~Z:V.K Abstract Approved: Laf D the Civil War Conjures up Images Ofbattles Like Gettysburg, Emancipation, Or Soldiers Clad in Blue and Gray
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AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Eric Neill Oldham for the Master of Arts in American History presented on April 22, 2002 Title: A FOrgottend2le: The LO Creeks and Their Trials during the Civil War ~ ~Z:v.k Abstract approved: LAf d The Civil War conjures up images ofbattles like Gettysburg, emancipation, or soldiers clad in blue and gray. Historians write about great leaders and heroic soldiers, but still some figures go almost unconsidered. A forgotten people by many, the Loyal Creeks have their own story of the Civil War. This thesis uses both primary and secondary sources to create a historical narrative about the Loyal Creeks and shows their trials during the Civil War. Creeks struggled over question of allegiance and alliance as much as Americans, a struggle which culminated in a tragic and ultimately deadly intertribal split. This thesis reveals the reasons for the Creek split. The story of the Loyal Creeks did not end with the wartime division of the Creek Nation. The division forced those who remained loyal to the Union to abandon their homes and country. The Loyal Creeks escaped to Kansas in search of government refuge but found only a three-year struggle to survive at various refugee sites. Survival for the Loyal Creeks was a struggle because government aid was scarce at best. Hard, cold winters and lack of clothing, shelter, and food caused many of the Indians to die either from the elements or to become susceptible to disease that ultimately took untold lives. The Loyal Creeks' struggle with the government is not a new story, but combined with their intertribal split it is not only an important event in Indian history but in American history as well. The goal of this work is to bring to light the story of the Loyal Creeks and make them no longer a forgotten people. A FORGOTTEN PEOPLE: THE LOYAL CREEKS AND THEIR TRIALS DURING THE CIVIL WAR A Thesis Presented to The Department of Social Sciences EMPORIA STATE UNIVERSITY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master ofArts by Eric Neill Oldham May 2002 P~A1~S~lI Slq'a~lI IIV lUuqPIO II~~N :J~'d WOZ lq'a~doJ '~\ '--',..• ;' -' j ~/ Approved by the Dian of Graduate Studies and Research ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my sincerest appreciation to my thesis chair, Dr. Gregory Schneider and my committee members, Dr. Christopher Phillips and Dr. Clay Arnold. Their critical eye and determination to see me through this project gave me the confidence that I could finish a task ofthis magnitude. I would also like to express my deepest thanks to Dr. Mary]ane Warde, historian at the Oklahoma Historical Society, who allowed me to get my bearings by showing me research previously completed on the Creek Indians. Her guidance allowed me to get a better grasp on the topic that I wanted to present. I would also like to thank the rest of the staff at the Oklahoma Historical Society, who pulled countless numbers ofbooks and archives for me in my search for information. My research also took me to the Gilcrease Museum, and I would like to thank especially Sarah Erwin for all her help during the time I spent at their archives. I would also like to thank the staff at the Kansas Historical Society for their assistance in finding the needed collections in their holdings. I would like to thank my family the most. My wife, Gretchen, patiently stood beside me and assisted in making my maps. She also kept me focused to the end result, which kept me motivated to finish through the rocky moments that a paper of this magnitude creates. To all my parents and in-laws, thank you for never giving up on me. Without your support, I might not have finished. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iii LIST OF MAPS .iv Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE CREEKS 5 3 UNION BETRAYAL 20 4 A NATION DIVIDED 43 5 A PLACE OF REFUGE? 81 6 AN EXPEDITION 104 7 A LEADER'S STRUGGLE ENDS 127 8 A SECOND EXPEDITION 141 9 THE RETURN TO A WAR-TORN LAND 154 10 CONCLUSION 180 BIBLIOGRAPHY 185 111 LIST OF MAPS Page Map 1: Creek Country in Alabama and Georgia .4 Map 2: Indian Territory, 1861.. 