USA > Alabama > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period. v. 2 > Part 10
USA > Georgia > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period. v. 2 > Part 10
USA > Mississippi > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period. v. 2 > Part 10
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CHAPTER XXIV.
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CHAPTER XXIV.
faults. He was ambitious, crafty, and rather unscrupulous ; yet he possessed a good heart, and was polite and hospitable. For ability and sagacity, the reader will admit that he had few superiors. We have called him the Talleyrand of Ala- bama. Will not his political acts, but a few of which have been presented, for the want of space, entitle him to that appellation ?
The Indian sky still remained darkened by scenes of mur- der and robbery. The Chehaw Creeks, upon the Flint, insti- gated by William Burgess, a trader in the Spanish interest, plundered the store of Robert Seagrove, at Trader's Hill, upon the St. Mary's, killed Fleming, the clerk, and two travel- lers named Moffit and Upton, most cruelly beating, with sticks, a woman residing there, named Ann Grey. Six miles from the hill, they killed a family of men, women and children, moving in their wagons, and made prisoners a woman and a child, whom they reserved for greater sufferings. The in- habitants of the new counties of Glynn and Camden often felt such attacks. At the Skull Shoals, of the Oconee, Rich- ard Thresher, two children and a negro woman, were shot down, while his wife, plunging into the river, with a babe in her arms, received a ball in her head, turned over, and sunk beneath the waves. Governor Telfair determined, at once, to raise a large force for the invasion of the Creek country. Washington, at the solicitation of the Georgia delegation in Congress, sent to Augusta a large stand of arms and ammu- nition. He authorized Governor Telfair to enlist a few com- panies, for the protection of Georgia, but remonstrated against
1793 March
April
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the contemplated invasion, stating that it was unauthorized CHAPTER by law, would embarrass the negotiations still pending be- XXIV. tween the Federal agents and the Creeks, and also those going on with Spain, and that the enemy had only killed some people upon the remote frontiers. But Governor Tel- fair, with the true spirit of a Georgian, heeded him not, and resolved to "carry the war into Africa." He disdained to accept of the troops which the President had authorized him to raise, but placed General Twiggs at the head of seven hun- dred mounted men. That gallant officer, of revolutionary memory, marched to the Ockmulgee river, where a mutinous 1,93 June spirit and the want of provisions caused a retreat. This abortive attempt at conquest emboldened the Creeks to new scenes of pillage and blood. Although mortified at the fail- ure of his first attempt at invasion, Governor Telfair did not relax in his exertions to protect the people, but constantly scoured the country between the Oconee and Ockmulgee, with a large force of mounted militia, which, for a time, stopped the Indian ravages. These operations again called out the re- monstrances of Washington, which had no effect whatever upon the Georgians, many of whom entertained for the Pre- dent the most implacable hostility, and placed his effigies upon pine trees, and fired guns at them. It is a very com- mon belief, with people of modern times, that Washington, during his executive career, HAD NO ENEMIES. He received as much abuse, not only in Georgia, but in various portions of the Union, as any of our Presidents .*
* Indian Affairs, vol. 1, pp. 362-368.
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CHAPTER XXIV.
1793 March
Although Seagrove had been Superintendent over two years, he had never entered the Creek nation, but had com- municated with the Chiefs through an honest and intelligent man, named Timothy Barnard, who had long resided among the red people. At Cusseta, that gentleman met a council of Chiefs, the most prominent of whom were the White Lieutenant, John Kinnard, the Mad Dog, the Head King, and Alexander Curnells, representing the Upper and Lower Towns, who requested him to assure Seagrove that they desired to see him in their country, and promised to protect him while he remained with them. But the efforts of the agent to restore peace, and to procure the marking of the boundary, were embarrassed by the military operations of Governor Telfair, who assured him that his contemplated mission to the Creek nation would result in no good ; that his mind was made up, to chastise the Creeks, until they restored the white prisoners, the negroes, and other stolen property, and delivered up ten hostages from the Upper, and an equal number from the Lower Towns, together with thirteen principal hostiles, to be put to death by the people of Georgia; that he would sub- mit to no treaty made with the Creeks, where Georgia agents were not allowed to participate. Such was the treaty of New- York. It is singular that this treaty, made by Washington, for the good of all parties concerned, should have been so violently opposed. The Spaniards, as was anticipated, de- nounced it, but it received equal opposition from the Creeks and Georgians.
