Chapter 4: The Origins of the Creek Nation

The Creek people, also known as the "Muscogee" in the early days of the conflict between the American Indian Tribes and the European settlers occupied a region of the current United States that include the States of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. In actuality, it was not a single tribe but a confederation of several tribes that had cultural and economic ties similar to a country or "Nation".

They were comprised of a number of original "Towns" that spawned new towns as other tribes were taken into the Nation as new members. The politics of the Creek nation had similarities to the "Five Nations" of the Northeast in that they had both political independence and distinct territorial claims.

In the period after 1500 AD, the Creek Nation expanded swiftly due to their own warlike nature and the opportunity to scoop up those areas and tribes that were decimated by European encroachment. After a period of assimilation, the Creek Nation imposed their language and culture on the conquered areas eliminating future challenges to their authority. During the entire period leading up to the French and Indian wars, the Creek Nation area of control managed to remain a separate identity with the exception of those "towns" in close proximity to the European settlers.

The political competition between the French and the English European powers culminated in the French and Indian Wars which were actually a conflict between England and France for control over the territory claimed by both in the New World. Both European countries saw the advantage of securing allies in the American Indian Tribes that were native to the areas in contention and they secured their allegiance with the use of trading goods and promises of loot and slaves when they had defeated the other side. It was during this crucial phase of the conflict that the both European countries passed along the power of the "fire-sticks" to the Indians by arming them for their dirty job of killing the settlers of the opposite side. A good portion of the discussion of the development of the Creek Nation is actually reserved for the final part of this story because of its critical importance in the era after the middle period of the French and Indian Wars and the American Revolution. The relocation of the entire Creek nation from the Area of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina in that latter period to the Western States primarily Oklahoma set the stage for vital development of the Southern States without the danger of Indian uprisings but further exacerbated the confrontation in the West.

Returning to the origins of the Creek Nation, it should be noted that despite the disbursal of the tribes to far distant territories, the Spanish incursions into the lower areas of the Southeast in the 1500s resulted in extensive reduction of the Indian population due to smallpox running rampant and killing the majority of the then-existent native populace. It was actually not until the late 1600s that the Confederation managed to restore their dominance.

In the period of the early 1700s leading up to the French and Indian Wars, the Creek Nation dominated the region outnumbering the Settlers and the less warlike non-Creek tribes. At that time there was a wide swath of territory extending from the Alleghenies all the way to the Mississippi and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Northwest and Canadian lands that was claimed by France as their possession. While the French considered the region under their control the English and the Native Indians were of a different mind. This situation festered for decades until the final outbreak of the French and Indian Wars in mid-century and extending right up almost to the beginning shots of the American Revolution. The French and Indian Wars were not confined just to this region but were a serious challenge to settlement in most of the English colonies still under control of England. The Wars were actually a struggle between old enemies, the French and the English for dominance in the New World. The influence of the Spanish and the Portuguese was already on the wane and the Dutch were never really serious in their colonial plans in the New World.

The single most important feature of this timeframe was the TRADE patterns that were established between the Creek Nation and the English settlers. Eventually, the port cities of Savannah Georgia and Charleston were developed in large part to the export of furs and skins and the import of cloth, kettles, guns and spirits. The French found it difficult to lure the Creeks away from the English influence and they settled by aligning with other non-Creek tribes in the Mississippi Valley. They already had alliances with the major tribes of the Five Nations further north.

The French and Indian wars were fought more with the Indians aligned on both sides and the victims were usually the civilian settlers rather than military personnel of either country. The savagery of the Indian attacks created a bad taste in the settler's mouths and a deep-seated distrust of their proximity to peace-seeking settlements. Slavery also played a role in the development of the Creek Nation because they were veteran slave traders selling captured members of other tribes to the European traders in return for items they needed for everyday life. This concept of slave dealing even applied to the English captives being sold to the French traders for shipment to Canada or to the offshore Islands as cheap labor or for sexual pleasure in the case of nubile females. Children were seldom taken as slaves because it was too difficult to tend to them in a fast moving situation. There was a degree of intermarriage between the Creek tribes and the English settlers creating a new class of mixed blood residents with a foot in both camps. Unlike the French, the English made little effort to convert the Indians tending to focus more on trade and exchange of services.

The drastic changes that took place after the French and Indian Wars with respect to the influence of the French and the English in these regions impacted the future of the Creek Nation. The virtual full retreat of the French from the region and the expansion of English settlements deeper into Creek territory insured closer ties between the two.

With the advent of the American Revolution, the leaders of the Creek Nation made a decision to stay well out of it uncertain as to the outcome. It was probably a wise move because it delayed their own confrontation with the encroachment of the settlers until decades later. We will discuss that in the last part of the coverage of the 400 year war.

The following fictional account of typical Creek Indian life at that time of contact with the English traders will hopefully give insight to the challenges of the time.

1715

The muddy water of the river just south of Macon was filled with the floating bodies of the recently killed interlopers into Creek territory. Some of them wore uniforms but most were dressed in the simple frontier garb of ordinary civilian settlers. "William" Crooked Path was not really certain why the meeting for trade had turned into a bloodbath but he opined that it was probably the introduction of the barrel of "firewater" that the duplicitous head trader was using to get the warriors to make an uneven deal that would make him and his cronies wealthy men.