During Andrew Jackson's time the Creeks and Seminoles (Muscogulges) were the largest group of Indians living on the frontier. In Georgia, Alabama, and Florida they manifested a geographical and cultural, but not a political, cohesiveness. Ethnically and linguistically, they were highly diverse. This book is the first to locate them firmly in their full historical context.

J. Leitch Wright, Jr., was a professor of history at Florida State University and the author of such books as The Only Land They Knew: The Tragic Story of The American Indians in the Old South (1981).

"This last work by J. Leitch Wright, Jr., is fascinating, fine scholarship and a significant contribution to native American historiography. . . . The author's 'ethnicity' argument provides an interesting alternative analysis of the course of Creek and Seminole history. Well stated and supported, it should excite students and scholars of southeastern Indian culture."—Robert L. Gold, American Historical Review

"This book gives a fresh perspective on how the Creeks and Seminoles endured the test of Indian-white relations. . . . [It] is important in that it redirects thinking about the survival of the Muscogulges' identity and shows that it is much stronger than historical documents had led scholars to believe."—Donald L. Fixico, Journal of American History

"Overall, the book is the best one-volume work available on the Creeks and Seminoles, and it is important reading for anyone who wishes to understand the Indians and their problems from their point of view."—Mary Jane McDaniel, Alabama Review

1987 Rembert Patrick Award, sponsored by the Florida Historical Society, winner