Spread of English-Speaking Peoples 85 



richest and most influential traders in the Creek 

 country. 



Like most traders, he married into the tribe, woo- 

 ing and wedding, at the Hickory Ground, beside the 

 Coosa River, a beautiful half-breed girl, Sehoy Mar- 

 chand, whose father had been a French officer, and 

 whose mother belonged to the powerful Creek fam- 

 ily of the Wind. There were born to them two 

 daughters and one son, Alexander. All the traders, 

 though facing danger at every moment, from the 

 fickle and jealous temper of the savages, wielded 

 immense influence over them, and none more than 

 the elder McGillivray, a far-sighted, unscrupulous 

 Scotchman, who sided alternately with the French 

 and English interests, as best suited his own policy 

 and fortunes. 



His son was felt by the Creek to be one of them- 

 selves. He was born about 1746, at Little Tallasee, 

 on the banks of the clear-flowing Coosa, where he 

 lived till he was fourteen years old, playing, fishing, 

 hunting, and bathing with the other Indian boys, 

 and listening to the tales of the old chiefs and war- 

 riors. He was then taken to Charleston, where he 

 was well educated, being taught Greek and Latin, 

 as well as English history and literature. Tall, 

 dark, slender, with commanding figure and im- 

 movable face, of cool, crafty temper, with great 

 ambition and a keen intellect, he felt himself called 

 to play no common part. He disliked trade, and at 

 the first opportunity returned to his Indian home. 

 He had neither the moral nor the physical gifts 



