164 The Winning of the West 



inhabitants, many of the latter soon grew to hate 

 and despise those by whom they were neither pro- 

 tected nor restrained. The disorderly element got 

 the upper hand on the Georgia frontier, where the 

 backwoodsmen did all they could to involve the na- 

 tion in a general Indian war, and displayed the 

 most defiant and mutinous spirit toward the officers, 

 civil and military, of the United States Govern- 

 ment. 36 As for the Creeks, Seagrove found it ex- 

 ceedingly hard to tell who of them were traitors and 

 who were not ; and indeed the chiefs would probably 

 themselves have found the task difficult, for they 

 were obliged to waver more or less in their course 

 as the fickle tribesmen were swayed by impulses to- 

 ward peace or war. One of the men whom Sea- 

 grove finally grew to regard as a confirmed traitor 

 was the chief, McGillivray. He was probably quite 

 right in his estimate of the half-breed's character; 

 and, on the other hand, McGillivray doubtless had 

 as an excuse the fact that the perpetual intrigues of 

 Spanish officers, American traders, British adven- 

 turers, Creek chiefs who wished peace and Creek 

 warriors who wished war, made it out of the ques- 

 tion for him to follow any settled policy. He wrote 

 to Seagrove: "It is no wonder the Indians are dis- 

 tracted, when they are tampered with on every side. 

 I am myself in the situation of a keeper of Bedlam, 

 and nearly fit for an inhabitant." 37 However, what 



36 Do., Seagrove to the President, Rock Landing, on the 

 Oconee, in Georgia, July 17, 1792. 



81 American State Papers, IV, McGillivray to Seagrove, 

 May 1 8, 1793. 



