THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
The Edmond Atkin
Report and Plan of 1755
Jacobs, Wilbur R., Ed. in: Indians of the
Southern Colonial Frontier,
University
of South Carolina Press (Columbia,
S. C., 1954), pp. 41-43, 70-71.
(page 41) curity of all the Colonies together, is truly a Royal Object, the Honour and Grandure of the Crown being [23] concerned therein. And all Negotiations and Treaties with Nations of Indians, as they do of right belong to, so they may not be thought unworthy of his Majesty's [own] Attention.
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All the Indians with whom our Colonies have any Connection at present in North America, may be considered under two Divisions. In the first are to be comprehended, from Nova Scotia to Virginia inclusive, the Five, or as they have been lately called, the Six Nations (Mohawks, Sennikas, Onondagas, Oneydoes, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras,)59 next to N. York, with their Dependents (the Susquehannas, Delawars, Shawanoes, and other Tribes) on the back part of Virginia, Maryland & Pensylvania; and the Indians bordering on New England, commonly called, in regard I suppose to those others, the Eastern Nations. |
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Account of all the Indians in Amity with our Colonies. Their Numbers. |
The latter are not allowed to exceed the Number of three hundred. . .
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fighting Men . . . |
300 |
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For tho the whole number of the different Tribes, so far as the extreme Eastern End of Nova Scotia is computed to be Eight hundred; yet Five hundred thereof are said to be professedly in the French Interest- The Six Nations according to the largest and best Accts, including those from the several Nations, who either from Discontent at home, or to have a new Hunting Ground, or for other Reasons, are settled on the Ohio River, do not exceed Fifteen hundred Men60. . .
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1500 |
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who are the Lords Paramount of the red Complexion; united in a League immemorial, like that of the United Provinces of the Netherlands; the Consent of the whole being necessary in all Publick Deliborations by their Sachems in a General Council. Their Character and great Influence even on remote Nations is universally known.- The Susquahannahs their Dependants on the River of that name and Westward, are commonly reputed Six hundred Men. . .
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600 |
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The Delawares, Shawanoes (or Savanoes), & other small Tribes their Dependants also, on the River Ohio, (besides their own People there) are near Five Hundred Men. . .
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500 |
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According to a particular Account taken Tribe by Tribe, and delivered by some of themselves in 1748, the number of the whole on that River, including the Colonies of the Six Nations, (page 42) was then Seven hundred, eighty nine Men; (729) [789] among them were Twenty seven French Mohawks, mixed with the other Mohawks; which I suppose were sent thither by the French politically from near Montreal, where many from the Six Nations live, known by the name of Shawendadies and Cahnuagae61 or praying Indians, who deserted their several Nations for various Reasons; But with whom the Six Nations still retain a great Influence-
The Twightwees 62 to the Westward near the Wabashe River, Number of the Nations, as well as of those in our Interest, unknown, . . .
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in all |
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In the other Division may be comprehended all the rest of our friendly Indians, on the back of No. Carolina, & South Carolina and Georgia, Southward of the Hogohege or great Cherokee River, and Westward so far as the greater Mississippi River, into which that other falls, after its Junction with the Ohio and the Wabashe. Which Indians consist of several Nations, intirely independant of each other, to wit.
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The Cherokees, commonly distinguished by the Names of Upper, Lower, & Middle above three Thousand Men. . . |
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3000 |
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The Catawbas but little more than Three hundred, perhaps Twenty63. . . |
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320 |
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[24] Brot over. |
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3320. |
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The Chicasaws,
not more than Four hundred and Eighty in all places, to wit |
350 |
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at their Camp on the borders of the upper Creek Nation. . . |
80 |
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}480. |
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upon Savano River. . . |
50 |
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The Creeks, Lower Nation, living apart, and by some called Coweta's about Twelve hundred Men. . . |
1200 |
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Upper Nation distinguish'd by the name of Tallapoosies Abecas, and Alibamas, (as by an acco. taken in [Novr] 1749). . . |
1180 |
}2565 |
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Savanoes, from the North, incorprated among those three Tribes. . . |
185 |
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1365 |
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Of the Alibamas four little Towns having 155 Men, next to & very near the French Fort, are intirely in the French Interest; as well as probably the Savanoes. But are all obliged to observe the same Terms with us, as the rest of the Nations. |
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The Chactaws, who in 1738 were first brought by Lt. Govr. Bull64 to make a Treaty of Peace and Commerce with us in Charles Town, which was defeated by the murder of some of our Traders on the Path by some Young Chactaws employed by the French to waylay them; and who revolted from the French unable to supply them in 1746 during the late War & in April following made a second Treaty of Peace & Commerce with us in Charles Town by a solemn Embassy for that [purpose]; being not duly supported in their Extremities, after the lengths they had gone upon that Occasion, made a Peace again with the French; who having got some of our Traders killed by Rewards for their Scalps (since the Peace in Europe), none of them ventured into the Nation since 1750. Nay a Person employed in 1752 to carry some Presents to the Nation, having had one of his Men killed in the way, was obliged to return without delivering them. So that the Chactaws, whatever Friends we may have among them, are as a Nation lost to us at Present. Their |
