10 Facts About Menawa

Menawa was of mixed race, with a Creek mother and a fur trader father of mostly Scots ancestry.

Menawa grew up among the Upper Creek in present-day Alabama and, as an adult, became part of the "Red Sticks", a group that opposed assimilation and worked to revive traditional practices.

Menawa was born at the village of Oakfuskee, located on the Tallapoosa River in present-day Alabama.

Menawa's mother was a high-status Creek woman and his father a mostly Scots fur trader; such strategic alliances were common, as both cultures believed they benefited.

Menawa emerged to lead warriors in the Creek War, which began as a civil war among the Creek people, where strong divisions had arisen with the Lower Creek, who comprised the majority of the population.

Menawa was second in command of the Red Sticks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814, when they were defeated by General Andrew Jackson commanding militias of Tennessee, Georgia and the Mississippi Territory, as well as allied Cherokee.

Menawa was wounded seven times during the battle, but he escaped and survived his wounds.

In 1826, Menawa was a member of the Creek National Council, along with Opothleyahola and Selocta Chinnabby, that went to Washington DC, to protest the Treaty of Indian Springs.

Menawa is said to have been among the hundreds who died during the general removal of the Creek to Indian Territory in the 1830s.

Menawa was too intoxicated to travel while Harho 'evinced a stubborn obstinate disposition.