reproaching them with the aid they had given the British, and
threatening them with a bloody chastisement if they would not keep the
peace. [Footnote: State Department MSS. Letters of Washington, No. 152,
Vol. XI., Feb. I, 1782.] A threat from Mad Anthony meant something, and
the Indians paid at least momentary heed. Georgia enjoyed a short
respite, which, as usual, the more reckless borderers strove to bring to
an end by encroaching on the Indian lands, while the State authorities,
on the other hand, did their best to stop not only such encroachments,
but also all travelling and hunting in the Indian country, and
especially the marking of trees. This last operation, as Governor Lyman
Hall remarked in his proclamation, gave "Great Offence to the Indians,"
[Footnote: Gazette of the State of Georgia, July 10. 1783.] who
thoroughly understood that the surveys indicated the approaching
confiscation of their territory.

Towards the end of 1783 a definite peace was concluded with the
Chickasaws, who ever afterwards remained friendly [Footnote: Va. State
Papers, III., p. 548.]; but the Creeks, while amusing the Georgians by
pretending to treat, let their parties of young braves find an outlet
for their energies by assailing the Holston and Cumberland settlements.
[Footnote: _Do_., p. 532.] The North Carolina Legislature, becoming
impatient, passed a law summarily appropriating certain lands that were
claimed by the unfortunate Cherokees. The troubled peace was continually
threatened by the actions either of ungovernable frontiersmen or of
bloodthirsty and vindictive Indians. [Footnote: _Do_., p. 560.] Small
parties of scouts were incessantly employed in patrolling the southern
border.

Growth of the Settlements.