Sophia Durant (ca. 1752 – ca. 1813/1831) was a
Koasati
The Coushatta ( cku, Koasati, Kowassaati or Kowassa:ti) are a Muskogean-speaking Native American people now living primarily in the U.S. states of Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.
When first encountered by Europeans, they lived in the territor ...
Native American plantation owner, who served as the speaker, interpreter, and translator for her brother,
Alexander McGillivray
Alexander McGillivray, also known as ''Hoboi-Hili-Miko'' (December 15, 1750February 17, 1793), was a Muscogee (Creek) leader. The son of a Muscogee mother and a Scottish father, he had skills no other Creek of his day had: he was not only liter ...
, a leader in the Muscogee Confederacy.
Durant was born to a mixed-race Native mother and Scottish father in the mid-18th century on Muscogee Confederacy lands in what is now
Elmore County, Alabama
Elmore County is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 87,977. Its county seat is Wetumpka. Its name is in honor of General John A. Elmore.
Elmore County is part o ...
. Taught reading and writing, she influenced the political and economic development of her people. After managing with her husband, probably a mixed-race Black/Native man, her father's estates in
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
, for three or four years, Durant returned to Muscogee territory and established the first cattle plantation in the
Tensaw District of the nation. She also managed communal lands as part of her matriarchal inheritance at
Hickory Ground
Hickory Ground, also known as Otciapofa (or Odshiapofa, Ocheopofau, and Ocheubofau) is an historic Upper Muscogee Creek tribal town and an archaeological site in Elmore County, Alabama near Wetumpka. It is known as Oce Vpofa in the Muscogee lang ...
and operated as a middleman between Anglo and Native traders. Although she was one of the largest slaveholders in the nation, she often treated her slaves as part of her extended family and was lenient in their work requirements, sharing communally with them.
Durant had 11 children, although only seven or eight grew to adulthood. Three of them joined the
Red Stick
Red Sticks (also Redsticks, Batons Rouges, or Red Clubs), the name deriving from the red-painted war clubs of some Native American Creeks—refers to an early 19th-century traditionalist faction of these people in the American Southeast. Made u ...
's faction during the
Creek Civil War
The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the Red Stick War and the Creek Civil War, was a regional war between opposing Indigenous American Creek factions, European empires and the United States, taking place largely in modern-day Alabama ...
. In the 1813
Fort Mims massacre, her husband was killed and she was captured. Taken to
Econochaca
The Battle of Holy Ground, or Battle of Econochaca, was a battle fought on December 23, 1813, between the United States militia and the Red Stick Creek Indians during the Creek War. The battle took place at Econochaca, the site of a fortified enca ...
, a Red Stick settlement,
she was freed by American troops after the
Battle of Holy Ground
The Battle of Holy Ground, or Battle of Econochaca, was a battle fought on December 23, 1813, between the United States militia and the Red Stick Creek Indians during the Creek War. The battle took place at Econochaca, the site of a fortified enca ...
and died before 1831. Because she is one of the few Native women mentioned by name in the 18th-century record, modern historians have been able to broaden the understanding of gender and the contributions of Native women in the political and economic development of her era. Her relationships with her people in bondage have also added to the study of slave societies and their complexity.
Early life
Sophia McGillivray was likely born in the 1750s in the village of
Little Tallasee, on the
Coosa River
The Coosa River is a tributary of the Alabama River in the U.S. states of Alabama and Georgia. The river is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011
...
, near what is now
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...
, to
Sehoy Marchand (also known as Sehoy II) and
Lachlan McGillivray
Lachlan McGillivray (–1799) was a prosperous fur trader and planter in colonial Georgia with interests that extended from Savannah to what is now central Alabama. He was the father of Alexander McGillivray and the great-uncle of William McIntos ...
.
