Augusta Conference

Word of the Royal Proclamation had not yet reached the North American continent. More than 700 Native American representatives attended the Augusta Conference on November 5, 1763. The Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek), Choctaw, Cherokee and Catawba tribes — as well as the governors of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, met with John Stuart, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southern District. The tribes expressed discontent about the excessive numbers of traders and the encroachment of British and other settlers onto their territories.

Between the Augusta Congress of 1763 and the Mobile Congress of 1777, the Chickasaw continued to object to the increasing trader population and its negatives consequences for the tribe. This population of traders brought diseases, such as measles and influenza, which depleted the Chickasaw population. The traders also introduced rum and brandy as trading staples.