36 Facts About Benjamin Hawkins

Benjamin Hawkins was an American planter, statesman and a US Indian agent.

Benjamin Hawkins was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a United States Senator from North Carolina, having grown up among the planter elite.

Benjamin Hawkins learned the Muscogee language, and had a Creek woman, Lavinia Downs, as common-law wife, who, in the Creek's matrilineal society, provided an entry into that world.

Benjamin Hawkins had seven children with her, although he resisted Creek pressure to marry her until near the end of his life.

Benjamin Hawkins wrote extensively about the Creek and other Southeast tribes: the Choctaw, Cherokee and Chickasaw.

Benjamin Hawkins eventually built a large complex using African slave labor, including mills, and raised a considerable quantity of cattle and hogs.

Benjamin Hawkins attended the county schools, then at the College of New Jersey.

Benjamin Hawkins was "apt at multiple languages", a linguistic competence that would later enable him to learn Indian languages.

Benjamin Hawkins was released from federal service late in 1777, as Washington learned to rely on Lafayette for dealing with the French.

Benjamin Hawkins returned home, where he was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1778.

Benjamin Hawkins served there until 1779, and again in 1784.

In 1789, Benjamin Hawkins was a delegate to the Fayetteville Convention that ratified the United States Constitution.

Benjamin Hawkins was elected to the first US Senate, where he served from 1789 to 1795.

In 1785, Benjamin Hawkins had served as a representative for the Congress in negotiations over land with the Creek Indians of the Southeast.

Benjamin Hawkins was generally successful, and convinced the tribe to lessen their raids for several years, although he could not conclude a formal treaty.

Benjamin Hawkins had some difficulty in persuading the Creeks to agree to the running of the line, as many of the younger warriors were opposed.

Benjamin Hawkins studied the language and was adopted by the Creek.

Benjamin Hawkins wrote extensively about them and the other southeast tribes.

Benjamin Hawkins' plans for the Indians was a "civilization plan", by which he meant adopting the European-American lifestyle, raising crops and animals on farms.

Benjamin Hawkins began to teach European-American agricultural practices to the Creek, and started a farm at his and Lavinia's home on the Flint River.

Benjamin Hawkins brought his enslaved Black workers from North Carolina, and eventually purchased others.

Benjamin Hawkins hired other workers to assist them in clearing several hundred acres for his plantation.

Benjamin Hawkins expanded his operation to include more than 1,000 head of cattle and a large number of hogs, and raised "immense crops" of corn and other provisions.

Benjamin Hawkins contributed to the 19 years of peace between settlers and the tribe, the longest such period during European-American settlement.

Benjamin Hawkins saw much of his work to preserve peace destroyed in 1812.

Benjamin Hawkins was unable to attend negotiations of the Treaty of Fort Jackson in August 1814, which required the Creeks to cede most of their territory and give up their way of life.

Benjamin Hawkins later organized "friendly" Creek warriors to oppose a British force on the Apalachicola River that threatened to rally the scattered Red Sticks and reignite the war on the Georgia frontier.

Benjamin Hawkins tried more than once to resign his post and return from the Georgia frontier, but no President would accept his resignation.

Benjamin Hawkins was buried at the Creek Agency near the Flint River and Roberta, Georgia.

Benjamin Hawkins was succeeded as Indian agent by David Mitchell, former Governor of Georgia.

Fort Benjamin Hawkins was built overlooking the ancient site since designated as the Ocmulgee National Monument.

Benjamin Hawkins' plantation was farmed by enslaved labor, but beyond that his unhappy record on slavery has been overlooked.

Benjamin Hawkins transformed the Creek Agency and Fort Hawkins into holding stations for fugitive slaves, and paid Indians $50 for every fugitive delivered there.

Benjamin Hawkins married Susan Lavinia Downs, who some believe was a Creek Indian woman, whereas other evidence indicates that she was a white woman.

In 1812, thinking he was on his death bed, Benjamin Hawkins remarried his wife Susan Lavinia Downs to make sure their children were legitimate in US society.

Benjamin Hawkins was close to his nephew William Benjamin Hawkins, whom he made a co-executor of his estate along with his wife; he bequeathed to William a share of his estate, reputed to be quite large.