William McIntosh

For those of a similar name, see William Mackintosh (disambiguation).

File:William McIntosh by Charles Bird King.JPG

Charles Bird King's portrait of William McIntosh

William McIntosh (1775 – April 30, 1825), also known as "Tustunnugee Hutkee (White Warrior)," was one of the most prominent chiefs of the Creek Nation between the Revolutionary War and the time of the Creek removal. He was considered a traitor by many Creek tribes due to his concessions to the United States government and his 1825 murder was seen as an execution by his enemies.

William McIntosh was of racially mixed ancestry and lived simultaneously as a wealthy white planter and as a traditional chief (or "miko") of the Creek Indians, a pattern shared with several of his biracial relatives. His wealth and his lineage allowed him to exert considerable influence in both the world of the white planter aristocracy and the world of the traditional Creek nation, thus his ancestry is particularly important facet to understanding him. He was the son of Captain William McIntosh (referred to here as Captain McIntosh to avoid confusion with his son of the same name) who was a member of a prominent Savannah, Georgia family sent into the Creek Nation to recruit them to fight for the British during the Revolutionary War. Captain McIntosh's mother, Jennet (or Janet in some sources) was a McGillivray and is believed to have been a sister of the Scottish born Lachlan McGillivray of the Clan MacGillivray Chiefs Lineage); whatever the relationship she was definitely a member of the same family as Lachlan McGillivray. Though much of Lachlan McGillivray's fortune was confiscated due to his status as a loyalist in the Revolutionary War, his family and business partners retained much of their wealth and political influence and as a member of this family William McIntosh received a substantial inheritance and many political connections among the white planter aristocracy of Georgia and the Carolinas. William McIntosh's mother was as important to his status among the Creeks as his paternal connection to the McGillivray clan was to the planter class. Her name was Senoya (also spelled Senoia and Senoy ref name="Hoxie"/>), and she was a member of the Wind Clan, a very prominent clan among the Creek Nation. Raised as a Creek for much of his childhood, McIntosh had little contact with his Tory father, but because among the Creeks descent was determined through one's mother the fact that his father was white was of little importance to other Creeks. In the Muskogean mindset (and the mindset of related groups), McIntosh's father was not as important as eldest brother of his mother, who was seen as the more prominent relative (aside from the mother). McIntosh was a cousin of William Weatherford (who eventually sided with the Upper Creeks) and Georgia Governor George M. Troup. On both the white paternal line and through his Creek maternal line McIntosh was a relative of numerous other biracial and influential Creek chiefs. Among them were Alexander McGillivray, the son of Lachlan McGillivray and a Wind clan mother named Sehoy, and McGillivray's nephew William Weatherford (better known in history as Red Eagle), both of whom were members of the Wind Clan and well established as both wealthy planters and as Creek chieftains. (Whether Senoya and the McGillivray matriarch Sehoy were biological relatives is unknown and unimportant; the fact that both were members of the Wind Clan was enough for McGillivray and McIntosh to feel a relationship.) McIntosh was the creator of a route from Talladega, Alabama to his ferry on the Chattahoochee River, parts of which are still referred to as the McIntosh Road.

Letter to Madison and First Seminole War

In an 1817 letter written to President Madison and signed by McIntosh, Madison was told that, while the more influential Cherokees of mixed blood wanted to swap their land, the "not so much civilized" pure bloods feared the mixed-bloods would—as they did—swap all their land, leaving them "without any land to walk on." The Creeks feared that these Cherokees might, as they already had done before, take land from the Creeks.

McIntosh also fought for the United States in the First Seminole War. He gained fame during this war by playing a major role in the capture of Fort Gadsden, located on the lower Apalachicola. (Georgia slaves escaped and took refuge with the Seminoles in Spanish-held Florida.) The fort was occupied by about 300 black men, women, and children, 20 renegade Choctaws, and a few Seminole warriors. Its defenders were led by a black named Garcon. The downfall of the fort was brought about by an American cannon ball heated red hot setting off a tremendous explosion when it landed in the fort's magazine.

Despite the fact the Upper Creeks (including McIntosh) had vowed to kill anyone who signed away any more Indian land, McIntosh, along with eight other chiefs, on February 12, 1825 signed the Treaty of Indian Springs; thus relinquishing all the Creeks' land in Georgia in exchange for $400,000. According to the fifth article of the treaty it stipulated, "That the treaty commissioners pay the first $200,000 directly to the McIntosh party." Whether he signed the treaty for personal gain or because he believed signing it was in the best interests of the Creek Nation is still argued.

Death

On April 30, 1825, the Law Menders, led by the Red Stick leader Menawa, set McIntosh's house on fire. When McIntosh escaped, as many as 400 warriors opened fire, killing McIntosh and Etommee Tustunnuggee, another Creek chief who signed the 1825 treaty. That accord was rejected as fraudulent by the Creeks and U.S. government and replaced by the 1826 Treaty of Washington, allowing the Creeks to keep about 3 million acres (12,000 km²) in Alabama.

References

• « McIntosh, William, Jr. » in Hoxie, Frederick E. Encyclopedia of North American Indians Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996. ISBN 9780585077642
• Adapted from an article on William McIntosh at Rootsweb © with permission of the author.
• Benjamin W. Griffith, McIntosh and Weatherford, Creek Indian Leaders (University of Alabama Press, 1998) ISBN 0-8173-0340-5 (Page 238, 248, 249)
• Floripedia [1]
• Captain William McIntosh

External links

• McIntosh bio in the Encyclopedia of American Indians; password required.
• New Georgia Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia of Alabama
• "McIntosh grave/marker"
• 15px "McIntosh, William". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. 

ca:William McIntosh fr:William McIntosh