7\57 
 
 Alexander Mc&illivray, the last king of 
 the Creeks 
 
®[|? ICtbrarn 
 
 of % 
 
 ImtifrBttg 0f Nnrtb vUarnlina 
 
 (EoUertiou of Horlii ^aroUmatta 
 
 Co "^To.oy 
 
Alexander McGillivray 
 
 The Last King 
 of the CreeKs 
 
Alexander McGillivray 
 
 THE LAST KING 
 OF THE CREEKS 
 
 ATLANTA, GA. 
 
 FOOTE & DAVIES COMPANY 
 
 Printees and Binders 
 
 1903 
 
ALEXANDER McGILLIVRaY 
 
 THE LAST KING OF THE CREEKS 
 
 I come to tell you of one of the most remarkable men born in 
 the two Americas. For a sixth of a century his fame and his in- 
 fluence permeated civilization on both sides of the sea. Outside 
 of his other influence, next after John Sevier and James Robert- 
 son, he had most influence in fashioning the history of the State 
 of Tennessee while these two were trying to build and that 
 one to destroy. So Tennessee arose in history as land 
 is formed and fashioned by the meeting of the waters. 
 During his control, embracing i6 years, he held in his hand many 
 of the leading policies of the United States, especially of the States 
 of North Carolina, the so-called State of Franklin, Georgia, Ala- 
 bama and Mississippi. He was entangled in the policies of Great 
 Britain, France and Spain, in reference to the absorbing questions 
 of these Western wilds then rife in those lands. His mind came 
 in fierce and constant conflict with the leading diplomats of the 
 world, including John Sevier, James Robertson, William Blount, 
 President Washington, John Jay, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, 
 and the leading diplomatists of England, France and the Spains, 
 and amid those conflicts his abilities rose resplendent. His policy 
 was strongly tending towards success when it was thwarted by 
 his death. He was King of the Creeks, and, in a sense, had con- 
 trol of all the Indians of the South. The consuming object of 
 his life w^as the preservation of the Indians as an independent na- 
 tion, — the establishment of the "Kingdom of the Muscogee." 
 After his death all of his far-seeing policies were ruined by the 
 foolish rashness of Tecumseh ; by the nation entering into open 
 war under the inspiration of the British, at that time in conflict 
 wdth the United States. After the calamity had become fixed, 
 and the hope of the Kingdom of the Muscogee had passed away, 
 it became a mouth word among his adherents that "Before the 
 
Black Spirit could destro}- the Creeks, he had to kill ]\IcGilli- 
 vray." 
 
 The McGillivrays are a small clan in the highlands of Scot- 
 land, and still exist in that country. We are taught that the word 
 signifies "Children of the freckled men." They still reside in 
 the vicinage of Dumnaglass. Lachlan McGillivray was a red- 
 headed, freckled-face boy, who ran away from his servitude as 
 an apprentice, and took refuge in a ship bound for the new con- 
 tinent about the year 1740. He landed in the then principal city 
 of America, Charleston, South Carolina, with only a King's shill- 
 ing in his pocket. On the same day he procured employment as 
 a driver of horses, which were accustomed to carry goods to and 
 from the Indians far away in the Western woods, whose headquar- 
 ters were near Montgomery, Alabama. It was this commerce with 
 the Indians for which the nations of Europe schemed and many 
 times fought. It was this commerce that settled and conquered 
 the Western world. The influence of a desire for freedom of 
 conscience for the white man, and for proselyting the Indians to 
 the Christian religion, was in my opinion entirely infinitesimal in 
 that settlement. 
 
 Let us take one glance at the then situation of the Old World : 
 Spain, by reason of the discovery of Columbus, claimed the whole 
 of the Western continent, and by might and main was holding 
 what she could. I speak of the Spain of three and one-half 
 centuries ago, — the first nation upon whose dominions it was 
 claimed that the sun never went down. Then that austere mon- 
 arch, Charles (of Germany the 5th, of Spain the ist) the greatest 
 depositary of municipal power on earth, was threatening his uncle, 
 Henry VIII. of England, into silence, holding Italy with a mailed 
 hand in subjection, routing and ruining France, trying with might 
 and main to quiet that irrepressible tongue of Martin Luther, 
 convening Diet after Diet to determine ecclesiastical questions, 
 for the discussion of which the people of that date appear to have 
 been morbidly hungry. While other monarchs were replenishing 
 their empty cofifers with taxes wrung from unwilling people, he 
 was building and filling "Castles de Oro" with spoils basely 
 rested from the Incas and Montezumas of the New World. I 
 speak of the land of the olive and the vine, of the paintings of 
 Murillo, of the literature of Don Quixote, with blessed Sancho 
 
 4 
 
I 
 
 Panza. oi the clevotitMi of Loyola, of the languag-e of music and 
 of love, of the gay cavalier and tlie dark eyed Senorita, in the 
 midst of all which, and in spite of all which, sat grim and dark 
 the Spanish Tnc|uisition. I speak n.ot of the Spain of to-day, which 
 has lost every foot of her possessions in the New World, and is 
 now reeling- and tottering- to her fall. 
 
 England, by a frail title, was holding by her goods and her 
 bayonets a thin line along- the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to 
 the St. Lawrence, although her royal grants were generally bound- 
 ed on the west by the "South Seas," wherever that might be 
 found to be. Her title to this dominion was based under the law 
 of nations, upon the fact that Sebastian Cabot, under authority of 
 Henr}- \'II., sailed along the coast from Florida to Newfoundland 
 and back again. 
 
 La I'.elle France was claiming and holding all the St. Law- 
 rence and the Lake regions, with tributaries, and afterwards, by 
 reason of the discovery of the Mississippi River, was claiming 
 the whole valley drained by its waters. For about 62 years the 
 Alleghany niotmtains were her eastern boundary, during which 
 time what is now Tennessee was part and parcel of New France. 
 She had the best title by the law of nations. 
 
 Poor Portugal was claiming wdiat she could grab of the com- 
 mon boodle, and pocketed a ro}-al share in the Southern conti- 
 nent. 
 
 His Holiness, the Pope of Rome, was endeavoring to quiet the 
 situation by interposing his right to ow-n the world and the ful- 
 ness thereof, by partitioning all this disputed domain by definite 
 boundaries among the irritated claimants, so that each might 
 know his respective dominion. That partition never became ef- 
 fective. His division of the domain was, by lines of latitude and 
 longitude, favorable to Spain. 
 
 In the meantime the Indians throughout the continent sought 
 to maintain their home and hunting ground against all comers. 
 This claim was rooted in the unique and foolish land policy of 
 England, inherited by the I'nited States. In theory it was that, 
 although England, later the L'nited States, was entitled to the 
 country by reason of discovery and conquest, yet the absolute 
 title of the land belonged to the conquered nation, an imperunn 
 ill impcrio. Such an anomaly never existed before in the world, 
 
