210 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.an.n.is 



was educateil at Charleston, studying Latin in additiim to the ordinary branches, and 

 after leaving sehool was placed by his father with a mercantile (irni in Savannah. 

 He remained but a short time, when he returned to the Creek country, where he soon 

 began to attract attention, becoming a partner in the lirm of Panton, Forbes & Leslie, 

 of Pensacola, which had almost a monopoly of the Creek trade. He .succeeded to 

 the chieftainship on the death of his mother, who came of ruling stock, but refused 

 to accept the position until called to it by a formal council, when he assumed the title 

 of emperor of the Creek Nation. His paternal estates having been confiscated by 

 (ieorgia at the outbreak of the Revolution, he joined the British side with all his 

 warriors, and continued to be a leading instigator in the border hostilities until 1790, 

 when he visited New York with a large retinue and made a treat}' of peace with the 

 Ihiited States on behalf of his people. President Washington's instructions to the 

 treaty commissioners, in anticipation of this visit, state that he was said to possess 

 great abilities and an unlimited influence over the Creeks and part of the Cherokee, 

 and that it was an object worthy of considerable effort totittach him warmly to the 

 United States. In pursuance of this policy the Creek chiefs were entertained by 

 the Tammany society, all the members being in full Indian dress, at which the vis- 

 itors were much delighted and responded with an Indian dance, while McGillivray 

 was induced to resign his conunission as colonel in the Spanish service for a commis- 

 sion of higher grade in the service of the United States. Soon afterward, on accoimt 

 of some opposition, excited by Bowles, a renegade white man, he al>sented himself 

 from his tribe for a time, but was soon recalled, and contimied to rule over the Xatii m 

 until his death. 



McGillivray appears to have had a curious mixture of Scotch shrewdness, French 

 love of display, and Indian secretiveness. He fixed his residence at Little Talassee, 

 on the Coosa, a few miles above the present Wetumpka, Alabama, where he lived in 

 a handsome house with extensive quarters for his negro slaves, so that his place had 

 the appearance of a small town. He entertained with magnificence and traveled 

 always in state, as became one who styled himself emperor. Throughout the Indian 

 wars he strove, so far as possible, to prevent unnecessary cruelties, lieing noted for 

 his kindness to captives; and his last years were spent in an effort to luring teachers 

 among his people. On the other hand, he conformed much to the Indian customs; 

 and he managed his negotiations with England, Spain, and the United States with 

 such adroitness that he was able to play off one against the other, holding commis- 

 sions by tuni in the service of all three. Woodward, who knew of him by later 

 reputation, asserts positively that Jlctiillivray's mother was of pure Indian lilood and 

 that he himself was without education, his letters having lieen written for him by 

 Leslie, of the trading firm with which he was connected. The balanc'e of testimony, 

 however, seems to leave no doul:)t that he was an educated as well as an able man, 

 whatever' may liave been his origin. Jiilliiii-it>ci<: Drake, American Indians; docu- 

 ments in American State Papers, Indian Affairs, i, l.S:i2; Pickett, Alabama, 1896; 

 Appleton's Cyclopsedia of American Biography; "Woodward, Reminiscences, p. 59 et 

 passim, 1859. 



(24) Governor John Sevier (p. 57): This noted leader and statesman in the 

 pioneer history of Tennessee was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1745, and 

 died at the Creek town of Tukabatchee, in Alabama, in 1815. His father was a French 

 immigrant of good liirth and education, the original name of the family being Xavier. 

 The son received a good education, and being naturally remarkably handsome and 

 of jiolished manner, fine courage, and generous temperament, soon acquired a remark- 

 able influence over the rough border men with whom his lot was cast and among 

 whom he was afterward affectionately known as "Chucky Jack." To the Cherokee 

 he was known as Tsan-usdi', "Little John." After some service against the Indians 

 on the Virginia frontier he removed to the new Watauga settlement in Tennessee, 

 in 1772, and at once became pnmiinently identified with its affairs. He took 



