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The Creek Warrior Class
The geographic position
of the Creeks in the midst of warlike and
aggressive nations was a powerful stimulant
for making "invincibles" of their male
offspring. The ruling passion was that of
war; second to it was that of hunting. A
peculiar incentive was the possession of
war-titles, and the rage for these was as
strong among the younger men as that for
plunder among the older. The surest means of
ascending the ladder of honor was the
capture of scalps from the enemy, and the
policy of the red or bloody towns was that
of fostering the warlike spirit by frequent
raids and expeditions. In some towns young
men were treated as menials before they had
performed some daring deeds on the
battlefield or acquired a war title.1 To
become a warrior every young man had to pass through a severe
ordeal of privations called fast, púskita,
from the fifteenth to the seventeenth year
of his age. This initiation into manhood
usually lasted from four to eight months,
but in certain rare instances could be
abridged to twelve days.
A distinction of a material, not only honorific
character was the election of a warrior to
actual command as paká dsha or tustĕnúggi ‘láko.
The Charges Of
Commanders
After the young man had
passed through the hardships of his
initiation, the career of distinction stood
open before him, for he was now a tassikáya
or brave.2 According to Hawkins Sketch, the
three degrees of advancement in command were
as follows:
The tassikáya, who
after initiation appears qualified for
actual service in the field, and is
promising, is appointed leader (isti paká
dsha, or paká dsha) by the míko or chief of
his town. When he distinguishes himself, he
obtains a seat in the central cabin of the
public square. When out on the warpath the
leader was called imíssi, imíssi, q. v., and
when initiated to the faculty of charming
the approaching enemy by physic and songs,
ahopáya, q. v.
Warriors of the pakā
dsha class, who had repeatedly distinguished
themselves on expeditions, could be
promoted, when a general war was declared,
to the charge of upper leader, isti
paká’dsha ‘láko, or tustěnúggi.
The highest distinction
was that of the great warrior, tustěnúggi ‘láko,
of whom there was one in every town. This
dignitary was appointed by the míko and his
counselors, and selected by them among the
best qualified warriors. His seat was at the
western end of the míkalgi cabin in the
public square. In Milfort’s time this
dignitary had become a civil and military
officer,3 and nowadays his functions are
those of a civil functionary only.
In cases when the towns
had resolved upon a general war, a leader
for all the town-tustěnúggis was appointed
in the person of a "generalissimo," called
also pakā’dsha, tustěnúggi, or tustěnúggi ‘láko.
Among the Creeks now inhabiting the Indian Territory
the nomenclature has been altered from the
above. A young man is called tassikáya after
receiving the war-title and having some
employment during the busk; he becomes
tustěnúggi after being declared as such by a
vote of his town; but in aboriginal times a
young man was not called tustěnúggi before
he had shown his bravery by the taking of at
least one scalp.
Footnotes:
- Milfort, Memoire, p. 251.
- Tassikáya, contr.
taskáya, pi. taskiálgi in Cha’hta táska, in
Apalache taskáya, etc.
- Milfort, Mémoire, p.
237: "Aujourd’hui il est le premier chef de
la nation pour le civil et pour le
militaire."
Back to: Creek
Government
Notes About Book:
Source: Gatschet, Albert S., A Migration Legend of the Creek Indians.
Pub.
D.G. Brinton, Philadelphia, 1884.
Notes about Online Publication: This manuscript has been ocr'd and heavily
edited. Many of the Native American words have been reproduced as clearly as
online publication will allow us, but not all are exactly the way they were in
the original work. The structure of this manuscript has been changed to allow
better online presentation.
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