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52-609: Panton, the son of John Panton and Barbara Wemyss, was born on the family farm at the Mains of Aberdour on the south coast of the Moray Firth in Aberdeenshire , Scotland. Panton emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina , with his countryman, Thomas Forbes, in 1765. He got into the Indian trade as an apprentice with the firm of John Gordon , a Scots immigrant from Aberdeenshire who established

104-417: A Creek leader they could talk to and deal with. He used his role as link between the two worlds to his advantage, not always fairly, and became the richest Creek of his time. McGillivray was literate and his "voluminous" correspondence has survived. In many cases his letters are the only source for events in his life, and they naturally present him in a very good light. Recent historians have taken issue with

156-595: A large mercantile business in St. Augustine, managed by John Leslie, and were generally employed by the Spaniards to furnish goods and lend funds. Some of the partners of the firm were permitted to purchase lands and to hold them in East Florida. John Leslie presented himself on behalf of Panton, Leslie & Co., and declared the four principals of the house to be William Panton and Thomas Forbes, Charles Maclatchy, and himself, and that

208-580: A member of the Masonic Order . His health began to fail; as Michael D. Green writes, "Never a robust man, he suffered throughout his adult life from the effects of syphilis and rheumatism . It seems that, exhausted by the pace of his life, he simply wore out." He died on February 17, 1793, in Pensacola and was buried in William Panton's backyard and garden, wrote Edward Forrester, a mixed-blood trader among

260-528: A partner in Panton, Leslie & Co. , and used his control over the deerskin trade to expand his power. McGillivray sought Creek independence after the Treaty of Paris (1783) . He sought to create mechanisms of centralized political authority (in himself), to end the traditional village autonomy by which individual chiefs had signed treaties and ceded land. Armed by British traders operating out of Spanish West Florida ,

312-490: A serious illness at Pensacola, and acting on medical advice to seek a change of climate immediately, he sailed for Havana attended by his physician, Dr. Reeves Fowler, on the company schooner Shark . They left in haste, even though his letters of recommendation had not yet arrived. The Cuban authorities refused to allow him to disembark without such papers, on account of the ongoing war between Spain and Great Britain. He continued toward Nassau, but died at sea on 26 February, and

364-601: A silent partner in the firm. Panton had promised him a one-fifth share of the company's profits once it obtained Spanish approval. McGillivray, always sickly, died in 1793, and was buried with Masonic honors in Panton's garden at Pensacola on 18 February of that year. The firm fixed prices to undersell its competitors in Georgia and South Carolina, dispatched agents throughout the Indian country, and carried Spanish government communiques among

416-569: A substantial library on natural history . A skillful diplomat – an early writer called him " Talleyrand of the Creeks" — he was an inept military strategist and rarely participated in battle. In 1783, McGillivray became the principal chief of the Upper Creek towns, or as Saunt put it, "established himself as spokesman for a Creek nation that seemed far more unified on paper than it was in reality". His predecessor, Chief Emistigo, died while leading

468-554: A vast trade network in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida during the 1760s. Panton served as Gordon's clerk from 1765 until 1772, when Gordon appointed him as one of his attorneys. Forbes was Gordon's maternal nephew. In 1774 Panton and Philip Moore formed a partnership that lasted for several years, and in 1776 Panton started his own trading house with Thomas Forbes in Savannah known as Panton, Forbes and Company. They began to trade with

520-506: A vital industry for Native tribes in the region. On 10 January 1783, Panton received a license signed by Governor Tonyn, Brig. Gen. Archibald McArthur, commander of British forces in East Florida, and Thomas Brown, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to carry on trade with the Indians and supply them with British manufactures. With the recession of the Floridas to Spain on 20 February 1783, Panton

572-570: A war party to relieve the British garrison at Savannah, which was besieged by the Continental Army under General "Mad" Anthony Wayne . At one time, McGillivray claimed that he had 5,000 to 10,000 warriors, to arrive at which figure he included the Cherokee , Seminoles , and Chickamauga he came in contact with (but did not rule). However, he did not live a Creek lifestyle, as he built a plantation on