Amos J. Wright, who spent two decades meticulously unraveling the genealogical history of the McGillivray family, wrote that Sehoy Marchand, who was the sister of Chief
Red Shoes of the Tuskegee people, was the daughter of
Sehoy
Sehoy, or Sehoy I (died ca. 1730), was an 18th-century matriarch of the Muscogee Confederacy and a member of the Wind clan.
She established a dynasty that became influential in the political and economic history of her nation and its relationshi ...
(also known as Sehoy I) of the
Wind Clan
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...
and
Jean Baptiste Louis DeCourtel Marchand
Jean Baptiste Louis DeCourtel Marchand, aka Captain Francois Marchand de Courcelles, was an eighteenth century French officer that served in the French colonies in America, and died after a second tour or duty ending in 1734. Marchand fathered tw ...
, a French officer stationed at
Fort Toulouse
Fort Toulouse and Fort Jackson are two forts that shared the same site at the fork of the Coosa River and the Tallapoosa River, near Wetumpka, Alabama.
Fort Toulouse
Fort Toulouse (Muscogee: Franca choka chula), also called Fort des Alibamons a ...
. Linda Langley, a professor of anthropology and sociology at
Louisiana State University at Eunice
Louisiana State University Eunice (LSU Eunice or LSUE) is a public junior college in Eunice, Louisiana. It is the only junior college associated with the Louisiana State University System. It enrolls over 4,000 full and part-time students and h ...
, argues that she was more likely
Koasati
The Coushatta ( cku, Koasati, Kowassaati or Kowassa:ti) are a Muskogean-speaking Native American people now living primarily in the U.S. states of Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.
When first encountered by Europeans, they lived in the territor ...
, as the only Muscogee leader in the period of that name was Koasati, and the linguistic and ethnographic records, place of birth, and matrilineal connections support that identity. Wright concluded that Marchand first married Angus or August McPherson, a trader among the tribes of the Muscogee Confederacy, and had two children with him —
Sehoy III and Malcolm McPherson. Lachlan McGillivray was a Scottish trader, who was mentored by Marchand's husband and licensed to conduct trade with the Upper Creeks in 1744.
Around 1750, Marchand married McGillivray, who had established a large plantation and apple orchard near Fort Toulouse. The family included Sehoy's two children with McPherson and the couple's three children,
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, Sophia, and Jeanette (aka Jennet). McGillivray lived with his family for about twelve years, providing all of the children with a basic education of reading and writing. He often made trips to
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
and
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
and built a second plantation with a grist mill near
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...
. In 1760, he abandoned his Native family and removed to his plantation in Savannah. Although he brought Alexander to Charleston to be educated, McGillivray did not return to his family and left his estate, when he returned to Scotland twenty-two years later, to his cousin, John. His will left a small inheritance to Alexander, but did not mention Marchand or their daughters. Alexander returned to the tribe in 1777, after having earned a colonial English education and been apprenticed in accounting. He became the assistant deputy of the British Indian Superintendent of the South,
John Stuart, and was commissioned as a colonel. Because of his mother's standing in the Wind Clan, he was appointed as a lesser leader but had no authority other than that extended locally because of his family reputation. Either because Alexander had difficulty with the varying Native dialects or because of a diplomatic practice common at the time, he often relied on Sophia as his speaker, interpreter, and translator.
Career
In 1779 at Little Tallassee, Sophia married Benjamin Durant, also known as Peter. The couple met according to an often repeated story, when Benjamin, a boxer of some renown, came down from South Carolina to engage in a boxing match. Durant's heritage has been variously reported as white,
French Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...
, biracial French-Native, or mulatto (French-African biracial). Wright concluded that he was Muscogee, because a claim was paid by the United States government on his behalf, for property losses sustained during the
Creek War
The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the Red Stick War and the Creek Civil War, was a regional war between opposing Indigenous American Creek factions, European empires and the United States, taking place largely in modern-day Alabama ...
