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 41
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The American negotiators with Spain industriously pressed forward the discussion of those matters which had been made the subjects of negotiation; and it was announced to the United States, a little after the middle of February, 1794, by the minis- ter of the King of Spain, that his Majesty was satisfied that the Indians had been the aggressors in their wars with the people of Georgia, and that he had transmitted instructions to the Gov- ernors of Louisiana and Florida to give them no assistance, be- ing satisfied that the United States had no unfriendly designs upon their possessions in East or West Florida, by the procla- mation of neutrality and by the fixed resolution of the govern- ment of the Union to maintain it, together with a rising dissat- isfaction at the conduct of her English allies, the near approach of peace with France, and as a part of the system that Louisi- ana would in convenient time be ceded to the latter, to be sold to America, it is no wonder that the current of politics in Spain should actually begin to flow in channels altogether different from the old ones to which they had been accustomed. And it was now to be expected, as the event afterward proved, that so far as Spanish incitation was the cause of Indian hostility, the former would be far less pressing than formerly, as soon as the dispatches from Spain should reach the Governors of Florida and Louisiana, and should have time to be transmitted to the Creeks and Cherokees. The affairs of America with Spain were
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in such a train of amicable adjustment through the whole of the year 1794 as gave the sure presage of a fortunate completion. This circumstance made the government of the Union more anx- ious, if possible, than formerly to keep the people of the United States in a state of abstinence from any of those acts which might interrupt the harmony between the two countries, that seemed to be fast settling itself upon a permanent basis.
The Spaniards could not but feel themselves injured and in- sulted by the conduct of the French toward them; but, without being worked upon by impatience to burst forth in gusts of in- dignation, they treated the subject with becoming dignity, and laid it before the constituted authorities under whose cogni- zance it came.
On the 29th of August, 1793, the commissioners of Spain had complained to the government of the United States of attempts to excite the inhabitants of Kentucky to an enterprise against the Spanish dominions on the Mississippi. On that day the President requested of the Governor of Kentucky (Mr. Shelby) to be attentive to circumstances of that sort, and if such an en- terprise was meditated to put the citizens of Kentucky on their guard against the consequences, and to adopt the necessary legal measures for preventing it. He was informed that such meas- ures would be particularly inauspicious to Kentucky, at the very moment when her interests (alluding to the free navigation of the Mississippi) were under negotiation between Spain and the United States. Gov. Shelby assured the President of his read- iness to counteract all such measures and of his (the Govern- or's) belief that none such were in contemplation, and of the high sense which the people of Kentucky had of the obligation they owed to the general government, far too high to admit of their embarking in any enterprise so injurious to the welfare of the United States.
On the 6th of November, 1793, the Governor was further in- formed, upon the representation of the commissioners of Spain, that on the 2d of October, 1793, four Frenchmen (La Chaise, Charles Delpau, Mathurin, and Gignou) had set out in a stage from Philadelphia, authorized by the then Minister of France (Mr. Genet) to engage as many as they could, whether of our citizens or others, on the road or within the State of Kentucky or elsewhere, to undertake an expedition against the Spanish
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possessions in our neighborhood; and in event to descend the Ohio and Mississippi and attack New Orleans. He was required by legal means, such as binding the parties in recognizance, or by the aid of the militia, if these failed, to suppress the attempt. The citizens of Kentucky could not expect any favorable result from such measures with respect to the free navigation of the Mississippi, relative to which subject they had long experienced a restless temper, which that artful man laid hold of to precip- itate them into rash expedients. The legal means of suppres- sion were exposed to the view of the Governor, and he was en- treated to use them with effect. In order to quiet the solicitude and fears felt by the western people on the subject of the free
navigation of the Mississippi, they were informed through the Governor that the primary instruction to our Minister in Spain was to obtain it, and that the King of Spain had consented to open a negotiation upon the subject, and that all proper steps had been taken so to manage the negotiation as to give it suc- cess. It was stated that the commissioners on both sides had been for some months employed, and were then employed on that subject. It was requested that this communication might be received as a warning against the dangers to which these unauthorized schemes of war might expose the Union, and that individuals might learn to acquiesce in the means which the government had adopted and was pursuing for the completion of their wishes. The Governor was informed that the present French Minister had discovered and recalled the commissions. The Governor of Kentucky, as one of the western people, had entertained the opinion that the government of the Union had not been as attentive to the subject of the free navigation of the Mississippi as its importance required and as the state of pub- lic sentiment in the western country dictated. In his letter to the President he used expressions corresponding to his feelings. He was, with the information now laid before him, invited to a revision of the subject and to a sacrifice of his resentments, and finally to a compliance with the measures which the President had consigned to his discretion and execution.
