The Collected Works of Benjamin Hawkins, 1796–1810

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF BENJAMIN HAWKINS, 1796–1810

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF BENJAMIN HAWKINS, 1796–1810

Edited by Thomas Foster

THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS

Tuscaloosa

Copyright © 2003

The University of Alabama Press

Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380

All rights reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

∞

The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Science–Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hawkins, Benjamin, 1754–1816.

  [Works. 2003]

  The collected works of Benjamin Hawkins, 1796–1810 / Benjamin Hawkins ; edited by Thomas Foster.

      p. cm.

The current volume contains a facsimile reprint of the original Sketch (1848) and Letters (1916) as published by the G[eorgia] H[istorical] S[ociety]. In addition, two previously unpublished journals are included . . . constitute the complete works of Hawkins except for miscellaneous letters scattered in various archives—Introd. Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-8173-1367-8 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-8173-5040-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-8173-8371-8 (electronic)

COVER IMAGE COURTESY OF GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

COVER DESIGN BY ANDER MONSON.

  1. Hawkins, Benjamin, 1754–1816—Correspondence. 2. Hawkins, Benjamin, 1754–1816—Diaries. 3. Creek Indians—History—Sources. 4. Indians of North America—Government relations—1789–1869. 5. Indian agents—Southern States—History—Sources. I. Foster, Thomas, 1970– II. Title.

  E99.C9H3 2003

  975.004′973—dc21

2003008305

CONTENTS

Introduction

A Viatory or Journal of Distances and Observations

A Sketch of the Creek Country in the Years 1798 and 1799

Letters of Benjamin Hawkins

Index

INTRODUCTION

Benjamin Hawkins (1754–1816), a Revolutionary War soldier and former United States senator from North Carolina, lived among and wrote about the southeastern Indians during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Born in colonial North Carolina into a landowning family, he became involved in politics when he was elected to the state’s legislature in 1778 and to the U.S. Congress in 1789. Due to Hawkins’s interest in Indians, President George Washington appointed him Principal Temporary Agent for Indian Affairs South of the Ohio River in 1796. Hawkins was a close confidant to Presidents Washington and Jefferson. His presence among the Creek Indians was a significant part of the presidents’ plan to westernize them by converting them to European economic practices (Grant 1980).

Jefferson promoted Hawkins to Principal Agent for Indian Affairs South of the Ohio River in 1801, a position he held until 1816. Hawkins lived among the Indians, particularly the Creek (also known as Muscogee or Muskogee), for approximately thirty years. He wrote extensively about their geography, demographics, and culture. A more complete biography of Hawkins is included in the introduction to the Letters of Benjamin Hawkins, which is reprinted in this volume.

For decades, the papers and writings of Benjamin Hawkins have been recognized for their value to ethnohistory, political history, and environmental reconstruction (Ethridge 1996; Pound 1951). Hawkins kept extensive notes regarding the Native populations and geographical landmarks of the Southeast. His journals are possibly the most detailed and useful written environmental accounts for the southeastern United States during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. His only rival is the renowned botanist William Bartram.

Hawkins’s writings have been published in various forms over the last 150 years. In 1848 the Georgia Historical Society (GHS) published A Sketch of the Creek Country, in the Years 1798 and 1799 in the Collections of the Georgia Historical Society. That manuscript is in the possession of the GHS and is similar to another copy of the Sketch that is in the Peter Force Collection at the Library of Congress. The Sketch is a brief summary of the major Creek towns and populations at the end of the eighteenth century. It includes important descriptions of the Creek landscape. Three other copies of the Sketch are known, but only the GHS version is complete. John Swanton (1922) published significant portions of the Library of Congress copy in his book about the history of the Creek. The GHS also possesses nine manuscripts that contain Hawkins’s personal and public correspondence and a journal of Richard Thomas, an assistant to Hawkins. In 1916 the GHS published that collection of manuscripts as Letters of Benjamin Hawkins, volume 9 of its Collections of the Georgia Historical Society. In 1938 the Americus Book Company reprinted the Sketch (Hodgson and Hawkins) for the unveiling of a monument near Americus, Georgia, by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Reprint Company of Spartanburg, South Carolina, has twice reprinted facsimiles of the GHS volumes 3 (1974) and 9 (1982). Lastly, the Beehive Press in Savannah, Georgia, reset and reprinted the original Sketch and Letters and added a few of Hawkins’s previously unpublished letters (Grant 1980). All of these publications are out of print.

The current volume contains a facsimile reprint of the original Sketch (1848) and Letters (1916) as published by the GHS. In addition, two previously unpublished journals are included. The new journals, combined with the previously published manuscripts from the GHS, constitute the complete works of Hawkins except for miscellaneous letters scattered in various archives.

The new journals in this publication contain field notes on observations and measurements Hawkins made during his trips throughout the Southeast. Between 1797 and 1810, Hawkins covered what is now central and northwestern Georgia, central and southwestern Alabama, and portions of Mississippi. Hawkins used his journals to record routes and to measure distances from one location to another. Hawkins traveled a total of 3,578 miles (5,758 km) throughout the Southeast (Figures 1 and 2) and occasionally traveled back over the same route in order to measure the distance between major and minor land features more accurately. He made extensive observations along the routes. Consequently, these journals of distances, or viatories, provide detailed microscale geographical and environmental data for the end of the eighteenth century and the first quarter of the nineteenth. Until now, however, these journals have not been published in their entirety and were available only through microfilm or the Library of Congress and the GHS. A section of one of the journals was published by the Valley Historical Association in the Valley Historical Association Bulletin (Fretwell 1954). Mark Fretwell’s edited section focused on a brief portion of the journal that relates to the Chattahoochee Valley in Georgia and Alabama. In addition, archaeologists have used parts of Hawkins’s journals for the reconstruction of town locations. Wesley Hurt (1975) used the viatories (included in this volume) in his survey of the Lower Chattahoochee River valley for the Alabama Museum of Natural History. Harold Huscher (1959) used the viatories in his reconstruction of Creek Indian locations along the Lower Chattahoochee River valley during his archaeological survey for the Smithsonian Institution.

