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Creek Indian
Chiefs and Leaders
Bosomworth, Mary, A noted
Creek
Indian woman, also known as Mary Mathews and Mary Musgrove, who created much
trouble for the Georgia colonial government about 1752, nearly rousing the Creek
confederacy to war against the English. She seems to have been of high standing
among her own people, being closely related to leading chiefs both of the Upper
and Lower Creeks, possessed of unusual intelligence and knowledge of English,
for which reason, and to secure her good will, Oglethorpe, the founder of the
colony, made her his interpreter and negotiator with the Indians at a salary of
$500 per year. About 1749 she married her third white husband, the Rev. Thomas
Bosomworth, who, by reason of his Indian marriage, was given a commission from
the colony of South Carolina as agent among the Creeks, and within a few months
had nearly precipitated civil war among the Indians and rebellion among the
licensed traders. Being deeply in debt, he instigated his wife to assume the
title of "Empress of the Creek Nation," and to make personal claim, first to the
islands of Ossabaw, St Catharine, and Sapelo, on the Georgia coast, and
afterward to a large territory on the mainland. Notifying Gov. Oglethorpe that
she was coining to claim her own, she raised a large body of armed Creeks and
marched against Savannah. The town was put in position for defense and a troop
of cavalry met the Indians outside and obliged them to lay down their arms
before entering. The procession was headed by Bosomworth in full canonical
robes, with his "queen" by his side, followed by the chiefs in order of rank,
with their warriors. They were received with a military salute and a council
followed, lasting several days, during which the Indians managed to regain
possession of their arms, and a massacre seemed imminent, which was averted by
the seizure of Mary and her husband, who were held in prison until they made
suitable apologies and promises of good behavior, the troops and citizens
remaining under arms until the danger was over, when the Indians were dismissed
with presents. Nothing is recorded of her later career. See Appleton's
Cyclopaedia of Am. Biog.; various histories of Georgia;
Bosomworth's MS. Jour., 1752, in archives B. A. E. (J. M.)
Chekilli (from achikilläs, making
a short step backward. Gatschet). The principal chief of the
Creek confederacy
at the period of the settlement of the Georgia colony in 1733, having succeeded
the "Emperor Bream" on the death of the latter. He appears to have been one of
the Creeks who visited England with Tomochichi in that year. In 1735, as
"Emperor of the Upper and Lower Creeks," he headed a delegation in a council
with the English at Savannah, on which occasion he recited the national legend
of the Creeks, as recorded in pictographs upon a buffalo skin, which was
delivered to the commissioners and afterward hung up in the London office of the
colony. It is now lost, but the translation has been preserved, and has been
made the subject of a brief paper by Brinton and an extended notice by Gatschet.
In 1752 Chekilli was residing at Coweta, and although still regarded as
principal ruler of the confederacy had delegated his active authority to
Malatche, the war chief, a younger man. The name appears also as Chiggilli and
Tchikilli. See Bosomworth, MS. Jour., 1752, copy in B. A. E. ;
Brinton, Nat. Leg. Chahta-Muskokee Tribes, in Hist. Mag., Feb., 1870;
Gatschet, Creek Migr. Leg., i, n, 1884, 1888.
Davis, John. A
full-blood Creek, born in the "Old Nation."
In the War of 1812, when a boy, he was taken
prisoner, and was reared by a white man. He
emigrated from Alabama in 1829, and was
educated at the Union Mission after reaching
Indian Territory. He had good talents, and
in early manhood became a valuable helper to
the missionaries as interpreter and speaker
in public meetings. He was an active worker
in 1830, and died about 10 years later. Two
daughters survive him, who were educated in
the Presbyterian boarding school, one of
whom, Susan, wife of John McIntosh, rendered
important service to Mrs. A. E. W. Robertson
in her Creek translations. Davis was joint
author with J. Lykens in translating the
Gospel of John into Creek, published at the
Shawanoe Baptist Mission, Ind. Ter., in
1835, and was also a collaborator with K. M.
Loughridge, D. Winslett, and W. S. Robertson
in the translation into Creek of two volumes
of hymns. Pilling, Bibliog. Muskhogean
Lang., Bull. B. A. E., 1889.