It had now come to light that Genet had granted commissions to raise men in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia. Gov. St. Clair, of Ohio, issued his proclamation, con- demning and forbidding such a procedure. Gov. Shelby, though
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he at first complained of Spanish injustice, upon receiving an ex- planatory letter, became satisfied, and acted with effect. Blount, when he discovered a lurking disposition of the same tendency here, so severely reprobated it that the design was abandoned. On the 18th of January, 1795, he wrote to Gen. Robertson, ex- pressing his surprise and mortification at the information that a part of the citizens of Mero District should be about to engage in an offensive war against their peaceable neighbors. Should they carry their scheme into effect, said he, so far as to attempt the conquest of West Florida, which was all they could do, they would thereby involve the United States in a general war, and lay themselves liable to penalties both pecuniary and corporal, should they ever return to their injured country. He called upon the general to discountenance and prevent the scheme by all the means in his power. "How," said the Governor, "can de- fensive protection be extended to the people of Mero, who are about to commence actual war, and thereby embark the United States in it, against one of the most powerful monarchies on earth; and without any pretense for so doing but that which could be employed by every highway robber-a desire to possess by strong hand the property of other people?" He imputed these schemes to Mr. Genet, in terms of strong reprobation. He re- quested Gen. Robertson to obtain copies of the commissions. Judge McNairy and the attorney of the district were named as persons who should immediately act, by way of prevention.
About the 5th of March, 1794, the Spanish commissioners laid before the Secretary of State information received from the government of East Florida, which purported that about the 22d of January, 1794, an expedition was in contemplation and preparing against East Florida; that the American, Col. Samuel Hammond, was to have the command of it; that Capt. Hardy was one of those appointed to enroll the people residing in the county of Camden; that the troops so to be enlisted were to take an oath of fidelity to France, and that they had a naval force ready to act in concert with them for the same purpose; that there was in the county of Camden a body of sixteen hundred cavalry, in three divisions, under the orders of the said Samuel Hammond, who had been appointed brigadier-general in the French service; that the said divisions of cavalry were fully equipped and officered; that in the fortified posts of Temple
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and Colerain, lying in the neighborhood of the city and adjacent to East Florida, were two large magazines of provisions and am- munition of all kinds, that were purchased by Mr. Abner Ham- mond, a brother of the commander in chief of that expedition, who was appointed colonel of the cavalry, both being inhabitants of that place; that there were three French frigates to sail from the port of Beaufort, having one thousand or eleven hundred men on board, in order to attack East Florida both by sea and land at the same time, which was to be done within three weeks from that time.
South Carolina, by her Legislature, ordered a committee to in- quire into the facts, with a view to the suppression of the enter- prise; and Gov. Matthews, of Georgia, issued a decided procla- mation forbidding any further proceeding in these measures. Finally the whole scheme was defeated.
When the sovereignty of the country was thus openly and plainly insulted, the most temperate measures were resorted to, and they had the desired effect because of the implicit confidence which all America reposed in the wisdom and virtue and advice of the First Magistrate. But whenever a similar attempt shall be made, it is much to be questioned whether, should the United States not be in possession of the same preventatives, this gov- ernment will not be at liberty, by the acknowledged law of na- tions, to have recourse to means of much greater security, for certainly it is difficult to conceive of a greater offense which could be offered.
