USA > Georgia > Wilkinson County > History of Wilkinson County > Part 8
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In the meantime the Indian who led the party which killed Brown had filed his plea with the Creek chieftains and gave as his reason, that he had lost his son in the Har- rison Massacre and although he had waited a long time he had never received satisfaction for it. This plea was apparently a justifiable defense in the eyes of the Creeks but they notified Hawkins that if he insisted on retalia- tion when he returned to their nation they would kill the leader of the band and one of the Uchee women.
The entire Uchee tribe continued very bitter towards the white settlers throughout the year. During September of 1797 they again started on the warpath. The other Creeks, however, hurried runners after them commanding
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them to return and thus further bloodshed was averted for the time being.
During November the chiefs appointed to execute the leader of the Uchees who had killed Brown, at the head of a band of Creek warriors marched to the Uchee town but he had fled. They followed him from town to town among the Indians until at last he fled to the Shawnees, too far away to pursue farther. The chiefs then consulted one another about their old custom of killing one of the family in the place of the culprit, and but for the orders of Hawkins this would have been done.
In February, 1798, the hostile Uchees again crossed the Oconee, killing a man by the name of William Allen near Long Bluff. At the time the woods on the Wilkinson county side were filled with bands of hunting Indians, some of whom had their women and children in the camps. The commander of the federal forces at Fort Wilkinson at once recognizing the peril the Indian hunters were in by reason of the killing of Allen, should the Washington county settlers fall upon them, hurried forces of cavalry from Indian camp to Indian camp appraising them of the danger they were in.
A few days later, an Indian climbed a tree on the west side of the Oconee near Long Bluff to talk with a man named Oats. While the conversation was going on some one slipped up behind Oats and shot the Indian, killing him on the spot. Fearing the vengeance of the Indians would be turned against him, Oats removed from his plantation. About this time another Indian was killed near Long Bluff. A white hunter on the Washington coun- ty side heard what he thought to be the bleat of a fawn and halted. He then heard something like a snap of a gun and looking about saw an Indian, who had just flashed at him. Jumping behind a tree, he fired and killed the Indian. Letters of Benjamin Hawkins, pp. 450, 102, 249, 288,
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462, 463, 464. Indian Affairs, Vol. 1, pp. 615, 616, 595, 610.
A story told the author by J. J. McArthur which was told him by his grandmother Pearson, is to the effect that the Pearsons had moved across the Oconee and were liv- ing on the Indian lands prior to the treaty of Fort Wil- kinson and that one morning early they noticed an Indian prowling around rather suspiciously. They immediately opened fire upon him, killing him. Realizing what it would mean should the Indians learn of their having killed him, they at once destroyed all traces of the killing and after weighting the body put it in an old lagoon in the Oconee swamp.
CHAPTER XV EFAU HAUJO FINDS THE REMEDY FOR HORSE STEALING
A S an illustration of the enormity of the losses occas- ioned by the Indian horse thieves, the Georgia Com- missioners at the treaty of Colerain complained of a loss of 825 horses, 1,159 cattle, 495 hogs and 115 houses burned. One can easily understand the reason for so much thieving among the Indians as the Indians felt the need of horses very badly. They were frequently invited to visit the Spaniards in St. Augustine and Pensacola for treaties and these towns were hundreds of miles distant. The Americans would invite them to various places for treaties which required much journeying. Often it was. necessary for them to come nearly a hundred miles to trade at Rock Landing, Fort Fidius or Fort Wilkinson .. Once a year they had to come here for their stipends paid by the federal government under the treaty. The grow- ing scarcity of game required them to go many miles on hunting expeditions. Lack of salt and proper feed caused many of their horses to die and the "jackies" or ponies they attempted to raise were of inferior quality. Thus, horses were to them such a necessity as they felt war- ranted in getting them from the Georgians in any manner possible.
