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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 467
ber 5, 1813, he took advanced position. Money was needed to relieve
the embarrassment of General Floyd's army at Fort Hawkins. Energy
and dispatch in all things were characteristic of General Floyd; but
unfortunately it was not in his power to control the commissariat of the
army—it could not march. Through default of the Federal Govern
ment in supplying promised funds, a dangerous, perhaps a fatal delay
was taking place; and in this emergency Governor Early did not wait
for the Legislature to authorize a loan from the state treasury, but un
dertook on his own initiative to advance a sum of money, for the return
of which the good faith of a United States officer was pledged.* He
knew how important it was< to Georgia to crush the Indian uprising and
how essential it -was for an army to be supplied with funds when a crisis
in its operations was at hand. Consequently he drew his warrant for
$80,000. Some criticized him for advancing the money. It was thought
that he was incurring too much risk, that the Union might dissolve while
the war was in progress and the money be lost; but to this stricture he
replied: t "I hope no such rupture will come but if it does I have no
desire that Georgia should survive the general wreck." Happily the
Union was not dissolved and the money advanced by Governor Early
was returned.
"With a part of the money advanced, General Floyd built a line of
block houses from the Ocmulgee to the Alabama River, to protect the
northern frontier of the state. On the west bank of the Chattahoochee,
two miles below the present City of Columbus, he built a stronghold,
which he called Fort Mitchell. 1 Leaving here a strong garrison, he
then marched rapidly by night into the heart of the Creek country, mov
ing toward Autossee, one of the largest towns of the Creek Nation,
located on the left bank of the Tallapoosa River. Gen. William Mcln-
tosh, a chief of the friendly Creeks, accompanied him on this expedi
tion. At daybreak, on November 29, 1813, Autossee was reached. Here
an engagement immediately occurred. Simultaneously a movement was
directed against Tallassee; and before 9 o'clock the kings of both towns
were numbered among the slain. Nothing was left of these Indian set
tlements when General Floyd withdrew his troops. He then returned
to Fort Mitchell. The expedition consumed seven days; and though pro
vided with rations for a shorter period he had marched over 120 miles
and had achieved two signal victories over the Creek Indians.
General Floyd, enfeebled by wounds received in these engagements,
remained at Fort Mitchell until after the Christmas holidays. But, in
January, 1814, having heard rumors of a concentration of the Upper
Creeks at a town of some importance called Hat-le-wau-le, he dispatched
a force of 1,500 men to attack this place; and, after a hard fought
battle designated by historians as the Battle of Challibee, the Indiana
were dispersed. Capt. Samuel Butts, a gallant Georgian, was among
the slain. Following this engagement, General Floyd was ordered to
Savannah, where he remained until the close of the war, guarding the
state's ocean front.
* '' Men of Mark," I, p. 93.'
t "History of Georgia," L. B. Evans, p. 176.
t "Men of Mark in. Georgia," I, pp. 94-95.