USA > Tennessee > The civil and political history of the state of Tennessee from its earliest settlement up to the year 1796 : including the boundaries of the state > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
On the 14th, in the evening, the Indians fired on William Blackburn and David F. Dearmon, the former a Federal and the latter a militia soldier on duty at Fort Grainger, twenty-two miles below Knoxville. In September and October, and before the middle of November, the misfortunes of the frontier settlers began to be alleviated, but were not wholly terminated. Never- theless, on the 18th of September, a man of the name of Walker was captured by the Indians on the frontiers of Hawkins Coun- ty, as he passed from his own house to that of a neighbor; and on the 13th of November Peter Greaves was killed by the In- dians within a quarter of a mile of Sharp's Station, near the south bank of the Clinch River, twenty miles north of Knox- ville. The Indians who killed him had waylaid the path, and fired at so short a distance that he was powder-burned. On being wounded, he ran, was pursued, and much hacked with a sword; and from the force of the blows about six inches of the point of the blade were broken off. Two scalps were taken from his head.
On the 20th of December a party of Indians, about two hours after dark, secreted themselves within twenty feet of the door of Thomas Cowan, and fired upon his wife and son as they stepped into the yard, and pierced the clothes of the latter with eight balls; but he escaped under cover of the night into the woods, and Mrs. Cowan returned into the house unhurt. The firing alarmed the neighborhood, and Capt. Baird was at Cowan's with
326
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
twenty men within an hour and a half, and patrolled the woods the whole night in search of the Indians, hoping they would strike up a fire by which he could discover them. On the next day, by order of Gov. Blount, he went in pursuit of them. The child of Mrs. Caffrey was brought by the Creeks on the 14th, and delivered into the possession of Mr. Spann, on the Oconee River, in Montgomery County, in the State of Georgia. He had been separated from his mother, who had been delivered to Mr. Seagrove, and publication was now made by Mr. Spann, that she might know where to apply for him. During the whole of this year, while the offensive operations of the Indians were in pro- gression, Gov. Blount industriously applied himself to the em- ployment of every expedient which could by possibility smooth the way to a pacification of the Indians. He even made an appeal to the Creek sense of justice, and requested of the leaders to be informed why their nation for the last ten years and more had killed the people of this Territory without regard to age or sex, and had taken away more than one thousand horses. "In the original division of land," said he, "amongst the red people, it is well known that the Creek lands were bounded on the north by the ridge which divides the waters of the Mobile and the Tennes- see. It is true, since the people of Georgia have driven your hunters from the sea-shore, that many of them had gone to Cum- berland in pursuit of game, and that of late years your nation has put a claim to Cumberland; but McGillevray, when at New York, ceded that claim. The Cumberland country, many years past, was claimed by the northern Indians; they sold it, and were paid for it. It was then claimed by the Chickasaws, and they have sold it and been paid for it. Last of all, the Creeks claimed it, and their claim has been ceded by the United States. When Gen. Oglethorpe first landed in Georgia, the Creeks generally hunted down to the sea, and did not turn their attention toward the Cumberland. By the treaty of New York the Creeks gave up all the land north of the thirty-four degrees forty-seven min- utes of north latitude." But it was in vain to open to them the book of morality, for other lessons than that could teach were necessary to make them understand the duties which they owed to the people of the south-western territory. But as little de- sirous as they were for a long time that peace should be re- established, yet on all occasions they were profuse in their wishes
327
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
for peace. The Creek nation some time in March, at a general meeting, authorized a talk to be sent to Panton, stating their sat- isfaction at the communications made to them by Mr. Seagrove and their rejection of the Spanish proposals to join in war against the French and Americans who might be coming down the Mis- sissippi to attack the Spanish territories; and that they were unwilling to hear of any such like proposals for the future; they distracted their people, disturbed their peace and hunting, and they informed Mr. Panton that his talks have been injurious to their peace and true interests, and that they were determined to hear no more of his advice. They advised him to mind his trade and not to trouble himself about their public concerns.
