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Georgia in the Spirit of 1776
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Editor's note: In April of 2004, Flagpole published a three-part article
by local historian Steven Scurry on the Oconee War of the 1780s—
the borderland conflict between Georgians and Creek Indians over
the Oconee River Valley, including the present site of Athens. In his
research since then. Scurry has traced the roots of the conflict back
a decade in time, to the period of the American Revolution. The fol
lowing is the product of his recent research.
herefore all [slaves] who cannot be taken,
had better be shot by the Creek Indians, as it
perhaps may deter other Negroes from desert
ing, and will establish a hatred or Aversion
between the Indians and Negroes..." wrote South Carolinian
Stephen Bull from Savannah on Mar. 14, 1776. Political mis
sionary, and military advisor, Bull came to Savannah to stoke
the fire of revolution and rebellion, even as he worked to
protect his emerging status as planter
and politician. His plans, fortunately fall
ing short of a race war, were intended to
intimidate slaves from seeking their own
liberty, at a time when many slave "own
ers" were espousing a gospel of freedom
from British oppression. The irony and
hypocrisy was not lost on Bull's Whig
associate, Henry Laurens, who neverthe
less wrote in response, "It is an awful
business notwithstanding it has the
sanction of Law to put even fugitive &
Rebellious Slaves to death..."
The slaves in question were scores
gathered on Tybee, the barrier island at
the mouth of the Savannah River. With
the colonial order breaking down and
British war ships anchored in the river
sound, they simultaneously fled the
growing violence in the lowcountry and
seized a chance for their own liberation.
The Indians referred to were Creek del
egates visiting Savannah from the town
of Kasitah seeking to comprehend as well
as end the colonial conflict dividing their
Anglo neighbors and friends. The destabi
lizing trends in Anglo America were felt in
the Creek towns just as regular trade with
Georgia and Carolina abruptly stopped.
The Creek visit coincided with the first
military engagement between Georgia
rebels and British marines. Watching from
new trenches in the city, the Creek party
suffered a casualty in the nighttime fight,
which in the immediate crisis moved them
to align with their Georgia hosts. This is
not what Creek leader Blue Salt had in
mind on coming to Savannah. Rather, his
was part of numerous efforts initiated by
Creek leaders to patch up the serious dif
ferences between loyalist and patriot.
"I hope that when they see this and smoke that they
will give ear to my Talk and end their dispute, for we are
the Masters of this Land and they are only settled on the
borders of it. We have twice given them land thinking
that it might be of service to them and [I] am sorry to
find it otherwise, but when they smoke this I hope they
will give ear to the great King's talks. And when I hear
from them and they do not agree, I then shall know who
are in the fault, and shall know who are the great King's
Enemies, and will look upon them as my enemies as well
as his, and will see them, for I have not forgot the last
Line run at Ogeechee..."
The King's talk to which the war chief referred denoted
the last colonial border jointly surveyed in 1773 between his
nation and Georgia. The border ran along the east bank of the
Back in Savannah, Blue Salt's party joined patriots under
Archibald Bullock, soon to be president of Georgia's rebel
government, who in the spirit of their Boston Tea Party com
rades donned Indian garb, daubed their bodies in war paint
and raided Tybee Island. Rather than finding the "Rebellious
Slaves"—these had boarded a loyalist ship in the harbor—they
surprised a group of bathing marines. Bullock's raiders brought
an English scalp as a war trophy back to Savannah.
British officials and loyalists were making their own plans
for using Creek and Cherokee fighters in the budding war.
Initially the project involved transporting military supplies
overland from Florida to isolated loyalists in the Carolina
piedmont. With ports in Virginia, Carolina and Georgia in rebel
hands, the nearest route was through Creek country. More
easily said than done, British Indian Superintendent John
Stuart wrote, "But... in order to get the Creeks to act it will be
his incident in American Revolution-era Georgia starkly
demonstrates the fault lines of power which were
fracturing the colonial order. While elite planters and
merchants competed for power in the collapse of British rule,
the southern borderlands were emerging as another theater of
conflict and war—this one for land. Native communities rushed
to organize and check the sudden surge of Anglos into their
country, provoked in part by the growing violence in the colo
nies. One British official observed, "A great number of families
wishing to avoid the calamities of a rancorous civil war have
migrated from the different provinces [colonies] to seek bread
and peace in those remote deserts...." Adding to their anxiet
ies, the outbreak of the Revolution eclipsed the transatlantic
trade to which native towns were deeply tied.
This same month, a principal war chief of the Creek Nation,
Emistisiguo, sent a gift of tobacco to Georgia leaders:
Ogeechee River to its head, north to "Cherokee Corner" and
north again into the Broad River country. Emistisiguo and his
fellow Creeks saw the revolutionary movement taking place in
Carolina and Georgia in their own historical context, and in
immediate relation to the 1773 land cession—a cession which,
to the bitterness of many Georgians, fell short of the highly
prized Oconee Valley. To those who would reject this "Beloved
Talk," the chief warned, "[I] will see them..."
This and other peace initiatives were part of an effort to
renew trade ties which, to the great disappointment of the
Creek people, had not improved with their 1773 land cession.
At this critical juncture, the Creek's western towns were still
burdened by a vicious war with the Choctaw nation, largely
sponsored, managed and recently renewed by British officials.
Creek leaders sought, both far and wide, mediation and/ or
arms to meet this toll on their country.
absolutely necessary to bring about a reconciliation between
them and the Choctaws." This reversal in British practice, from
fueling a Creek-Choctaw War to encouraging pan-Indian con
federation—an indigenous movement well under way by this
time—was all in the spirit of 1776.
T he Continental Congress was fortunate in tapping
George Galphin to manage patriot affairs with the
southern Indian nations. Trade and family ties in the
Creek Nation gave him privileged access to their town leaders.
He obviously couTd not match his loyalist counterparts when it
came to supplying goods and trade, but astutely judged that
Creek diplomacy was inclined toward neutrality. It remained
his obsession in 1776 to encourage this inclination—trade,
in whatever small measure, would be his tool. Writing to the
> continued on next page
NEWS & FEATURES I CALENDAR I MOVIES I A&E I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS
MARCH 5,2008 • FLAGPOLE.COM 9
STEVE SCURRY
