sissippi eastward to Pascagoula, had been occupied in 1810, and was subsequently annexed to the State of Louisiana, no attempt had been made forcibly to occupy the country included in the district and government of Mobile. This region was still in the occupancy of the Spanish commandant of Fort Charlotte.

Since the beginning of the war with Great Britain, there had been repeated evidence of the danger of permitting a part of the United States to be occupied by a power which was unable to maintain its neutrality against an enemy which was then waging a war of extermination against the American people. In view of this danger, Congress, by an act approved February 12th, had authorized its occupancy by the troops of the United States, and General Wilkinson was instructed by the president to take forcible possession of Fort Charlotte, and the district eastward to the Perdido. Accordingly, having completed his preparations, the general, at the head of a strong land and naval force, took possession of the fort and district on the 13th of April, 1813.*

The fort was left in command of Colonel Constant, with a suitable garrison, when the general proceeded to erect a strong fortification at Mobile Point, to prevent the entrance of vessels of war into the bay. This fortification was left in command of Lieutenant John Bowyer, and, in honor of him, it was subsequently called "Fort Bowyer." The works had not been completed in September following.

By an act of Congress, approved May 12th, the Mobile District, dependent upon Fort Charlotte, was annexed to the Mississippi Territory.†

For months afterward, the Spaniards, in their interviews with the hostile Creeks, asserted that Mobile had been basely surrendered by a cowardly commandant, and that his Catholic majesty's troops expected orders for its recapture, when they should expect the aid of the Creek warriors.

The occupation of all Florida had been an event ardently desired by the great mass of the southwestern people, and by the officers of the United States army. As early as January, 1813, General Jackson, in a communication to the Secretary of War, observes, "If the government orders, I will rejoice at

*See book i., chap. v., of this work.

Land Laws of the United States, p. 612, edition of 1827.

the opportunity of placing the American eagle on the ramparts of Mobile, Pensacola, and St. Augustine, effectually banishing from the southern coast all British influence." In June, General Wilkinson's instructions from the war department directed him that, "if the Spaniards should attempt to dislodge him from Mobile or the Perdido, it will be an act of hostility, and, as such, will warrant you, not only in repelling it on the spot, but in pursuing and punishing the perpetrators of it wherever they may be found. The same law will govern in case of Indian invasion." This was, in substance, the course pursued by General Jackson eighteen months afterward.

Although the British fleet had been hovering near the Florida coast occasionally for several months, they made no decided effort to invade the territory of the United States. They were not yet ready for this measure, but rather desired to await the result of their intrigues with the powerful tribes of Indians in the interior of Florida and the Mississippi Territory, and to furnish them, through their agents and emissaries from Pensacola and St. Mark's, with supplies of arms and ammunition.

CHAPTER XIV.

66

THE MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY," FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE CREEK WAR UNTIL THE ADMISSION OF THE STATES OF MISSISSIPPI" AND "ALABAMA" INTO THE FEDERAL UNION.-A.D. 1813 TO 1819. Argument.-British Policy of instigating savage Warfare.-Population and Settlements in 1813.-Origin of Creek Hostilities.-Prosperous Condition of the Creeks in 1812.British Instigation from Canada.-Tecumseh stirs up a war Party in the Creek Nation. -Tombigby Settlements menaced by hostile Creeks.-Deluded Security of Colonel Hawkins and General Flournoy.-General Claiborne advances to the Tombigby.Judge Toulmin's Opinion of the true State of the Indian Affairs.-Disposition of Troops under General Claiborne.-Condition of Affairs on the Alabama in August.-General Claiborne's Letter.-Major Beasly admonished of Danger.-Attack and Massacre of Mims's Fort.-Number of Whites slain.-Loss of Indians.-Consternation produced by the Disaster.-Wretched Condition of the Inhabitants.-Marauding Bands of Indians ravage the Country.-Employment of the Choctâs urged as indispensably necessary.-General Claiborne secures the Co-operation of the Choctâs under Mushula. tubbe and Pushmataha.-Spanish Treachery detected.-British Supplies for Indians sent to Pensacola.-The Army advances to Fort Claiborne.-Advances to the Holy Ground, and defeats Creeks under Weatherford.-The Georgia Troops under General Floyd invade eastern Part of the Creek Nation.-Tennessee Troops invade the northern Part.-General Jackson advances to Fort Strother, on the Coosa.-Battle of Tallushatches. Battle of Talladega.-Creeks supplied for the War by British Agents.Battle of Emuckfaw.-Battle of Enotochopco.-Battle of the Horse-shoe, or Tohopeka.-The Power of the Creeks humbled.-Invasion of the Hickory Grounds.-"Fort Jackson" built.-Submission of the hostile Chiefs.-Surrender of Weatherford.Treaty of Fort Jackson.-Its Conditions and Requirements.-Colonel Nichols in Flor. ida.-General Jackson Commander-in-chief in 7th military District.-British Emissaries among the Florida Indians.-Jackson advances to Mobile.-Defense of Fort Bowyer against British Fleet.-Expels the British Forces from Pensacola.-Tribute of Esteem to General Jackson.-Advance of white Population into the Indian Country. Settlements north and south of Tennessee River; upon Sources of Tombigby.-Monroe County organized.-Population of Madison County in 1815.-The Creeks instigated by British Emissaries to reject the Treaty of Fort Jackson.-Population of the Territory in 1816.-Application for Authority to form a state Government.-Indian Treaties in 1816.-Territory divided.-"State of Mississippi" admitted into the Union.-Choctâ Cession by Treaty of Doak's Stand.-Ceded Territory organized into Counties.-Permanent state Capital selected.-"City of Jackson."County of Monroe annexed.-Final Extension of the state Jurisdiction within the entire Limits. Summary of Indian Treaties within the Mississippi Territory.-Governors of Mississippi.-Alabama Territory organized.-State of Alabama admitted into the Union.-Subsequent increase of Population.

