colonies for that satisfaction, which our laws could not allow them,
without a large contribution of white scalps, from Tyburn, with one
living criminal to suffer death before their eyes,—his excellency
William Henry Lyttleton, governor of South-Carolina, strenuously exerted
himself in providing for the safety of the colony; regardless of
fatigue, he visited its extensive barriers, by land and water, to have
them put in as respectable a condition, as circumstances could admit,
before the threatening storm broke out: and he ordered the militia of
the colony, under a large penalty, to be trained to arms, by an adjutant
general, (the very worthy Col. G. P.) who saw those manly laws of
defence duly executed. We had great pleasure to see his excellency on
his summer’s journey, enter the old famous New-Windsor garrison, like a
private gentleman, without the least parade; and he proceeded in his
circular course, in the same retired easy manner, without incommoding
any of the inhabitants. He fully testified, his sole aim was the
security and welfare of the valuable country over which he presided,
without imitating the mean self-interested artifice of any predecessor.
At the capital seat of government, he busily employed himself in
extending, and protecting trade, the vital part of a maritime colony; in
redressing old neglected grievances, of various kinds; in punishing
corruption wheresoever it was found, beginning at the head, and
proceeding equally to the feet; and in protecting virtue, not by the
former cobweb-laws, but those of old British extraction. In so laudable
a manner, did that public-spirited governor exert his powers, in his own
proper sphere of action: but on an object much below it, he failed, by
not knowing aright the temper and customs of the savages.
The war being commenced on both sides, by the aforesaid complicated
causes, it continued for some time a partial one: and according to the
well-known temper of the Cheerake in similar cases, it might either have
remained so, or soon have been changed into a very hot civil war, had we
{248} been so wise as to have improved the favourable opportunity. There
were seven northern towns, opposite to the middle parts of the Cheerake
country, who from the beginning of the unhappy grievances, firmly
dissented from the hostile intentions of their suffering and enraged
country-men, and for a considerable time before, bore them little
good-will, on account of some family disputes, which occasioned each
party to be more favourable to itself than to the other: These, would
readily have gratified their vindictive disposition, either by a
neutrality, or an offensive alliance with our colonists against them.
Our rivals the French, never neglected so favourable an opportunity of
securing, and promoting their interests.—We have known more than one
instance, wherein their wisdom has not only found out proper means to
disconcert the most dangerous plans of disaffected savages, but likewise
to foment, and artfully encourage great animosities between the heads of
ambitious rival families, till they fixed them in an implacable hatred
against each other, and all of their respective tribes. Had the French
been under such circumstances, as we then were, they would instantly
have sent them an embassy by a proper person, to enforce it by the
persuasive argument of interest, well supported with presents to all the
leading men, in order to make it weigh heavy in the Indian scale; and
would have invited a number of those towns to pay them a brotherly
visit, whenever it suited them, that they might shake hands, smoke out
of the white, or beloved pipe, and drink physic together, as became old
friends of honest hearts, &c.
Had we thus done, many valuable and innocent persons might have been
saved from the torturing hands of the enraged Indians! The favourite
leading warrior of those friendly towns, was well known to
South-Carolina and Georgia, by the trading name—“_Round O._” on account
of a blue impression he bore in that form. The same old, brave, and
friendly warrior, depending firmly on our friendship and usual good
faith, came down within an hundred miles of Charles-town, along with the
head-men, and many others of those towns, to declare to the government,
an inviolable attachment to all our British colonies, under every
various circumstance of life whatsoever; and at the same time, earnestly
to request them to supply their present want of ammunition, and order
the commanding officer of Fort-Prince-George to continue to do them the
like service, when necessity should force them to apply for it; as they
were fully determined to war {249} to the very last, against all the
enemies of Carolina, without regarding who they were, or the number they
consisted of. This they told me on the spot; for having been in a
singular manner recommended to his excellency the general, I was
pre-engaged for that campaign—but as I could not obtain orders to go
a-head of the army, through the woods, with a body of the
Chikkasah,[135] and commence hostilities, I declined the affair. Had our
valuable, and well-meaning Cheerake friends just mentioned, acted their
usual part of evading captivity, it would have been much better for
them, and many hundreds of our unfortunate out-settlers; but they
depending on our usual good faith, by their honest credulity were
ruined. It was well-known, that the Indians are unacquainted with the
custom and meaning of hostages; to them, it conveyed the idea of slaves,
as they have no public faith to secure the lives of such—yet they were
taken into custody, kept in close confinement, and afterwards shot dead:
their mortal crime consisted in sounding the war-whoop, and hollowing to
their countrymen, when attacking the fort in which they were imprisoned,
to fight like strong-hearted warriors, and they would soon carry it,
against the cowardly traitors, who deceived and inslaved their friends