Emistesigo. Known also as Gurister-sigo. An Upper Creek
chief and noted warrior who came prominently into notice in the latter part of
the 18th century. The British being in possession of Savannah, Ga., in June,
1782, Gen. Wayne was dispatched to watch their movements. On May 21, Col. Brown,
of the British force, marched out of Savannah to meet, according to appointment,
a band of Indians under Emistesigo, but was intercepted and cut to pieces by
Wayne. Mean while Emistesigo succeeded in traversing the entire state of Georgia
without discovery, except by two boys, who were captured and killed. Wayne, who
was not anticipating an attack, was completely surprised by the Indians, who
captured 2 of his cannon, but succeeded in extricating his troops from their
danger, and, after severe fighting, in putting the Creeks to flight. Emistesigo
was pierced by bay nets, and 17 of his warriors fell by his side. He was at this
time only 30 years of age, and is described as being 6 ft 3 in. in height and
weighing 220 pounds.
Fife. An Upper Creek chief, called James or Jim Fife,
who flourished in the early years of the 19th century, and whose importance
arose chiefly from the aid he rendered Gen. Jackson in the latter s tight with
the Creeks, Jan. 22, 1814, on Tallapoosa r. near the mouth of Emuckfau cr., Ala.
In this battle, Fife, who had joined Jackson with 200 warriors at Talladega, not
only saved Coffee s division from de feat when hard pressed by fearful odds, but
turned the tide of battle in favor of Jackson s army. "But for the promptness of
Fife and his warriors," says Drake (Ind. Chiefs, 104, 1832), "doubtless
the Americans must have retreated." He signed the
treaty of Indian Springs, Ga., Feb. 12, 1825, only as representing
Talladega, and is not included among "the chiefs and headmen of the Creek
nation" who signed the supplementary treaty. (C. T.)
Great
Mortar (Yayatustenuggee). A Creek chief; an ally
of the French in the Seven Years war. When the English superintendent of Indian
affairs called a council of the Creeks with the object of winning them over, he
refused the pipe of peace to Great Mortar because the chief had favored the
French, and the latter withdrew with his followers, confirmed in his hostility
to the British. He received a commission from the French, and after killing or
driving out the English traders and settlers took up a position on the border,
where he could raid the Georgia settlements, obtaining his arms and sup plies
from the French fort on Alabama r. Many Creeks and Cherokee joined him there
until the Chickasaw surprised the camp and put his warriors to flight. He
settled at another place whence he could resume his depredations and continued
to ravage the scattered settlements, including Augusta, Ga. In 1761 Col. James
Grant, at the head of 2,600 Americans and friendly Indians, brought all the
hostiles to terms, and a peace was made which fixed the watershed of the
Allegheny mts. as the boundary between the British colonies and the lands of the
natives. Drake, Aborig. Races, 384, 1880.
McGillivray, Alexander.
A mixed blood Creek chief who acquired considerable note during the latter
half of the 18th century by his ability and the affection in which he was
held by his mother's people. Capt. Marchand, in command of the French Ft
Toulouse, Ala., in 1722, married a Creek woman of the strong Hutali or
Wind clan, from which it was customary to select the chief. One of the
children of this marriage was Sehoy, celebrated for her beauty. In 1735
Lachlan McGillivray, a Scotch youth of wealthy family, landed in Carolina,
made his way to the Creek country, married Sehoy, and established his
residence at Little Talasi, on the east bank of Coosa river, above
Wetumpka, Elmore county, Ala. After acquiring a fortune and rearing a
family he abandoned the latter, and in 1782 returned to his native
country. One of his children was Alexander, born about 1739; he was
educated at Charleston under care of Farquhar McGillivray, a relative. At
the age of 17 he was placed in a counting house in Savannah but after a
short time returned to his home, where his superior talents began to
manifest themselves, and he was soon at the head of the Creek tribe.
Later his authority extended also over the
Seminole and the Chickamauga
groups, enabling him, it is said, to muster 10,000 warriors. McGillivray
is first heard of in his new role as "presiding at a grand national
council at the town of Coweta, upon the Chattahoochie, where the
adventurous Leclerc Milfort was introduced to him" (Pickett, Hist. Ala.,
345, 1896). Through the advances made by the British authorities, the
influence of Col. Tait, who was stationed on the Coosa, and the conferring
on him of the title and pay of colonel, McGillivray heartily and actively
espoused the British cause during the Revolution. His father had left him
property on the Savannah and in other parts of Georgia, which, in
retaliation for his abandonment of the cause of the colonists, was
confiscated by the Georgia authorities. This action greatly embittered him
against the Americans and led to a long war against the western settlers,
his attacks being directed for a time against the people of east Tennessee
and Cumberland valley, whence he was successively beaten back by Gen.
