First Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

. The son of the Loyalist officer of the same name who had recruited a band of Hitchiti to the British cause, McIntosh never knew his white father. He had family ties to some of Georgia's planter elite, and after the wars became a wealthy cotton-planter. Through his mother, he was born into the prominent Wind Clan of the Creek; as the Creek had a

system of descent and inheritance, he achieved his chieftainship because of her. He was also related to

and William Weatherford, both mixed-race Creek. In the late 1810s and early 1820s, McIntosh helped create a centralized police force called 'Law Menders,' establish written laws, and form a National Creek Council. Later in the decade, he came to view relocation as inevitable. In 1821, McIntosh and several other chiefs, including Chief Shelocta, signed away Lower Creek lands east of the Flint River at the first Treaty of Indian Springs. As a reward, McIntosh was granted at the treaty site, where he built a hotel to attract tourists to local hot springs. The Creek National Council responded by prescribing the death penalty for tribesmen who surrendered additional land. Georgian settlers continued to pour into Indian lands, particularly after the discovery of gold in northern Georgia. in 1825 McIntosh and his first cousin, Georgia Governor George Troup, a leading advocate of Indian removal, signed the second Treaty of Indian Springs at his hotel. Signed by six other Lower Creek chiefs, the treaty ceded the last Lower Creek lands to Georgia, and allocated substantial sums to relocate the Muscogee to the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...

. It provided for an equally large payment directly to McIntosh. In April, the old Red Stick Menawa led about 200 Law Menders to execute McIntosh according to their law. They burned his upper Chattahoochee plantation. A delegation of the Creek National Council, led by the speaker '' Opothleyahola'', traveled to Washington D.C. to protest the 1825 treaty. They convinced President

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...

that the treaty was invalid, and negotiated the more favorable Treaty of Washington (1826). The tribe ceded their lands to Georgia in return for $200,000, although they were not required to move west. Troup ignored the new treaty and ordered the eviction of the Muscogee from their remaining lands in Georgia without compensation, mobilizing state militia when Adams threatened federal intervention.

Removal (1834)

In the aftermath of the Treaty of Fort Jackson and the Treaty of Washington (1826), the Muscogee were confined to a small strip of land in present-day east central

. Andrew Jackson was inaugurated president of the United States in 1829, and with his inauguration the government stance toward Indians turned harsher. Jackson abandoned the policy of his predecessors of treating different Indian groups as separate nations. Instead, he aggressively pursued plans to move all Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi River to Oklahoma. At Jackson's request, the United States Congress opened a fierce debate on an Indian Removal Bill. In the end, the bill passed, but the vote was close. The Senate passed the measure 28 to 19, while in the House it squeaked by, 102 to 97. Jackson signed the legislation into law June 30, 1830. Following the

Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States president Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, ...

, in 1832 the Creek National Council signed the

Treaty of Cusseta The Treaty of Cusseta was a treaty between the government of the United States and the Creek Nation signed March 24, 1832 (). The treaty ceded all Creek claims east of the Mississippi River to the United States. Origins The Treaty of Cusset ...

, ceding their remaining lands east of the

to the U.S., and accepting relocation to the

. Most Muscogee were removed to Indian Territory during the Trail of Tears in 1834, with additional removals following the Creek War of 1836, although some remained behind.

American Civil War (1861)

At the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, '' Opothleyahola'' refused to form an alliance with the Confederacy, unlike many other tribes, including many of the Lower Creeks. Runaway slaves, free blacks,

and Seminole Indians began gathering at Opothleyahola's plantation, where they hoped to remain neutral in the conflict between the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

. On August 15, 1861, Opothleyahola and tribal chief ''Micco Hutko'' contacted President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

to request help for the Union loyalists. On September 10, they received a positive response, stating the United States government would assist them. The letter directed Opothleyahola to move his people to Fort Row in Wilson County, Kansas, where they would receive asylum and aid. They became known as Loyalists, and many were members of the traditional Snake band in the latter part of the century. Because many Muscogee Creek people did support the Confederacy during the Civil War, the US government required a new treaty with the nation in 1866 to define peace after the war. It required the Creek to emancipate their