in their own beloved country. A white savage on this cut through a
plank, over their heads, and perpetrated that horrid action, while the
soldiery were employed like warriors, against the enemy: to excuse his
baseness, and save himself from the reproaches of the people, he, like
the wolf in the fable, falsely accused them of intending to poison the
wells of the garrison.[136]
By our uniform misconduct, we gave too plausible a plea to the
disaffected part of the Muskohge to join the Cheerake, and at the same
time, fixed the whole nation in a state of war against us—all the
families of those leading men that were so shamefully murdered, were
inexpressibly imbittered against our very national name, judging that we
first deceived, then inslaved, and afterwards killed our best, and most
faithful friends, who were firmly resolved to die in our defence. The
means of our general safety, thus were turned to our general ruin. The
mixed body of people that were first sent against them, were too weak to
do them any ill; and they soon returned home with a wild, ridiculous
parade. There were frequent desertions among them—some were afraid of
the small-pox, which then raged in the country—others abhorred an
inactive life; this fine silken body chiefly consisted of citizens and
planters from the low settlements, unacquainted with the hardships of a
wood-land, savage {250} war, and in case of an ambuscade attack, were
utterly incapable of standing the shock. In Georgiana,[137] we were
assured by a gentleman of character, a principal merchant of Mobille,
who went a voluntier on that expedition, that toward the conclusion of
it, when he went round the delicate camp, in wet weather, and late at
night, he saw in different places from fifteen to twenty of their guns
in a cluster, at the distance of an equal number of paces from their
tents, seemingly so rusty and peaceable, as the loss of them by the
usual sudden attack of Indian savages, could not in the least affect
their lives. And the Cheerake nation were sensible of their innocent
intentions, from the disposition of the expedition in so late a season
of the year: but their own bad situation by the ravaging small-pox, and
the danger of a civil war, induced the lower towns to lie dormant.
However, soon after our people returned home, they firmly united in the
generous cause of liberty, and they acted their part so well, that our
traders suspected not the impending blow, till the moment they fatally
felt it: some indeed escaped by the assistance of the Indians. In brief
we forced the Cheerake to become our bitter enemies, by a long train of
wrong measures, the consequences of which were severely felt by a number
of high assessed, ruined, and bleeding innocents—May this relation, be a
lasting caution to our colonies against the like fatal errors! and
induce them, whenever necessity compels, to go well prepared, with
plenty of fit stores, and men, against any Indian nation, and first
defeat, and then treat with them. It concerns us to remember, that they
neither shew mercy to those who fall in their power, by the chance of
war; nor keep good faith with their enemies, unless they are feelingly
convinced of its reasonableness, and civilly treated afterward.
Had South-Carolina exerted herself in due time against them, as her
situation required, it would have saved a great deal of innocent blood,
and public treasure: common sense directed them to make immediate
preparations for carrying the war into their country, as the only way to
conquer them; but they strangely neglected sending war-like stores to
Ninety-six, our only barrier-fort, and even providing horses and
carriages for that needful occasion, till the troops they requested
arrived from New-York: and then they sent only a trifling number of
those, and our provincials, under the gallant Col. Montgomery, (now Lord
Eglington).[138] His twelve hundred brave, hardy highlanders, though but
a handful, were much abler, however, to {251} fight the Indians in their
country than six thousand heavy-accoutered and slow moving regulars: for
these, with our provincials, could both fight and pursue, while the
regulars would always be surrounded, and stand a sure and shining mark.
Except a certain provincial captain who escorted the cattle, every
officer and private man in this expedition, imitated the intrepid copy
of their martial leader; but being too few in number, and withal, scanty
of provisions, and having lost many men at a narrow pass, called Crow’s
Creek, where the path leads by the side of a river, below a dangerous
steep mountain,—they proceeded only a few miles, to a fine situated town
called Nuquose; and then wisely retreated under cover of the night,
toward Fort-Prince-George, and returned to Charles-town, in August
1760.[139] Seven months after the Cheerake commenced hostilities,
South-Carolina by her ill-timed parsimony again exposed her barriers to
the merciless ravages of the enraged Indians—who reckoning themselves
also superior to any resistance we could make, swept along the valuable
out-settlements of North-Carolina and Virginia, and like evil ones
licensed to destroy, ruined every thing near them. The year following,
Major Grant, the present governor of East-Florida, was sent against them
with an army of regulars and provincials, and happily for him, the
Indians were then in great want of ammunition: they therefore only
appeared, and suddenly disappeared. From all probable circumstances, had
the Cheerake been sufficiently supplied with ammunition, twice the
number of troops could not have defeated them, on account of the
declivity of their stupendous mountains, under which their paths
frequently run; the Virginia troops likewise kept far off in flourishing
parade,[140] without coming to our assistance, or making a diversion
against those warlike towns which lie beyond the Apalahche
mountains,—the chief of which are, _Tennàse_, _Choàte_, _Great-Telliko_,
and _Huwhàse_.