The Viatories

Few other eighteenth-century sources provide the environmental and geographical detail as these journals by Benjamin Hawkins. When Hawkins first entered the Creek country, he traveled among the major towns in order to acquaint himself with the populations and the geography. These journeys were compiled and edited into the Sketch of the Creek Country described above. The viatories edited in this volume contain the field notes that Hawkins apparently used to construct the Sketch. They contain his original data regarding cultural and physical geography and the distances between those features.

The viatories start in 1797 and end approximately in 1810. A generalization of his journeys described in the viatories is illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. These figures show each journey’s starting point and ending point; a dotted line connects the two points. The figures are not topographically accurate because a detailed mapping of each journey is beyond the scope of this introductory chapter. (Mark Fretwell [1954] accomplished this type of detailed mapping in his publication of a portion of the viatory routes.) Rather, this introduction is intended to provide a brief summary of Hawkins’s route as detailed in the viatories.

Before discussing Hawkins’s journal entries, I need to address the issue of inconsistent spelling. The spellings of place names and common words used in this introduction are sometimes inconsistent. Furthermore, many of the words are English translations of Native American words, which can also result in inconsistent spellings. For consistency—and for the sake of preserving the journal’s original text—I used Hawkins’s original spellings. Hawkins was relatively consistent in his spelling and the justification behind his methodology is useful. He spelled Muscogee and other Native American words phonetically and separated syllables with commas. Since there are multiple spellings for almost every proper name and there is little, if any, consistent justification for each variation, I used Hawkins’s phonetic spelling. Furthermore, I prefer to leave the interpretation of place-name identification to the reader. It is possible that two independent place names have similar spellings, and I did not want to erroneously label them as one location by giving them a common spelling. In the interest of clarity, I have included a table that compares the spelling variants of proper names used in the viatories and in my introductory chapter to the spellings John Swanton (1922) used in his book on the Creek and some common variants (Table 1).

Hawkins’s Route

On December 6, 1797, Hawkins began his viatory entries with a trip from Cussetuh, a Lower Creek town located at the present-day site of Lawson Army Airfield at Fort Benning, near Columbus, Georgia, (Willey and Sears 1952), to Fort Wilkinson, near the present-day site of Milledgeville, Georgia (Figure 1). He passed No,chil,lehatchee and Ecun,hut,coo,chee creeks along the way. Next, Hawkins traveled from Etowau to Hillaubee (Figure 2). Etowau was at or near the location of present-day Etowah, near Cartersville, Georgia; Hawkins’s descriptions of the area’s residents and geographical features are consistent with this interpretation. He wrote that the Cherokee who were living at Etow,woh had increased their stock of hogs and cattle . . . [and] appear well clothed and industrious. The Hillaubee town was situated among the Upper Creek Indian towns in east-central Alabama. On the way to Hillaubee, he passed the remains of a hurricane and a conic mount. Since Hawkins noted the cardinal direction of the supposed hurricane’s movement, he may have been observing the effects of a tornado instead.

Hawkins constantly noted the location and quality of reeds along the routes of his travels. For example, he noted during the trip from Etow,who to Hillaubee that at one point he crossed a large bed of reeds on the left margin. on the right a flat, and between it and the high lands a thick bed of reeds. Hawkins departed from the Upper Creek town of Newyaucau on November 25, 1797, which is upstream from what is now Horseshoe Bend, Alabama, on the Tallapoosa River. From Newyaucau he traveled to Cowetuh, the principal war town of the Lower Creek Indians. Cowetuh was situated south of Phenix City, Alabama, on the Chattahoochee River, upstream from Cussetuh (Figures 1 and 2). Along the way, he observed "6 houses on [the] right belonging to Eufau,lau,hatchee. They are well situated, the flats on the creek are rich and well cultivated. He also passed the dividing ridge between Chat,to,ho,che and Tal,la,poo,sau," which marked the hydrological drainage units in east-central Alabama.

In 1798, Hawkins left the home of Timothy Barnard, a longtime trader and friend to Hawkins who lived on the Flint River near present-day Montezuma, Georgia (Figure 1). Hawkins traveled to the village of the Tussokiah Micco, who lived in the town of Upatoi near present-day Upatoi, Georgia, in Muscogee County (Elliot et al. 1996). Along the way he saw the Buffaloegrass So,we,nah and passed the town of Buzzard Roost, or Soo,le,no juh. The route was gravelly in places, small oak blackjack, hickory saplins and grubs shortleaf pine. [S]ome of the lands appear[ed] pretty good.

Previous to 1803, Hawkins had lived in various Creek towns, and his travels usually departed from them. However, in 1803, Hawkins settled permanently near the Flint River, not far from his friend Barnard’s house (Figure 1). This house became the Creek Indian Agency (Hawkins Agency). Hawkins traveled from this location to Ocmulgee old fields (Figure 1), an abandoned town and agricultural field near present-day Macon, Georgia, and probably at the Ocmulgee National Park (Mason 1963; Waselkov 1994). There, Hawkins observed that, the lands rise into high waving land, the growth mostly oak, the Ocmulgee old fields are below adjoining the creek and river . . . the reserve should be 2 1/2 miles above the creek and three back, the creek affords water for a saw mill, and there is a convenient situation for one and the last mile includes some Longleaf pine. After his stop there, Hawkins continued on to Fort Wilkinson.

