country, proceeded soon afterwards seventy miles on almost a northern
course, and from thence to the Chikkasah about west by north—300 miles
of very mountainous land, till within forty miles of that extensive and
fertile country—afterward, on a southern direction to the Choktah, 160
miles. This was a very oblique course, somewhat resembling the letter G
reverted, its tail from Charles-town, consisting of 720 miles, and the
head of 530, in all 1250 miles—a great distance to travel through woods,
with loaded horses, where they shifted as they could, when the day’s
march was over; and through the varying seasons of the year. These
traders were charged with great neglect, in being so long {323} before
they reached the Choktah country; this was to invalidate the pretensions
of two other gentlemen, towards obtaining bills of exchange on the
government, according to the strong promises they had, for any losses
they might sustain in their Choktah cargo of goods, &c. Notwithstanding
the former were utter strangers to the Chikkasah and Choktah, and in
justice could only expect the common privilege of British subjects, yet
his Excellency bestowed on them a large piece of written sheep-skin,
bearing the impression of the threatening lion and unicorn, to frighten
every other trader from dealing with the Choktah, at their peril. The
Chikkasah traders were much terrified at the unusual sight of the
enlivened pictures of such voracious animals. My situation caused me
then to be silent, on that strange point; but when the chief of them,
who carried those bees-wax-pictures, came to my trading house, chiefly
to inlarge on the dreadful power of those fierce creatures,—I told him,
as they answered the design, in making so many trembling believers,
among the Indians, I did not imagine him so weak as to attempt to impose
his scare-crows upon me; but that, as his Excellency had dipped me too
deep in a dangerous and very expensive affair, and had done me the
honour to send for me to Charles-town on his majesty’s service, at the
very time I could have secured them in the esteem of the fickle Choktah,
I should not by any means oppose their aim of grasping the whole Choktah
trade, be their plan ever so unwise and unfair. The letter the gentleman
delivered to me was dated April 22, Anno 1747, in which his excellency
acknowledged, in very obliging terms, that I had been very serviceable
to the government, by my management among the Choktah, and might be
assured of his countenance and friendship. As the rest of it concerned
myself in other matters, and contained some things of the measures of
government relating to the point in view, it may be right not to publish
it: but it is among the public records in Charles-town, and may be seen
in the secretary’s office. The traders, after this interview, set off
for the Choktah; and I in a few days to South Carolina.
Soon after I arrived at Charles-town, I could not but highly resent the
governor’s ungenerous treatment of, and injustice to me, in sending for
me to the neglect of my trade, only to carry on his unparalleled
favourite scheme,—and I soon set off for the Chikkasah, without taking
the least formal leave of his Excellency. By some means, he soon knew of
my departure, {324} and persuaded G. G——n, Esq;[184] (one of the two
friends in South-Carolina, who only could influence me against my own
liking) to follow till he overtook me, and urge me to return, and
accompany me to his Excellency’s house. At his earnest sollicitations,
the gentleman complied, came up with me, and prevailed on me to go back
according to request. I had plenty of courtly excuses for my complaints
and grievances, and in the hearing of my friend was earnestly pressed to
forget and forgive all that was past; with solemn promises of full
redress, according to his former engagement of drawing bills of exchange
in my favour, on the government, if South-Carolina had not honour enough
to repay me what I had expended in opening a trade with the numerous
Choktah—besides gratuities for hardships, hazards, &c.