and probably never will again. It originated from a custom of 
 the early settlers upon the seaboard submitting- to a species of 
 blackmail, by which they were enabled to occupy land by license 
 rather than undergo the expense and danger of purchase or 
 military enforcement of the title they claimed. This practice 
 in earl}- days was not recognized by the English Government, 
 which claimed the right of title in fee, and always granted with- 
 out any incumbrance. As practiced it was construed that the 
 Indian nation owned the absolute title to the land, which they 
 were forced, by fair means or foul, to sell the Government when- 
 ever desired, and at whatever price offered. About the middle 
 of the 17th century this curious doctrine was recognized by the 
 English Government, having been brought about by the device 
 of the elder Pitt, at that time in charge of the State Depart- 
 ment. The title and claim of France extended about half-way 
 up the State of Maine northward as far as discovered, westward 
 up the St. Lawrence, embracing a considerable boundary of 
 land contiguous to the river to the watershed of the Alleghany 
 mountains, thence down those mountains to the southwest, so as 
 to include the whole of the Mississippi valley. This claim was 
 substantiated, not only by actual settlements, but by forts ex- 
 tending for intervals from the mouth of the St. Lawrence, skirt- 
 ing the Mississippi, to New Orleans. At the second treaty of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, October, 1748, which ended the war of the 
 Austrian succession, in which the English and French were in- 
 volved in long and bloody conflicts in the New World, a ques- 
 tion of the boundary therein was not recognized and determined, 
 and Pitt, of England, conceived the idea of securing this vast 
 domain for his Government, and he supported it by every possible 
 dollar and man. At the same time Madame de Pompadour, who 
 was "the biggest man in France," wearied of the burthen of pro- 
 tecting the French claims to that country, and this gave oppor- 
 tunity to England to right heartily improve it. In pursuance of 
 this scheme expeditions were encouraged to capture Fort Du- 
 quense (now Pittsburg) from the French. In this effort Major 
 Washington was defeated, and later Braddock, was completely 
 defeated and slain before this object was obtained. The 
 English, after much preparation and expense, threw a force far 
 into the confines of the Indians, and erected a fort on the Little 
 
 6 
 
Tennessee River, christened it after the name of Lord Loudon, 
 at that time in command of the English forces in America, 
 some 22 miles to the southwest of Knoxville. That little spot 
 of ground for live years v^as the most notorious place in the 
 world. It was finally captured under the influence of the French. 
 In reply to the inquiry of the French government as to why 
 these incursions were made, while the two Governments were at 
 profound peace, Pitt in his diplomacy took the position that the 
 land really belonged to neither party, but to the Indians, and that 
 his occupation was with license from the various tribes so as 
 to evade the conclusion that the English were guilty of acts of 
 open war. His theory has always continued down with the 
 colonies to the United States, and has been the foundation of all 
 the pseudo-sentimentality in favor of "Lo! the poor Indian." 
 In no other instance in history have tears been w^asted over the 
 wrongs of the conquered country from the day of the Hittites 
 down to the Philippinos. It has cost this country four hundred 
 millions of treasures and thousands of lives, and the cancer still 
 lives. This theory never had the approval or sympathy of the 
 pioneers, and the Government has always been unable to en- 
 force it. 
 
 The boundaries were agreed upon, and guaranteed again and 
 again by treaties executed in most solemn form, but the 
 treaties w^ere constantly ignored, and the lines continually 
 changed as the result of European diplomacy, or of some in- 
 significant clash of arms. To illustrate : The boundary of 
 Florida, a Spanish dominion, was the 31st parallel of north lati- 
 tude. During the Revolutionary war, Spain also being at war 
 with England, an insignificant battle occurred at Pensacola, in 
 which the Spanish arms were successful, and by which she claimed 
 that her lines were extended half-way up the State of Alabama, 
 and this claim worried our Government and people many a long 
 year. Within our history, the site of "Hickory Ground" near 
 Montgomery, Alabama, the headquarters and one of the homes 
 of INIcGillivray, has been within the domain of a half dozen tribes 
 of Indians, of England, of Spain, of France, and of the L^nited 
 States, before it peacefully rested in the State of Alabama. It has 
 taken many troublous years to quiet these conflicting lines in 
 
peace, until now happily we hear nothing more important than 
 the re-running and re-marking of State lines. 
 
 The bone of contention through all these terrible times was 
 the valuable trade with the Indians, at which we will give one 
 passing glance. 
 
 In those days it was transported on small native ponies, one 
 pack on each side of the horse and one on top, weighing in the 
 aggregate from 120 to 180 pounds. It consisted of blankets, 
 brilliant cloths, trinkets, ammunition, and — commoner than all — 
 taffai, a mean rum. Such articles were exchanged at extrava- 
 gant rates, as high as 400 per cent, for the return barter of 
 skins (of which millions and millions were exported), peltry, 
 strained wild honey, and millions of casks of hickory nut oil, 
 which was ravenously devoured by the epicures of the cities of 
 Europe — all were important articles of their commerce. This 
 last article was prepared by the Indians crushing the nuts and 
 boiling the fragments in water, and then gathering the oil from 
 the top with a feather. 
 
 This particular caravan to which this freckle-faced boy had 
 joined himself consisted of about 150 horses and 16 men. It 
 headed from Charleston to Hickory Ground, the present site 
 of Wetumpka, Alabama. Tbe drivers were dressed in coon-skin 
 caps, hunting shirts, a square cloth coming up to and under a 
 belt before and behind, buckskin leggings and moccasins. This 
 was the ordinary raiment of the pioneers who went back into 
 the wilderness. Such a caravan would start early in the morn- 
 ing, each horse having a bell well "grassed," and travel in trot, 
 single file, along a road deeply worn in the ground, until a rest 
 was needed, after which the journey would be continued until 
 sundown, when the horses were unloaded, the grass taken from 
 the bells, and they were allowed to gather .such forage during the 
 night as they might be able. When an unfordable stream was 
 reached rafts were found or made for the freight, and the horses 
 would swim to the other bank. No material for rafting has ever 
 been found superior to dried cane. 
 
 Young Lachlan had so pleased his employer that he presented 
 him, in addition to his wages, a jack knife, which at the 
 Hickory Grotmd he traded to an Indian for eight skins, which on 
 his return to Charleston he traded for more knives. On his 
 
second return to Hickory Ground he detern lined to remain there, 
 to gather up supplies for traders as a "■middle-man," and soon 
 had a prosperous business in collecting- goods for the traders. 
 
 As time wore on he married an Indian maiden, Seahoy Mau- 
 chand. the daughter of the King, by right of her mother. In all 
 uncivilized nations genealogy is counted through the female 
 line ; it is more reliable. Her father was rated as an accom- 
 plished French officer, and young McGillivray married her by the 
 established customs and ceremonies of the Indians. They had 
 five children — two boys and three girls. This man, though his 
 ancestors had much to coiiiplain of against the Kings of Eng- 
 land, was always loyal to King George, and accumulated much 
 wealth, most of whv^' was afterwards confiscated by the United 
 States. He was in Savannah when it was recaptured by the 
 patriots, and gathering of his substance what he was able, 
 abandoned his wife and children and sailed back to' Scotland, 
 and, so far as is known, cut off all connection with the New 
 World. There is a legend that his mind was embittered by jeal- 
 ousy of his son, who had become a powerful king, by right of his 
 mother, while he remained an Indian trader. 
 
 His eldest son was Alexander, the subject of this sketch. You 
 will see bv his genealogy that he was one-half Scotch, one- 
 quarter French, and one-quarter Indian — a rare combination of 
 blood. By inheritance through his mother he had right to the 
 office of King of the Muscogees. By the custom of that na- 
 tion the highest officer was known in English as a King. Under 
 him was a Chief, who' had control of all military operations. 
 ]\Iany writers erroneously style ]\IcGillivray as a Chief. He had 
 a higher dignity. At that time the Creek nation was dominant 
 in the South, as were the Iroquois in the North. The name 
 "Creeks" arose from the nature of the country in which they 
 then lived, where the waters of the rivers gathered together; 
 just as for a long time the Cherokees, who lived in the present 
 boundaries of Tennessee were called "Overhills." The Indian 
 name of the Creeks was the jNIuscogees. They came as far as 
 traceable Srom Western Mexico, and were expatriated by their 
 conflicts with the Spaniards, during" their conquest of that 
 country, stating that they could not withstand "men riding on 
 buffaloes without horns, with hair on their bodies (the Indians 
 
 9 
 
use no beard) and thunder and lightning- in their hands." In 
 their transmigration they pursued the tribe Alabamas, down the 
 Red River, up the ^Mississippi and the Ohio, beyond which river 
 they Hved as a migratory tribe at the time DeSoto made his 
 wonderful incursion through the South. Still following their 
 enemy, the Alabamas, they drove them southward, through now 
 Kentucky and Tennessee, whence the mound builders had already 
 been extirpated, until they entirely defeated and absorbed them 
 into the country of the Creeks, a region of wonderful fertility. 
 By such conquests the Creeks claimed title to what is now Ken- 
 tucky and Tennessee, in addition to their homes in and around 
 Alabama. The Cherokees, a tribe of smaller stature and lighter 
 complexion, never had title beyond the Tennessee Rivei. except 
 such as would come from predatory excursions through that 
 region. They were under the domination of the Creeks. 
 