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624-465: Is rarely found on modern maps, but extended from the Beauly Firth in the west, to Chanonry Point in the east. The Moray Firth is visible for considerable distances, including a long range view from as far to the east as Longman Hill . From Buckie , on a clear day it is possible to see Wick in the far north of Scotland more than 80 km (50 mi) away. From Lossiemouth it is possible to see

676-562: Is the largest firth in Scotland, stretching from Duncansby Head (near John o' Groats ) in the north, in the Highland council area, and Fraserburgh in the east, in the Aberdeenshire council area, to Inverness and the Beauly Firth in the west. Therefore, three council areas have Moray Firth coastline: Highland to the west and north of the Moray Firth and Highland, Moray and Aberdeenshire to

728-666: The Altamaha and Oconee rivers as the boundary between Creek lands and the United States. The U.S. government promised to remove illegal white settlers from the area, and the Muscogee agreed to return fugitive black slaves who sought refuge with the tribe. This provision angered the Seminoles of Florida, who had provided refuge to numerous escaped slaves, and had intermarried with some. The Black Seminoles by this time had communities allied with

780-550: The Coushatta village of Little Tallassee (also known as Little Tallase, Little Talisi and Little Tulsa) on the Coosa River , near present-day Montgomery, Alabama , in 1750. Alexander's mother, Sehoy Marchand , was the daughter of Sehoy , a mixed-race Creek woman of the prestigious Wind Clan ("Hutalgalgi"), and of Jean Baptiste Louis DeCourtel Marchand , a French officer at Fort Toulouse . Alexander and his siblings were born into

832-722: The Cromarty Firth and the Dornoch Firth . The Pentland Firth has its eastern mouth at the Moray Firth's northern boundary. The Moray Firth is effectively two firths, the Inner Moray Firth 57°33′N 04°09′W  /  57.550°N 4.150°W  / 57.550; -4.150 , which was traditionally known as the Firth of Inverness, and the Outer Moray Firth which is more open North Sea water. The name "Firth of Inverness"

884-505: The Little River , and a second one on the Coosa River , just above modern Montgomery, Alabama . He built a log house with dormer windows and a stone chimney, both all but unknown in the Creek nation. He was not only literate, he was by far the wealthiest Creek of his time. McGillivray opposed the 1783 Treaty of Augusta , under which two Lower Creek chiefs had ceded Muscogee lands from

936-570: The Moray East (completed) and Moray West (to be completed in 2025) offshore wind farms. The Inner Moray Firth is designated as a special protection area for wildlife conservation purposes. The Moray Firth contains a special area of conservation (SAC) designated under the EU Habitats Directive, which is one of the largest marine protection areas in Europe. The SAC protects the inner waters of

988-595: The Ogeechee to the Oconee rivers to the new state of Georgia. In June 1784 he negotiated the Treaty of Pensacola with Spain, which recognized Muscogee sovereignty over three million acres (12,000 km ) of land claimed by Georgia , guaranteed access to the British fur-trading company Panton, Leslie & Company , and made McGillivray an official representative of Spain, with a $ 50 (~$ 1,102 in 2023) monthly salary. McGillivray became

1040-518: The last ice age , the whole of the present day Moray Firth was a huge glacier. Nevertheless, the inner part and its side-inlets, the Cromarty Firth and Dornoch Firth , are true fjords themselves. Though there is a reasonable tide with mean tide ranges of about three metres (ten feet), only some of the rivers draining into the bay have estuaries . Masses of sediment from the adjacent mountains have formed spits around several mouths. Those of River Ness and River Carron have significantly narrowed

1092-512: The British governor of East Florida, Patrick Tonyn , appointed Panton official trader for the Creek Indians, and in 1778 the British Indian agent, Col. Thomas Brown , charged Panton with responsibility for the giving of presents to the Creeks and Cherokees, a necessary part of diplomacy with the Indian tribes. The company also specialized in fur trading, more specifically deerskins, which was

