CHAPTER I pages 1- 17 By Charles C. Jones Volume II - Revolutionary Epoch, 1888 Submitted by: Dena Whitesell The selection of James Wright, Esq., as the successor of Governor Ellis was appropriate and acceptable. Although a native of South Carolina, of which province his father, Sir Robert Wright, was the chief justice, he was loyal to the traditions of an ancient and honorable English family and unswerving in his allegiance to the British Crown. Having for a period of twenty-one years been the attorney-general of Carolina, to his knowledge of the laws of the realm he united a thorough acquaintance with the sentiments and needs of the Southern colonies. His legal acquirements, business habits, familiarity with the conduct of colonial affairs, and unquestioned probity admirably qualified him for the prompt and efficient discharge of the duties appertaining to the gubernatorial office. He was also a gentleman of courage, whose honesty of purpose and strict adherence to duty could be shaken neither by threats nor by offers of personal gain. Although assuming the reins of government in the sunlight of peace, he was destined to encounter the storms of the Revolution, and, in a brave adherence to the cause of his royal master, to suffer arrest, banishment from the colony, mortification, and loss. It was his lot to preside at an epoch full of doubt and trouble. During his administration the political ties which united Georgia to the mother country were violently sundered, and a union of American colonies was formed which in after years developed into a Republic than which there now exists no more puissant government in the sisterhood of nations. Throughout his official career, despite the difficulties which environed, he was at all times faithful to his trust, courageous in the performance of his duties, wise in the administration of governmental affairs, and sagacious in his political views and suggestions. The more closely it is scanned and the more intelligently it is comprehended, the more praiseworthy, from a loyal standpoint, appears his conduct. Georgia may well be proud of the capabilities and reputation of the third and last of her royal governors. Through the conciliatory and prudent course adopted by Governor Ellis the province had escaped collision with the Indian nations, and avoided participation in the controversy between the Virginians and the Carolinians on the one hand and the Cherokees on the other, which culminated in bloodshed and rain. A reference to the leading events connected with this war waged on the confines of the province, in which Georgia was urged to join, may not be deemed inappropriate. Upon the reduction of Fort Duquesne the communication between Canada and the French settlements in the South was seriously interrupted, and many Indian tribes, formerly in alliance with France, submitted to the victorious arms of Great Britain. Having burned their houses and destroyed their works, the French, descending the Ohio River, sought refuge in the strong-holds which they had erected beyond the Cherokee mountains. Thus was the theatre of war transferred to a more southern latitude, and thus were the baleful influences of the French exerted more directly upon the upper tribes of the Cherokees. An unfortunate quarrel between some Virginians and a party of these Indians served to precipitate hostilities and to excite wide-spread dissatisfaction in the breasts of the aborigines. Responding to their treaty engagements, in the expedition against Fort Du-<quesne the Cherokees sent a considerable number of their warriors to assist the British. While returning home through the back parts of Virginia, many of them having lost their animals, they captured such horses as they found running at large in the woods, little supposing that they were trespassing upon individual property. Without pausing to redress the injury in a legal way, the Virginians pursued the Indians, killed twelve or fourteen of them, and made captives of several others. Provoked at such violent, bloody, and ungrateful usage at the hands of allies whose frontiers they had just been defending, the Cherokees,upon reaching their villages, communicated the intelligence. A wrathful flame soon spread through all the upper towns. Those ho had lost friends and kinsmen were implacable, and breathed , vengeance against the English. In vain did the chiefs attempt to quiet the tempest. The young men rose in arms and resolved to seek satisfaction. French emissaries augmented the ill-will, instigated to bloodshed, and furnished weapons and ammunition. The frontiers of Carolina and Georgia lay exposed to the inroad of these excited savages thirsting for revenge. The ill-humor of the Cherokee warriors, returned from the northern expedition, was first perceived by the garrison of Fort Loudoun, consisting of some two hundred men under the command of Captains Demerl and Stuart. While making excursions into the woods in quest of fresh provisions, the soldiers [ were attacked by the Indians and some of