, which could only be paid to Natives. Alexander indicated in a letter written in 1789 that Durant's brother, Jenkins, was part of the
Tombigbee people. Although Durant had owned a plantation in Durant's Bend near
Selma
Selma may refer to:
Places
* Selma, Algeria
*Selma, Nova Scotia, Canada
*Selma, Switzerland, village in the Grisons
United States:
*Selma, Alabama, city in Dallas County, best known for the Selma to Montgomery marches
*Selma, Arkansas
*Selma, Cal ...
since 1776,
matrilocal
In social anthropology, matrilocal residence or matrilocality (also uxorilocal residence or uxorilocality) is the societal system in which a married couple resides with or near the wife's parents. Thus, the female offspring of a mother remain l ...
custom among the Muscogee dictated that they live on the ''huti'', or matrilineal lands of the wife's family. When the couple married, they lived and acted as overseers of a plantation Sophia's father owned on the
Savannah River
The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the norther ...
. With the
defeat of the British in 1782, during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, the Durant family returned to Muscogee territory and Lachlan McGillivray returned to Scotland.
In 1782, after
Emistisiguo, a leader of the Upper Creeks was killed, Alexander ascended as the Isti Acagagi Tlucco (Great Beloved Man) for the Creek Confederacy. Traditionally, Upper Creeks lived in the territory surrounding the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers and the Lower Creeks congregated in the territories between the
Flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...
and
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chatta ...
s. From 1783, the British recognized him as the primary spokesman for the Creek Confederacy. That year, the Durants established a cattle plantation between the Alabama and
Escambia River
The Conecuh River and Escambia River constitute a single river in Alabama and Florida in the United States.
The Conecuh River rises near Union Springs in the state and flows in a general southwesterly direction into Florida near Century. The r ...
s with Alexander south of Little Tallasee in the
Tensaw district with forty slaves. It was the first plantation created by Muscogee people in the
Little River Community. The location was chosen not only to facilitate trade with Florida but also because traditionally fields in the communal territory were reserved for agricultural crops. The location provided ample grazing lands as well as access to grains in
Mobile
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ( ...
or
Pensacola
Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...
. The community which developed around their cattle plantation included various families linked to the matrilineage of Sehoy Marchand through birth or marriage, such as Bailey, Cornells, Durant, Francis, McGirth, McPherson, Milfort, Moniac, Stiggins, Tate, and Weatherford. Most of these were intermarried with other mixed-race European-Native families, for example Sehoy III married Adam Tate, and then later Charles Weatherford, of mixed Scottish and Native descent.
In 1784, Alexander secured Spanish protection for the Muscogee, signing a
treaty at Pensacola which dampened Georgia's encroachment on Creek claims to three million acres of land. The Spanish agreed to recognize their rights to lands in Florida. The treaty also promised a trading monopoly for the British firm of
Panton, Leslie & Company
Panton, Leslie & Company was a company of Scottish merchants active in trading in the Bahamas and with the Native Americans of what is now the Southeastern United States during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The origins of Panton, Leslie ...
with the Creeks and appointed McGillivray as a representative to the Spanish government with an annual salary. The agreement to continuing trade was beneficial as both Sophia and Sehoy Weatherford worked as independent middlemen in the trade between Native hunters with Panton & Leslie, in which Alexander was a partner. The women frequently traveled for business, which was separate from their husband's affairs and control, from their homes to Mobile and Pensacola and other places within the nation. By 1796, both sisters reported to
Benjamin Hawkins
Benjamin Hawkins (August 15, 1754June 6, 1816) was an American planter, statesman and a U.S. Indian agent He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a United States Senator from North Carolina, having grown up among the planter elite. ...
, the government Indian Agent, that they were no longer doing business with Panton & Leslie.
![Sketch of Little Tallassie, or the Hickory Ground (traced)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Sketch_of_Little_Tallassie%2C_or_the_Hickory_Ground_%28traced%29.png)
By 1787, the Durants lived primarily at
Hickory Ground
Hickory Ground, also known as Otciapofa (or Odshiapofa, Ocheopofau, and Ocheubofau) is an historic Upper Muscogee Creek tribal town and an archaeological site in Elmore County, Alabama near Wetumpka. It is known as Oce Vpofa in the Muscogee lang ...