 When the boy, Alexander, was thirteen years of age, his 
 father took him from the "Hickory Ground" to Charleston, S C, 
 where he placed him under the tuition of a relative, the Rev. 
 Farquhar McGillivray, a Mr. Sheed and a Mr. William Hender- 
 son, coming from the region of his nativity, and all learned 
 Scotchmen, who were by him regularly salaried for the purpose 
 of educating his son. With the exception of a short time, when 
 he was in a counting house in Savannah to learn the usages of 
 trade, he remained under the tuition of these gentlemen for 20 
 3'ears, a studious and apt scholar. The ambition of his father 
 was to make him the most learned man in America. It is probable 
 that he did. He -was familiar with Hebrew ; he spoke Latin and 
 Greek like a vernacular ; was taken through the learning of 
 philosophy, matiiematics and the sciences, and took great de- 
 light in botany. He seemed to take much enjoyment in examin- 
 ing and dififerentiating lichens. 
 
 Let us now move to the year 1776. The Revolutionary war 
 is rife throughout the colonies. This young man — the most 
 polished and learned in the metropolis, is imbued with loyalty 
 to King George, and the time is now ripe for him to return to 
 his boyhood home and his Kingdom. He had been long expected 
 by his people, and they met him with adoration — far. far higher 
 than if he had spent his time among them. They also knew that 
 he was bringing with him the wdsdom of the while man, for 
 
 10 
 
which the}- were in ctesperate need. L pon his arrival, in order 
 to confirm his office without question, he adroitly ordered an 
 election throuo:hout the tribe to confirm and strengthen him in 
 his title. It was unanimous in his favor. His ambition in life 
 was already fixed. His first necessity was to find a man of mili- 
 tary ability for his Chief. That man was found in Colonel 
 Leclerc ]\Iilfort, a French officer of high education and military 
 ability. It required considerable finesse to have a foreigner made 
 chief military officer. It was arranged that Colonel iMilfort 
 should marry the King's sister, Jennette, which made him Indian, 
 and of i-oyal blood, by right of his wife. He thereupon took 
 charge of the military department of the Creek Indians ; he 
 managed it with consummate skill and ability until the death of 
 the King, when he like many other Europeans, abandoned his 
 wife and children and returned to France, where he wrote a 
 book of his experiences, of high value and authority, and after- 
 Avards was killed in battle in Austria, where Madame de Pompa- 
 dour was helping her "very dear friend," Maria Theresa, to regain 
 her dominion of Silesia. 
 
 Alexander, the King, now entered upon the work of his life, 
 to found and establish the Kingdom of Ocmulgee as one of the 
 nations of the earth. No map has ever yet shown the boundaries 
 of that inchoate kingdom. Its capital was Flickory Ground, now 
 within the State of Alabama ; its eastern boundary was to have 
 been as far within the State of Georgia as practicable — say mid- 
 way the State. On the southern side it was to be bounded by 
 the Spanish dominion, now the present State of Florida. Its 
 western boundary was to have been the Mississippi River, at that 
 time the French line. On the north it was to extend as far as 
 practicable, so as to include the States of Tennessee and Ken- 
 tucky. It was an island of civilization entirely surrounded by 
 hostilities, where his only hope of success was rooted in the 
 chance of compelling his coterminors to throttle each other by 
 the throat. On the east was the United States, and particularly 
 the State of Georgia, with the citizens of which he was in con- 
 stant conflict, who, with or without treaties, ^vere constantly ab- 
 sorbing his bnds. On the south and west were France and 
 Spain, whom he held in check by disseminating animosity between 
 them. His greatest trouble was from the north, where were the 
 
 11 
 
Cumberland and Watauga settlements, Knoxville then not having 
 been christened. He saw with the ken of a prophet that either 
 his Kingdom or the two North Carolina settlements must perish. 
 He early recognized the fact that no treaty could protect him, and 
 that he must make it dangerous for those who would trespass into 
 his domain. He was constantly making treaties with these ad- 
 vancing hordes, which he and others looked upon as temporary 
 diplomatic advantages, but he knew, as he frequently said, that 
 the contest would finally be settled "by the best gun and the 
 longest sword." Under Colonel Milfort the whole tribe was 
 taken into military education and regularly drilled, using as 
 much civilized military tactics as were practicable with such a 
 people. Under this discipline these Indians far exceeded as 
 soldiers any others on the Western Continent, and we have found 
 by sad experience that they were the best soldiers and the hard- 
 est fighters of the Indians. Alexander, the King, taught them 
 to cultivate lands, to own slaves and to marry among the whites. 
 A marriage with a negro was held to be a disgrace. Such an 
 Indian was driven or evolved out of the tribe, and took refuge 
 in Florida, where he was known as a Seminole (which means 
 a "renegade"), all remaining under the acknowledged authority, 
 however, of the King. 
 
 To properly understand the condition of aflfairs of the Creeks 
 in the year 1776, two additional factors must be noted. 
 
 A discordant element in McGillivray's dominions, and indeed 
 through all the United States, was General William Augustus 
 Bowles, a name sadly familiar to the pioneers of that period. 
 In addition to his animosity to the patriots, he was bitter and 
 malignant against the King, and harbored hopes of supplanting 
 him in his office and dignity. He had enlisted in King George's 
 army as a tory from the State of Maryland, a common, ignorant 
 soldier. By some means he became known to and favored by 
 Governor Dunmore, of the province of Virginia. He was a low, 
 heavy mian of extraordinary natural endowments, brave, bold 
 and shrewd. Governor Dunmore had captured a sailing vessel 
 belonging to the great merchants, Panton, Leslie & Company, 
 freighted largely with American silver, and had appropriated 
 the treasure. Complaint was made to the home government, 
 
 12 
 
which ordered a restoration to be made. In this circumstance 
 was rooted a bitter feud and animosity on the part tf the Gover- 
 nor of Mrginia against the said firm of merchants. In a re- 
 tahatory spirit he sent this man Bowles to erect a rival store on 
 the Altamaha River, to break and injure their current Indian 
 trade. This newcomer soon affiliated with and married among 
 the Creeks. He was exceedingly affable, was an expert in all 
 their sports, and became personally very popular. He always 
 remained a strong friend of King George's cause. After he 
 had committed several overt acts of treason against the rightful 
 King, and had openly defied him, after the execution of the 
 New^ York treaty, to be hereinafter mentioned, McGillivray made 
 a mysterious visit to New Orleans, after which a band of 
 soldiers was sent to Bowles' residence, which took him prisoner 
 and sent him to Castle Moro in Havana, wdience he was later 
 forwarded to Spain. In a letter written by President Washing- 
 ton to Mr. Jefferson, in which he speaks of and lauds McGilli- 
 vra}' for his good work and friendship to the State, he mentions 
 this news about Bowles, adding that he nad that day been credibly 
 informed that Bowles had been hung in Spain — much. I 
 have no doubt, to the ease of the President's mind. This, how- 
 ever, was a mistake. Instead of being hung, Bowles, by the 
 Spanish authorities, was exported around the cape to Manilla, 
 and there placed in close confinement ; whence he afterwards made 
 his escape and Avent to England, where he was lionized by the 
 authorities there ; and later made his way across the ocean to 
 Canada, where he lived for a time as a hero and finally returned 
 to the Creek Nation, styling himself the "Director of the 
 Creeks." Again McGillivray had him arrested and sent again 
 to Moro Castle, where he died in the dungeon — probably by 
 assassination. This pretender, po often mentioned in history, was 
 always a pest to everybody, except the English. 
 
