The Second Creek War - (Indians of the Southeast) by John T Ellisor

About the Book

A study of the Second Creek War and its impact on antebellum southern society.

Book Synopsis

Historians have traditionally viewed the Creek War of 1836 as a minor police action centered on rounding up the Creek Indians for removal to Indian Territory. Using extensive archival research, John T. Ellisor demonstrates that in fact the Second Creek War was neither brief nor small. Indeed, armed conflict continued long after peace was declared and the majority of Creeks had been sent west.

Ellisor's study also broadly illuminates southern society just before the Indian removals, a time when many blacks, whites, and Natives lived in close proximity in the Old Southwest. In the Creek country, also called New Alabama, these ethnic groups began to develop a pluralistic society. When the 1830s cotton boom placed a premium on Creek land, however, dispossession of the Natives became an economic priority. Dispossessed and impoverished, some Creeks rose in armed revolt both to resist removal west and to drive the oppressors from their ancient homeland.

Yet the resulting Second Creek War that raged over three states was fueled both by Native determination and by economic competition and was intensified not least by the massive government-sponsored land grab that constituted Indian removal. Because these circumstances also created fissures throughout southern society, both whites and blacks found it in their best interests to help the Creek insurgents. This first book-length examination of the Second Creek War shows how interethnic collusion and conflict characterized southern society during the 1830s.

Review Quotes

"Second Creek War throws new light on Creek and Seminole removal and on the development of class in the early-to-mid nineteenth-century South."--Steven J. Peach, H-AmIndian

"Ellisor's book should appeal to all those interested in Alabama history, for it provides a revealing new look at the complexity of the antebellum society and of Indian removal."--Christina Snyder, Alabama Review

"Ellisor's complex approach offers historians of the early American Republic much to consider as they look to expand their understanding of the United States within the larger global processes of the nineteenth century."--Daniel Flaherty, Historian

"For too long, the Second Creek War has awaited serious scholarly attention. On the basis of exhaustive research, formidable attention to detail, and sophisticated interpretation, the first monograph on this conflict is likely to be the last for years to come."--John W. Hall, Tennessee Historical Quarterly

About the Author

John T. Ellisor is an associate professor of history at Columbus State University.