One of the more controversial people in Georgia history is William McIntosh. His
father was Scottish, his mother was a Creek Indian. McIntosh was a man of two
worlds one was white, and one was native-american. Because he fought well
against the British in the war of 1812, he was made a general in the United
States Army. Because he was respected by the Creeks, he was one of their Chiefs.
They called him the white warrior. In 1823 McIntosh built a hotel and a
Tavern at Indian Springs near Jackson. He was a wealthy man
but the Creek Nation was struggling. The Creeks owned millions of acres of land
in Georgia, but the government wanted it. They wanted to sell it to white farmers
to grow cotton and other profitable crops but the Creeks had lived here for
many generations and this was a sacred place to them. In fact it was against
Creek law to sell the land.
The Creeks believed in a sort of
communal life and lived in communities or townships and the land was held in
common. Europeans believed in ownership and when
two worlds collide with different ideas about ownership, the stage is set for conflict.
*Gun fire*
The result was armed conflict. Part of the Creek Nation wanted to fight for
their land and they fought fiercely but in the end they were outnumbered by the
US Army. There were other Creeks who wanted to negotiate a peaceful
settlement with the government, who thought that the Indians should sell
their land and leave Georgia while the government was still willing to pay.
McIntosh was one of them. This is what he said:
The white tide rises, we can't stop
it and if we don't sell, we will be cast aside homeless and treated like animals
without any place to go.
There were many treaties signed over the
years, each one selling more Creek land to the government. Finally On February 12,
1825, Chief William McIntosh signed the Treaty of Indian Springs here at his
hotel. The treaty gave the United States government the last Creek land in
Georgia in return for $200,000 paid to Chief McIntosh and a few other Creek
chiefs. Many Creeks accused McIntosh of breaking their law against selling land. They
came to the hotel and one of them stood on this rock shouting in anger.
Brothers the grounds of our fathers have been stolen by our chief and sold by him to
the pale-faced. Their goal is in his pouch. The grounds are gone from us and
the plows of the pale-faced will soon upturn the bones of our fathers!
And then the leader called to McIntosh ,who was inside the hotel preparing to sign the treaty,
You snake! You will die for this!
For Chief McIntosh is deed, he was
executed according to Creek law at that time. No Creek chief could sign a treaty
selling Creek land and so that was the law that he was executed under.
A white interpreter was an eyewitness to the death of chief McIntosh and his
recollection of what happened was written down in a letter. The following
is taken from that letter:
We got to the McIntosh house and waited in the woods
in the dead of night. At 3 o'clock in the morning, the Warriors lit their torches
and set fire to the house. They shouted "McIntosh! We have come, we have come, we
told you if you sold the land to the Georgians, we would come." McIntosh
barricaded his front door and fired on the Warriors, he then retreated to the
second storey with four guns in his hands which he continued to discharge
from a window. He fought with great courage. His two wives, Peggy and Susanna,
had been dragged out of the burning house into the yard. They implored the
Warriors not to burn up their husband but to take him out of the house and
shoot him as he was a brave man and deserved to die like an Indian. McIntosh
now came down to the first storey and was received with much rifle fire until
being pierced with many bullets, fell to the floor. He was seized by the legs and
dragged down the steps to the ground. While lying in the yard, he raised
himself on one arm and surveyed his murderers with a look of defiance. At
that moment a warrior plunged a long knife in the direction of his heart. He
drew a deep breath and expired. That was what I saw on May
1st in the year 1825.
Chief Macintosh betrayed his people and he paid with his
life and because of his treachery, the Creeks people suffered bitterly. Without
land, they were plunged into poverty. A once proud and self-sufficient people
who are now hungry and homeless.
*End Screen Music*