Empress of Creek Nation: Mary Musgrove

Mary Musgrove’s real name was Coosaponakeesa (COO-suh-PON-uh-GEH-zuh), which means “lovely fawn”. Coosaponakeesa was born in 1700 in Coweta, Lower Creek Nation (present-day Macon). She was born into Wind Clan, one of 21 clans in the Creek Nation.

In 1710, Coosaponakeesa was sent to live with a British family in Charles Town, South Carolina where she would learn English, go to school, and be baptized under her English name, Mary Musgrove. In 1714, a war broke out between the British and the Creeks, who were tired of abusive British trading policies. Due to the ongoing war, Coosaponakeesa was sent home to Coweta in 1715.

By 1716, peace was established between the Creeks and the British. However, the British were still worried about losing the Creeks as allies, so to prevent this, they married Coosaponakeesa to the son of a wealthy colonel named John Musgrove Jr. Coosaponakeesa and John lived with the Creeks until 1725, when they moved back to Charles Town.

In 1730, the Creeks invited the British to build a trading post on their territory, with the agreement that the post would be run by an indigenous person. The British selected Coosaponakeesa and John to run the post, and they moved to Yamacraw later that year. Upon their arrival, Tomo-chi-chi Mico, the king of the Yamacraw, gifted Coosaponakeesa 500 acres of land on the bluff to build her home on. He was very clear that this was her land and nobody else’s, due to the British laws against Indians obtaining land grants and women owning land. These 500 acres would later become Savannah.

Coosaponakeesa spoke three languages: Mvskoke Creek, English, and the Mobilian trade language. Her language skills earned her the position as Tomo-chi-chi Mico’s primary translator. She interpreted every one of his talks and negotiations with the British.

By early 1733, James Edward Oglethorpe had arrived to the bluff and established his colony. Coosaponakeesa’s farm on her land provided the colony with the majority of their food supplies. Around this time, in 1735, Tomo-chi-chi Mico requested to have an English school built near Yamacraw so that the Creek children could learn to read and write in English. Coosaponakeesa, having taught Tomo-chi-chi Mico’s nephew Toonahowie how to read and write English, took on the first teaching role at the new school. Unfortunately, her husband John died that same year, so she had to stop teaching to run her trading post Mount Venture full time.

By the time Coosaponakeesa married her second husband Jacob Matthews in 1737; she was a very wealthy and influential woman. In fact, when the Georgia colony produced its first silk in 1739, they wove it into fabric and sent a bolt of silk to the Queen of England, and a second bolt to Coosaponakeesa.

That same year, the English and Spanish went to war. Coosaponakeesa provided money, gunpowder, weapons, and supplies to the British soldiers. It is because of her aid that they achieved victory over the Spanish. By the end of the war, Coosaponakeesa owned thousands of acres on the Georgia coast, including Ossabaw Island, Sapelo Island, and St. Catherine’s Island. Unfortunately, the British government did not recognize her claims to the land because she was a woman. This caused tension with the Creeks. All of her land was on Creek land, agreed on through treaties, and the British government’s lack of recognizance to her claims was seen as an insult to Creek sovereignty.

Not long afterwards, in 1745, Coosaponakeesa’s husband Jacob died. She remarried once more in 1747 to Thomas Bosomworth. When Thomas assisted his wife in pressing claims to her land, he was accused of treason by Georgia. In 1749, Coosaponakeesa and Bosomworth led a peaceful protest march through Savannah for her land, alongside many Creeks, including the reigning Mico, Malatchi.

Coosaponakeesa and Bosomworth were arrested for leading the march, but were shortly released after apologizing to Savannah officials. Soon after, Coosaponakeesa and Thomas Bosomworth travelled to England to present her claim directly to the British Board of Trade. A compromise was not reached until 1759, which saw Ossabaw Island and Sapelo Island auctioned off, with the proceeds going to Coosaponakeesa. She was able to finally obtain an official title to only St. Catherine’s Island, despite her extensive and invaluable aid to the British, which they commended in the title.

In 1760, Coosaponakeesa and her husband settled on St. Catherine’s Island. She died in 1765, with her husband inheriting St. Catherine’s Island in accordance with British law. She is fondly remembered as the Empress of Creek Nation.