W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects Fall 2016 Muskogee Internationalism in An Age of Revolution, 1763-1818 James L. Hill College of William and Mary, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Hill, James L., "Muskogee Internationalism in An Age of Revolution, 1763-1818" (2016). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1477067930. http://doi.org/10.21220/S2H59V This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “Muskogee Internationalism in an Age of Revolution, 1763-1818” James L. Hill Jacksonville, FL M.A., University of North Florida, 2010 B.A., University of North Florida, 2008 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the College of William and Mary in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History The College of William and Mary May, 2016 © Copyright by James L. Hill 2016 ABSTRACT This dissertation reevaluates the consequences of the American Revolution by examining how indigenous peoples preserved their role as regional powers in the decades following the birth of the United States. Focusing on the Creek Indians of the present-day southeastern United States, I demonstrate that they maintained ties with Britons, Spaniards, and other Native peoples, employing these connections to their advantage. Creeks created borderlands that connected their societies with those of the British and Spanish Caribbean. The Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of Florida and their surrounding waters became zones of encounter and exchange between Native peoples, British wreckers from the Bahamas, and Spanish fishermen from Cuba. The networks created through these borderlands show that many elements of colonial-era diplomacy, where Native peoples held significant power in relationships with Europeans and Euroamericans, continued in force well after American independence. Creek diplomacy during this era engaged with European international law and concepts of nationhood in ways that compare to and were in dialogue with the efforts of the United States. Both Creeks and Americans sought to negotiate as unitary nations because the international order of their era demanded it. Each consisted of disparate peoples who had little sense of common interest or cohesion prior to the mid-eighteenth century. Creeks identified as members of towns and clans rather than as a singular nation. Any political unity between the Creek towns developed only in response to challenges presented by European colonization. Likewise, Americans identified more with their home states or local communities than the nation as a whole. Over the course of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, both Creeks and Americans struggled to find ways to balance local interests with the diplomatic needs created by the Atlantic community to which they belonged. In this sense, Creek diplomacy was decidedly modern and conversant with legal and political developments throughout the Atlantic world. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ii Dedications iv List of Tables v List of Figures vi Introduction 1 Chapter 1. “Bring them what they lack”: Spanish-Creek Exchange and Alliance-Making in a Maritime Borderland, 1763-1783 21 Chapter 2. “My warriors are Victorious over the Americans in every quarter”: Creek Alliances Confront the American Republic, 1784-88 59 Chapter 3. Vagrants and Vagabonds: Maritime Travel and the Prospect of Reopening a British Network, 1787-89 119 Chapter 4. A Voyage “Ill Advised”: Creek and Cherokee Attempts to Reconnect with the British Atlantic, 1790-94 167 Chapter 5. The “lying Captain,” the “Sinceless People,” and “those designing men”: Deception, Disappointment, and the Growing Isolation of Creek Country, 1790-95 211 Chapter 6. “Every door is shut against them”: The Creek and Seminole Wars and the Failure of Diplomacy, 1803- 1818” 259 Coda 325 Bibliography 347 Vita 385 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Brett Rushforth, for his advice and guidance. In particular, his driving me to better articulate and refine my argument and his attention to historiography reminded me that my narratives always had to connect to broader points. Similarly, I’d like to thank Dan Richter for reading a (nearly) full draft of the dissertation and providing immensely helpful advice in the same vein. Denise Bossy has been the one scholar who has followed this work from beginning to end. I thank her for helping guide me through the seminar paper that evolved into chapter 1 and a published stand-alone article, as well as for agreeing to be a reader for the final draft. Appreciation is due both her and J. Michael Francis for mentoring me during the formative years of my academic career. Francis’s patience with me through paleography training sparked my interest in historical research and made much of my subsequent work possible. His providing me with the opportunity to research in the Archivo General de las Indias as an undergraduate student in 2007 proved the formative experience of my fledgling academic career, and provided me with the resource base from which this dissertation grew. I would also like to thank Fabricio Prado and Andy Fisher, not only for agreeing to be on the dissertation committee and critiquing this work, but also for various forms of assistance and support along the way. I am indebted to a number of other scholars and institutions for this work. Joshua Piker helped me in innumerable ways, from reading drafts of this work, to chairing a conference panel I assembled, to providing myriad advice and assistance with regard to the academic job market. Others who have provided valuable feedback and assistance include Robbie Ethridge, Rayna Green, Andrew Frank, Steven C. Hahn, George Milne, Paul Gilje, John Worth, Bryan Rindfleisch, Jim Cusick, and many more. Bryan Rindfleisch, Patrick Johnson, and Christopher Jones provided valuable advice with regard to hunting down primary and documentary sources. I also thank the innumerable individuals who attended the seminar I gave at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies and the various conference papers I presented at the annual meetings of the American Society for Ethnohistory, the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, and the Florida Historical Society. Staff and peers at numerous archives, libraries, and institutions helped contribute to this work. Individuals at the Archivo General de las Indias, the UK National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the US National Archives cared for, provided access to, and guided me through the archival sources that form the backbone of this work. Those who compiled the Panton, Leslie, and Company ii Papers at the University of West Florida and P.K. Yonge Library at the University of Florida assembled highly valuable collections of documentary records without which this dissertation could not have developed but for an exponentially greater amount of time, money, and effort. More than anyone, they have made the research required for this work as painless as possible. Particular thanks go to Jim Cusick for his knowledge of records and archival evidence pertaining to Florida history. Additionally, I’d like to thank the staff at the Huntington Library, the John Carter Brown Library, the New Orleans Historic Collection, the Library and Archives of Canada, the Bahamian National Archives, the David Library of the American Revolution, the Alabama Department of Archives and History, the Georgia Department of Archives and History, the North Carolina State Archives, the Tennessee State Archives. Particular thanks go to Meg McSweeney and Brian Graziano for their accommodating hospitality during my time at the David Library. Support from various institutions and organizations have made this work possible. The McNeil Center for Early American Studies generously provided me with a nine-month fellowship that provided me with ample time to write as well as an engaging and thriving academic community to participate in. The Provost’s Dissertation Fellowship at William & Mary provided me with an award vital to the completion of this work, funding my final year of writing. The Huntington Library, the John Carter Brown Library, the Newberry Library, and the David Library of the American Revolution provided support through short-term fellowships and the privilege of participating in their academic communities as well. A fellowship established by the General Society of Colonial Wars and grants from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Provost’s Office, the Graduate Student Association, and the Morton Conference and Research Grants at William & Mary and research and conference funding form the University of North Florida offered further support. The Granaderos y Damas de Gálvez funded my initial research trip to Sevllie in 2007, a deed for which I will always be grateful. Finally, I’d like to thank my friends and family for all of their support through this process. My mother and father and my brother Kyle have always been there and will continue to be. Dennis Negrin has been a continual presence dating back to our undergradate days. Above all, Alex Finley has been a constant source of encouragement, advice, love, and strength. She has read countless drafts of conference papers, letters of application, chapters, and articles, reassured me during bouts of seemingly inconsolable frustration, and did more than her share in helping with the everyday burdens of life. iii This Ph.D. is dedicated to all of the people who have helped me along the way. iv LIST OF TABLES 1. Expenditures Made by the Governors of Cuba in Transporting, Housing, Feeding, and Gift-Giving to the Creeks, 1773-1781 53 v LIST OF FIGURES 1. Map of British and Creek territory ca.