His next entry, in 1798, picked up in the middle of a journey to Etauwah. Although he did not specify his origin, he was probably coming from Coweta Tallahassee, near present-day Phenix City, Alabama. He pass[ed] on the back of the Cowetuh Town on flat lands . . . the buildings extend up for this distance on our right [east]. During this journey he passed by We,at,lo,tuc,kee settlements, an old square ground, and had breakfast at an isolated settlement where he was fed venison, ground peas, potatoes, and O sauf kee. After continuing through a neighborhood . . . devoted to hurricanes, he passed through Ocfuskoochee Talauhassee and Ocfuskenena. This last town was burned by Georgian settlers just five years before Hawkins passed through it. He noted the remains of houses [and] many peach trees which look well, some plum and Locust trees and some cascine yupon of which their black drink was made. The town of Ocfuskenena is presently under West Point Lake near West Point, Georgia (Huscher 1972). He passed Chattahochee Tallauhassee, which means Chattahoochee Old Town and may be the namesake of the current Chattahoochee River. Next, he continued north and arrived at the E,tow,woh (Etowah) town house near the Oostenaulih (Oostenaula) and Etawoh rivers. Along the way, he saw a great number of muscadines [that] perfumed the air at the distance of fifty yards.

On April 16, 1799, Hawkins traveled to Pensacola, Florida, from Cowetuh Tallauhassee (Figure 2). The latter town was the Coweta Old Town, located opposite Cusseta near Phenix City, Alabama. This route took him along the east-west trade route to the Upper Creek towns on the Lower Tallapoosa River and down the Alabama River and then over to the Pensacola Bay. From Pensacola, he traveled across land strewed with Iron ore and pine barren[s] the pines some of them fit for plank to the Tensaw Delta near Mobile, Alabama, and then up to Fort Stoddard near present-day Mount Vernon, Alabama. He wrote, the Alabama [River] is 300 Y[ards] wide. . . . The Tombigby and Alabama make Mobile which is from 4 to 500. Hawkins then backtracked up to the Upper Creek towns on the Tallapoosa and ended at Tookaubatchee (Figure 2). Tookaubatchee was located near present day Tallassee, Alabama (Knight 1985). From there, he traveled back to Cowetuh Tallauhassee, passing Weheint,lah a fine flowing little reedy creek.

Next, he traveled from Barnard’s house on the Flint River to Cussetuh (Figure 1). Then, from Cowetuh Tallauhassee, across the river from Cussetuh, he traveled down the Chattahoochee for many days until he reached the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers in present-day southwestern Georgia (Figure 1). During this route he passed Oconee, Sauwoogalo, and Palachoocle. Palachoocle is near the historic Fort Apalachicola (1689–1691), east of Holy Trinity, Alabama (Kurjack and Pearson 1975). Hawkins noted along the way that the land bordering on Uchee hatchee [wa]s poor pine land. . . . Pa,la,choo,cle is on the left ab.t 15 minutes beyond Hitchitee on a poor pine flat . . . on the N[orth]. side of Oconee for near 30 minutes land level and some part thick set with dwarf small hickorys. . . . On the S[outh] there is some rich land tho’ broken. This creek affords clay for potts. From the Chattahoochee–Flint River confluence, he traveled back up the Flint and over to Upatoi, which was situated on a tributary of modern-day Upatoi Creek (Figure 1). His next entry was from Tallauhassee to Tookaubatchee, among the Upper Creek towns. He passed Witumcau Creek, individual houses, a natural bridge, and an old ball ground on the way.

His next entry was far to the east, on the east-west road that passed through the frontier trading town of Sulenojuh on the Flint River in Georgia. He continued west to Ocmulgee old fields and then returned to Cussetuh (Figure 1). Continuing on the east-west road he passed Wetumcau, Kialijee, Thlotlogulgau town, and the path to the Hookoie town house on his way from Tookaubatche to the S. W. Point.

During 1802 and 1803, Hawkins traveled from the Mississippi Territory back to the Creek Territory and passed through Choctaw and Chickasaw land. He started this trip at the Kentucky (Chickasaw) Trace (later called the Natchez Trace) in present-day Mississippi. During this time, he traveled a significant distance without encountering any settlements except an oblong square mound 50 by 33 feet and 8 feet high (Figure 2). However, he passed Cushtussau and Yauzau in western Alabama. Cushtussau, a Choctaw town, had 34 settlements, while Yauzau was described as miserable. He continued through west-central Alabama down the Tombigbe and passed the Tuscauloosau River, which Hawkins wrote means Black Warrior in Choctaw. He passed Fort Tombigby and a number of individual Choctaw settlements on the way to central Alabama and the Upper Creek towns on the Tallapoosa and Alabama rivers. He passed through Tuskeegee at Fort Toulouse at Wetumka, Alabama, on his way to Daniel McGillivray’s house above Tuskeegee. The Coosa River was 150 yards at that point. He passed Ecunhutkee, ten settlements, Cooloome, Fooscehatche, Nicolas White’s house, Hoithlewaule, Richard Bailey’s house, and the Auttossee path, among other individual houses (Figure 2). All of these towns were situated along the Lower Tallapoosa River between modern-day Montgomery and Tallassee, Alabama. This entry concludes those from the viatory in the possession of the Library of Congress.

The Georgia Historical Society of Savannah, Georgia, has another field notebook that contains one entry regarding Hawkins’s travels, a short trip from Padjilagau to Cussetuh (Figure 1). Padjilagau was a Yuchi settlement located on a tributary of the Flint River (Worth 1997).

The viatories were intended to be a field notebook, and Hawkins did not edit them for reading convenience. He intended to use them as raw data, most likely for his later writings as well to keep track of his travels among the towns. Besides early land-survey maps, these journal entries are the most detailed physical and cultural descriptions known for the late–eighteenth and early-nineteenth-century regions of Georgia and Alabama. They are biased, however, toward the area of east-central Alabama and west-central Georgia because that is where the Muscogee peoples congregated during Hawkins’s time. The frequency of Hawkins’s observations decreased when he traveled away from the Muscogee region.