I wish I could here also celebrate his sincerity and faithfulness on
this occasion—As I could not well suspect a breach of public faith,
after it had been pledged in so solemn a manner, he had not much
difficulty in detaining me on sundry pretexts, till the expected great
Choktah crop of deer-skins and beaver must have been gathered, before I
could possibly return to the Chikkasah country, and from thence proceed
to rival the Sphynx-company. Under those circumstances, I was detained
so late in November, that the snow fell upon me at Edisto, the first
day, in company with Captain W——d,[185] an old trader of the Okwhuske,
who was going to Savanah. In the severity of winter, frost, snow, hail,
and heavy rains succeed each other, in these climes, so that I partly
rode, and partly swam to the Chikkasah country; for not expecting to
stay long below, I took no leathern canoe. Many of the broad deep
creeks, that were almost dry when I went down, had now far overflowed
their banks, ran at a rapid rate, and were unpassable to any but
desperate people: when I got within forty miles of the Chikkasah, the
rivers and swamps were dreadful, by rafts of timber driving down the
former, and the great fallen trees floating in the latter, for near a
mile in length. Being forced to wade deep through cane-swamps or woody
thickets, it proved very troublesome to keep my fire arms dry, on which,
as a second means, my life depended; for, by the high rewards of the
French, some enemies were always rambling about in search of us. On the
eastern side of one of the rivers, in taking a sweep early in a wet
morning, in quest of my horses, I discovered smoke on a small piece of
rising ground in a swamp, pretty near the edge; I {325} moved nearer
from tree to tree, till I discovered them to be Choktah creeping over
the fire. I withdrew without being discovered, or the least apprehension
of danger, as at the worst, I could have immediately inswamped, secured
a retreat with my trusty fire-arms, and taken through the river and the
broad swamp, which then resembled a mixt ocean of wood and water. I soon
observed the tracks of my horses, found them, and set off. At the
distance of an hundred yards from the river, there was a large and deep
lagoon, in the form of a semi-circle. As soon as I swam this, and got on
the bank, I drank a good draught of rum:—in the middle of the river, I
was forced to throw away one of my belt-pistols, and a long French
scalping knife I had found, where the Choktah killed two of our traders.
When I got on the opposite shore, I renewed my draught, put my fire-arms
in order, and set up the war-whoop. I had often the like scenes, till I
got to the Chikkasah country, which was also all afloat. The people had
been saying, a little before I got home, that should I chance to be on
the path, it would be near fifty days before I could pass the
neighbouring deep swamps; for, on account of the levelness of the land,
the waters contiguous to the Chikkasah, are usually in winter so long in
emptying, before the swamps become passable. As I had the misfortune to
lose my tomohawk, and wet all the punk in my shot-pouch by swimming the
waters, I could not strike fire for the space of three days, and it
rained extremely hard, during that time. By being thoroughly wet so
long, in the cold month of December, and nipped with the frost, seven
months elapsed before I had the proper use of the fingers of my
right-hand. On that long and dangerous war-path, I was exposed to many
dangers, and yet so extricated myself, that it would appear like
Quixotism to enumerate them.
I often repented of trusting to the governor’s promises, and so have
many others. The Cheerake, _Attah Kullah Kullah_, whose name is the
superlative of a skilful cutter of wood, called by us, “The Little
Carpenter,” had equal honour with me of receiving from his Excellency a
considerable number of letters, which he said were not agreeable to the
old beloved speech. He kept them regularly piled in a bundle, according
to the time he received them, and often shewed them to the traders, in
order to expose their fine promising contents. The first, he used to
say, contained a little {326} truth, and he excused the failure of the
greater part of it, as he imagined much business might have perplexed
him, so as to occasion him to forget complying with his strong promise.
“But count, said he, the lying black marks of this one:” and he
descanted minutely on every circumstance of it. His patience being
exhausted, he added, “they were an heap of black broad papers, and ought
to be burnt in the old years fire.”
Near the Muskohge country, on my way to the Chikkasah, I met my old
friends, _Pa Yah-Matahah_, the Chikkasah head war-chieftain, and _Minggo
Pushkoosh_, the great Red-Shoes’ brother, journeying to Charles-town,
with one of the beaus of the Sphynx-company, to relate the loss of the
most part of that great cargo they so unwisely carried at once, and to
solicit for a further supply. Those traders, one excepted, were very
indiscreet, proud and stubborn. They strove who could out-dress, or most
vilify the other even before the Indians, who were surprised, as they
never heard the French to degrade one another. The haughty plan they
laid, against the repeated persuasions of the other, was the cause of
all their losses—they first lost the affection of the free, and equally
proud Choktah; for they fixed as an invariable rule, to keep them at a
proper distance, as they termed it; whereas I, according to the
frequent, sharp, upbraiding language of the familiar savages to them,
sat and smoked with the head-men on bear-skins, set the young people to
their various diversions, and then viewed them with pleasure.