The Spaniards, by these exertions of the American govern- ment, were saved from a dangerous irruption of incensed troops, who would neither have spared their lives or properties. If it were possible for a uniform course of friendly conduct from one nation to another, with patience and forbearance toward the in- discretions of the latter, to conciliate her affections and acquire her esteem, no wonder that the Spanish nation should be at length compelled to relinquish the obstinate dislike which it had to the Americans. After so many repeated proofs of the sincerity of all that the American government had professed, Spain began to blush for her own jealousies, and to wish that some atonement could be made for the injustice which her opin- ions had done; but as natural storms can only be composed by a gradual detachment of some of their constituent causes, so it
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is with political ones, and perhaps with the feelings of man in ยท general -- they cannot return on a sudden to a state of perfect com- placency from one of very much excited sensibility. It was cer- tainly so with the Baron de Carondalet. He made a charge against Gov. Blount, which did not meet with the credit or countenance that he anticipated. The Governor, in his letter to the Secretary of War, of the 10th of March, 1794, said, "It is not true;" but as it was possible that the baron had received some information to ground it upon, he would be glad to know what it was. Though treated with so many marks of friendship, the Spanish officers could not yet be entirely easy, and their in- quietude broke out into accusations, first of one American func- tionary and then of another, and thus gave room to suspect the sincerity of their own professions of being at ease. If any doubt could remain of the fact, Mr. Seagrove by the middle of April chad obtained decisive proofs that the Spanish government and its commissioners had encouraged and rewarded the Indians, both in public and in private, for making war on the frontier people. And in the spring of the year 1794, before it was ascertained in America what change of opinion had taken place at the Spanish court, and pursuing the old plan, the Spanish officers erected a fort in the Chickasaw Nation.
President Washington, though greatly embarrassed by public difficulties which obtruded themselves from all quarters, did not neglect the small nation of the Chickasaws. He considered them worthy of attention not only because of their known brav- ery, but also for the constancy of their friendship toward the United States; and he deemed it good policy to have them at- tached to the interests of the United States. Gov. Blount was accordingly authorized to make known to Piomingo, the great chief of the Chickasaws, that the President desired to see him at the seat of government. The Governor readily executed his commission, and the chief as readily accepted the invitation. He came soon after the middle of June, with Capt. Colbert and other chiefs, to Nashville, with sixty Chickasaw warriors on their march to join Gen. Wayne's army. There he parted with them, and proceeded with Colbert and other chiefs, accompanied by Gen. Robertson, to Knoxville. Capt. Colbert was the same per- son who headed the party of Chickasaws that joined and fought on the side of Gen. St. Clair in the campaign of 1792. Shortly
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afterward, in the month of July, another body of Chickasaws, consisting of one hundred men under the command of William Colbert, had begun their march for Gen. Wayne's army, intend- ing to join them against the northern Indians, but were recalled to defend their own country against the impending invasion of the Creeks, the latter having demanded of the Chickasaws Pio- mingo, "The Wolf's Friend," William Colbert, and William Glenn, to be put to death in satisfaction for the brother of "The Mad Dog." They, however, afterward thought proper to re- cede from this demand, and sent five warriors with a flag to the Chickasaws to announce their determination to relinquish the demand, and their desire to be at peace with the Chickasaws. Intelligence of this demand having reached Gen. Wayne's camp, upward of twenty of the Chickasaws immediately left it to re- turn home for the defense of their country. While in Gen. Wayne's army they had been actively employed in war against their enemies, and had taken divers scalps, which they had with them at Nashville, on their way home. So also had the Choctaws.
The Chickasaw chiefs arrived at Philadelphia, and were re- ceived and treated with attention by the President, who on the 11th of July, 1794, addressed them. He thanked them for their visit, took notice of their joining the armies of the United States as a high evidence of their friendship, and though he did not invite them, if they chose to join the army, the United States would defray all their expenses on a liberal scale. He gave a commission of captain of militia to one of them, dated the 21st of July, 1794; and on the same day delivered to Piomingo a written document, in which are set forth the boundaries of the Chickasaw Territory, the same that were stated by Piomingo at the conferences in Nashville in 1792, and in which it is declared that "the same community are in their persons, towns, villages, lands, hunting-grounds, and other rights and property in the peace and under the protection of the United States of America. All citizens of the United States are hereby warned not to com- mit any trespass, injury, or molestation whatever, on the per- sons, lands, hunting-grounds, or other rights or property of the said Indians. And they and all others are in like manner for- bidden to purchase, accept, agree, or treat with the said Indians, directly or indirectly, for the title or occupation of any lands
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held or claimed by them. And I do hereby call upon all per- sons in authority under the United States, and all citizens thereof in their several capacities, to be aiding and assisting in the prosecution and punishment, according to law, of all persons who shall be found offending in the premises."
