The Creek War grew out of a civil war that pitted Creek Indians striving to maintain their traditional culture, called Red Sticks, against those Creeks who sought to assimilate with United States society.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

In many respects, the Creek War of 1813-1814 is considered part of the Southern Theater of the War of 1812. The Creek War grew out of a civil war that pitted Creek Indians striving to maintain their traditional culture, called Red Sticks, against those Creeks who sought to assimilate with United States society. Spurred by religious prophets and promises of British assistance, the Red Sticks grew increasingly aggressive and were eventually attacked by Mississippi Territory militia, which sparked the Creek War. With an almost complete dearth of Regular U.S. Army units, the militias from the Mississippi Territory, Tennessee, and Georgia, as well as Choctaw and Cherokee allies, all invaded the Creek Nation to attack the Red Stick Creeks. Initially the strikes were uncoordinated, but, despite abysmal supply systems, the U.S. forces eventually overwhelmed the Red Sticks. Their defeat at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend forced them into the treaty of Fort Jackson in August 1814, at which they ceded some 23 million acres in what are now the states of Alabama and Georgia.

Historians have traditionally viewed the Creek War of 1836 as a minor police action centered on rounding up the Creek Indians for removal to Indian Territory. Using extensive archival research, John T. Ellisor demonstrates that in fact the Second Creek War was neither brief nor small. Indeed, armed conflict continued long after peace was declared and the majority of Creeks had been sent west. Ellisor’s study also broadly illuminates southern society just before the Indian removals, a time when many blacks, whites, and Natives lived in close proximity in the Old Southwest. In the Creek country, also called New Alabama, these ethnic groups began to develop a pluralistic society. When the 1830s cotton boom placed a premium on Creek land, however, dispossession of the Natives became an economic priority. Dispossessed and impoverished, some Creeks rose in armed revolt both to resist removal west and to drive the oppressors from their ancient homeland. Yet the resulting Second Creek War that raged over three states was fueled both by Native determination and by economic competition and was intensified not least by the massive government-sponsored land grab that constituted Indian removal. Because these circumstances also created fissures throughout southern society, both whites and blacks found it in their best interests to help the Creek insurgents. This first book-length examination of the Second Creek War shows how interethnic collusion and conflict characterized southern society during the 1830s.

Beginning with conquistador Ferdinand DeSoto's fateful encounter with Indians of the southeast in the 1500s, A Paradise of Blood: The Creek War of 1813-14 by Howard T. Weir, III, narrates the complete story of the cultural clash and centuries-long struggle for this landscape of stunning beauty. Using contemporary letters, military reports, and other primary sources, the author places the Creek War in the context of Tecumseh's fight for Native American independence and the ongoing war between the United States and European powers for control of North America.