Notwithstanding the high grounds assumed by Governor
THE SPANIARDS IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI. 147
Telfair, Seagrove resolved to go into the nation: but was CHAPTER deterred, by information which he received, that a body of XXIV. armed men, under Captain Peter B. Williamson,* intended to intercept and prevent him, and that the Georgia troops September 21 1793 had destroyed Little Ocfuskee, upon the Chattahoochie, which resulted in the death of six Indians, while eight others were carried prisoners to Greensboro'. Barnard was again sent to the Chattahoochie, who, after a council with the Chiefs, returned, with another invitation for Seagrove to visit their country, and that, although they were much aroused against the Georgians for this attack upon a peaceable town, they imputed no blame to the Federal authorities. Finally, the agent set out from Fort Fidius, escorted by a military guard, to " prevent," as he wrote to the Secretary of War, "my being robbed by the frontier banditti, who, two days ago, stole ten of the horses upon which I had to carry goods for the Indians." Seagrove had the reputation of being a timid man, and of not entertaining a very high sense of honor. Arriving at the Ockmulgee, the escort was dismissed, when one hundred and thirty Indian warriors took charge of his person, from thence to Cusseta, upon the Chattahoochie. At this place, he was saluted by the Indians with the beating of drums and the roars of a piece of artillery. He advanced to Tookabatcha. the capital of the nation, which lay upon the west bank of the Tallapoosa. He occupied one whole November 23 day, in a speech to a vast assembly, and, although surrounded
* Afterwards Judge of the County Court of Lowndes, Alabama.
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CHAPTER by Spanish agents and enemies, he rose above his character, XXIV. boldly pointed out the aggressions of the Creeks, and their faithlessness, in not complying with the New-York treaty.
The council sat forty-eight hours, without adjournment, and then rose, having stipulated, on the part of the Creeks, to deliver to Seagrove the negroes, horses, cattle, and other pro- perty, taken from the Georgians during the last twelve months. They further agreed, to put to death two or more of the prin- cipals engaged in the late murders upon the frontiers. The Spanish agent, Captain Don Pedro Oliver, was present, and congratulated Seagrove upon what he was pleased to term his fortunate mission.
Having remained at Tookabatcha some weeks, arranging his business with the Chiefs, Seagrove, one night, was at- tacked by the Tallase King. at the head of a party; his house was plundered, and he forced to fly, for his life, to a pond, thick with trees and bushes. There he remained seve- ral hours, up to his waist in cold water, expecting, every mo- ment, to be scented out, dragged forth, and put to death. In the morning the Chiefs interposed, pacified the Tallase King, and the trembling agent came out from his watery place of refuge. The Tallase King was one of those who had con- veyed away the Oconee lands, at Augusta, and who, like the Georgians, entertained no good feeling for the Federal agents .*
A spirited border war continued to be waged upon the
* Indian Affairs, vol. 1, pp. 305-112-122-471-472. Also conver- sations with old Indias countrymen.
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northern frontiers. Captain Hadley, whose troops had been attacked upon the Cumberland mountain, was brought to Willstown by the victorious party, composed of Creeks, Che- rokees and Shawnees. They debated, for several days, upon his life, which was at length saved, through the solicitations of Alexander Campbell and John McDonald, two old British tra- ders, of Willstown, but now in the Spanish interest. Great pre- parations were on foot, in this region, for the final extermination of the Cumberland people. John Watts, a Cherokee half-breed, had regularly organized three companies of mounted Indians, who had been furnished with the necessary arms by Governor Carondelet. A large deputation of Shawnees, from the north, had just completed a campaign through the Creek nation, endeavoring to enlist recruits for that end, and had succeeded in collecting six hundred and seventeen warriors, who passed through Willstown, on their way up. The people of East · Tennessee, also, felt the attacks of these marauding parties. They defended themselves with bravery, but sometimes were guilty of acts of great imprudence, which served to irritate the Indians who were friendly. Captain Beard, at the head of mounted militia, attacked the peaceable people of Hiwassa, wounded Hanging Maw, the Chief, and killed his wife and a dozen others. The Indians rallied, and repulsed the assail ants. Such was the state of feeling and aların, that Governor Blount placed General Sevier at the head of six hundred mounted men. That officer, crossing the Tennessee below the mountains, marched for the Oostanaula, where he made some Cherokees prisoners. . Proceeding to the site of the
CHAPTER XXIV.