them were slain. Thenceforward such dangers threatened the fort that its garrison was compelled to remain within its walls. All communication with distant settlements, whence supplies were received, being thus cut off, and there being no accumulation of food, the soldiers were confronted with the sad prospect of famine and death. Meanwhile the advanced settlements fell a prey to marauding bands of Indians who ravaged, plundered, burned, and scalped at pleasure. Advised of these acts of hostility, the commanding officer at Fort Prince George dispatched a messenger to Charlestown to inform Governor Lyttleton that the Cherokees had gone to war. Orders were at once issued for the militia to rendezvous at Congarees where the governor, with such forces as he could collect in the lower portion of the province, proposed to join them and to march for the relief of the frontier. Hearing of these warlike preparations on the part of the Carolinians, thirty-two Cherokee chiefs set out for Charlestown to settle all differences and to prevent, if possible, the impending strife. Although they had been unable to restrain their young men from committing acts of violence, they were persuaded that the Cherokee nation was largely inclined to friendship and peace. They arrived in Charlestown before the governor had started on his purposed expedition. A council was called at which Mr. Lyttleton stated to the chiefs that he was acquainted with the acts of hostility committed by their nation, and that he was not ignorant of the hostile intentions they entertained toward the English. He further advised them that he would soon be in their country, where he would make known his demands and the satisfaction he required. " As they had come to Charlestown to treat with him as friends, they should go home in safety, and not a hair of their heads should be touched; bat as he had many waiv riors in arms in different parts of the Province, he could not be answerable for what might happen to them unless they marched along with his army." Ooconostota, the great warrior of the Cherokee nation, rose to reply, but the governor, being resolved that nothing should interrupt his military expedition, refused to hear his speech, declined to accept any vindication of the conduct of the Cherokee nation, and would not hearken to any proposals of peace. Although Lieutenant-Governor Bull, who was better acquainted with Indian customs and realized more fully the dangers to which the colony would be exposed if involved in a war with the Cherokees, urged upon the governor the propriety of listening to the great warrior and of accommodating the pending difficulties, he remained unmoved in his purpose and summarily terminated the conference. This ill-advised and unjustifiable conduct on the part of Governor Lyttleton excited no little displeasure in the minds of the Cherokee chiefs who, having traveled a long distance to obtain peace, so far from accomplishing their mission, found themselves denied even the liberty of speech. They were chagrined, and were apprehensive of the future. A few days afterwards the governor set out for the Congarees, where he had ordered the militia to rendezvous, distant from Chariestown about a hundred and forty miles. Upon mustering his forces at that point he found that his little army numbered fourteen hundred men. Thither had he been accompanied by the Cherokee chiefs who, under a calm and contented exterior, burned with disappointment, fury, and resentment. As the army moved forward these chieftains, without any semblance of right or previous notice, were confined as prisoners, and a captain's guard was mounted over them to prevent escape. In this fashion were they compelled to march with Lyttleton's forces to Port Prince George. Deprived of their liberty,— dearer than all else to an Indian, — outraged beyond all decency, and forced to accompany an enemy moving in hostile array against their families, friends, and nation, they made no effort to conceal their resentment, and bore in sullenness the base treatment to which they were subjected. To add to the indignity, upon the arrival of the army at Fort Prince George they were huddled together in close confinement in a hut scarcely large enough to accommodate six soldiers. His army being badly armed, poorly disciplined, discontented, and mutinous, Governor Lyttleton resolved to proceed no further into the enemy's country, but sent for Attakullakulla, esteemed the wisest man of the Cherokee nation and the firmest friend of the English, to attend him at Fort Prince George. Returning from an expedition against the French, this aged warrior waited upon the governor who, in a speech of considerable length, after reminding him of the existing treaties of amity between the English and the Cherokees, the power of the British nation, its recent successes in the war against the French, and the acts of hostility of late perpetrated by the Indians, demanded that twenty-four members of the Cherokee nation should be delivered up to be put to