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 33
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The opinion had prevailed that McGillevray was a partner with Panton in trade, and had kept the Indians in a perpetual state of hostility to monopolize their custom, and in the course . of this year this suspicion was greatly strengthened. McGillev- ray died, and Panton swept off all his property and carried it to Pensacola, to the exclusion of his friends and relations, who considered it a piece of injustice, and as countenanced by the Spanish government. The relations were incensed both against Panton and the Spaniards. The situation of McGillevray, how- ever, was not the prime but secondary immediate cause em- ployed by Spain to promote the more important purposes which she wished to accomplish. It made Panton and MeGillevray faithful agents in the business committed to their charge, but the origin lay upon much deeper foundations.
The internal legislation of the south-western territory was in this year in a state of progressive preparation, and at length commenced their operations. The representatives in Congress had nominated five out of ten of those persons who had been se- lected by the Territorial House of Representatives at their late meeting, as those out of whom the Legislative Council should be taken; and the President, pursuant to that nomination, had appointed them: Gen. Griffith Rutherford, Gen. John Sevier, Col. James Winchester, Col. Stokely Donalson, and Capt. Par- menas Taylor.
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On Monday, the 25th of August, 1794, the General Assembly of the Territory commenced their session at Knoxville. Gen. Rutherford was appointed President of the Legislative Council. On Monday, the 3d of September, the Legislative Council and members of the House of Representatives convened, and elected James White, Esq., of Davidson County, to represent the Ter- ritory in the Congress of the United States. They passed a law for the regulation of courts and law proceedings, and one for erecting the county of Sevier, by division of the county of Jef- ferson. They passed a law for the establishment of the town of Knoxville, which had been laid off by Col. James White in the year 1791. They declared the county of Sevier to be part of the District of Hamilton, and established two colleges-one in the vicinity of Knoxville, and one other in Greene County. They authorized the raising of money by lottery to discharge the cost of cutting and clearing a wagon road from South-west Point to the settlements on the Cumberland River, in the Dis- trict of Mero. They passed laws, making many other useful public provisions; nor did they forget again to lay their com- plaints against the Indians at the feet of Congress. They in- formed the Congress that since the 26th of February --- the date of their last address-the Creeks and Cherokees had not ab- stained from the destruction of the lives and property of their citizens; and, in order to verify the assertion, they accompanied the memorial with a list of the names of citizens killed and wounded in the Territory since that time, amounting in number to one hundred and nine. Their names have been already men- tioned in this work. The Legislature further represented in their memorial that presents made to the Indians are viewed by them as evidences of fear on the part of the givers, or as a tribute paid to their superior prowess in war; and that such presents en- courage them to further slaughter of the exposed citizens of the frontiers. "Fear," they said, "and not love, is the only means by which Indians can be governed; and until they are made to feel the horrors of war they will not know the value of peace or observe the treaties they have made with the United States."
The General Assembly, by a resolution of both branches, re- quested that a new census of the people should be made on the last Saturday of the month of July, in the year 1795; and that at the taking of the census the sense of the people should be
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ascertained upon the subject of their wish for admission into the Union as a State.
The year 1794 closed upon the inhabitants of the Territory with a deep conviction that they enjoyed a less degree of protec- tion than the government ought to supply, and with a solemn murmur of discontent at the great losses they had sustained without compensation made by the government, and without liberty allowed them to procure compensation by the exertion of their own physical powers. But considering the feverish state of the world, the differences of the United States with Great Britain, their pending regulations with Spain, their war with the Algerines, and the great struggle the government had to maintain for the preservation of its neutral attitude, together with the insubordination and resistance to the government of some of the counties of Pennsylvania, the south-western peo- ple still judged it the wisest course to confide in the government and in the illustrious Chief Magistrate at the head of it, whose prudence and just discernment had now become throughout the world the theme of admiration and eulogy.