 The other factor was the said firm of Panton. Leslie & Com- 
 pany. William Panton was a Scotchman, who had come to Amer- 
 ica much like Lachlan McGillivray, and had organized and 
 developed the largest business of merchandise in America before 
 or since. They owned five sloops engaged constantly in their 
 freightage: they had stores and warehouses on the St. Clary's, 
 
 18 
 
at St. Augustine, on the Altamaha, at New Orleans, at Chicka- 
 saw Bluff (now Memphis), and various dependent branches, 
 one of which was at the "French Lick" (now* Nashville) on the 
 Sew^anee River. Their principal store and depot was at Pensa- 
 cola, in Florida. In heart, Pantoni was a confirmed royalist, but 
 when in the dominions of France, he was French, and when 
 Spain captured Pensacola from the English, he was Spanish. 
 The accounts of their business and the extent of their wealth 
 seem almost to be fabulous. After the deaths of McGillivray 
 and Panton, it was developed by litigation in the United States 
 Court at New Orleans that McGillivray, by a secret contract, was 
 entitled to one-third of their profits. This firm was a puissant 
 factor in the policies of the Southern States, tending everything 
 political and military to getting and holding the trade of the 
 Indians. 
 
 During the same year let us take a glance at the conditions 
 surrounding what^ is now Tennessee. To properly understand 
 these conditions we must go outside of many of our State his- 
 tories which have appeared in print. It is impossible for a people 
 to understand history as they make it ; it is like considering a 
 range of mountains. To understand the beauty, the repose, the 
 strength, the- trend, you mlist stand far away from it. I hope 
 to live until some young Tennessean shall rise with a call to write 
 a history of Tennessee; no State so rich in material, none so neg- 
 lected. During the war of the Revolution, our doughty fore- 
 fathers went wild in enthusiasm and affection for France and 
 Spain. We are now beginning to learn that these nations did 
 not want our colonies to be free. In their practical wisdom they 
 dreaded the birth of a republic in the New World. It was in- 
 tended and hoped that England would finally coerce her colonies 
 into submission, and the contrary result was a great surprise and 
 a Pandora's Box for them. The sole motive of each of these 
 two governments, in their actions during our Revolutionary War, 
 was hatred of England, and not love of America. I incline to 
 the opinion that Lafayette personally desired the success of the 
 colonies, and afterwards gloried in the result, but his master, 
 Louis, certainly did not, as may be plainly seen from his instruc- 
 
 14 
 
tions lately brought to light. We also now know that a potent 
 factor in the conclusion reached by England in abandoning the 
 struggle was a hope that the colonies in process of time, by action 
 and example, would work the death of those two governments 
 in the Xew World, and at the same time strengthen her own. 
 In the one hundred years that problem has now worked out 
 its solution. In accordance with this general situation, the early 
 writers of Tennessee history, industrious and crude, only recorded 
 the turnings of the little wheels, without finding the main springs 
 that furnished the force that made these little wheels go round. 
 The burthen of all their labors is to demonstrate that the prime 
 object of Spain, France and England was the destruction of the 
 Watauga and Cumberland settlements. I am satisfied that 
 Alexander McGillivray was the mainspring of all these move- 
 ments. 
 
 The general war was begun and waged along the Atlantic 
 Coast. The settlers of Tennessee, far beyond the mountains, 
 w'ere in warm and active sympathy with the patriots, and several 
 times, without pay or emolument, crossed the mountains in aid 
 of that cause, and finally at King's Mountain, turned the tide 
 in favor of American Independence. A few tories drifted among 
 them, as they drifted all along the frontiers of the United States, 
 but their presence in this particular spot raised such a commo- 
 tion that they were put down with unfailing and prompt force, 
 thereby causing much notoriety, from which several shallow 
 writers have been persuaded that these settlements were nests 
 of tories. In other places, their presence went without notice, 
 and no historical criticism has been made. Although for 
 many years France had been the principal owner of North 
 America, yet by the treaty of Paris in 1767 she ceded her right 
 to England up to the ^lississippi River, and west of that river 
 to Spain. The latter domain was later recovered by her. The 
 tenure which held the States together under the Confederation 
 was exceedingly frail. 
 
 The men of the frontiers then had a custom to furnish their 
 own government, or go without it. The attachment of the 
 seaboard to the mountain region was feeble because of the ex- 
 pense and annoyance of protection. As to these settlements the 
 
 15 
 
grand motives of France and Spain, especially the latter, in the 
 light of which every political act will be seen to have been con- 
 sistent, were : first, to have a dismemberment of the Missis- 
 sippi valley from the Atlantic States, or, failing in this. Second : to 
 entice the citizens to cross the Father of Waters and become 
 loyal and prosperous subjects of His Most Catholic Majesty. A 
 third scheme also existed on the part of the pioneers, to forcibly 
 capture, on private account, more or less of the territory of Spain. 
 There is no doubt but that one or more of these schemes- was 
 favorably considered by our prominent pioneers. ]\Iany of them 
 removed beyond the Mississippi for final settlement. Aaron 
 Burr, one of the ablest and most dangerous Americans, as was 
 charged, contemplated an attempt under one of these schemes, 
 and came to dishonor. Sam Houston afterwards invaded Texas 
 and wrested it from Mexico, successor to Spain, and was after- 
 wards received with adulation as a member of the Senate of 
 the United States, which had at an earlier date expelled ^^'illiam 
 Blount on the charge of planning a similar enterprise. Some day 
 some Senator of Tennessee wall win renown by an effort to 
 have that resolution of expulsion expunged. As now understood, 
 it was gross injustice. Both France and Spain, especially the 
 latter, did much to injure the settlements in now^ Tennessee, but 
 primarily they had no motive to work to their disadvantage, and 
 were driven to this conduct by the pressure from IMcGillivray. 
 
 There is a natural love in the white man for land. He knows 
 that out of its dust he was formed ; out of it comes his sub- 
 sistence, and into its breast he wall be received. In early times 
 many of the prominent men, from Washington down, were prac- 
 tical surveyors. An English sa'tirist has written that "all of the 
 rebel generals were either common surveyors or tavern keepers." 
 The claim of the! wdiite man to the land of Tennessee is derived 
 from a charter made by Charles H. of England, given as a re- 
 ward to five of his court favorites in London. The northern line 
 of North Carolina w^as recited to begin at a white stake at Curri- 
 tuck Inlet on the Atlantic Ocean, north .^6 degrees 30 minutes; 
 thence west to the South Seas. His right to make such a deed 
 was, to say the least, under the law of nations, very questionable. 
 By treaty afterwards, the South Seas were located at the Mis- 
 
sissippi River. It is further claimed that Colonel Johnson, an 
 English officer, at Fort Stanwix in New York (now Rome), 
 made a treaty with the Five Nations, by which they ceded to 
 the King- all their lands north and east of the Cherokee, now 
 Tennessee River. Inasmuch as it is highly probable that none of 
 these bargainers had ever set foot in Tennessee or Kentucky, it 
 is difficult to trace this claim to anything valid. The best support 
 given in favor of it is an affidavit made by an Indian Agent 
 named Crogan that some Cherokees attended that treaty at Fort 
 Stanwix, and delivered to the Five Nations some skins, which 
 they had carried with them, stating that they had killed the game 
 north of the Big River, and that the skins belonged to them. 
 \^'hat title Charles 11. had, as stated above, ])assed to North Caro- 
 lina, and this was ceded by the treaty of peace to the United 
 States. 
 