death, or to be otherwise disposed of as he, the governor, should think fit, " as satisfaction for an equal number of whites who had been murdered." To this Attakullakulla responded that he remembered the treaties alluded to, as he had participated in making them. While admitting the kindness exhibited by the province of South Carolina, he complained bitterly of the cruel treatment his countrymen had received at the hands of the Virginians, and alleged this to be the proximate cause of the present misunderstanding. Asserting his firm friendship for the English, he promised to use his influence in persuading the Cherokees to comply with the governor's demand. He was apprehensive, however, that the satisfaction demanded would not be accorded, and desired that some of the head men, then in confinement in the fort, should be released that they might assist him in persuading his people to respond to the governor's requisition. Finally, he protested that the English were exhibiting more resentment against the-Cherokees than against other Indian nations who had offended them, and instanced the case of two Carolinians who had been slain by the Choctaws, and for whose deaths no satisfaction had been either offered or exacted. Yielding to Attakullakulla's request, the governor released Occonostota, Fistoe, the chief man of Keowee Town, and the head warrior of Estatoe. The next day two Indians were surrendered who, in obedience to Governor Lyttleton's orders, were at once put in irons. Finding that they were powerless to give the satisfaction demanded by the governor, the Cherokees departed* A messenger was dispatched to bring Attakullakulla back to the camp. Upon his return the governor at once began to treat of peace, as he was desirous of " finishing the campaign with as such credit as possible. Accordingly, a treaty was drawn up and signed by the governor and by six head men of the Cherokee nation, in which it was stipulated that the " twenty-two chieftains of the Cherokees should be kept as hostages, confined in the fort until the same number of Indians, guilty of murder, should be delivered up to the Commander in chief of the Province ; that trade should be opened and carried on as usual; that the Cherokees should kill, or take every Frenchman prisoner who should presume to come into their nation during the continuance of the war, and that they should hold no intercourse with the Enemies of Great Britain, but should apprehend every person, white and red, found among them who might be endeavoring to set the English and Cherokees at variance and interrupt the friendship and peace established between them." " Having concluded this treaty, the governor resolved to return to Charlestown. The small-pox, which was raging in an adjacent Indian town, now appeared in his camp to the alarm of the soldiers, few of whom had ever been brought in contact with that distemper. The surgeons, too, were unprepared to treat the malady. Struck with terror the army quickly disbanded. Each soldier, making his way homeward as best he could, through fear of the pest carefully avoided all association with his fellows. Arrived in Charlestown, the governor was welcomed with demonstrations of joy, and the most happy consequences were anticipated as the result of his expedition. Whether the Indian chiefs who signed the treaty stipulations understood them or not is perhaps doubtful. Certain it is, however, that they utterly disregarded them. The unjustifiable and inhuman incarceration of the chiefs, against whom no charges were preferred and who had journeyed several hundred miles in order to secure from Governor Lyttleton peace for their nation, produced a strong impression on the mind of the Cherokees. Oo-conostota was inflamed with fury and cried aloud for vengeance. Instead of permitting these chiefs to return home in accordance with the promise of the governor that not a hair of .their heads should be hurt, the whites confined them in a miserable hut where they were allowed to see neither their friends nor the light of day. The allegation that they were detained as hostages was a mere subterfuge. It could not happen otherwise than that these brave, untamed, independent warriors should, at the earliest opportunity, resent such base, unmerited, and inhuman usage. The bonfires kindled in Charlestown upon the return of Governor Lyttleton had scarcely turned to ashes when tidings were brought announcing the alarming fact that the Cherokees had slain fourteen men within a mile of Fort Prince George. Occonostota, collecting a strong party, surrounded that fort and compelled its garrison to seek shelter within its walls. Finding that he could make no impression upon the work, and unable to compel its commanding officer, Captain Coytmore, who was utterly detested by the natives, to surrender his post, this chief contrived the following stratagem for the relief of his imprisoned country men. The region being densely wooded, he placed a party in ambush near the river, and then sent an Indian woman, who