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BOB — University of Nebraska Press / Page 96 / / Creeks and Southerners / Andrew K. Frank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 [First Page] [96], (1) Lines: 0 to 17 ——— 0.0pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [96], (1) chapter 6 Tustunnuggee Hutkee and the Limits of Dual Identities In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries many children of intermarriages became village chiefs or took leadership roles in Creek society. These individuals obtained their political and diplomatic authority in traditional ways,but their European American identities provided them opportunities. Their American identities, connections, and loyalties provided various material resources that served as the base of a network of reciprocal relations. They redistributed blankets, livestock, cash, and food. In return, Creeks listened to the children of intermarriages and often offered their support. In short, the children of intermarriages often became political leaders because they were able to turn their connections to European American society into benefits for their fellow Creeks. Thus, for much of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, political authority in the southeast had both American and Native roots. The experiences of one man, known as William McIntosh Jr. among the Americans and Tustunnuggee Hutkee among the Creeks, illuminates the intertwined nature of political authority in the early American southeast. McIntosh served as a Creek warrior in the Red Stick War of 1813–14 and in the First Seminole War. In both instances McIntosh fought as a Creek Indian but allied himself with the United States. These military exploits earned McIntosh a reputation among the Creeks and Americans for martial valor and courage. McIntosh turned this to his advantage and translated his reputation into diplomatic authority among the Creeks. His rise to power, as well as his fall from grace, directly resulted from his dual identity and his bicultural backgrounds. McIntosh’s ascendancy did not perfectly replicate the paths taken by earlier and subsequent mixed leaders. However, the reasons behind it help explain the routes that other children of intermarriages took. The ability to be—or at least to be recognized as—both a clanned Creek Indian and a fellow European American helped individuals such as Mary Musgrove Matthews Bosomworth, Alexander McGillivray, James McQueen, and William Weatherford obtain authority among the Creeks. William McIntosh’s authority did not rest squarely on the shoulders of Creek society. Rather, the roots of his authority were on both sides of the frontier. One could not disconnect William McIntosh from Tustunnuggee Hutkee. McIn- BOB — University of Nebraska Press / Page 97 / / Creeks and Southerners / Andrew K. Frank Tustunnuggee Hutkee and the Limits of Dual Identities | 97 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 [97], (2) Lines: 17 to 23 ——— 0.0pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [97], (2) tosh’s dual identity as both a southerner and a Creek Indian combined to legitimize his position as a powerful Creek leader. Patriarchal American society provided Tustunnuggee Hutkee with the material resources necessary to expand his authority among the Creeks because it believed that McIntosh embodied European American culture and thus was naturally the most “civilized” and trustworthy Native. This, in turn, allowed McIntosh to obtain more authority and thus confirm the assumptions of the neighboring Americans. Through his access to money, livestock, and slaves, McIntosh created an extensive network of reciprocal relations and obtained the domestic allegiances of hundreds of Creeks and several Creek villages. In this manner the celebrated war chief expanded his military authority into the domestic sphere and became one of the most influential pre-removal Creek leaders. Just before dawn broke on Saturday, April 30, 1825, nearly four hundred Creek warriors surrounded the plantation of William McIntosh, a traitor in their eyes for having signed the controversial Treaty of Indian Springs the previous February . They torched the main house, and when McIntosh fled outside to escape the flames, he was struck by the volley of dozens of rifles. Etome Tustunnuggee, a Creek leader who had helped orchestrate the Treaty of Indian Springs, met a similar fate. After killing the two men and burning the house, the assailants sacked McIntosh’s property. Two witnesses later recalled...

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