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6 Cherokees in the Creek War a Band of Brothers Susan M. Abram In July 1813, civil war erupted among the Creeks, southern neighbors of the Cherokees. a disaffected faction labeled as the Red Sticks opposed the increasing US influence in the Creek National Council and its usurpation of clan authority. although the Cherokees had often considered the Creeks as enemies, many had fought together as allies during the Chickamauga War against white intrusion into eastern Tennessee during the revolutionary era. and both nations could claim members of mixed Cherokee-Creek descent, especially in the towns along their common boundary.Thus, there was much to bind the tribes together. But Cherokee leaders feared that the Creek hostilities might threaten their own citizens who lived near the Creek border. Some Creek families sought and received refuge in nearby Cherokee towns, but this act of kindness left Cherokees feeling even more vulnerable to Red Stick attacks.1 Due to the persuasive encouragement of the older, seasoned warriors in their thirties and forties, the elder Cherokee leaders finally opted to join the National Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and the United States to put down the Red Stick Creek rebellion.2 In late September 1813, the US government officially requested Cherokee assistance in the war against the Creeks through Indian agent Return J. Meigs. Forty-six-year-old Charles hicks, who had previously served as Cherokee interpreter to Meigs, relayed the message to the Cherokee Council. prominent headman John Walker, whose son had married the daughter of Meigs, replied for the Cherokee Council that the Cherokees might supply five hundred to seven hundred men. Meigs, serving also as an agent for the War Department , commissioned Walker as a first major on october 7, 1813. Cherokees began to leave their homes to muster into the service of the United States under andrew Jackson, commander of the volunteer Tennessee troops.3 Cherokee warriors mustered into service for a period of three months, Cherokees in the Creek War 123 beginning on october 7, 1813. each company included a first and second lieutenant, an ensign, a first, second, third, and fourth sergeant, and a first, second, third, and fourth corporal. To avoid any misidentification with the enemy, Jackson ordered, “our freinds [sic] shall wear white plumes in their hair, or Deer’s tails.”4 Meigs,insisting that a white officer lead the Cherokees, appointed thirtynine -year-old Gideon Morgan, Walker’s white son-in-law, to become the general in charge of the Cherokee regiment of approximately six hundred men, divided into seven companies. Jackson insisted that principal Chief path killer receive a commission as colonel even though his age kept him from field duty. other prominent Cherokee headmen, such as Richard Brown, likewise received the rank of colonel, while John Lowry became a lieutenant colonel.5 even though Meigs was confident that the Cherokees were trustworthy allies, he feared repercussions from neighboring whites over this decision. Many americans at this time had misgivings about the value or loyalty of Indian allies. Yet Meigs painstakingly determined that “the Cherokees would be of great value” and lobbied and received equal pay for comparable rank for enlisted Cherokees.6 Unbeknownst to the Cherokees, Meigs believed that this gesture let them “feel themselves under control,” though in reality he felt that the government must “keep them dependent.” he surmised, therefore, that this act would “flatter their pride to be considered in some degree on a footing with our troops.” Though he supported their service, Meigs felt that the Cherokees owed their current welfare and even their very existence to the United States, it having taken “them by the hand & made them human beings.”7 Like Meigs, many Jeffersonian Republicans believed that Native americans depended upon the federal Indian policy’s civilization plan to “save” the Indians from themselves. The Cherokees never heard these negative sentiments or questions of their loyalty in any official capacity. as a large group of Cherokees mustered into service at the Cherokee agency on october 29, 1813, Meigs addressed the gathering, saying, “We are a band of Brothers in this war acting in a common cause.”8 of course, the Cherokees took this statement to mean that they would be on equal footing with the rest of the american troops. By early october 1813, in anticipation of moving against the Red Sticks, General James White, part of General John Cocke’s eastern Tennessee army, erected Fort armstrong,or “Camp Coocey,”on the Coosa River aboveTurkey Town and near the...

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