The Muskogean Confederation dominated much of the North American Southeast from the 1600s into the early 1800s. The foundation of the confederation was linguistic with very loose political ties. They even included several non-Muskogean speaking (Hitiachi) into the confederation. Related tribes would join in temporary alliances to combat non-Muskogean intruders or even other Muskogean tribes. It would be up to each individual village as to whether they would accept or reject the war talisman.

Even in the various wars fought with their Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee neighbors, the Muskogee nation would never present a totally united front. During the early 1700s, the Upper Creeks favored the French. While the Lower Creeks favored the Spanish. In 1763 most Muscogee towns were pro-British but this unity ended with the coming American Revolution. This article will focus on the later military history of the Muskogeans during the 1800s. It was a period of continuous strife which included the 1810 Creek Civil War, the First Creek War, The First Seminole War, the Second Creek War, the Second Seminole War and the Third Seminole War. All of these conflicts involved the Muskogeans and the Americans with Muskogeans fighting on both sides, ie. against each other.

The Muskogeans included several major factions including the Lower Creeks, Upper Creeks and the Seminoles. The Creeks was a term used by neighboring tribes which referred to the predominate practice of building their major towns along creeks and rivers. The English settlers continued to use the term as a collective name for the Muskogean tribes of Georgia and Alabama. The term Seminole means "runaway" and was applied to those Muskogean tribes which migrated from Georgia and Alabama into Florida during the 1700s and 1800s. Regardless of names the tribes originated from the same people. In fact many of the Creek chiefs during the Creek Wars would be the leaders of the Seminole tribes during the Seminole wars.

The level of weaponry used depended on access to trading posts and culture. As long as the British, Spanish or Americans provided them with powder and shot, warriors used guns. But during times of isolation, many warriors would revert to using the traditional weapons. During the First Creek War only a few Red Stick warriors had both guns and powder. An estimated 90% of the warriors used traditional weapons. Only at the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek, when the Red Sticks were returning from a supply run would all of the warriors be armed with guns. By the time of the Second Seminole War, a higher percentage of hostiles would be armed with guns. Even though most of the guns were small caliber "hunting or trade muskets" which often could not penetrate the wool uniforms of the US Army soldier.

Of course those Muskogeans who allied themselves with the Americans were providing with both arms and ammunition. The Upper Creeks being located further from the European settlements, were regarded as more primitive than their Lower Creek relatives. This lack of 'civilization' would doom the Upper Creek cause as they were out-gunned and often even outnumbered by the Americans.

The major siege operations against Talladega and Coweta were failures because a few White Stick warriors with guns were able to defeat larger Red Stick assaults by warriors armed with bows and melee weapons. Traditional arms included the bow (66" long) and arrow (26") , knife, lance (home defense), hatchet and warclub. Most of these could cause grievous wounds from which many white soldiers would die, long after the battle. One interesting weapon from pre-trade warfare was the long wooden sword /edged club designed to bruise rather than pierce the enemy. The warclub was the ball weighted club of varying lengths (versions of this club are shown in the Last of the Mohicans movie). By the 1800s most of the clubs had iron nails protruding from the ball. Shields if used tended to be small round bucklers and made from rawhide.

War Dress

In regards to war dress, it was mainly a matter of personal choice. Pre-Columbian warriors often wore one or several shell or metal highly illustrated gorgets as body protection and the use of symbolic gorgets was common in the 1800s. Some of the micos wore American or British officer coats.

Prophets and fanatical followers often fought naked except for a loin cloth and traditional war markings. (I read a mid-1800s interview account with a Muskogee mico which stated that many warriors fought naked because cloth, that may be pulled into a wound by a projectile, would infect a wound and make it more difficult to heal) A large number of Upper Creeks and a majority of Lower Creeks and Seminoles wore what I would consider to be the standard dress. They wore buck skin trousers or even trade good pants. The main garment was a baggy, often long, shirt made from brightly colored patterned, calico, cloth.

Also an item of universal use was the turban headwrap which was also made of a colorful cloth. (Note: I was amazed after looking at several paintings of battles, that the colorfully attired warriors blended into the forest and especially the high grass of Florida). Local dyes for body paint and some cloth dyeing came in a wide variety of colors. Charcoal and graphite was used for black. Limestone and gypsium were used to produce white. Copper minerals produced blues and greens. Also the very common iron minerals could make purples, yellows, ochre, reds, oranges, and browns among others. Favorite combinations included 1/2 red /war and 1/2 black or blue (Blue referred to death based on the Legendary Blue Thunderbird)

Among the pro-American warriors , Deer tails and white plumes in the turbans was used to identify friendly troops.