 On the other hand, the Indians never bad any conception of 
 the individual ownership of land, any more than the white 
 man now has of the ownership of the Tennessee River or the 
 Atlantic Ocean. Their idea was that the land belonged to the 
 tribe, but that any portion of it could be used as necessities might 
 demand, until abandonment, when it could be taken by the next 
 comer. The Muscogees claimed that no such statement had ever 
 been made by strolling Cherokees at Fort Stanwix, but that 
 if made, it was not effective to pass title to the land. They 
 furthermore claimed that the Cherokees had no right to lands 
 north of the Tennessee River, and that they had come up from 
 Florida and had never gone beyond the "Overhill" settlement, 
 while they, on the other hand, had driven the Uchees and Ala- 
 bamas from Tennessee and Kentucky, as we now know them, into 
 Alabama, when they disappeared by absorption and assimila- 
 tion ; and thereby that the area of those States belonged to them 
 by conquest. 
 
 There was direct conflict as to most of the proposed King- 
 dom of Ocmulgee between McGillivray and the State of Georgia, 
 which claimed the land westward to the Mississippi River, down 
 to the Florida line, which line continually floated up and down 
 the continent. In order to strengthen her contested right she 
 granted most of this land to citizens for homes, so that they 
 
 17 
 
might possess the same. She granted many millions of acres to 
 the Yazoo Company, so prolific of political scandal in our early 
 history. For many years it was the keenest reproach to charge 
 one with being" a "Yazoo man." She also issued a three million 
 grant to the Tennessee Company, composed of Cox and associ- 
 ates, in which Governor Sevier was involved, in the northern 
 portion of ^Alabama, bounded on the north by the Tennessee 
 River. 
 
 JMcGillivray soon saw that it was a case of political life and 
 death with his Kingdom. He was in continual broil with the 
 Georgians on the east, who were settling on his lands, and whom 
 he was scalping; but his greatest danger w^as from the Cum- 
 berland and Watauga settlements. As against these he went to 
 New Orleans and held a conference with the officers of the 
 French and Spanish governments and entered into secret treaties, 
 lately revealed, that these settlements were to be extirpated. 
 While getting assistance and influence for this result, he al -o 
 undertook the task to disseminate animosities and enmities be- 
 tween the English, French and Spanish, while he, as much as 
 was within his power, would remain in apparent peace with all. 
 He sent trusted emissaries north, south, east, and west; he 
 watched with concern the growing animosity in Georgia, Ken- 
 tucky and Tennessee with the United States ; he incited and 
 watched the machinations of Spain against the Western settle- 
 rrnents, and the conflicts between France and Spain, on the one 
 side, and England on the other. He inaugurated and maintained 
 voluminous correspondence with the representatives of all the sur- 
 rounding governments, in which he, as a friend of each par- 
 ticular one, manifested amazing shrewdness, capability and di- 
 plomacy. During his whole career with most of his correspond- 
 ents he inspired and maintained confidence, with the exception, so 
 far as is known of three men — John Sevier, of East Tennessee, 
 Andrew Pickens, of South Carolina, and James Robertson, of the 
 Cumberland. The latter, to placate his friendship sent two mes- 
 sengers to him from Nashville — Andrew Ewin and James 
 Hoggart, to interview and sound him as to his purposes, at his 
 capital at Cusseta. Hoggart was completely captivated by him, 
 
 18 
 
but Ewin returned home burdened with suspicion. Robertson 
 had sent by them as a present a fine silver mounted rifle. 
 
 Having been unable to obtain a personal interview with Andrew 
 Pickens, of South Carolina, he addressed him a letter, wdiich is 
 entitled to be graded as a State paper. A quotation from it is 
 as follows : 
 
 "How the boundar)' and limits between the Spaniards and the 
 "States will be determined, a little while will show, as I beHeve 
 "that matter is now 01:1 foot. However, we know our limits and 
 "the extent of our hunting grounds. As a free nation, w'e have 
 "applied, as we had a right to do. for protection, and obtained it. 
 "We shall pay no attention to any limits that may prejudice our 
 "claims, that were drawn by an American and confirmed by a 
 "British negotiator; yet, notwithstanding we have been obliged 
 "to adopt these measures for our preservation and our real ne- 
 "cessitv, we sincerely wish to have it in our power to be on the 
 "same footing with the States as before the late unhappy war, 
 "to effect which is entirely within our power. We want nothing 
 "from you but justice. We want our hunting grounds preserved 
 "from encroachments. They have been ours from the be- 
 "ginning of time, and we will maintain them against everv attempt 
 "that will be made to take them from us." 
 
 General James White, of Knoxville, having been appointed by 
 congress Superintendent of the Creek Indians, entered into ne- 
 gotiations wath this King, from whom, on the 8th of April, 1787, 
 he received the following in reference to the disputed boundary 
 line in Georgia : 
 
 "There are chiefs of two towns in this nation, who. during the 
 "late war. were friendly to the State of Georgia, and had gone 
 "at different times among those people, and once, after the gen- 
 "eral- peace, to Augusta. Thev there demanded of tliem a grant 
 "of lands belonging to and enjoyed as hunting grounds by the 
 "Indians of this natio , in common, on the east of the Oconee 
 "River. The chiefs rejected the demands of the people that those 
 "lands were the hunting grounds of the nation, and should not 
 "be granted by two individuals, but a promise was extorted from 
 "them that on a return to our country they would use their in- 
 "fluence to get the grant confirmed. Upon their return, a general 
 "convention was held at Tookabatcha, when these two chiefs were 
 
 19 
 
"severely censured and the chiefs of 98 towns agreed upon a 
 "talk to be sent to Savannah, disapproving in the strongest man- 
 "ner of the demand made upon their nation, and denying the 
 "right of any two of their country to make concession of land, 
 "which could only be valid by the unanimous voice of the whole 
 "as joint proprietors in common. Yet these two chief s.regardless 
 "of the voice of the nation, continued to go to Augusta and 
 "other places within the State. They received presents and 
 "made promises. We warned the Georgians of the dangerous 
 "consequences that would certainly attend the settling of the 
 "lands in question, but these lands were soon filled with 
 "settlers. The nation, justly alarmed at the encroachments, re- 
 "solved to use force to maintain their rights, but. being averse 
 "to the shedding of the blood of a people whom we would rather 
 "consider as friends, we made another effort to awaken in them 
 "a sense of justice and equity, but we found from experience that 
 "entreaties could not prevail, and bands of warriors were sent to 
 "drive off the intruders, and were instructed to shed blood only 
 "where self preservation made it necessary. 
 
 "I aspire to the honest ambition of meriting the appellation of 
 "a preserver of my country, equally with the chiefs among you. 
 "whom, from acting on such principles, you have exalted to the 
 "highest pitch of glory; and if, after every possible effort made 
 "to obtain redress of grievances should prove fruitless, a re- 
 "course to arms to obtain it be a mark of the subject and not 
 "of the soldier — Avhat subjects must the Americans be, and how 
 "much undeserved applause have your Cincinnatus and your 
 "Fabius obtained ? If a better name had been necessary in such 
 "a case to distinguish that Chief, 'The ;Man Killer,' or 'Great 
 "Destroyer' would have been the proper appellation." 
 