and to admit them as full members and citizens of the Creek Nation, equal to the Creek in receiving annuities and land benefits. They were then known as Creek Freedmen. The US government required setting aside part of the Creek reservation land to be assigned to the Freedmen. Many of the tribe resisted these changes. The loss of lands contributed to problems for the nation in the late 19th century. The Loyalists among the Creek tended to be traditionalists. They formed the core of a band that became known as the Snakes, which also included many Creek Freedmen. At the end of the century, they resisted the extinguishing of tribal government and break-up of communal tribal lands enacted by the US Congress with the Dawes Commission of 1892. These efforts were part of the US government's attempt to impose assimilation on the tribes, to introduce household ownership of land, and to remove legal barriers to the Indian Territory's achieving statehood. Members of the Creek Nation were registered as individuals on the Dawes Rolls; the Commission separately registered intermarried whites and Creek Freedmen, whether or not they had any Creek ancestry. This ruined their claims to Creek membership later, even for people who had parents or other relative who were Creek. The Dawes Rolls have been used as the basis for many tribes to establish membership descent. European-American settlers had moved into the area and pressed for statehood and access to some of the tribal lands for settlement.

Today

Some Muscogee in Alabama live near the federally recognized Poarch Creek Reservation in Atmore northeast of

, and Muscogee live in essentially undocumented ethnic towns in Florida. The Alabama reservation includes a

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

and 16-story hotel. The Creek tribe holds an annual

powwow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native Americans in the United States, Native American and First Nations in Canada, First Nations communities. Inaugurated in 1923, powwows today are an opportunity fo ...

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

. Additionally, Muscogee descendants of varying degrees of acculturation live throughout the southeastern United States. The majority of the Muscogee citizens live in Oklahoma, where the Muscogee Reservation is located. The Muscogee Nation is headquartered out of the nation's capital Okmulgee. The Muscogee Nation has over 100,000 citizens as of 2024, The Muscogee Nation has increased in popularity due to the television series Reservation Dogs, which follows the lives of four Creek teens in Oklahoma.

Culture

Muscogee culture has greatly evolved over the centuries, combining mostly European-American influences; however, interaction with Spain, France, and England greatly shaped it as well. They were known for their rapid incorporation of modernity, developing a written language, transitioning to

yeoman Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of Serfdom, servants in an Peerage of England, English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in Kingdom of England, mid-1 ...

farming methods, and accepting European-Americans and African-Americans into their society. Muscogee people continue to preserve ''chaya'' and share a vibrant tribal identity through events such as annual festivals, stickball games, and language classes. The Stomp Dance and Green Corn Ceremony are revered gatherings and rituals.

Clans

While families include people who are directly related to each other, clans are composed of all people who are descendants of the same ancestral clan grouping. Like many Native American nations, the Muscogee Creek are

; each person belongs to the clan of their mother, who belongs to the clan of her mother. Inheritance and property are passed through the maternal line. Hereditary chiefs were born into certain clans. Biological fathers are important within the family system but must come from another clan than the mother. But, within the clan, it is the mother's brother (the mother's nearest blood relation) who functions as the primary teacher, protector, disciplinarian and role model for children, especially for boys. Clan members do not claim "blood relation" but consider each other as family due to their membership in the same clan. This is expressed by their using the same kinship titles for both family and clan relations. For example, clan members of approximately the same age consider each other "brother" and "sister", even if they have never met before. Because of this system, the Muscogee Creek children born of European fathers belonged to their mother's clans and were part of their tribal communities. High-ranking daughters of chiefs often found it advantageous to marry European traders, who could provide their families with goods. Muscogee Creek believed young men who became educated in European ways could help them manage under the new conditions related to colonialism, while preserving important Muscogee Creek cultural institutions. Muscogee clans are as follows: *Bear Clan (Muklasalgi, Nokosalgi), *Beaver Clan (Itamalgi, Isfanalgi, Itchhasuaigi), *Bird Clan (Fusualgi), *Bog Potato Clan (Ahalakalgi), *Cane Clan (Kohasalki), *Deer Clan (Itchualgi), *Fish Clan (Hlahloalgi), *Fox Clan (Tsulalgi), *Hickory-Nut Clan (Odshisalgi), *Maize Clan (Aktayatsalgi, Atchialgi), *Mole Clan (Takusalgi), *Otter Clan (Osanalgi), *Panther Clan (Chukotalgi, Katsalg), *Raccoon Clan (Wahlakalgi, Wotkalgi), *Salt Clan (Okilisa, Oktchunualgi), *Skunk Clan (Kunipalgi), *Toad Clan (Pahosalgi, Sopaktalgi), *Turtle Clan (Locvlke) – related to Wind Clan *Wild-Cat Clan (Koakotsalgi), *Wind Clan (Hutalgalgi), *Wolf Clan (Yahalgi) – related to Bear Clan.