"The Hanging Maw" in May declared his people (the Chero- kees) would no longer listen to the Spaniards, who were contin- ually instigating them to war; that their young men had been seduced by them, but were now entirely alienated from them; that Watts and "The Turkey," as also the lower towns as well as the upper, were all for peace. With respect to a part of each na- tion, these professions were real, when, with respect to other parts, they were wholly illusory. A comparison of dates will show that almost simultaneously with every declaration in favor of peace some of the inhabitants were slain or plundered, as if the declaration were made to lull them into security. It was on the 15th of June, 1794, whilst Mr. McKee held conferences with the Cherokees for the re-establishment of peace, that the Indians killed Casteel and family. At this treacherous behavior the frontier people became ungovernably exasperated, and, in the absence of Gov. Blount, a party of them rose and destroyed the goods of the United States, which had been sent to the block- house to be disposed of as presents to the Cherokees. The doers of this deed were soon convinced of its impolicy, as well as temerity, repented of their misbehavior, and it was passed over in silence. In the latter part of the same month the Governor communicated to the chiefs of the Cherokees the intelligence he had received, that Talotiskee was out to take satisfaction for the death of "The Bench," who had killed at different times forty or fifty persons. He demanded of them if this was not true, and, moreover, whether he was not pursued and killed for having massacred an old woman. In the face of all the pretenses which they made, their sincerity was put to an infallible test. Their
1
328
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
council, on the 13th of July, answered Gov. Blount that it was impossible to give up the property they had captured and had in possession, it having been taken in war. Lives and property, they observed, were taken on both sides. Peace would be given to the United States, if they were willing to accept of it, by let- ting every thing past be done away with and forgotten. They were willing on their part to forget them. They could not in- terfere, they said, to prevent the Creeks from passing through their country; they imposed upon them, they said, as well as the United States. From these answers it is easy to see how little the Cherokees were inclined to peace. Like the courtiers of more enlightened nations, they had learned the cant phrases profes- sive of attachment to the duties of humanity and the peace of mankind, and, as they do, used them as the formulas of civility. The terms, too, in which their resolutions were conveyed were humiliating and provoking; and so far was the majority of the nation from opposing any obstacle to the passage of the Creeks through their Nation, that on the 27th of July a large party of Creeks, nearly one thousand, marched through their country toward the white settlement. Col. White was ordered to draw out one-half of the Knox County militia to oppose them. The Cherokee women and children passed over to the north side of the Tennessee and placed themselves under the block-house; the upper Cherokees promised to co-operate with Col. White. This formidable party of Indians stopped at Will's Town and de- manded "The Middle Striker" and Willioe to be delivered to them in satisfaction of the Creek whom they had apprehended, and who was tried and executed at Knoxville. But insincere as the Indians were in all the assurances they gave of a desire for peace, many efficient circumstances were preparing to be com- bined for the production of different sentiments; and, as if by predestinated appointment, began nearly at the same time to advance into prospect.
