A council of the surviving chiefs was assembled and a treaty
was presented, with a demand that it be signed forthwith. The terms
took the Indians aback, but argument was useless. The whites were
granted full rights to maintain military posts and roads and to
navigate the rivers in the Creek lands; the Creeks had to promise to
stop trading with British and Spanish posts; and they were made to
cede to the United States all the lands which their people had claimed
west and southeast of the Coosa River--more than half of their ancient
territories. Thus was the glory of the Creek nation brought to an end.
Meanwhile the war with Great Britain was entering a new and
threatening phase. No notable successes had been achieved on land, and
repeated attempts to reduce Canada had signally failed. On the Great
Lakes and the high seas the navy had won glory, but only a handful of
privateers was left to keep up the fight. The collapse of Napoleon's
power had brought a lull in Europe, and the British were free to
concentrate their energies as never before on the conflict in America.
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