History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 4

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 724

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Nothing further is on record about Captain Aleck until January, 1763, when he sought the good offices of Governor James Wright to recover his wife, who had been stolen from him by some Yuchee Indians and carried into the province of South Carolina. Governor Wright wrote to Governor Boone of South Carolina desiring him to use every effort to secure the return of Captain Aleck's wife.

Captain Aleck was present as Speaker of the Upper and the Lower Creeks at the Great Congress in Augusta in November, 1763. On one occasion during the six days in which the Congress was in session he spoke of the fre- quent stealing of horses by white people and Indians and proposed that some means should be adopted to prevent it for the future. These words speak high for Captain Aleck's desire for peace and order on the frontier, the crime of horse stealing being promotive of frequent murders and killings by both white people and Indians, often culminating in wars. Captain Aleck also attended the Pensacola Congress in May, 1765. During its six days sessions he made several appro- priate talks and was one of the signers of the treaty. A part of Captain Stuart's talk on May 30 to one of Captain Aleck's is here given as it bears witness to the moral worth of the Muscogee chief: "I am glad to find you in the same good disposition in which I

left you at Augusta, of which you have given so many proofs, during the course of your life; the white people must always put a value on your friendship, as the Governor and I ever will. We are very sensible of the effect and influence your talks have had on your nation and we desire you may continue them." All the facts preserved in historic records, relative to Captain Aleck are favorable to his character as a man and a leader of his people.

The last historical notice of Captain Aleck occurs January 10, 1768. There having been a disagreement between the Georgians and the Creeks with regard to the boundary line which separated the two, on that day, Gov- ernor Wright and Captain Aleck, represent- ing the Creek Confederacy, came to an agree- ment that the dividing line should "commence at the Ogeechee river where the lower trad- ing path leading from Mount Pleasant on Savannah river to the Lower Creek Nation crosses the said river Ogeechee, and thence in a straight line cross the country to that part of the river Alatamaha opposite to the entrance or mouth of a certain Creek on the south side of the said river Alatamaha com- monly called Fen-hollow or Turkey Creek, and that the line should be thence continued from the mouth of the said Creek across the Country and in a southwest course to the St. Mary's river, so as to reach it as far up as the tide flows or swells."

BIBLIOGRAPHY .- The Colonial Records of Georgia, vol. vii, pp. 33, 34, 566-569; Ibid, vol. IX, pp. 17, 18; The Colonial State of North Carolina, vol. XI, pp. 179, 184, 185, 188-190, 194, 203; Mississippi Provincial Archives, (1911), vol. I, pp. 190, 197, 198, 200, 203, 204, 207, 210; Jones' History of Georgia, vol. II, pp. 80, 81.

BARNARD, TIMPOOCHEE, Yuchee chief, born about 1783 in the Creek Nation, died in about near Fort Mitchell in Alabama; was the son of Timothy Barnard, who was the son of Captain John, commanding a com- pany of rangers in Georgia, dying in that col- ony about 1768. Captain John Barnard may have been of Scotch birth, as possibly may have been the case with his son Timothy, who was born, conjecturally, about 1750. Timothy Barnard evidently received a fair education. He was an officer in a company of rangers in Georgia in 1773, and in the same year was appointed a justice of the peace with power to act on the lands, then recently ceded by the Creeks and Cherokees. He was also a trader among the Creeks and married a Yuchee woman, by whom he became the father of six sons and two daughters. The sons were James, who was a cripple, William, who married a daughter of Sullivan, an In- dian trader. Timpoochee, Cuseene, who with his Indian wife emigrated to the Arkansas Territory, Michy and Buck. His daughters were Polly, who married Joe Marshall, and Matoya, who died single. Timothy Barnard was a Royalist during the American Revolu- tion. His property was confiscated by the Georgia legislature and he himself was ban- ished from the State. From the meager ref-

Dr. Otis Smith

For 25 years professor of mathematics, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn

Anthony F. McKissick

Professor of electrical engineering, Ala- bama Polytechnic Institute, first man in the south to use "X-Ray." He made his own apparatus, 1897.