At the beginning of the late Cheerake war,[141] I had the pleasure to
see, at _Augusta_ in _Georgia_, the honourable gentleman who was our
first Indian super-intendant;[142] he was on his way to the Muskohge
country, to pacify their ill disposition toward us, which had irritated
the Cheerake, and engaged them in a firm confederacy against us. They
had exchanged their bloody tomohawks, and red and black painted swans
wings, a strong emblem of blood and death, in confirmation of their
offensive and defensive treaty. But, notwithstanding our dangerous
situation ought to have directed any gentleman worthy of public trust,
to {252} have immediately proceeded to their country, to regain the
hearts of those fickle and daring savages, and thereby elude the
deep-laid plan of the French; and though Indian runners were frequently
sent down by our old friendly head-men, urging the absolute necessity of
his coming up soon, otherwise it would be too late—he trifled away near
half a year there, and in places adjoining, in raising a body of men
with a proud uniform dress, for the sake of parade, and to escort him
from danger, with swivels, blunderbusses, and many other such sorts of
blundering stuff, before he proceeded on his journey. This was the only
way to expose the gentleman to real danger, by shewing at such a time, a
diffidence of the natives—which he accordingly effected, merely by his
pride, obstinacy, and unskilfulness. It is well known, the whole might
have been prevented, if he had listened to the entreaties of the Indian
traders of that place, to request one (who would neither refuse, nor
delay to serve his country on any important occasion) to go in his
stead, as the dangerous situation of our affairs demanded quick
dispatch. But pride prevented, and he slowly reached there, after much
time was lost.
The artful French commander, had in the mean while a very good
opportunity to distract the giddy savages, and he wisely took advantage
of the delay, and persuaded a considerable body of the Shawano Indians
to fly to the northward,—as our chief was affirmed to be coming with an
army and train of artillery to cut them off, in revenge of the blood
they had formerly spilled. We soon heard, that in their way, they
murdered a great many of the British subjects, and with the most
despiteful eagerness committed their bloody ravages during the whole
war.
After the head-men of that far-extending country, were convened to know
the import of our intendants long-expected embassy, he detained them
from day to day with his parading grandeur; not using the Indian
friendly freedom, either to the red, or white people, till provisions
grew scanty. Then their hearts were imbittered against him, while the
French Alebahma commander was busy, in taking time by the forelock. But
the former, to be uniform in his stiff, haughty conduct, crowned the
whole, in a longer delay, and almost gained a supposed crown of
martydom,—by prohibiting, in an obstinate manner, all the war-chieftains
and beloved men then assembled together in the great beloved square,
from handing the friendly white pipe to a certain great {253}
war-leader, well-known by the names of _Yah-Yah-Tustanage_, or “the
Great Mortar,”[143] because he had been in the French interest. Our
great man, ought to have reclaimed him by strong reasoning and good
treatment: but by his misconduct, he inflamed the hearts of him and his
relations with the bitterest enmity against the English name, so that
when the gentleman was proceeding in his laconic stile,—a warrior who
had always before been very kind to the British traders, (called “the
_Tobacco-eater_,” on account of his chewing tobacco) jumped up in a
rage, and darted his tomohawk at his head,—happily for all the traders
present, and our frontier colonies, it sunk in a plank directly over the
superintendant;[144] and while the tobacco-eater was eagerly pulling it
out, to give the mortal blow, a warrior, friendly to the English,
immediately leaped up, saved the gentleman, and prevented those
dangerous consequences which must otherwise have immediately followed.
Had the aimed blow succeeded, the savages would have immediately put up
the war and death whoop, destroyed most of the white people there on the
spot, and set off in great bodies, both to the Cheerake country, and
against our valuable settlements. Soon after that gentleman returned to
Carolina, the Great Mortar persuaded a party of his relations to kill
our traders, and they murdered ten;—very fortunately, it stopped there
for that time. But at the close of the great congress at Augusta, where
four governors of our colonies, and his majesty’s superintendant,
convened the savages and renewed and confirmed the treaty of peace, the
same disaffected warrior returning home, sent off a party, who murdered
fourteen of the inhabitants of Long-Cane settlement, above Ninety-six.
The result of that dangerous congress, tempted the proud savages to act
such a part, as they were tamely forgiven, and unasked, all their former
scenes of blood.
