And now commenced a scene of devastation scarcely paralleled in the annals of the continent. For thirty days, the English army employed themselves in burning and ravaging the country and settlements of the enemy. "Heaven has blest us," says a letter-writer from the camp, under date of July 10th, "with the greatest success; we have finished our business as completely as the most sanguine of us could have wished. All their towns, fifteen in number, beside many little villages and scattered houses, have been burnt; upwards of fourteen hundred acres of corn, according to a moderate computation, entirely destroyed; and near five thousand Cherokees, men, women and children, driven to the mountains to starve—their only sustenance for some time past being horseflesh." [FN]
[FN] Charleston Paper of 1761.
The result of these measures was decisive. A great part of the Cherokee nation became desirous of procuring peace upon any terms; and the army had no sooner reached Fort George, than a deputation of about twenty chiefs visited the camp. Neither the Great-Warrior nor his staunch aid-de-camp, Saloueh, was among them; but the Man-Killer, came, and the Raven, and Old Cesar of Hywassih, and at the head of all the Little Carpenter himself.
On the 28th of August they waited upon Colonel Grant, who had prepared a bower for their reception. Having seated themselves in grave array, the Little Carpenter was asked, if he had come to sue for peace. He answered in the affirmative. "Have you authority from the whole nation?" demanded the Colonel; to which all the chiefs replied that they would confirm whatever the Carpenter should agree to. The latter then delivered his talk.—
"You live at the water-side," said he, "and are in light. We are in darkness; but hope all will yet be clear. I have been constantly going about doing good, and though I am tired, yet I am come to see what can be done for my people, who are in great distress." Here he produced the strings of wampum he had received from the different towns, denoting their earnest desire of peace, and added,—"As to what has happened, I believe it has been ordered by our Father above. We are of a different color from the white people. They are superior to us. But one God is father of us all, and we hope what is past will be forgotten. God Almighty made all people. There is not a day but some are coming into, and others going out of the world. The Great King told me the path should never be crooked, but open for every one to pass and repass. As we all live in one land, I hope we shall all love as one people."
This account is taken partly from news-papers of the period under consideration. Ramsay only adds, that peace was formally ratified; and that the ancient friendship of the parties being renewed, both expressed their hope that it would last as long as the sun might shine and the rivers run. Some little difficulty appears to have occurred in the adjustment, which should mentioned to the credit of Little-Carpenter. He consented to every requisition excepting that which demanded the surrender of four Cherokees, to be put to death in front of the camp. This he would not promise. The Colonel gave him a day to think of it, but he still refused. Finally, it was thought advisable to refer him to the Governor, and he undertook a journey to Charleston, several hundred miles distant, for the express purpose of procuring a mitigation of the treaty of peace in regard to the single obnoxious provision.
His perseverance and firmness were rewarded as they deserved. "This day," says a Charleston paper of September 23d, "Attakullakulla had his last public audience, when he signed the treaty of peace, and received an authenticated copy under the great seal. . . . He earnestly requested that Captain John Stuart might be made Chief White-Man [Indian Agent] in their nation. He said, 'all the Indians love him; and there would never be any uneasiness if he were there.' This faithful Indian afterwards dined with his Honor the Governor, and tomorrow sets out for his own country. He has received several presents as a mark of the regard this government has for him."
Thus ended the Cherokee war. That its conduct did no discredit to the talents of the Great-Warrior, we need not argue. As to the principles upon which it was fought, we may content ourselves with the comment of an impartial historian. "In the review of the whole," says Ramsay, "there is much to blame, and more to regret. The Cherokees were the first aggressors by taking horses from the Virginians; but by killing them for that offence the balance of injury was on their side. Then treachery begat treachery, and murder produced murder. The lives of those men who came originally as messengers of peace, though afterwards retained as hostages, were barbarously taken away without any fault of theirs, other than their obeying the laws of nature in resisting a military order for putting their persons in irons. A deadly hatred and a desolating war was the consequence."
We do not meet with frequent mention of either of the Chieftains named in this chapter, after the campaign of 1761. They fought against the neighboring tribes occasionally, but with the English they preserved a firm peace of at least fifteen years. The character of the contest between England and the Colonies appears to have confused them, and their embarrassment was not at all relieved by the unsparing efforts made to instigate them to hostilities against the latter. The result was a division of opinion, and a diversity of practice, as in the case of their Northern neighbors. A part of the nation took up arms for the English,—probably the younger warriors;—but the whole were compelled to suffer in consequence. A powerful army from South Carolina invaded their territory, and after a severe struggle, peace was once more enforced at the point of the bayonet.