Editorial Comments

The journals edited and reprinted here are located at the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah. The first and longest journal is labeled on the outside A Viatory or Journal of Distances and Observations by Col. Hawkins (item 314b [series 8d, entry 66] of the Peter Force Collection, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress). This edited version of this journal was created by viewing the microfilm copy from the Library of Congress and taking digital photographs. The entire journal except about ten blank pages was photographed by the editor under fluorescent light with tungsten slide film. The slides were scanned with a Nikon LS-2000 slide scanner. Both the microfilm and the digital images were consulted for this editing and transcription. The journal is undated but contains entries from 1797 to 1802.

The second journal included here is unlabeled and is in the possession of the Georgia Historical Society (item 14 of the Benjamin Hawkins Papers, Collection No. 373). It is a small pocket notebook and is mostly blank. Most of its text is a list of plants and items of unknown context. Approximately two pages appear to be English-Muscogee translations of a few phrases. The handwriting and the unknown Muscogee spellings make the text’s transcription difficult. Consequently, I have included only the viatory, or distance-related matter, from the journal, which constitutes only one entry. The entry is undated but it is toward the beginning of the journal’s three entries, which are dated between 1810 and 1813.

The strength of these journals is in the description of geographical features, place names, and town locations, which are at times unbelievably detailed. These viatories include a listing of the time, distance, and features from a variety of locations throughout what is now Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Hawkins traveled on horseback with a group of individuals (Fretwell 1954) and recorded his observations and time as he traveled. He measured distance by observing the time: After measuring the time from location A to B, he then multiplied the time by a rate constant. He usually used three miles per hour as his traveling rate constant. However, as noted in the journal, sometimes his speed varied between three and a half and four miles per hour.

Notation in the journal is typical of Hawkins’s organization. He recorded the time in minutes and recorded a key for commonly used words. The first number in his column system indicated the time, usually in minutes. Later in the journal he switched to a decimal format where the first number is the number of hours and the number after the decimal was the number of minutes. After the time, he recorded the water type with a B or C. B indicates that he crossed a branch, and C indicates that he crossed a creek. Next, he indicated the direction of water flow, with an L for left flowing or R for right flowing. Water flow was measured from his traveling perspective. Next he recorded the width (in feet) of the water with a forward slash and a number. Finally he recorded environmental observations. He used these notations liberally throughout the journal and altered the format slightly while the journal was in use. For example, later in the journal, he recorded cardinal direction of his travels with N, S, E, W, and combinations of these symbols, which represent respectively, north, south, east, west, or some combination.

Since the layout, format, and notation of the journal is not always obvious, I will illustrate with a brief example. On November 13, 1798, Hawkins recorded:

13 Nov.r course S45W.

1.10 + dry C. r. 6/.

12. + dry. C. r. 12/. here was the residence of the Tarrapin he is dead his house burnt but the heir to the estate lives well, The farm is manured and improved. The grand [unintelligible] with colewarts and shallots.

57 + dry C. r. 6/

41. The paths divide I take the left, The division just over a ridge, where there is some pine, the right is the largest, and the direct path to the Creeks.

6. + dry C. r. 6/a flat of rich land, joins to one that is poor, and a conic mount caped and thick set with Limestone

These notes indicate that on November 13, Hawkins’s direction of travel was south by 45 degrees west. After 1 hour and 10 minutes, he crossed a dry creek running to the right, which was 6 feet across. Twelve minutes later, he crossed a dry creek running to the right, which was 12 feet across. The Tarrapin’s house was located there. The house was burned, but the heir to the estate still lived there. The farm was well manured and improved with colewarts and shallots. Fifty-seven minutes later, he crossed a dry creek running to the right, which was 6 feet across. After traveling for another 41 minutes, the path that he was traveling on divided in two at a ridge where there were pine trees. Hawkins took the left path. The path to the right was larger and led to the Creek Indian towns. After another 6 minutes of travel, he crossed a dry creek running to the right, which was 6 feet across. At that point, there was a flat of rich land that adjoined poorer land and a conic-shaped mound that was capped with limestone. Hawkins did not indicate how he judged land quality, although he often correlated it with vegetation.

I left editorial comments to a minimum. It is the intent of this volume to make Hawkins’s viatories more accessible for environmental and cultural studies of the Southeast. Consequently, I did not comment extensively on the modern-day locations of Hawkins’s travels, as Mark Fretwell (1954) did. While this endeavor would be valuable, I felt it more important to make the journals available and permit a wider audience to reconstruct his journeys with a variety of methods.

Since these viatories were field notebooks, they were written in a particular format. Hawkins used the layout of the journal entries to signify changes in topic, location, date, etc. Furthermore, it is sequentially laid out by time and geography. This means that information in a given entry is dependent on the entry that preceded it. Consequently, I have tried to reproduce the layout of the journal as closely as possible. I have also reproduced his spellings and misspellings as closely as possible. Hawkins’s handwriting is generally good, and I was able to increase the resolution of the document’s digital images; nevertheless, some text was illegible. Editorial comments are enclosed in brackets, [/] or marked in the endnotes. If a word was ambiguous but legible, I included it. Sometimes, a word did not make contextual sense but was included anyway. Words that are completely illegible are represented with the word unintelligible in brackets: [unintelligible].

Acknowledgements: John Ross, President of the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society, granted permission to republish the portion of the viatory that was copyrighted by Mark Fretwell (1954). Miriam Syler of the Cobb Memorial Archives in Valley, Alabama, was gracious and hospitable while I was there. Thank you to the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah for granting permission to publish portions of its Hawkins journal. Duke Beasley and two reviewers read portions of an earlier version of this document. Jerry Stephens, Director of the Mervyn H. Sterne Library at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, loaned us its copy of the Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, volume 9, for the reprint. Lastly, thank you to Kara Foster for helping with the transcription and interpretation of Hawkins’s handwriting. This project would still be in preparation were it not for your help.