19 Map 3: Central and Eastern Indian Territory, 1861-1865 80 IV CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION The Civil War is among the most researched subjects in American History. Many historians feature the social implications that caused a nation to divide into war. Yet, we still do not know all there is to know about the war, especially how it spawned civil war among the Creeks in Indian Territory. This study reconstructs the sequence of events, explores the causes, and explains their effects on a once united but subsequently tragically divided Creek Nation. Events prior to the 1860s prepared the Creek Nation for division and war. The Creek Nation divided between full-bloods, who wanted to remain faithful to tradition, and mixed-bloods who disregarded the cultural ways of their ancestors for those of the white men. Factionalism also grew out of continual Creek land sales to the United States and the government not upholding its treaty requirements to keep whites from encroaching on the Creeks' land. Factionalism accompanied the Creeks from their homelands in Georgia and Alabama to their settlements in Indian Territory. Central to the Creek civil war was the fact that the Union did not maintain a strong military presence in the Indian Territory, while the Confederacy actively courted and aligned the Nations of the Indian Territory with them. Creeks once again split over what to do. Some Creeks believed the white man's war was of no concern to them, while others, mainly mixed-bloods, felt the Creek Nation should align itself with the newly fonned Confederate States of America. High emotions fueled old and deep divisions, causing Creeks to take up anns against their fellow Creeks. Another civil war was occurring, but this time it was not Union versus Confederacy. It was within the Creek Nation. The Federal government's attempts to aid the Creeks is another key factor. Creeks loyal to the Union had to flee those aligned with Confederate forces. Upon arriving in Kansas, the Loyal Creeks did not receive military assistance or food promised by the Union. These Loyal Creeks became refugees reliant upon the government for subsistence, but the government's aid was lacking. Their insufficient aid helped to bring about the deaths ofthousands of Creek refugees who relied on their aid. The Loyal Creeks spent three years as refugees and spent every year hoping to return home. During this exile, the Creek people showed a detennined resiliency in the face of privation and war. As refugees, the Loyal Creeks were broken but not defeated. Creek leaders continually pressured the Federal government to return them to their homes and even offered to assist any expedition. The government enlisted Creek males to participate as an Indian Brigade to assist white forces in regaining the Indian Territory. Attempts at first were futile, but over time their efforts brought their families and friends back to the Indian Territory and out ofKansas. The final point I present is the consequence of the Civil War on the Creek Nation. Once the war was over, the Federal government held the entire Creek Nation responsible for the faction who signed the treaty with the Confederacy. The war cost the Creeks over three million acres of land that they ceded to the government. The land remaining in Creek possession was devastated by three years of war and those who returned faced a 2 daunting task of rebuilding not only their homes but also their lives. In the end, a war that some Creeks saw as no concern to them, cost them greatly. 3 - CHAPTER TWO A SHORT HISTORY OF THE CREEKS The Creek story in the Civil War does not begin in Indian Territory, but in their eastern homelands of Georgia and Alabama. Historians Theda Perdue and J. Leitch Wright, Jr., attribute Indian factionalism, like that which the Creeks endured, to white influence and the introduction ofa market economy.! As white settlers colonized areas around Indian lands, they interacted with the Indians through trade and in some cases, marriage. Over time, some Creeks began to accept and take on ways ofthe white men. Their assimilation caused conflict within the Creek Nation because many of the other Creeks believed they should remain true to the ways oftheir ancestry and reject the white men's system ofindividuality. White influence and the market economy did begin to cause factionalism among the Creeks, but America's western expansion ultimately divided the members ofthe Creek Nation. By the eighteenth century, the Creek Nation maintained land in Alabama and Georgia and settled most of its towns along rivers in Alabama. Geographically, the Nation consisted of an upper town region along the Alabama, Coosa, and Tallapoosa Rivers and a lower town region along the Chattahooche and Flint Rivers. Appropriately, early English traders referred to the Creeks who lived in the lower towns as Lower Creeks and those who lived in the upper towns as Upper Creeks.2 5 Early eighteenth century Creek life revolved around close-knit towns that promoted a communal system. The Creek's communal system had well defined roles for its men and women. Men hunted game for both food and clothing material, built homes, carried out government work, fought wars, made farming implements, and when not hunting, helped clear ground and prepare it for planting.