On this day 250 years ago, war parties of Coweta Creek Indians were roaming the Georgia frontier attacking settlements that encroached on Creek lands. At this point the Georgia colonists looked to Royal Governor James Wright for protection but within a couple of years the Cowetas would be allied with the British in attacking the Georgia frontier
Source: Cashin, Edward J., William Bartram and the American Revolution on the Southern Frontier at 71-72.
On This Day In The Revolution 
3 responses to “On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — January 2,1774”
This is fascinating. I’ve long wondered about this history of Creek Indian (Muscogee) involvement since they were key in the Indian Wars associated with Americans fight for independence that continued to the War of 1812. Georgians pronounce their county of the same name as “cow-EE-ta.”
The Creeks, according to one website, “inhabited the western part of Georgia from the Ocmulgee River to the Chattahoochee River.” A reconstructed part of Ft. Hawkins near the Ocmulgee is within an hour of where I currently live. I’m confident that my great-great-grandfather, John Vincent, must have passed through there during his enlistment in the Indian Wars.
I’ve read elsewhere how the Creeks had a long history with the English and Spanish who gave them guns and powder which helped them dominate other tribes while making them more and more dependent on the Europeans. Thanks so much for helping us understand the history of their involvement in the American Revolution.
LikeLike
Hi Ron, Yes, the Creeks had a long history with the English and the Spanish, but until the end of the Revolution, the Creeks were almost always allied with the British and treated the Spanish as enemies. Throughout the 17th and the early 18th Centuries, the Creeks conducted raids into Spanish-held Florida where they captured Apalachee, Timucua, Calusa and other Native Americans who lived in Florida and sold them as slaves to the English, essentially wiping out the Florida tribes. It was only after the Revolution when Alexander MacGillivray was the leader of the Creek Confederacy that the Creeks entered into friendly relations with the Spanish in Florida, in order to balance American expansion into Creek territory.
LikeLike
I’ve read bits and pieces about the relationship between American natives in general but never specifics about the Creeks and the Spanish in Florida. Our 4th grade history book taught us about Alexander MacGillivray. Thanks so much for that enlightening bit of early American history.
Because of how authors write about the natives, it’s as if each author’s story happened in a vacuum. It is only after we piece together the individual stories that the full picture comes into view. Your details help me understand why I’ve read so much about the relationship between the Creeks and the English and so little about the Creeks and the Spanish.
By the way, I always have to look up the dates before referring to historic England as British. A genealogist friend from England corrected me on that when he let me know that England was a sovereign country until England and Wales joined with Scotland to form the United Kingdom in 1707.
LikeLike