 In a letter sent by these same two messengers, Hoggart and 
 Ewin, James Robertson, in all complaisance, stated to the King 
 that he had had the satisfaction of registering to him a deed for a 
 town lot in Xashville. and requesting to know his pleasure, 
 whether or not he should enter in his name two or three tracts of 
 fine land. The good old pioneer was petting the tiger before he 
 should spring. 
 
 McGillivray made many treaties with the United States solemnly 
 defining the boundaries of his dominions, and guaranteeing to 
 
 ■ 20 
 
his nation the land forever, but these treaties brought him no 
 peace or rehef. The settlers invariably crossed the line and 
 made their homes. Sometimes they had the warrant of State 
 grants, and sometimes they had nothing. The influence of Wash- 
 ington and his cabinet, congress and officials, was generally 
 exerted in favor of the observance of these treaties, but with- 
 out avail. In Lexington, Kentucky, Washington was burned in 
 efifigy; in Georgia he was denounced in a placard nailed upon a 
 tree. In fact, there arose a judicial conflict in that State that 
 almost amounted to a conflict in arms with the General Gov- 
 ernment. Washington, in his perplexities, seriously contemplated 
 settling the whole matter by declaring war against the Creeks, 
 as was done at a later date, but the treasury was so depleted 
 that he was compelled to resort to diplomacy. Rather than have 
 war, McGillivray was entreated by letter and by special mes- 
 senger, again and again, to adjust the matter in some way by 
 agreement, so as to stop the flow of blood. Personal conferences 
 were requested of him at times and places, and the commission- 
 ers were kept waiting to meet him for months and months with- 
 out his appearance. In describing this condition he wrote to his 
 friend Panton : 
 
 "In this do you not see my cause of triumph in bringing these 
 "conquerors of the Old and the masters of the New World, as 
 "they call themselves, to bend and supplicate for peace at the 
 "feet of a people whom shortly before they despised and marked 
 "out for destructior> - 
 
 After repeated and persistent efforts Governor Blount, from 
 Knoxville, finally prevailed upon him. representing all antagonism 
 to the white people, to meet at Knoxville for a grand treaty, on 
 the 2nd of July, 1791. To this McGillivray assented, and drilled 
 his representatives over and over again as to their duties, and the 
 treaty was accordingly held. The place was at the mouth of First 
 Creek in that city, and was arranged with all of the pomposity 
 which the courtly Blount could devise. In many respects it was 
 the most important treaty ever made between the whites and the 
 Indians. Every effort was made to impress upon the large at- 
 tendance of Indians the importance and dignity of the occasion. 
 A temporary throne was erected under a canopy on the banks, 
 of the river, upon which Governor Blount, as the representative 
 
 21 
 
of the United States, was seated. Trooper Armstrong- was 
 Chamberlain of the occasion. Carpets were spread upon the sur- 
 rounding space. Armstrong- led the chiefs, man by man, into 
 the presence of his Excellency, and presented them respectively, 
 with an account of his dignity and deeds of heroism. After these 
 prolix ceremonies had ended, they entered into a negotiation for 
 a settlem;ent of the troubles existing between the two parties. 
 The instructions drilled into the Indian representatives by the 
 master mind of McGillivray was that they should reclaim as much 
 of the land towards Kentucky as they might be able, and to have 
 a positive and solemn treaty that the boundaries should forever 
 remain inviolable. The treaty was finally concluded, by the terms 
 of which the Indians were entirely successful, and Governor 
 Blount w^a§ over-matched. J\Iost of the territory w^as then occu- 
 pied by actual settlers; yet it was solemnly agreed that all por- 
 tions of that territory between Southwest Point (now Kingston) 
 and the mouth of the Duck River, extending northward to the 
 Kentucky line, a large part of the present State of Tennessee, 
 should be surrendered back to the Indians and remain their terri- 
 tory inviolable forever ; that the settlers located thereupon should 
 be made to remove, and upon failure, that the Indians should 
 have license to remove them. These settlers had regular grants 
 for such lands from the State of North Carolina. The treaty 
 also included within its cession the millions of acres that had been 
 granted by the State o'f Georgia to the Tennessee Company, 
 known as "Cox & Company," in which many of the settlers in 
 now East Tennessee were interested. For the settlement of^ 
 these domains much elaborate preparation had been made. On the 
 confluents of the Tennessee many boats had been built, and 
 parties organized to float down to this territory for the purpose 
 of permanent settlement. In this scheme were many of the pi- 
 oneers of this country, notably as a leading spirit, Andrew^ Jack- 
 son, of subsequent renown. His ambition and purpose w-as to 
 locate and promote upon it a metropolis of the South, and to' 
 that end a site was selected and surveys made for a great metro- 
 politan citv christened "York Blufif." It was at the crossing of 
 the great highway from the North to the South over the Tenn- 
 essee River, and "is now the present site of the city of Sheffield, 
 in the State of Alabaiim. This was the first "boom town" m 
 
 22 
 
America, the plot of which, in the handwriting^ and demarcation 
 of Andrew Jackson, is at Tnscnmbia, Alabama. 
 
 This important treaty was confirmed by the Senate of the 
 United States, the announcement of which, as should have been 
 expected, met with an outburst of denunciation upon the part 
 of the settlers of the country involved. They had been literally 
 cut off from civilization, and surrendered apparently to certain 
 destruction. 
 
 Governor Blount, prompt to carry into execution the theories 
 and conclusions indulg-ed in and arrived at by the President and 
 his cabinet, issued his proclamation Avarning the settlers to take 
 no part in the settlement of the territory granted by the State 
 of Georgia — definitely announcing that the Creek Indians had 
 govermental authority to remove any such settlers, which meant 
 scalps and deaths. Upon the promulgation of this proclamation, 
 much to the disgust of John Sevier and James Robertson, this 
 proposed settlement was abandoned, and the glowing prophecies 
 as to "York Bluff" reached no further than paper. As you will 
 recall, the ambition of Jackson to found such a city, afterwards 
 located at iNIem.phis, then "Chickasaw Bluff'," but partlv on the 
 ground of delay of developing, was afterwards as a metropolis 
 outrun bv St. Louis and later by Chicago. 
 
 Notwithstanding this treaty, the incessant efforts of Mc- 
 Gillivray were towards destruction of the Watauga and .Cumber- 
 land settlemients, and by virtue of his absolute control of the In- 
 dian trade, the officers of Spain and France were bent to that 
 purpose. While it was impossible for Colonel Leclerc Milfort 
 to organize and conduct the military force so far distant from the 
 base of supplies, as the next best means he directed countless 
 hordes of marauding bands of Indians to infest and devastate the 
 country. Such warfare was waged for many years, with murder, 
 rapine and desolation in its train. Nearly all of the original 
 settlers and their children sooner or later were killed. The of- 
 ficers of France in the North and of Spain in the South and West 
 contributed such aid as they were able in this predatory warfare. 
 The earliest histories of Tennessee go no further than to detail 
 the disasters that followed this plan, comprising unnumbered 
 deaths and captivities. The settlers, headed by Sevier and Rob- 
 ertson, well knew from their experience that relief could only 
 
come from an invasion into the Creek territory. Such wars must 
 always be carried "into Africa." However, they were solemnly 
 cautioned by the Secretary of \\"ar, through Governor Blount, 
 again and again to take no active measures against the Indians, 
 except in self-defense, and by no means to cross the boundary 
 lines ; that is, if a few marauding Indians should murder a house- 
 hold, men might gather and pursue them to the treaty lines, and 
 then return, empty, home. Such restrictions in the face of 
 common prudence irritated the settlers beyond endurance. John 
 Sevier always professed great tenderness for the forms of law, 
 but never allowed them to swerve his conduct. He always at- 
 tacked the enemy when he saw it was necessary, notwithstanding 
 anything which some man in the East had written and agreed 
 to. In reference to a prevalent sentimentality in favor of "Lo! 
 the poor Indian." his mouthword was that he thought it was 
 ''very wrong to kill the Indian and after you are certain you 
 have done it, you should be sorry." 
 