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1144-607: The Community Council giving tours and teaching the ways of the dolphin. It is also an important oil field and fishing grounds. The Beatrice oil field about 20 miles south of Wick and east of Helmsdale was the closest of the North Sea oil fields; since being decommissioned in 2017 it is the site of the Beatrice Wind Farm . Much of the fishing industry focuses on scallops and Norway lobsters . The area also contains

1196-517: The Indian trade and would become the largest mercantile company on the southern frontier in the 1790s. Working in partnership with Alexander McGillivray , they were able to expand their operations from East Florida and the Bahamas to the Mississippi River . McGillivray, an influential chief of the Upper Creek (Muscogee) towns, was an intimate associate of Panton and is generally considered to have been

1248-701: The Lower Creeks, in a letter to Nepomuceno de Quesada , the Spanish governor of East Florida at St. Augustine . Later McGillivray's sister had his body reinterred at Choctaw Bluff , where he had earlier had his plantation, in modern Clarke County, Alabama , on the Alabama River . Two of his maternal nephews, William Weatherford and William McIntosh , who were also born into the powerful Creek Wind Clan ("Hotvlkvlke" in Mvskoke, pronounced approximately "Hutalgalgi"), became

1300-545: The Moray Firth, from a line between Lossiemouth (on the south coast) and Helmsdale (on the north coast) westwards. Alexander McGillivray Alexander McGillivray , also known as Hoboi-Hili-Miko (December 15, 1750 – February 17, 1793), was a Muscogee (Creek) leader. The son of a Muscogee mother and a Scottish father, he was literate and educated, and understood the "white" European world and merchandise trading well. These gave him prestige, especially with European Americans, who were glad to finally find

1352-624: The Muscogee raided back-country European-American settlers to protect their hunting grounds. From 1785 to 1787, Upper Creek war parties fought alongside the Cherokee in the Cherokee–American wars in present-day Tennessee . In 1786 a council of the Upper and Lower Creek in Tuckabatchee declared war against Georgia, The Spanish officials opposed this and, after they told McGillivray they would reduce aid if he persisted, he entered into peace talks with

1404-527: The Seminole. The Creeks "soon concluded that McGillivray had deceived them". Under secret provisions in the treaty, McGillivray was commissioned as a brigadier general of the U.S., with an annual salary of $ 1,200. He was also granted permission to import goods via Pensacola without paying duties, and paid $ 100,000 for his father's confiscated properties. With this money, he acquired three plantations and 60 African American slaves. The treaty temporarily pacified

1456-558: The Southern frontier, but the U.S. failed to honor its obligation and did not eject white settlers who were illegally on Creek lands. In addition, he was a "secret partner" of the trading firm Panton, Leslie and Company , one of his principal sources of power, according to Thomas Jefferson , who met him in 1790. In 1792, McGillivray repudiated the Treaty of New York. He negotiated another with Spanish officials, who ruled Louisiana . They promised to respect Muscogee sovereignty. McGillivray

1508-434: The Treaty of New York on behalf of the 'Upper, Middle and Lower Creek and Seminole composing the Creek nation of Indians'. McGillivray was the only one who could sign his name, and Lower Creeks were soon to complain that they had no representative present (none was invited), and that the Creek signers had no right to give away their lands. The first treaty negotiated after ratification of the U.S. Constitution , it established

1560-488: The U.S. A Loyalist like his father, McGillivray resented the developing United States Indian policy; however, he did not wish to leave Creek territory. McGillivray became a leading spokesman (self-appointed) for all the tribes along the Florida- Georgia border areas. Georgia's Yazoo land scandal convinced President George Washington that the federal government needed to control Indian affairs rather than allowing

