Benjamin Hawkins | |
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| United States Senator fromNorth Carolina | |
| In office November 27, 1789 – March 4, 1795 | |
| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | Timothy Bloodworth |
| Member of theCongress of the Confederation | |
| In office 1781 – 1783 1787 | |
| Member of theNorth Carolina House of Representatives | |
| In office 1778 – 1779 1784 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1754-08-15)August 15, 1754 Granville County, Province of North Carolina, British America |
| Died | June 6, 1816(1816-06-06) (aged 61) Crawford County, Georgia, U.S. |
| Resting place | Roberta, Georgia, U.S. 32°40′0.61″N84°5′45.73″W / 32.6668361°N 84.0960361°W /32.6668361; -84.0960361 |
| Party | Pro-Administration (1789–1791) Anti-Administration (1791–1795) |
| Relations | Philemon Hawkins II (father) Micajah T. Hawkins (nephew) William Hawkins (nephew) |
| Alma mater | College of New Jersey |
Benjamin Hawkins (August 15, 1754 – June 6, 1816[1]) was an American planter, statesman and a U.S.Indian agent. He was a delegate to theContinental Congress and aUnited States Senator fromNorth Carolina, having grown up among theplanter elite. Appointed byGeorge Washington in 1796 as one of three commissioners to theCreeks, in 1801President Jefferson named him "principal agent for Indian affairs south of the Ohio [River]", and was principal Indian agent to theCreek Indians.
Hawkins established theCreek Agency and his plantation near present-dayRoberta, Georgia, in what becameCrawford County. He learned theMuscogee language, and had a Creek woman, Lavinia Downs, as common-law wife, who, in the Creek'smatrilineal society, provided an entry into that world. He had seven children with her, although he resisted Creek pressure to marry her[2]: 9 until near the end of his life. He wrote extensively about the Creek and other Southeast tribes: theChoctaw,Cherokee andChickasaw. He eventually built a large complex usingAfricanslave labor, including mills, and raised a considerable quantity of cattle and hogs.
Benjamin Hawkins was born toPhilemon Hawkins and Delia (Martin) Hawkins on August 15, 1754, the third of four sons. The family owned aslave plantation in what was thenGranville County, North Carolina, but is nowWarren County. He attended the county schools, then at the College of New Jersey (later to becomePrinceton University). He was "apt at multiple languages",[3] a linguistic competence that would later enable him to learn Indian languages. When the college (which he never graduated from) temporarily closed due to the outbreak of war, Hawkins was commissioned a Colonel and served for several years onGeorge Washington's staff as his main interpreter ofFrench.[3]
Hawkins was released from federal service late in 1777, as Washington learned to rely onLafayette for dealing with the French. He returned home, where he was elected to theNorth Carolina House of Representatives in 1778. He served there until 1779, and again in 1784. TheNorth Carolina General Assembly sent him to theContinental Congress as their delegate from 1781 to 1783, and again in 1787.
In 1789, Hawkins was a delegate to theFayetteville Convention that ratified theUnited States Constitution. He was elected to the first U.S. Senate, where he served from 1789 to 1795. Although the Senate did not have organized political parties at the time, Hawkins' views aligned with different groups. Early in his Senate career, he was counted in the ranks of those senators viewed as pro-Administration, but by the third congress, he generally sided with senators of theRepublican orAnti-Administration Party.
