Yahatatastonake (The Mortar)

Yahatatastonake (d. 1774), known as “Great Mortar” or “The Mortar” to the British, was a leader of the Upper Creeks who represented the town of Abihka, located along the Alabama and Coosa Rivers. The town was considered one of four “mother towns” of the Creek Confederacy; the others were Coosa, Coweta, and Tuckabatchee. Although he resisted British encroachment, Yahatatastonake served as an Upper Creek chieftain during the 1765 Pensacola Congress at which the Creeks ceded some land around Pensacola to the British. An influential chief, he was often involved in diplomatic talks with the British and with other tribes in present-day Alabama.

The Mortar had been a supporter of the French (to whom he was known as Yahatastange, the Wolf Warrior of the Okchais) since the early 1750s to leverage better trade deals with the British. He is known to have led the pro-French faction of the Upper Creek towns and opposed British expansion into Creek hunting grounds. He helped broker an alliance between the Creeks and Cherokees and convinced a small following to join a French and Indian coalition to fight the British in 1760. The effort ultimately failed, with some Creeks joining the British and most declining to join the conflict. His village was just some 30 miles from Fort Toulouse (in present-day Elmore County). Henrí Montault de Monbéraut de Saint-Çivier, commandant from 1755-59, established a close familial relationship with the Creek chieftain. Indeed, according to Monbéraut, The Mortar addressed him as “father.”  

In his memoir, Monbéraut wrote extensively about The Mortar and his importance to British negotiations with other Creek leaders. With the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763 (known as the French and Indian War in the United States), Great Britain acquired French possessions in North America, including West Florida. After arriving in Pensacola in October of 1764, Gov. George Johnstone sought to obtain Creek territory surrounding the British provincial capital. In the spring of 1765, Johnstone and the Superintendent of Indian Affairs John Stuart arranged for two “congresses”—one in Mobile and one in Pensacola, between the British and the surrounding native nations to discuss boundary lines and trade agreements. The first congress in Mobile lasted from late March into early April and concluded with a trade agreement between the British and the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations.

With the success of the Mobile congress, Johnstone looked to the Pensacola congress with the hope that the Upper Creek towns would follow the Chickasaws and Choctaws in formulating an agreement. As one of the most revered Upper Creek chieftains, The Mortar’s cooperation was crucial to British negotiations. After receiving the initial notice to convene in Mobile, The Mortar dismissed the invitation, stating that he was presently occupied with hunting season. Another account says that some Georgia and South Carolina traders told him that Stuart was going to poison him, and another says he feared retaliation for leading the uprising five years earlier. To persuade The Mortar to cooperate with the British and attend the Pensacola congress, Stuart hired Mobéraut as a deputy for Great Britain.

After The Mortar declined to attend the Mobile conference, Monbéraut wrote to him expressing his desire to negotiate trade agreements and boundary lines in Pensacola in early May. But when Monbéraut failed to receive a reply from The Mortar, he decided to send his son, Louis Augustin de Montaut, to deliver the message in person. The Mortar struggled to believe that Monbéraut, who adamantly discouraged the Creeks from trusting the British during his time at Fort Toulouse, would willingly agree to work as a deputy for Great Britain. But the arrival of Monbéraut’s son convinced him that a trip to Pensacola was necessary.

The Mortar and other Upper Creek chiefs, including Emistisiguo, convened in Pensacola from May 26 to June 4, 1765. Initially, The Mortar refused to enter Pensacola, explaining that he did not feel comfortable signing agreements for all of the Upper Creeks, as not all of the Upper Creek towns were represented. Aware of The Mortar’s anti-British sentiments, Monbéraut encouraged Johnstone and Stuart to confer much-coveted honorary medals as signs of prestige to The Mortar and four accompanying Creek chiefs. Afterward, The Mortar agreed to enter Pensacola and discuss trade and settlement conditions with Johnstone. In late May, the Upper Creek chiefs agreed to cede land around Pensacola that granted Great Britain strongholds in the coastal regions of West Florida and left the southeast interior to the Creek Nation.

Before signing the agreement, however, The Mortar requested that Stuart and Johnstone meet outside of the provincial capital’s boundaries to negotiate trade agreements. The Mortar explained that the Creeks resented the lower trade rates granted to the Cherokees, and thus if any boundary lines were to be drawn, the British would need to equalize trade rates. Stuart tried to assuage The Mortar that Johnstone did not have the authority to determine trade rates, but The Mortar was unconvinced. Nevertheless, after a last-minute appeal from Monbéraut, The Mortar agreed to Stuart and Johnstone’s terms. The British secured territory surrounding Pensacola, and The Mortar convinced Stuart to withhold sending a British commissary to the Creeks.

The Mortar’s dedication to the Upper Creeks impressed Stuart and Johnstone, but amicable relations between the British and the Creeks did not last long. Shortly after the Pensacola congress, The Mortar received word from a member of the Cherokee Nation stating that British settlers killed seven Cherokees near Virginia. Furious at the British for their “two-faced” treatment of Native Americans, The Mortar wrote Stuart demanding an explanation in late July 1765. Stuart, however, refused to take responsibility for the settlers’ actions.

The Mortar remained involved in other diplomatic efforts. He and Stuart were in contact over horse thefts, reprisals, and conflicts between Cherokees and some Lower Creeks. They then met in Augusta, Georgia, in 1769 over trade issues and boundary violations by Whites, which continued to plague the Creeks. The Mortar reached out to the Chickasaw Nation to urge an end to their war with the Choctaws, but he was rebuffed. He did engage with the Cherokees, which the British believed was an effort to form another alliance against them. The Mortar later met several times with Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs to the Creeks David Taitt. He was able to temporarily mollify The Mortar’s anger towards Stuart and the British over personal slights with a musket and other gifts. The Mortar later sought assistance and ammunition from the Spanish, however. The Mortar was killed in late 1774 when he and others were ambushed by Choctaws enroute to New Orleans (then under Spanish control) to seek trade with the French and Spanish. Mortar Creek in Elmore County may be a tribute to The Mortar.