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Gunpowder and the Creek-British Struggle for Power in the Southeast, 1763 - 1776
McCutchen, Jennifer Monroe
McCutchen, Jennifer Monroe
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2019
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This dissertation uses gunpowder as a lens to explore power within the Creek Confederacy following the Seven Years¿ War. It seeks to better understand how Creeks adapted to the geopolitical shifts of 1763 to maintain authority and independence during an era of intense change for native peoples. By removing gunpowder from the existing narrative of Indians and guns, new interpretations of Creek life and culture emerge. Consequently, this research illuminates the Creeks as active participants in shaping their own history and the history of the late eighteenth-century Southeast. Gunpowder is a useful tool for this type of exploration because it was a non-renewable resource, accessible only through diplomacy and exchange with Europeans. It was also a highly gendered commodity that proved vital for Creek men who sought to protect their communities and families from Anglo-American encroachment. Access to gunpowder allowed for the development of new definitions of masculinity among Creek warriors, who attempted to gain power through force after 1763. Older Creek leaders, in contrast, sought to regulate the flow of gunpowder into their communities to bolster their own positions of authority and preserve traditional notions of masculine leadership. Gunpowder held the potential to provide all Creek men with access to power as they reconsidered existing notions of masculinity and adapted to the rapidly changing world in which they lived. Recognizing this, British officials attempted to use their perceived monopoly over gunpowder supplies to restructure Indian policy, shape diplomacy, and assert control over Creek men. By maintaining factionalism and encouraging individual towns and headmen to act according to local level needs and interests, Creeks challenged British efforts to cement economic and political authority in the Southeast, establishing trade and diplomatic relationships with outsiders, notably the Spanish in Cuba, to emulate their play-off system of earlier decades. In using gunpowder to maintain both individual and collective autonomy throughout the 1760s, the Creeks were able to revise their neutrality policy to manipulate Loyalists and Rebels during the American Revolution. This allowed them to access gunpowder and other European goods from both sides, preserving Creek power and independence during the first years of the conflict.
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History