The Chickasaws formerly claimed for their nation, exclusively, all the lands north of the Tennessee, and they denied that the Cherokees were joined with them in the war against the Shaw- nees when they were driven from their settlements in Cumber- land. They said that the Shawnees first came up the Tennessee in canoes, and thence up Bear Creek thirty miles; and there left their canoes, and came to war with the Chickasaws, and killed several of their nation. The Chickasaw chiefs and war- riors embodied and drove them off. From thence they went to the Creeks, and lived with them for some time. They then re- turned and crossed at the Chickasaw Old Field, above the Mus- cle Shoals. From thence they went to Duck River and the Cum- berland River, and settled there; and the Chickasaws discovered their settlements. Two of the chiefs of the Chickasaws, who were in those days their principal leaders-the one named Opoia Matehah, and the other Pinskey Matehah-raised their warriors and went against the Shawnees, and defeated them and took all their horses and brought them into the Nation. The Cherokees, they said, had no share in the conquest, and that they drove the Shawnees themselves, without any assistance from any red peo- ple. They concluded, therefore, that the Cherokees had no claim to the lands north of the Tennessee, as set up by them, for having been, as they pretended, the associates of the Chick- asaws in this war. This information is contained in a public document of the nation, signed by Chenobee, the king, Maj. George Colbert, and others, in which they upbraid the Chero- kees and Creeks for setting up a claim to the lands of the Chick- asaws, after they had so behaved, under the influence of Spanish intrigues and persuasions, as to kill the women and children of the Americans, and have been compelled in consequence of their misbehavior to give up a part of their own. The Chickasaws. they said, had been induced by the talks of the English to join them against the Spaniards. They had left the country and gone beyond the sea; and then the Spaniards endeavored to push the Chickasaws into hostility against the Americans, but they
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had profited too much by experience to be prevailed on by their persuasions.
The Secretary of War held conferences with Piomingo, George Colbert, and others who were there, and informed them, on the 15th of July, that, besides the goods then to be given them, the President as a mark of his affection and regard would continue to give goods to them to the amount of $3,000 annually. Re- turning from Philadelphia to Knoxville, they there waited the arrival of the goods which were sent to their nation by the United States until the 3d of November, at which time all the goods had arrived. Of this the Governor immediately informed Piomingo, in a flattering letter, written in courtly style. He sent to "The Wolf's Friend" a commission from the President, and to the chiefs of the Choctaw nation he wrote a letter, accompa- nied with presents of suits of clothes sent by the President, with professions of much satisfaction for the friendship they had shown toward the United States by joining their armies and fighting by their side. They went with goods in boats to the mouth of Bear Creek, where they were to be met by the nation with pack-horses to carry the goods to their own country.
The conduct of the Chickasaws toward the neighboring tribes has seldom, if ever, been influenced by any prudential motives founded on a calculation of consequences. Whenever wronged, they have indulged their resentments and followed the sugges- tions which arose from them. After Piomingo and the other chiefs got home, taking offense at some misbehavior of Will Webber, a half-breed Cherokee, and two other Cherokee war- riors of the lower towns, the Chickasaws killed them, and by this act gave very great umbrage.
