Indian Agent: John Stuart

In the various colonial land wars that engulfed North America (including the American Revolution), we've seen various governments work with (some would say exploit or use), Native auxiliaries.  They did so through the work of skilled Agents on the ground.  Sir William Johnson for Great Britain or Benjamin Hawkins for the United States are two examples.  Today, we're looking at Johnson's colleague and counterpart, John Stuart, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the British Indian Department in the Southern Colonies (and secret agent of Spain, but we'll get to that).

John Stuart (1718-1779) was born in Inverness, Scotland, but by 1748 he had immigrated to South Carolina intent on becoming a successful trader, merchant and businessman.  He served as a militia captain in the Anglo-Cherokee War (1759-1761) and became prominent in local affairs, well known as a King's man (read Loyalist).  During that war, he was captured by Attakullakulla, whom we've met, and later ransomed back to South Carolina.  Throughout his merchant and trading business, and through this close encounter with Natives, he became familiar with and developed a respect for the Cherokee, which they reciprocated.  He was appointed in 1761 as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, opposite Johnson in the North.  Though his personal focus was on the Cherokee, his mission was to the Five Southeastern Tribes and the other tribes and bands in the South, mainly to prevent any confederations such as the one that gave rise to King Phillip's War.  Stuart was lucky in that his deputy, playing a role similar to that of George Croghan up North, was a fellow Scot named Alexander Cameron, whom the Natives nicknamed Scotchie and trusted even more than they did Stuart.

Stuart and Cameron played their parts well, keeping most of the southern tribes out of King Phillip's War and rallying the southern tribes to the British as the Revolution broke out.  As Johnson had done during the Seven Years War, Stuart would lead Loyalist units and Native auxiliaries during the Cherokee-American War adjunct to the Revolution.  As Patriots made gains in the South and on the frontier, Stuart fled to Pensacola, trying his best to direct Indian Affairs in the south from afar and also liaising with officials in Spanish Florida.  Spain was playing a double game during the Revolution.  Allied with the Patriots on paper to stave off war with the French, Spain was also trying to preserve its Florida possessions from incursions by the British, who'd already taken over Florida once, or from the Americans.  Both Stuart and Alexander McGillivray, leader of the Muscogee/Creeks, were on the Spanish payroll.  Stuart died in 1779 of unknown causes.  He did not live to see Britain lose its most lucrative colonies, or the ruthless raids against the Cherokee that characterized the later half of that frontier war.  His son, born in Georgia, became a famous British general during the Napoleonic Wars.  John Stuart's home in Charleston is now a National Historic Landmark.