TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Introduction A Note on Culture, Terminology, Spelling, and Pronunciation I Nene Mvskoke Leske A Muskogee History Prehistory and Development of the Muskogee Culture Contact to the American Revolution 1492-1776 American Revolution to the Creek War 1783-1813 The Creek War 1813-14 Removal 1814-1836 Removal to Present Day 1836-2009 Nene catculke The Redstick Revolt, a narrative Setting the Stage pre-1813 The Battle of Burnt Corn Creek July 1813 Fort Mims and the US Campaign August 1813 Jackson's Obstacle and Cherokee Involvement 1813-1814 40 Battle of Horseshoe Bend/Tohopeka March 1814 Crossroads the Causes of the Revolt Benjamin Hawkins 1754-1816 Tecumseh

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III

Conclusion Works Cited

INTRODUCTION The conflict known as the Creek War of 1813 was the most important series of events in the history of the Muskogee people. Before the Creek War, the Muskogee were the most powerful culture in Southeastern North America. After the war, the power of the Muskogee was broken and the people scattered. Many would take on the lifeways of the Anglo-American, eventually blending in with the surrounding culture to a point that they were indistinguishable and the old traditions forgotten. The remainder would eventually be removed west of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory, migrate to Florida to join those becoming known as the Seminole, or fading out entirely. The Muskogee still survive today, regaining their place in numbers if not in power, as the fourth largest Native American nation within the United States today. The Creek War is remembered only vaguely, through the tidbits of memory that trickled down through the generations. The conflict is remembered as something so traumatic that those involved would not talk about it at all, and now their children and grandchildren only share very little, even today, two centuries later. The main recipient of the blame tends to be Andrew Jackson, for the part he played as commander of the United States forces and the overwhelming victory at Tohopeka, better known as Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River in present day Alabama, as well as his later support of the Indian Removal Act which brought about the removal of the Muskogee in 1836. The Creek War, followed by Jackson's victory in the War of 1812 at New Orleans, made his career and all but ensured his election as President in 1828. Yet Jackson was not a cause of the Creek War. In fact, the Muskogee themselves were partly to blame through their internal conflict over their relations with the Anglo-Americans. So then the question becomes why did they fall into internal conflict? What started the Creek Civil War? Many blame Tecumseh and his cause of Native American unification and nativist movement, assisted by the natural factors of the New Madrid earthquake, eclipse, and comet of 1811-12.

Tecumseh, however, was not asking the Muskogee to change their ways, merely to cooperate with his own Shawnee and others who joined with him. The natural occurrences were not felt as strongly in the Muskogee's area of control as in that of the Shawnee and Cherokee, and conflict with the whites was nothing new. There was one other cause that could have brought on the conflict, that being the new American nation. Through the efforts of a US Indian Agent who enjoyed unprecedented influence with the Muskogees, to a point not seen before, nor would be seen again. This man was Benjamin Hawkins. His fault: the well-intentioned and sincere concern about the condition of the Muskogee in specific and Native Americans in general. His mission: to change the very people themselves, right down to their foundational beliefs and their very idea of family. A NOTE ON CULTURE, TERMINOLOGY, SPELLING, AND PRONUNCIATION To understand the changes being demanded of and even forced on the Muskogee, first some understanding of the Muskogee must be gained. To understand how a single war, a series of events that didn't even take a full year in time elapsed, had effects lasting to the present day. A look is required, into the culture and the traditions which faced an end in one of two ways: assimilation into the AngloAmerican culture or through the violent end of conflict and removal. Yet the culture and traditions do survive still, thanks to the efforts of a few who risked everything to keep the traditions alive so that they could now begin to make a comeback. The peoples to be discussed in this paper have been referred to in many different ways by different people, the most familiar today being the Muskogee Creek Indians. However, there are several points that must be kept in mind when using these and other terms. First to be examined, the most well known term: Creek. The origins of this name come from the latter half of the 18th century, from British exploring the Southeastern part of the continent. While exploring the areas of the Atlantic coast and interiors of modern day Georgia and Alabama, the British noticed that the majority, if not all, of the native peoples established their towns on navigable rivers and streams which were and are still in abundance throughout the piedmont area between the Appalachian Mountains and the sea. These British

used the most practical and obvious name to lump these peoples all into one category. It was the British practice of the time, and even until the 20th century, to impose imperial systems and mannerisms on the native peoples of the lands they colonized to assist in keeping control.1 In this case the word Creek most likely referred to the area around the Ocheese Creek, now known as the Ocmulgee River in Georgia and the peoples who made their dwellings and towns along it, later growing to include all those peoples living in what are now the states of Alabama and Georgia.2 Second, the origins of the term Muskogee are much murkier and difficult to trace. What is supported, is that it is what the people themselves used to name their language, which was spoken throughout the Southeastern area of North America by several different peoples, including the Natchez, Yuchi, Hitchiti, Koasati, Apalachee, Chikasaw, Choctaw, and Alabama. Jack Martin states that this language was shared among the towns along the Coosa, Tallapoosa, Alabama, Chattahoochee, and Flint Rivers of modern Alabama and Georgia 400 years ago, and was known as Este Mvskoke em opunvkv, or, language of the Muskogee people. This language was used for diplomacy, medicine, and personal names even when a particular town used a different language in everyday speech.3 The Muskogee referred to themselves politically according to the town they were subject to; Muskogee towns were arranged with a larger, centrally located settlement surrounded by several outlying satellite villages which were considered under the towns authority. A town was referred to in the Muskogee language as the tvlwv, with the outlying villages called tvlofv. The tvlwv held the square ground, which was the center of Muskogee society, as this was where all public ceremonies, gatherings, and such took place. The Green Corn ceremony took place in the square ground, and the council house where town decisions were made would be located at the square grounds, as well as the stickball grounds.