In 1785, Hawkins had served as a representative for the Congress in negotiations over land with the Creek Indians of the Southeast. He was generally successful, and convinced the tribe to lessen their raids for several years, although he could not conclude a formal treaty. The Creek wanted to deal with the 'head man'. They finally signed theTreaty of New York (1790) after Hawkins convinced George Washington to become involved.[4]
In 1786, Hawkins and fellow Indian agentsAndrew Pickens andJoseph Martin concluded a treaty with theChoctaw nation at Seneca Old Town, also known as Hopewell, the plantation ofAndrew Pickens, near Clemson, South Carolina. They set out the boundaries for the Choctaw lands as well as provisions for relations between the tribe and the U.S. government.[5]
In 1789, conditions among the Creeks seemed to indicate an urgency for his return to the Creek country. Accordingly, he left Tennessee early in September for Fort Wilkinson on theOconee River in Georgia. The next few months were spent with the Creeks. January 1, 1789, was set as the date for the assembling of the commissioners for running the Creek line in conformity to the treaties at New York and Coleraine. Hawkins had some difficulty in persuading the Creeks to agree to the running of the line, as many of the younger warriors were opposed. On February 16 Hawkins reported toSecretary of War, James McHenry that the line had been run from theTugalo River overCurrahee Mountain to the main south branch of the Oconee River. Though about sixteen families of Georgians were found on the Creek lands in the area known as Wofford's Settlement, McHenry was told "...I am happy in being able to assure you that there was no diversity of opinion among us, and that the line was closed in perfect harmony.[6]" This line became known as the Hawkins Line.[7]
In 1796, Washington appointed Benjamin Hawkins asGeneral Superintendent of Indian Affairs, dealing with all tribes south of theOhio River. As principal agent to theCreek tribe, Hawkins soon moved to present-dayCrawford County inGeorgia where he established his home and the Creek Agency. He studied the language and was adopted[further explanation needed] by the Creek. He wrote extensively about them and the other southeast tribes.
Hawkins' plans for the Indians was a "civilization plan",[8]: 92 by which he meant adopting the European-American lifestyle, raising crops and animals on farms. He began to teach European-American agricultural practices to the Creek, and started a farm at his and Lavinia's home on theFlint River. He brought his enslaved Black workers from North Carolina,[9] and eventually purchased others. He hired other workers to assist them in clearing several hundred acres for his plantation. They built a sawmill, gristmill, and a trading post for the agency. Hawkins expanded his operation to include more than 1,000 head of cattle and a large number of hogs, and raised "immense crops" of corn and other provisions.[9] For years, he met with chiefs on his porch and discussed matters there. His personal hard work and open-handed generosity won him such respect that reports say that he never lost an animal to Indian raiders. He became a respected and trusted man among the community, and bore the title as “The Beloved Man of the Four Nations.”[10] Cherokee women told Hawkins "that, of the several Indian agents who visited them, he was the first who thought it worth while to examine into the situation of the women".[11]: 153
He contributed to the 19 years of peace between settlers and the tribe, the longest such period during European-American settlement.[citation needed] When in 1806 the government built a fort at the fall line of theOcmulgee River, to protect expanding settlements just east of modernMacon, Georgia, the government named itFort Benjamin Hawkins in his honor.
Hawkins saw much of his work to preserve peace destroyed in 1812. A group of Creek rebels, known asRed Sticks, were working to revive traditional ways and halt encroachment by European Americans. The ensuing civil war among the Creeks coincided with theWar of 1812.
During theCreek War of 1813–1814, Hawkins organized "friendly" Creek Indians under the command of chiefWilliam McIntosh to aid Georgia and Tennessee militias in their forays against the traditionalist Red Sticks.[12] GeneralAndrew Jackson led the defeat of the Red Sticks at theBattle of Horseshoe Bend, in present-day Alabama. Hawkins was unable to attend negotiations of theTreaty of Fort Jackson in August 1814, which required the Creeks to cede most of their territory and give up their way of life.
Hawkins later organized "friendly" Creek warriors to oppose a British force on theApalachicola River that threatened to rally the scattered Red Sticks and reignite the war on the Georgia frontier. Hawkins learned of the peace on February 25, 1815.[13] From February through June 1815Edward Nicolls engaged in a heated exchange of letters[a] with Hawkins as U.S. Indian Agent.[b][17] Hawkins accused Nicolls of being overzealous and of overstepping his authority in his personal defense of Redstick Creeks, Seminoles, and theirmaroon Creole allies, whom some Americans in authority viewed as nothing more than runaway slaves, lost or unclaimed property.[18]After the British withdrew on May 15, 1815, Hawkins was organizing another force when he died of a sudden illness on June 6, 1816.
