the Chickamaugas, and returned to Nickajack. George and Elizabeth continued on with their mother. Foot-sore, weary and almost heartbroken, she was carried to a Creek town on the Coosa River, while her little children were torn from her arms and taken off to other towns. Near the town in which Mrs. Brown was confined lived Benjamin Durant and his beautiful, dark-eyed wife, Sophia, sister of General Alexander McGillivray. She was as energetic and commanding as her distinguished brother, and shared with him the most humane sentiments.212 Having her attention drawn to Mrs. Brown, she interested herself in her behalf, and not only advised her to fly to her brother for protection, but furnished her the means of reaching his house at Little Tallase. Accepting her generous offer, Mrs. Brown, with some difficulty, made her way to the home of General McGillivray, who gave her a cordial and kindly welcome; and, later, ransomed her from her captor, and kept her at his house, as a member of his family, for more than a year. By her industry, intelligence and dignity, Mrs. Brown won the confidence and respect of her Indian friends, and the active interest of General McGillivray. On his first opportunity he ransomed little Elizabeth from her captor and restored her to her mother. At the same time he brought her intelligence of her son George, whom he would also have ransomed, but his master was not willing to part with him on any terms. In November, 1789, General McGillivray went to Rock Landing, Georgia, on public business. He carried Mrs. Brown and her daughter with him, and delivered them to her son, William, who had gone there seeking information of her. Liberated after a captivity of eighteen months, she spent a short time with relatives in South Carolina, after which she returned to her old friends at Guilford Court House, North Carolina. At Guilford Court House an affecting scene occurred. General McGillivray was on his way to New York, where he was to hold a treaty with President Washington, and reached that place in June, 1790. When Mrs. Brown heard of his arrival, she rushed through the large assembly at the courthouse, and with a flood of tears, almost overpowered him with expressions of admiration for his character and gratitude for his generous conduct to herself and children." Her brother, Colonel Gillespie, offered to pay him any sum he might think proper to name, as a ransom for Mrs. Brown and her daughter, but the noble chief, who was always generous to the distressed, whom he fed, sheltered and protected for humanity's sake, refused any com 213 212 Pickett's History of Alabama, Vol. 2, pp. 126-7. 213 Pickett's History of Alabama, Vol. 2, p. 107. pensation whatever, declaring that to receive pay would deprive him of both the honor and pleasure such manifestations of affection afforded him. At the same time he assured Mrs. Brown that he would not fail to use his best efforts for the liberation of her son. It was more than eight years before George Brown was restored to his people. General Pickens received him from Superintendent Seagrove, and delivered him to his uncle, Joseph Brown, of Pendleton County, South Carolina, in September, 1796. He was then a fine boy, had learned to read, and was beginning to write, thanks to the care and thoughtfulness of Mr. Seagrove, who had kept him in school while he was under his charge. 214 215 21 Pickens to Robertson, American Historical Magazine, Vol. 4, p. 336. 215 The facts narrated in this chapter are taken, mainly, from three separate accounts, all on the authority of Colonel Joseph Brown. 1-A narrative by Colonel Joseph Brown, furnished by General Zollicoffer to the historian, Ramsey, and published in his History of Tennessee, pp. 509-515; 2-Colonel Brown's narrative, dictated to William Wales, and published in the Southwestern Monthly, Vol. 1, pp. 11-16, and 72-78; 3-A very excellent sketch of Jane Brown, written by Milton A. Haynes, principally from notes and memoranda furnished by Colonel Brown, and published in Mrs. Elizabeth F. Ellet's Pioneer Women of the West, pp. 79-106. (Reprint.) CHAPTER XI. THE RISE OF JOHN WATTS. General Martin invades the Chickamauga towns; last days of Dragging Canoe; John Watts takes satis faction for the death of his uncle, the Tassel; William Blount appointed Governor of the Southwestern Ter ritory; treaties of Holston and Philadelphia. 17881792. 216 After the capture of Brown's boat, the massacre of its men and the captivity of its women and children, by the Chickamaugas, the Tassel, head chief of the nation, admitted his inability to restrain them, and advised General Martin, the Cherokee agent, to go against their country and burn their towns, so they would have to return to the nation and submit to control. With the consent of the Governor of North Carolina, he determined to make the campaign. He raised a force of about five hundred men, in the four counties of North Carolina, and rendezvoused at White's Fort, in the summer of 1788. Thence they made a rapid march to the neighborhood of Lookout Mountain, which they reached late one afternoon, and camped on the site of an old Indian settlement. General Martin sent forward a detachment of fifty men under Colonel Doherty, to take charge of the pass between the mountain and the river, and hold it until morning; but the Indians, who were on the "Lookout," discovered his movements, fired upon his party, and drove them back. Early the next morning his spies were fired upon and one of them wounded. The whole force then moved to the foot of the mountain, tied their horses, and prepared for a general attack. From the nature of the ground they could not march in regular order, but had to zigzag, mostly single file, among the obstructing stones. The Indians were concealed behind rocks and trees, and when they came in range, poured down on them a sudden and destructive fire. Many were killed, including Captains Hardin, Fuller and Gibson. Great confusion ensued; the men fled to the foot of the mountain, and some of them even ran off to the encampment. General Martin was unable to rally his men, who declared it would be another Blue Lick affair if they went beyond the pass. After burying their dead in an old Indian council house, they burned it over them to conceal their graves, and marched back to the settlements."" 