Searching for an answer, since the Treaty of New York had not stopped the violence between the Creeks and the Georgians, Washington asked Attorney General Edmund Randolph to examine all the relevant laws regarding the sale of Indian lands. He also asked Randolph to suggest any type of auxiliary laws that would help in stopping people from seizing Indian lands. He commented, "If Congress expect to live in peace with the neighboring Indians and to avoid the expenses and horrors of continued hostilities, such a measure will be found indispensably necessary; for unless adequate penalties are provided, that will check the spirit of speculation in lands and will enable the Executive to carry them into effect, this Country will be constantly embroiled with, and appear faithless in the eyes not only of the Indians but of the neighboring powers also."326

In the summer of 1792, Spanish officials suspected that Washington was worried that the Southern Indians might ally with the Northern Indians with whom the United States was at war.327 McGillivray reported that the Creeks had forced a group of American representatives to the Choctaws to leave, and that the Creek warriors had warned the Choctaws not to accompany the Americans, since Creek warriors planned to attack the group of Americans on their way home.328 In November, McGillivray described several incidents of Georgian-Creek violence.329 However, McGillivray's influence on the frontier was to end abruptly in the next year.

At the home of his friend and business associate Leslie Panton, McGillivray died at eleven o'clock at night on February 16, 1793.330 It was some time before President Washington learned of the loss. He was informed of it in Baltimore on May 30, 1792. No one else of that stature existed in the Creek Nation, Washington had no direct counterpart left with which to deal.

After McGillivray's death, attacks by Georgians and other Americans on the Indians only increased. It was Georgia's scheme to provoke the United States into a "just war," which would eliminate the Creeks and other Indians. There were constant attacks and massacres perpetrated by whites during 1793 and 1794. However, Washington and his associates were not fooled by this unremitting white aggression, and took no action similar to the actions they were taking in the north.331

The Creeks did not sit passively by as the Georgians attacked and slaughtered them. James Seagrove, Washington's current Indian agent in the south, in April 1793 reported that the tide of violence among the Creeks and the Georgians was rising. Washington suspected that the Spanish had a lot to do with Creek violence in the south, particularly since they had offered arms and ammunition to them to aid in their struggle. Washington pinned his hopes of peace on the fact that much of the violence committed by the Creeks was by the younger warriors, and also that the Chickasaws were currently at war with the Creeks.332 Nevertheless, despite continued evidence of Creek violence and Spanish instigation since the death of McGillivray, in May of 1793, Washington determined not to send troops to the south. Washington felt that the Spanish authorities in New Orleans might be hoping the United States would send troops into the south against the Creeks. This would present them with the opportunity to enter into a war with the United States.333 Jefferson was sure that Baron de Francis Hector Carondelet, the governor of Spanish territory in New Orleans, was bent on picking a confrontation with the United States. Washington decided in order to avoid a war with the Creeks, to make a full appeal to the Court of Madrid.334

In July of 1793, Washington met with Governor Blount of Georgia and General Andrew Pickens, who had both arrived from Georgia. Washington was pleased that the prospects for peace seemed to be brightening, even though Pickens still urged a large invasion of Creek lands. Nevertheless, Washington decided that forces should be ready in case the need to send soldiers south materialized. In the summer of 1793 Washington asked Knox and Pickens several questions concerning what kinds and numbers of forces could be sent effectively to the South, as well as what types of provisions could be made for peaceful Indians.335 Even so, Washington did not want to go to war with the Creeks, and commented he would not go to war with the Creeks unless Congress made a formal declaration. This was much different from his position towards the Northwest tribes. His reluctance to send troops into the south to protect the settlers stemmed in great measure from his apprehension that a war with the Creeks could involve a "European power." He was sure, as he had heard from Seagrove, that many of the Creeks were desirous of peace.336 The president also wanted the intentions of the United States towards the natives to appear just to the whole world.337

