Red Sticks - Background

Background

The Red Sticks came primarily from the Upper Towns of the Creek Confederacy and opposed assimilation to the United States culture. Creek of the Lower Towns, who comprised the majority of population, had adopted more American ways; in addition, they had more intermarriage among their women with European-American traders and settlers, and economic relations with the United States settlers. At the same time, the mixed-race children, such as the chiefs William Weatherford and William McIntosh, were generally raised among the Creek, who commanded their first loyalty. The Creek had a matrilineal culture in which a person's place and status were determined by their maternal clan.

Benjamin Hawkins, first appointed as United States Indian agent in the Southeast and then as Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the territory south of the Ohio River, lived among the Creek and Choctaw, and knew them well. He commented in letters to President Thomas Jefferson that Creek women were matriarchs and had control of children "when connected with a white man." Hawkins further observed that even wealthy traders were nearly as "inattentive" to their mixed-race children as "the Indians". What he did not understand about the Creek culture was that the children had a closer relationship with their mother's eldest brother than with their biological father, because of the importance of the clan structure.

The Red Stick War, more commonly called the Creek War (1813–1814), was essentially a civil war, as the Creek struggled for their future. After the Lower Creek issued a statement of "unqualified and unanimous friendship for the United States," tensions broke out into violence. Red Sticks attacked the Lower Creek towns. The Red Sticks were backed by the British, which was engaged in the War of 1812 against the United States, and the Spanish, who were trying to retain a foothold in Florida and in territories to the west of the Louisiana Territory.

History also records some Red Stick, or Redstick, origins in the Cherokee lands of southeast Kentucky. Thousand Sticks, Kentucky, now in Leslie County, is perhaps named for the Red Sticks. Some Creek origins are Cherokee connected. Cherokee Chief Dragging Canoe had links to the Cherokee related Creek families. About 1,000 "Redstick" Indian warriors massed in southeast Kentucky were part of "The Red Stick Confederacy," The group was mainly Creek Indian connected, but had other tribal links as well.