1813: U.S. expansion divides tribes, leads to Creek Civil War
Florida Governor Andrew Jackson, with the Cherokee and Choctaw, retaliates against the Muscogee Creek after their attack on Fort Mims in Alabama, which kills 350. The Creek, like other tribes on the frontier, find themselves divided over whether to respond to U.S. expansion by making war against the U.S. or making peace with the young nation. The Creek Civil War ensues.
- Theme
- Land and Water
- Region
- Southeast
Menawa, a Creek warrior, oil painting by Charles Bird King, commissioned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, ca. 1820. King painted from life Indian leaders of at least twenty tribes. The portraits were later reproduced as hand-colored lithographs in History of the Indian Tribes of North America, published 1837–1844.
Courtesy Library of Congress