Synopses & Reviews
Historians have traditionally viewed the and#8220;Creek War of 1836and#8221; 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 and#8220;peaceand#8221; was declared and the majority of Creeks had been sent west.and#160;Ellisorand#8217;s study also broadly illuminates southern society just prior to 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, which raged over three states, was fueled not only by Native determination but also 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
and#8220;In this extensively researched book, Osburn presents a compelling history of the Mississippi Choctaws and sheds new light on these often forgotten people.and#8221;and#8212;Sheri M. Shuck-Hall, author of
Journey to the West: The Alabama and Coushatta Indiansand#160;
Review
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Choctaw Resurgence in Mississippi rests on extraordinary amounts of newly uncovered sources, with an unusually high degree of originality.and#8221;and#8212;Ted Ownby, Center for the Study of Southern Culture, University of Mississippi.
Review
and#8220;A model of clarity and concision.and#8221; and#8212;William and Mary Quarterly
Review
and#8220;Carson provides an unusually balanced and nuanced interpretation of the Choctawsand#8217; experience from prehistoric times to the removal from their homeland that began in 1830. . . . This study offers an important corrective to what has been an oversimplified historical picture.and#8221;and#8212;Canadian Journal of History
Review
and#8220;The genius of the work is the authorand#8217;s ability to weave the account of Choctaw history around major themes in Choctaw tradition, or what he calls and#8216;moral economy.and#8217; . . . It also provides valuable new insights into the dynamics of culture and historical change.and#8221;and#8212;The Journal of Southern History
Review
"Ellisor has made a valuable contribution to Creek and southern history so that we will now know of the Second Creek War."and#8212;Julie Anne Sweet, Journal of American History
Review
"Ellisor's book sheds new light on a very misunderstood period of our nation's history, and era that has been unfairly forgotten in many American textbooks."and#8212;Al Hemingway, Military Heritage
Review
"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."and#8212;John W. Hall, Tennessee Historical Quarterly
Review
"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."and#8212;Christina Snyder, Alabama Review
Review
"Ellisor places a local conflict on a global stage. . . . An exceptional work, an easy read for both laymen and experienced scholars, and one that is a must for any scholar of the Creek, the American South, or Indian Removal."and#8212;Jeff Washburn, Southern Historian
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."and#8212;Daniel Flaherty, Historian
Synopsis
When the Choctaws were removed from their Mississippi homeland to Indian Territory in 1830, several thousand remained behind, planning to take advantage of Article 14 in the removal treaty, which promised that any Choctaws who wished to remain in Mississippi could apply for allotments of land. When the remaining Choctaws applied for their allotments, however, the government reneged, and the Choctaws were left dispossessed and impoverished. Thus begins the history of the Mississippi Choctaws as a distinct people.
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Despite overwhelming poverty and significant racial prejudice in the rural South, the Mississippi Choctaws managed, over the course of a century and a half, to maintain their ethnic identity, persuade the Office of Indian Affairs to provide them with services and lands, create a functioning tribal government, and establish a prosperous and stable reservation economy. The Choctawsand#8217; struggle against segregation in the 1950s and 1960s is an overlooked story of the civil rights movement, and this study of white supremacist support for Choctaw tribalism considerably complicates our understanding of southern history. Choctaw Resurgence in Mississippi traces the Choctawand#8217;s remarkable tribal rebirth, attributing it to their sustained political and social activism.
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Synopsis
Blending an engaging narrative style with broader theoretical considerations, James Taylor Carson offers the most complete history to date of the Mississippi Choctaws. Tracing the Choctaws from their origins in the Mississippian cultures of late prehistory to the early nineteenth century, Carson shows how the Choctaws struggled to adapt to life in a New World altered radically by contact while retaining their sense of identity and place. Despite changes in subsistence practices and material culture, the Choctaws made every effort to retain certain core cultural beliefs and sensibilities, a strategy they conceived of as following and#8220;the straight bright path.and#8221; This work also makes a significant theoretical contribution to ethnohistory as Carson confronts common problems in the historical analysis of Native peoples.
About the Author
Katherine M. B. Osburn is an associate professor of history at Arizona State University. She is the author of
Southern Ute Women: Autonomy and Assimilation on the Reservation, 1885and#8211;1934 (Nebraska, 2008).
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