was always welcome in the fort, to inform the commanding officer that he had an important communication to make and would be glad to speak with him at the river-side. Suspecting nothing, Captain Coytmore, accompanied by Lieutenants Bell and Foster, responded to the invitation. Appearing on the opposite side of the river, Occonostota stated that he was going to Charles-town to procure a release of the prisoners, and would be glad if a soldier could be detailed to accompany him as a safeguard. Holding a bridle in his hand, he added that he would furnish a horse for the conveyance of the soldier. The captain responded that he should have the guard. Turning quickly about, Occonostota swung the bridle thrice around his head as a signal to his men lying in ambush who, instantly firing upon the officers, shot the captain dead on the spot and wounded his two lieutenants. In consequence of this act orders were issued within the fort to put the hostages in irons. While the soldiers were attempting to do this, the chiefs stabbed the first man who laid hold of them and wounded two more. Whereupon the garrison, exasperated to the highest degree, fell upon the unfortunate hostages and butchered them to death in a manner too shocking to relate. This massacre brought sorrow and wrath to the hearts of the entire Cherokee nation. War was resolved upon. In every direction bands of warriors, in hostile attire and fully armed, took the field. Rushing down upon the defenseless frontiers of Carolina, they sacrificed men, women, and children to their merciless fury. To add to the horrors of the period the small-pox raged on every hand. In this dire extremity an express was sent to General Amherst, the commander-in-chief in America, acquainting him with the deplorable situation of the province and craving immediate assistance. A battalion of Highlanders and four companies of the Royal Scots, under the command of Colonel Montgomery! afterwards the Earl of Eglinton, were ordered to embark immediately and sail for the relief of Carolina. William Lyttleton having been appointed governor of Jamaica, the charge of the province of South Carolina devolved upon Colonel William Bull, a gentleman of great integrity and worth. Seven troops of rangers were furnished by the provinces of Virginia and North Carolina. These patrolled the frontiers of South Carolina and prevented the Indians from penetrating into the heart of the white settlements. Considerable sums were voted with which to purchase presents in order that the Creeks, Chick-asaws, and Catawbas might be induced to assist the South Carolinians in their war with the Cherokees. Provisions were sent to such of the colonists as had taken refuge in Augusta and Fort Moore, and preparations were made for chastising the enemy so soon as the regulars from New York should arrive. In April, 1760, Colonel Montgomery landed at Charlestown and encamped with his command at Monk's Corner. His orders were to strike a rapid blow for the relief of Carolina, and to return, without loss of time, to headquarters at Albany. A few weeks afterward he marched to the Congarees where he was joined by the military forces of the province. A half-blood Indian guide, thoroughly acquainted with the proposed route, having been furnished, he pressed forward to Twelve Mile River where he encamped. With a portion of his command he surprised the Indian town of Little Keowee and put every male inhabitant to the sword. Proceeding thence to Estatoe, whence the savages had precipitately fled, he reduced to ashes that village consisting of some two hundred houses. It was well supplied with corn, hogs, poultry, and ammunition, which the Indians in their haste had been unable to remove. Sugar Town and all settlements in the Lower Cherokee nation shared a similar fate. The Indians were completely dismayed and overwhelmed by this impetuous and powerful incursion. Sixty were killed, forty captured, and the rest compelled to seek safety among the mountains. Having thus accomplished the subjugation of the region and driven the inhabitants in consternation from their homes, Colonel Montgomery moved to the relief of Fort Prince George, which had been for some time so closely invested that its garrison was in great want not only of provisions but even of fuel. While the army was resting at this fort, Edmund Atkin, agent for Indian affairs, dispatched two Indian chiefs to inform the Cherokees of the Middle Settlements that by promptly suing for peace they might regain the favor of the English. Captains Demere* and Stuart, commanding at Fort Loudoup, were notified to use their best exertions to bring about a pacification among the Cherokees inhabiting the upper towns. Finding that the Indians were indisposed to lay down their arms, Colonel Montgomery determined to advance further into their territory and to punish them even more severely. In execution of this purpose the difficulties experienced by him are thus narrated by the author of " An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia:" "Dismal