of the State, and any
additional troops which might be ordered to this point, with orders to
protect the Indians, and prohibit taking possession of the territory,
as contemplated by Governor Troup. A correspondence ensued between
General Gaines and Governor Troup of a most angry character. It
terminated with an order to General Gaines to forbear all further
communication with the Government of Georgia. This was notified to the
President, (if my memory is correct, for I write from memory,) in these
terms:

"JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, President of the United States:

"SIR: I have ordered General Gaines to forbear all further communication
with this Government. Should he presume to infringe
this order, I will send your major-general by brevet home to you in
irons. GEORGE M. TROUP, Governor of Georgia."

The surveyors previously appointed by the Legislature were directed to
be on the ground, in defiance of United States authority, on the first
day of September succeeding, and at sunrise to commence the work of
surveying the lands. A collision was anticipated as certain between the
troops of the United States and the authorities of Georgia. But there
was a difficulty in the way not previously contemplated. Colonels John
S. McIntosh, David Emanuel Twiggs, and Duncan Clinch, each commanded
regiments in the South. Twiggs and McIntosh were native Georgians.
Clinch was a North Carolinian, but was a resident of Florida. Zachary
Taylor was the lieutenant-colonel of Clinch's regiment. He was a
Virginian by birth, but resided in Mississippi. All were Southern men
in feeling, as well as by birth, and all Jeffersonian Republicans,
politically. McIntosh and Twiggs were fanatical in their devotion to
the State of their birth. The ancestors of both were among the first
settlers, and both were identified with her history. The three wrote a
joint letter to the President, tendering their commissions, if ordered
to take arms against Georgia. This letter was placed in the hands of
one who was influential with Mr. Adams, to be delivered immediately
after the order should be issued to General Gaines to prevent by force
of arms the survey ordered by Governor Troup. Troup had classified the
militia, and signified his intention to carry out, if necessary, the
first-negotiated treaty, by force of arms, as the law of the land.

It was, unquestionably, the prudence of this friend which prevented a
collision. He communicated with Mr. Adams