Tandy Walker went off with the chief. Pretending to have left his knife, he returned to the store and made an engagement to meet Mr. Gaines secretly at midnight at "the Rock," overhanging the river's bluff. There he told Mr. Gaines how the chief intended to cheat him and how the Creeks were preparing for war.

The next morning Mr. Gaines told his dream to be that the United States and England would fight, that the English would be whipped, and that the northern tribes siding with the English would suffer; and that he must not give the large credit. He gave the chief the usual hundred-dollar credit and never saw him afterward.

9. Tandy Walker.-Tandy Walker was a hero. Hearing that a white woman had been captured in Tennessee and taken to the Black Warrior village, he went on foot to visit his friend, Oce Oche Motla. He secretly obtained a canoe, slipped off with the woman at night, and carried her down to St. Stephens. She was Mrs. Crawley. She was sick, and almost crazed from suffering and anxiety. Mrs. Gaines nursed her back to health, and then Mr. Gaines, Colonel Haynes, and Thomas Malone bought a horse, bridle, and saddle, and sent her with a party of gentlemen back to her home at the mouth of the Tennessee.

10. Mr. Gaines and General Jackson.-After the battles of Burnt Corn, Fort Mims, and other places, people left crops and stock to the chances of the hour and poured into the forts. Mr. Gaines sent Mr. Edmonson to bear the story of battles and massacres to

1813

Sept., 1813

1816

1825

to

1827

Governor Blount and General Jackson in Nashville. The Creek War passed. General Jackson at Fort Claiborne ordered from Mr. Gaines blankets and clothing for his Indian warriors. Mr. Gaines complied, but requested a draft on the War Department for settlement. Jackson felt annoyed, but gave the draft. Shortly afterward he wrote Mr. Gaines to learn the author of an unsigned letter which he had received. The letter charged Judge Harry Toulmin as being a spy and secret ally of the British. Mr. Gaines went to Mobile to meet the General and to explain the character of his friend. Jackson greeted him pleasantly and told him that no suspicion rested on his friend, closing with, "I only wanted to know the scoundrel that dared practice such an imposition on me."

11. Removal to Factory Creek and Demopolis.The trading-house was removed to Factory Creek, near Gainesville, Sumter county. Here Mr. Gaines remained three years. He then became a merchant in Demopolis, and served Marengo and Clarke counties in the State senate from 1825 to 1827.

12. Friendship for the Indians.-By various treaties the Indians bound themselves to leave the hunting grounds of their fathers and to go to the Indian territory set apart west of the Mississippi river. Mr. Gaines consented to help select the lands to which the Choctaws were to move. He also, as commissioner of the United States, accompanied the Choctaws when they began to move; but he was so mortified because the United States failed to carry out its contract to furnish wagons for the women and

children and the infirm that he resigned his office. The Choctaws desired to make him their chief, but he declined.

13. Later Years and Death. He lived many years in Mobile,* always in active business, and for a while was president of the Mobile branch of the State Bank.

He was one of the first to advocate the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. For years he taught, wrote, urged, travelled, and worked to arouse interest in this first railroad that linked Mobile to a far-stretching region of varied products and numerous interests.

In 1856, he removed to State Line, Mississippi, where he died in January, 1873.

*The Mobile Register of June 19, 1872, said of him: "George S. Gaines, the just, pure man, the friend and counsellor of the red man, the wise and faithful pioneer of civilization in the Mississippi Territory-the patriarch of two States. His life has been one constant and unbroken series of kind deeds, wise counsels, and enlarged thought for the good of his people. With remarkable and admirable business qualifications, he brought to his intercourse with the haughty and suspicious savages a consideration for their rights, a deference for their habits and feeling, an unvarying politeness that won their entire confidence, their perfect trust, until his simple word became their law, and his sympathy and kindness their abiding reliance. The part Mr. Gaines acted in the early history of Mississippi Territory, and subsequently upon its division into the States of Alabama and Mississippi, was one of untiring interest and of great advantage to the young communities in which he was equally at home. His position as Indian agent brought him in contact with the leading men of both States. His influence was either directly or indirectly felt in every measure of public importance for a long term of years."

1878

SUMMARY

The United States had to do much business with the Indians, and it was necessary to have agents who combined fine business qualities with tact of manner and speech. George S. Gaines was among the successful agents to the Indians. His fairness and sincerity made him most useful in dealing with them. He cultivated their good graces by having the chiefs and their friends at great feasts, and by carefully advising the Indians of all defects in goods sold to them. By his knowledge of Indian character he secured treaties of lands and roadways. The Choctaws requested him to become their chief.

QUESTIONS

1. Give an account of Mr. George Strother Gaines's parentage and early life. 2. Relate the incidents of his trip to St. Stephens. 3. How were the Indian chiefs entertained, and why? 4. Narrate Mingo Homostubbee's story about the "greatest warrior." 5. What treaty was made with the Indians, and what were the terms of this treaty? 6. Describe Mr. Gaines's work at St. Stephens. 7. What assistance was given him by Major Pitchlyn? 8. When and to whom was Mr. Gaines married? To whom was his brother married? 9. How did Mr. Gaines outwit the Indian chief? 10. How and by whom was Mrs. Crawley rescued from the Indians? 11. At what places did Mr. Gaines live after leaving St. Stephens? 12. In what ways did he show his friendship for the Indians? 13. What matters occupied his attention during his later years?

CHAPTER VIII

THE FRENCH COLONY IN MARENGO COUNTY

1817

1. The French Vine and Olive Company.-A year after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo the United States Congress set aside for the French Vine and Mar. 3, Olive Company one hundred and forty-four square miles of land in the Mississippi Territory. The price was fixed at two dollars an acre, and was to be paid within fourteen years.

The French Vine and Olive Company was composed of the families of French military officers and civilians who were exiles from France and friends of the defeated Napoleon. Among them were brave men who had won honors on the proudest battlefields of Europe, and beautiful women who had graced the most cultured society of France. Their settlement within the wilds of the Tombigbee river forest has rarely been equaled in romantic history.

2. Search for Place to Settle.-Agents of the company, hunting a place suitable for a settlement, visited the regions along the Arkansas river. Here they were joyously greeted by the Indians, who recalled the friendship of the olden time, styled the French their "Great Fathers," and declared them "as good as Indians."

They found the soil to be fertile and suited to a variety of crops. A kind of olive grew here, and this made the agents believe that olives imported from