Holy Destruction

By G. Peter Chriske

Following the American Revolution, British influence waned with
the Creek Indian Nation opening the door for American settlers to
poach Creek lands. Treaties were signed, establishing formal relations
between the United States and the Creek Nation, setting boundaries,
and guaranteeing Creek sovereignty.
Despite the treaties, American encroachment continued to erode
the Creek nation, eventually setting Creeks allied with the United States
against Red Stick Creeks in a bloody civil war. The Red Sticks fought
to return their nation back to their traditional ways. But the time was
long past for that.
These circumstances form the backdrop of this story. Two men, with
two visions, became locked in the violent and bloody battle for the frontier,
only to find themselves fighting each other and destroying themselves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 4, 2024
• ISBN: 9781663262677

G. Peter Chriske

G. Peter Chriske holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in American history, education, and sociology. He served seven years in the United States Army and is a Airborne and Ranger qualified. He lives in Plover, Wisconsin, with his wife of fifty-one years. He is also the author of The Turning and Three-Part Harmony.

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Copyright © 2024 G. Peter Chriske.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Certain characters in this work are historical figures, and certain events portrayed did take place. However, this is a work of fiction. All of the other characters, names, and events as well as all places, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-6632-6199-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-6267-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024909037

iUniverse rev. date:   05/31/2024

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1     The Land before You

2     Promises

3     Revenge Demanded

4     The Red Stick of War

5     Sunset

6     Burnt Corn Creek

7     Duke River

8     People of One Fire

9     Fort Mims

10     Turkey Town

11     Empty Victory

12     Randon’s Creek

13     Aftermath

14     Hillabee

15     Ghosts

16     New Ways to Fight

17     Fort Deposit

18     Econocheca

19     Horseshoe Bend

20     Bitter End

21     Fruits of the Promise Land

Appendix: Maps

This work is dedicated to the southeastern Indian nations

who suffered the cost of American expansion.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Any project that takes more than six years to finish cannot be done alone. For Holy Destruction, this was certainly the case. I would like to thank John W. Currier, Shannon Netzinger, and Paul Otto, who read the first draft and made several important suggestions that helped strengthen the novel. Paul Otto read through subsequent drafts and lent his wisdom and support. Madison Rose Netzinger reviewed the manuscript chapter by chapter, not only editing the writing but also asking excellent questions and challenges. In addition to working with the language and writing, Ms. Netzinger applied her talents to designing the cover and drawing the maps. As with my other projects, I could not have done this without the constant support of my wife, Rose Ann, and her readiness to provide suggestions and guidance. Without these individuals, I would not have completed this project. I owe a debt of gratitude to each one.

INTRODUCTION

The white settlers crossing the Appalachian Mountains in the early 1800s did not consider that they were intruding on the sovereign nation of the Creek people. The settlers believed they were completing their destiny to enter the promised land and make it their own. Fulfillment was ingrained in every revolution of the oxcart wheel. This land was bestowed upon them by an omniscient God with the understanding that every required sacrifice would be made, and all resistance would be eliminated.

The European intrusion began when Spanish explorers appeared at Mobile Bay in 1519. These intruders created no more than a ripple of curiosity in the indigenous nations occupying the farthest fringes of North America. Twenty-one years later, Hernando de Soto returned, accompanied by five hundred soldiers, setting in motion a pattern of onslaughts against the indigenous nations. Spanish domination in the Americas bolstered belief in the superiority of their culture, values, and religion. This myopia kept them blinded to the complexity of the Indian people’s government, social structure, and religion. Affixing the term savages to the Native Americans, the Spanish viewed their mission as righteous and godly, to save the savages from themselves.

The invasion of Europeans continued as English colonists arrived, carrying with them their own sublime superiority. Their supremacy over the native was understood, and despite the Indian nation’s efforts to contain the Europeans, their footprint continued to grow. The enticement of trade rent the social fabric of the nations, while European political entanglements drew them into alliances they did not grasp. To purchase their loyalty, the Europeans made empty promises of security and respect for national boundaries while making treaties among themselves that usurped those same boundaries. The lands became contested in a myriad of bloody wars that systematically reduced the Indian nations’ strength.