1612-751: The Wind Clan, as the Muscogee had a matrilineal system, and gained their status from their mother's clan. They identified as Creek. Their father was Lachlan McGillivray , a Scottish trader (of the Clan MacGillivray chief's lineage). He built trading posts among the Upper Towns of the Muscogee Confederacy, whose members had formerly traded with French Louisiana . As a child, Alexander briefly lived in Augusta with his father on one of his plantations . By

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1664-567: The company monopolized trade with the Native American tribes in the southeast, its presence reaching northward from Pensacola to Fort San Fernando (formerly known as Chickasaw Bluffs ) on the site of present-day Memphis , and westward as far as New Orleans , with posts at Mobile and several locations in Florida, the Bahamas, and around the Caribbean. Panton, Leslie & Company made a fortune in

1716-468: The company owned 72,820 acres of land in the province. Later in 1783, Panton and William Alexander moved to Nassau in the Bahamas, which then became the center of the firm's operations, where it stored trade items in large warehouses. In April 1785, Panton and John Forbes arrived in Spanish Pensacola with a hastily loaded cargo of goods from Nassau. They established the new house headquarters in

1768-458: The fjords they enter. The Moray Firth is one of the most important places on the British coast for observing dolphins and whales . The most common species are the bottlenose dolphin and harbour porpoise , with occasional sightings of the common dolphin and minke whale . The popular wildlife viewing area located at Chanonry Point host some spectacular displays of dolphins within

1820-532: The growing population of white colonists, and speculated in lands, acquiring large tracts in both Carolina and Georgia. Soon after the American revolution broke out, they being determined loyalists, their properties were confiscated. They migrated to East Florida, now a British province and rapidly developing with the infusion of British capital and enterprise, and established themselves on the St. Marys River . In December 1775,

1872-487: The heroic status he had in earlier histories. McGillivray's status among the Creeks, who did not customarily have a single leader, was controversial and sometimes resented. His chief asset to ensure he was seen as a leader was his ability to hand out gifts to the Creek from both Britain and Spain. He was the most "Anglicized" of the Creek, and built solid houses, planted orchards, and ran a plantation (and owned about 60 slaves), which made him suspect. That he knew English well,

1924-543: The hills of Caithness and the hills are easily identified, one being Morven and the other being Scaraben. From Burghead , the white mass of Dunrobin Castle can just be made out in the distance on a very clear day; from Nairn, the two red bands on the Tarbat Ness Lighthouse around 30 km (20 mi) away, can be seen with binoculars. The Great Channel in the Inner Moray Firth, was dredged by engineers in 1917 for

1976-647: The inner Moray Firth. Also, visitor centres at Spey Bay and North Kessock are run by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society , where dolphins and other wildlife can often be seen. The old jetty at the Fort George Point is the location of the Dolphin Research Centre, with leading marine biologist Prof. Greame Taylor working part-time studying hunting and breeding habits and part-time working with

2028-562: The most important Muscogee leaders in the early 19th century. They fought on opposing sides of the Creek War , a conflict that arose between traditionalists, such as Weatherford, and those of the Lower Creek, such as McIntosh, who believed it was necessary to adapt and take on useful European-American customs. In part the conflict arose because of the peoples' geographic positions; those closer to European-American settlement had more interaction with

2080-668: The past, been referred to as the Murro Firth and the Morra Firth. 'Murro' and 'Morra' being variants of Moray; these older variations are also shown in older names for Morayshire itself, such as Morrowshire. A number of rivers flow into the Moray Firth, including the River Ness , the River Findhorn and the River Spey . Various smaller firths and bays are inlets of the firth, including

2132-595: The safe passage of ships that wanted to avoid the long and dangerous passage around the north of Scotland, by transiting the Caledonian Canal . The Channel went from the entrance of Munlochy Bay to the Meikle Mee Starboard Hand Mark, but was not maintained and filled in very quickly. The Moray Firth is of tectonic origin, the formation is related in part to the Helmsdale Fault . For some time during

