A Paradise of Blood: The Creek War of 1813-1814

Attorney Weir digs into the little-discussed conflict that solidified Andrew Jackson's place in the national spotlight. He begins with the development of the Muskogee Confederation, known to whites as the Creek Nation, in a region ethnically cleansed by Hernando De Soto's 16th-century expedition. By the 1790s the Confederation faced a mortal challenge "to keep the American wolves from its tribal lands." Divided between their ancient traditions and a "new and frightening path toward the adoption of a European mode of living," the Creeks descended into a civil war that sparked conflict with both white settlers and neighboring tribes. In 1813, an amateur army led by an amateur general, Andrew Jackson, invaded the Creek Nation. Weir presents Jackson as decisive and aggressive but more of a "brawler than a leader of men," and one who possessed "only the loyalty of his friends." Presenting a string of American victories in a model operational analysis of irregular warfare, Weir describes competent subordinates and volunteer fighting men as well as Native American allies, including many Creeks. Weir confidently shows that Creek capitulation ended effective Native American resistance east of the Mississippi, and their surrender of 21 million acres of land opened the region to cotton and slavery%E2%80%94thus "a new, peculiarly American, hell was born." Illus. (Jan.)