References Cited

Elliott, D. T., K. G. Wood, R. F. Elliott, and W. D. Wood

1996 Up on the Upatoi: Cultural Resources Survey and Testing of Compartments K-6 and K-7, Fort Benning Military Reservation, Georgia. Submitted by Southern Research, Ellerslie, Georgia, for the Environmental Management Division, Directorate of Public Works, U.S. Army, Fort Benning, Georgia.

Ethridge, R. F.

1996 A Contest for Land: The Creek Indians on the Southern Frontier, 1796–1816. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens.

Foster, H. T. II

2001 Long-Term Average Rate Maximization of Creek Indian Residential Mobility: A Test of the Marginal Value Theorem. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.

Fretwell, M. E.

1954 Benjamin Hawkins in the Chattahoochee Valley: 1798. Valley Historical Association Bulletin 1:1–30.

Grant, C. L. (editor)

1980 Letters, Journals, and Writings of Benjamin Hawkins, vols. 1 and 2. Beehive Press, Savannah, Georgia.

Hawkins, B.

1848 A Sketch of the Creek Country, in the Years 1798 and 1799. Collections of the Georgia Historical Society 3(1). Georgia Historical Society, Savannah.

1916 Letters of Benjamin Hawkins, 1796–1806. Collections of the Georgia Historical Society 9. Georgia Historical Society, Savannah.

1974 A Combination of a Sketch of the Creek Country and Letters of Benjamin Hawkins, 1796–1806. 1974 facsimile ed. Reprint Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina.

1982 A Combination of A Sketch of the Creek Country and Letters of Benjamin Hawkins, 1796–1806. 1982 facsimile ed. Reprint Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Hodgson, W. B., and B. Hawkins

1938 Creek Indian history: As comprised in Creek Confederacy by W. B. Hodgson, and The Creek Country by Col. Benjamin Hawkins Being a Reprint of Vol. Three, Part One of the Georgia Historical Society Publications to Which Is Added The Last Night of a Nation: Oration of J. E. D. Shipp at the unveiling of the Chehaw Monument Erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Americus Book, Americus, Georgia.

Hurt, W. R.

1975 The Preliminary Archaeological Survey of the Chattahoochee Valley Area in Alabama. In Archaeological Salvage in the Walter F. George Basin of the Chattahoochee River in Alabama, edited by David L. DeJarnette. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.

Huscher, H. A.

1959 Appraisal of the Archaeological Resources of the Walter F. George Reservoir Area, Chattahoochee River, Alabama and Georgia. River Basin Surveys, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

1972 Archaeological Investigations in the West Point Dam Area: A Preliminary Report. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens.

Knight, V. J., Jr.

1985 Tukabatchee: Archaeological Investigations at an Historic Creek Town, Elmore County, Alabama, 1984, Office of Archaeological Research, Alabama State Museum of Natural History, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.

Kurjack, E. B., and F. L. Pearson.

1975 Special Investigations of 1Ru101, the Spanish Fort Site. In Archaeological Salvage in the Walter F. George Basin of the Chattahoochee River in Alabama, edited by David L. DeJarnette, pp. 200–222. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.

Mason, C. A. I.

1963 The Archeology of Ocmulgee Old Fields, Macon, Georgia. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Pound, M. B.

1951 Benjamin Hawkins, Indian Agent. University of Georgia Press, Athens.

Swanton, J.

1922 Early History of the Creek Indians and their Neighbors. Bulletin No. 73. Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Waselkov, G.

1994 The Macon Trading House and Early European-Indian Contact in the Colonial Southeast. In Ocmulgee Archaeology, 1936–1986. Edited by D. J. Hally, pp. 190–196. University of Georgia Press, Athens.

Willey, G. R., and W. H. Sears

1952 The Kasita Site. Southern Indian Studies 4:3–18.

Worth, J. E.

1997 The Eastern Creek Frontier: History and Archaeology of the Flint River Towns, ca. 1750–1826. Paper presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Nashville, Tennessee.

A VIATORY OR JOURNAL OF DISTANCES AND OBSERVATIONS

Benjamin Hawkins

The following is a transcription of the journal entitled A Viatory or Journal of Distances and Observations by Col. Hawkins in possession of the Library of Congress.

General Wilkinson will thank Mr. Purcell for all information he may possess respecting the concession of Territory made by the Choctaws and Creeks to the British government, within the Limits of West Florida on the East as well as west of Mobile and Tombigbee rivers, to comprehend the places and periods of the several Treaties had with those natives, the terms & conditions of creek treaties and the lying course and termination of the several lines by which the concessions [unintelligible] were Limited. The General is desirous to receive this information as early as may comport? with Mr. Purcells convenience for which he will be happy to render to Mr. Purcell every requisite consideration and proper acknowledgement.-

Mr. Purcell in answer to General Wilkinson note begs leave to inform him that the line between the lands ceded by the Indians to the white people on the mississippi and east wardly to Escambia river.