A committee of Congress reported on the memorial presented by the House of Representatives at Knoxville, in February, that the residents of the western frontier had experienced, and still continued to suffer, the most cruel and inhuman aggressions from large bodies of savages of the Creek and Cherokee nations; that they, notwithstanding their solemn engagements to the con- trary, and the most express stipulations in the treaties of Hol-
329
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
ston and New York, had continued to invade the settlements on that frontier, and to commit thefts and murders unparalleled but by people of the like savage and ferocious natures. And, amongst other things, they gave it as their opinion that the sit- nation of the south-western territory in general, and of Mero . District in particular, called for the most energetic measures on the part of the government. They recommended calling out the militia for offensive operations; and that authority be given to the Governor of the Territory, when he apprehended invasion, to order out such part of the territorial militia as he should judge proper to repel, annoy, and pursue such invading party of In- dians; and to give information to the President by express of the existing circumstances; and to continue it in the field until the cause ceased, or until further or other orders should be re- ceived from the President. The House of Representatives con- sidered and approved of this report, and ordered a bill to be prepared accordingly. It finally miscarried. But proceeding to such lengths showed that a great part of the United States were indignant at their behavior, and in a little time would probably have recourse to very coercive expedients. Another of those efficient circumstances came into existence in August. On the 20th of this month, one hundred and forty-six miles in front of Greeneville, the advance-guard of Gen. Wayne's army, consisting of two companies, was attacked by eleven hundred Indians and Canadian militia. The advance-guard fell back on the main body and threw it into confusion, which occasioned a retreat of a hundred paces, where it again formed. After two fires, they charged the enemy, upon which the latter immediate- ly gave ground. The United States troops rushing forward with irresistible impetuosity, the enemy were dislodged from all their coverts, and the cavalry pursued their flying troops two miles, when they dispersed. The action continued one hour and a quarter. Thirty men killed were lost by the United States army, and eighty wounded, some of them valuable offi- cers. One hundred and twenty-seven scalps were taken, and a number killed in the river that were not scalped. The army re- mained three days on the ground, which was on the banks of the Miami, in the vicinity of the British post and garrison at the foot of the rapids, and then returned to Fort Defiance, at the mouth of the Auglaize. The action happened within sight
330
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
of a strong British fort, regularly built, and garrisoned with three hundred men, forty or fifty miles below Fort Defiance, on the Miami of the Lakes. On the bottoms of this river the In- dians had five thousand acres of land in corn, a great part of which the Federal army destroyed. The northern Indians were dispirited, and soon after sued for peace. The southern tribes began to view it as a possible if not a probable contingency that the arms of these victorious troops might be erelong turned against themselves, and react the same scenes in their country as they had on the Miami of the Lakes on the 20th of August. The Nickajack expedition soon followed the intelligence they received of the disastrous fate of the northern Indians. Ap- palled by so many threatening aspects, their spirits sunk, and by adversity they learned the folly of duplicity.
On the 29th of October Doublehead, a principal chief of the lower Cherokees, sent to Gov. Blount a peace talk. His Indian name was Tucalatague. He was a signer of the treaty of Hol- ston, and he was one of the nineteen deputies who were appoint- ed to visit the President for the restoration of peace. He was the first person who violated the treaty of Holston by killing the two nephews of Gen. Sevier shortly after it was made. And he had continued from that time to kill and plunder until the murder of Thomas Sharp Spencer, at the Crab Orchard in April, a few days before his departure for Philadelphia. In his peace talk to the Governor were contained assurances of a sincere de- sire on the part of the Cherokees to observe a peaceable con- duct toward the United States. as had been agreed upon, he said, in the late conferences with the President and Secretary of War: Some of the chiefs, he said, were backward in coming to the late meeting of chiefs at the Oconee to devise the meas- ures to be pursued for the attainment and maintenance of peace, because of the late expedition into their country and killing some of their people. But the Creeks being pointed out to them as the authors of this misfortune, they had become satis- fied. The Governor, in his answer, wished for peace, "by which," said he, "you are to understand that not one more white man is to be killed." The supplicatory style used by Doublehead, and his readiness to exclude from complaint that which had so late- ly happened at Nickajack, together with the substitution on the part of the Governor of positive injunction in place of the ex-
-
331
