[LV]. So called from its distance of miles from the Cheerake. (A). Adair makes a slight slip here. Ninety-Six was the name applied as early as 1730 to the point ninety-six miles from Charles Town. Salley, George Hunter’s Map of 1730, p. 3. (W)
Having shewn the bad state of our affairs among the remotest parts of the Cheerake country, and the causes.—I shall now relate their plea, for commencing war against the British colonies; and the great danger we were exposed to by the incessant intrigues of the half-savage French garrisons, in those hot times, when all our northern barriers were so prodigiously harrassed. Several companies of the Cheerake,[[131]] who joined our forces under General Stanwix at the unfortunate Ohio, affirmed that their alienation from us, was—because they were confined to our martial arrangement, by unjust suspicion of them—were very much contemned,—and half-starved at the main camp: their hearts told them therefore to return home, as freemen and injured allies, though without a supply of provisions. This they did, and pinching hunger forced them to take as much as barely supported nature, when returning to their own country. In their journey, the German inhabitants, without any provocation, killed in cool blood about forty of their warriors, in different places—though each party was under the command of a British subject.[[132]] They scalped all, and butchered several, after a most shocking manner, in imitation of the barbarous war-custom of the savages; some who escaped the carnage, returned at night, to see their kindred and war companions, and reported their fate. Among those who were thus treated, some were leading men, which had a dangerous tendency to disturb the public quiet. We were repeatedly informed, by public account, that those murderers were so audacious as to impose the scalps on the government for those of French Indians; and that they actually obtained the premium allowed at that time by law in such a case. Although the vindictive disposition of Indians in general, impetuously forces them on in quest of equal revenge for blood, without the least thought of consequences; yet as a misunderstanding had subsisted some time, between several distant towns, and those who chanced to lose their people in Virginia, the chiefs of those families being afraid of a civil war, {245} in case of a rupture with us, dissuaded the furious young warriors from commencing hostilities against us, till they had demanded satisfaction, agreeable to the treaty of friendship between them and our colonies; which if denied, they would fully take of their own accord, as became a free, warlike, and injured people. In this state, the affair lay, for the best part of a year, without our using any proper conciliating measures, to prevent the threatening impending storm from destroying us: during that interval, they earnestly applied to Virginia for satisfaction, without receiving any; in like manner to North-Carolina; and afterwards to South-Carolina, with the same bad success. And there was another incident at Fort Prince-George, which set fire to the fuel, and kindled it into a raging flame: three light-headed, disorderly young officers of that garrison, forcibly violated some of their wives, and in the most shameless manner, at their own houses, while the husbands were making their winter hunt in the woods—and which infamous conduct they madly repeated, but a few months before the commencement of the war: in other respects, through a haughty over-bearing spirit, they took pleasure in insulting and abusing the natives, when they paid a friendly visit to the garrison. No wonder that such a behaviour, caused their revengeful tempers to burst forth into action. When the Indians find no redress of grievances, they never fail to redress themselves, either sooner or later. But when they begin, they do not know where to end. Their thirst for the blood of their reputed enemies, is not to be quenched with a few drops.—The more they drink, the more it inflames their thirst. When they dip their fingers in human blood, they are restless till they plunge themselves in it.
Contrary to the wise conduct of the French garrisons in securing the affection of the natives where they are settled—our sons of Mars imbittered the hearts of those Cheerake, that lie next to South-Carolina and Georgia colonies, against us, with the mid settlements and the western towns on the streams of the Missisippi: who were so incensed as continually to upbraid the traders with our unkind treatment of their people in the camp at Monongahela,—and for our having committed such hostilities against our good friends, who were peaceably returning home through our settlements, and often under pinching wants. The lying over their dead, and the wailing of the women in their various towns, and tribes, for their deceased relations, at the dawn of day, and in the dusk of the evening, proved another strong provocative to them to retaliate blood for blood. The Muskohge {246} also at that time having a friendly intercourse with the Cheerake, through the channel of the governor of South-Carolina, were, at the instance of the watchful French, often ridiculing them for their cowardice in not revenging the crying blood of their beloved kinsmen and warriors. At the same time, they promised to assist them against us,[[133]] and in the name of the Alebahma French, assured them of a supply of ammunition, to enable them to avenge their injuries, and maintain their lives and liberties against the mischievous and bloody English colonists; who, they said, were naturally in a bitter state of war against all the red people, and studied only how to steal their lands, on a quite opposite principle to the open steady conduct of the generous French, who assist their poor red brothers, a great way from their own settlements, where they can have no view, but that of doing good. Notwithstanding the repeated provocations we had given to the Cheerake,—and the artful insinuations of the French, inculcated with proper address; yet their old chiefs not wholly depending on the sincerity of their smooth tongues and painted faces, nor on the assistance, or even neutrality of the remote northern towns of their own country, on mature deliberation, concluded that, as all hopes of a friendly redress for the blood of their relations now depended on their own hands, they ought to take revenge in that equal and just manner, which became good warriors. They accordingly sent out a large company of warriors, against those Germans, (or Tied-arse people, as they term them) to bring in an equal number of their scalps, to those of their own murdered relations.—Or if they found their safety did not permit, they were to proceed as near to that settlement, as they conveniently could, where having taken sufficient satisfaction, they were to bury the bloody tomohawk they took with them. They set off, but advancing pretty far into the high settlements of North-Carolina,[[134]] the ambitious young leaders separated into small companies, and killed as many of our people, as unfortunately fell into their power, contrary to the wise orders of their seniors, and the number far exceeded that of their own slain. Soon after they returned home, they killed a reprobate old trader; and two soldiers also were cut off near Fort Loudon. For these acts of hostility, the government of South-Carolina demanded satisfaction, without receiving any; the hearts of their young warriors were so exceedingly enraged, as to render their ears quite deaf to any remonstrance of their seniors, respecting an amicable accommodation; for as they expected to be exposed to very little danger, on our remote, dispersed, and {247} very extensive barrier settlements, nothing but war-songs and war-dances could please them, during this flattering period of becoming great warriors, “by killing swarms of white dung-hill fowls, in the corn-fields, and asleep,” according to their war-phrase.
Previous to this alarming crisis, while the Indians were applying to our 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.