James Robertson. The treaty of peace in 1783 left McGillivray without
cause or party. Proposals from the Spanish authorities of Florida through
his business partner, Win. Panton, another Scotch adventurer and trader,
induced him to visit Pensacola in 1784, where, as their "emperor," he
entered into an agreement with Spain in the name of the Creeks and the
Seminoles. The United States made repeated overtures to McGillivray for
peace, but he persistently refused to listen to them until invited to New
York in 1790 for a personal conference with Washington. His journey from
Little Talasi, through Guilford Richmond, Fredericksburg, and
Philadelphia, was like a triumphal march, and the prospective occasion for
such display was a strong inducement for the shrewd chief to accept the
invitation. According to Pickett (p. 406) there was, in addition to the
public treaty, a secret treaty between McGillivray and Washington which
provided "that after two years from date the commerce of the Creek nation
should be carried on through the ports of the United States, and, in the
meantime, through the present channels; that the chiefs of the Okfuskees,
Tookabatchas Tallases Cowetas Cussetas and the Seminole nation should be
paid annually by the United States $100 each, and be furnished with
handsome medals; that Alexander McGillivray should be constituted agent of
the United States with the rank of brigadier-general and the pay of $1,200
per annuls; that the United States should feed, clothe, and educate Creek
youth at the North, not exceeding four at one time." The public treaty was
signed Aug. 7, 1790, and a week later McGillivray took the oath of
allegiance to the United States. Nevertheless he was not diverted from his
intrigue with Spain, for shortly after taking the oath he was appointed by
that power superintendent-general of the Creek nation with a salary of
$2,000 a year, which was increased in 1792 to $3,500.
The versatile character of McGillivray was perhaps due
in part to the fact that there flowed in his veins the blood of four
different nationalities. It has been said that he possessed "the polished
urbanity of the Frenchman, the duplicity of the Spaniard, the cool
sagacity of the Scotchman, and the subtlety and inveterate hate of the
Indian." Gen. James Robertson, who knew him well and despised the
Spaniards, designated the latter "devils'' and pronounced McGillivray as
the biggest devil among them" half Spaniard, half Frenchman, half
Scotchman, and altogether Creek scoundrel." That Alexander McGillivray was
a man of remarkable ability is evident from the consummate skill with
which he maintained his control and influence over the Creeks, and from
his success in keeping both the United States and Spain paying for his
influence at the same time. In 1792 he was at once the
superintendent-general of the Creek nation on behalf of Spain, the agent
of the United States, the mercantile partner of Panton, and "emperor" of
the Creek and Seminole nations. As opulence was estimated in his day and
territory, he was a wealthy man, having received $100,000 for the property
confiscated by the Georgia authorities, while the annual importations by
hire and Panton were estimated in value at .£40,000 (Am. St. Papers, Ind.
Aff., 1, 458, 1832). Besides two or three plantations, he owned, at the
tine of his death, 60 Negroes, 300 head of cattle, and a large stock of
horses. In personal appearance McGillivray is described as having been six
feet in height, sparely built, and remarkably erect; his forehead was bold
and lofty; his fingers long and tapering, and he wielded a pen with the
greatest rapidity; his face was handsome and indicative of thought and
sagacity; unless interested in conversation he was inclined to be
taciturn, but was polite and respectful. While a British colonel he
dressed in the uniform of his rank; when in the Spanish service he wore
the military garb of that country; and after Washington appointed him
brigadier-general he sometimes donned a uniform of the American army, but
never when Spaniard were present. His usual costume was a mixture of
Indian and American garments. McGillivray always traveled with two
servants, one a half-blood, the other a Negro. Although ambitious, fond of
display and power, crafty, unscrupulous in accomplishing his purpose, and
treacherous in affairs of state, the charge that he was bloodthirsty and
fiendish in disposition is not sustained. He had at least two wives, one
of whom was a daughter of Joseph Curnell. Another wife, the mother of his
son Alexander and two daughters, died shortly before or soon after her
husband's death, Feb. 17, 1793, at Pensacola, Fla. He was buried with
Masonic honors in the garden of William Panton, his partner.