Gen. Knox, previous to the resignation of his office as Secre- tary of War, delivered a report, on the 28th of December, upon the means of preserving peace with the Indians. It was laid by the President before Congress, with a hope that some means might be devised to preserve treaties and to afford protection to the frontiers.
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CHAPTER IX.
The Federal Constitution-The State Constitution -- Persons Killed by the In- dians, 1790, 1791, 1792-The Desire of Plunder the Cause of the Creek War- Surveys Could Not Be Made -- The Consequences Thereof-North Carolina Leg- islature Respecting the Vacant Lands of Tennessee-Their Laws Conformed to-The Governor Invites the Choctaws and Chickasaws to Meet Him at Nash- ville in August-Spaniards Prevented Some of the Choctaws from Coming- Conferences at Nashville --- Doublehead and His Party Complained of to the Chickasaws-The Chickasaw Boundaries-Post at Bear Creek Disrelished by the Chickasaws-The Spanish Conduct with the Creeks-Some Chiefs of the Cherokees Complain to the Baron de Carondalet -- Wish the Settlers Removed from Cumberland-The Treaties Made by the Americans Not Fairly Explained to Them -- The Spaniards Get a Report of the Conferences at Nashville-The Partiality of the Americans for the French Displeasing to the Spaniards-En- couraged the Hostility of the Indians-John Watts Went to See Panton in the Cherokee Nation; and Thence to Pensacola-Panton and Partner Authorized by Spain to Trade with the Indians; Hence His Desire that the Indians Should Be at War with the United States-Their Letters to the Spanish Governor --- The Cherokees Claim an Enlargement of Their Boundaries-Spanish Agent Arrives in the Creek Nation; Assumes the Direction of the Indians; Advised Them to Turn Out against the Americans-Intercourse between the Creeks and Spaniards at New Orleans --- The Spaniards Recognize Them as Allies-Treat- ed Bowles Kindly-The Sincerity of MeGillevray Suspected-Spaniards Incited the Indians to War, and Supplied Them with Articles to Carry It On-Prom- ised Them Assistance-Watts Returned from Pensacola-Stirs Up the Indians to War-Delivered Black Beads to Them-The Cherokees Assembled to Hear His Report-Green Corn Dance-Powder, Ball, and Arms Promised by the Spaniards-The Conversation of Gov. O'Neil-Supplies of Arms Promised, and of Ammunition-Watts Recommended the Spanish Proposals, and War with the Americans-The Bloody Fellow Opposes It-Debates of the Chiefs in Council on the War Proposed-Rendezvous Appointed by Watts-War Deter- mined on-War Dance-Plan of Conducting the War-Orders Given to Pre- pare for Marching-Arrival of Whisky Delayed Their Operations-Spir Sent to Cumberland-Agreed in the Council That False Information Should Be Given to Gov. Blount-Watts Appointed to the Command of the Creeks and Cherokees-The Governor Could Not Draw from the Indian Chiefs the Proceedings at Pensacola-He Obtained Information That the Five Lower Towns Were for War, and Had Been Supplied with Ammunition by the Span- iards-The Governor Sent an Express to Gen. Robertson-Information Given by the Indian Spies -- The Militia Raised by Gen. Robertson-Letters to the Governor from "The Bloody Fellow" and Glass to Deceive Him-Ordered the Troops to Be Dishanded-Hanging Maw's Letter Undeceived Him -- Recalled the Militia to Arms -- The Troops Disbanded by Gen. Robertson before the