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were interrorem),100 upon an Allegation that they had assisted the Chicasaws in Fight when Invaded; and were then sent to Brest, from whence [40] Picket made his Escape, Clark was induced by hardships to turn Catholick and marry there, and the other two were seen in Prison in 1747 by some of our People, who were then put into the same as prisoners of War; and tis thought those two are there still. The French having undertaken so many Expeditions tho' unsuccessfull against the Chicasaws, & set all the Indians upon them on whom they had any Influence, the Chicasaws, on the Arrival of Monsr. Vaudreuil as new Governour of Louisiana in 1743, Sending him a Present of some French Prisoners they had just taken at the Arkansas, signified their desire to forbear Hostilities and live in Peace. But that Govr. refused to be at Peace with them, but on Condition they would drive the English out of their Country; which they having declined to do, and he having prevailed in particular on the numerous Chactaws not to make Peace with them, he wrote to the Govr. of Canada (which Letter was intercepted) "That in order to oblige the Chicasaws to perform his will, he would cause them to be harder pushed than ever by War; and pressed him to engage the Northern Nations also to fall upon them with more Vigour than ever." Accordingly they have been since press'd on all sides by the united measures of those two Governours. So that after the same manner, in which they have for many Years past been gradually Diminished little by little, they must in process of time be totally extirpated, unless timely Supported by some other means than have hitherto been used. The severe measures of the French, have rivetted in them an implacable Enmity towards them, and attached them the more firmly to us, as their only Dependance. |
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their Policy |
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Their Policy hath been ever uniformly, to Cultivate a Friendship with all the Indian Nations in Alliance with the English; And they have done their utmost endeavour to incite other Nations to War with the French. For which purpose they sent their Calumet many Years ago so far as the Miamis or Twightwees, at the head of the Wabashe at the West End of Lake Erie, on the road to Canada; and in 1746, Twenty of them went so far as the Sennikas, and made a proposal to joyn them in making War upon Canada. In a word: there is nothing we can propose to them with regard to the French, but what we may assure ourselves they will most gladly come into; And it will be our own Fault therefore, if we do (page 71) not make a valuable use of their Friendship & Disposition. For I doubt not they would for a proper Support or Protections, surrender their whole Country to his Majesty. |
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The Chactaw Nation, is situated lower down on the West Side of the same River Chactawhatchee, at the distance of Seven hundred & Thirty Miles from Charles Town; the nearest Towns to the Chicasaws, being about one hundred & Twenty Miles to the Southward thereof. The Importance of their Situation consists wholly in their being a Frontier to the French Settlements round N. Orleans and Mobile, which therefore may either Protect or ravage. For which reason it is most the Interest of the French, to manage that Nation. They have a Fort there named Tombekbe on the side of the River at the entrance of the direct Path from the upper Creeks into the Nation. To avoid which our Traders go round by way of the Chicasaws; which makes their Journey about Two Hundred Miles the more.- |
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Chactaws |
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Of all the Indians the Chactaws bear the worst Character. They are Subtle, Decietfull, Insolent, Lucrative, Beggarly, Vicious, and Indolent to such a degree, that for want of Planting Corn sufficient, living for the most part miserably, they eat Creatures and things untasted by other Indians. And withal they are less Warlike than those before Described; insomuch that Govr. Vaudreil, in a Letter to the French Secretary of State, said, "That he believed the Chicasaws, if they had to do with them only (tho' near 10 times their Number) would in the end Destroy them." [41] The Chactaws are indebted to the French themselves perhaps, for some part of their sd. Character.101 In Craft and Breach of Promises they have but too well imitated them. Their Insolence arises from their knowledge of the Importance their Friendship is of from their Vicinity to the French, and the Court paid to them on that account. They are lucrative, because the French Commerce, not being sufficiently valuable, it hath put them [upon] a way of, in a manner selling the French just as much Friendship as they pay for. |
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Character |
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Their beggarly Quality is the result of their Poverty, and the Habit they have acquired in making the most out of the French; in like manner as their carnal Vice is the result of their lazy Life.- They are seldom |
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& Disposition |
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59 For the accepted spelling of these tribal names, see note 18.
60 Sir William Johnson's estimate is slightly higher in 1763. New York Colonial Documents, VII, 582.
61 Caughnawaga Mohawk living near Montreal.
62 Or Miami. See the introduction for the account of the massacre at the Twightwee town of Pickawillany.
63 Atkin's estimate agrees with that of Governor James Glen in Milling, Colonial South Carolina: Two Contemporary Descriptions, p. 68.
64 William Bull (1683-1755) was lieutenant governor of South Carolina from 1737 to 1743 and was succeeded by James Glen.
100 As a warning in order to terrify or deter others.
101 Atkin's dislike for the French is reflected in his contempt for the Choctaw. In his Choctaw revolt memoir, he emphasizes the better qualities of these Indians. Adair also speaks of them critically, mentioning their "fickle, treacherous, and bloody a disposition." Adair's History, p. 305.
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