enough of Mcintosh, but that little is all to his
credit. Almost from the days of Oglethorpe, there were two parties in
the Creek nation, and the issue on which they divided was the
treatment that should be accorded to the whites. The party division was
geographical as well as political. The Upper Creeks, living upon the
Alabama, Coosa, and Tallapoosa rivers, were not present at the Coweta
town when James Oglethorpe treated with the Lower Creeks in August,
1730. At that time they were under the influence of the French, and
afterwards they sought the protection of the Spaniards. They refused to
recognize any of the treaties made by the Lower Creeks with the English,
and the great body of them remained to the end the bitter enemies of
the Georgians. On the other hand, the majority of the Lower Creeks
were friendly with the English from the days of Oglethorpe; and that
friendship continued, with but few interruptions, down to the days of
Governor Troup.
Now, McGillivray, in his day and time, represented the Upper Creeks
of the Tallapoosa country and their policy, while William Mcintosh
represented the Lower Creeks of the Coweta country and their policy. The
division in the Creek nation was so serious, that, when the Upper Creeks
took sides with the British in the War of 1812, they found themselves
opposed in the field by a large party of Lower Creeks under the command
of Mcintosh. Thus, at the battle of Autossee, William Mcintosh led a
large band of Lower Creeks against those who were making war on the
whites. He made himself so conspicuous in that affair, that General
Floyd mentions him in the official report of the battle.
The treaty at Indian Spring, and the results that followed, cannot be
clearly understood unless we bear in mind the political differences that
existed between the Upper and the Lower Creeks. The Creek chiefs and the
commissioners met at Indian Spring on the 15th of February, 1825. The
chiefs and warriors of the Upper Creeks declared that no treaty could
be made for a cession of lands, and on the night of the 11th they went
home. On the 12th a treaty was signed with the Mcintosh party. Colonel
John A. Crowell, agent for the Creek Indians, sent a letter to the
secretary of war, in which he declared that the treaty was in direct
opposition to the letter and spirit of the instructions to the
commissioners; but the treaty was sent to Washington, and was ratified
on the 3d of March, 1825. When the Indians
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