Clovis Comet Debate - The Archaeological Conservancy

In the first half of the 19th century, Creek Indians in what
is now Alabama watched with alarm as white settlers
encroached on Creek lands. The Creeks were divided
over how to cope with the intrusions of land hungry settlers,
partly because the Creeks’ lives were so intertwined with
those of the settlers and their African slaves due to intermarrying.
It was inevitable that what started out as a civil war
within the Creek nation would involve everyone on the
southwestern frontier and forever change its cultural landscape.
The Conservancy’s 400th site, Holy Ground Village and
Battlefield, played an important role in these historic events.
Although they had spent years peacefully coexisting
with the Euro-Americans and their slaves, not all Creeks
accepted the U. S. policy of acculturation that promoted the
planting of cash crops, the acquisition of private property,
new acquisition
The Conservancy To Acquire Its 400 th Site
Holy Ground is a 19 th -century village and battlefield
that was occupied by a faction of the Creek Indians.
The Red Sticks were known for their wooden war clubs, two of which are shown here.
The ball-head club eventually gave way to the gunstock club, which was sometimes made from the
stock of a colonial gun embellished with brass tacks. This club also has an embedded blade.
livestock, and slave ownership. Some factions within the
Creek tribe opposed the abandonment of sacred traditions
and believed that the redistribution of traditionally communal
lands to individuals would lead to the loss of all Creek
lands and as well as their tribal identity. These people were
urged by religious leaders called “prophets” to destroy things
such as plows, looms, livestock, and all vestiges of white influence
and to return to traditional ways. Tensions increased
and the Creeks fractured into warring camps. The traditionalist
camp became known as the Red Sticks, an allusion to the
red wooden war club used by the Creeks.
In August of 1813, following their devastating attack
on a stockade housing a militia and settlers, which became
known as the Massacre at Fort Mims, Red Stick leader William
Weatherford and his warriors regrouped at a village
44 fall • 2010
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