Clothing

Ancestral Muscogee peoples wore clothing made of woven plant materials or animal hides, depending upon the climate. During the summer, they preferred lightweight fabrics woven from tree bark, grasses, or reeds. During the harsh winters, they used animal skins and fur for warmth. During the 17th century, the Muscogee adopted some elements of European fashion and materials. As cloth was lighter and more colorful than deer hide, it quickly became a popular trade item throughout the region. Trade cloth in a variety of patterns and textures enabled Muscogee women to develop new styles of clothing, which they made for both men, women, and children. They incorporated European trade items such as bells, silk ribbons, glass beads, and pieces of mirror into the clothing.

Language

The Muscogee language is a member of the

Muskogean Muskogean ( ; also Muskhogean) is a language family spoken in the Southeastern United States. Members of the family are Indigenous Languages of the Americas. Typologically, Muskogean languages are highly synthetic and agglutinative. One docume ...

family and was well known among the frontiersmen, such as Gideon Lincecum, of the early 19th century. The language is related to the

Choctaw language The Choctaw language (Choctaw: ), spoken by the Choctaw, an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, US, is a member of the Muskogean languages, Muskogean language family. Chickasaw language, Chickasaw is a separate but closely related l ...

, with some words being identical in pronunciation. The following table is an example of Muscogee text and its translation:

Treaties

Land was the most valuable asset, which the Native Americans held in collective stewardship. The southern English colonies, US government and settlers systematically obtained Muscogee land through treaties, legislation, and warfare. Some treaties, such as the Treaty of San Lorenzo, indirectly affected the Muscogee. The treaties were:

Indian Appropriations Act of 1871

In 1871, Congress added a rider to the Indian Appropriations Act to end the United States' recognizing additional Indian tribes or nations, and prohibiting additional treaties.

Population history

Early estimates of the Creek probably did not cover the whole nation but just parts of the population. James Seagrove, an ambassador for the US to the Creek Nation and merchant who lived in southern Georgia estimated Creek population in year 1794 at 10,000 warriors (and therefore around 50,000 people). Around the same time (1789) Henry Knox wrote that the Creek lived in at least 100 towns and villages. Census taken in 1832 reported 22,700 Creeks and 900 Black slaves. Following the Creek War, the Treaty of Fort Jackson, the Treaty of Washington (1826), the Second Creek War and the removal to Oklahoma, Indian Affairs 1836 reported 17,894 Creeks already removed to Oklahoma while an estimated 4,000 still remained east of the

. According to Indian Affairs 1841 the number of Creeks in Oklahoma (removed west of the Mississippi) was 24,549 while 744 still remained in the east.

Henry Schoolcraft Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (March 28, 1793 – December 10, 1864) was an American geographer, geologist, and ethnologist, noted for his early studies of Native American cultures, as well as for his 1832 expedition to the source of the Mississippi ...

reported Creek population in 1857 as 28,214 people. It appears that Creek population declined during the subsequent years. Enumeration published in 1886 estimated only around 14,000 Creeks in Oklahoma (

) as of 1884. Indian Affairs 1910 reported 11,911 in Oklahoma. While the census of 1910 counted only 6,945 Creeks. Creek population has rebounded in the 20th and 21st centuries. In 2020 there were 107,370 Creeks (including 50,168 in Oklahoma).

Muscogee tribes today

The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana are a tribe of Muscogee people, descended from the Koasati, as are the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas. Kenny davis dine muscogee

Federally recognized tribes in Oklahoma

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation is a federally recognized Indian Nation. Their headquarters is in Okmulgee, Oklahoma and their current Principal Chief is David W. Hill. Three Muscogee tribal towns are federally recognized tribes: Alabama-Quassarte, Kialegee, and Thlopthlocco. Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town is headquartered in Wetumka, Oklahoma and its chief is Wilson Yargee.Oklahoma Indian Affairs
2008 Pocket Pictorial
17 Kialegee Tribal Town is headquartered in Wetumka, and Jeremiah Hoia is the current ''mekko'' or chief."Oklahoma's Tribal Nations."
''Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission''. 2010 (retrieved April 10, 2010) The Thlopthlocco Tribal Town is headquartered in Okemah, Oklahoma. George Scott is the mekko. Micah wesley kiowa muscogee

Federally recognized tribes in Alabama

Eddie L. Tullis led the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in their petitioning the United States government to recognize a government-to-government relationship. On August 11, 1984, these efforts culminated in the United States Government, Department of Interior, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs acknowledging that the Poarch Band of Creek Indians existed as an "Indian Tribe". The tribe is the only federally recognized tribe in the state of Alabama. On November 21, 1984, the US government took of land into trust for the tribe as a communal holding. On April 12, 1985, were declared a reservation.

