“M” is for Musgrove, Mary (ca. 1700-1765)

“M” is for Musgrove, Mary (ca. 1700-1765). Mediator between the Creeks and the English. Musgrove was born Coosaponakeesa in Coweta, the Creek Nation (central Georgia), the daughter of a Lower Creek woman and a Charleston trader. Her father took her to Pon Pon, South Carolina, to be baptized and educated. She returned to the Creek Nation and married Johnny Musgrove, son of a Creek woman and a planter/trader. In 1733 she became interpreter and consultant on Indian affairs for Governor James Oglethorpe of Georgia.  In May 1752 Governor James Glen of South Carolian asked her halt a war between the Creeks and Cherokees that threatened the colony’s welfare and trade. By December 1752 she had secured that peace.  Colonists in both Georgia and South Carolina remained dependent on Mary Musgrove’s aid until she retired in 1759.