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Countermanding Orders Were Received --- The Indians Were on Their March; Arrived at Buchanan's Station; Attacked It and Were Defeated-Retreated; Pursueb by Gen. Robertson-The Governor Reminds the Indians of the Span- ish Cruelties in Mexico-Wished to Be Informed of the Spanish Conferences at Pensacola-Received no Satisfaction-Watts Meditates Another Invasion, bat after Some Time Is for Peace -- The Spaniards Recommend Peace to the Cherokees-Watts Sent Intercessors to the Governor-The Great Sufferings of the Western People-Gov. Blount Vindicates Them -- His History of the Cher- ckees-The Lands in Cumberland Never Belonged to Them-Their Cessions in 1782 and in 1785-The Creeks Have no Claim to the Cumberland Lands -The Exposed Situation of Mero District-The Measures of Defense Lately Taken Were Necessary-Gayoso Obtained Cessions, Held Treaties, and Got Permission to Build Forts, and the Cession of a Large Tract of Country-Gov. Blount Watched the Spaniards-Sent Douglass to Get Information-Corn Sent to the Chickasaws by Gen. Robertson-Expenses Complained of by the Gener- al Government-Conference with the Cherokees-Gen. Sevier's Brigade Dis- banded-Indians Kill the Inhabitants Near Nashville, and Rob Them and Steal Their Horses-Troops Ordered into Service-Others to Be Sent from Hamilton District-Bledsoe and Others Killed, and Other Outrages-Public Discontents-A Chickasaw Killed by Mistake-Rains and Johnson Scour the Woods, and Beard Came by the Heads of the Rivers toward the South; Fell in with Some Small Parties and Killed Some of Them-Persons Killed and Wounded between May and August, 1793-Castleman's Daring Attack-In- dians Pursued and Killed by Rains and Gordon-Indian Depredations, and Punishment of Them-Persons Killed by Them-Snoddy Defeats a Large Par- ty; and in the Morning Was Attacked, and Defeated Them Again-Persons Wounded and Killed-The Indians Made Slaves of Their Captives --- An Ex- pedition Planned against the Five Lower Towns of the Cherokees-Chicka- saws Quarrel with the Creeks, and Kill Some of Them-Address Gen. Robert- son -- Piomingo Visits Gov. Blount-Corn Sent to Them by Gen. Robertson -- Complained of by the Baron de Carondalet-Piomingo Visits the President- Claim of the Chickasaws to Lands in South Carolina-Reasons for Acting with Mildness toward the Spaniards and Their Connections-Offense Taken by Gayoso at Expressions Said to Be Used by Gen. Robertson-Creeks Displeased with the Spaniards-Genet's Arrival; His Conduct Alarmed the Spaniards- They Applied to the Indians for Aid-War Determined on by the Chickasaws against the Creeks-Spirited Representation Made to the Ministers of Spain- The Spaniards Supplied the Cherokees in 1793 with Powder and Lead to Make a Descent upon Knoxville-The Spaniards Begin to Be Reconciled-Persons Wounded or Killed by the Indians -- Troops Raised for the Protection of Mero District-The People Complained for Want of Protection-An Expedition Planned against Nickajack -- Troops Assembled; Marched; and Killed Many of the Creek Warriors at Nickajack-The General Government Displeased at It-Indian Outrages-Troops Raised in 1794 for the Protection of Mero- Persons Wounded and Killed-Guarantees of Lands Remonstrate against the Cession Made to the Indians by the Treaty of Hopewell-Negotiations with Spain-Commissions Issued by Genet -- The Spaniards Alarmed-The Inten- tions of Making a Descent upon the Spanish Possessions Defeated-Chicka-
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saws Attended to-Visit the President -- Proclamation in Their Favor-Treat- ed with Kindness-Persons Killed and Wounded in 1795-The Baron de Ca- rondalet's Letter to "The Mad Dog" -- Remarks On It-Gayoso Builds a Fort on the Chickasaw Bluffs-Gov. Blount's Letter to Him on the Subject-Col. Innis Sent to Kentucky to Explain the Steps Taken by the Government to Se- cure the Navigation of the Mississippi-Very Satisfactory to the Western Peo- ple-Treaty with Spain -- Chickasaws Attacked by the Creeks-Beat Them in Two Battles-The Creeks Make Peace with Them.
