Georgia Biographies Coweta Chief - William McIntosh File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Barbara Winge barbarawinge@yahoo.com http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm Georgia Table of Contents: WILLIAM McINTOSH COWETA COUNTY received its name in 1826, to perpetuate the memory of General William McIntosh, a half-blood Creek, and head chief of the Coweta Towns. He was a daring soldier, and a useful ally during the late war with the British, who had excited many of the Creeks against us. McIntosh, with some other chiefs, signed the treaty at the Indian Springs, by which the lands between the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers were ceded. After this he was shot in his own house, by several of the Indians unfriendly to the treaty, and his body consumed with his dwelling. He was represented as a traitor, because it was said a law had been passed some time before, making death the punishment of any one who should sign a treaty to convey a foot of land! Even a dogrel poem appeared in a northern paper, in which the traitor is made to meet merited vengeance. But no such law ever existed. General Gaines and the Georgia Commissioners could find no traces of it. But if there had been such a law in existence, Colonel Crowell, the agent, who witnessed the treaty, and who was the guardian of the Indians, must have known it, and he would not have suffered a brave warrior like McIntosh, a tried and steadfast friend to these United States, to sign his own death-warrant! No, the celebrated law was merely the figment of some inventive imagination. McIntosh was between 50 and 60 when killed. He left five wives and several children, most of whom had received a pretty good English education. In 1832 the Creek lands in Alabama were sold to the United States, by treaty; yet the chiefs who acted for the tribe were not massacred, as was McIntosh; but if such a law as mentioned above had existence, it would follow that they too should have been put to death; this furnishes a strong reason to believe no such existed. The penalty would have fallen upon those who violated it in 1832, as in 1825. In 1835, the Seminoles, a neighboring tribe, in Florida, killed several of their chiefs, who had signed away their lands in treaty, and urged removal to the west; but no law against signing a treaty is named as the reason; their own will seems to be the only reason. Ref: Sherwood, Adiel, A GAZETTEER OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, 1837, Printed by P. Force, Washington City, pp. 265-266. The Indian Tribes in Georgia. - It will be remembered that the United States had agreed, in 1802, to extinguish the Indian title to all the lands in Georgia. More than twenty years had passed and the Indians were still here. Naturally the people of the State were impatient for the general government to carry out the contract, and for the Indians to be removed from the limits of Georgia. The Creeks and the Cherokees had resolved to make no more treaties for the sale of land. They said to all proposals: “We shall not sell even one foot of ground.” In 1824, President Monroe sent a message to Congress in which he said: “The Indian titles are not affected in the slightest circumstance by the compact (of 1802) with Georgia, and there is no obligation on the Unites States to remove the Indians by force.” This message provoke a letter from Governor Troup to the Secretary of War, in which the governor asked: “Is it discovered at last the Georgia has no claim upon the United States or upon the Indians under the compact of 1802? Is all that a dream with which the deluded people of Georgia have been plaguing themselves for twenty years?” Because of the unfriendly attitude of the Indians, negotiations with them were of no avail. Many meetings were held with the chiefs, but to no purpose. All efforts of the government to get them to give up their lands had failed. President Monroe decided, however, to make another effort, and summoned a meeting of the chiefs at Indian Springs in February, 1825. The hostile Alabama Creeks did not attend. The Georgia Creeks, called Lower Creeks, led by William McIntosh, resolved to ignore the Alabama Creeks, and to negotiate with the general government for a cession of land. They proposed to give up the lands belonging to the Lower Creeks in Georgia only, and held, therefore, that the absence of the Alabama Creeks was no hindrance to the negotiations. After a friendly talk a treaty was concluded and signed by nearly all the chiefs present. This is known as the Treaty of 1825. By this treaty the Creeks ceded to the United States “all the land within the boundaries of the present State of Georgia as defined by the compact of 1802.” For the cession they were to obtain lands of “like quality, acre for acre, westward of the Mississippi,” and the time of their removal was not to “extend beyond the first of September of the next year.” Governor Troup at once took steps to survey the Indians’ lands, and the friendly Creeks made ready to depart for their new homes. When the term of the treaty became known to the hostile Creeks, great excitement arose among them. They declared that the treaty at Indian Springs was void. A general council of the Alabama Creeks condemned McIntosh to death, and a party consisting of one hundred and seventy men undertook to carry out the sentence. They proceeded to the residence of McIntosh upon the banks of the Chattahoochee River in what is now Carroll County. Arriving on the spot, they concealed themselves until the hour of three in the morning. Procuring a quantity of pitch pine, they tied it in bundles, placed it upon the backs of three strong warriors, and then quietly approached the dwelling. The Indians surrounded the dwelling and guarded every way of escape. The pine was kindled and torches applied to various part of the house. By the light of the flames the brave McIntosh saw the attacking party and the impossibility of escape. He was the only occupant of the burning house except an Indian friend, who was shot as he tried to run from the place. Retreating to the second story, McIntosh used four guns which he had in the house, and kept his enemies at bay. But the flames drove him down, and coming into an exposed position, he was instantly shot. He was then dragged into the yard and stabbed to death. Ref: Evans, Lawton B., A. M., FIRST LESSONS IN GEORGIA HISTORY, 1923, American Book Company, New York, pp. 246-249. COWETA COUNTY Laid out in 1826. Part set off to Campbell, 1828; and a part to Heard, in 1836. The streams are the Chattahoochee River and several creeks. NEWNAN, the seat of Justice, is situated about the centre of the county, 126 miles N. W. of Milledgeville. Among the first settlers of this country were, Joseph Edmondson, Andrew J. Berry, Gilbert Greene, John Johnston, _____ Taliaferro, ______ Robinson, James Stamps, Washington Arnold, James Hutcheson, Levi Phillips, Daniel Wester, the Redwines, and Hearnes. A short biography is included about Allen Gay, and Rev. Dabney Jones. Ref: White, Rev. George, M. A., HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GEORGIA, 1854, Pudney & Russell, Publishers, New York, pp. 413-416. (Reprint 1968, Heritage Papers, Danielsville, GA) Adiel Sherwood, A GAZETTEER OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, Washington City, Printed by P. Force, 1837, pp. 255-256. APPENDIX: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES "The author conceived that a short biographical sketch of the individuals after whom the several counties were named, would furnish an instructive and pleasing appendage to his topographical work... Acquainted with the intimate friends of some of the 'venerable dead,' he has been furnished with sufficient materials to enlarge on their character... There are in the State ninety counties (book printed in 1837, presently in 2001, there are 159 counties)..." ======================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for FREE access. ==============