However, the Indians were not altogether to blame for the stealing, as shown by extracts from the letter of the White Lieutenant of the Ocfuskees, "I likewise undertook to inform you of a thing, you, before, per- haps, have been ignorant of, viz: no sooner the talks become a little friendly, but our paths are filled with trav- eling renegade people, and some families that pretend they are going to the Spanish country; others of them are
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bad men, who steal from your people, and fly to our land, and impose their plunder on us, and we, though in a state of ignorance, are blamed for it I likewise take the liberty to inform you, that it is my opinion that bad men that live on the frontiers of your country, do your people and ours great injury by getting our drunken peo- ple over the line, and buying their property from them, particularly horses, (with rum) the people are then on foot, and, sooner than remain so, go and steal the first man's horse they come across; this, I hope you will pre- vent by some early step, as, if suffered, it will tend to bad consequences."
With the rise of Efau Haujo to power in the Creek na- tion, the chieftains were induced to enact such a law among themselves as could be effectually enforced and which stopped horse thieving in this section. Thus, short- ly after the treaty of Colerain, whipping was made the penalty for all those who dwelt in the Indian nations who stole horses, and the Indians, themselves were the ones to inflict the punishment. No one was allowed to sell or buy a horse, to or from an Indian without a permit from Ben- jamin Hawkins who had now succeeded Seagrove. How well this law worked on the Indians is shown by the letter of Richard Thomas, Dep. Agt. to Benjamin Hawkins (Letters of B. H., pages 488, 489). "With pleasure I an- nounce to you that the law enacted by the chiefs at the Tuckabatchee, with respect to the horse thieves, has been put in force by Efau Tustunnagau and his warriors and one of the sticks that was made use of to inflict the pun- ishment sent to the Cowetas and the Tallauhassee. The next day the Cowetas brought in four horses; they say they found them this side of the line. Another of the sticks has been sent down the river to the towns below. The Ooseuchees stole five horses from the white people; four is brought in and one died by the bite of a snake. If the chiefs are peaceably inclined, they will certainly punish
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the horse thieves and deliver up the horses, but if they should be only waiting a supply of powder from the Spaniards, they will not think of fulfilling their promises to you. I shall keep a good lookout, and if any talks or in- vitations arrive from the Spaniards, will immediately in- form you of it."
As early as 1792 these seems to have been an outlaw organization, its ramifications extending throughout the Creek nation, and having confederates throughout Geor- gia, North and South Carolina. The Creeks were contin- uously raiding the Kentucky and Tennessee settlements, driving off their droves of fine horses, and after bringing them through the Creek nation, would, by means of white confederates convey them to Savannah, and the seaport towns of the Carolinas, where good prices could be ob- tained and where recovery by their owners was practical- ly impossible. (I. A., page 265.)
The traffic in stolen horses thus seems to have grown to immense proportions. On their swift Kentucky steeds, the Indian braves could make their sudden attacks on the frontiers along the Oconee and laden with loot dash back along the paths leading across these lands and to safety before pursuers could start on the trail. The nearness to Florida made it possible to dispose of any horses not needed by these outlaw bands. The trails of this section were thus filled by a stream of horses from the Indian na- tion to be sold in Georgia, and another stream of horses stolen in Georgia for use elsewhere. And woe to the trav- eler who met these outlaws and who was not able to pro- tect himself.
The Tory element which had settled among the Indians as usual was found more troublesome when it came to stealing horses than any other. "From the declaration of peace to the introduction of the plan of civilization in 1796, these white people generally continued their preda- tory warfare; at that period some of the worst fled, some
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died and some promised to reform; their red associates stole horses and they found a market for them."
