Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/475

 CREDITOR CREEKS 471 its par value. Its managers retired with im- mense fortunes, and the concern went into liquidation. On the model of this company, similar organizations were created in Geneva, Leipsic, Amsterdam, Madrid, and London. The title u Credit Mobilier of America " was adopt- ed by a joint-stock company organized in May, 1863, with a capital of $2,500,000. In Janu- ary, 1867, the charter having been purchased by a company organized for the construction of the Union Pacific railroad, the stock was increased to $3,750,000, and afterward rose to a great value, paying enormous dividends. In 1872, in the course of legal proceedings in Pennsylvania respecting the ownership of stock, it appeared that several members of congress, as well as the actual vice president and one of the candidates for the vice presi- dency, were more or less secret stockholders. This caused a great political scandal, as it was held to be highly improper for a mem- ber of congress to be pecuniarily interested in a corporation whose profits might be so largely and directly affected by his vote on bills concerning the railway it was building. The fact that a presidential canvass was in progress, in which several of the persons im- plicated took an active part, added interest and excitement to the subject. The result was a congressional investigation in the session of 1872-'3. On Feb. 27, 1873, the senate com- mittee made a report, which closed with a resolution to expel one senator ; but no action was taken on it, and five days later his term expired. In the house of representatives res- olutions censuring two members were passed. CREDITOR, a town of Devonshire, England, on the Greedy river, 7i m. N. W. of Exeter ; pop. in 1871, 6y565. Besides the parish church, an elegant Gothic structure with a beautiful altarpiece, there are several chapels for dissent- ers, and many schools, including a free gram- mar school founded by Edward VI. Flour mills and an extensive flax mill are near the town, but the once flourishing manufactures of serge and woollen have greatly declined. CREEKS (called by themselves ESTE MUSKO- KEE or MUSCOKULKE), a tribe of American In- dians, living when first known to the whites on the Flint, Chattahoochee, Coosa, and Alabama rivers, and in the peninsula of Florida. Their traditions and language point to a common origin with the Choctaws and Chickasaws. They claim to have come out of the earth, and to have emigrated from the northwest, led by the Cussitaws, till they reached Florida, whence they fell back and took possession of the region extending east to the Ocmulgee and west to the. Coosa and Tallapoosa. As this abounded in creeks and rivulets, it was called by the early English settlers the Creek country, and the Indians came to be known as Creek Indians. Those remaining in Florida were called Semi- noles (wanderers). The Hitchitees. Cussitaws, and Cowetas settled on the Appalachicola and Flint ; the Coosas and Alabamas on the rivers bearing those names. As early as 1540 the Spaniards under De Soto reached the Coosas, Alabamas, Tuscaloosas, Tallisses, and Pacahas. Twenty years after Tristan de Luna made an alliance with the Coosas. The Spaniards at an early day won over the Appalaches. In- the territory occupied by the Creeks were tribes like the Oconees, Okchais, Wetumpkas, and Pa- cahas, whom they incorporated, and whose language modified the original language of the Creeks. When Carolina and Louisiana began to be settled, the Creek nations were courted by English, French, and Spaniards. The Eng- lish, establishing Fort Moore, won the lower Creeks by their trade ; the upper Creeks were under French influence; the Appalaches had been Christianized by th Spaniards, who by the honors paid the emperor of the Cowetas hoped to control all. In 1710 the Cowetas made war on Carolina, and were received with distinction at St. Augustine ; but Chipacafi, who became emperor in 1718, visited Mobile and joined the French side. Fort Alibamon was built by the French and a garrison maintained there. This influence was maintained for sev- eral years, but in 1732 Oglethorpe made a treaty at Savannah with eight tribes of Creeks, and in 1739 negotiated with the Cowetas. This influence led them to join him against St. Au- gustine in 1742. English traders settled among them, but their fidelity was so doubtful that a superintendent was rebuked for making peace between the Creeks and Cherokees because he exposed Carolina to inroads. The overthrow of the French power in North America and the cession of Florida to England brought the Creeks entirely under English influence. They numbered then 5,860 warriors, and had 50 towns. When the American revolution began, the Creeks, influenced by royal officers and traders in their pay, were hostile ; and besides minor depredations, they joined in a night at- tack on Wayne's army in 1782 under Guister- sigo. At the peace many tories fled to their towns, keeping up the hostile feelings and rav- aging the frontiers of Georgia. Congress finally resolved to make war, if a last effort at peace failed. It was not till 1790 that Washington induced McGillivray and other chiefs to visit New York and make peace. The treaty in- cluded the Cussitaws, Tallisses, Tuckabatchys, Natchez, Cowetas, Broken Arrows, Coosadas, Alabamas, and Oaksoys, forming, the Upper and Lower Creeks and the Seminoles. Yet in 1792 Creeks joined the Cherokees in the attack on Buchanan's station near Nashville, and on Cavit's station near Knoxville in the following year. A treaty at Coleraine in 1796 made pro- vision for military and trading posts, and in 1802 and 1805 they began to cede lands. A Baptist mission had been projected, but not carried out, and the feeling among the Creeks was still hostile ; so that when the second war with England broke out, English envoys and the Creek prophets Monahooe and Hillishagee easily roused them to war. They surprised