During this distracted period, the French used their utmost endeavours
to involve us in a general Indian war, which to have saved
South-Carolina and Georgia, would probably have required the assistance
of a considerable number of our troops from Canada. They strove to
supply the Cheerake, by way of the Missisippi, with warlike stores; and
also sent them powder, bullets, flints, knives, and red paint, by their
staunch friend, the disaffected Great Mortar, and his adherents. And
though they failed in executing their mischievous plan, both on account
of the manly escape of our traders, and the wise conduct of those below,
they did not despair. Upon studious deliberation, they concluded, that,
if the aforesaid chieftain {254} _Yah Yah Tustanàge_, his family, and
warriors, settled high up one of their leading rivers, about half way
toward the Cheerake, it would prove the only means then left, of
promoting their general cause against the British colonists: And, as the
lands were good for hunting,—the river shallow, and abounding with
saltish grass, for the deer to feed on in the heat of the day, free of
troublesome insects,—and as the stream glided by the Alebahma garrison
to Mobille, at that time in the French hands, it could not well fail to
decoy a great many of the ambitious young warriors, and others, to go
there and join our enemies, on any occasion which appeared most
conducive to their design of shedding blood, and getting a higher name
among their wolfish heroes. He and his numerous pack, confident of
success, and of receiving the French supplies by water, set off for
their new seat, well loaded, both for their Cheerake friends and
themselves. He had a French commission, with plenty of bees-wax, and
decoying pictures; and a flourishing flag, which in dry weather, was
displayed day and night, in the middle of their anti-anglican theatre.
It in a great measure answered the serpentine design of the French, for
it became the general rendezvous of the Missisippi Indians, the
Cheerake, and the more mischievous part of the Muskohge. The latter
became the French carriers to those high-land savages: and had they
received the ammunition sent them by water, and that nest been allowed
to continue, we should have had the French on our southern colonies at
the head of a dreadful confederated army of savages, carrying desolation
where-ever they went. But, the plan miscarried, our friendly gallant
Chikkasah, being well informed of the ill design of this nest of
hornets, broke it up. A considerable company of their resolute warriors
marched against it; and, as they readily knew the place of the Great
Mortar’s residence, they attacked it, and though they missed him, they
killed his brother. This, so greatly intimidated him, and his clan, that
they suddenly removed from thence; and their favourite plan was
abortive. When he got near to a place of safety, he shewed how highly
irritated he was against us, and our allies. His disappointment, and
disgrace, prevented him from returning to his own native town, and
excited him to settle in the remotest, and most northern one of the
whole nation, toward the Cheerake,[145] in order to assist them, (as far
as the French, and his own corroding temper might enable him) against
the innocent objects of his enmity: and during the continuance of the
war we held with those savages, he and a {255} numerous party of his
adherents kept passing, and repassing, from thence to the bloody
theatre. They were there, as their loud insulting bravadoes testified,
during our two before-mentioned campaigns, under Hon. Col. Montgomery,
and Major Grant. The wise endeavours of Governor Bull, of
South-Carolina, and the unwearied application of Governor Ellis, of
Georgia, in concert with the gentlemen of two great trading houses, the
one at Augusta, and the other on the Carolina side of the river, not far
below, where the Indians crowded day and night, greatly contributed to
demolish the plan of the French and their ally, the Great Mortar.
When public spirit, that divine spark, glows in the breast of any of the
American leaders, it never fails to communicate its influence, all
around, even to the savages in the remotest wilderness; of which
Governor Ellis is an illustrious instance. He speedily reconciled a
jarring colony—calmed the raging Muskohge, though set on by the
mischievous Alebahma French,—pacified the Cheerake, and the rest of
their confederates—sent them off well pleased, without executing their
base design, and engaged them into a neutrality. The following, is one
instance—As soon as the Indians killed our traders, they sent runners to
call home their people, from our settlements: a friendly head warrior,
who had notice of it at night, near Augusta, came there next day with a
few more, expressed his sorrow for the mischief his countrymen had done
us, protested he never had any ill intentions against us, and said that,
though by the law of blood, he ought to die, yet, if we allowed him to
live as a friend, he should live and die one. Though thousands of
regular troops would most probably have been totally cut off, had they
been where the intended general massacre began, without an escortment of
our provincials; yet an unskilful, haughty officer of Fort-Augusta
laboured hard for killing this warrior, and his companion, which of
course, would have brought on what the enemy sought, a complicated,
universal war. But his excellency’s humane temper, and wise conduct,
actuating the Indian trading gentlemen of Augusta, they suffered him to
set off to strive to prevent the further effusion of innocent blood, and
thus procured the happy fruits of peace, to the infant colonies of
Georgia and South-Carolina. {256}
ACCOUNT
OF THE
MUSKOHGE NATION, &c.