Hawkins tried more than once to resign his post and return from the Georgia frontier, but no President would accept his resignation. (Dale Cox says thatPresident Monroe accepted his resignation,[8]: 89 but Hawkins died before Monroe became president.) He remained Superintendent until his death. Near the end of his life, he formally married Lavinia Downs in a European-American ceremony, making their childrenlegitimate in United States society. They already belonged to Downs'clan among the Creek, who had amatrilineal kinship system. The children gained status from their mother's clan and people, and their mother's eldest brother was usually more important in their lives than their biological father.
Benjamin Hawkins was buried at the Creek Agency near the Flint River andRoberta, Georgia. He was succeeded as Indian agent byDavid Mitchell, former Governor of Georgia.
Fort Hawkins was built overlooking the ancient site since designated as theOcmulgee National Monument. Revealing 17,000 years of human habitation, it is aNational Historic Landmark and has been sacred for centuries to the Creek.[citation needed] It has massiveearthwork mounds built nearly 1,000 years ago as expressions of the religious and political world of theMississippian culture, the ancestors to the Creek.
Hawkins' plantation was farmed by enslaved labor, but beyond that his unhappy record on slavery has been overlooked. He transformed the Creek Agency andFort Hawkins into holding stations forfugitive slaves, and paid Indians $50 (equivalent to $1,050 in 2024) for every fugitive delivered there. (He expected to be reimbursed by their owners.) Captured Blacks that did not have an owner, he told the Creeks to keep;i.e., he encouraged slavery among the Creeks.[19]: 27–28
It was Hawkins who first used the termnegro fort to refer to the British Post on theApalachicola River, at that time inSpanish Florida.[19]: 76 Hawkins started the call for its capture or destruction.
He married Susan Lavinia Downs, who some[who?] believe was a Creek Indian woman (the Creeks wanted him to take a Creek wife), whereas other evidence indicates that she was a white woman.[citation needed] They had a total of six daughters: Georgia, Muscogee, Cherokee, Carolina, Virginia, and Jeffersonia, and one son, James Madison Hawkins. In 1812, thinking he was on his death bed, Hawkins remarried his wife Susan Lavinia Downs to make sure their children were legitimate in U.S. society.[citation needed] Jeffersonia was born after this marriage.
Hawkins was close to his nephewWilliam Hawkins, whom he made a co-executor of his estate along with his wife; he bequeathed to William a share of his estate, reputed to be quite large. This bequest became a source of contention among his heirs, especially as he had not altered his will to include his youngest daughter Jeffersonia.
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| Preceded by None | U.S. senator (Class 3) from North Carolina 1789–1795 Served alongside:Samuel Johnston,Alexander Martin | Succeeded by |
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| Class 3 | ||
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!["[Letter], 1800 Nov. 9, Fort Wilkinson, [Georgia to] Colo[nel] David Henly [i.e., Henley ?], Knoxville / Benjamin Hawkins"](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fdbs.galib.uga.edu%2fcgi-bin%2fwrite_stats.cgi%3fstattype%3dfulltext%26amp%3bdbscode%3dzlna%26amp%3bformat%3djpg%26amp%3bredirect%3dhttp%3a%2f%2fpurl.galileo.usg.edu%2fnativeamericandocs%2fjpg%2fbhc001a.jpg){kind=link}
!["[Letter], 1802 Mar. 21, Tookaubatchee, [Creek Nation to] Mr. Joseph Clay, Savannah, [Georgia] / Benjamin Hawkins"](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fdbs.galib.uga.edu%2fcgi-bin%2fwrite_stats.cgi%3fstattype%3dfulltext%26amp%3bdbscode%3dzlna%26amp%3bformat%3djpg%26amp%3bredirect%3dhttp%3a%2f%2fpurl.galileo.usg.edu%2fnativeamericandocs%2fjpg%2fbhc002a.jpg){kind=link}