Menawa, also called Hothlepoya, was war chief of the Upper Towns Creek. Born in the 1780s, he had earned the title "Crazy War Hunter" for his exploits in battle, including his bravery at the battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. He fervently hated the white man and refused to join Chief William McIntosh's conciliatory efforts. After watching his tribe cede its land piecemeal for a decade, culminating in a treaty which forced the Creek to relocate, Menawa led a raiding party which killed McIntosh in 1825. The act did not stop white incursion onto Creek land, however, and Menawa himself was forced to accede to white territorial demands the following year in a treaty concluded with Secretary of War James Barbour.

In the early 1700's, the Creek tribe was the most cooperative with the British settlers in the Georgia Territory. With the active assistance of Creek leaders like Tomochichi (shown here with his nephew), Georgia was rapidly and peacefully settled by British colonists. In return for massive land grants, the Creek were accorded privileges, such as protection under the British law and liberal trading rights. Tomochichi was praised for his peacemaking efforts, and in 1734 was rewarded with a trip to England with his family. He remained a friend to the British for the rest of his life

The Muskokee (Creek) became a combined Muskokee (Creek) Confederacy of most nations of the southeastern states who thrived as early as de Soto's time in the early 1500s. Two strong geographical groups, the Upper Muskokee (Creek) and Lower Muskokee (Creek), each possessed many interesting nations that gradually increased in size and spread throughout Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and the Carolinas. As white people spread southward along coastal areas, Muskokee (Creek) were driven to the interior areas, especially along the Chattahoochee and Ocmulgee rivers. In the 1700s and 1800s bands of the Muskokee (Creek) nation migrated northward, infiltrating nations of the central, plains, and southwestern areas.