In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

In the years following the American Revolution, local Spanish of¤cials endeavored to ¤nd common ground with Indian elites and local traders in an effort to check what all increasingly saw as challenges coming from the United States. Responding to overtures from the Creek chief Alexander McGillivray, these of¤cials held the 1784 congresses in Pensacola and Mobile to negotiate treaties of friendship and commerce and thereby assure the continuation of the trade that had come to occupy an important place in the political and economic life of the region. In what seemed to be a policy at odds with efforts to check American expansion and protect Indian lands, these same of¤cials encouraged the immigration of Americans into the region by offering land grants to those willing to take an oath of allegiance to the king of Spain. As further enticement , they sought modi¤cation of Spanish trade regulations. In addition, they established a naval squadron on the Mississippi River and military and trading posts, and expanded civil administration to Natchez, where in 1789 Manuel Gayoso de Lemos—as governor rather than commandant—became the principal Spanish of¤cial.1 The establishment of new posts by the Spanish began with San Estevan (St. Stephen) in 1789 about sixty miles upstream from Mobile on bluffs overlooking the Tombigbee River. The relative ease of its creation contrasts with that of Nogales two years later, but its genesis did expose a problem confronting the Spanish as they sought good relations with Indians. The Spanish had encouraged immigration as a way to expand Spanish presence, and they found many willing immigrants among former Loyalists who were eager to leave an inhospitable United States. They found the requirement to take an oath of allegiance to the Spanish king to be no obstacle whatsoever. Local Alabama Indians and Choctaws viewed these former Loyalists as Americans, however, like those who had begun to pressure them to cede land. Responding to reports that the Alabama Indians threatened “to burn, lay waste, and destroy” the settle4 The Nogales Dispute, 1791–1792 Some Immediate Antecedents ments of Tinzas and Tombecbé, Governor Miró hastened plans to establish the new post. At the same time he recognized in this liberal immigration policy a signi¤cant problem with regard to maintaining good relations with the Indians . He realized, as did others afterward, that the Alabama and other Indians must be convinced that the Americans who had settled north of Mobile and elsewhere had become Spanish subjects through their oath of loyalty, so this immigration policy did not contradict a general commitment to check American expansion and respect land the Indians regarded as their own.2 The establishment of the Nogales post provided the Spanish with an opportunity to persuade Indians that the establishment of new posts and limited immigration did not threaten their land or trade. The strong opposition expressed by Franchimastabé and Taboca’s letter made it clear that the task would not be easy. Both of these Choctaw chiefs were veterans of dealing with outsiders for many years and saw advantages in keeping their options open about who might best serve their interests. Taboca, for example, had just led a delegation of Choctaws to meet with American commissioners in South Carolina in an effort to secure favorable trade arrangements. Both chiefs had risen to prominence during the time the English had sustained a political presence in the region, and they and others still required more evidence that their interests would best be served by alignment with the Spanish.3 Led by Gayoso, the new Natchez governor, they did just that by means of almost continuous talk on many levels after the expression of opposition to the Nogales post. An examination of that complex diplomacy will be the subject of the next chapter; this one will review some of the events leading to the decision to establish Nogales. What Spanish of¤cials saw as a provocative series of actions directed against their interests, culminating with the project of the South Carolina Yazoo Company to put a settlement at the mouth of the Yazoo River on land they considered Spanish, led them to establish a post there. These actions began overtly with the creation of Bourbon County by the State of Georgia in early 1785. Responding to a petition from Thomas Green, allegedly on behalf of other Natchez residents, the Georgia assembly created the new county on the east bank of the Mississippi River, stretching from the mouth of the Yazoo River...

Share