Among the Creek Indians there was two types of Chiefs. There were the chiefs of
peace called the white chiefs. There were the chiefs of war called the red
chiefs. The Creek warriors were called Red Sticks later only those hostile to
the American nation would be called Red Sticks. The war chiefs had increased in
power at the expense of the chiefs of peace. Before, they were all considered
equal in power among the Creek Indians. The American Revolution had changed
that. Chiefs that had dealt with war were now being sought after more for
guidance than those that dealt with peace.
Soon it was evident that this was not setting well with
other chiefs of the Creek Nation. Alexander's new image was especially upsetting
to very influential Indian chiefs. His two leading opponents were Chief Tame
King of the Tallassee Creeks and Chief Fat King of the Cussitta Creeks. These
two were pro-American during the Revolution while Alexander has been
pro-British. These chiefs tried to cause Alexander as much trouble as possible
until he had several of their followers executed. This action raised his
influence among many towns because now everyone knew who he was.
Chief McGillivray dominated the Creek towns in more ways than one. He dominated
the trade to the Indian towns and if he wanted to make them suffer he would slow
down the flow of goods to certain areas. By doing this he enhanced his power
even more among the Indians. Regardless of his methods he was responsible a
period of the greatest unity among the Creek Confederacy. For a short time the
whole Creek Nation came close to having a centralized administration and a
unified foreign policy. (8)
The Great dream of Alexander McGillivray was to form a united sovereign Creek
Indian confederacy to stop the advance of the Americans and Spanish on Creek
territory. Throughout the 1780's both the Americans and the Spanish thought that
this was a real possibility. The American commissioners thought that he was
forming an alliance among the British, Spanish and other Indian nations. This
would have been a strong alliance for the Americans to have to fight against.
During 1786 an American Indian Agent named James White reported that McGillivray
wanted to form the Creek Nation into the Fourteenth state. (9) Spanish officials
thought that he was trying to form an Indian alliance that would unite the
northern and southern Indians into one large Indian nation. This idea of a grand
Indian alliance would help for a while to hold back the Americans. Spanish
authorities thought that this grand Indian alliance was good for the Spanish as
well as the Indians. It would protect their interests in the area.
McGillivray wanted a union with another power to help protect the Creeks. This
would also help stabilize trade in the region as well. He was faced with three
choices: Spain the United States or Georgia. Britain was out of the question
because they had already lost to the Americans during the revolution. Georgia
was definitely out of the question because they had confiscated his father's
property after the war, because his father had been pro-British. Alexander
wanted to make they pay for this. Not only did it make his father suffer, it had
taken away from his inheritance that was no different than stealing from him. He
held a severe grudge against the state of George and wanted to make them pay.
That left the United States and Spain as the two powers that he would deal with.
McGillivray thought that the United States was weaker than Spain because they
could not control the actions of Georgia. Soon he decided to unite with Spain.
He preferred a monarchal form of government, instead of a republican form of
government. He felt that the U.S. was weak and within a few years the kings of
Europe would divide the United States among themselves. (10)
He definitely hated Georgia because his fathers name had
been placed fourth on a list of Tories that had been banished from the state of
Georgia. Not only was his father banished, but also his property had been
confiscated and sold at public auction. There were several auctions because his
father owned several plantations. One ad alone listed 5,000 acres of Lachlan's
property for sale. Alexander estimated that the confiscated holdings of his
father had been worth nearly 40,000 pounds sterling. This grudge that he had
with Georgia would stand in the way of negotiations for the rest of his life.
(11)
By the end of the 1780's it appeared that Georgia was on the brink of an all out
war with the Creek Indians. Several attempts were made to settle the disputes
but all were unsuccessful. For the most part the United States did not play a
role in Indian relations in the south until 1786. But seeing that Georgia and
the Creek Nation were on the brink of war was changing things in certain
political circles.By 1786, the
Creek Indians were receiving large quantities of supplies of weapons from the
Spanish to use against Georgians.
In
the late 1780's, the United States was engrossed in its expansion into the mid
west. It was constantly dealing with military expeditions against the Northern
Indians. There were two things that congress wanted in the Southeast that was
peace with the Creeks and a stable border. During this time the U.S. had neither
of these. For the whole year of 1786 the south was on the brink of an all out
Indian war. In June of 1786 the Secretary of war reported to congress "that
there was a strong possibility that the nation would be involved in a serious
Indian war".He informed them that the United States was in no shape to fight an
Indian war on any front. By the end of 1786 Georgia was making plans to go to
war against the Creek Indians. By the spring of 1788 President George Washington
was making plans to try to settle the disputes between Georgia and the Creek
Indians. (15)
