A successful effort was also made to detach the Chickasaws from
the others, and keep them friendly with the United States. Congress as
usual sympathized with the Indians against the intruding whites,
although it was plain that only by warfare could the red men be
permanently subdued. [Footnote: State Dep. MSS., No. 180, p. 66; No.
151, p. 275. Also letters of Richard Winn to Knox, June 25, 1788; James
White to Knox, Aug. 1, 1788; Joseph Martin to Knox, July 25, 1788.]
Sufferings of the Cumberland People.
The Cumberland people felt the full weight of the warfare, the Creeks
being their special enemies. Robertson himself lost a son and a brother
in the various Indian attacks. To him fell the task of trying to put a
stop to the ravages. He was the leader of his people in every way, their
commander in war and their spokesman when they sought peace; and early
in 1788 he wrote a long letter on their behalf to the Creek chief
McGillivray. After disclaiming all responsibility for or connection with
the Franklin men, he said that the settlers for whom he spoke had not
had the most distant idea that any Indians would object to their
settling on the Cumberland, in a country that had been purchased
outright at the Henderson treaty.
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