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
postulations hitherto employed, afford high evidence that in the opinion of both parties their circumstances had been great- ly altered by recent events, of which, perhaps, the affair of Nickajack is not to be considered one of the most inoperative. Their conclusions in favor of peace were hastened by a report, which had acquired general circulation, and was believed by the Governor as well as the Indians, which was that Gen. Logan, of Kentucky, had marched in considerable force to attack the Cher- okees, and was to be joined by Col. Whitley. The Governor, on the entreaties of Watts, made through the mediation of "The Hanging Maw," had appointed a conference at Tellico on the 7th and Sth of November, and he was fearful that these arrange- ments might be defeated by an untimely irruption into the Cher- okee country. He immediately dispatched an express to Col. Whitley, with copies of the correspondence which had lately taken place between him and Doublehead, and required of him in positive terms, together with the men who were under his command, to desist from the further prosecution of their design; and that they should not enter with a hostile purpose the coun- try or lands guaranteed to the Cherokee nation by the treaty of Holston. On the same day he dispatched a letter to the Cherokee chiefs to apprise them of the information which he had received, and with the steps he had taken by way of pre- vention. Upon the receipt of these letters, Gen. Logan, if he had ever entertained the design imputed to him, desisted from it. Indeed, the Governor of Kentucky asserted that no such de- sign had ever been conceived. At the appointed time confer- ences were held at Tellico. Col. Watts declared his contrition for not adhering to the recommendations of " The Hanging Maw" to the people of the lower towns to be at peace; that just before the destruction of the Running Water and Nickajack he had gone to them himself, as well as to the Lookout Mountain town, and used his exertions for the restoration of peace; and he verily believed that they had determined to be at peace. He would not say that Nickajack and the Running Water did not de- serve the chastisement they received, nevertheless it so exasper- ated those who escaped from the ruins that for a time he was forced to be silent himself. But "The Glass," he said, went to the Running Water people, and they told him, notwithstand- ing the injury they had sustained, they had not forgotten
332
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
Watts's peaceable recommendations, and desired that the latter might take measures for the recovery of their people who had been made prisoners. He had a confirmation of their sincerity through "The Bloody Fellow," who had been sent by him to as- certain it, and therefore he presented to the Governor a string of white beads as a true talk and public talk from the lower towns to his Excellency. He applied to "The Hanging Maw," or Scolacutta, then sitting by his side, as he remarked, for a witness of the fact, that the lower towns had instructed him (Col. Watts) to request Scolacutta not to throw them away, but to go with them to the Governor to present to him this talk on their behalf. By a prisoner whom Maj. Ore had taken, and who was sent back by Gen. Robertson, he said the general had requested him by letter to deliver up a white prisoner and a certain number of negroes, and that the prisoners taken by Maj. Ore should be restored to their nation. In this letter, said he, the general invited him to come with a flag; but as the woman who was the bearer of this letter was pursued by some bad people, and was obliged to quit her horse to save herself in the cane, although he knew Gen. Robertson to be a good man. he deemed it imprudent to go to him. He said there were no prisoners in Wills Town, the place of his residence; and he re- marked that the people of his town once took a man of great worth, Capt. Henly, and restored him without price. "The Hanging Maw" said the lower towns were once governed by him, but for some time had disregarded his admonitions till after the attack made upon them by Maj. Ore, and then they sent him to make peace for them. He imputed the calamities which had befallen them to their own misconduct, yet he so- licited peace for them, and hoped they had seen their folly. Gov. Blount accepted of the proposed friendship, and men- tioned the 18th of December as the time for a general exchange of prisoners and of all the property taken in war. He advised them to go out of the way should Gen. Logan enter their coun- try. He desired that they would not let the Creeks pass through their country, and told them of his expectation that if the Creeks should not refrain from further destruction of the people of the United States and their property the govern- ment next spring would send a powerful army into their coun- try. Watts said the Creeks were powerful, and that the lower
333
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
towns dare not refuse them a passage, nor resent the injuries which they daily sustained in shooting down their hogs and cattle and stealing their horses. They all three smoked the pipe of peace with tobacco sent as a present by "The Long Warrior."
Gov. Blount offered to detail to Watts the particulars of Gen. Wayne's late victory, if he wished to be informed of them. Watts said he did not wish it, for some of his own people had been in the action, and had already informed him.
