Georgia Writers Association

An Angry Drum Echoed: Mary Musgrove, Queen of the Creeks
By Pamela Bauer Mueller
Pinata Publishing, St. Simons Island, Ga. 2007
291pp.

GAYA WINNER!!  Young Adult Fiction

It’s been a long time since eighth-grade Georgia history, though not quite that long since I visited the ruins of Fort Frederica on St. Simons. I remembered vaguely the Battle of Bloody Marsh (1742) but not Mary Musgrove, or Coosaponakeesa, and I was delighted to make the acquaintance of such a clever and resourceful woman so important to the history of our state.

 The young reader will find that battles and politics make way for heart and soul in this lyrical novel, and as I read, that long-ago bloody battle became meaningful because of what it meant to the characters.

Mary, fluent in both Muskogee, the Creek language, and English, served as translator and go-between for the English colonists and the Indians. Told mainly from the first person point of view, the book gives a vivid picture of the difficulties the colonists and the natives faced in carving out a living from the swamps, forests, and savannahs.

The reader follows Coosaponakeesa’s feelings as she comes of age in her native village, Coweta (near present-day Macon, GA). Her mother, an Indian princess, stayed with her tribe while her father, Edward Griffin, a trader in furs and deerskins, traveled. After her mother’s untimely death she was sent to Charles Towne (Charleston) to be educated in the ways of her father’s people, and there she was baptized as Mary.

When she was of an age to marry, she returned to her native village, where young men vied for her hand. But when John Musgrove, a fur trader, came to trade along with his mixed-blood son, also named John, the two young people fell madly in love and there would be no choice for Mary but the fur trader’s son.

The spirit of Mary’s mother is an ongoing presence, and Mary, on her wedding day, talks with her:

"Et-Ské, how did you feel when you married Papa? Did you have the love and support of our people? Were you frightened?" I spoke to her as if she sat before me.

The leaves rustled softly. A blue and yellow butterfly paused tentatively on my skirt and then fluttered away.

"I feel peace, for I know that you shared a deep bond. You are sending me your blessings. Thank you, Et-Ské. Stay with me through this new journey."

The young couple established trading posts and prospered despite the primitive living conditions. Mary, irrepressible despite her small stature, used her position as tribal queen to help broker peace between the tribesmen and the English, who had their hands full fighting the Spaniards and the French over territory. She met handsome, brooding James Edward Oglethorpe, who had been sent to found a new colony, and helped him in his plans to found the settlement of Savannah.

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Mary had her share of heartbreak as well as success. Left a wealthy woman by John’s death, she married twice again, unfortunately to men anxious to better their positions. She would have been wealthier still had she been paid what she was owed for her services by His Majesty’s Government, even traveling to London to press her case and to try to get lands she felt belonged to her by virtue of her heritage. Did she succeed? I won’t spoil the ending.

One more question . . . did she and the dashing Oglethorpe (definitely a more interesting character than he appeared in my eighth grade textbook) fall in love? Well . . . it is a novel, after all. . . .

One limitation of the first person point of view is that the reader can’t know more than Mary knows about geography. To this end, I would have liked a map showing Coweta, the trading posts, etc. But other than that quibble, it’s a fine book, rich with description that doesn’t slow its pace.

GWA member Pamela Bauer Mueller is an award-winning author of children’s and young adult novels. She was a National Book Award finalist for Neptune’s Honor, about Neptune Small, a slave who shared a special bond with his master’s son. She lives on St. Simons Island with her husband, Michael, and their cats, Jasper and Sukey Spice. For further information see http://www.pinatapub.com/.

Anne Lovett, a Georgia native, began her writing career with a humor column for her high school newspaper, hoping to write science fiction. She was educated at Emory and Georgia Tech, receiving a Ph.D. in natural products chemistry. She helped to found a manufacturing and technical supplies company now doing business nationwide and eventually made her way back to writing, though not science fiction. A member of Georgia Writers, Georgia Romance Writers, AWP and Rosemary Daniell’s Zona Rosa Alpha Babes, her short fiction has appeared in Aethlon: Journal of Sport Literature, The Distillery, The Jewish Women’s’ Literary Annual, and Red Wheelbarrow. Non-fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared locally, and several novels are in the pipeline. She is a regular contributor to the online journal The Grapevine Art & Soul Salon (www.barbaraknott.net).