On the 5th of January, 1795, Elijah Walker, one of the mount- ed infantry on duty for the defense of Mero District, acting as a spy on the frontier, was killed by Indians twelve miles south of Nashville. On the 5th of March a party of Indians, supposed to be Creeks, at Joslin's Station, seven miles from Nashville, fired upon Thomas Fletcher, Ezekiel Balding, and his brother (a lad), who were at work in their field. They wounded the two first with balls through their bodies, knocked down the third with a war-club, broke his skull bone, and skinned the whole of his head. On the 14th a man was killed by the Indians within five miles of Nashville. At the same time they stole a
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number of horses. On the 22d a party of Indians attempted to steal the horses of Jason Thompson, within five miles of Nash- ville, but were disappointed by the horses taking fright. They then went to Thomas MeMory's, a mile distant, and took his horses from his stable and several others from the field. On the 6th of April John Wiro, a soldier on duty at the ford of the Cumberland, was killed by Indians about two miles from the block-house, and from this period to the 20th several parties of Indians took horses from different parts of Mero District. Shortly before the 13th of May four men were wounded, as they passed in a boat down the Cumberland River. On the 20th of May a party of four or five Indians and a white man in Indian dress attacked Capt. Logan, two of his soldiers, a woman, and three children. They killed one of the soldiers of the name of Morris and a little girl nine years of age, and carried off the woman, or murdered her where she could not be found. Her horse was found some distance from the place, stabbed in five places. On the 5th of June old Mr. Peyton was killed, and a negro belonging to Mr. Parker wounded dangerously, in a field of Mrs. Bledsoe, near Bledsoe's Lick, by Indians. Horses had been then lately taken by Indians from several parts of the district. A white man who had lately come to Nashville from the Chickasaws saw the signs of six or seven Indians near the settlement, making toward the county of Tennessee. So late as the month of September Lieut. Titsworth, with a party of men, were obliged to take post at the mouth of Deason's Creek. on the Cumberland River, for the protection of the frontier, of which fact notice was given to the Choctaws and Chickasaws, to prevent this party from being taken for Creeks.
The court of Madrid was yet tardy in notifying to its agents in America the change of temper which had taken place in favor of the United States. The Baron de Carondalet, unap- prised of it, still continued in his accustomed habits, and unfort- unately, on the 25th of March, 1795, at New Orleans, furnished a standard by which to try his former professions of friendship. so lavishly and elegantly made. This standard was one the ac- curacy of which above all others he would not fail to acknowl- edge. He wrote on that day to "The Mad Dog," of Tuckabatche, whom he had expected to see with Red Shoes, upon affairs of an interesting nature to his nation, but had been disappointed
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by the remaining of "The Mad Dog" at Pensacola; for which reason it was out of the power of the baron to shake the hand of "The Mad Dog," as he ( the baron) very earnestly desired to do; but he had enjoyed the satisfaction of conversing with Red Shoes, who would tell him the talk that the Governor had made to him ( Red Shoes) and the rest of the warriors who were with him. He had shown to Red Shoes the act by which the Georgians sold the lands that belonged to the nation of "The Mad Dog," the Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Choctaws, against the right or law-as he affirmed-of all nations, which forbids the selling of the property of another. "What will be- come," he exclaimed in the language of lamentation, "of the red men, should they be deprived of their hunting-grounds? The French," said he -- "enemies to your nation-the Spaniards, and the English are to settle themselves on the lands of the Creeks, on the Talapoosa and Alabama. They actually met to- gether on the frontiers of East Florida, and, instead of you four nations uniting alltogether in one body in your own behalf and for your common defense, you go to war against the Chickasaws. Thus, while you actually and mutually destroy each other, you will be expelled from your land; and then what will be your fate and the fate of your nation? Friend and brother, open your eyes upon the ruin and destruction which threatens the red peo- ple! The danger I foresaw," said he, "and foretold three years ago, is now present. Do not be so foolish as to kill one another. Make peace with the Chickasaws. Let you, the Choctaws, and Chickasaws be united; and, should you be attacked, the Span- iards, your faithful friends and allies, will support you and give you as many arms and as much ammunition as you may want. Congress, I hope, will not approve of the injustice done you by the Georgians in selling your lands, which is the same," said he, "as starving you. I have written," he continued, "to Phil- adelphia on this subject, and until the answer comes let no man enter upon your lands."
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