To George Washington from James McHenry, 29 August 1796
From James McHenry
War office 29 Augt 1796
Sir.
It appears from the conferences between the representatives of the Creek nation at Coleraine, and Commissioners of the U.S. that the former have required and the latter promised, that the President would send into their country, within four months from the date of the treaty, a person instructed upon the following points.1
1. To fix upon proper scites for trading houses & posts, and explain to the nation by towns or tribes, the reasons for having them established within their boundary line.
2. To explain the plan of trade to the different Towns or tribes.
3 To confer with and advise the nation, how it ought to conduct itself in case the murderers of the Indians by Harrison & others should escape without being punished.2
4. To explain the object for running the boundary line between Spain and the United States.
5. To notify the nation of the time when the President will be pleased to run the boundary line between the Creeks and the U.S. and the place where the running is to commence, in order that persons may be appointed to attend on the part of the nation.
As these explanations have been promised and have been deemed necessary by the Indians who convened at Coleraine and the commissioners, it might not be proper to with hold them upon a mere point of reconomony, especially as there are other objects of importance that may be accomplished by the person whom the President be pleased to employ on this occasion.
One of the points I allude to is; to ascertain, in execution of the intimation given by the President to the State of Georgia, whether the Creek nation are disposed to sell their land laying between the Oconee and Oakmulgee; and if they are the terms upon which they will part with it.3
Another point, is to ascertain, whether the state of things in the Creek nation, be favourable to the introduction of a system of civilization, such as has been adopted for trial for the Cherokees.4
It strikes me, that several circumstances conspire, which would render such an experiment more likely to succeed now than at any former period.
The Creeks are strongly impressed with the opinion, that the U.S. mean to conduct towards them with candor and justice; to protect all their rights; to perform the promises which have been made them; and besides, are become sensible that the arm of the U.S. is too powerful to be resisted.
Whatever therefore may be proposed by the President, (so long as they find themselves & their land protected by the U.S.) will it is probable be well received by them, and submitted to or adopted if not too repugnant to their habits or established prejudices.
This idea cherishes the hope that something effectual may be done towards their civilization. That what has been long contemplated is not far distant. That the seed which has been sown is not all destroyed. And that the time is arrived, to benefit the poor Indian by the same means which will preserve them in a state of peace and attract to the U.S. the most honourable fame.
The States which are anxious to get the Indian land will see large portions of it, by the operation of these causes become useless to them, and consequently placed in a situation to be easily obtained. Besides. If they can be brought to support themselves on a smaller circumference of land, they will have fewer points from which to attack the frontier inhabitants, and will be more in the power of the U.S. than when spread over an immense tract of country.
To render the system from which those effects are expected, operative, requires no more than a certain degree of patience on the part of the States which covet their land; and a due application of the means which the laws have placed within the reach of the executive.
If you should approve of sending a person into their country to execute any or all of these purposes I shall turn my attention to frame the proper instructions and lay them before you as soon as possible for consideration.
Mr Hawkins appears to me to possess the necessary feelings and character for such a mission, if he will undertake it; and should you approve may be spoken to on the subject.5 With the greatest respect I have the Honour to be Sir your most ob. & hble st
James McHenry
ALS, DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW; copy, MHi: Adams Papers. A letterpress of the copy is in DLC: James McHenry Papers.
1. For the proceedings of the treaty at Colerain, see : Indian Affairs, 1:586–616; see also McHenry to GW, 3 (second letter) and 11–12 August. The commissioners reported their promise to the Creek Indians when they wrote McHenry on 1 July (see McHenry to GW, 25 July, and n.3 to that document).
2. The Gazette of the United States (Philadelphia) for 17 Feb. 1796 printed an address from George Mathews to the Georgia Senate dated 12 Jan. with information on murders that occurred in September 1795: “Capt. Benjamin Harrison and one Vessels, aided by some others, committed a wanton and barbarous murder on ten Indians of the Uchee towns, and that Harrison, still actuated by the same cruel motives, was the inviter of eight Indians more over the river Oconee, and by false and delusive colorings induced several peaceable and well disposed citizens of this state to aid and abet him in killing seven of them. Shortly after this horrid deed, a man by the name of Tarvin barbarously killed two other Indians at the high shoals of the Appalachees, one a Creek, the other a Cherokee.”
Benjamin Harrison (1755–1811), a Revolutionary War veteran from North Carolina, who settled in Montgomery County, Ga., appears to have escaped a trial despite a report in the Columbian Herald; or, the New Daily Advertiser (Charleston, S.C.) for 3 March 1796 that the Georgia House had resolved on 15 Feb. “that Harrison and the others charged may be brought to a fair and speedy trial agreeably to the existing laws.”
3. McHenry’s letter to Georgia governor Jared Irwin written on 23 Aug. covered this point: “To remove however every cause for doubt on this subject, the President has determined to have ascertained in the most unequivocal mode, whether the mind of the Nation has undergone any change relative to the land in question, and if it has, the terms upon which they will sell it” (GU-HR: Telamon Cuyler Collection).
4. See McHenry to GW, 24 Aug., and n.1 to that document.
5. For the instructions given Benjamin Hawkins, see GW to McHenry, 7 Sept., and n.1 to that document; see also GW’s second letter to McHenry on 22 July, and n.2 to that document, and McHenry to GW, 10 July, and n.4 to that document.