was the wilderness into which he entered, and many were the hardships and dangers he had to encounter from dark thickets, rugged paths, and narrow passes in'which a small body of men, properly posted, might harass and tire out the bravest army that ever took the field. Having on all hands suspicious grounds, he found occasion for constant vigilance and circumspection. While he was piercing through the thick forest, he had numberless difficulties to surmount, particularly from rivers fordabie only at one place and overlooked by high banks on each side, where an enemy might attack him with advantage and retreat with safety. " When he had advanced within five miles of Etchoe, the neariest town in the Middle Settlements, he found there a low valley covered so thickly with bushes that the soldiers could scarcely see three yards before them, in the middle of which was a muddy river with steep, clay banks. Through this dark place, where it was impossible for any number of men to act together, the army must necessarily march, and therefore, Captain Morison, who commanded a company of Rangers well acquainted with the woods, had orders to advance and scour the thicket. He had scarcely entered it when a number of savages sprung from their larking den, and, firing on them, killed the captain and wounded several of his party. Upon which the light infantry and grenadiers were ordered to advance and charge the invisible enemy, which they did with great courage and alacrity. A heavy fire then began on both sides, and during some time the soldiers could only discover the places where the savages were hid by the report of their guns. Colonel Montgomery finding that the number of Indians that guarded the place was great, and that they were determined obstinately to dispute it, ordered the Royal Soots, who were in the rear, to advance between the savages and a rising ground on the right, while the Highlanders marched towards the left to sustain the light infantry and grenadiers. " The woods now resounded with horrible shouts and yells, but these instead of intimidating the troops seemed rather to inspire them with double firmness and resolution. At length the savages gave way and, in their retreat, falling in with the Royal Scots, suffered considerably before they got out of their reach. By this time the Royals being in the front, and the Highlanders in the rear, the enemy stretched away and took possession of a hill, seemingly disposed to keep at a distance, and always retreating as the army advanced. Colonel Montgomery, perceiving that they kept aloof, gave orders to the line to face about and march directly for the town of Etchoe. The enemy no sooner observed this movement than they got behind the hill and ran to alarm their wives and children. "During the action, which lasted above an hour, Colonel Montgomery, who made several narrow escapes, had twenty men killed and seventy-six wounded. What number the enemy lost is uncertain, but some places were discovered into which they had thrown several of their slain, from which it was conjectured that they must have lost a great number as it is a custom among them to carry their dead off the field. Upon viewing the ground all were astonished to see with what judgment and skill they had chosen it. Scarcely could the most experienced officer have fixed upon a spot more advantageous for waylaying and attacking an enemy according to the method of fighting practised among the Indian Nations." This engagement convinced Colonel Montgomery that he could not, in this wild and broken region, make substantial headway against the aborigines who, driven from one position, were prepared to occupy another. Encumbered by his wounded, whom he could not entrust to the tender mercies of the enemy, and persuaded that the hardships incident to a further prosecution of the campaign were beyond the endurance of his men, he ordered a retreat which was conducted in an orderly manner in the presence of the enemy hovering near and offering every possible annoyance. As Colonel Montgomery was preparing to embark with his troops for New York, in obedience to his orders from General Amherst, the General Assembly of South Carolina, influenced by the dangers threatening the province, memorialized Governor Bull, unanimously entreating him to use the most pressing instances with Colonel Montgomery not to depart with the King's troops as it may be attended with the most pernicious consequences. Representing to the colonel the imminent dangers to which the colony would be exposed, the governor succeeded in prevailing upon him to leave four companies of the royal regiment, under the command of Major Frederick Hamilton, for the protection of the frontiers. Meanwhile the Indians were ravaging the back settlements and gathering their forces for wider and more determined hostilities. The distant garrison of Fort Loudoun, consisting of two hundred men, had been so long and so closely invested by the enraged Cherokees that it was well-nigh reduced to