On the third day, as the army were advancing, the Cherokees made a most furious assault upon them. A long and obstinate fight ensued, but, finally, the Indians gave way, and fled. The army immediately pressed forward to Etchowa, but the Indians had removed their property, and forsaken the town. Again an attack was made, and the English, after a severe contest, though claiming the victory, found themselves forced to retreat. Soon after this, Fort Loudon surrendered, and the Indians fell upon the garrison as they were marching homeward. All were slain except Captain Stewart, whom Attakullakulla ransomed and sent home, at the price of nearly all he possessed. The conduct of the chief, in this case, forms a bright and beautiful passage in Indian history.
The war with the Cherokees still continued, and the French sought with all their art to engage the Creeks and Choctaws against the English. A force of Scotch Highlanders, and a provincial regiment, with numbers of Chickasaws and Catawbas, who had been induced, by presents, to engage in the service,—the whole consisting of 2,600 men,—were now sent forward to Fort Prince George. Here Attakullakulla met them, and besought the commander to proceed no farther till he had used his endeavours to bring about a peace with his countrymen. But his entreaties were vain. The officer proceeded, and the troops were attacked by the Cherokees, who rushed down from the high grounds with great fury. The battle was long and dubious; the Indians, when repulsed at one point, assailed another, and the fight was maintained from nine to eleven o’clock, when the Cherokees, overpowered by superior discipline, fled, and were pursued till two o’clock. Etchowa, and fourteen other towns of the middle settlements, were now utterly destroyed, together with several magazines of corn, and 1,400 acres of cornfields. After ravaging the country, far and wide, the English returned to Fort Prince George.
Soon after this, Attakullakulla and several chiefs went to the camp and expressed earnest wishes for peace. Articles were drawn up and interpreted, and Attakullakulla agreed to accept all but one, which he had no power from his nation to grant. This was, that four Cherokees should be delivered up, and put to death in front of the army. As they could not accede to this cruel demand, the chiefs were sent to Charleston to confer with the governor. He met them at Ashley Ferry, and gave them a welcome. The fire was kindled, and the pipe of peace was lighted and smoked, in silence and great solemnity. Then Attakullakulla rose up and made an eloquent and manly speech, saying, “that he came as a messenger of peace; that his people were in great distress; that, though the English were their superiors, and lived in light, while they were in darkness, yet that one God was the Father of both; that they lived in one country, and that he wished what had happened might now be forgotten, and that they might be as one people.”
A peace was thereupon established, and both parties expressed their wish that it might last as long as the rivers should run, or the sun shine. This was at the close of the year 1761.
The Natchez were a powerful tribe of Indians, who inhabited that part of our country now called Louisiana. They differed, in many respects, from the rest of the Southern Indians, and many of their customs were singular. In their worship of the sun, they bore a strong resemblance to the ancient Peruvians, and may, perhaps, have had a common ancestry with them. But they were much more warlike, and occasioned great trouble to the French settlements in that vicinity. On one occasion, they formed a deep plan for the extermination of every Frenchman among them. A considerable time was taken in maturing it, and it was so complete in its details, that nothing but its discovery by a female, who was attached to the French, could probably have defeated its execution.
A day was fixed upon, when the savages were to rise simultaneously and massacre the whites. Those who planned the enterprise, in order to insure unity of action, furnished a number of rods to each tribe; one rod was to be taken from the collection every day, till there remained but one, and this was to indicate the time for the massacre. The woman, to whom we have alluded, in order to defeat the scheme of her people, took away one of these rods, and, as the Indians never counted them, a part of the Natchez began the massacre one day too soon. The French were thus apprized of the hostile design, and took measures to defeat it. Still, many of them fell victims to the fury of the Indians. In revenge, the whites attacked them, and, in the end, this powerful tribe were nearly all destroyed, and their habitations reduced to ashes. These events took place in 1729.
The settlements of the French on the Yazoo and Washita rivers were subjected to an attack similar to that just related, and with the like result. The Natchez, who survived the French retaliation of their massacres, fled to the Chickasaws.