CHAP. I. them. Very early exertions were made to 1776. counteract them, and to secure the neutrality

of the Indians. So early as July 1775, com. missioners were appointed to hold a treaty with them, and very earnest endeavours were used to explain to them the nature of the controversy between the then colonies, and the mother country; and to impress them with a sense of the injustice meditated against the former, by the latter. The object of these representations however was, not to engage them in the war, but to keep them out of it.

A treaty was, in conformity with the wishes of congress, negotiated with the Six Nations, in which they stipulated to observe neutrality; and, as general Schuyler who had been one of the commissioners, and who commanded in that department, possessed an hereditary influence over them, hopes were entertained that this neutrality would be faithfully observed. As a mean indispensably necessary to the maintenance of their friendship, trade was opened with them, and congress determined to supply them, if possible, with those European articles which from congress had become necessaries.

These supplies being unavoidably small, and precarious, indications were soon given of a disposition to take part in the war. General Washington, who had in early life become acquainted with their character and dispositions, who knew their avidity for spoil and presents,

1

and their warlike temper, was persuaded of the CHAP. I. extreme difficulty of continuing them in a state 1776. of neutrality; and, on their offering to take up arms, after they had stipulated to be neutral, he urged that they should be engaged to take part with America, as the only means of preventing them from joining the enemy.

A plan had been formed by lord Dunmore, through the agency of a mr. Connelly, to induce the Indians to co-operate with him, and with the numerous loyalists of the back country, in a very extensive scheme for attacking the western parts of Virginia; but this was defeated by the detection and apprehension of the agent to be employed in it. It was however renewed on a more extensive scale, and the agents of the crown, in the southern country, whether with or without the authority of their master is uncertain, by presents and the hope of plunder, easily stimulated the Creeks and the Cherokees to agree to take up arms, and join a detachment of British troops, who were to land in West Floridas, and proceed through their country, against the frontiers of the Carolinas and Virginia; whilst another formidable armament should make an impression on their seacoast. Circular letters to the same import were sent by mr. Stuart, the principal agent for Indian affairs, to the inhabitants of the back settle

CHAP. I. ments, requiring all those who were well 1776. affected to the crown, as well as those who

were willing to preserve themselves and their families from the inevitable calamities and destruction of an Indian war, to repair to the royal standard as soon as it should be erected in the Cherokee country, and to bring with them their horses, cattle, and provisions, for all of which they were promised payment. They were likewise required, for their present security, and future distinction from the king's enemies, to subscribe immediately to a written paper declaratory of their allegiance. Copies of all the papers relative to this plan, together with several other letters from lord Dunmore, were intercepted on their way to Boston in December 1775, and laid before general Washington.

The scheme was so plausible, that its effect was very extensive among the southern Indians, who, with a few exceptions, appear to have entered into the confederacy. Even the Six Nations, notwithstanding their late treaty of neutrality, manifested hostile dispositions; and it was at one time deemed necessary to call out the frontier militia to oppose them. They, however, did not proceed to extremities, and, not receiving the expected aid, their elders and chiefs disclaimed the acts of aggression which had been committed by some of their young men, and the validity of these excuses was very willingly admitted by the American government.

In the south, the Creeks, too impatient to CHAP. I.

await the arrival of the promised succours, commenced the war with their usual barbarity. Finding that the fleets and armies they had expected, did not arrive on the seacoast, or in West Florida, and that the war would be prosecuted against them with vigour; they very prudently stopped short, and made their peace.

The operations of the Cherokees were more extensive, and of longer continuance. Their whole force was exerted. They made sudden irruptions into the country, which they laid waste in their usual manner, scalping and murdering, indiscriminately, the mother with her infant, as well as those who were capable of bearing arms against them. Their first incursions were made about the time when fort Moultrie was attacked by the fleet under the command of sir Peter Parker. As this fleet soon withdrew from the coast, and no regular force appeared in aid of the savages to cover the country, the disaffected could not safely embody, and were therefore not distinguished from others. They suffered with their families a full portion of the common calamity, and the royal cause was far from being strengthened by this premature war of massacre and depredation.d These barbarities were not long unpunished. In aid of some regular regiments ordered on

1776.

CHAP. 1. that service, the frontier inhabitants of the 1776. Carolinas and Virginia, equal to the Indians as

marksmen and as woodsmen, and not inferior to them in courage, took up arms generally, beat the enemy, and carried the war into their own country, where they burnt their corn, and destroyed their towns. In this distress they asked assistance from the Creeks, who returned for answer to their application, that "they" the Cherokees, "had plucked the thorn out of their foot, and were welcome to keep it." Disappointed in receiving the aid they had expected, they were compelled to sue for peace, which was readily granted them.

In pursuance of the policy which had been recommended by general Washington, some attempts were made to counteract the efforts of the enemy, to arm the Indians against the United States, by authorizing the commander in chief to engage a number of them, not exceeding two thousand, in the American service. In consequence of letters which general Washington had addressed to the chiefs among the tribes of Nova Scotia, a treaty was entered into between the government of Massachussetts, and the St. Johns, and Mickmac Indians, in which the warriors of those tribes engaged to enter into the service of the United States, on the same terms, and for the same compensation

• Ramsay.