Muscogee Confederacy

Origins

The confederacy grew out of the survivors of Mississippian chiefdoms such as Coosa, along with refugees from other peoples, who regrouped in towns along the Coosa, Tallapoosa, Chattahoochee and Flint rivers in the 17th century. The English called them Creeks after Ochese Creek, where many lived, and by around 1700 they formed a recognised alliance of Upper and Lower Towns.

Rule and society

Each town, or talwa, had its own square ground, council and chief, the mico, and towns were classed as white (peace) or red (war). The annual Green Corn ceremony renewed community life. Leaders such as Brims of Coweta played British, French and Spanish colonies against each other, and the deerskin trade brought wealth. Alexander McGillivray, the leading Muscogee diplomat from the 1780s, negotiated the Treaty of New York with the United States in 1790.

Decline and legacy

The Creek War of 1813 to 1814 ended with defeat at Horseshoe Bend and huge land cessions. Most Muscogee were forcibly removed to Indian Territory in the 1830s, where they set up a government at Okmulgee in 1867. It was suppressed by 1907 but revived later.