The Research Triangle Seminar Series "History of the Military, War and Society" presents

The 1810s was a tumultuous decade in Georgia.  Spurred by an increased demand for cotton and two significant land cessions from the Creeks, Georgia's population and economy soared as tens of thousands of settlers flocked to the state in search of cheap land and a chance for prosperity.  The new arrivals, both free and enslaved, transformed vast swaths of lush forest into plantation and farm fields.  Coveting the lands held by the Creeks and Seminole Indians that lay beyond the state's southern border, white Georgians participated in a series of four military conflicts over the course of the decade.  As a result of these wars, white Georgians defeated the neighboring Indians, secured new territory to extend the plantation regime, and pacified the road leading to Alabama and Mississippi.  Victory, however, did not come as quickly or easily as the white Georgians had imagined.  They met resistance in an interracial army, comprised of natives, blacks, and a handful of whites, who stymied white Georgians? expansion efforts.  Only after the intervention of outside military support did the white Georgians succeed.

WATSON JENNISON is an assistant professor in the History Department at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. His teaching interests include the U. S. South, African American history, and slavery. Currently he is finishing a manuscript, "Cultivating Race:  Slavery and Expansion in Georgia, 1750-1860." He received his Ph. D from the University of Virginia in 2005.

The seminar starts at 4:15 pm. Refreshments will be served before the seminar.

A pre-circulated paper is available a week in advance at josman@email.unc.edu.

For more information see the website: http://www.unc.edu/mhss/.

Co-sponsored by the Triangle Institute for Security Studies