Notwithstanding the bad treatment I had received; as I was apprehensive
of the difficulties they would necessarily be exposed to, on account of
their ignorance and haughtiness, I wrote to them, by a few Chikkasah
warriors, truly informing them of the temper of the Indians, and the
difficulties they would probably be exposed to, from the policy of the
French at Tumbikpe; and that though I had purposed to set off for
South-Carolina, I would postpone going so soon, if they were of my
opinion, that Mr. J. C——l[186] (who joined with me in the letter) and I
could be of any service to their mercantile affairs. They received our
well-intended epistle, and were so polite as to order their black
interpretress to bid our red couriers tell us, they thanked us for our
friendly offer, but did not stand in need of our assistance. They walked
according to the weak crooked rule they had received below, and fared
accordingly: for the dis$2 $1 ged savages took most part of the tempting
cargo. At this time, the French had only two towns and a half in their
interest, and they were so wavering, that they could not rely on their
friendship, much less on their ability of resisting the combined power
of the rest of the nation; and they were on the very point of removing
that useful and commanding garrison Tumbikpe, and settling one on
another eastern-branch of the river, called Potagahatche, in order to
decoy many of the Choktah to settle there by degrees, and intercept the
English traders, on their way up from our settlements. This was as wise
a plan as could possibly have been concerted, under the difficult
circumstances they laboured at that time. But the unjust and unwise
measures of the governor of South-Carolina, in sending his favourite
traders with a scarecrow of bees-wax, to keep off others who were more
intelligent, gave the desponding French a favourable opportunity to
exert their powers, and regain the lost affections of a considerable
number of our red allies; for none of our traders had now any goods in
the Choktah country, nor were likely soon to carry any there.
Mr. C——l, the trader I just mentioned, was of a long standing among the
Chikkasah, and indefatigable in serving his country, without regarding
those dangers that would chill the blood of a great many others; and he
was perfect master of the Indian language. About a year after this
period, he went to Red Shoes’ town, and in a summer’s night, when he was
chatting with our great English friend along-side of his Chikkasah wife,
a party of the corrupt savages, that had been sent by the French, shot
him through the shoulder, and her dead on the spot. Red Shoes afterwards
fared the same fate, by one of his own countrymen, for the sake of a
French reward, while he was escorting the foresaid gallant trader, and
others, from the Chikkasah to his own country. He had the misfortune to
be taken very sick on the path, and to lye apart from the camp,
according to their usual custom: a Judas, tempted by the high reward of
the French for killing him, officiously pretended to take great care of
him. While Red Shoes kept his face toward him, the barbarian had such
feelings of awe and pity, that he had not power to perpetrate his wicked
design; but when he turned his back, then he gave the fatal shot. In a
moment the wretch ran off, and though the whole camp were out in an
instant, to a considerable breadth, he evaded their pursuit, by darting
himself like a snake, into a deep crevice of the {328} earth. The old
trader, who was shot through the shoulder, going two years after the
death of this our brave red friend, unfortunately a quarter of a mile
into the woods, from the spacious clearing of the Chikkasah country,
while all the men were on their winter hunt, and having only a tomohawk
in his hand, the cowardly French Indians attacked him by surprise, shot
him dead, and carried his scalp to Tumbikpe-fort: another white man
unarmed, but out of the circle they had suddenly formed, ran for his
fire-arms; but he and the traders came too late to overtake the
blood-hounds. In this manner, fell those two valuable brave men, by
hands that would have trembled to attack them on an equality.
