Paths to a Middle Ground: The Diplomacy of Natchez, Boukfouka, Nogales, and San Fernando de las Barrancas, 1791-1795
by Charles A. Weeks
University of Alabama Press, 2005 Paper: 978-0-8173-5645-3 | Cloth: 978-0-8173-1210-7 | eISBN: 978-0-8173-8522-4 Library of Congress Classification F349.N2W44 2005 Dewey Decimal Classification 305.800976226
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Spanish imperial attempts to form strong Indian alliances to thwart American expansion in the Mississippi Valley.
Charles Weeks explores the diplomacy of Spanish colonial officials in New Orleans and Natchez in order to establish posts on the Mississippi River and Tombigbee rivers in the early 1790s. Another purpose of this diplomacy, urged by Indian leaders and embraced by Spanish officials, was the formation of a regional Indian confederation that would deter American expansion into Indian lands.
Weeks shows how diplomatic relations were established and maintained in the Gulf South between Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee chiefs and their Spanish counterparts aided by traders who had become integrated into Indian societies. He explains that despite the absence of a European state system, Indian groups had diplomatic skills that Europeans could understand: full-scale councils or congresses accompanied by elaborate protocol, interpreters, and eloquent metaphorical language.
Paths to a Middle Ground is both a narrative and primary documents. Key documents from Spanish archival sources serve as a basis for the examination of the political culture and imperial rivalry playing out in North America in the waning years of the 18th century.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Charles A. Weeks is author of The Juárez Myth in Mexico.
REVIEWS
“Indian points of view are captured at a crucial phase of this region’s history, and the political stakes for Indians and Europeans alike are made palpable. . . . Highlights in Weeks’s analysis include how he treats town autonomy among Indian nations, the gift-kinship relationship, and the versatile role of traders.”--Daniel H. Usner Jr., author of American Indians in the Mississippi Valley
“Weeks provides a detailed and thorough examination with the right balance of narrative and analysis. Although the focus of the book is a mere five years, the documents and the supporting text both point to and illuminate larger issues in European-Indian diplomacy. It is a book that should be of benefit to scholars of Indian history, Spanish borderlands history, and southern colonial history.”--Colin G. Calloway, author of New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Maps and Diagrams 000
Preface 000
Introduction: An Argument 000
Part I
1. Initial and Sustained Contacts in the Gulf South: From
Violence to Diplomacy 000
2. Forging Diplomatic Paths: Native Participants 000
3. Forging Diplomatic Paths: Emergence of a Culture of
Diplomacy 000
Part II
4. The Nogales Dispute, 17911792: Some Immediate
Antecedents 000
5. Diplomacy of the Nogales Dispute, 17911792 000
6. Paths to Boukfouka and the Tombigbee, 17921793 000
7. Tangled and Twisted Paths to Nogales 000
8. The Nogales Assembly, 1793 000
9. Paths--river and other--from Nogales to San Fernando de las
Barrancas 000
Part III. Documents
1. Diary of Gayoso's Journey to Nogales, March 24April 23,
1791 000
2. Franchimastabé and Taboca to Gayoso, May 14, 1791 000
3. Gayoso's Reply to Franchimastabé and Taboca, May 28, 1791
000
4. Diary of Stephen Minor's First Mission to the Choctaws, May
30June 13, 1791 000
5. Gayoso on Minor's Mission to the Choctaws, July 1, 1791 000
6. Gayoso to Franchimatabé, March 12, 1792 000
7. Diary of Stephen Minor's Second Mission to the Choctaws, March
13April 3, 1792 000
8. Franchimastabé to Gayoso, March 28, 1792 000
9. Gayoso to Tascahetuca [Taskietoka], March 28, 1792 000
10. Gayoso's Account of the Natchez Congress, May 1792 000
11. Treaty of Natchez, May 14, 1792 000
12. Gayoso's Account of the Visit of Cherokee Chiefs to Natchez,
December 1792January 1793 000
13. Treaty of Boukfouka, May 1793 000
14. Gayoso's Account of the Nogales Congress, October 1793 000
15. Treaty of Nogales, October 28, 1793 000
16. Cession of the Barrancas de Margot or Chickasaw Bluffs to the
Spanish Nation, June 1795 000
17. Gayoso's Account of a Meeting with the Chickasaw King at San
Fernando de las Barrancas, August 1795 000
Abbreviations 000
Notes to Chapters 000
Notes to Documents 000
Essay on Sources 000
Index 000
Paths to a Middle Ground: The Diplomacy of Natchez, Boukfouka, Nogales, and San Fernando de las Barrancas, 1791-1795
by Charles A. Weeks
University of Alabama Press, 2005 Paper: 978-0-8173-5645-3 Cloth: 978-0-8173-1210-7 eISBN: 978-0-8173-8522-4
Spanish imperial attempts to form strong Indian alliances to thwart American expansion in the Mississippi Valley.
