Gazette_, Dec. 31, 1791; Nov. 17, 1792; Jan. 25, 1793; Feb.
9, Mar. 23, July 13, Sept. 14, 1793; Nov. 1 and 15, 1794; May 8, 1795.]
Seagrove's Difficulties.
The unfortunate Indian agent among the Creeks, Seagrove, speedily became
an object of special detestation to the frontiersmen generally, and the
inhabitants of the Tennessee country in particular, because he
persistently reported that he thought the Creeks peaceable, and deemed
their behavior less blameable than that of the whites. His attitude was
natural, for probably most of the Creek chiefs with whom he came in
contact were friendly, and many of those who were not professed to be so
when in his company, if only for the sake of getting the goods he had to
distribute; and of course they brought him word whenever the Georgians
killed a Creek, either innocent or guilty, without telling him of the
offence which the Georgians were blindly trying to revenge. Seagrove
himself had some rude awakenings. After reporting to the Central
Government at Philadelphia that the Creeks were warm in professing the
most sincere friendship, he would suddenly find, to his horror, that
they were sending off war parties and acting in concert with the
Shawnees; and at one time they actually, without any provocation,
attacked a trading store kept by his own brother, and killed the two men
who were managing it. [Footnote: American State Papers, Seagrove to James
Holmes, Feb. 24, 1793; to Mr. Payne, April 14, 1793.] Most of the
Creeks, however, professed, and doubtless felt, regret at these
outrages, and Seagrove continued to represent their conduct in a
favorable light to the Central Government, though he was forced to admit
that certain of the towns were undoubtedly hostile and could not be
controlled by the party which was for peace.
Blount calls Seagrove to Account.
Blount was much put out at the fact that Seagrove was believed at
Philadelphia when he reported the Creeks to be at peace. In a letter to
Seagrove, at the beginning of 1794, Blount told him sharply that as far
as the Cumberland district was concerned the Creeks had been the only
ones to blame since the treaty of New York, for they had killed or
enslaved over two hundred whites, attacking them in their houses,
fields, or on the public roads, and had driven off over a thousand
horses, while the Americans had done the Creeks no injuries whatever
except in defence of their homes and lives, or in pursuing war partie
|