THE y THE year 1790 with the people of Cumberland was the epoch of much expectation, apprehension, and hope. The new Federal government was about to be extended over their coun- try. From its energies much was hoped and much was dreaded, and great was the attention bestowed on its primordial acts. At the same time a new territorial government was arising from the divested sovereignty of North Carolina, and how it was to affect the people or be relished by them was wholly problemat- ical. These were important novelties which do not occur but in the lapse of many ages, and which were to have a lasting influ- ence upon the condition of the people. A degree of anxiety was excited suitable to their magnitude, and in presence of these all other objects were of inferior moment. The Indians dealt out blows and death, but hope and fear on tiptoe turned from them to that grand exhibition which, riding on the billows of time, had just heaved into view. The savages themselves seemed not to be exempt from the general feelings, and to have stopped for a moment to catch the results of these modern ex- periments. Their operations were not as destructive in this year as formerly. They killed Alexander Neely near Greenfield. at the fort where Anthony Bledsoe had lived; also a young woman of the name of Norris, on Brown's Fork of Red River, and wounded Blair and another. They killed at Mayfield's Station John Glen, who had married the widow Mayfield, and they killed three persons at Brown's Station, a few miles from Nashville. They wounded John McRory, and caught and scalped three of Everett's children and killed John Everett. Hague erected a cotton-machine on Mill Creek, at which some persons were killed whose names are forgotten. Francis Arm- strong fell upon a party of Indians near Gantt's Station. They fled, and he regained five horses, and Col. Weakly killed one of the Indians who had come into the settlements to kill and plun- der. They sometimes met with the fate which they deserved, but more frequently escaped unhurt with their booty.
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In April, 1791, a negro man of Capt. Caffrey's was killed at work in the field. A great number of horses were now taken from the settlements, and particularly from Station Camp Creek, in Sumner County; some from the neighborhood of Nashville in May, and some again in June, as likewise from Red River and Sumner County in the same month. In May they killed John Farris and his brother, of Lincoln County, Ky .; on the 3d of May George Wilson, a young man in Sumner County, six miles from the court-house, on the public road to Nashville.
On the 2d of June, 1791, they killed John Thompson in his own corn-field, within five miles of Nashville. On the 14th of June they killed John Gibson and wounded McMoon, in Gib- son's field, within eight miles of Nashville. They killed Benja- min Kirkendall in his own house, within two miles of Col. Winchester's, in Sumner County, and plundered his house of every thing that Indians could use. In June three travelers from Natchez to Nashville were found dead on the trace near the mouth of Duck River. There were eight in company, and only two came in. On the 3d of July Thomas Fletcher and two other men were killed on the north side of Cumberland, near the mouth of Red River. Their heads were entirely skinned. In the same month a man was killed within a hundred and fifty yards of Maj. Wilson's, on the public road, as he was riding up to the house. On the 12th Thomas White was killed on the Cumberland Mountain and on the Cumberland trace. The Creeks a few days afterward rode his horse through the Chero- kee Nation. On the 31st John Dixon was killed within a mile and a half of Col. Winchester's.
