Red Sticks

Red Sticks—also appearing as Redsticks or Red Clubs and deriving from the red-painted war clubs of some Native American Creeks—refers to an early 19th century traditionalist faction of these people in the American Southeast. Made up mostly of Creek of the Upper Towns that supported traditional leadership and culture and preservation of communal land for cultivation and hunting, the Red Sticks arose at a time of increasing pressure on Creek territory by European-American settlers. Creek of the Lower Towns were closer to the settlers, had more mixed-race families, and had already been forced to make land cessions to the Americans. In this context, the Red Sticks led a resistance movement against European-American encroachment and assimilation, tensions that culminated in the outbreak of the Creek War in 1813. Initially a civil war among the Creek, the conflict drew in United States state forces while the nation was already engaged in the War of 1812 against the British.

The term "Red Sticks" was also presented in scholarly work as "Redsticks," and in historical documents also as "Red Clubs," and was derived from the ca. 2-foot long wooden war club, or atássa (vtvssv), a largely straight weapon, painted red, with a curve at its head that held a small piece of iron, steel, or bone projecting about two inches, which was the preferred symbolic and practical weapon carried by Red Stick Creek warriors. The Red Sticks faction came primarily from the Upper Towns of the Creek Confederacy and supported traditional leadership and culture, including the preservation of communal land for cultivation and hunting, while opposing assimilation to the United States culture. The Creek had a matrilineal culture, in which a person's place and status were determined by their maternal clan. The Creek of the Lower Towns, who comprised the majority of population, had adopted more American ways; in addition, they had more intermarriage among their women with European-American traders and settlers, and economic relations with the United States settlers. At the same time, the mixed-race children, such as the chiefs William Weatherford and William McIntosh, were generally raised among the Creek, who commanded their first loyalty.

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