Tribal Military Organization

The military organization of the Muskogean was based on tribal affliation but a successful chief could draw warriors from several towns. Only when the warriors were employed as scouts or allies of the Americans, was the adminstrative use of 'companies" employed. Still assignments were based on tribal relationaships. Just as American militia units were often composed of men from the same area.

Muscogee warriors were divided into four classes based on their success on the battlefield. Warriors who had no experience or class title were restricted to menial tasks and guarding the town. The warriors who had participated in puberty rights of passage were called "tassikaya". The next promotion level was "Pakadsha" or raid leader which often required the taking of a scalp. He would command a small warparty (often from only his gen) or assist a higher class leader. The third level was "Lako pakadsha" or "tustenuggi" who would command a large warparty from a single town and was often the leader of a gen. The highest rank was "Lako Tustenuggi" which was a "Great Warrior" and commanded warriors from several Towns and could be a mico himself.

Another concept which may be interesting to comment on at this point is the use of "War titles". War titles were given to warriors based on skill and as recoginiton for bravery. A warrior could receive more than one title. These titles were often then used to address a warrior with the old "Birth" name being used in the home gen lodge. This use of multiple titles could explain some of the confusion when reading reports about who is leading a mission. In order to issue appropriate titles, the raid leader , pakadsha or higher, was required to make a full and detailed report of the actions on the raid to the mico and town council upon his return. In many cases the title which may have a reference to any number of honorable symbols, commonly contained the name of the warriors gen (or even town for a great act) within it.

As the 1700s gave way to the 1800s, the leadership in many Muskogean towns (which was also occuring in Choctaw and Cherokee towns) was shifting from full blood chiefs to half-blood (Aka Mixed) chiefs. These Half-bloods were powerful men as they gained both the wealth of their European fathers and the prestige and status of their Muskogean mothers. The mothers were associated with inter-tribal clans such as the Wind Gen. Often high leadership positions in a Town would be restricted to a certain gen though different tribes preferred different gens as their authority gen.

Within a Town all members of a gen would normally live in the same gen lodge which if grew too large could spilt off and create a sub-gen or "phratries?". A final note is that marriage between members of the same gen was not allowed. These ties often resulted in a poltical preference. Full bloods of the Upper Creeks and the Britsh Half-Bloods were often at odds with the Half-Bloods of American kinship which dominated the Lower Creeks. The tension between Full and Half blood leaders affected the potential manpower of the Americans as well.

During the First Creek War the support of the National councils of the Cherokee and Choctaws, recruitment was affected by the status of the town chiefs. Warriors of towns controlled by Full Blood chiefs were far less likely to volunteer for the campaign against the Upper Creeks. Even the full manpower of the Lower Creeks was not employed as many of them considered the First Creek War as a Civil War among the Upper Creeks. Several Lower Creek chiefs, mainly Full Bloods, spent most of their time watching and caring for refugees and even refused to block southern migrations of the remnants of the defeated tribes.

Settler Forts

At this point, I would like to make observations about the settler forts of the regions. Forts were often a settler's farm of one or more buildings with a well and surrounded by a palisade with one or two gates. Ft Glass had one gate with dimensions of 60 yards by 40 yards. Fort Madison also had one gate and was 60 yards square around a single building.. Fort Mims was larger than most with two opposite gates and dimensions of 70 yards by 90 yards. It had a central house and a reinforced blockhouse in the SW corner.

In many cases the majority of the inhabitants in these forts were half-bloods. Such homestead forts were common among the Lower Creeks and Half-bloods. One last comment on the palisades of the forts and Native Nation walled towns in general. Unlike movie/TV representations, palisade walls were frequently not solid. Many firing gaps resulted from the natural curves of the logs used. As a result whomever controlled the wall determined who could fire into the open area of the inner fort. This is one reason why among the Native Americans the long spear was considered a vital home defense weapon.

GLOSSARY

GEN = Clan. Translations of Gen totems : Eagle, Wind, Bear, Racoon, Beaver, Deer, Wolf, Panther, Wildcat, Otter, Fox, Skunk, Alligator, Bird, Mole, Salt, Hickory Nut, Fish , Toad, Sweet Potato and ? Tiger Clan ( a strange non-American animal which means that it was either a British translation or mis-interpetation or maybe a British inspired pharatrie name used).

HAMMOCK = a temporary positon surrounded by heavy tangled brush and tree limbs

MAROON = Negroes living among the Spanish either Free or escaped slaves

MICO = Town chief or the leader of several towns. Often translated as KING by whites.

REDLEGS= US Army Artillery units which were deployed as infantry without cannons.

MILITIA = Local raised defense troops or posses used in the area of recruitment.

VOLUNTEERS = Troops raised in other states for service in the war zone. Often served under US Army administration. Certain miltia units could be transferred to volunteer status.