Brothers of Coweta: Kinship, Empire, and Revolution in the Eighteenth-Century Muscogee World

Description

In Brothers of Coweta Bryan C. Rindfleisch explores how family and clan served as the structural foundation of the Muscogee (Creek) Indian world through the lens of two brothers, who emerged from the historical shadows to shape the forces of empire, colonialism, and revolution that transformed the American South during the eighteenth century. Although much of the historical record left by European settlers was fairly robust, it included little about Indigenous people and even less about their kinship, clan, and familial dynamics. However, European authorities, imperial agents, merchants, and a host of other individuals left a surprising paper trail when it came to two brothers, Sempoyaffee and Escotchaby, of Coweta, located in what is now central Georgia. Though fleeting, their appearances in the archival record offer a glimpse of their extensive kinship connections and the ways in which family and clan propelled them into their influential roles negotiating with Europeans. As the brothers navigated the politics of empire, they pursued distinct family agendas that at times clashed with the interests of Europeans and other Muscogee leaders. Despite their limitations, Rindfleisch argues that these archives reveal how specific Indigenous families negotiated and even subverted empire-building and colonialism in early America. Through careful examination, he demonstrates how historians of early and Native America can move past the limitations of the archives to rearticulate the familial and clan dynamics of the Muscogee world. Cover Brothers of Coweta Title Copyright CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY Introduction One. The Muscogee World, 1700–1730 Early Years: Family and Kinship, the Huti, and Creation Stories From Boys to Men: Becoming Young Men in the Muscogee World Two. The Tustenogy’s World, 1730–1756 Coweta the Talwa, Sempoyaffee the Tustenogy Sempoyaffee and the Politics of Talwas and Empires Three. The Cherokee King’s World, 1730–1756 The Cherokee King: The Intersection of Muscogee and Cherokee Worlds Four. The Muscogee World and Imperial Crisis, 1756–1763 The Politics of the Huti and Talwa during the Seven Years’ War The Treaty of Augusta, 1763 Five. The Muscogee World and Colonial Crisis, 1763–1775 1763–1773: A Decade of Crisis The Second Treaty of Augusta and the Coweta Conflict Six. The Muscogee World in the Revolutionary Crisis, 1775–1783 The Coweta Conflict and the American Revolution Conclusion ABBREVIATIONS NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX ABOUT THE AUTHOR