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2184-541: The settlement as its volume of trade exceeded that of the St. Augustine branch. According to the Spanish census of 1786, Panton, Leslie and Company owned nineteen separate land grants, as well as 250 enslaved Africans, most of them working on its plantations and ranches. In February 1789, Panton gained the Choctaw and Chickasaw trade at Mobile with the failure of Mather and Strother, a competitor firm based in New Orleans. By 1795

2236-593: The south. The firth has more than 500 miles (800 km) of coastline, much of which is cliff. The firth is named after the 10th-century Province of Moray , whose name in turn is believed to derive from the sea of the firth itself. The local names Murar or Morar are suggested to derive from Muir , the Gaelic for sea, whilst Murav and Morav are believed to be rooted in Celtic words Mur (sea) and Tav (side), condensed to Mur'av for sea-side. The firth has, in

2288-630: The states to make treaties. In 1790 he sent a special emissary to the Southeast, who persuaded McGillivray and other chiefs to attend a conference with Henry Knox , the Secretary of War , in New York City , then the capital of the U.S. The conference resulted in the Treaty of New York (1790) . (For decades Indian policy was under the oversight of the War Department.) McGillivray and 29 other chiefs signed

2340-438: The time he was 12, his father owned several large plantations totalling over 10,000 acres (4,000 ha), making him one of the largest landholders in the colony. His father was a delegate in the colonial (Georgia) Assembly , and was "a partner in a profitable mercantile firm that dealt in slaves, among other commodities". In 1773, the boy was sent to school in Charleston, South Carolina , where he learned Latin and Greek. He

2392-426: The tribes. Although Panton, Leslie & Company were a legitimate trading firm, they smuggled goods across the border and manipulated the market to their advantage in other ways, practices probably common to any trading firm operating on the frontier at the time. After the deaths of William Panton and John Leslie, the company was reorganized in 1804 as John Forbes & Company . In January 1801, Panton came down with

2444-463: The vast majority of the Creek people" When he ascended to leadership, Alexander relied on the help of his sister Sophia Durant , who often assisted him as a translator, interpreter, and as his spokesperson. (Alexander did so because either he had difficulty with the varying Native dialects or because he wished to adhere to a diplomatic practice common among the Creek at the time). He had more book learning than any other Creek, and later in life had

2496-418: Was a man of remarkable ability, as evident from his success in keeping both the United States and Spain paying for his influence at the same time. He was also the superintendent-general of the Creek nation on behalf of Spain, the Indian agent of the United States, the mercantile partner of Panton, and self-appointed "emperor" of the Creek and Seminole nations. McGillivray moved to Pensacola , where he became

2548-400: Was allowed to remain in the province by agreement between the British officers and Manuel de Zéspedes , the Spanish governor. He had insinuated himself into the good graces of Zéspedes, who interceded on his behalf at the Spanish court. By royal orders of the Spanish Crown in March 1786, Panton, Leslie & Company were authorized to continue to trade with the Indians in the Floridas. They did

2600-433: Was apprenticed at two trading companies, one of which was the second largest importer of slaves in Georgia. With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War , his Loyalist father returned to Scotland , and his lands were confiscated. Alexander returned to his mother's people in Little Tallassee in 1777. While he was accepted as a Creek because of his mother, he "was deeply alienated from most Creek traditions and from

2652-421: Was buried at Great Harbour Cay , the major island of the Berry Islands in the Bahamas. Moray Firth The Moray Firth ( / ˈ m ʌr i -/ ; Scottish Gaelic : An Cuan Moireach , Linne Mhoireibh or Caolas Mhoireibh ) is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth ) of the North Sea , north and east of Inverness , which is in the Highland council area of the north of Scotland . It

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2704-419: Was literate, and was experienced in the trading world also gave him influence, if not prestige. Yet as the illiterate Creek gradually became aware of his duplicity in the Treaty of New York and other matters, there "began a process that would culminate in the Redstick War ." "Not surprisingly, the struggle began in the era of Alexander McGillivray." Alexander was born Hoboi-Hili-Miko (Good Child King) in

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