Creek War
The so-called Creek War of 1836 marks an armed conflict between the Indian Confederation of the Muskogee and the white settlers of the state of Alabama . The origin of hostilities was in the legislation by the Indian Removal Act (Engl. For "Indian Relocation Act") covered expulsion of Muskogee (Creek) from their traditional settlement areas in the southeast of the United States of America in the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma .
By 1830, most of the so-called “Lower Creek” had already been driven out of Georgia , but around 20,000 “Upper Creek” still lived in Alabama in their traditional settlement areas, which had already been restricted by various land assignment agreements. Alabama increased pressure on the Muskogee in hopes of forcing their relocation. The state passed laws that, for example, dissolve traditional tribal governments and make state legislation binding on the Muskogee. Opothleyahola , the Muskogee Council spokesman, asked President Andrew Jackson for support and assistance for the Muskogee living in Alabama. After the Muskogee's situation did not improve, they finally signed the Treaty of Cusseta on March 24, 1832 under pressure from the government . Through this treaty, the land of the Muskogee was divided into individual parcels. The Muskogee could sell their parcel, cede it, or keep it after assuming American citizenship and submitting to their law.
This division into individual ownership made it possible for land speculators and squatters to put pressure on the owners of the land. They tried to “persuade” the Indians to sell them through financial offers and violence. Farms were set on fire, pasture fences torn down and the Indians threatened. This eventually ended with counter attacks by the Muskogee, who tried to defend themselves against the invasion of the white settlers into their land. The war-like clashes dragged on. At the request of the white population, the Secretary of War Lewis Cass decided to solve the problem militarily and through permanent Indian resettlement . He hired General Winfield Scott to deport the Muskogee, also known as the Path of Tears .
The expulsion of the Creek Indians from their tribal areas was treated poetically by Adelbert von Chamisso : Speech of the old warrior Bunte-Schlange in the rate of the Creek Indians .
literature
- Angie Debo: The Road to Disappearance: A History of the Creek Indians. University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0806115327 .
- John T. Ellisor: The Second Creek War: Interethnic Conflict and Collusion on a Collapsing Frontier. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 2020, ISBN 978-1-4962-1708-0 .
- Michael D. Green: The Politics of Indian Removal: Creek Government and Society in Crisis. University of Nebraska Press, 1985, ISBN 0803270151
- Bruce Vandervort: Indian wars of Mexico, Canada and the United States, 1812-1900 , Routledge, 2006, ISBN 9780415224710 .