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Who Were the Creek?
Originally the name "Creek" referred only to Muskogee Indians living near Ochese Creek in central Georgia. Over time the name spread to include all Muskogee people along the rivers of present-day Georgia and Alabama. At one time the region held as many as 60 Creek towns.
An early visitor to Creek country wrote: "The smallest of their towns have from 20 to 30 houses... the largest contain 150 to 200...These houses stand in clusters...irregularly distributed up and down the banks of rivers...each cluster of houses contains a clan, or family of relations, who eat or live in common. Each town has a public square, hothouse, and yard near the center of it..."
Although the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend ended the Creek War, the Creek continued to live along the Tallapoosa River. In 1836 the Muskogee people were forcibly moved west to Indian Territory, what is now Oklahoma. Learn more about the people who lived here by walking the 2.8-mile Battlefield Nature Trail.
Who Were the Red Sticks?
By 1813 the Creek confederation of towns had split into two factions: one favored cooperation with the United States government, the other hoped to limit American expansion within their traditional homeland.
The more militant faction became known as the Red Sticks, they painted their war clubs red, a color symbolizing war. The Red Sticks fought Andrew Jackson here at Horseshoe Bend. Jackson used the split in Creek society to his advantage, pitting allied Creek and Cherokee warriors against the Red Sticks. |