1793 June 13
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CHAPTER XXIV. 1793 October 17
modern. Rome, he discovered Indian intrenchments on the opposite bank of the Etowah. Plunging into that stream, the troops gained the southern bank, and, after a fight of an hour, the Indians gave way, bearing off their dead and wounded, but leaving their camp equipage, horses, Spanish guns and ammunition. General Sevier afterwards scoured this whole region, without opposition, and returned to East Tennessee. It appeared that the evil one, himself, was stalking through this wild region, for, independently of the commotions upon the frontiers of Georgia and Tennessee, the Creeks and Chicka- saws were engaged in a bloody war, while French emissaries were at work to estrange the affections of the South-Western people from the Federal Government .*
* Indian Affairs, vol. 1. pp. 434-139-441-454-464-470.
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CHAPTER XXV.
THE FRENCH MINISTER, GENET-HIS DESIGNS UPON THE SOUTHI-WEST. -
Louis XVI., the friend of America, had been beheaded at CHAPTER Paris, and Robespierre, and other hyenas, swayed unhappy XXV. 1793 France. Genet was their American Minister. Upon his January 26 arrival in the United States, he assumed unwarrantable grounds. After failing to enlist Washington in his Jacobini- cal notions of liberty, he sought to disaffect the Southern and Western people, and to dismember the Union. He took advantage of the excited feeling of the population, upon the Holston, Cumberland, Ohio, and other tributaries of the Mississippi, who had long denounced the Federal Govern- ment, for allowing them no protection against the savages, and for not compelling the Spaniards, who held the Lower Mississippi, to grant them the free navigation of that river. Indeed, these brave and adventurous people had just ground- of complaint. They were cut off from the rest of the Union. and had to defend themselves, while their rich products, of corn, flour and tobacco, rotted at their doors, on account of
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CHAPTER the arbitrary laws of the Spanish provinces below them. XXV. They, naturally enough, entertained no love for a Union which was no advantage to them. The Georgians, on the other hand, claimed all the territory, between 31° and 35º, from the Savannah to the Mississippi, and, although inde- pendent of the navigation of the " Father of Waters," viewed its exclusive occupation by the Spaniards as a great outrage, not only against their rights, but those of their North-Western brethren. Georgia was also irritated with the Federal Govern- ment, for its irresolution and tardiness in adjusting her various rights, both in regard to the Spaniards and the Creeks, as we have repeatedly seen. Again, Genet was further encouraged in his nefarious schemes, on account of the war which was then declared between France and Spain. He was led to believe, from all these circumstances, that it would be an easy matter to make the disaffected citizens of the United States allies of France, and, associated with the dissatisfied French popula- tion, upon the Mississippi, he could overthrow the Spanish provinces of Louisiana and the Floridas, and establish a go- vernment dependent upon the republic of France. Two expeditions were planned by him, in the West, while in Charleston. Several distinguished citizens had accepted com- missions under him. The desire to invade the Floridas pre- vailed in Georgia, to an alarming extent. From the frontiers of South-Carolina and Kentucky, detachments, called the "French Legion," marched to places of rendezvous. They were to serve three months, and receive bounties of land. Genet was to have been commander-in-chief. Ilis most
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influential and powerful assistant was General Elijah Clarke, of Georgia. That gentleman had despatched an agent to Lexington, Kentucky, who purchased, upon his credit, two boats, powder and cannon-ball, which were conveyed down the Ohio. An agent was furnished with ten thousand dollars, to purchase supplies for a Georgia army, to assemble at St. Mary's. Clarke had authority to issue military appointments, in the name of the French republic, and he constituted Peter B. Wil- liamson, major, - Carr, a colonel, and conferred the com- missions of captain on - Bird and other citizens of Georgia. The French sloop-of-war, Las Casas, direct from Charleston, anchored at St. Mary's, within musket-shot of the American post, which was in command of Major Gaither. She was destined for Louisiana, and her officers asserted that thirteen sail, large and well-manned, were yet to follow, from different ports of the United States. In the meantime, boat-builders were vigorously employed upon the Ohio, and persons of character and wealth sold their property at auction, to facili- tate their completion. A considerable body of Creeks and Cherokees had likewise been enlisted in the cause of the " French republic." The Governor of East Florida, alarmed at these preparations, remonstrated with Governor Mathews, of Georgia, who immediately issued his proclamation, forbid- ding the people of Georgia to engage in such enterprises. Shortly afterwards, Washington issued a proclamation against the whole project, and authorized Governor Mathews to em- ploy all the United States troops, then in Georgia, to put down the contemplated invasion.