216 217 This was the last expedition undertaken against the Chicka- Ramsey, p. 517; Weeks' Joseph Martin, pp. 463-4; William Martin, Proceedings of the Southern History Association, Vol. 4, pp. 464-5. maugas during the life of Dragging Canoe. He lived nearly four years longer, but little is known of his personal movements during that time. He has left no talks, for he had no intercourse with the Americans, and we get only glimpses of him, now and then, as he is incidentally mentioned in our public records. He continued his friendly relations with the English, and was well known at Detroit. His brother, the White Owl's Son, boasted of the valuable presents he had received from the British at Detroit, in the winter of 1791-2, for himself and the Dragging Canoe, namely: a pair of small and a pair of large arm bands for each; three gorgets for his brother and four for himself; a pair of scarlet boots and flaps, bound with ribbon, for each; four match coats, a blanket, and two shirts, for each; and powder and lead as much as he wanted, for him. self and the three Cherokees who were with him. He had considerable intercourse with the Shawnees, and sympathized with them in their struggle against the United States. His brother and some of his warriors fought with them at the bloody battle known as St. Clair's defeat. On the other hand, Piomingo, or the Mountain Leader, the famous Chickasaw chief, was the friend and ally of the United States, though he did not reach General St. Clair in time to participate in that fatal engagement. After St. Clair's defeat the Shawnees sent an urgent invitation to the Southern Indians to join them in their war against the United States. General McGillivray, the great Creek chief, favored such a confederacy, and for the purpose of bringing the Mountain Leader and his party into the measure, he caused the Dragging Canoe to be despatched to the Chickasaw nation." Immediately after his return from this mission, about the 1st of March, 1792, he departed this life, in his town of Running Water. 219 At the great Cherokee council, held at their beloved town of Estanaula, June 26-30, 1792, the Black Fox pronounced the following eulogium on Dragging Canoe: "The Dragging Canoe has left the world. He was a man of consequence in his country. He was a friend both to his own and the white people. But his brother is still in place, and I mention now in public, that I intend presenting him with his deceased brother's medal; for he promises fair to possess sentiments similar to those of his brother, both with regard to the red and white. It is mentioned here publicly, that both whites and reds may know it, and pay attention to him." 99220 18 American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. 1, p. 264. 210 220 "American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. 1, p. 265. "American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. 1, p. 271. 321 John Watts (Kunoskeskie) was the son of a white man of the same name, who resided among the Cherokees, and sometimes acted as interpreter for the nation; notably at the treaty of Lochaber in 1770, in consequence of which the settlement of Tennessee was begun. His mother was a sister of the Tassel, who was the head of the nation at the time of his assassination. He was himself sometimes called Corn Tassel; and it was he who, with Dragging Canoe and Judge Friend, refused to take part in the treaty of Long Island in 1777, and abandoned the Overhill towns rather than submit to the Americans. He did not, however, join himself to the implacable Chickamaugas; and was not for some years distinguished as a warrior. 223 224 The first glimpse we have of him is in the capacity of a diplomat. When Campbell and Sevier invaded the Indian country in 1780, Watts, and a chief called Noonday, afterwards killed by rangers near Craig's Station,222 met them at Tellico and proposed terms of peace. Ramsey says it was granted to Tellico and the adjacent villages, but Campbell, in his official report, expressly states that Tellico was burned. Campbell probably refers to Watts, however, when he speaks of a chief of Coyatee who seemed to him to be the only man of honor among the chiefs, and in whose favor he would willingly have discriminated had it been in his power. Two years later, when Sevier marched against the Chickamaugas, he held a conference with the friendly chiefs, at Citico, and engaged Watts to accompany the expedition for the purpose of effecting, by friendly negotiations, an arrangement for peace with the whole nation.225 In July, 1788, as we have seen, the Tassel was treacherously murdered under a flag of truce. The whole nation was shocked and maddened by that horrible crime. Their young warriors once more dug up the hatchet. Watts had a double incentive for putting himself at their head. In the first place he was deeply affected by his uncle's death; so much so, that when he spoke of it three years afterwards, at the treaty of Holston, he was so overcome that he could not proceed, and had to request the Bloody Fellow to finish the business. Moreover, the law of his nation imposed upon every member of a family the duty of taking satisfaction for an injury inflicted upon another mem 222 226 221 American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. 1, p. 48. 223 224 Calendar of Virginia State Papers, Vol. 1, p. 436. 225 226 Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, p. 272. 'American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. 1, p. 204. |