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Forging a Cherokee-American Alliance in the Creek War explores how the Creek War of 1813-1814 not only affected Creek Indians but also acted as a catalyst for deep cultural and political transformation within the society of the United States' Cherokee allies. The Creek War of 1813-1814 is studied primarily as an event that im-pacted its two main antagonists, the defending Creeks in what is now the State of Alabama and the expanding young American republic. Scant attention has been paid to how the United States' Cherokee allies contributed to the war and how the war transformed their society. In Forging a Cherokee-American Alliance in the Creek War, Susan M. Abram explains in engrossing detail the pivotal changes within Cherokee society triggered by the war that ultimately ended with the Cherokees' forced removal by the United States in 1838. The Creek War (also known as the Red Stick War) is generally seen as a local manifestation of the global War of 1812 and a bright footnote of military glory in the dazzling rise of Andrew Jackson. Jackson's victory, which seems destined only in historic hindsight, was greatly aided by Cherokee fighters. Yet history has both marginalized Cherokee contri-butions to that conflict and overlooked the fascinating ways Cherokee society altered as it strove to accommodate, rationalize, and benefit from an alliance with the expanding American republic. Through the prism of the Creek War and evolving definitions of masculinity and community within the Cherokee community, Abram delineates as has never been done before the critical transitional decades prior to the Trail of Tears. Deeply insightful, Abram illuminates the ad hoc process of cultural, political, and sometimes spiritual change among the Cherokees. Before the onset of hostilities, the Cherokees already faced numerous threats and divisive internal frictions. Abram concisely records the Cherokee strategies for meeting these challenges, describing how, for example, they accepted a centralized National Council and replaced the tradi-tion of conflict-resolution through blood law with a network of "ligh-thorse regulators." And while many aspects of masculine war culture remained, it too changed as it was filtered and reinterpreted through contact with the legalistic and structured American military. Rigorously documented and persuasively argued, Forging of a Cherokee-American Alliance in the Creek War fills a critical gap in the history of the early republic, the War of 1812, the Cherokee people, and the South.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Prologue: Burnt Corn Creek
• We are perfectly tranquil here
• Yelling and screaming like perfect demons
• The horror of the scene
• The doleful sound from the treetops
• Let every shot tell
• A rough sort of backwoodsman
• Rattling peals of thunder
• Unlawful and improper
• Rapine and plunder
• A whapper of a lie
• I will be governor of Tennessee
• Scalping knives and tomahawks
• Possessed with the furies
• I had come for their votes
• The bloody deeds of Gen. Jackson
• A thousand wild rumors
• A wicked, unjust measure
• A citizen of the Cherokee Nation
• Let us have Crockett's march
• Most daring outrage and assault
• I will go to Texas
• The claws of thirsty, rascally and convict soldiers
• Damn him, let him take the horse
• The enemy is closely shut up in Bejar
• Farewell
• The key to Texas
• The enemy are in view
• War is raging on the frontiers
• My orders must be obeyed
• A horrible carnage took place
• The flash of a musket
• Their forlorn situation
• That is Sam Houston's writing
• Wisdom and humanity dictates.

The 1813 storming of Fort Mims by Creek Indians brought to light the careers of Andrew Jackson, David Crockett and Sam Houston. All three fought the Creeks and each would have his part to play two decades later when the Alamo was stormed during fight for Texan independence from Mexico. President Jackson was the first head of state to recognize the fledgling Republic of Texas. Colonel Crockett would be enshrined as a folk hero for his glorious stand at the Alamo. General Houston won Texan independence at San Jacinto in 1836. This book tells the stories of the two landmark battles - Fort Mims and the Alamo - and the interwoven lives of Jackson, Crockett and Houston, three of the most controversial men in American history.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; Introduction;
• 1. Real Men: Cherokee Masculinity, Honor, and Spirituality Connected to Warfare;
• 2. Cherokee War, Leadership, and Politics: From the Chickamauga Era to Lighthorse Law;
• 3. Toward the Clouded and Dark Path: The Road to War;
• 4. Cherokees in the Creek War: A Band of Brothers;
• 5. Postwar Challenges and American Betrayal: Cherokee Conflict and Community Crisis; Conclusion; Appendix; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Forging a Cherokee-American Alliance in the Creek War explores how the Creek War of 1813-1814 not only affected Creek Indians but also acted as a catalyst for deep cultural and political transformation within the society of the United States' Cherokee allies. The Creek War of 1813-1814 is studied primarily as an event that im-pacted its two main antagonists, the defending Creeks in what is now the State of Alabama and the expanding young American republic. Scant attention has been paid to how the United States' Cherokee allies contributed to the war and how the war transformed their society. In Forging a Cherokee-American Alliance in the Creek War, Susan M. Abram explains in engrossing detail the pivotal changes within Cherokee society triggered by the war that ultimately ended with the Cherokees' forced removal by the United States in 1838. The Creek War (also known as the Red Stick War) is generally seen as a local manifestation of the global War of 1812 and a bright footnote of military glory in the dazzling rise of Andrew Jackson. Jackson's victory, which seems destined only in historic hindsight, was greatly aided by Cherokee fighters. Yet history has both marginalized Cherokee contri-butions to that conflict and overlooked the fascinating ways Cherokee society altered as it strove to accommodate, rationalize, and benefit from an alliance with the expanding American republic. Through the prism of the Creek War and evolving definitions of masculinity and community within the Cherokee community, Abram delineates as has never been done before the critical transitional decades prior to the Trail of Tears. Deeply insightful, Abram illuminates the ad hoc process of cultural, political, and sometimes spiritual change among the Cherokees. Before the onset of hostilities, the Cherokees already faced numerous threats and divisive internal frictions. Abram concisely records the Cherokee strategies for meeting these challenges, describing how, for example, they accepted a centralized National Council and replaced the tradi-tion of conflict-resolution through blood law with a network of "ligh-thorse regulators." And while many aspects of masculine war culture remained, it too changed as it was filtered and reinterpreted through contact with the legalistic and structured American military. Rigorously documented and persuasively argued, Forging of a Cherokee-American Alliance in the Creek War fills a critical gap in the history of the early republic, the War of 1812, the Cherokee people, and the South.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)