 How those old settlers fretted and chafed under such restric- 
 tions can never be appreciated. In the depths of despair. General 
 Robertson wrote to John Sevier an account of the condition of 
 the Cumberland settlement, and appealed to him for instant aid 
 and succor. He told him how these marauding bands of In- 
 dians were continually infesting the country ; how they had killed 
 most of the pioneers with whom he was acquainted ; how his own 
 house had been attacked and his son shot down under his own eye, 
 and how, under the regulations of the Knoxville treaty, they could 
 only wait for other attacks. The letter reached John Sevier 
 at Southwest Point (now Kingston), where he was a refugee 
 from the collapse of the State of Franklin; but such an appeal 
 to such a man could not be fruitless in such a cause. Sevier 
 did not write to him that he had troubles of his own in his 
 immediate front, and that the State of Franklin, of which he 
 was the executive head, was in the pangs of dissolution, and that 
 he was at that time a refugee from the form/s of law, but, on the 
 contrary, he wrote him that he would organize a band of 1,500 
 men and strike such blows as would give him relief. This was 
 done as expeditiously as men could be gathered in a frontier 
 situation, and without orders, without, pay, and contrary to law, 
 
 24 
 
he crossed the treaty Hnes and destroyed some 36 towns of the 
 enemy as far south and west as is now Rome, Georgia. Such 
 movements very much lessened, but did not entirely abate the 
 danger. For many years, every day was a day of life and death 
 to the settlers. Spies and troops were continually on the move 
 for warning and defending. 
 
 Robertson, being no longer able to withstand the storm in his 
 region, organized a force in Middle Tennessee and pursued the 
 Indians from one of their raids to one of their towns, known 
 as Cold Water, now the city o'f Tuscumbia, Alabama. He destroyed 
 that town and slaughtered the men, women and children. 
 Upon his return, fearing that he might have ofif ended the French, 
 he wrote a conciliatory letter to Colonel Cruzat, the French of- 
 ficer in the Illinois country, bewailing that in the attack upon 
 Cold Water some French traders had been killed, but explain- 
 ing that three boat loads of their goods, which had been cap- 
 tured, had been preserved, and upon proof that they were not 
 contraband of war, would be delivered to him. The French officer 
 cared nothing for the matter unless the King of Ocmulgee would 
 take it up. Such an expedition was in the teeth of the orders of 
 Henry Knox, Secretary of War, and William Blount, Governor 
 of the Territory. On the report of this expedition, the Governor 
 was filled with shame and regret, and immediately summoned 
 Robertson to Knoxville, and upon a conference held upon that 
 subject, James Robertson tendered his resignation as a Brigadier 
 General of the United States Army. 
 
 At that time it was well understood in this Western World 
 that either our settlements or AIcGillivray's Kingdom were to 
 go down. The pioneers, especially Robertson, entered into a 
 course of dalUance and diplomacy with McGillivray, and with 
 the officers of France and Spain which surrounded us. Robertson 
 always regarded McGillivray with supreme distrust and sus- 
 picion, although the correspondence between them was appar- 
 ently of the most cordial nature. His single mistake was a con- 
 firmed idea that he was being oppressed by the Enghsh and 
 French officers, as his letters, now in the Historical Society at 
 Nashville, show 'that he was continually trying to placate them. 
 He regarded the occlusion of the Mississippi River at Natchez 
 
 25 
 
as an act of hostility to the settlers. It was a burning sensation 
 in the log cabin town of Knoxville, and was afterwards reported 
 from tliat place to the First Consul of the French by an emissary 
 sent to reconnoitre. That action was not intended to be an act 
 of hostility to the pioneers, but one of hostility against the 
 United States. It was a temptation to the Western settlements 
 to separate themselves from the seaboard, or in case of failure, to 
 seduce them to remove across the river and become citizens of 
 Spain. Public opinion on the seaboard did not support the settlers 
 in their desire for the free use of the river. There was a wide- 
 spread preference that these back men should be forced to send 
 their trade to the seaboard, to New York, to Philadelphia, to Bal- 
 timore, rather than to enrich the Spaniards at New Orleans. 
 Such desires were later accomplished by means of the railroads. 
 There was a time when the Eastern States were willing to ex- 
 change the claim for a free navigation on the Mississippi River 
 for a paltry right to fish on the banks of Newfoundland. 
 
 This trouble with the Creek Indians where the pioneers would 
 not be bound by solemn treaties, nor the advice of Washington 
 and his cabinet, and Thomas Jefferson and William Blount and 
 John Jay, gave the President lasting concern. By means of 
 letters and gifts, supported by a special confidential m,essenger, 
 he finally succeeded in inducing McGillivray to agree to go to 
 New York, the then seat of Government, for a personal inter- 
 view. Such action, with a prospect of pacification, was hailed 
 with delight throughout the United States. Shortly before taking 
 this masquerade, as the great friend of the white man, McGilH- 
 vray gratified himself by writing to his friend Panton that a 
 body of his soldiers had lately gathered a few straggling Cherokees 
 and attacked an expedition of Franklinites, allowing only three 
 men to escape, and expressed the hope that by such means the 
 coming of peace would be hastened. 
 
 With much pomp and ceremony, McGillivray, accompanied by 
 thirty of his principal chiefs, began their journey as special 
 favorites of the President. Their progress was anticipated and 
 greeted all along the way as friends of the United States. At 
 that very time his hordes were murdering and scalping men, w^o- 
 men and children in Middle and East Tennessee. Countless 
 
 26 
 
throngs gathered to greet him in his progress. Every night's 
 camping place gave him an ovation. At Guilford House, N. C. 
 (now Greensboro), while a ceremonial reception was being 
 tendered to him, a Mrs. Brown, of that neighborhood, broke 
 through the throng, embraced his knees, convulsing the audience 
 with emotion, and stated to the listening spectators that he was 
 her saviour, and that he had ransomed her and her children 
 from the Creeks and sent them home in safety. This good lady, 
 afterwards drawn into the current of the Western tide, settled 
 at the mouth of White creek, near Nashville, Tenn., and lived 
 to a highly respected old age. 
 
 At Richmond, Virginia, delay had to be taken to partake of a 
 celebration of several days ; the same thing occurred at Fredericks- 
 burg. At Philadelphia three days were in a like manner con- 
 sumed. The party left their horses at Elizabeth and crossed to 
 New York in boats, where the then new Tammany Society, in 
 the full dress of their order, received these heroes in splendor, 
 and marched them up Wall street by the Federal Hall, where 
 congress was then in session, to the house of the President, who 
 met them as they were introduced, man by man, with all high 
 ceremony. The party then visited Henry Knox, the Minister of 
 War, and Governor Clinton, where a sumptuous and elegant en- 
 tertainment at the City Tavern finished the day. The members 
 of Tammany Hall, including the Sachems and Sagamores, were 
 costumed in the paraphernalia of Indians, with horse tails, orna- 
 ments and paint, to honor this greatest Indian King, to an ex- 
 tent far beyond a "one dollar plate" or a "twelve dollar plate" 
 banquet. After the ceremonies had consumed several days, dur- 
 ing all of which McGillivray was affable and observant, the 
 sharpest intellects of the nation met him in diplomacy to conclude 
 the treaty of August 7, 1791, which has become a landmark in 
 history. 
 
 The terms of that treaty will forever testify of the ability and 
 shrewdness of McGillivray. It was solemnly agreed that the 
 Oconee River should forever remain a permanent boundary be- 
 tween the Creeks and the citizens of the United States, and that 
 the citizens on ithe one part should not cross the same without 
 the consent of the other. 
 
