But now that
vengeance had been taken, McGillivray declared that a stable peace would
be secured, and he expressed "considerable concern" over the "tragical
end" of Robertson's slain kinsfolk As for the Georgians, he announced
that if they were wise and would agree to an honorable peace he would
bury the red hatchet, and if not then he would march against them
whenever he saw fit. [Footnote: _Do._ p. 625; McGillivray's Letter of
April 15, 1788.] Writing again at the end of the year, he reiterated his
assurances of the peaceful inclinations of the Creeks, though their
troubles with Georgia were still unsettled. [Footnote: Robertson MSS.
McGillivray to Robertson, December 1, 1788. This letter contains the
cautious, non-committal answer to Robertson's letter in which the latter
proposed that Cumberland should be put under Spanish protection; the
letter itself McGillivray had forwarded to the Spaniards.]
Continuance of the Ravages.
Nevertheless these peaceful protestations produced absolutely no effect
upon the Indian ravages, which continued with unabated fury. Many
instances of revolting brutality and aggression by the whites against
the Cherokees took place in Tennessee, both earlier and later than this,
and in eastern Tennessee at this very time; but the Cumberland people,
from the earliest days of their settlement, had not sinned against the
red men, while as regards all the Tennesseans, the Creeks throughout
this period appeared always, and the Cherokees appeared sometimes, as
the wrong-doers, the men who began the long and ferocious wars of
reprisal.
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