Begins at the mouth of Yazoo river from a gum and Sycamore marked X3. and runs N.84.E 12 miles 60 chains⁷⁴ to a post marked X3. from thence S.9.E. 17 miles 60 cha.s to Lussa chitto or big black river; ^ thence from the said river one mile, thence up the said river S.9.E. 16 miles 45 chains, thence S.30.W. 10 chains; thence S.6.E 7 miles 60 cha.s thence S.39.W one mile 55 chains; thence S.6.E 15 mile 5 cha.s to the ford of Hoom a Chitto river, where the road from the Choctaws to the Natchez crosses the said river; from thence S.6.E. 7 miles 15 chains; thence S.16.E. 19 miles to the Amet. river; thence across the said river S61.E. 20 chains; thence S16E. 14 miles to a pine and red oak marked X3. near Hau,it,hat,che;from thence N.84E. 24 miles to Bogue Chitto.thence E 53. M. 50 chains to Bogue Hooma thence N.84.E. 27 miles 30 chains to a pine and chinquopin marked X3. on the west bank of Pasca,Ocoola river. From thence up the PascaO,coo,la river and Hatcho Comesa to the confluence of Chicasau bay and Buck,hatamee rivers, thence up Buck,ha,tannee river to Bogue Hooma, thence up the said Bogue to where it crosses the trading path from Mobile to the Choctaws. Thence upon a Southeastern course to the fork of Sontee bogue; thence down the said bogue to Tombigbee river; down the said river to the mouth of Tallan bogue; thence across the said river East wardly to the upper end of Nanihaba Island. Thence across to the east side of Alabama, thence upon a South Eastern direction to the mouth of muddy creek on the west side of Escambia. river; thence to the head of clear water creek, down the said creek to Middle river, thence East to Yellow water river, and from there Eastwardly along the coast the boundary is regulated by the flowing of the tide.

No the courses mentioned above were taken by the magnetic needle at the time of the Survey. The Line from the mouth of Yazoo River to Pasca Ocoo,la river is agreeable to the cession made by the Choctaws in may 1777 and a talk held with the Chiefs of the O,coo,la Fu,ly,ha tribe of the said nation in January 1779 and laid out and marked in Feby and april 1779. And the Line from Pasca o coola to Yellow water river and East wardly is according to treaties held with the Choctaws and Creeks in 1765 and 1770 and was in part laid out and marked in 1774.

The conditions on which the Indians made the said Concessions were for goods to a certain amount which were delivered soon after and the titles given by the Indians for the land so ceded are perpetual.

Charleston July 31.st 1802

Daniel McGillivray states that he was with Mr. Pursell when he assertained and marked the line for the Natchez district, they left Mobille in Nov.r 1777 and they went to the ford of Homochitto and in Feby. 1778 began the line at the ford where the old Choctaw path from Yanzo to Natchez crossed that river, Then N. chained and mile marked the line every 3.rd mile marked with a X and the initials of Joseph Pursell and Dan McGillivray, and [relay?] the line, and of the encampments, and at every 3 mile blazed several. They run N. to the neighbourhood of Bayone Pierre and there the Indians stoped line, a dispute arose about the line being in the opinion of the indians too far to the E. - The Indians insisted at this point, that the survey or should go N.W which could not be agreed to, owing to this difference they were oblidged to quit They went from thence to the Yacezoo water they made canoes, and went to the mouth of the river, Joseph Pursell the [artist?], there took his observations, and came 4 or 5 miles by water, and then thro’ the hills and canebrake 10 miles E from the mouth of the river; the mouth of the river and this ten mile point was ascertained by celestial observations; and the line not marked from this 10 mile point they run due S. to big black, went down that / the waters being too high / to cross at the settlements 18 miles, crossed there, and returned up the edge of the swamp. 16 miles. there pursell commenced the line again, and continued it, they then went on until they discovered the line first commenced; -and found themselves ab.t 200 yards East of it.- There was then a talk with the indian guides and they were satisfied. This line is mile marked and at 3 mi.s marked with a X- JP. and D.MG the mg joined- DMG

From here they went to the ford where they first commenced; and continued the line due S. to the Nit,to al,oon,ne path, from thence they run due E. to the Pas go goola river.- at this corner they marked as usual a X and the letters of their name, they finish the line at the mouth of a creek called by the Indians Fo,itch,ke / the mother of the bee /. nearly 60 miles west from Mobille. David McGillivrey was Interpreter and guide- Hardy Perry he went from the land of Bayone Pierre, with Pursell to the mouth of the Yazoo, and he and the Indians packed their provisions on their backs, Macgillivray he went round with the baggage and waited their return.-

The following is a transcription of a viatory from a field notebook in the possession of the Georgia Historical Society.

Road to Cussetuh

Notes

1. This statement is describing the land between this entry (7 + b. l.. 1/.) and the previous entry (6 + b. l.. 1/.).

2. Written sideways in the top margin.

3. This statement is describing the land between this entry (31. + c. r. 30/) and the previous entry (6. + c. r. 8/).

4. This statement is describing the land between this entry (11. + b. r.) and the next entry (4 + d. b. r. 6/.).

5. This is written sideways in the margin and is intended as an addition to the next line at the X.

6. hau here may refer to an alternate spelling of the word below it in the journal, Oc,tau,zauze, and is unrelated to the line on which hau appears.

7. Hawkins starts summing his travel times. This is marked with a blue line over the summation. At this point 104 is sum of 13+8+18+10+6+6+12+5+8+10+8.

8. 18+8+5+17+9+10+9+12+3+3+4+3+2+4+17+6=130

9. 27+2+23+5+35+6+16=114

10. This A seems to stand for addition and is a correction for a previous measurement also marked with an A.

11. 4+52+15+6+21+32+21=151

12. These measurements and observations were written in the margin and were apparently added later.

13. 9+20+17+47+12+9+17+12+15=158

14. 241 here may be a mistaken summation. Hawkins may have intended to write 251 if the 1.7 above it is seventeen minutes. 158+26+17+50=251. However, he clearly wrote 1.7 in the journal which indicates that it is NOT seventeen. If 1.7 is one minute and seven tenths of a minute, then the summation should be 235.7. If 1.7 is supposed to represent one hour and seven minutes, then the summation should be 301.

15. 16+24+16+14+9+10+6+10+49+8+9+10=181

16. Written sideways in the margin. This appears to be an addition at the point indicated by an A above it.

17. 55+6+2+28+6+5+18+19+72+4+5=220. This seems to be the end of a correction that started above at note 11.