The new year brought news that recent events were ruining the prospects for peace. Much of the correspondence during this period is very similar to Washington's young days in the French and Indian War, when reports of Indian-white violence were omnipresent. The president urged the Congress to pass laws to protect both the peace and the national character, citing "the murder of several friendly Indians by some lawless white men."338 He believed Georgia's practice of giving legitimacy to lawless settlers might "deeply affect the peace and welfare of the United States."339 By June of 1794, reports from Georgia indicated that a full blown war with the Creeks was becoming more and more likely every day.340 As if the Spanish influence with the Indians was not problem enough, Kentucky frontiersmen were agitating for the United States to secure the use of the Mississippi River from Spain by military means, thwarting Washington's plans to maintain peace with Spain. Also, Georgia citizens continued to settle in Creek lands as if it belonged to them, seeing no crime in doing so. Washington and his administration decided to send a letter of admonition to the Georgia governor.341 To the Congress, Washington declared, "Towards none of the Indian tribes have overtures of friendship been spared."342

In 1795, after the conclusion of the war in the Northwest, Henry Knox retired from the post of Secretary of War. President Washington decided to appoint Timothy Pickering, one of his former enemies, as the new Secretary. Despite Washington's former antagonism to Pickering,* he was an expert Indian negotiator who agreed with Washington's Indian policies.343

One of the first tasks Washington had in mind for his new Secretary of War was to prepare a plan for the executive to deal with the problems in the South. By March of 1795, Congress, despite Washington's urgings, had not passed any legislation to deal with them.344 However, as the spring changed into summer, the overcast skies of war began to clear somewhat. May of 1795 brought fresh news that the outlook for a peaceful agreement with the Creeks was very hopeful.345 In June Washington informed the Senate that he had accepted the application of the state of Georgia to negotiate a new treaty with the Creeks. As Washington felt that the Creeks were again in a pacific mood, he decided to appoint Benjamin Hawkins, George Clymer, and Andrew Pickens as the new commissioners to treat with the Creeks. He made it clear that the commissioners would have to abide by the 1790 Treaty of New York.346

While vacationing at Mount Vernon in September, Washington sent instructions to Pickering which told Seagrove to arrange a cease-fire between the Creeks and Chickasaws, in hopes that he would be able to announce to the Congress complete peace with all the Indians on the frontier.347 Washington hoped that a peace between the two tribes, who had also been warring with one another during this period, could be concluded, and was very happy that it seemed likely to happen. He wanted the United States to mediate the negotiations, and he hoped that Governor Blount would help in the effort to secure a peaceful agreement.348

Unfortunately for Washington, he was not yet able to announce complete peace with the Creeks. In his Seventh Annual Address, Washington complained that although the prospects for peace had looked excellent, "wanton murders," committed by Georgia citizens upon the Creeks had again ruined the chances for peace.349 However, Washington was not about to let the chances for peace slip through his fingers. On the advice of Pickering, Washington delivered a short message to Congress on February 2, 1796, urging that action be taken against the white people in the South who were continuing to wage war on the Cherokee.350

Happily for Washington, peace was just around the corner. The new commissioners met with a large delegation of Creeks at Fort Colerain on the St. Marys River in the spring of 1796. At first, the Creeks thought that these discussions would be another in the series of treaties corrupted by the Georgians. The three commissioners, however, ordered a federal guard around the camp of the Creek delegation.351 Hawkins even forbade white people to give anything to the Indians, especially liquor. Although some liquor did manage to get smuggled into the Creek camp, there was not enough to make a serious difference; the Indians conducted these negotiations soberly.352 With the Georgians eliminated from the negotiations, the Creeks agreed to abide by the terms of the Treaty of New York (at first, they objected to a certain portion of land that the United States desired, but the commissioners attitude on this point was inflexible, and so the Creeks eventually agreed to this land cession). After twelve days of negotiations, the Creeks and the Americans signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo on July 29, 1796, ending the hostilities on the Southern frontier.353 Upon reception of the Treaty, Washington wondered if four months was too quick to run the treaty line (which meant to actually set up the physical boundary lines), as established in the treaty.354 In his eighth and final Annual Address, Washington was extremely pleased to announce that peace had been secured with the Creeks, and that the Southern frontier was now finally at rest. He also announced that the Creek Nation had agreed to the trading house plan he had always supported.355