To James Madison from Andrew Jackson, [ca. 8 August 1814]
From Andrew Jackson
[ca. 8 August 1814]
The following is a transcript of a letter from General Thomas Pinkney to Colo. Benjamin Hawkins,1 which pursuant to the requisition of the chiefs and warriers of the Creek nation, I direct to be sent to the President of the United States, duly certified—upon the suggestion to the said chiefs, that my powers do not extend to embrace by treaty or capitulation, the promises contained therein.
Andrew Jackson
Major Genl Comdg.
RC (DNA: RG 46, Executive Proceedings, Indian Relations, 13B–C1); Tr (TKLMP: Mc-Clung Collection). RC in a clerk’s hand, signed by Jackson. Undated; conjectural date assigned based on evidence in n. 1.
1. Appended to the RC is a copy of Maj. Gen. Thomas Pinckney’s 23 Apr. 1814 letter to Benjamin Hawkins, U.S. agent to the Creek Indians (2 pp.), stating the conditions upon which the United States would grant peace to the hostile Creeks (for the terms, see 7:370 n. 1). Pinckney promised that the friendly Creeks would be permitted to retain their lands, and that those of merit among them would receive additional rewards. He also informed Hawkins that the United States would grant provisions for the starving Creek women and children. Adj. Gen. Robert Butler certified the copy at Fort Jackson on 8 Aug. 1814. Also appended, and likewise certified by Butler on 8 Aug. 1814, is a copy of Hawkins’s 25 Apr. 1814 reply to Pinckney (2 pp.), of which JM had previously received a copy through John Armstrong (see ibid., 490 n. 2).