, near the confluence of the Coosa and
Tallapoosa River
The Tallapoosa River runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 from the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia, United States, southward and wes ...
s. They had 11 children, of whom eight survived – Lachlan (born c. 1775), John, Alexander "Sandy", Mary "Polly" (born c. 1783), Rachel (born c. 1785), Sophia (born c. 1787), Elizabeth "Betsy" (born c. 1790) and her twin. Hawkins reported in 1796 that Sophia owned 80 slaves. Because inheritance and property among the Muscogee was
matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's Lineage (anthropology), lineage – and which can in ...
, Sophia and her sisters controlled the assets and family relationships. For example, when their brother Malcolm McPherson died in 1799, Chief Singer wrote Sophia and Sehoy, who at the time was married to Charles Weatherford, asking their permission to raise his nephews. He needed their authority as Malcolm had been married to Singer's sister, and Jeanette had died earlier in 1799. When McPherson's oldest son Tinghyaby tried to take control of his father's properties, his aunts objected. For a while, they allowed him to manage McPherson's estate, but eventually Sehoy Weatherford, Sophia, and Jeanette took all the cattle and slaves belonging to the matrilineage. Hawkins also noted that upon Alexander's death in 1793, Sophia and Sehoy Weatherford took possession of his properties. When Alexander died, Sophia had his body removed from Pensacola and buried on his own property at Choctaw Bluff in what is now
Clarke County, Alabama
Clarke County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,087. The county seat is Grove Hill. The county's largest city is Jackson. The county was created by the leg ...
.
Sophia and Benjamin paid their debts by renting out or selling their slaves and showed little interest in farming to create agricultural surplus that could be sold. Hawkins brought Quakers into the area to teach Native women cottage industry, truck farming, and weaving and sent equipment for blacksmithing and farming to them, but the Native people did not easily embrace the attempts to Americanize their lives. The relationship with slaves was quite different to American practices, as for example, Sophia refused to sell at least one Black slave who was married to a Native woman to liquidate a debt. It is unclear why that occurred but some scholars have speculated that the Native wife's status came into consideration. In Hawkins' Anglo-European world view, the communal living arrangement in which Sophia shared what she had with her slaves, was incomprehensible. In the eyes of her brother and agent Hawkins, Sophia mismanaged her slaves, because although they could work, she did not make them labor or be productive. Sophia developed personal relationships with her slaves and allowed them a liberal measure of autonomy, such as letting them travel alone to conduct business and throwing an annual Christmas celebration for them. She also refused to bow to Alexander's attempts to control her slaves and would not allow him to remove the Black preacher she harbored on her estate, though Alexander was convinced he was a troublemaker.
The adoption of the
Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
in 1789 established that the exclusive right to negotiate with Native peoples was vested in the federal government. In 1790, Alexander, Sophia's son Lachlan Durant, and David Tate, son of Sehoy Weatherford, by her first marriage to Adam Tate, went to New York to negotiate on behalf of the Muscogee Confederacy with the Americans. Along with around thirty representatives from the
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, an ...
s and each tribe in Muscogee country, they negotiated the first treaty which included leadership from both the Upper and Lower Creeks. The treaty established the boundary between Native country and the American settlements. During their absence, Sophia gave birth to twins. Variations on the circumstances of the birth exist, but both stories have her giving birth because of exertion over an act of diplomacy. In
Albert J. Pickett
Albert James Pickett (Anson County, North Carolina, August 13, 1810 — Montgomery, Alabama, October 28, 1858) was a planter and lawyer in Autauga County, Alabama. He is known as Alabama's first historian, having published a two-volume history of ...