the alternative either of perishing by hunger or of submitting to massacre at the hands of the savages. The Virginians had promised to concentrate for the relief of this post, but appalled at the dangers and the privations incident to the undertaking they abandoned the project. Deplorable indeed was the situation of affairs. For an entire month the garrison had been subsisting upon lean horses and dogs, and a scanty supply of beans stealthily furnished by some friendly Cherokee women. Blockaded and annoyed day and night by the enemy, the soldiers threatened to leave the fort, preferring to die by the hands of the Indians rather than perish by famine. In this extremity, all hope of succor having vanished, a council of war was called. The officers were of opinion that it was impossible to hold out any longer. A surrender to the Cherokees upon the best terms that could be secured was resolved upon, and Captain Stuart, an officer of great sagacity and address, was detailed to proceed to Chote, one of the principal Indian towns in the neighborhood. There the following terms of capitulation were agreed upon and subsequently signed by the commanding officer of the fort and two of the leading Cherokee chiefs: " That the garrison of Fort Loudoun march out with their arms and drums, each soldier having as much powder and ball as their officer shall think necessary for their march, and all the baggage they may chuse to carry: That the garrison be pennitted to march to Virginia or Fort Prince George, as the commanding officer shall think proper, unmolested, and that a number of Indians be appointed to escort them and hunt for provisions during their march: That such soldiers as are lame, or by sickness disabled from marching, be received into the Indian towns and kindly used until they recover, and then be allowed to return to Fort Prince George: That the Indians do provide for the garrison as many horses as they conveniently can for their march, agreeing with the officers and soldiers for payment: That the fort, great guns, powder, ball, and spare arms, be delivered to the Indians without fraud or further delay on the day appointed for the march of the troops. In accordance with these stipulations the fort was surrendered, and the garrison, attended by Ooconostota, Judd's friend, the prince of Chotl, and several other Indians, marched out, taking the route for Fort Prince George. At nightfall the command had journeyed fifteen miles. Having encamped on a plain about two miles from the Indian town Taliquo, the English were surprised to find themselves speedily deserted by their escort. Deeming this a suspicious circumstance, a strong guard was posted by the officers. No disturbance occurred during the night, but at daybreak the next morning a soldier from an outpost ran in and communicated the intelligence that many Indians, painted and plumed for battle, were advancing upon the camp. Scarcely had the order been issued for the men to stand to their arms, when the savages from various quarters and with terrific yells poured in a destructive fire before which Captain Demer£, three officers, and twenty-six privates fell. Enfeebled, dispirited, and panic-stricken, many of the men fled into the woods where they were captured. Captain Stuart and those who remained with him were seized, pinioned, and brought back to Fort Loudoun, where they were confined. Learning that his friend, Captain Stuart, was a prisoner, Attakullakulla hastened to the fort and, giving his rifle, clothes, and personal effects by way of ransom, purchased him from his captors. Taking possession of Captain Demerd's house, he there maintained him as a member of his family, sharing his provisions and shelter with him. The soldiers endured miserable captivity until they were, at great cost, ransomed by the province of South Carolina. Pending their release, Occonostota determined to attack Fort Prince George, and for this purpose summoned the Cherokee warriors to meet him at Stickoey old town. By accident ten bags of powder and ball, which the officers had secretly buried in the fort to prevent their falling into the enemy's hands, were discovered by the savages. This circumstance would have cost Captain Stuart his life had not the interpreter succeeded in convincing the Indians that he was ignorant of and wholly unconnected with the concealment of these warlike stores. Thus possessed of an ample quantity of ammunition, the Cherokees resolved to lay siege to Fort Prince George. A council was called at Chote. Captain Stuart was compelled to attend. There he was reminded of the fact that his life had been spared, and was informed that he and his men must take charge of and work six cannons and two coehorn mortars with which they were about to bombard Fort Prince George. He was further required to address a communication to the commanding officer of that fort demanding its immediate surrender, and threatening, if this demand was not acceded to, that the prisoners in their custody would be burnt one after