18. Note that his speed has increased since the beginning of the journal. This affects distance measurements.

19. 70+13=83

20. 21+22+8=51

21. Written in the left margin of this page.

22. Written in the margin near the paragraph above it.

23. Hawkins seems to switch to a decimal system for recording time here. The first number is the number of hours and the second number is the number of minutes. He does not explain it, however.

24. Written in the margin.

25. creek

26. 39+19=58. Since Hawkins did not underline the 19, the 58 may not be a summation.

27. Note that Hawkins has switched back to a three-mile-per-hour calculation for distance here. He does not note this in his journal.

28. Etowah

29. Written sideways in the margin.

30. This unintelligible word was crossed out.

31. The word Oostenauleh is crossed out.

32. Of October?

33. Written sideways in the margin. Hawkins intended this as a footnote to the x.

34. Written sideways in the margin. Hawkins intended this as a footnote to the +.

35. Written sideways in the margin. Hawkins intended this as a footnote to the +.

36. 1 inserted between 26 and 3

37. June 26, 1799?

38. This appears to be a summation of the time above.

39. Summation.

40. Summation of time is seven hours and twenty minutes. This totals twenty nine and 1/3 miles at four miles per hour.

41. This 12.15 may be a distance measurement that was carried over from the previous journal page for ease in summation.

42. This is written twice in the journal.

43. This adds up to 177 minutes.

44. The total time from here up to the beginning of Left path crossing Flint river above Sule noj uh is eighteen and one-half hours. The significance of the 5.11 is unknown.

45. left

46. Written in the margin.

47. Written in the margin.

48. 35+28+25+40+25+44+13+35=245

49. 17+69+8+57+15+27+42=235

50. 10+51+28+55+41+10=195

51. Written sideways in the margin. These figures apparently refer to the number of stops indicated in the left margin above.

52. In this column, Hawkins is recording miles. He notes the first entry as 215 miles and each entry after, he only records the second and third digit of the mileage. This 16 for example represents the 216th mile.

53. This 2.57 probably represents the 257th mile

54. line crossed out

55. line crossed out

56. 20+4+30+11+82+6+4+15=172

57. right

58. 38+9+43+30=120

59. 20+20+2+30+60+35+18+13+20=218. The original text records this sum as 208, but if the addition pattern follows the previous additions, this number should be 218. Hawkins either miscalculated or deviated from his normal summations here.

60. 5+13+13+14+18+12+12+5+14+10+17+6=139

61. 20+8+10+10+5+20+14+3+5+15+15=125

62. 20+12+4+10+5+4+19+3+4+3+2+3+13=102

63. 10+14+11+20+13+8+7+16+2+55+30+12+16+7=221

64. 8+6+4=18

65. 20+60+35+9+34=158

66. 15+6+8+16+32+10+8+14+9+11+10+5+3+2+4+8+10+15=186

67. S4 crossed out in original.

68. 18+3+20+24+30+7+7=109

69. 20+20+15+3+4+10+30=102

70. 50+50+12+7+10+2+53+20+10+2+16=232. The original text records this sum as 248, but if the addition pattern follows the previous additions, this number should be 232. Hawkins either miscalculated or deviated from his normal summations here.

71. 7+4+24+19+10+90+15+15+10=194

72. 22+5+7+10+17+3+10+5+15+5+20+8+45+38=210. The original text records this sum as 199, but if the addition pattern follows the previous additions, this number should be 210. Hawkins either miscalculated or deviated from his normal summations here.

73. 9+23+47+10+27+17+38+38=209

74. One chain is 66 feet.

A SKETCH OF THE CREEK COUNTRY IN THE YEARS 1798 AND 1799

INTRODUCTION.

THE Georgia Historical Society having, for some years, been in possession of several manuscript volumes of the late Colonel Benjamin Hawkins, the earliest agent of the United States for Indian Affairs, their examination and publication by the Society, became an object of interest. Accordingly, they were referred to a committee, whose report attested their value, as materials for the early history of Georgia, and especially for that of the confederacy of the Creek or Muscogee Indians, who formerly owned and swayed, the southwestern portion of the State. That report recommended the immediate publication of one of these manuscripts, which the author has called "A Sketch of the Creek Country in the years 1798 and 1799." As a member of the Society, I proposed to superintend this publication, and to defray its expense, as the resources of the Society were already anticipated by the erection of a Library and Historical Hall. The Society did me the honor to accept my proposition.

The Georgia Historical Society has now been in existence for nine years. During that period, it has published two volumes of Collections and Transactions, and the present publication will constitute the first part of the third volume.

The introduction to the first volume, thus alludes to these manuscripts of Mr. Hawkins: In relation to the department of Indian history, a department so interesting in itself, and so intimately blended with the early settlement of this State, the Society has obtained some very rare and valuable manuscripts, which contain long and minute accounts of the manners and customs of the Indians; proceedings of Indian agents; treaties with various tribes; all greatly augmenting the materials of aboriginal history.

The eight volumes of manuscripts, in possession of the Society, attest the industry and enlightened zeal of the author. He has preserved and transmitted to us, his talks and treaties, made with various Indian tribes; his correspondence with the General Government and with State authorities; vocabularies of aboriginal languages, and invaluable records of the manners, customs, rites and civil polity of the tribes.

It is reported, that many valuable papers of Mr. Hawkins have been irreparably lost to the world, by the burning of his residence in the Creek country. The present manuscripts, it is supposed, have been preserved by their having been submitted to the Governor of the State, at Milledgeville, for his perusal. Colonel Hawkins was still living in the year 1825. In that year, these volumes were in Savannah, under the charge of Mr. Joseph Bevan, who had been appointed by the General Assembly to collect, arrange and publish, all papers relating to the original settlement or political history of the State. I learn this fact from a published report of his, made to Governor Troup. At the decease of Mr. Bevan, they were probably returned to the executive department at Milledgeville. At the institution of the Historical Society, a fortunate accident brought these valuable papers to the knowledge of J. K. Tefft, Esq., the corresponding secretary of the Society, and the actual cashier of the Bank of the State of Georgia, at Savannah. At his pressing instance, in favor of the Society, they were solicited and obtained, for the Society’s library.