Dr. Thomas W. Palmer President Alabama Girls' Technical Insti- tute and College for Women, Montevallo

Dr. Eugene A. Smith Dean of Department of Geology, University of Alabama, and state geologist

EDUCATORS

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

erences attainable, he then made his home in the Creek Nation. It was perhaps about this time that his son Timpoochee was born. Tim- poochee is merely an Indian corruption of Timothy. In February, 1785, probably through the influence of Captain Patrick Carr, Timothy Barnard was relieved from the penalty of treason and permitted to return to his former home, there to enjoy and pos- sess every right of citizenship. Being now a thorough American, he was the deputy agent of the Lower Creeks in 1793 and 1794 and was one of the interpreters at the treaty of Coleraine in 1796. He died at an advanced age on Flint River, Georgia, the year not known. But little is known of the early life of Timpoochee Barnard. His mother care- fully taught him to speak her native Yuchee dialect, while no doubt he learned much Eng- lish from his father. Following the custom of his people, he also mastered the Muscogee dialect, as a knowledge of it was indispensa- ble in the public and private life of the Creek people. Timpoochee Barnard first became prominent in General Floyd's campaign against the Creek Indians in January, 1814. He was commissioned major, and commanded one hundred Yuchee warriors. In the latter part of the night of January 27, the Creeks, in large force, made a furious attack on Gen- eral Floyd's troops, who were encamped in Calebee swamp. Captain John Broadnax was in command of a detachment, stationed at some distance from the main army. The Creeks, discovering the isolation of the de- tachment, assailed it, surrounded it, and cut it off from the other troops. Major Barnard, taking in the situation, made a desperate on- set on the Creeks with his Yuchee warriors, drove them back and so opened a way for Broadnax's men to join the main army. This heroic exploit gave Major Barnard a great name with the Americans. He continued to serve in the army with distinction until the close of the war. He was twice wounded. General Jackson, many years afterwards paid this high tribute to Major Barnard in a con- versation with his son William: "A braver man than your father never lived." Major Barnard was present at the treaty of Fort Jackson, August 9, 1814, signing the treaty- as "Captain of the Uchees." While no doubt a man of high military instincts, Major Bar- nard was domestic in his habits and de- votedly attached to his family. He had six children, two of them girls, and they all had the reputation of being the handsomest chil- dren in the Creek Nation. His son, William. received a fair education, and in after years served in the Seminole war of 1835 under Paddy Carr. The military career of Major Barnard did not close with the Creek War. In 1818, in command of a band of Yuchee warriors, he served under his old commander, General Jackson, through the Seminole War of that year. He distinguished himself in the fight of April 12, 1818, at Econaffinnah or Natural Bridge, where was rescued Mrs. Stu- art, the only survivor of the massacre of Lieutenant Scott's party on Apalachicola

River, of November 30, 1817. Major Bar- nard was opposed to the treaty of the In- dian Springs, and was one of the delegation that went to Washington to protest against the validity of that treaty. After this event, he continued to reside his remaining years at his home near Fort Mitchell, blessed with all the wealth that was desirable, and noted for his public spirit, his hospitality and benevo- lence. Thus passed away a genuine man, that was an honor to the Indian race.

BIBLIOGRAPHY .- McKenney and Hall's Indian Tribes of North America (1854), vol. II, pp. 25-28; Pickett's History of Alabama (Owen's Edition, 1900) p. 585; White's Historical Col- lections of Georgia (1855) p. 166; Woodward's Reminiscences of the Creek or Muscogee In- dians (1859), pp. 54, 109; Handbook of the American Indians (1810), Part 2, p. 752.

BIG WARRIOR, Creek chief, was born probably at Tuckabatchee and about 1760. No facts have been preserved of his early life. His marriage to the deserted or dis- carded wife of Efa Hadjo, must have taken place about 1785, as Tuckenea, his oldest son by her, was a man of affairs in 1810. Big Warrior was not of full Muscogee blood, but was a descendant of a Piankashaw In- dian, and he made no little boast of this northern Indian blood. His first recorded ap- pearance in public life was at the treaty of Coleraine in June, 1796; his next appear- ance at the treaty of Fort Wilkinson in June, 1802. Thirteen days after this treaty, but on the treaty ground, Efa Hadjo, the speaker and first chief of the nation, abdicated his office to Micco Hopoie, and the place of the national council was transferred from Tucka- batchee to the Hickory Ground.

