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. He further stated that he had believed
the Creek chief would approve of the expedition to punish the marauders
at the Muscle Shell Shoals, inasmuch as the Creeks had repeatedly
assured him that these marauders were refractory people who would pay no
heed to their laws and commands. Robertson knew this to be good point,
for as a matter of fact the Creeks, though pretending to be peaceful,
had made no effort to suppress these banditti, and had resented by force
of arms the destruction of their stronghold. [Footnote: Robertson MSS.
Robertson to McGillivray. Letters already cited.]

Robertson's Letters to the Creek Chief McGillivray

Robertson then came to his personal wrongs. His quaintly worded letter
runs in part: "I had the mortification to see one of my children Killed
and uncommonly Massacred ... from my earliest youth I have endeavored to