The law enacted by the Indian chieftains now began to apply to this Tory element and they found themselves re- ceiving the same punishment which the Indians received. This caused many to leave the nation. Efau Haujo in a "talk" to Hawkins says :
"The white horse thieves are censuring my conduct and say it is no business of mine who steals horses or who comes and goes without passports, but I shall do my duty regardless of their threats or frowns." (Letters of B. Hawkins, p. 496, 429. )
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CHAPTER XVI
TRESPASSING ON THE INDIAN LANDS
T THE rush of settlers shortly after the Revolution to the lands east of the Oconee river quickly took up all the available lands on that side and then there was the clamor for more lands. Across the Oconee they could see stretching from the Oconee to the Ocmulgee vast forests of monster yellow pines, limitless fields of wild oats, offer- ing pasturing for myriads of cattle and horses, going to waste under these pines : the lowlands covered with hard- wood, berries, fields of reeds, also offering unlimited pas- turage for hogs, cattle and horses, millions of acres of the most productive lands in the world, wasting for the sake of the herds of deer, the bear, and other game which the Indians valued so highly. Soon the cattle, horses and hogs on the east side got hungry and it was an easy matter to get them across the river to the land of plenty. As the years passed, more and more of the whites began to take advantage of this free pasturage. Farther and farther from the river the animals would feed. Each man would have some particular spot to salt his cows and in this way could keep up with his herds. Others would feed their hogs at certain places. It is a tradition that Cowpen Creek, a few miles west of Irwinton was so named from numerous cowpens built on it by those driving their cows here from Washington county while the lands still belonged to the Indians. The abundance of game and fish here also lured the white hunters across the river to hunt, fish, and trap.
Indian hunters soon learned of the trespassing by the whites on their lands. Complaints were frequently made by the Indians. The Georgians would complain of the In- dians stealing horses, cattle and hogs. Benjamin Hawkins tells of one Indian lad who was in this section with a heavy
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pack of skins to carry back to Cusseta Indian town. Nine years prior to this his brother had a horse stolen from him by the whites. He came across a mare and colt grazing on the Indian lands. Catching the mare he packed his skins on her back and rode her into Cusseta town with the colt at her heels. Being informed that he would have to give her up, he refused until he could see his brother who had lost a horse.
In the face of the Indian depredations, squatters began to cross the river as early as 1793 and build houses on the Indian lands, so great was the demand for more land. A vivid picture of the situation here is given in the letter of Timothy Barnard, Deputy Agent, to Seagrove.
Flint River, 26th March, 1793.
Dear Sir :
Your express, by Mr. Mordecai, came safe to hand; I received it at the Cussetahs, where I have been ever since my last to you, by Mr. John Galphin, except five days I spent at the Buzzard Roost, where I was obliged to attend in consequence of some complaints I heard from the Indians, respecting the inhabitants on the Oconee driving great gangs of cattle over on this side in the fork of Jullah Packa, and from that up, forty or fifty miles higher ; besides that the white people had built two or three houses on this side. When I got to the Buzzard Roost, I found the report I had heard was not groundless, as there was a white man that had just arrived at the Roost from Rock Landing, who convinced me that it was the case. I heard, while I was at the Roost, that the Cowetas were just going out to drive off all the stocks and kill some of the inhabitants. I im- mediately sent off an express to the Rock Landing, and wrote to the commanding officer there, to order the people to drive their stocks back. I likewise acquainted his Excellency the Governor with the circumstance, and of the ill consequences that would follow, if he did not put a final stop to such proceedings; I at the same time wrote to Captain Philips, that lives nearly opposite where those cat- tle were driven over. I have since been at the town, had a letter from Captain Phillips, where he mentions, that some of the hunting Indians had given them liberty, last fall, to drive their stock over till the spring, which I do not believe ; but whether or not, I should imagine that they might have a little more knowledge of Indian
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matters than to think such liberties would hold good with the whole nation. Major Gaither was kind enough to answer my letter, where- in he informs me that he has given his orders for all the stock to be driven back, which he says was duly complied with. A few days ago at the meeting, I have had more complaints laid before me of the like nature which I immediately informed Major Gaither of, and Captain Philips; both of which is, that the white people came and encamped out, thirty or forty miles on this side of the river, and hunted, with fire, and all day with rifles, and destroyed the game so bad, that they can hardly find a turkey or a deer to kill, and with great gangs of dogs hunting bear; this the Indians say they cannot put up with ; and if the white people do not decline such proceed- ings, they will kill some of them. Had it not been for those imprudent steps of the Oconee settlers, driving their stocks over the river, the Shawanese talks would not have had near as much effect on the minds of the Creeks, as it was a good subject for the Shaw- anese to work on, telling them it was the way the white people served them to the northward. (I. A., pp. 381, 382.)