Wiley, David. Using Tribe and Tribalism Categories to Misunderstand Africa. 1981. Available from http://africa.wisc.edu/outreach/units/tribe.html; Internet; accessed March 2009. 2 Willard Walker, Creek Confederacy Before Removal, in Handbook of North American Indians, v.14 Southeast. ed. William C. Sturtevant, 373-392. (Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004). 3 Martin, Jack B. and Maudlin, Margaret McKane. A Dictionary of Creek/Muskogee. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004), xiii.

Tvlofv were always affiliated with a tvlwv, though at times a tvlofv could outgrow a tvlwv and earn that standing for itself.4 When meeting someone the Muskogee would give the name of the tvlwv they lived in or that their tvlofv was subject to if they were asked about their affiliations. For instance, when a Muskogee introduced himself, as in council, he would give his name, his clan, and his tvlwv. Ones lineage may also be given in the form of stating ones parents or a well-known ancestor or relative. Most recently I observed this of a Muskogee from Oklahoma at a symposium about the Redstick War at Auburn University as well as at a guest lecture given on the Maryville College campus given by a Navajo Code-Talker. In both instances the speakers included information mentioned above in their introductions. European colonists grouped the Muskogee towns according to geography, calling them Upper and Lower Muskogees. A partial listing of known Muskogee towns follows: Upper Muskogee: Alabama, Abihka, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Okfuskee, Lower Muskogee: Tuskegee, Coweta, Kashita, Tamatli,

Wawokai, Hillabee, Atasi (Autossee), Tukabachee, Osochee, Tacusa, Ylapi, Sawokli, Ocmulgee, Koasati, Natchez, Pakana, Tawasa, Okchai, Tomahitan, Tohopika, Tallassee, Econchatee (Ecunchata), Palachicola, Cusseta, Eufala, Yuchi,

In this senior study the following terms will be used in the interests of accuracy and to avoid confusion: The word Muskogee will be used to refer to the people themselves. Using this as a base, the term Muskogean will be used to refer to anything pertaining to the Muskogee people not including the language, for example, traditions or geographic area. The term Mvskoke will be used to refer to the language spoken by them. Because of the inaccurate nature of the term Creek, it will be avoided as much as is possible in the remainder of this thesis.5 The exception will be for direct quotes or an instance
4

Mary Haas, Creek Inter-town Relations, in American Anthropologist 42 no.3 part 1, (Jul. Sep., 1940), 479-489. Martin, Joel W. Sacred Revolt. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1991), 6-13.

such as the Creek War, as this is how it is best known and referred to in scholarly sources. For similar reasons of accuracy and sensitivity, terms such as Indian, Native American, American Indian will also be kept to a minimum, preferring instead the specific names of the cultures mentioned, whether they be Muskogee, Natchez, Miccosuki, or any other indigenous Southeastern culture. At the end of this introduction there is a short pronunciation guide to assist with some of the unfamiliar syllables and vowels used. A commonly used term among scholars today is Muskogulges. I believe that a mention of this term is needed as well. This spelling and usage of it is often incorrect grammatically. The origin of this word comes from the Muskogee term for themselves, Mvskoke and the Mvskoke suffix -vlke, which denotes a plural status in the same way that the English language uses ans at the end of a word to denote a grouping. Properly, the complete term would be Mvskokvlke. Used this way, it is the proper Mvskoke term for several Muskogees gathered together. Notice the difference here Mvskoke is the native term, Muskogee is the English term. The addition of the s on the end as if it were an English term is where the mistake comes in. Muskogulges, then, does not fit into either language, grammatically speaking. The change in spelling of k to g can be expected, as these two syllables are interchangeable in the Mvskoke language, and so would not be a mistake.6 Here are some terms that will be used in the course of this study (alternate spellings in parentheses): Miko (mekko, mikko) = Muskogee political leader or headman of a tvlwv or tvlofv. Translated by the Spanish, French, and English as king, and by the Americans to mean chief. Tvlwv (talwah, talwv) = most often translated as tribal town. A tvlwv was designated by the presence of a square ground and usually was surrounded by several tvlofv in its geographic vicinity. Tvlofv (talofa) = satellite villages surrounding a central tvlwv. Tvlofvlke would generally follow the lead of the tvlwv that it was affiliated with.

Jack Martin and Margaret McKane Maudlin, A Dictionary of Creek/Muskogee (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004), xiii xxx.

Nene (nenne) = path, trail, road, way. The Nene Mvskoke could be translated as The Muskogee Way. Posketv = to fast. This is the term from which the word busk is derived from. Refers to the Green Corn ceremony, the central ceremony of the Muskogee culture denoting the start of the new year Tustenuggee = warrior LETTER A, a C, c E, e , F, f H, h I, I K, k L, l M, m N, n O, o P, p R, r S, s T, t U, u V, v W, w Y, y ENGLISH SOUND awful, law juice, church in, pin feed fish he, Bach lace get (gih) lip mouth nose, sing hope pig, big, spot athlete sh, s, ts, z stone (d) wood but, luck we, wet young MUSKOGEE WORD halo, wakv cesse, cetto eco, este, wenketv efke, tuccnen, hokt fuswv, fo, tvlofv hokt, hvlpvtv yvpefikv, liketv katcv, kute, hakkv lucv, tvlofv mkko, mahetv, emvhayv nute, nokose, henkv opv, okeha, tvlofv pokko, pose raro, noricv svmpv, sukhv torwv, tolose fuswv uce, opv, svmpv ele-wesakv, hvnvnwv yupo, yvnvsv, wvyo

Table 1: THE MUSKOGEE ALPHABET Snow, Alice Micco and Susan Enns Stans. Healing Plants: Medicine of the Florida Seminole Indians. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2001.