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chapter three Staking Out the Territory During Oglethorpe’s long absence from Georgia, his strong hand was missed. As the cruel difficulties in the way of making the colony a success steadily became apparent, the colonists’ high hopes faded and they fell to squabbling among themselves. By mid-1735 a faction of “malcontents” was prepared to openly challenge existing authority. The only real government in the colony, the municipal council of Savannah, was barely able to preserve order in the town and lacked authorization to do more. In particular, the Savannah magistrates had not been empowered to deal with Indians. Just before his departure for England, Oglethorpe had entrusted that responsibility to Patrick Mackay, a decision he would regret. Patrick Mackay was the head of a prominent Highland Scottish family that had fallen on hard times. Disastrous commercial speculations had forced him to sell the family estate and, apparently, declare bankruptcy. Moreover, according to Egmont, he had “Fled Scotland for Felony.” By September 1733 Mackay arrived in Savannah with his wife, daughter, three younger brothers, and an imposing entourage. Oglethorpe was impressed with Mackay’s commanding presence and the size of his retinue, seeing the Scottish adventurer as a major addition to the colony. On September 27 he informed the Trustees of an agreement he had made with Mackay’s group to found a town of forty men, and argued that appropriate grants should be expedited. He recommended gentleman’s grants of five hundred acres for Mackay and three others. Those grants were made, and the Scots were soon settled at what was called Joseph’s Town. It was less a town than a string of plantations along the river ten or twelve miles above Savannah. From this time forward, Scotsmen, especially Highlanders, would be conspicuously represented in the Georgia backcountry.1 Oglethorpe had spent most of the last two months of his first American sojourn in Charles Town trying to reach an understanding with the South Carolina  Staking Out the Territory 65 leaders. While the Carolinians welcomed Georgia as a buffer against the Spanish and the French, they saw it as a mixed blessing. For more than a half century they had carried on a long-distance overland trade with the Southeastern Indians, a trade that the new colony placed at risk. If Georgia now separated Carolinians from potential European enemies, it also separated them from all of their most important native trading partners except the Cherokees. The potential loss or contraction of their most profitable trade, that with the Creeks, was especially disturbing . A significant conflict of interest was inevitable between the two colonies. Governor Johnson and Oglethorpe made some progress toward an accommodation , but Mackay’s claim that the Carolinians “willingly surrendered” control over the Creek trade to Georgia was mere bluff.2 The main agreement Oglethorpe and Johnson reached focused on the Upper Creeks. For a decade and a half Carolinians had gnashed their teeth over French influence among the Alabamas and Creeks emanating from Fort Toulouse. To counter that threat, Oglethorpe and Johnson agreed to attempt to establish an English fort among the Upper Creeks. South Carolina would provide the funds to build it and maintain it for two years, about £8,000 in provincial currency, while Georgia would provide the garrison. Accordingly, on March 13, 1734, Oglethorpe commissioned Mackay captain of an “Independent Company” of rangers. The project obviously would require some delicate negotiations with the Indians, and Oglethorpe decided to entrust that too to Mackay.3 On April 27 Oglethorpe provided Mackay with one set of instructions as ranger captain, and another as “Agent to the Creeks.” Mackay was to proceed to Coweta as soon as possible and hold a conference with Creek leaders. Oglethorpe supplied Mackay with a script he hoped this conference would follow, including a speech from himself. The general objectives were to solidify the peace, win vacillating Creeks away from the French and Spanish, and establish better trading relationships . Above all, Mackay was to do whatever was necessary to secure Creek assent to an English fort (“House”) on the Tallapoosa River. To further these aims, Mackay was to visit all of the major Creek towns, both Lower and Upper, and hold whatever talks he saw fit. Oglethorpe apparently also won Johnson’s agreement to appoint Mackay as South Carolina’s agent to the Creeks. Johnson did so, but Mackay later complained that the governor had evaded furnishing him with a notice to this effect addressed to the Carolina traders...

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