CHAPTER XXV. 1794 March
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May 14
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CHAPTER XXV.
Governor Carondelet was active in preparations for defence. He strengthened New-Orleans, and added troops to the fort at Mobile, and other posts, while he erected new ones at several points below the mouth of the Ohio. The militia, throughout Louisiana and the Floridas, were completely or- ganized. It is strange that the Baron Carondelet should, at this time, have resorted to the same scheme contemplated by his enemy, Genet. He, too, despatched an emissary-an Englishman, named Powers-among the Western American citizens, with offers of arms, ammunition, money, and free navigation, if they would join his standard, and separate themselves from the Federal Union. But his plans, as well as those of Genet, were defeated by the firmness of Wash- ington and the loyalty of the States of Georgia and South- Carolina. The latter, too, came to the rescue of the Federal Government-the Legislature adopting measures for the arrest of Genet's agents .*
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1794
Seagrove remained at Tookabatcha until the 1st of April. Then he departed for Georgia, with a delegation of Chiefs, who visited Governor Mathews, who appears to have been a more conciliatory man than the fiery Telfair, who had now gone out of office. The Chiefs expressed a desire for peace, and Governor Mathews sent them back to the nation, well
* American State Papers, Foreign Relations, folio edition, vol. 1, pp. 454-460. Martin's History of Louisiana, vol. 2, pp. 91-118-122- 123-126-127-128. Monette's History of the Valley of the Mississip- pi, vol. 1, pp. 469-485-492-496-505-510.
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pleased with their visit, and guarded by a detachment, under CHAPTER General Glasscock. XXV.
A new settlement, contemplated west of the Oconee, was now about to originate more trouble with the Creeks. The restless and enterprising General Elijah Clarke, who had fought with so much indomitable courage, and who had display- ed such remarkable endurance, during the whole of the revo- lutionary war, and was one of the best whigs that ever lived, was at the head of this movement, and that, too, immediately upon the heels of the abortive attempt to invade Florida. After the revolution, he continued to defend his State, and his resolute spirit and mighty arm beat off many a murder- ous savage band. But he was too impulsive and restless for times of peace. He now undertook to extinguish the Creek claims, in a very practical manner. With a large party of men, he began a settlement opposite Fort Fidius, on the west side of the Oconee, upon Indian territory. General Irwin, on the part of the State, ordered him to remove, which he refused to do. Mathews forbid, by proclamation, the contemplated settlement, and accused Clarke of an attempt to form a sepa- rate and independent government. The latter appeared at the Superior Court of Wilkes, and surrendered himself to the Judge, who placed his case before the MAGISTRATES. These worthy and learned men went into a full history of the laws of the United States, those of Georgia, those of the world, called the "law of nations," those of the Creeks, and those of the Spaniards, and came to the very liberal decision, eu-
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1794 July
€
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CHAPTER XXV. dorsed upon the indictment, "that the said Elijah Clarke be, and is, hereby discharged."
Many people now flocked to the standard of Clarke. His settlements were pushed with vigor, a town was laid off, and Forts Advance and Defiance were erected and garrisoned. Washington was uneasy at this movement, and requested Go- vernor Mathews to put down all attempts at the occupation of the Indian domain, and promising to furnish him with troops from South-Carolina, if it should become necessary. Ma- thews directed Generals Twiggs and Irwin to break up these establishments. They approached them with Georgia militia, who acted with great firmness and moderation. Clarke, aban- doned by all his men, except twenty, surrendered, upon con- dition that his property, and that of the colonists, should be returned to them. The forts and houses were destroyed by fire, and the affair happily ended, without the shedding of a drop of blood.