 27 
 
This treaty was afterwards confirmed by the United States Sen- 
 ate, and became in law the permanent eastern boundary of the 
 Kingdom of Ocmulgee. It was therein agreed that the title of 
 the Creeks to the country which they occupied should forever be 
 held sacred and invincible by the United States of America ; in 
 addition to which a certain sum of money should be paid to each 
 of the attending chiefs, and a yearly stipend forever thereafter. 
 and that the people should remain forever at peace. 
 
 So much was fair and favorable to McGillivray, but at the same 
 time and place a secret treaty was entered into, by which it was 
 agreed that jMcGillivray should be paid a certain additional sum 
 of money, statements of the amount of which, being in conflict, 
 range from $15,000 to $100,000; that he should be commissioned, 
 as he was, a Brigadier General of the United States, and made 
 Indian agent to represent the Government among all the Southern 
 Indians, for which he was to receive a certain annual salary 
 agreed upon. In addition to, w-hich he obligated himself, after 
 the expiration of two years, to turn the trade from his partners, 
 Pantoii, Leslie & Company, to the Americans on the west of 
 Altamaha, St. Mary's and Charleston. At that time the United 
 States, France and Spain in the Western w^orld were all on the 
 alert against each other. It is now made manifest that at this 
 time he was a colonel of the French army, and drawing pay as 
 such, and also a colonel of the Spanish army, and drawdng pay 
 as such ! 
 
 As might have been expected, this treaty, when promulgated, 
 was received, like that of Holston, by the Georgians with great 
 denunciation, and was followed by great consternation throughout 
 the western borders. The land yielded to McGillivray was claimed 
 of right by the State of Georgia ; she had issued numberless grants 
 for it and many of her citizens had their homes there. Washing- 
 ton and his adherents strongly supported the treaty. Jefiferson, 
 in writing of it, described it as "drawing a line between the Creek 
 and the State of Georgia in enabling the Government to do as it 
 will do justice against the offending parties." 
 
 Through all of these complications McGillivra}- consistently 
 urged and perfected his plans to educate his people as a military 
 power and accustom them to the habits of civilization. He was 
 preparing himself for the struggle of his life when the storm 
 
 28 
 
should come. In the winter of 1792-93 he went to New Orleans 
 and Pensacola to pacify the authorities in those places in reference 
 to his visit to New York, and the treaties then and there made. 
 At Pensacola in February, 1793, in the fiftieth year of his age, 
 he was stricken with pneumonia and a wasting fever, and in that 
 town on the 17th day of February, his remarkable life came to a 
 close. With Masonic honors he was buried in the garden of 
 William Panton, amid the thrilling emotions and griel of French, 
 Spanish and Indian acquaintances. 
 
 By his death the keystone of his arch that he was building- 
 dropped away. I have had the mournful interest of standing at 
 his unmarked grave. Standing there, there is a temptation to 
 regret that his sword was "ungirt ere set of sun." 
 
 Upon his death the Creeks were non-plussed as sheep that had 
 lost their shepherd. Col. Milfort abandoned the continent and 
 w^ent to Europe ; the firm of Panton, Leslie & Company soon dis- 
 solved, and later the possessions of France and Spain in that quar- 
 ter were lost to them forever. 
 
 The troublous question between the Cnited States and Georgia 
 upon one side, and the Creeks upon the other, continued for 
 several years. Washington and succeeding Presidents tried in 
 vain for peace without resort to war. In the efforts to adjust 
 these matters the most distinguished citizens of the United States 
 were selected to have conferences concerning, and make adjust- 
 ments of these disputed questions. John Sevier was persuaded by 
 President Monroe to visit that nation for a conference, and died 
 on that duty at Fort Decatur at Tookabatcha. So likewise the 
 friend of his lifetime, James Robertson at Chickasaw Bluff (now 
 jMemphis) in similiar service, gave up his life. 
 
 Later, as you all recall, as a last resort, war was declared, and 
 to prosecute that campaign the General and most of the soldiers 
 w^ent from Tennessee. The lifetime dread of McGillivray had 
 been verified; Tennesseans w^ere to become the avengers of 
 Watauga and Cumberland. William Weatherford, quite a young 
 man and a nephew of McGillivray, was the military leader of 
 the Creeks. You will all recall generally the hot and bloody cam- 
 paign that resulted — Tallahatchie, Emuckfau, Fort Mims and the 
 Horseshoe, — by which the po^ver of the Creek nation was broken, 
 and the danger from them as an enemy perished forever. Award- 
 
 29 
 
ing all bravery and prowess to the American soldiers, weakened 
 as they were by surronndino: circnmstances, it must not be for- 
 gotten that in every battle fought between the Indians and Gen- 
 eral Jackson, the Indians had inferior numbers, except at the at- 
 tack upon Fort Mims, which was utterly destroyed by the Indians, 
 and that in the battle at Tallahatchie, in which they were unsuc- 
 cessful, the Indians charged four times in open field, in regular 
 line of battle, without a parallel in all Indian warfare. 
 
 This William Weatherford is the same young man who', soon 
 after the battle of the Horseshoe, .at which the glory and power 
 of his nation went down forever, made his way to the tent of 
 General Jackson and upon his name being announced, was asked 
 by the General how he dared to come into his presence after the 
 slaughter of men, women and children at Fort Mims, to which he 
 began his celebrated response by these words : "General Jackson 
 I ara not afraid of yoli because I am the Chief of the Creeks." 
 The interview resulted in the General introducing him to Mrs. 
 Jackson, commending him as the bravest Indian he had ever 
 known. 
 
 Among the forces of the Indians at the battle of the Horse- 
 shoe was a baby nephew of McGillivray, whose mother after the 
 defeat bore him for two nights and a day through the wilderness, 
 and finally into Florida. The translation of his Indian name was 
 "The Packed One," in the Indian tongue "Osceola." In after 
 vears he gave the United States much concern, and with whose 
 history you are more or less familiar. 
 
 I have spoken of the influence which the Creeks had in the 
 formation of the history of Tennessee. I will mention another 
 matter well known to your Tennessee fathers, the influence of the 
 Creek campaign which absolutely controlled military and civil pro- 
 motion for many years in this State. Jackson was thereby made 
 President, of undying renown. Governors, up to and including 
 Carroll, judges, officers of militia, and sheriffs rooted their popu- 
 larity in their experience in the Creek war. Every campaign 
 resounded with the heroism at Emuckfau and the Horseshoe, 
 and no man who had failed to enter that campaign m those days 
 was ever able to open the door to political renown. 
 
 I subjoin such personal description of ^IcGillivray as has been 
 handed down to us : 
 
 30 
 
He was a tall, spare man, with quick nervous movements, with 
 long tapering fingers, facile with a pen, large dark eyes, high 
 cheek bones, a firm, well developed chin, a beetling forehead that 
 widened as it extended upward, and a head covered with heavy 
 black hair worn straight back. He had the reputation of great 
 personal sympathy and kindness. He was on the alert ever to 
 relieve distress. He maintained ihree dwelling houses, at each 
 of which he kept open door, with free entertainment, for all 
 comers, and w-as said to have amassed a wonderful fortune for 
 those days. Many of his descendants and kinsmen still live in 
 the Southern States. Among the Indians he has always been 
 held in reverential renown and great regret has always been ex- 
 pressed that circumstances compelled him to sleep in the sands of 
 the Seminole. Such was the greatest Talleyrand of American 
 Historv. 
 
 31 
 
 'SO. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT 
 
 CHAPEL HILL 
 
 lilllillil 
 
 I 00030748950 
 
 FOR USE ONLY IN 
 THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION 
 
 THIS TITLE HAS BEEN MICROFILMED 
 
 ForTT. No. A-368