another. Thoroughly alarmed at his situation, and resolved not to bear arms against his countrymen, Captain Stuart determined to make his escape or to perish in the attempt This design he privately communicated to his friend Attakullakulla, and invoked his immediate assistance. Responding to the appeal, this aged chieftain, in order to free his captive from his embarrassments, announced to the Cherokees that he intended to be absent for a few days upon a hunting expedition and that he would take Captain Stuart with him. Moving'rapidly day and night through a pathless wilderness, they arrived, on the tenth day of their journey, at the Holston River, where they fortunately fell in with Colonel Bird, who, with a party of three hundred men, was advancing for the relief of such soldiers as had made their escape from Fort Loudoun. Proceeding on until he reached Colonel Bird's permanent camp on the frontiers of Virginia, Captain Stuart there dismissed the generous chief, loading him with presents, entreating him on his return to protect the unhappy prisoners until their ransom could be accomplished, and praying him to exert his influence among the Cherokees for the restoration of peace. Escaped from the savages, this officer at once began to concert measures for the relief of Fort Prince George. Governor Bull was informed of the sad disaster which had overtaken Fort Loudoun, and of the enemy's designs against Fort Prince George. Captain Thomson, commanding the militia on the frontiers, was ordered to throw into that fort provisions sufficient to sustain its garrison for ten weeks, and to notify the officer in charge of the impending danger. Attakullakulla was requested to inform the Cherokees that Fort Prince George was impregnable, and that powder had been disposed of in vast quantities in its vicinity to blow up any parties who might assault it. Presents were forwarded with which to redeem the prisoners at Fort Loudoun, and such of them as survived the ill usage to which they had been subjected were released and delivered up to the commanding officer at Fort Prince George. It was hoped that the treacherous conduct of the Cherokees towards the garrison upon the surrender of Fort Loudoun would have been regarded by them as satisfaction for the unjust imprisonment and cruel massacre of their chiefs; but the expectation was vain. Although their lower towns had been devastated by Colonel Montgomery, the spirit of the Cherokees was still unsubdued. Hearkening to the French, who supplied them with guns and ammunition and poisoned their minds with the most iniquitous suggestions against the English, the Indians remained intent upon war. Lewis Latinac, a French officer, proved among them an indefatigable instigator to revenge, mischief, and slaughter. Persuaded that the savages were about to renew their hostilities in greater numbers and with undiminished hate, Governor Bull applied a second time to General Amherst for assistance. Lieutenant-Colonel James Grant was detailed with the Highlanders to repair to Carolina and concert measures for the subjugation of the Cherokees. Landing at Charlestown early in 1761 he there encamped with his command. In order that the projected campaign might be productive of the most decisive results, a provincial regiment was raised and placed under the command of Colonel Middleton. Supplies of all sorts were accumulated to facilitate the equipment, transportation, and support of the army. The sympathies of the Chickasaws, the Catawbas, and the Creeks were enlisted by a generous distribution of presents. When mustered, the forces under Colonel Grant aggregated about two thousand six hundred men. Arrived at Fort Prince George on the 27th of May, 1761, he was met by Attakullakulk, who, renewing his professions of amity, besought the English commander to advance no further with his army until he ascertained whether the Cherokee nation could not be persuaded to sue for peace. Declining to comply with this request, Colonel Grant, on the 7th of June, put his column of invasion in motion. Provisions for thirty days were transported with the army. Ninety Indians, and thirty woodmen attired and painted to resemble Indians, under the leadership of Captain Quintine Kennedy, marched in advance to scour the forests. Then came the light infantry which, in turn, was followed by the main body. On the fourth day the locality was reached where Colonel Montgomery had i>een attacked the year before. Here the savages, rushing down from a hill, fired upon the advance guard, which, being reinforced, drove them back until they recovered their position upon the heights. Along the foot of this hill the army was compelled to march for a considerable distance. On the left was a river from the opposite bank of which a large party of Cherokees fired briskly on the troops as they advanced. " Colonel Grant ordered a party to march up the hill and drive the enemy from the heights, while the line faced about and gave their whole charge to the Indians that annoyed them from the side