Creek Indians
The Creek Indians were a compilation of many small tribes controlling
most of the south east united states. The alliance was ever changing as different
tribes joined and left the confederacy. Each tribe maintained their own political
governing and land holdings as the came and went from the Creek Indian Nation.
Unlike the tribes of their nomadic cousins, the Creek Indians were settled.
They built stationary thatched huts around the ceremonial center called Pascova.
The Muskogee's, as the called themselves, problems began in the 1600's with the
battle at Slaughter Gap. The Creek's and the Cherokee's fought for resource rights
in the south east. The Creek Indians were then divided into the Upper Creeks
and the Lower Creeks.
In 1813 a civil war broke out within the Creek Nation. The Upper Creeks, known
as the Red Sticks, attacked the Lower Creeks and their American Allies, to show
their resistance to the white immigration civilizations. As close to 250 were
slaughtered the Red Sticks took over Fort Mims, an American outpost near Mobile,
Alabama. Responding to the spreading panic, nearly 3,000 Red Sticks were killed
at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, led by General Andrew Jackson. The remaining
Upper Creek Indians were forced to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson, ending conflict
and giving 20 million acres to the United States. That 20 million acres
is now the state of Alabama. The Treaty of Indian Springs was signed by the Lower
Creek Indians giving most of their land to Georgia.
Although the Treaty of Indian Springs was nullified by John Quincy Adams and
the new Treaty of Washington put in place, the Georgian Governor Troup forcefully
began moving the Indians. Without Federal help to back up the new treaty, the
Creeks had no choice, but to leave Georgia. The remaining land of the Upper Creeks
was divided into individuals lots. The owners had their choice to sell and move
or to stay and obey the laws of the state. The Creeks that chose to stay were
defrauded out of there land and were forcibly removed.
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