From the lack of records it cannot be stated in what year Big Warrior became Speaker of the Upper Creeks. It may have been in 1812, on the death of Efa Hadjo. On his attaining this office it seems that Tucka- batchee again became the national capital. In 1810, or thereabouts, a Scotchman from Pensacola came to Tuckabatchee and spent some time with Big Warrior, with whom he had many talks through a negro interpreter belonging to the Tuckabatchee chief. The topics of these conversations were never re- vealed, except that during his visit the Scotchman asked William Weatherford, who was then in Tuckabatchee, how many war- riors the Creek nation could raise. Soon after the departure of the Scotchman, Tuske- nea, Big Warrior's son, with a party went north and visited the Shawnees and some other tribes. He returned in the summer of 1811. In the fall of this year, Tecumseh at the head of a band of Shawnees came to Tuckabatchee. It is possible that the visit of the Scotchman to Tuckabatchee, and the visit of Tuskenea to the north, may have had some connection with the coming of Tecum- seh. Soon after the Shawnees arrived at Tuckabatchee, the notable council took place, about which much has been written, some fact and some fiction. During his stay in the

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

Creek nation, Tecumseh made several efforts to detach Big Warrior from his friendly at- titude towards the United States.

Some of Big Warriors contemporaries have represented him at the time of the outbreak of the Creek War, and even during its con- tinuance, as being at heart unfriendly to the American government, and only adhered to it from a fear of the consequences, should he take the opposite side. This view was adopted by Pickett, the historian, but it does not seem to be borne out by a close study of Big Warrior's actions during those trou- bled times. The peace party among the Up- per Creeks were greatly in the minority.

There were twenty-nine Upper Creek towns and villages that belonged to the war party and only five to the peace party. Notwith- standing this preponderating majority, Big Warrior, who, at this time was certainly the Speaker of the Upper Creeks, did all in his power to induce the hostile chiefs to come over to the side of the Federal Government. He sent a special messenger to the Alaba- mas, who were the most implacahly hostile of all the Upper Creeks. But all of Big War- rior's efforts towards the pacification of the hostile element were of no avail from their point of view, since he had been mainly in- strumental in the execution of Little War- rior and his party for the murders committed by them in February, 1813, near the mouth of Ohio. For using in this matter his ex- ecutive authority, which was directed agree- ahly to the requirements of the treaty of Coleraine, Big Warrior, along with six other chiefs, was formally condemned to death by a council of the war party. By midsummer of 1813 this party had become so dangerous, that Big Warrior built for himself and. fol- lowers a fort at Tuckabatchee, which he filled with supplies. Here he was hesieged a number of days by the Red Sticks until two hundred warriors from Coweta came to his relief, and carried Big Warrior and all his people safe to Coweta, which became the great place of refuge for the friendly Creeks. Big Warrior from the very beginning of the Creek troubles until his arrival at Coweta certainly conducted himself as a brave and honorable chief. Without fear or favor he cooperated in the execution of Little War- rior's party, and did his whole duty in at- tempting to pacify the large hostile element of his people. Lastly, we see him with his few faithful followers in their fort at Tucka- batchee, besieged by their enraged country- men, bravely holding the fort for weeks, with the full knowledge that should the fort fall no mercy would be extended to its inmates. A consideration of all these facts show that historians have been unjust to the memory of Big Warrior. While he continued loyal to the Americans during the war, so far as the records show, he does not figure in any of the battles. Perhaps he was serving his people better by remaining with them at Coweta. Pickett represents him as being present at Weatherford's surrender.

Four months later, as Speaker of the Up- per Creeks, he was one of the signers at

Fort Jackson. Before signing the treaty Big Warrior made an address to General Jackson, in which, in the name of the Creek Nation, he tendered donations of land to him, to Col- onel Hawkins, the Creek agent, and to George Mayfield and Alexander Cornells, Creek in- terpreters. Big Warrior was also a signer of the treaties of the Creek Agency, January 22, 1818, and of the treaty of Indian Spring, January 8, 1821.

Big Warrior died in 1824 in Washington while in attendance there with a delegation of his people. General Woodward describes Big Warrior as the largest man that he had ever seen among the Creeks and as spotted as a leopard. The name of only two of his children, hoth sons, Tuskenea and Yargee, have been preserved. As an incident in the career of Big Warrior, may be cited,-his conversation in 1822, with the Missionary, Rev. Lee Compere, in which, in giving the traditional history of the Creeks, he stated that in remote times they "had even whipped the Indians then living in the territory of South Carolina and wrested much of their country from them." Modern philological research has confirmed this tradition of Big Warrior as being true history; for the local names of the parts of South Carolina, tra- versed by the Del Pardo expedition of 1567, and recorded by its historians are significant in the Muscogee tongue, showing a Muscogee occupancy of these parts. Hence, apart from being a wise Creek counsellor, Big Warrior should be accorded some reputation as a man thoroughly and patriotically conversant with the traditional history of his people.