[A.D. 1813.] In the war of 1812-1815, Great Britain, not content to lay waste the seaboard of the United States, by burning the cities, towns, and private property of individuals within reach of her fleets and armies, together with the monuments of art and genius, again adopted the disgraceful and inhuman policy of instigating the savages, and supplying them with the means of carrying on a murderous warfare of indis

criminate destruction against the feeble frontier settlements which were remote from the seat of war, and were not, properly, parties in the contest. The Indian barbarities of the Revolutionary war were to be revived against the northern and southern frontiers.

As late as the close of the year 1813, the American settlements within the Mississippi Territory were comprised in three distinct portions of the country, each remote from the other, with extensive Indian territory intervening. The principal population was to be found in the Natchez District, which included the counties of Warren, Claiborne, Jefferson, Adams, Wilkinson, Amité, and Franklin, containing in the aggregate about twenty-two thousand persons. In the eastern portion were the Tombigby settlements, including the annexed portion of Florida near the Mobile Bay. These settlements composed four counties, Washington, Clark, Mobile, and Baldwin, with an aggregate population of about seven thousand persons. West of these were the large counties of Hancock, Marion, Greene, and Wayne, extending to the eastern portion of Amité, and containing a sparse population, in the aggregate not exceeding five thousand persons. The third important settlement was north of the "Great Bend" of Tennessee River, and was comprised in the county of Madison, with a population of about eight thousand persons.

The aggregate white population did not exceed forty thousand, and scarcely forty-two thousand, including slaves. The remainder was occupied wholly by powerful tribes of Indians, known as the Chickasâs, Choctâs, Cherokees, and Creeks. The two latter nations, and especially the last, were numerous and warlike.

Origin of Creek Hostilities.-Although the Creeks, as a nation, for many years after the close of the Revolutionary war, under Spanish influence, had been occasionally hostile to the American people, yet, after the occupancy of Louisiana by the United States, their enmity had been subdued by the conciliatory policy of the Federal government, confirmed by formal treaties of peace and friendship. Missions had also been established in the nation for the purpose of improving their moral condition, opening schools for the education of their children, and teaching the useful arts and employments of civilized life. To encourage these aids to domestic comfort, and to introduce

among them useful employments, and gradually wean them from the uncertain support and destitution of savage life, Congress made liberal appropriations toward the introduction of agriculture and manufactures; agencies were established for supplying them by government with all the articles of Indian trade at fair prices, excluding the introduction of whisky, and protecting them from the extortion of designing individuals.

One of the principal agents of the government, Colonel Benjamin Hawkins, on the frontiers of Georgia, who had been zealously engaged for years in the laudable enterprise of introducing the arts and usages of civilized life among them, had succeeded in greatly meliorating their condition. Many towns were large, with buildings and improvements, which indicated a degree of comfort and domestic independence previously unknown among the Indians. Some of the industrious Creeks were wealthy, possessing large plantations, a great variety of domestic stock, and numerous slaves. The leading chiefs were pleased with the improved condition of their people, and gave' their full influence to measures which were gradually to place them above the precarious dependence of savage life.

Such was the condition of the Creek nation after the commencement of the war with Great Britain, until the summer of 1813; and such, in all probability, it would have continued, with a progressive improvement, had it not been for the inhuman course of Great Britain, which seeks to accomplish her purposes regardless of the means employed.

Pursuing the barbarous policy which has characterized that government for the last three centuries, agents and emissaries were dispatched to instigate the northern and southern Indians to resume hostilities against the whole southern and western frontier of the United States.

Under the direction of Elliott, a British trader of Canada, and relative of the notorious Elliott, formerly British agent on the Maumee, the revengeful Tecumseh was employed as an emissary to rouse up the southern as well as the northern savages for the destruction of the border settlements.

This warlike Indian, in the winter of 1812-13, empowered by the British authorities of Canada, commenced his enterprise of uniting all the powerful nations south of the Ohio into a league with those of the north for a general war with the United States.