's version, Native people threatened white settlers in the Tensaw District and Sophia, who was at her plantations there rode for four days with a slave woman to persuade an assembly of headmen at Hickory Ground to abandon their attack plans. In author Mary Ann Wells' version,
Augustus Bowles, a Maryland adventurer who had ambitions to create a Muscogee state which he could use for own interests by controlling trade, called a meeting at
Tuckabatchee
Tukabatchee or Tuckabutche ( Creek: ''Tokepahce'' ) is one of the four mother towns of the Muscogee Creek confederacy.Isham, Theodore and Blue Clark"Creek (Mvskoke)." ''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.'' ...
to get the headmen to agree to oust Alexander and support him as their representative. Sophia and her slave rode hard to get to the council and persuaded them to remain loyal to Alexander.
Muscogee Creek War
During the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
, a movement within the Native American populations, sought a return to traditional customs and lifestyles, rejecting the Euro-American "civilization" process. The
Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
prophet
Tenskwatawa
Tenskwatawa (also called Tenskatawa, Tenskwatawah, Tensquatawa or Lalawethika) (January 1775 – November 1836) was a Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe, known as the Prophet or the Shawnee Prophet. He was a ...
advocated a revitalization of Native cultures through purification and militancy against Americans encroaching on indigenous lands. He gained followers from a segment of the members of the Muscogee Confederacy, and though the line was not rigid, Upper Creeks tended toward his teachings more than Lower Creeks. Other prophets emerged within the Muscogee, such as
Josiah Francis (Hillis Hadjo)
Josiah Francis, also called Francis the Prophet, native name Hillis Hadjo ("crazy-brave medicine") (c. 1770–1818), was "a charismatic religious leader" of the Red Stick Creek Indians. According to the historian Frank Owsley, he became "the most a ...
, who converted many Muscogee to their cause, including
Peter McQueen
Peter McQueen (c. 1780 – 1820) was a Creek chief, prophet, trader and warrior from ''Talisi'' ( Tallassee, among the Upper Towns in present-day Alabama.) He was one of the young men known as Red Sticks, who became a prophet for expulsion of ...
, who married Sophia's daughter Betsy, and
William Weatherford
William Weatherford, also known after his death as Red Eagle (ca. 1765 – March 24, 1824), was a Creek chief of the Upper Creek towns who led many of the Red Sticks actions in the Creek War (1813–1814) against Lower Creek towns and against ...
, one of the children of Seyoh Weatherford. Early in 1813, the discontent erupted into a
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
within the Muscogee Confederacy. Those that followed the prophets and rejected Americanization were known as
Red Sticks
Red Sticks (also Redsticks, Batons Rouges, or Red Clubs), the name deriving from the red-painted war clubs of some Native American Creeks—refers to an early 19th-century traditionalist faction of these people in the American Southeast. Made u ...
. Three of Sophia's children sided with the Red Sticks in the conflict — Betsy, John, and Sandy. The Tenesaw community was one of the main targets of the Red Sticks and was completely destroyed during the conflict. Benjamin Durant died during the
Fort Mims massacre on August 30, 1813. Sophia was captured and taken hostage by the Red Sticks. Along with ten other mixed-blood people who had been friendly to whites, on December 23, she was tied to stakes and wood was piled around them. The arrival of General
J. F. H. Claiborne and his troops, at
Econochaca
The Battle of Holy Ground, or Battle of Econochaca, was a battle fought on December 23, 1813, between the United States militia and the Red Stick Creek Indians during the Creek War. The battle took place at Econochaca, the site of a fortified enca ...
prevented the captives from being burned and Sophia was freed.
After Fort Mims, the United States Army became involved in the civil war. American soldiers began destroying Upper Creek towns and attacking Red Sticks. Sophia's son Sandy moved to
Apalachicola, Florida
Apalachicola ( ) is a city and the county seat of Franklin County, Florida, United States, on the shore of Apalachicola Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The population was 2,231 at the 2010 census.
History
The Apalachicola people, after ...