To appropriate more land, Europeans—and, later, Americans—enticed the natives through the narcotic of manufactured goods. Bows and arrows, stone knives, animal-skin clothing, and pottery were replaced by muskets, powder, balls, steel knives, woven cloth, colored beads, and copper pans. Traditional native life was eroded through the illusory attraction of European wealth. Addiction to manufactured goods precipitated the near extinction of the whitetail deer as a food source. Culpability lay not solely at the feet of the Europeans and Americans but also with the native chiefs who traded national resources for temporary prosperity. Throughout this period, the singular constant was the increasing flow of whites to the lands and waters of the Indian nations, especially the Creek.

Following the American Revolution and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, British influence waned with the Indian nations. With British competition nearly eliminated, the door was opened for American settlers seeking relief from high war taxes and a growing immigrant population. A series of treaties established formal relations between the United States and the Creek nation. Starting in 1790 with the Treaty of New York, the boundary lines were established, and the sovereignty of the Creek nation was guaranteed.

In 1795, President George Washington, using Indian agents, initiated his policy of integration of the Creek people into white American culture.

Following in 1796, the Treaty of Colerain set boundaries among the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Cherokee and compelled the Creek to recognize the partitions. An arcane provision within the treaty allowed the United States to establish military and trading posts inside Creek lands. The Treaty of Fort Wilkinson ceded two narrow strips of land to be used for roads in consideration of an annual fee of $3,000 and reaffirmed the right of the American government to garrison troops within the ceded land.

One final treaty, the Treaty of Washington, ceded a wide swath of land in central Georgia to the United States. The United States used this treaty to establish a federal road across the Creek lands.

The continual erosion of Creek lands gave rise to a nativistic call for a return to the traditional Creek way of life and a complete resistance to American incursions. But the time had long past for such action, as much of the Creek nation had become highly dependent on American trade. This dependency was irreversible because it was purchased at the cost of the whitetail deer. The herds were depleted due to overhunting, which made a return to the old ways not only improbable but also impossible. The American footprint was now too large.

These circumstances form the backdrop of this story. In the three years in which this story is set, the fate of the Creek peoples rested not in their own hands but in the hands of the intruders.

1

THE LAND BEFORE YOU

As the afternoon waned into shadowed purples and blues, Amasa Robinson stretched his long legs toward the middle of the porch, settling into a welcome sense of contentment. The aroma of woodland phlox, asters, and bee balm mixed with the more potent smells of pipes and cigars. The day had been a good one: church service with their neighbors, an excellent dinner provided by Ruth and the other women, and now a chance to talk men’s talk—Indians and politics. Removing his gaze from the slow-moving midsummer sun, Amasa looked to his guests.

Robert Browne carried the name of his Protestant ancestor, whose protest had been silenced by King Henry. The elder Browne’s earthly departure had convinced his relatives to depart England as quickly as possible for the promised lands of the American colonies. Robert, lanky but not tall, who’d inherited his namesake’s puritan zeal and intensity for saving the savages from themselves, came from a long line of God-fearing men. His unassuming mannerisms and genuine caring for people made him a favorite with most of the men and all the women. His circuit brought him to Duck River once a month, and regardless of the day of his arrival, the following day was the Sabbath.

Samuel Dale sat at an angle from his host, slumped against the back of one of the cushioned chairs Amasa had made for Ruth. Samuel, now forty-three, had joined Washington’s army at the age of fourteen. After the war, he’d matriculated at William and Mary and started a successful law practice and political career in Williamsburg. Despite his success, his restlessness had driven him to the western frontier to seek the opportunities that lay there. Upon settling in Nashville, he’d joined the militia and participated in several sharp fights with Shawnee and Cherokee war parties. He conveyed his vigilance by his dress: his coat hid a brace of pistols, and in his boot was a British long knife.

Robert, Amasa said, I believe you become more eloquent each time you come to Duck River. Can I ask you a question? You said this morning that the frontier, this land, is our inheritance from God. Do you believe this?

Robert Browne, with sincerity, gazed at Amasa. Amasa, this morning, we discussed how God led Israel to the promised land. Let me answer your question this way.

