CHARACTER OF MCGILLIVRAY.

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His fingers were long and tapering, and he wielded a pen with the greatest rapidity. His face was handsome, and indicative of quick thought and much sagacity. Unless interested in conversation, he was disposed to be taciturn; but even then was polite and respectful."

For the control of men, and the conduct of political intrigues, McGillivray was probably the greatest man ever born upon this continent. He was, as seems to have been necessary to diplomatic success, pretty thoroughly unscrupulous as to the means he used; and, indeed, was in his public character a false and crafty man; but such characteristics are the less to be wondered at in one of Indian blood, whose life was spent in maintaining a small and feeble nation amid the encroachments, intrigues, and attacks of others immeasurably stronger. As an individual, he was honorable, courteous, hospitable, and generous even to chivalry. At his residence at Little Tallase and the Hickory Ground, he was accustomed nobly to entertain all reputable strangers and visitors of public character.

Three wretches, an Indian, a white renegade, and a negro having waylaid and slain a party of his guests, he sent promptly in pursuit, and although two of them succeeded in escaping, he caused the third to be carried to the place of his guilt, and there hung. A poor Choctaw Indian being sick,

apprehended that the native doctors had given him over. In this case the gentlemen of the savage faculty were accustomed to verify their diagnoses by recommending that the patient be forthwith put out of his pain, whereupon two of the nearest relatives, in full reliance upon their professional skill, jumped upon him and strangled him out of hand. Crawling desperately off to escape this prescription, while the consultation was progressing before his door, the poor wretch managed to reach the Creek nation, was kindly received by McGillivray, and by him caused to be cured. He returned home, but arrived only in time for the final ceremonies of dancing round his empty death-scaffold, and burning it, whereupon they all ran away, one man only, cornered in his house, insisting that he was a ghost, and hurry back to the land of spirits.

exhorting him to

Fearing that he

returned to the

should really be sent thither, he Creeks and spent the rest of his life under their protection.

A party of unhappy fugitives froin amongst the insurgents of 1781, in the Natchez district, arrived, all haggard with their desperate forest journey, at the Hickory Ground. In imminent danger from the warriors, who believed them whigs, the Creeks being then in arms for the royal cause, they were only saved by the presence of mind of McGillivray's negro body-servant, Paro, who, his master being

WILLIAM A. BOWLES.

295

absent, arrived at the moment, and would have undeceived the Indians, but in vain; until one warrior cried out, "If you tell the truth, make the paper talk." Taking the hint, Paro asked the travellers for their journal. They had none. Had they any written documents? One of them had by chance an old letter in his pocket; from which, by Paro's direction he proceeded slowly and gravely to pretend to read a complete history of their flight from Natchez; upon which the Indians, well knowing what conduct would meet the wishes of their great chieftain, gave up their evil purposes, received and. refreshed the weary wanderers, and set them forward again, rested and recruited, on their journey to the eastward.

Leclerc Milfort, a year or two after McGillivray's death, returned to France, where he published an account of his life among the Creeks. And it was not long before the common ruin of the Indian tribes, these two able leaders being gone, began to come upon the Creeks, until they were utterly overcome, and scattered away from their native seats.

The name of William Augustus Bowles was mentioned above. Although his life and adventures are not strictly within the line of this narrative, his character was so extraordinary and his experiences so romantic as to justify the brief digression necessary

to sketch them.

Born in Maryland in 1762, Bowles, a precocious, unruly and daring boy, at the age of fourteen enlisted as a private in the British army, served a year against his countrymen, became an ensign, accompanied his regiment to Jamaica, and thence to Pensacola. Here he is disranked for insubordination; and thoroughly disgusted with military discipline, and a wild, restless, and fearless rover by nature, he contemptuously strips off his uniform, flings it into the sea, and flees northward into the forest with some Creeks. Living upon the Tallapoosa river for several years, he thoroughly acquires the Indian language; and marrying the daughter of a chief, he rises to considerable influence amongst the savages, and the white traders and vagabonds of the region. Indeed, few men have ever possessed more completely the qualifications of a commander of savages, thieves, and pirates; for he had a noble and commanding person, an insinuating and prepossessing address, exceedingly handsome and expressive features, a quick, comprehensive, versatile and powerful intellect, the most daring personal courage, and at the same time a heart without feeling, principle, or honor-utterly abandoned and debased.

At the head of a party of Creeks, he assists General Campbell in his stubborn defence of Pensacola against Governor Galvez in 1781; accompanies the dislodged garrison to New York; falling readily

ESTABLISHES A TRADING POST.

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again into the habitudes of civilized life, yet gravitating to the loosest, he joins a company of comedians, goes with them to New Providence, the capital of the Bahamas, and here supports himself successfully by acting, and by painting portraits; for in this elegant pursuit also he was fitted to become even a master: Lord Dunmore, having a quarrel with the great Indian trading-house of Panton, Leslie & Co., which had become closely leagued, as has already been stated, with the Spanish authorities in Florida, and with McGillivray, now selected Bowles to establish a trading-house on the Chattahoochie for the purpose of injuring the business of the obnoxious firm. Busily bestirring himself in this enterprise, known already as a powerful and dangerous intriguer, McGillivray, whom Bowles hated and despised, and whose interests were endangered, sends word to him by Milfort that if he does not leave the nation in twenty-four hours his ears will be taken off. Knowing that McGillivray could fulfill the threat, and probably considering that his head would most likely accompany his ears, he quickly flees back to New Providence, and along with a delegation of Creeks, Seminoles, and Cherokees, is sent to England, professedly to assist in soliciting government aid to the tribes in repelling the aggressions of the Americans. Here he is well received, enriched with many presents, and returning to New Providence, embarks