The trespassing on the Indian lands is blamed for a lot of the Indian troubles of this period. Likewise this in all probability encouraged to a great extent the attempted settling of these lands in 1794 by Elijah Clarke.
Following the drastic action taken by the Georgians in removing Clarke's settlers, there seems to have been fewer violations of the law forbidding trespassing on the Indian lands for a short period of time. However, before the treaty of Colerain in 1796, they were at it again. At this treaty the complaint of the Indians is as follows :
"On the west side of the Oconee, high up, that is, from Fort Fidius upward, that the woods is full of cattle, hogs, and horses, some of which range near the Ocmulgee. Be- sides that, those woods are constantly full of white men, hunters, even going about in the night, hunting deer with firelight. They say their hunters, in consequence of such proceedings, are frightened, and drove in from their hunt- ing grounds ; every cane swamp, where they go to look for a bear, which is part of their support, is near eat out with the stocks put over by the citizens of Georgia.
From the fork of the Oconee and Oc-
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mulgee, up to the mouth of Apalachy, and all up the west side of that river, there have been seen, hogs, horses, and cattle, ranging as far back as the waters of Ocmulgee, all the winter past. As that land is the property of the In- dians, these must be immediately removed to the east side of the Oconee.
"The white people come over hunting; they hunt by night, with fire; they go even to the creeks of Ocmulgee, they encamp, and tarry days and nights on the heads of those waters; they carry off fish by loads, and when the Indian hunters come into these lands, they find the whites there, taking their deer and other game; and this they do constantly. This is a complaint, which the whole represen- tation of the nation now present, old and young, make to you. And we require that an immediate stop should be put to this trespass on our rights. The young men, particular- ly, who are most interested and most injured by it, request this.
"I have stated many complaints of the nation, and I am desirous to state the wishes of the Indians. It is, that it be exponed as the understanding of the nation present, that, from the middle of the Oconee, on the east side, belongs to the whites, that there they may do as they please; but that all the west side of this centre line which divides the Oconee, including creeks, and all waters, belongs to the Indians, and that the whites have no right to go there." (Indian Affairs Vol. 1, pp. 604, 607.)
The complaint of Efau Haujo at the Treaty of Fort Wilkinson likewise illustrates some of the things the In- dians had to put up with during the years preceding 1802.
The year following the treaty at Colerain found a num- ber of settlers on the west side of the Oconee not merely engaged in stockraising but now with plantations. Col. Gaither, the federal commander, placed himself at the head of cavalry and forced these settlers to remove and destroyed their plantations. In addition to the federal law, there was a state law providing for the punishment
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of trespassers on the Indian lands and the Justices of the counties along the river were required to punish violaters of this act. After the treaty of Fort Wilkinson this act was repealed and the statement was made that though the law was on the statute book yet not a single man had been convicted.
THE LAMAR INSURRECTION
During 1797, following the treaty of Colerain, which was such a bitter disappointment to the Georgians, the federal, Col. Gaither, found his hands full in preventing violations of the treaty. Though having destroyed the set- tlements of the trespassers who had actually made their homes on these earlier in the year, in May the poaching on these lands had become so notorious that detachments from Fort Fidius captured four Georgians and confined them in the fort on the charge of fire hunting. Announce- ment was made that they would be sent to Savannah to be tried by the Federal court. So great was the rage of the people of Hancock county at this act on the part of the federal soldiers, that Col. Thomas Lamar, who was at this time commanding the militia of Hancock county, having had considerable reputation as an Indian fighter in the expeditions sent out against the Indians, now placed himself at the head of one hundred men and marched against Fort Fidius and demanded that the men confined in the garrison be surrendered to him. Though refused, Col. Lamar evidently considered the fort too strong for his small force to storm. In order to carry these men to Savannah for trial it was necessary to pass through the portion of the state bitterly hostile to the federal author- ity and it was expected any attempt to carry them there would be the signal for a battle between the militia and the federal detachments. However, in the face of these threats, Col. Gaither sent Captain Webb with forty-eight dragoons and the four prisoners were delivered safely at the Savannah jail. (Letters of B. Hawkins, 460, 463.)
