REMOVAL OF THE CREEKS
Carolina Observer, (Fayetteville, NC) Thursday, August 06, 1829
Myrtle Bridges November 06, 2009
The following Talk was delivered by Speckled Snake, a Creek warrior, said to be more than a hundred years of age, at
the Council of the Chiefs, head men and warriors of the Creek nation, convened for the purpose of receiving the Talk
of the President on the subject of vacating their lands. After the communication of the President's Talk, (says the
Savannah Mercury) by the agent, a profound silence of many minutes ensued, when the aged warrior arose, supported by
two young men, and spoke as follows:
"Brothers!-We have listened to many talks from our great father. When he first came over the wide waters he was but
a little man, and wore a red coat.-our chiefs met him on the banks of the river Savannah, and smoked with him the pipe
of peace. He was then very little. His legs were cramped by sitting long in his big boat, and he begged for a little
land to light is fire on. He said he had come over the wide waters to teach Indians new things, and to make them happy.
He said he loved his red brothers; he was very kind.
Muscogees gave white man land, and kindled him a fire, that he might warm himself, and when his enemies, the pale faces
of the south, made war on him, their young men drew the tomahawk, and protected his head from the scalping knife. But
when the white man had warmed himself before the Indian's fire, and filled himself with their hominy, he became very
large. With a step he bestrode the mountains, and his feet covered the plain and the valleys. His hands grasped the
eastern and the western sea, and his head rested on the moon.-Then he became our great father. He loved his red children;
and he said, "Get a little farther, lest I tread on thee." With one foot he pushed the red man over the Oconee, and with
the other he trampled down the graves of his fathers, and the forest where he had so long hunted the deer. But our great
father still loved his red children, and he soon made to them another talk. He said, "Get a little farther; you are too
near me." But there were some bad men among the Muscogees then as there is now. They lingered around the graves of their
ancestors, till they were crushed beneath the heavy tread of our great father. Their teeth pierced his feet, and made him
angry. Yet he continued to love his red children; and when he found them too slow moving, he sent his great guns before
him to sweep his path.
Brothers!-I have listened to a great many talks from our great father; but they are always began and ended in this,--"Get
a little farther; you are too near me."
Brothers!-Our great father says, that where we now are, our white brothers have always claimed the land. He speaks with
a straight tongue and cannot lie. But when he first came over the wide waters, when he was yet small, and stood before
the great chief at the council of Yamacraw Bluff, he said, - "Give me a little land which you can spare, and I will pay
you for it."
Brothers!-When our great father made us a talk on a former occasion, and said, "Get a little farther-go beyond the Oconee
and Oakmulgee, there is a pleasant country," he also said-it shall be yours forever." I have listened to his present talk.
He says, The land where you now live is not yours. Go beyond the Mississippi; there is game; and you may remain while the
grass grows or the waters run"
Brothers! Will not our great father come there also? He loves his red children. He speaks with a straight tongue and
will not lie.
Brothers-Our great father says that our bad men have made his heart bleed, for the murder of one of his white children.
Yet where are the red men which he loves, once as numerous as the leaves on the forest! How many have been crushed beneath
his own footsteps!
Brothers-Our great father says we must go beyond the Mississippi. We shall there be under his care and experience his kindness.
He is very good! We have felt it all before!
Brothers-I have done."
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