On Monday, the 19th of January, 1792, the Indians killed Robert Sevier and William Sevier, sons of Valentine Sevier, who lived at the mouth of Red River, near the present site of Clarksville. They had gone to the relief of the distressed fam- ilies on the Cumberland River who had sent by express for as- sistance. The officers of Tennessee County could give none. A part of the crew was on shore getting provisions to be carried in boats to the sufferers. The boats were ahead of them when these young men discovered the enemy, whom they mistook for their own party, the Indians having been seen late in the even- ing a considerable distance from that place. Robert Sevier hailed them, who answered they were friends, with which an-
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swer being satisfied, he sailed on, and the Indians carelessly be- gan to chop with their hatchets till the young men in the boats got very near them. Robert said to the man who was with him in the boats: "These are not our friends; steer off." The In- dians then fired upon them. The man leaped out of the boat and left them in it about three rods distant from the shore. Before the 25th William was found and buried, but Robert met a party of twelve white men; pursued, but did not overtake the Indians. On the 16th of the same month Valentine, a third son of this unfortunate parent, also fell by the hands of the savages. He was in a boat ascending the river, and was fired upon and killed dead in it. Two others were wounded. One of them (John Rice) died, and both he and Valentine were buried about sixty miles below the mouth of Red River. Until Valen- tine fell, he and two others kept up so brisk a fire that they in- timidated the Indians and saved the crew. The attack on Rob- ert and William was about eighteen miles below the mouth of Red River, at the mouth of Blooming Grove Creek. The In- dians about this time had fired upon several boats, and had tak- en some of them, and the inhabitants in this part of the settle- ments expected a very hot war in the ensuing summer. The Indians who committed these outrages were supposed to be from New Madrid or Lans le Grace, where the hand of the Spaniards who pretended so much friendship was perceptible in almost all the injuries which the settlers received from the sav- ages. Deprived of all his sons who had come with him to Cum- berland in so short a time, the afflicted parent wrote to his brother, Gen. Sevier, to send to him his son John to come and see him; "as," said he, in the moving language of suffering in- nocence, "I have no other sons but small ones."
On the 28th of January, 1792, Oliver Williams and Jason Thompson at night encamped on the road leading from Bled- soe's Station to the ford of Cumberland River, on the north side of the river, where they were fired upon by Indians and both wounded, and their horses and other articles were taken from them. They got back to the settlement much injured by the frost, snow then being on the ground. The horses were taken by eight Creeks, who were seen with them in the Cherokee country on their way to the Creek Nation. About the begin- ning of March, 1792, the Indians attacked the house of Mr.
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Thompson, within seven miles of Nashville, killed and scalped the old man, his wife, his son, and a daughter, and made pris- oners Mrs. Caffrey, her son, a small boy, and Miss Thompson. The Creeks saw two white men who came to a camp on a trace leading from the Choctaws to the Creeks, where the latter had with them as prisoners two white women and a child two years old. These white men were in company with some chiefs of the Chickasaws, and would have been killed by the Creeks but for the assurance of those chiefs that they were not citizens of the United States. On the 5th of March, 1792, twenty-five In- dians attacked Brown's Station, eight miles from Nashville, and killed four boys; on the 6th they burned Dunham's Station; on the 12th they killed McMurray on his own plantation, at the mouth of Stone's River; on the 5th of April they killed Mrs. Radcliff and three children; on the Sth they killed Benjamin Williams and party, consisting of eight men, in the heart of the Cumberland settlements; on Station Camp Creek a boy was wounded in three places; at the same place two boys, sons of Robert Desha, were killed in the field in the day-time, near their father's house; and also Kirkendall, on the 16th of May, 1792, and a man on the 17th. So much did the dangers and distress- es of the Cumberland people increase and thicken upon them that Gov. Blount was obliged to order two more companies to their assistance, with orders to be in the Cumberland settle- ments on the 10th of June. On the 24th of May, 1792, Gen. Robertson and his son, Jonathan Robertson, were at or near Robertson's Lick, half a mile from his station, where they were fired upon by a party of Indians. The general was wounded in the arm, and thrown by his horse amongst the Indians. His son was wounded through the hip, but seeing the dangerous situation in which his father was, he dismounted, though so bad- ly wounded, and fired on them as they rushed toward his father. This checked them for a moment, and gave time to the general to get off, and both got safely into the station. On the 25th a boy was wounded near the general's, and died of his wounds on the 6th of June; on Sunday, the 13th of May, a man and two girls were fired on by the Indians within four miles of Nashville. The man and one girl escaped; the other was tomahawked by the Indians. On the 26th of June, 1792, Zeigler's Station, within two miles of Bledsoe's Lick, was attacked by a party of Indians,
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first in the afternoon and again by night. They killed five per- sons, burned one in the station, and wounded four others; three escaped unhurt.
