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chapter eight The Atkin Mission The resolution of the seemingly endless Creek-Bosomworth problem by Governor Henry Ellis proved to be permanent. For the next year or two, English relations with the Creeks were—or, from Ellis’s vantage point, appeared to be— satisfactory to both parties. Furthermore, as the governor had hoped, Mary Bosomworth once again became an important asset for the colony’s diplomacy with her native people. Ellis himself was much less active than he had been, for the hot zones of diplomatic activity were shifting far upcountry into Indian territories. When at war with each other, Europeans came to Indians. Ellis had taken up his duties in Savannah knowing that sooner or later he and other southern governors would have to share authority over Indian diplomacy with Edmond Atkin, the newly appointed superintendent of Indian affairs for the southern colonies. For Ellis, it turned out to be twenty months later. While British officials had eagerly supported William Johnson for the northern superintendency , they had serious doubts about Atkin. In 1755 Johnson had been appointed the king’s “Sole Agent for and Superintendent” for Indian affairs, but Atkin’s commission omitted the word “Sole.” His defined role was limited to diplomacy and treaty making. Atkin pleaded for Board of Trade instructions directing the southern governors to yield him substantial control over the trade. The instructions the board finally issued merely urged the governors to cooperate with him. Atkin not only lacked specific authority over trade and traders, he had no funding commitment from the London government. Disappointed, he was at first inclined to spurn the appointment. When the South Carolina agent and other influential Carolinians then in London assured him that, if necessary, their colony would pay his expenses, he changed his mind. Atkin was directed to secure instructions and funds from Lord Loudoun, the British commander in chief in North America. Privately, Secretary of State Henry Fox instructed Loudoun to replace Atkin if he felt the Carolinian was not up to the task.1  The Atkin Mission 231 Obliged to work out the particulars of his charge with his immediate superior, Lord Loudoun, Atkin followed the British commander to New York in October 1756. Over the next six months he trailed Loudoun from place to place, seeking to have his office fashioned into a decent approximation of the one he had imagined in his “Plan.” Loudoun eventually provided a salary for him, along with a supply of Indian presents, but that was as far as his material support went. The British commander apparently never did get around to giving Atkin written instructions. Most disappointing to Atkin, Loudoun denied his requests for £2,000 to cover expenses, and authority to draw upon him for emergency outlays. The British commander referred Atkin to the governors of the southern colonies for all additional financial support. This arrangement, rather than lifting Atkin’s authority above that of the governors, in effect made him their subordinate. Atkin’s hope for a superintendency independent from the provincial governments was thwarted almost before his service began.2 Atkin told Loudoun that his main diplomatic objective was “to retrieve our declining interest” among the Choctaws, a people he despised. In his “Report” he made this very clear: “Of all the Indians the Chactaws bear the worst Character .” They were devious and they were mercenary, “in a manner selling the French just as much Friendship as they pay for.” Nevertheless, the populous Choctaws were potentially so formidable that the English must reach out to them, even while holding their noses. Atkin went on to offer a simple plan on how to reopen active contacts with these Indians. He argued that the South Carolina Indian commissioners had been ineffective because they never traveled into Indian country. That left them almost totally beholden to traders for information about the natives. Atkin proposed to remedy this problem by establishing and maintaining direct contacts. He told Loudoun that he intended to visit Choctaw country every year, and along the way to visit both Lower and Upper Creeks. Loudoun may well have doubted the practicality of this plan. Atkin was nearly fifty, portly, and suffered from gout and rheumatism, while a one-way trip to Choctaw country from Augusta involved about five hundred miles on horseback.3 Whatever the merits of Atkin’s original plan, by January 1758 British leaders had decided that there was a better way to defeat the French in the south. Because little came of it...

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