of the river. The engagement became general and the savages seemed determined obstinately to dispute the lower grounds, while those on the hill were dislodged only to return with redoubled ardour to the charge. " The situation of the troops was in several respects deplorable—fatigued by a tedious march in rainy weather, surrounded with woods so that they could not discern the enemy, galled by the scattered fire of savages who, when pressed, always kept aloof but rallied again and again and returned to the ground. No sooner did the army gain an advantage over them in one quarter than they appeared in another. While the attention of the commander was occupied in driving the enemy from their lurking place on the river's side, the rear was attacked, and so vigorous an effort made for the flour and cattle that he was obliged to order a party back to the relief of the rear guard. From eight o'clock in the morning until eleven, the savages continued to keep up an irregular and incessant fire, sometimes from one place and sometimes from another, while the woods resounded with hideous shouts and yells to intimidate the troops. At length the Cherokees gave way; and, being pursued for some time, popping shots continued till two o'clock when they disappeared." Colonel Grant's army sustained a loss of between fifty and sixty killed and wounded. The casualties encountered by the enemy were not ascertained. The slain having been sunk in the river to prevent the Indians from finding and scalping them, and (he wounded having been mounted upon horses, the army pressed on to Etchoe which was reduced to ashes. Fourteen Indian towns, constituting the Middle Settlements of the Cherokees, shared a similar fate, and the women and children were mercilessly driven from their homes. The entire region was deaoted. For a whole month did Colonel Grant remain in the heart of this Indian territory. He then retired to Fort Prince George where he paused to refresh his army and to ascertain the effect which his recent punishment would exert upon the mind of the Cherokee nation. There he was waited upon by Attakullakulla and several Cherokee chiefs who, after alluding to the severe sufferings of their nation and protesting their determination to have nothing more to do with the French by whom they had been sadly deceived, desired a restoration of peaceful relations with the English. Treaty stipulations looking toward a general pacification were then prepared and submitted, all of which were approved except one article, proposed by Colonel Grant, which contemplated the surrender of four Cherokee Indians to be put to death in front of the army. Attakullakulla, having no authority from his. people to assent to such a condition, repaired to Charlestown with his companions to interview Governor Bull and ascertain whether he would consent to the abrogation of this demand. A council was called by the governor at Ashley Ferry who there delivered the following address: — " Attakullakulla, I am glad to see you, and as I have always heard of your good behaviour, that you have been a good friend to the English, I take you by the hand, and not only you but all those with you also, as a pledge for their security whilst under my protection. Colonel Grant acquaints me that you have applied for peace. Now that you are come, I have met with my beloved men to hear what you have to say, and my ears are open for that purpose. A fire having been kindled and the pipe of peace lighted, all present smoked for some time solemnly and in silence. At length Attakullakulla arose and thus spake to the governor and council: " It is a great while since I last saw your Honour. Now I am glad to see you and all the beloved men present I am come to you as a messenger from the whole nation. I have now seen you and smoked with you, and I hope we shall live together as brothers. When I came to Keowee, Colonel Grant sent me to you. You live at the water side and are in light. We are in darkness, but I hope all will yet be clear with us. 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 of the Cherokee nation, all denotng an earnest desire for peace. Continuing, he added, "As to what has happened I believe it has been ordered by our Father above. We are of a different colour from the white people. They are superior to us. But one God is father of 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 are 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 live as one people. Thereupon a treaty of peace was formally ratified: all present uniting in the hope that the friendship thus reestablished would continue as long as the sun shone and the rivers ran. Thus ended the war with the Cherokees, which not only inflicted much loss of life and property upon South Carolina but, during its continuance, subjected the province of Georgia to constant alarm and apprehension. Sadly was the strength of the Cherokee nation impaired, and many of the chosen seats of this people were rendered desolate. BACK TO HISTORY INDEX   ©Genealogy Trails