The Colonial Southeast on "An Accurate General Map"

The Colonial Southeast on "An Accurate General Map" Louis De Vorsey, Jr. University of Georgia The year 1763 marked a momentous turning point in the history of eastern North America. It was during this year that the three leading powers of Europe completed negotiations which culminated in the signing of the Treaty of Paris. This treaty concluded the prolonged period of imperial competition and rivalry which had frequently found the forces of Spain, France, and Britain engaged in bloody conflict in eastern America. By its terms, virtually the whole of the continent east of the Mississippi became the territory of the victorious British. (1) In no small measure these vast new territories were terrae incognitae to the British. Popular maps of the day grossly distorted even the general outlines of eastern North America. For example, the Florida peninsula often appeared as a fragmented archipelago. (2) The eighteenth-century London cartographers were not alone in their ignorance of the correct outline and geography of the Southeast. No less a body than the Board of Trade, the king's chief advisory panel on such matters, admitted to an equally profound ignorance of the geography of the Southeast, "particularly of that part which lies between the great mountains and the Mississippi, of which there are not extant any charts or.accounts on which we can depend."(3) To remedy this serious gap in their knowledge of New World geography the august Board found that it would be necessary to appoint "a proper number of able and skillful Surveyors," without delay. (4) Surveyors were appointed and important strides made toward providing accurate maps of the Southeast during the period of British control in the region. (5) Significantly, however, it was not an official surveyor who undertook the task of collating the new geographic knowledge in the form of a regional map of the whole Southeast. Rather, this important cartographic task was performed by John Stuart, "His Majesty's Superintendent of Indian Affairs." Stuart, born in Scotland in 1718, later made his way to Charleston, South Carolina, where he engaged in the Indian trade with indifferent success during the 1750's. (6) His chief reputation was gained as an officer in the South Carolina Militia during the Cherokee War. Most notable among his adventures during this conflict was his escape from the infamous Fort Loudon Massacre in 1760. Stuart's escape and eventual return to Charleston was assisted by his close friend Attakullakulla, one of the most influential Cherokee chiefs of the day. His experience as a trader and close links with the Cherokee made Stuart an excellent candidate for the post of Indian Superintendent. (7) There can be little doubt that Stuart was probably the best-informed expert on Indian matters in the Southeast during his long tenure in the office.(8) He was also a cartographer of some note and had a keen appreciation of the importance of maps in the administration of his important office. (9) Significantly, Stuart began his long and fruitful tenure as Superintendent Vol. VI, 196621 of Indian Affairs in 1763, the year of change in the New World. First among his responsibilities was the pressing requirement to negotiate a series of treaties between the bourgeoning British colonies of the Southeast and the militant Indian tribes controlling the interior lands. One of Stuart's principal goals, in these treaties, was the delineation of a well-defined boundary which would separate the coastal and piedmont areas open to white occupation and settlement from the interior, which Crown policy had decreed to be reserved for the Indian tribes hunting and living there. This boundary, which became known as the Southern Indian Boundary Line, was to replace the hastily conceived and unworkable, but more widely known, "Proclamation Line" of 1763. The Proclamation Line was described in the famous Proclamation of 1763 and followed the tenuous line of the Appalachian watershed. In the words of the royal Proclamation, the land "beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the west and northwest" was reserved for the Indians. (10) Largely through Stuart's diligence and diplomatic expertise the Southern Indian Boundary Line became a reality...