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450 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
As we have already anticipated in a former chapter dealing with the
Yazoo Fraud, Georgia in 1802 ceded her western lands to the Federal
Government, in return for which the latter, in addition to certain mone
tary considerations, agreed to extinguish all Indian titles to the state's
remaining lands.* In partial fulfilment of this stipulation, three com
missioners were appointed by the Federal Government to negotiate a;
treaty with the Creeks at Fort Wilkinson, on the Oconee River, and, on
June 16, 1802, a treaty was signed under which these Indians were to re
linquish a part of the Tallassee country, lying south of the Altamaha and
a tract between the Oconee and the Ocmulgee rivers. The commissioners
who negotiated this treaty were: Benjamin Hawkins, James Wilkinson,
and Andrew Pickens.t Some of the western or Upper Creeks were dis
posed to make trouble over this relinquishment of lands belonging to the-
Greek Nation; but Col. Benjamin Hawkins, who was then the resident
Indian agent, with headquarters at the old agency on the Flint, suc
ceeded in quieting these hostile tribes.
When the Legislature met in November, 1802, John Milledge, a dis
tinguished Revolutionary patriot and friend of education, was elected
governor; and to accept this post of honor he resigned a seat in Congress.
Out of the new lands acquired under the Treaty of Fort Wilkinson,
the Legislature, on May 1, 1803, passed an act creating three great coun
ties, Baldwin, AYilkinson and Wayne. The last named county was carved
out of the Tallassee cession; to the south of the Altamaha, and was named
for Gen. Anthony Wayne, of the Revolution, a former resident of this-
state. The county-seat of the new county was named Waynesville.
Baldwin and Wilkinson were formed out of the newly acquired belt
of land between the Oconee and the Ocmulgee rivers. Baldwin was
named for Abraham Baldwin, then a United States senator from Geor
gia. Milledgeville, its county-seat, was named for John Milledge, then
governor of the state. Wilkinson was named for Gen. James Wilkinson,.
one of the United States commissioners who negotiated the treaty at
Fort Wilkinson, a locality which was likewise named in his honor. Irwin-
ton, the county-seat, was named for Governor Jared Irwin.
When the lands in these newly created counties were opened to set
tlement, a system of distribution known as the land lottery system was
adopted by the Legislature in an act approved May 11, 1803. t Great dis
satisfaction had resulted from the old head right system, in vogue since
the Revolution, and heretofore described at some length. It gave the set
tler an unrestricted power of selection, in consequence of which he in
variably chose the best lands, leaving large unoccupied tracts. These-
intcrmediate areas were slow in finding occupants and as a result settle
ments were too isolated for safety. In the second place, due to the un
settled character of the wilderness, it was a difficult matter to fix boun
dary lines, and it frequently happened that grants conveying the same
tract of land were issued to more than one settler, causing a tangle which'
gave rise to numerous law suits. But, in addition to involving honest
men in mistakes, it gave to unscrupulous persons an unlimited oppor-
* See Chapter (7), Section III.
t "Indian Affairs," I, p. 669.
t "Claytou's Compilation," pp. 100-107.