The Strong Hand of Government, 1789–1793

This chapter continues the narrative of Pickens’s diplomacy on the frontier. He continues to demand that both white settlers and Indians negotiate in good faith and obey federal treaties, believing that peace is impossible without strong federal authority. At one point he and other leaders come to believe that war with the Creeks is necessary because of their flagrant violation of the Treaty of New York. President Washington and Secretary of War Knox come close to asking him to lead a military campaign against the Indians, but ultimately decide not to seek war.

The Struggle for Peace

This chapter continues to cover Pickens’s efforts in Indian diplomacy, seeking treaties and in several instances acting to prevent war. In May 1788, Pickens is outraged at the treacherous slaughter of several Indians under a flag of truce, including his friend Corn Tassel, and he uses his influence to try to hold responsible the white militia officers involved. The chapter highlights the practical, constitutional, and political obstacles to establishing a lasting peace between white settlers and the Creeks and Cherokees, as well as what Pickens, influenced by Calvinist theology, saw as a moral problem—man’s inherent greed and penchant for violence.

Nine

In this chapter, the British are forced to abandon their post at Ninety Six. Pickens occupies the area and struggles to re-establish a measure of social and moral order in the midst of widespread looting, robbery, and occasionally the murder of prisoners of war. He also plays an important role in the battle of Eutaw on September 8, 1781, where he is severely wounded.

Family Pilgrimage

This chapter traces the history of Pickens’s Presbyterian and Huguenot ancestors as they migrated from Scotland to France, back to Scotland, to Ireland, Pennsylvania, the Shenandoah Valley, the Waxhaws region of the Carolinas, and finally to Long Cane, near Ninety Six, South Carolina. The Pickens’ migrations were driven by the search for religious freedom and economic opportunity, and everywhere they went they participated in the establishment of churches, legal institutions, and militia companies. This chapter also describes the Calvinist religious doctrine and world view of these Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and their frontier communities.

Epilogue

I leave it to my Country to say. Andrew Pickens to Henry Lee, August 28, 1811 Pickens still had a few more years to enjoy his retirement at Tamassee after his legislative service in 1813. He was still remarkably fit for his age, and those who knew him said he had lost none of his mental powers or alertness. The Red House often had visitors who had traveled far from the beaten path to see him. Traditional accounts state that many of them were Cherokee Indians, some of whom still lived in the mountain fastness of north Georgia and western North Carolina, not far from Pickens’s home. One story relates a small contingent of them visiting Tamassee and playfully marching in a circle around Pickens’s house while holding one of his infant grandsons, to the great alarm of the child’s mother. Pickens assured her there was no need for alarm....

General Pickens, Indian Treaty Commissioner

This chapter begins with Pickens’s rapid transformation from a renowned Indian fighter to a peacemaker. South Carolina state leaders entrust Pickens with the conduct of diplomacy with the Cherokees and with the Creeks, specifically Creek leader Alexander McGillivray. In 1785 he is appointed as a federal treaty commissioner and plays an important role in concluding the Hopewell treaties with the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Indians at his Hopewell property in December 1785 and January 1786. These treaties are the first ones between the new United States and the Indian tribes south of the Ohio River. The chapter stresses the tension between men like Pickens and Benjamin Hawkins who hoped the federal government could negotiate permanent and just agreements with the Indians and other whites and state leaders who resented the federal government’s role and were anxious to take over more Indian land.

The “Brave and Valuable” Colonel Pickens

This chapter covers the Cowpens campaign and battle that took place in January 1781. It emphasizes the critical role that Pickens’s militia played in the campaign in terms of recruitment, intelligence, supply, and logistics, and finally in contributing to the battlefield victory on January 17. It also describes Pickens’s unique ability to work effectively with regular officers of the Continental Army.

The Backcountry Militia

This chapter covers the beginning of the American Revolution in the South Carolina backcountry and explains why many frontier people, especially Presbyterians, saw the rejection of royal authority not so much as rebellion, but rather as a bid to establish order and protect themselves from a corrupt royal government that allegedly was encouraging Cherokee attacks on white settlements. In this chapter, Pickens emerges as an important local militia leader and participates in several early campaigns and battles, including the first siege of Ninety Six and the Cherokee campaign of 1776, and narrowly escapes death and emerges as a hero in the “Ring Fight.”

Family, War, and Order

This chapter covers Pickens’s participation in the Cherokee War of 1760-1761, his marriage to Rebecca Calhoun, and his and his relatives’ and neighbors’ attempts to re-establish order in the South Carolina backcountry in the midst of the crime and anarchy following the Cherokee War. Initially receiving little help in this project from the lowcountry elites who controlled the colonial legislature, backcountry men formed vigilante groups such as “Regulators” and “Moderators” to protect themselves and their families. By the end of the colonial period, some order had been restored and Pickens had established himself as a church elder, justice of the peace, and “leading man” of the Long Cane community near Ninety Six, South Carolina.

Retirement and Looking Back

This chapter briefly covers Pickens’s service in the state legislature during the War of 1812, the dissolution of his trading company, Andrew Pickens & Company, in 1798, his move from Pendleton to Tamasee, South Carolina, and the activities of his grown children and their acceptance into the upper ranks of society. Mostly, however, it focuses on Pickens’s attitude toward slavery and how the debate over slavery played out in the Presbyterian Church in the Carolinas. As a slaveholder, Pickens struggled to reconcile slavery with Christianity, and provided for the conditional manumission of his slaves in his will.