BIBLIOGRAPHY .- Pickett's History of Alabama (Owen's Edition, 1900), pp. 80, 514, 518, 520, 593, 599, 618, 621; Woodward's Reminiscences of the Creek or Muscogee Indians (1859), pp. 36, 37, 44, 94, 95, 96, 110, 116; American State Papers, Indian Affairs, vol. I, pp. 837-845, 848, 849, 851; American State Papers, Indian Affairs, vol. 1, pp. 755, 762; American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i, p. 699; Brewer's Ala- bama (-), p. 17, footnote.

Died, on the 8th inst. at Washington City, Big Warrior, principal chief of the Creek na- tion. He was a man of great talents as a savage warrior-a person of immense bodily powers, and it has been said of him that he was endowed with a mind as colossal as his body. Although he possessed not the ad- vantages of education, or even of understand- ing hut little of the English language, yet he has done much towards improving the con- dition of his people, and had great influence over them. During the late Indian wars, he had been uniformly friendly to the whites and fought for them in many battles .- (From Niles' Register, March 19, 1825.)

CROZAT, ANTOINE, French financier, born in Toulouse in 1655, was the son of a French peasant. He received a good rudi- mentary education, and at the age of fifteen entered a commercial house as clerk. En- dowed by nature with a genius for finance, in time he became the partner of his em- ployer, married his daughter, and on the

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

death of his father-in-law, he found himself one of the richest merchants of France. He won the favor of Louis XIVth by lending money to the government, was made by him Marquis de Chatel, and on September 14, 1712, was given the trade of Louisiana for a period of fifteen years. By the provisions of his charter Crozat was given the exclusive privilege of trading in the territory between Old and New Mexico, in the territory be- tween Louisiana and the Carolinas, and from the mouth of the Mississippi northward to the river Illinois, together with the Missouri and the Ohio rivers, and the rivers flowing directly and indirectly into the Mississippi. This territory, styled the government of Louisiana, could be enlarged at the King's pleasure. To Crozat, under royal protection was given the exclusive right of exports from France into this territory during the life of his charter. To him alone was given the right to open and work mines in Louisiana, one-fourth of the precious metals to be the property of the crown. . No one was allowed to trade with the colonists or Indians except under Crozat's written permit.

"All land under cultivation, and all fac- tories or establishments erected for the man- ufacture of silk, indigo, wool and leather, were to become the absolute property of Crozat in fee simple, the title to continue in him so long as the cultivation or manufac- ture was maintained, but to become forfeited at the end of three years of idleness. All his goods were to be exempt from duty; he was to be permitted to draw 100 quintals of powder from the royal magazines each year at actual cost; was given the privilege of using the king's boats to load and unload his ships, provided that the boats were re- turned in good condition; and was granted permission to send every year a vessel to Guinea for negroes, whom he might sell in Louisiana "to the exclusion of all others." In return for all these rights and privileges Crozat was required to send annually two vessels to Louisiana, on which he was to carry free twenty-five tons of provisions and ammunition for the colonists and garrisons, and to send on each ship "ten young men or women at his own selection." After the ex- piration of nine years he was to pay the sal- aries of the officers and garrisons in Louisi- ana, and in case of vacancies he was to nom- inate officers to fill the same, commissions to be issued to these officers on approval by the king. The king's expenses for salaries during the first nine years were fixed at $10,- 000 annually, to be paid to Crozat in France, and the drafts of the commissaire ordonna- teur were to be paid in Crozat's stores, in cash or in goods with an advance of 50 per cent. Sales in all other cases were to be at an advance of 100 per cent. The laws, edicts and ordinances of France and the custom of Paris were extended to Louisiana. In spite of every effort of Crozat to make his patent profitable, the whole affair came to naught. The colonists, who wished to be free-traders, were opposed to the monopoly, and set it at defiance. They traded with the Canadians

from the north, were more or less smugglers with the Spaniards at Pensacola, and every- where carried on an illicit trade with Indians. Gayarre says: "In vain had his agents re- sorted to every means in their power to trade with the Spanish provinces, either by land or by sea, either legally or illegally ;- several millions worth of merchandise which he had sent to Louisiana, with the hope of finding their way to Mexico, had been lost for want of market. In vain also had ex- pensive researches been made for mines and pearl fisheries. As to the trading in furs with the Indians, it hardly repaid the cost of keeping factories among them. Thus, all the schemes of Crozat had failed. The mis- erable European population, scattered over Louisiana, was opposed to his monopoly, and contributed, as much as they could to de- feat his plans. As to the officers, they were too much engrossed by their own interest and too intent upon their daily quarrels, to mind anything else. There was but one thing which, to the despairing Crozat, seemed des- tined to thrive in Louisiana-that was, the spirit of discord." Under all these circum- stances Crozat became much discouraged. Every year saw him playing a losing game, and at last in August, 1717, he surrendered his charter. Thenceforth he lived an un- eventful life until his death in 1738.

