Benjamin Hawkins

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HAWKINS, Benjamin, (1754 - 1818) Senate Years of Service: 1789-1791; 1791-1795 Party: Pro-Administration; Anti-Administration

HAWKINS, Benjamin, (uncle of Micajah Thomas Hawkins), a Delegate and a Senator from North Carolina; born in what was then Granville, later Bute, and now Warren County, N.C., August 15, 1754; attended the county schools; student at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) when the Revolutionary War began; acquired a knowledge of French, and, at the request of General George Washington, left school and was appointed to the General’s staff as his interpreter; member, State house of commons 1778-1779, 1784; chosen by the North Carolina legislature in 1780 to procure arms and munitions of war to defend the State; University of North Carolina Library Member of the Continental Congress 1781-1783 and 1787; appointed by Congress to negotiate treaties with the Creek and Cherokee Indians in 1785; delegate to the State constitutional convention which ratified the Federal Constitution in November 1789; elected to the United States Senate and served from November 27, 1789, to March 3, 1795; appointed Indian agent for all the tribes south of the Ohio River by President Washington in 1796 and held the office until his death in Crawford County, Ga., on June 6, 1818; interment on a plantation near Roberta, Crawford County, overlooking the Flint River.

Bibliography American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Grant, C.L. “Senator Benjamin Hawkins: Federalist or Republican?” Journal of the Early Republic 1 (Fall 1981): 233-47; Hawkins, Benjamin. Letters, Journals and Writings. Edited by C.L. Grant. Savannah: Georgia Historical Society, 1980.

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Benjamin_Hawkins

Benjamin Hawkins (August 15, 1754 – June 6, 1816) was an American farmer, statesman, and Indian agent from North Carolina . He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a United States Senator , as well as a long term diplomat and agent to the Creek Indians.

Biography

Benjamin was born to Philemon and Delia Martin Hawkins on August 15, 1754, the third of four sons. The family farmed and operated a plantation in what was then Granville County, North Carolina , but is now Warren County . He attended the College of New Jersey, later to become Princeton , but left in his last year to join the Continental Army . He was commissioned a Colonel and served for several years on George Washington 's staff as his main interpreter of French .

Hawkins was released from federal service late in 1777, as Washington learned to rely on la Fayette for dealing with the French. He returned home, and was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1778. He served there until 1779, and again in 1784. The Carolina Assembly sent him to the Continental Congress as their delegate from 1781 to 1783, and again in 1787.

In 1789, he was a delegate in the North Carolina convention that ratified the United States Constitution . He was then elected to the first U.S. Senate and served from 1789 to 1795. Although the Senate did not have organized political parties at the time, his views shifted during his term. Early in his Senate career, he was counted in the ranks of those Senators viewed as Pro-Administration , but by the third congress, he generally sided with Senators of the Republican or Anti-Administration Anti-Administration Party (United States) Anti-Administration "Party" is a term used by historians to describe the opponents of the policies of U.S. President George Washington. This was not an actual political party. Rather, it is used as a catch-all term for a variety of political factions. It is a successor to the Anti-Federalists, a...

Party.

Indian Agent

In 1785, Hawkins had served as a representative for the Congress in negotiations with the Creek Indians. He was generally successful, and convinced that tribe to lessen their raids for several years, although he could not conclude a formal treaty. The Creek wanted to deal with the head man, and finally signed the Treaty of New York after Hawkins convinced George Washington to become involved.

In 1796, Washington appointed Benjamin Hawkins as General Superintendent of Indian Affairs dealing with all tribes south of the Ohio River . He personally assumed the role of principal agent to the Creek tribe. He moved to the area that is now Crawford County in Georgia . He was adopted by the Creeks, and took one of their women as his common-law wife. He began to teach agricultural practices to the tribe, starting a farm at his home on the Flint River. In time, he brought in slaves and workers, cleared several hundred acres and established mills and a trading post as well as his farm. His operation expanded until he had over 1,000 cattle and a large number of hogs. For years, he would meet with chiefs on his porch and discuss matters while churning butter. His personal hard work and open-handed generosity won him such respect that reports say that he never lost an animal to Indian raiders.

He was responsible for the longest period of peace between the settlers and the tribe, overseeing 19 years of peace. When a fort was built, in 1806, to protect expanding settlements, just east of modern Macon, Georgia , it was named Fort Benjamin Hawkins .

Hawkins saw much of his work toward building a peace destroyed in 1812. A group of Creeks, led by Tecumseh were encouraged by British agents to resistance against increasing settlement by whites. Although he personally was never attacked, he was forced to watch an internal civil war among the Creeks , the war with a faction known as the Red Sticks , and their eventual defeat by Andrew Jackson .

During the Creek War of 1813-1814, Hawkins organized the friendly Creeks under Major William McIntosh to aid the Georgia and Tennessee militias during their forays against the Red Sticks. After the Red Stick defeat at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , activities in Georgia and Tennessee prevented Hawkins from moderating the Treaty of Fort Jackson in August 1814. Hawkins later organized friendly Creeks against a British force on the Apalachicola River that threatened to rally the scattered Red Sticks and reignite the war on the Georgia frontier. After the British withdrew in 1815, Hawkins began organizing a force to secure the area when he died from a sudden illness in June 1816.

Benjamin never recovered from the shock of the Creek civil war. He had tried to resign his post and return from the Georgia wilderness, but his resignation was refused by every president after Washington. He remained Superintendent until his death on June 6, 1816. On his death bed, he married the woman who had given him four children over the years. Benjamin Hawkins was buried at the Creek Agency, on the Flint River near Roberta, Georgia . The modern Ocmulgee National Monument includes the site of the original Fort Hawkins.

Hawkins County in Tennessee is named in his honor.

 Benjamin Hawkins Biography of first "Indian Agent" in the Southeast United States  National Park Service Monument at Fort Hawkins  Horseshoe Bend National Military Park  Camp Benjamin Hawkins, BSA  Col Hawkins Ancestors  Benjamin Hawkins Descendants