Alexander McGillivray

Alexander McGillivray
An purported portrait of Alexander McGillivray contained in a silver locket.
Principal Chief of the Upper Creek towns
In office 1783–1793
Preceded by	Emistigo
Personal details
Born	Hoboi-Hili-Miko (1750-12-15)December 15, 1750 Little Tallassee, Creek Confederacy (Now part of Alabama)
Died	February 17, 1793(1793-02-17) (aged 42) Pensacola, Spanish West Florida (Now part of Florida)
Nationality	Muscogee
Parents	Lachlan McGillivray (father) Sehoy II (mother)
Relatives	Sehoy (grandmother) Jean Baptiste Louis DeCourtel Marchand (grandfather) Sophia Durant (sister)
Military service
Allegiance	Creek Confederacy British Empire (1776-1777) Spanish Empire (1784-1790) United States (1790-1793)
Rank	Lieutenant colonel (British Empire) Commissary of the Creek Nation (Spanish Empire) Brigadier general (United States)

Alexander McGillivray, also known as Hoboi-Hili-Miko (December 15, 1750 – February 17, 1793), was a Muscogee (Creek) leader. The son of a Muscogee mother, Sehoy II, and a Scottish father, Lachlan McGillivray, he was literate and received an education in the British colonies. His understanding of both Muscogee and European culture combined with his father's trading contacts allowed him to become the richest Creek of his time.

McGillivray was literate and his "voluminous" correspondence has survived.^[1] In many cases his bias letters are the primary source for events in his life. While early historians framed him as a heroic figure, later historians have criticized his tenure as corrupt.

McGillivray's status among the Creeks, who did not customarily have a single leader, was controversial and sometimes resented. His chief asset to ensure he was seen as a leader was his ability to hand out gifts to the Creek from both Britain and Spain. He was the most "Anglicized" of the Creek, and built solid houses, planted orchards, and ran a plantation (and owned about 60 slaves), which made him suspect. That he knew English well, was literate, and was experienced in the trading world also gave him influence, if not prestige. Yet as the illiterate Creek gradually became aware of his duplicity in the Treaty of New York and other matters, there "began a process that would culminate in the Redstick War."^[2]