CHAPTER XVII
THE TREATY OF FORT WILKINSON
DO the Georgians penned within the narrow confines 1 east of the Oconee the failure of the treaty makers at Colerain to obtain additional cessions of territory was a most serious matter. The population was increasing tremendously, yet there was no increase in land.
To the Indians, likewise, who were accustomed to live by hunting and fishing a cession of their hunting grounds was a serious matter. Following the Treaty of Colerain, Benjamin Hawkins, as Agent having been instructed to approach the Indians on the subject reported that so bitterly opposed were the Indians to any further cession that one had to be high in their confidence to mention such a subject to them without being openly insulted.
Hawkins, however, set about preparing the Indian mind, by indirect methods for a cession. First, he suc- ceeded in convincing them he was sincere in his efforts towards helping them. Next he began introducing a plan of civilization suitable to the Indians psychology and mode of living. He taught them gradually to use plows and cultivate larger crops and to substitute the raising of cows and hogs for a living rather than depend on hunt- ing. Less land was thus needed by those Indians who would adopt his plans, and they slowly became reconciled to the idea of selling a portion.
The treaty with Spain in 1795, which bound that power to refrain from interfering with the relations of this gov- ernment with the Creeks and the removal of the Spanish garrisons from the lands claimed by Georgia, had a most wholesome effect on the Creeks. No longer supplied with guns, ammunition and supplies from that power, the Creeks became more and more dependent upon the Ameri-
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can government for their stipends and trade. With the growth of civilization their wants were increasing and their annual stipends were insufficient to supply their needs. Debts at the trading post at Fort Wilkinson began to mount, and it was provided these debts should be de- ducted from the payments agreed upon by the federal government under the treaties of Colerain and New York. It was soon evident that the Creeks would have to sell a portion of their lands or lack many necessities.
Following closely on the heels of the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson as President events leading to a cession of lands began to move rapidly forward. Milledge, Bald- win and Jackson, Commissioners from Georgia to treat with the United States on the Mississippi Territory ques- tion, having solved the Yazoo problem and bound the American government by a covenant to extinguish the Indian claims to their lands in Georgia, Benjamin Hawk- ins, Andrew Pickens and General James Wilkinson were appointed Commissioners to represent the American gov- ernment in a treaty to be held with the Indians at Fort Wilkinson in May, 1802.
The summons were sent to the chieftains of all the tribes to meet the Commissioners at that time. Not know- ing what would be demanded of them at this meeting the chiefs were grealy agitated and continuously for months prior to the meeting importuned Hawkins to give them information on the matter, but apparently he only whetted their curiosity and upon every opportunity suggested the advisability of their selling some of their lands in order to pay their debts and supply their wants.
In the meantime it would seem that the British were resuming their interference with the Creeks, inasmuch as at this very opportune time we find Bowles returning from England, and stirring up more trouble among the Seminole towns in opposition to the proposed treaty. Land- ing a shipload of goods which had been received from the
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Bahamas, the wily Bowles attempted to break up the Fort Wilkinson conference by inviting the Creeks to come down and share in the gifts which the British had sent. But the power of Bowles over the main body of Creeks was insufficient to lure them all away, although he did induce a number of towns to stay with him, conspicuous among which was the old Oconee tribe now the nucleus of the Seminoles. In addition to this, many other partizans of Bowles scattered throughout the Creek nation, dis- seminated false rumors concerning the treaty and induced all they could to go towards St. Marks near where Bowles was. Thus there was a strong minority element among the Creeks which very likely had its effect in making the Chiefs at Fort Wilkinson cautious in selling lands. (Let- ters Benjamin Hawkins, 414, 415, 417, 418, 421.)
Great preparations were now going on at Fort Wilkin- son for the entertainment of the Indians. So great a quan- tity of food was necessary that the country, in the vi- cinity could not supply it and runners were sent to the stock raisers among the Indians for beef.
Early in May the Indians began to arrive, and pitched their camp two or three miles from Fort Wilkinson. Each day their numbers were augmented as more and more arrived until an excellent representation from the nation was on hand, thirty-two towns being represented.
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