A smile crossed Amasa’s face as his guest, as he had known he would, prepared a pedantic explanation to his simple question. Amasa caught Browne eyeing his smile and saw that he ignored it. Pushing his coffee cup to the center of the table, the preacher was ready to begin.

"The Bible, the Word of God, is not dead, nor is it confined to a specific time and place. It is, rather, a living Word. What the Lord has written for the Israelites he has also written for us. Consider this: ‘Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give unto them and their seed after them.’

"Also, ‘When the Lord thy God shall bring them into the land whether thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites and the Jebusites seven nations greater and mightier than thee. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shall smite them, and destroy them, thou shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them.’

If you believe that the Word is a living Word, then the new chosen people are clearly, by God’s presence, the white man. Our Christianity alone makes us superior to the savage. But the gift of Christianity is not the only gift that separates us from the lower races, be they red or black. We are superior in intellect, which translates to a superior culture based on agriculture and commerce. You can see this because we are not much attracted to the frivolous, as are our savage neighbors. One last point: the organization of our culture is run by the male and his superior intellect, while the savage follows his women. No, gentlemen, there is no doubt that the white man is to inherit this land and develop it for the betterment of our civilization and the spreading of Christianity to the heathen.

As Browne was winding down his homily, Amasa found comfort in his words yet wondered if there was possibly another way of looking at the white man’s inheritance. He didn’t have to wait long for his answer.

Samuel leaned into the conversation from his slouch. Robert, if you would allow me?

Amasa looked from Browne to Samuel, smiled, and asked, Samuel, are we now to hear the secular side of God’s business?

Amasa knew Samuel well, and he knew this argument equally as well. As Dale spoke, Amasa ran through his arguments.

I certainly agree with the religious foundations of our expansion west. There is no doubt in my mind that the frontier is God’s gift to us. We Americans have established and fought for the greatest republic the world has seen. The West will provide the unlimited resources the republic will need to grow. It is not inconceivable that we will occupy the whole of this continent, and with our energy, we will do so quickly. Once we dispose of the British, we will occupy all the Mississippi territory, and we all know the Spanish are incapable of holding the South from us.

Amasa knitted his hands together, furrowed his brow, and, speaking slowly, replied, I’m not completely convinced the Creek and the Cherokee would agree with our assessment. Like us, they feel they are chosen people. Chosen not by our Christian God but by their Great Spirit. Based on what little I know of their culture, I see it to be logical and productive. It certainly is as old as ours and fits their world. Maybe it’s not better than our society, and it’s certainly not as systematic, but it works for them. Are we so sure they don’t feel superior to us? I believe—and of this I’m sure—there is no doubt that just by the sheer number of settlers coming over the mountain into Tennessee and the Mississippi territory, possession of this land will ultimately come into our hands. But there will be resistance from the English. The way I hear it, they are riling up the tribes against any more settlers coming into their land. And don’t forget that before this is all over, the Spanish will have their say.

Slowing his speech, Amasa asked, What are you hearing from the Indian countrymen, the traders? I heard of the restlessness again inside some of the Upper Creek towns.

Amasa noticed Robert hesitate before he began to speak.

Robert said, "I’ve accompanied our missionaries to the Creek towns along the Cosa and Tallapoosa, and we have not been received with the same joy and respect we were in the past year. There is no doubt the North is unsettled. I’m not sure it is the British alone. I do believe they are angry over the post road. One of their holy men is reported to have said, ‘If you build a wagon, there must be wagon roads—if wagon roads, the whites will be amongst us, and we will not be able to rid ourselves of them.’

Last time I was at Turkey Town, I heard talk of Tecumseh and his Shawnee prophet and their gospel of unity to resist the white man. His appeal is to the fanatics who believe the old ways should be practiced by the Creek. They reject our ways completely. I’m afraid they fail to understand that without us, they will starve. They have hunted out their lands, and they have no more skins to trade. They don’t see that they did this to themselves, killing off their game for what the traders were willing to give. The traders got rich, and they are moving into poverty. I’m steering clear of those towns on the Cosa and Tallapoosa.

As Browne spoke, Samuel Dale became increasingly agitated. Amasa leaned back and waited for him to speak.

Samuel said, "The savages—and I don’t give a damn about what tribe—have been emboldened by what they