It is a singular fact, unparalleled in this age of printing, that there are five copies existing, of this Sketch of the Creek Country. The most plausible motive for this curious multiplication of written copies, was the desire of speculators in Indian lands, to learn the topography, resources and character of the Creek country.

In this publication I have used the original manuscript of Mr. Hawkins, which has been attested by Mr. Tefft, who has a wide reputation for his collection of autographs, and for his admirable taste in that department of æsthetics. The writing and condition of the volume, give evidence of its having been written as early as the year 1800.

THE AUTHOR.

COLONEL BENJAMIN HAWKINS, was for more than thirty years, employed by the Government of the United States, in its intercourse with Indian tribes. The influence which he obtained and exercised among these tribes, is forcibly stated by Mr. Gallatin: "Mr. Hawkins, under the modest name of ‘Beloved Man of the Four Nations,’ did govern, or, at least, exercise during his life, a considerable influence over the Creeks, Choctaws, and even the Chicasaws and Cherokees." A legitimate curiosity prompts me to trace the public career of a man, who, on the highest authority, rendered efficient and valuable services to his country, for a long series of years.

The first official notice of Mr. Hawkins, presents him as joint commissioner with Andrew Pickens, Joseph Martin, and Lachlan McIntosh, to negotiate with the Creek Indians, in the year 1785. They concluded the treaty of Galphinton. In the same year, the treaty of Hopewell was concluded with the Cherokees. By the treaty of New York, in 1790, the Creek Indians placed themselves under the protection of the United States, and of no other Power. By the treaty of Galphinton, they had acknowledged themselves to be within the limits of Georgia, and members of the same. These two inconsistent states of political relationship, and which are the origin of all subsequent controversies between the State of Georgia and the Indian tribes, led to the appointment, by General Washington, of three commissioners to treat with the Creek confederacy. Accordingly, he nominated to the Senate, in June, 1795, Benjamin Hawkins, of North Carolina, George Clymer, of Pennsylvania, and Andrew Pickens, of South Carolina, as commissioners for that object.

Mr. Hawkins was at this time, a Senator of the United States, from North Carolina.

In the year 1801, he was appointed by Mr. Jefferson, principal agent for Indian affairs south of the Ohio, and as joint commissioner with General Wilkinson and Andrew Pickens, he negotiated treaties with the Chicasaws, Choctaws and Natchez.

From that period, he remained as agent of the United States among the Creek Indians, till the year 1816, when at his own request, as shown by his official letters, he was succeeded in that office, by David Brydie Mitchell, of Georgia. Colonel John Crowell succeeded this last agent; and from a letter of complaint against Crowell, written to the War Department in 1825, by Mr. Hawkins, it appears that he was then living in the Creek nation. I have not been able to learn the time of Mr. Hawkins’s decease.

From the several volumes of correspondence, official and private, of Colonel Hawkins, I have made some extracts which very forcibly pourtray the high qualities of his mind, for the government and control of unlettered, semi-civilized tribes. This demands sound judgment and inflexible justice. An apparent indifference towards the women of the tribes, who are the objects of great jealousy, is not an unimportant quality. I have been assured from high authority, that this was one of the sources of Mr. Hawkins’s extraordinary influence. In another part of the world, I have witnessed a like influence acquired by an agent of the United States, over a semi-civilized people. To their minds, it implies a moral superiority over other men, when accompanied by ordinary manly energies. It is a self-control, the more respected by such people, as it is the object of their chief indulgence, and of their liveliest jealousies.

Extract of a letter from Mr. Hawkins to a friend.

CUSSETUH, Nov. 25, 1797.

A few days ago, whilst I was sorely afflicted with rheumatism, so as not to be able to turn in my blanket, the arrival of the Queen of Tuckabatchee was announced to me. That town is sixty miles distant. I invited herself and her friends, to spend two or three days with me, which they did. Early one morning, she came to my bed side and sat down. I awoke, and she accosted me thus:

My visit is to you; I am a widow; I have a son so high; (holding her hand three feet from the ground;) I have a fine stock of cattle, and I wish them secured for my use and for my son. I know you are the Iste-chate-lige-osetate-chemis-te-chaugo, (the beloved man of the Four Nations,) and my relations are not careful of my interests. If you will take the direction of my affairs, the chiefs have told me you may settle my stock where you please, and it shall be safe. When you go to Tuckabatchee, you will have a home. Perhaps I am too old for you, but I’ll do any thing I can for you. I shall be proud of you if you will take me. If you take a young girl into the house I shall not like it, but I will not say one word; may be I can’t love her, but I won’t use her ill. I have brought some aus-ce (cassine yupon) for you. I want some clothes for my boy and for myself. You can give them to me, and make the traders take cattle for pay. If you direct them they won’t cheat me. I was taken prisoner by the Chickasaws, with my boy, when he was so high (about two feet.) I ran off from them, and was seventeen days in the woods, getting to my nation. I had no provisions when I set out, and was like to perish. When you were in the upper towns last year, I went twice to see you, and dressed myself. You took me by the hand and asked me to sit down. I wanted to speak to you then, but I could not. I said then I would never have an Iste-chate (red man.)

I replied to her, you shall be gratified; you may return home. I will have your cattle put out at a proper place, and I will take care of them and of your son. If you have any desire to call me cha-e-he, (my husband,) do so! But you must not forget, I have not yet determined to set up in that capacity in either of