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1794 September 25
The northern frontiers were still disturbed by Indian ma- rauding parties. Major James Ore advanced from Nashville, with five hundred and fifty mounted infantry, to the town of September 13 Nickajack, surrounded and attacked it by surprise, and killed many of its inhabitants, while nineteen women and children were made prisoners. On his march from thence, up the river, he was attacked, at the Narrows, by the savages, who, after a few fires, gave way, and retreated to Running Water, which was soon taken, and likewise destroyed. Ore re-crossed the Tennessee, before night, and took up the line of march
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for Nashville, with his prisoners, and a large quantity of CHAPTER effects, which had been taken by the Indians from various XXV. persons. Andrew Jackson, afterwards President, was a pri- vate in this expedition .*
* Indian Affairs, vol. 1, pp. 495-500-632. Kendall's Life of Jack- son, p. 89.
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CHAPTER XXVI.
THE SECOND YAZOO SALE.
CHAPTER XXVI.
1794 and 1795
THE winter of 1794 and 1795 was remarkable for the celebrated Yazoo speculation, or, as the more intolerant op- ponents of the measure termed it, the " Yazoo fraud." We have already seen how a prior sale of territory, lying in Ala- bama and Mississippi, by the Georgia Legislature, ultimately terminated. We have said that we did not believe that Georgia, under the treaties made between Spain, Great Bri- tain and the United States, in 1782 and 1783, had a right to the extensive territory lying between the Chattahoochie and the Mississippi, but, as the Federal Government contended that she had, it ought to have placed her in possession of the country, by the expulsion of the Spaniards. The Georgians felt much aggrieved by the conduct of the General Govern- ment, in not only permitting the Spaniards to occupy what they really believed to be their soil, but in suffering them constantly to instigate the Creeks in killing and plundering their frontier population, and in interfering with their treaties. In truth, Georgia did not recognize the right, even in the Federal Government, to make treaties with the Indians, re-
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specting the territory which she claimed-while the General CHAPTER Government, on the other hand, did not admit any right in XXVI. Georgia to make treaties. These, and many other things of a like nature, we are charitable enough to believe, chiefly prompted the Yazoo sale.
The first bill which the Legislature of Georgia passed, in regard to the Yazoo sale, at the session of 1794, was returned, with the objections of Governor George Mathews. He con- tended that the time had not arrived for the disposal of the territory ; that the sum offered for it was not enough ; that the quantity reserved for the citizens was too small ; that greater advantages were secured to purchasers than to citi- zens ; that it would operate as a monopoly : and that at least one-fourth of the lands ought to be reserved, for the future disposal of the State. The Legislature became much excited at the veto of the bill, and, in a few days, passed another, February ; 1795 which Governor Mathews signed.
Governor Mathews was a man of honor and integrity. He vetoed the first bill, not on account of any fraud which he supposed the Legislature was committing upon the Federal Government, for, in common with many other prominent citizens of Georgia, he believed that the State had a right to sell its own lands; but he vetoed it for the reasons which we have enumerated.
Governor Mathews was a native of Ireland, and landed upon the Virginia shore in 1737. Establishing himself in the county of Augusta, he immediately became a formidable and fearless defender of the country, against the Indians west of
1794 December 24
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CHAPTER XXVI.
the Ohio, who frequently made incursions into Western Vir- ginia. After many combats, in defence of his father's house, and those of his neighbors, he was appointed a captain, and participated, in the most gallant manner, in the great battle fought between the Virginians and Indians, at the junction of the Ohio with the Kenawha, on the 10th October, 1774. In 1775, he was elected a colonel of the ninth regiment, and, for two years, he commanded it, on the eastern shore of Vir- ginia, after which he joined General Washington. Colonel Mathews commanded his regiment at Brandywine, and, at the battle of Germantown, captured a regiment of the enemy. He received a very severe wound with a bayonet, in another skirmish, was taken prisoner, and confined on board a British ship, in the harbor of New-York. IIe was not ex- changed until the termination of the war, when he joined General Greene, as commander of the third Virginia regi- ment. He removed to "Goose Fond," on Broad river, Georgia, in 1785, with his family. One year afterwards, he was elected Governor of the State. Under the present con- stitution, he was the first representative of Georgia in Con- gress, and, in 1794, 1795, he was again governor.
Governor Mathews was short in stature, and compactly made. His hair was light, and his complexion fair and florid. He wore a three-cornered cocked hat, a pair of top-boots, a shirt full-ruthled in front and at the wrists, and, occasionally, a long sword at his side. Hle was a man of unsurpassed bravery, and of indomitable energy. ITis mind was of a strong and vigorgus order, but wholly uncultivated, except by
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