DAVILA Y. PADILLA. This Spanish . author and explorer has an interest for stu- dents of Southern history, for the story of Tristan de Luna's colony in Alabama, 1559- 1561, is preserved mainly by him. He was born in 1562 of a good family in the City of Mexico. He became a Dominican in 1579, and in time became lecturer on philosophy and theology in the colleges of Puebla and Mexico, and was Archbishop of San Domingo in 1601. He visited Rome and Spain as a representative of the Dominicans of Mexico and was appointed preacher of Philip the Third. He died in 1604. Davila was the author of several works. He had good op- portunities for securing historical materials, and his works contain much information in regard to the contact of the Spaniards with the Indians. To him are we also indebted for the first notice of the establishment of the printing press in Mexico.

DE SOTO, HERNANDO, was born about 1496, in Xeres, Estremadura, Spain, of a noble but impoverished family; but through the friendship and liberality of Pedrarias Davala, he obtained a good education. De Soto spent many years of his early life with his patron, Davila, in Central America. In 1532 he went to Peru where he was asso- ciated with Pizarro in the conquest of that country in which he acquired great wealth. He returned to Spain in 1536, the possessor of half a million dollars, and was received with great distinction by the Emperor, Charles the Fifth. He had long been at- tached to Isabella Bodadilla, the daughter of his old friend, Pedrarias, Davila. His wealth now enabled him to marry her,-a

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marriage which greatly strengthened his in- fluence at court. With wealth and a happy marriage, De Soto now aspired to eclipse the glories of Cortes and Pizarro. He sought and received permission from Charles the Fifth to conquer Florida at his own expense. He accepted the services of numerous volun- teers from Spain and Portugal, and with these, his wife and other ladies, in 1538, he embarked in several vessels for Cuba. Here he spent a year perfecting his plans, and at last with a well equipped army of a thousand men, leaving behind in Havana his faithful wife, he again set sail, and in May, 1539, landed in Florida. De Soto's expedition, the so-called conquest of Florida, has ever been an attractive field to the historical student, yet, in truth, it was almost, if not wholly barren of results, and its main interest lies with the ethnologist, for the flood of light it throws upon the Southern Indians of the six- teenth century, who were really prehistoric Indians. But in contrast with the ethnologist comes the lover of martial exploits, who is carried away with the thrilling stories of De Soto's four great Indian battles,-the bat- tle of the Two Ponds in Florida, of Maubila in Alabama, of Chicasa and of Chicacilla in Mississippi. Still there is a very dark side to this picture, for the expedition of De Soto was conducted with all that cruelty and in- humanity characteristic of the sixteenth cen- tury Spaniard,-the seizing of the natives, especially the women to be used as burden bearers and for base purposes, and when these perished from fatigue or the lack of food, the substitution of others, seized in the villages or on the march, the pitiless appro- priation of the Indian food supplies, and at the least infraction of the wishes or orders of De Soto, the flinging of the Indians to his blood-hounds to be torn to pieces by them. Oviedo, the historian, who was well ac- quainted with De Soto, did not hold him in high estimation as a man. In an interpo- lated passage in Rodrigo Ranjel's narrative, he holds up to the execration of the world, the daily immoralities practised by the Span- iards of the expedition, from the educated De Soto down to the most ignorant private. After a long three years' wandering, De Soto died, a disappointed man, in June, 1542, upon the bank of the great river which he had discovered, and in whose waters he found his last resting place. Moscoso, his successor, after leading the survivors of the expedition in a long wandering to the west, returned to the Mississippi, there built brigantines, embarking in which the wretched remnant of De Soto's army at last reached Mexico. Thence the news of the failure of the ex- pedition reached Havana, and the tidings of the death of De Soto broke the heart of his devoted wife.

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History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 4

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869- Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 724

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 724