Opothleyaholo (properly Hupuehelth
Yahólo: from hupuewa 'child,'
he'hle 'good', yohólo,
'whooper,' 'halloer,' an initiation title. G. W.
Grayson). A Creek orator. He was speaker of the councils of the Upper Creek
towns, and as their representative met the Government commissioners in Feb.,
1825, at Indian Springs, Ga., where they came to transact in due form the
cession of Creek lands already arranged with venal Lower Creek chiefs. Opothleyaholo informed them that these chiefs had no authority to cede lands,
which could be done only by the consent of the whole nation in council, and
Macintosh he warned ominously of the doom he would invite by signing the treaty.
Opothleyaholo headed the Creek deputation that went to Washington to protest
against the validity of the treaty. Bowing to the inevitable, he put his name to
the new treaty of cession, signed at Washington Jan. 24, 1826, but afterward
stood out for the technical right of the Creeks to retain a strip that was not
included in the description because it was not then known to lie within the
limits of Georgia. After the death of the old chiefs he became the leader of the
nation, though not head-chief in name. When in 1836 some of the Creek towns made
preparation to join the insurgent Seminole, he marched out at the head of his Tukabatchi warriors, captured some of the young men of a neighboring village who
had donned war paint to start the revolt, and delivered them to the United
States military to expiate the crimes they had committed on travelers and
settlers. After holding a council of warriors he led 1,500 of them against the
rebellious towns, receiving a commission as colonel, and when the regular troops
with their Indian auxiliaries appeared at Hatchechubbee the hostiles
surrendered. The United States authorities then took advantage of the assemblage
of the Creek warriors to enforce the emigration of the tribe. Opothleyaholo was
reluctant to take his people to Arkansas to live with the Lower Creeks after the
bitter contentions that had taken place. He bargained for a tract in Texas on
which they could settle, but the Mexican government was unwilling to admit
them. After the removal to Arkansas the old feud was forgotten, and
Opothleyaholo became an important counselor and guide of the reunited tribe.
When Gen. Albert Pike, at the beginning of the Civil war, visited the
Creeks in a great council near the present town of Eufaula and urged
them to treat with the Confederacy, Opothleyaholo exercised all his
influence against the treaty, and when the council decided after several lays of debate and
deliberation, to enter into the treaty, he withdrew with his following from the
council. Later he withdrew from the Creek Nation with about a third of the Creeks
and espoused he cause of the Union. Fighting his way as he went, he retreated
into Kansas, and later died near the town of Leroy, Coffey County.
Weatherford, William
(known also as Lamochattee, or Red Eagle). A halfblood Creek chief, born
about 1780; noted for the part he played in the Creek war of 1812-14, in
which Gen. Jackson was leader of the American forces. There is some
uncertainty as to his parentage. Claiborne (quoted by Drake, Inds. N. Am.
388, 1860) says his "father was an itinerant peddler, sordid, treacherous,
and revengeful; his mother a full-blooded savage of the tribe of the
Seminoles." Another authority says that a trader, Scotch or English, named
Charles Weatherford (believed to have been the father of William), married
a half-sister of Alexander McGillivray (q. v.), who was the daughter of an
Indian chief of pure blood. In person he was tall, straight, and well
proportioned, and nature had bestowed upon him genius, eloquence, and
courage, but his moral character was far from commendable. He led the
1,000 Creeks at the massacre of Ft Mimms, Aug. 30,1813. Gen. Jackson
having entered the field, the Creeks were driven from point to point until
Weatherford resolved to make a desperate effort to retrieve his waning
fortunes by gathering all the force he could command at the Great
Horseshoe bend of the Tallapoosa. The signal defeat his forces suffered at
this point ended the war, and Weatherford, to save further bloodshed, or
perhaps shrewdly judging the result, voluntarily delivered himself to
Jackson and was released on his promise to use his influence to maintain
peace. He died Mar. 9, 1824, leaving many children, who intermarried with
the whites. It is said that after the war his character changed, and he
became dignified, industrious and sober.
Consult Red Eagle, by G. C. Eggleston,
1878
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
Handbook
of American Indians, 1906
Index of Tribes or Nations
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