Some time after the conferences, and about the 3d of Decem- ber, the Governor stated to "The Little Turkey " that with dif- ficulty Gen. Logan had been stopped; that he was very angry, and threatened the destruction of the lower towns if any more blood should be spilled; had he not been stopped, that his army, which consisted of two thousand well armed and mounted men, would have marched into their country with good pilots, well acquainted with it; but that he had no designs against the up- per towns.
About the same time the Governor wrote to the chiefs of the Cherokees, and pressed them to come forward with their pris- oners to be exchanged at Tellico, and described to them what peace was and what it was not. "For one part of the nation to cry out 'It is peace!' and to send peace talks, while the young warriors are killing and stealing," said he, "is the most destruc- tive, oppressive, and distressing of all wars. Peace consists in one and all ceasing to kill the citizens of the United States, and ceasing to steal their horses." Though formerly the Governor dissembled a great deal of what he knew, he now unveiled him- self, spoke plainly, and kept back nothing. Conceiving himself able to enforce what he recommended, he convinced both him- self and them that he must be obeyed. This was a far better ground on which to found his expectations of success than he had ever stood on since he came to the Territory in a public character. His possession of it was unquestionably a conse- quence of the orders which Gen. Robertson had given for the late expedition against the lower towns, although not authorized by any higher power. For the love of his country he staked his reputation and his rank; but as fortune favors those who bravely dare, in the cause of virtue and of their country, so it favored him in this trial, completed the high opinion the people
334
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
entertained of his judgment and patriotism, gave peace to his exhausted country, and closed her bleeding veins. On the last of December a partial exchange of prisoners was made on both sides, and a future day was appointed for the completion of it. Such at this time were the appearances and evidences of sincer- ity, that for once peace was believed to exist between the Cher- okees and white people. Gov. Blount requested of the Chero- kees that the Chickasaws might be included in the peace. The Cherokee whom they killed, said he, was slain under the belief that the Cherokees had killed Piomingo. He insisted that the Creeks should not be permitted to pass through their country. "They must be stopped by force," said he, "if otherwise they cannot be prevented." He repeated that they must be at peace with the Chickasaws, and must forgive the offenses which they had committed. He stated to them that the people who de- stroyed Nickajack followed a trail into it, from a part of Cum- berland where recent hostilities had been enacted, and that two fresh scalps were found in the town, The people of Cumber- land, he informed them, were a part of the United States. The Governor detailed to them the situation of their people. Your nation is small, extended over a large tract of country-at least two hundred and fifty miles up and down the Tennessee, and upwards of one hundred miles to the south, to the waters of the Mobile, surrounded on all sides except one by the United States, and on that by the Creeks. The United States wish peace. You had better fight the Creeks than us, if war is indispen- sable; they have killed your cattle and your hogs before your faces, and stolen your horses, which you dared not to resent. They have killed and robbed the citizens of the United States resident on the Cumberland, without the least provocation or justification, for many years, and returned through your lower towns with scalps and horses; and in these enormities have been aided by the young warriors of the Cherokee nation. If the foolish young men of the Cherokees will continue to do so, they must expect to take the fate of the Creeks. He advised them to contract their settlements, by which the chiefs would the more easily govern the refractory part of the nation. Those who remained behind might be considered as enemies, and might be abandoned to destruction.
With respect to the Creeks, the tokens of peace were but lit-
335
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
tle, if at all, discernible. The Governor's opinion, as late as the 10th of November, was that they would never cease to invade the Cumberland settlements "till they shall have been destroyed." Subsequent experience has shown that this sentiment was founded on the strictest accuracy. He said further that if he could have permission to do so, he would, with the Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Choctaws, break them up. "If the United States do not destroy the Creeks," said he, "they will continue to kill the citizens of the United States;" and at another time he said: "The Creeks must be destroyed by the arms of the United States, before they will desist from killing the people." And, indeed, when the motives of the Creeks for the war which they had now so long waged shall be considered, it will readily appear that no end was ever to be expected till the Creeks them- selves were exterminated. The government of the United States, convinced of this fact, would have been justified in visiting them with all the scourges of war.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.