, during the hostilities, and in November 1813, his brother John wrote to him of Betsy's desire to join him there. By August 1814, the Red Sticks had been driven south into Florida with their families and a
peace treaty
A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring ...
was signed in the Muscogee territory. Among the fleeing families were John and Betsy Durant, led by McQueen. Once in Florida, McQueen led his followers to the "head waters of Line Creek" in eastern Florida. They remained in Florida for a few years serving as agents for the British in Spanish territory. In November 1817, McQueen's followers attacked a US Army supply boat making its way up the Apalachicola River to
Fort Scott, Georgia. General
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
's troops responded and in 1818 defeated the Natives and called for McQueen to surrender. He refused and with his followers headed further south to a site near
Fort Brooke
Fort Brooke was a historical military post established at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in present-day Tampa, Florida in 1824. Its original purpose was to serve as a check on and trading post for the native Seminoles who had been confined ...
. When they reached Tampa Bay, Sandy died and soon after McQueen died on an island in the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
.
Death and legacy
Sophia died prior to 1831, when her son Lachlan wrote a letter to Chief Justice of the
Alabama Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. The court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for staggered six-year terms. The Supreme Court is house ...
,
Abner Smith Lipscomb
Abner Smith Lipscomb (February 10, 1789, in Abbeville District, South Carolina – December 8, 1856, in Austin, Texas) was an American and Texan lawyer and judge. He was also appointed Secretary of State for the Republic of Texas under the admini ...
, noting that he was the only surviving son of his mother and grandfather, Lachlan McGillivrary, and attempted to collect, as her only male heir, some of her lost property. He spent many years, writing to authorities, like President
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...
, attempting to recover family properties. Lachlan lived in
Baldwin County, Alabama
Baldwin County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama, on the Gulf coast. It is one of only two counties in Alabama that border the Gulf of Mexico, along with Mobile County. As of the 2020 census, the populat ...
and survived until at least 1852. After McQueen's death, Sophia's son John moved to
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...
and according to their brother Lachlan was deceased by 1831. Her daughter Mary married Muslushobie, also known as Pitcher, and had a son named Co-cha-my (Ward Coachman), who was raised by his uncle Lachlan after his parents' death.
Coachman
A coachman is an employee who drives a coach or carriage, a horse-drawn vehicle designed for the conveyance of passengers. A coachman has also been called a coachee, coachy, whip, or hackman.
The coachman's first concern is to remain in full c ...
relocated to
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
in 1845 and became Principal Chief of the
Muscogee Nation
The Muscogee Nation, or Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is a federally recognized Native American tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The nation descends from the historic Muscogee Confederacy, a large group of indigenous peoples of the Southe ...
in 1876. Her daughter Rachel married Billy McGirth and upon his death married Davy Walker. She was widowed by Walker and remarried with a man named Bershins, taking up residence in the Choctaw lands. Daughter Sophia first married John Linder Jr. and then later married Dr. John McComb, who served as a physician to
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
's troops. When McQueen died, Betsy returned to Muscogee territory and married his nephew Willy McQueen.
Scholar of Native Americans and gender at the
University of Glasgow
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
, Felicity Donohoe noted that the inclusion of Sophia Durant by name in historical documents indicates her significance in 18th- and 19th-century American history, as most indigenous women were rarely acknowledged and typically were collectively represented. Records about her confirm that she was a politically powerful person who was influential. Professors Miller Shores Wright and
Harvey Jackson III
Harvey Hardaway Jackson III (born February 25, 1943) is the Professor of History at Jacksonville State University in Alabama. He is the author of a number of works on Alabama and Georgia history.
Early life and career
He was born in Junction Ci ...
point to the importance of Durant and her sisters in the economy of the Muscogee. They also note that as some of the largest slave holders in their nation, their treatment of their slaves gives depth to the understanding of the forms of bondage which existed in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Durant, Sophia
1742 births
Date of death unknown
People from Alabama
Muscogee people
Native American slave owners
Plantation owners
18th-century Native American women
18th-century American businesswomen
Businesspeople from Alabama
Farmers from Alabama
American women farmers
American women slave owners
American slave owners