The French having drawn off some towns from the national confederacy,
and corrupted them, they began to shew themselves in their proper
colours, and publicly offered rewards for our scalps. Of this I was soon
informed by two Choktah runners, and in a few days time, I sent them
back well pleased. I desired them to inform their head-men, that about
the time those days I had marked down to them, were elapsed, I would be
in their towns with a cargo, and dispose of it in the way of the French,
as they were so earnest in stealing the English people. I charged them
with a long relation of every thing I thought might be conducive to the
main point in view; which was, the continuance of a fair open trade with
a free people, who by treaty were become _allies_ of Great Britain; not
_subjects_, as our public records often wrongly term them—but people of
one fire. As only merit in war-exploits, and flowing language and
oratory, gives any of them the least preference above the rest, they can
form no other idea of kings and subjects than that of tyrants
domineering over base slaves: of course, their various dialects have no
names for such.
I left the Chikkasah, and arrived in the Choktah country before the
expiration of the broken days, or time we had appointed, with a
considerable cargo. By the intended monopoly of our great beloved man,
in frightening the Chikkasah traders, there were no English goods in the
nation, when I went: and the necessity of the times requiring a liberal
distribution, according to my former message, that alone must have
fallen heavy upon me under the public faith, without any additional
expences. A day before I got there, _Minggo Pushkoosh_, the half-brother
of Red Shoes, was returned home from Charles-town,[187] and by him I had
the honour of receiving {329} a friendly and polite letter from the
governor. His main aim, at this sickened time of Indian trade, was to
recover the value of the goods that had been lost in the Choktah
country. He recommended one of the traders of the Sphynx-company to my
patronage, pressing me to assist him as far as I possibly could, and
likewise to endeavour to storm Tumbikpe-fort, promising at the same
time, to become answerable to me for all my reasonable charges in that
affair. I complied with every tittle of the gentleman’s request, as far
as I could, without charging him for it in the least. As I had then, the
greatest part of my cargo on hand, I lent the other what he stood in
need of, that he might regain what his former pride and folly had
occasioned to be lost. At that time, powder and ball were so very
scarce, that I could have sold to the Choktah, as much as would have
produced fifteen hundred buck-skins, yet the exigency was so pressing, I
gave them the chief part of my ammunition, though as sparingly as I
could—for the French by our pursuit of wrong measures, (already
mentioned) and their own policy, had dipped them into a civil war. As I
had then no call to sacrifice my private interest for the emolument of
the public, without indemnity, so I was not willing to suspect another
breach of public faith. Red Shoes’ brother came up freighted with plenty
of courtly promises, and for his own security he was not backward in
relating them to his brethren; otherwise, they would have killed both
him and me; which would have reconciled them to the French, who a few
days before, had proposed our massacre by a long formal message to them,
as they afterwards informed me. I plainly saw their minds were unfixed,
for their civil war proved very sharp. _Minggo Pushkoosh_ and several
head-men conducted me from town to town, to the crowd of the seven lower
towns, which lie next to New Orleans: but they took proper care to make
our stages short enough, that I might have the honour to converse with
all their beloved men and chief warriors, and have the favour to give
them plenty of presents, in return for so great an obligation. The
Indian headmen deem it a trifle to go hundreds of miles, on such a
gladsome errand; and very few of them are slow in honouring the traders
with a visit, and a long, rapid, poetic speech. They will come several
miles to dispose of a deer-skin.
When I arrived at the thick settlement of these lower towns, I began to
imagine they had opened a communication with their subterranean brethren
of Nanne Yah;[188] I was honoured with the company of a greater number
{330} of red chiefs of war, and old beloved men, than probably ever
appeared in imperial Rome. They in a very friendly manner, tied plenty
of bead-garters round my neck, arms, and legs, and decorated me, _a la
mode America_. I did myself the honour to fit them out with silver
arm-plates, gorgets, wrist-plates, ear-bobs, &c. &c. which they kindly
received, and protested they would never part with them, for the sake of
the giver. However, by all my persuasions, they would not undertake to
storm Tumbikpe-fort, though I offered to accompany them, and put them in
a sure way of carrying it. They told me I was mad, for the roaring of
the cannon was as dreadful as the sharpest thunder, and that the French
with one of their great balls would tear me in pieces, as soon as I
appeared in view.