Charles Weeks explores the diplomacy of Spanish colonial officials in New Orleans and Natchez in order to establish posts on the Mississippi River and Tombigbee rivers in the early 1790s. Another purpose of this diplomacy, urged by Indian leaders and embraced by Spanish officials, was the formation of a regional Indian confederation that would deter American expansion into Indian lands.
Weeks shows how diplomatic relations were established and maintained in the Gulf South between Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee chiefs and their Spanish counterparts aided by traders who had become integrated into Indian societies. He explains that despite the absence of a European state system, Indian groups had diplomatic skills that Europeans could understand: full-scale councils or congresses accompanied by elaborate protocol, interpreters, and eloquent metaphorical language.
Paths to a Middle Ground is both a narrative and primary documents. Key documents from Spanish archival sources serve as a basis for the examination of the political culture and imperial rivalry playing out in North America in the waning years of the 18th century.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Charles A. Weeks is author of The Juárez Myth in Mexico.
REVIEWS
“Indian points of view are captured at a crucial phase of this region’s history, and the political stakes for Indians and Europeans alike are made palpable. . . . Highlights in Weeks’s analysis include how he treats town autonomy among Indian nations, the gift-kinship relationship, and the versatile role of traders.”--Daniel H. Usner Jr., author of American Indians in the Mississippi Valley
“Weeks provides a detailed and thorough examination with the right balance of narrative and analysis. Although the focus of the book is a mere five years, the documents and the supporting text both point to and illuminate larger issues in European-Indian diplomacy. It is a book that should be of benefit to scholars of Indian history, Spanish borderlands history, and southern colonial history.”--Colin G. Calloway, author of New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Maps and Diagrams 000
Preface 000
Introduction: An Argument 000
Part I
1. Initial and Sustained Contacts in the Gulf South: From
Violence to Diplomacy 000
2. Forging Diplomatic Paths: Native Participants 000
3. Forging Diplomatic Paths: Emergence of a Culture of
Diplomacy 000
Part II
4. The Nogales Dispute, 17911792: Some Immediate
Antecedents 000
5. Diplomacy of the Nogales Dispute, 17911792 000
6. Paths to Boukfouka and the Tombigbee, 17921793 000
7. Tangled and Twisted Paths to Nogales 000
8. The Nogales Assembly, 1793 000
9. Paths--river and other--from Nogales to San Fernando de las
Barrancas 000
Part III. Documents
1. Diary of Gayoso's Journey to Nogales, March 24April 23,
1791 000
2. Franchimastabé and Taboca to Gayoso, May 14, 1791 000
3. Gayoso's Reply to Franchimastabé and Taboca, May 28, 1791
000
4. Diary of Stephen Minor's First Mission to the Choctaws, May
30June 13, 1791 000
5. Gayoso on Minor's Mission to the Choctaws, July 1, 1791 000
6. Gayoso to Franchimatabé, March 12, 1792 000
7. Diary of Stephen Minor's Second Mission to the Choctaws, March
13April 3, 1792 000
8. Franchimastabé to Gayoso, March 28, 1792 000
9. Gayoso to Tascahetuca [Taskietoka], March 28, 1792 000
10. Gayoso's Account of the Natchez Congress, May 1792 000
11. Treaty of Natchez, May 14, 1792 000
12. Gayoso's Account of the Visit of Cherokee Chiefs to Natchez,
December 1792January 1793 000
13. Treaty of Boukfouka, May 1793 000
14. Gayoso's Account of the Nogales Congress, October 1793 000
15. Treaty of Nogales, October 28, 1793 000
16. Cession of the Barrancas de Margot or Chickasaw Bluffs to the
Spanish Nation, June 1795 000
17. Gayoso's Account of a Meeting with the Chickasaw King at San
Fernando de las Barrancas, August 1795 000
Abbreviations 000
Notes to Chapters 000
Notes to Documents 000
Essay on Sources 000
Index 000
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC