Now, McGillivray, in his day and time, represented the Upper Creeks
of the Tallapoosa country and their policy, while William Mcintosh
represented the Lower Creeks of the Coweta country and their policy. The
division in the Creek nation was so serious, that, when the Upper Creeks
took sides with the British in the War of 1812, they found themselves
opposed in the field by a large party of Lower Creeks under the command
of Mcintosh. Thus, at the battle of Autossee, William Mcintosh led a
large band of Lower Creeks against those who were making war on the
whites. He made himself so conspicuous in that affair, that General
Floyd mentions him in the official report of the battle.
The treaty at Indian Spring, and the results that followed, cannot be
clearly understood unless we bear in mind the political differences that
existed between the Upper and the Lower Creeks. The Creek chiefs and the
commissioners met at Indian Spring on the 15th of February, 1825. The
chiefs and warriors of the Upper Creeks declared that no treaty could
be made for a cession of lands, and on the night of the 11th they went
home. On the 12th a treaty was signed with the Mcintosh party. Colonel
John A. Crowell, agent for the Creek Indians, sent a letter to the
secretary of war, in which he declared that the treaty was in direct
opposition to the letter and spirit of the instructions to the
commissioners; but the treaty was sent to Washington, and was ratified
on the 3d of March, 1825. When the Indians of the Upper Creeks and their
party learned that the treaty had been ratified, they became very much
excited. Mcintosh and his party went to Milledgeville, and told the
governor that they expected violent treatment at the hands of the
Upper Creeks. They begged the protection of the State and of the United
States, and this was promised them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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