While they declined a French war, their own civil war became bitter
beyond expression. They frequently engaged, one party against the other,
in the open fields: when our friends had fired away all their
ammunition, they took to their hiccory-bows and barbed arrows, and
rushed on the opposite party, with their bare tomohawks, like the most
desperate veterans, regardless of life. They did not seem to regard
dying so much, as the genteel appearance they made when they took the
open field, on purpose to kill or be killed. They used to tell the
English traders they were going on such a day to fight, or die for them,
and earnestly importuned them for a Stroud blanket, or white shirt
a-piece, that they might make a genteel appearance in English cloth,
when they died. It was not safe to refuse them, their minds were so
distracted by the desperate situation of their affairs; for as they were
very scarce of ammunition, the French wisely headed their friend-party,
with small cannon, battered down the others stockaded-forts, and in the
end reduced them to the necessity of a coalition. These evils were
occasioned merely by the avarice and madness of those I have stiled the
Sphynx-Company.[189]
At this dangerous time, the small-pox also was by some unknown means
conveyed into the Choktah country, from below: and it depopulated them
as much as the civil war had done. The Choktah who escorted me into the
Chikkasah nation, were infected with that malady in the woods, and soon
spread it among others; these, a little time after, among the Muskohge,
who were in company with me, on our way to Charles-town. I unluckily had
{331} the honour to receive from the Governor, another polite letter,
dated September 17th, anno 1749, citing me, under the great seal of the
province, to come down with a party of Indians, as I had given his
excellency notice of their desire of paying a friendly visit to South
Carolina. And having purchased and redeemed three French captives which
the Chikkasah had taken in war, under their leader _Pa-Yah-Matahah_, I
now bestowed them on him, to enable him to make a flourishing entrance
into Charles-town, after the manner of their American triumphs. He was
very kind to them, though their manners were as savage as his own:
excepting a few beads they used to count, with a small silver cross
fastened to the top of them, they had nothing to distinguish them, and
were ignorant of every point of Christianity. I set off with above
twenty warriors, and a few women, along with the aforesaid war-leader,
for Charles-town. As the French kept a watchful eye on my conduct, and
the commanding officers of Tumbikpe garrison in the Choktah, and the
Alebahma in the Muskohge country kept a continual communication with
each other, the former equipped a party of their Choktah to retake the
French captives by force, if we did not previously deliver them to a
French party of the Muskohge, who were sent by the latter as in the name
of the whole nation, though falsely, to terrify us into a compliance. We
had to pass through the Muskohge country in our way to the British
settlements; and though the French were at a great distance, yet they
planned their schemes with consummate wisdom: for the two companies met
at the time appointed, from two opposite courses of about a hundred and
fifty miles apart, on the most difficult pass from Charles-town to the
Missisippi, where the path ran through a swamp of ten miles, between
high mountains; which were impassable in any other place for a great
distance, on either side. Here, the Muskohge left the Choktah company,
and met us within half-a-day’s march of their advantageous camping
place. The foremost of our party had almost fired on those Muskohge who
were a-head of the rest; but, as soon as they saw their white emblems of
peace, they forebore, and we joined company. As soon as I heard them
tell their errand, I sent out three warriors to reconnoitre the place,
lest we should unawares be surrounded by another party of them; but
there was no ambuscade. The Muskohge leader was called by the traders,
“the Lieutenant,” and had been a steady friend to their interest, till
by our usual mismanagement in Indian affairs, he became {332} entirely
devoted to the French; his behaviour was confident, and his address
artful.