Expansion of reservation

The United States Supreme Court issued their ruling for McGirt v. Oklahoma on July 9, 2020. The Court recognized a large part of eastern Oklahoma as part of the state's Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation. The ruling also opened the possibility for Native Americans to have more power to regulate alcohol and casino gambling.

Notable historical Muscogee people

Muscogee people from the 20th and 21st centuries will be listed under their respective tribes. * William Augustus Bowles (1763–1805), also known as ''Estajoca'', Maryland-born English adventurer and organizer of Muscogee Creek attempts to create a state outside of Euro-American control * Samuel Benton Callahan (1833–1911), represented the Creek and Seminole nations in the Second Confederate Congress * Stella Mason (unknown–1918), she was subject to a known lawsuit, highlighting a pattern of abuse against Freedmen among the Five Civilized Tribes. *

, Hoboi-Hili-Miko (1750–1793), principal chief of the Upper Creek towns during the American Revolution * William McIntosh (–1825), Muscogee chief prior to removing to Indian Territory led part of the pro-American Muscogee forces against the Red Sticks * Menawa () was a principal leader of the Red Sticks during the Creek Wars. * Mary Musgrove (–1765) served as a cultural liaison between colonial Georgia and the Muscogee Creek community. * Opothleyahola (–1863), speaker, Muscogee chief, warrior leader during first two Seminole Wars and the Civil War, treaty signer, American ally * Tomochichi (1644–1741), Creek chief who mediated with the British who established colonial Georgia, and Senauki, his wife and partial heir * William Weatherford, also known as Red Eagle ( – 1824), leader of the Red Sticks during the Creek Wars

In popular culture

*The TV series '' Reservation Dogs'' is filmed entirely in Muscogee Nation land in Oklahoma.St. Felix, Doreen (September 20, 2021
"'Reservation Dogs' Is a Near-Perfect Study of Dispossession"
''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

References

Notes Further reading * Braund, Kathryn E. Holland (1993). ''Deerskins & Duffels: The Creek Indian Trade with Anglo-America, 1685–1815.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. * Jackson,Harvey H. III (1995). ''Rivers of History-Life on the Coosa, Tallapoosa, Cahaba and Alabama.'' Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. * Kokomoor, Kevin (2019). ''Of One Mind and of One Government: The Rise and Fall of the Creek Nation in the Early Republic.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. * Perdue, Theda. Chapter 2: "Both White and Red", in ''Mixed Blood Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South,'' The University of Georgia Press. p. 51. . * Swanton, John R. (1922). ''Early History of the Creek Indians and their Neighbors.'' Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. * Swanton, John R. (1928). "Social Organization and the Social Usages of the Indians of the Creek Confederacy", in Forty-''Second Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.'' Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. pp. 23–472. * Walker, Willard B. (2004). "Creek Confederacy Before Removal", in Raymond D. Fogelson (ed.), ''Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 14: Southeast.'' Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. * Winn, William W. (2015). ''The Triumph of Ecunnau-Nuxulgee: Land Speculators, George M. Troup, State Rights, and the Removal of the Creek Indians from Georgia and Alabama, 1825–38.'' Macon, GA: Mercer University Press. * Worth, John E. (2000). "The Lower Creeks: Origins and Early History", in Bonnie G. McEwan (ed.), ''Indians of the Greater Southeast: Historical Archaeology and Ethnohistory.'' Gainesville: University Press of Florida. pp. 265–298.

External links

Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma
official site
Poarch Band of Creek Indians
official site
Creek Nation Indian Territory Project

* ttp://ourgeorgiahistory.com/indians/Creek/index.html History of the Creek Indians in Georgia
Comprehensive Creek Language materials online

Southeastern Native American Documents, 1763–1842
.
New Georgia Encyclopedia entry

Encyclopedia of Alabama article

Creek (Mvskoke)
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture * A poem by Lydia Sigourney published in 1827. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muscogee People Muskogean tribes South Appalachian Mississippian culture Native American tribes in Alabama Native American tribes in Florida Native American tribes in Georgia (U.S. state) Native American tribes in Louisiana Native American tribes in Oklahoma Native American tribes in Tennessee Native American people in the American Revolution Negro Fort Tribal Confederacies of indigenous peoples of North America Indigenous peoples of North America