Gov. Blount arrived at Nashville a few days before the 16th of July, 1792, and ordered three hundred militia into actual service, under the command of Maj. Sharpe, an old, experienced Continental officer, for the protection of the south-western front- iers, and to be posted at proper distances in well-built block- houses and stockade forts, which in a great measure relieved and silenced the fears and complaints of the inhabitants. These posts were intended to be kept up so long as the danger existed. During this summer while one man worked another was obliged to stand sentinel, while one man went to the spring to drink another was obliged to guard him with a gun in his hands, at a convenient place. Some Cherokees came about this time to Nashville, to attend the ensuing conferences. They gave infor- mation that a large party of Creeks had passed the Tennessee, on their way to Nashville, to "take hair," as they called it, and to steal horses. On the 16th they had taken eleven horses, and had frequently fired on the inhabitants as they passed from one part of the district to another. They took seventeen horses after the Governor's arrival.
After the treaty of Nashville, which ended on the 10th of Au- gust, 1792, Gov. Blount, without loss of time, repaired to Knox- ville, where he arrived a few days before the 25th of August.
On the 31st of August an attack was made on John Birkley and his son, in his peach orchard near Bledsoe's Lick. The former was wounded, but bravely returned the fire and killed an Indian in the act of scalping his son. On the night of the 27th of August a party of fifteen Creeks put fire to Capt. Morgan's house, near the same place. The fire was extinguished and the party repulsed, by the aid of Capt. Lusk's company, stationed for the protection of the frontiers. On the preceding night the same parties opened the stables of James Douglass, and took his horses. The next day Samuel Wilson fell in with them, wounded one, put the party to flight, and regained the horses, a gun, and a bloody blanket. Shortly before the 11th of August, 1792, the Indians killed a boy and wounded a man near Bled- soe's Lick.
Loud complaints began now to be made by the people of Mero.
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The treaty of New York in 1790, they alleged, had taught the defenseless inhabitants of Mero to hope for security; but they were permitted only for a short time to indulge in that hope. The Creeks had killed, scalped, captivated, and plundered the people of this district, as if they had received an annuity for so doing. What article of the treaty, it was asked, had they com- plied with? Had they run the line? No; and the nation at large had no thought of it. Had they delivered the white pris- oners or negroes? No; at least there were many whom they had not delivered, nor would deliver unless they were purchased. They considered white prisoners as property, and asked the price of a negro for the ransom of each. Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Mayfield had at that time (August, 1792) to lament sons in that situation. An opinion prevailed at this time, but too generally in the interior of the United States, that the robberies and butcheries committed by the Indians on the frontier settlers were provoked by intrusions upon the Indian lands. This opin- ion was certainly not correct with respect to the Creeks and Cherokees since the treaties of New York and Holston. The Creeks never had a claim to any lands within the south-western territory nor even north of the Tennessee. We have already examined the merits of the Cherokee claim to any lands on the waters of the Cumberland. Their behavior at the period we are now speaking of could only arise from a thirst of blood, provoked by exterritorial stimulants, together with the desire to make slaves of the frontier settlers, and the cupidity of gain to be acquired by the sales of stolen horses. In this year they attacked Hickman's Station. D. Castleman, Z. Martin, and others went to the Elk River, and killed one or two Indians. On Saturday, the 6th of October, a company of travelers, on their way from Kentucky through the Territory, were fired upon in the wilderness. Two men were killed, and one said to be mortally wounded. The party which attacked this company consisted of fifty men, headed by the noted chief, Talotiskee. On Wednesday, the 3d of October, a party of Indians fired sev- eral guns on James McRory, on the north side of the Cumber- land. About the same time Benjamin Jocelyn had nearly or quite twenty guns fired at him. Neither of them were wounded. On the 7th of October Mr. Irvine was shot through the thigh on the road, about four miles from Nashville. On the same day,
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