in London portray the elements of Thomas Nairne’s world. The main map moves from Johnson’s plantation in the upper right down to Charles Town and then south to St. Helena’s Island, where Nairne lived. The upper left places Carolina within the southeastern part of the continent. A small map beneath shows St. Augustine, where Nairne had fought with Carolinians and Indians against the Spanish. A Compleat Description of the Province of Carolina in 3 Parts (London: Edward Crisp, 1711). Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.
Nairne’s Carolina was dangerous—more hostile to politeness than Virginia under Nicholson only a few years before (Johnson’s tenure began two years before Nicholson’s removal). In both colonies, adherents of the Church of England claimed an important role in governing, opponents of the governor called for moderation, and rulers were accused (as Nairne not surprisingly said of Johnson) of acting “arbitrarily.” But Nicholson’s opponents successfully challenged his authoritarianism by using the ideals of politeness, values that also helped them lead an increasingly settled society. Carolina was more troubled, more diverse religiously, and more immersed in the ferocious divisions of contemporary English political culture. It was also more dependent on Native Americans both for military protection from hostile Spanish and French settlements and for the English colony’s brutal and destabilizing trade in Indian slaves.6
Not surprisingly, Nairne’s concerns were not precisely the same as those of Virginia gentry or London theorists. Caught in a world dominated by the powerful, Nairne not surprisingly spoke less often about building up elite authority. His work in Indian villages or his time in a Carolina jail cell furthermore did not allow fussy attention to elegant equipage. A life living among Native peoples, he wrote in 1705, was not well suited for “the nice delicate sort.”7
Rather than avoiding difficult situations, Nairne characteristically sought them out—and attempted to improve them. There is no occupation “more great and noble than that of a Soldier,” Nairne wrote two years after his imprisonment. He hastened to add, however, that this commendation applied only to the soldier who imitates “the Ancient Heroes,” who “makes it his Business to destroy Monsters, … and root out Oppression from the Face of the Earth.” It was an idealistic vision, one that he himself sought to fulfill. Even more extraordinarily, the values he attempted to defend were shaped less by ancient mythology or medieval chivalry than by the politics of politeness, by a vision of restrained power that sought social harmony not just among Carolinians but the Indian peoples that lived among and around them.8
Having come of age in the late seventeenth century, Nairne’s connection with polite ideas was perhaps not especially surprising. But his commitment to these values was extraordinary, an allegiance that spanned three distinctive settings—Indian country, Carolina politics, and the British empire—that each posed significant challenges to his ideals. Nairne’s willingness to pursue these goals within such hostile environments suggests that politeness was as important to him as it was to men and women who lived among what he called English “Delicacy.”9
Figure 6. Noted as the work of “Capt Tho. Nairn,” the upper part of the 1711 map of Carolina is almost certainly based on his 1708 map. It shows Carolina on the edge of an expanse of land controlled in part by the French and the Spanish, but primarily by the region’s numerous Indians. Nairne notes the number of warriors in each nation, as well as the more important paths among them, including the route he took on his 1708 trip. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.
Indian Country
In 1708, Nairne wrote a letter to the British secretary of state, the earl of Sunderland, offering advice about empire and Indian affairs. Nairne did not know Sunderland, who had probably never even heard of the agent, but Nairne still wanted to ensure that the southeastern part of the continent would not be neglected in the coming peace negotiations with the French (negotiations that, despite rumors at the time, would not begin for several years). The lengthy letter emphasized the importance of the region and its Indians to British interests. An enclosed map detailed the numbers and locations of the peoples of the southeast part of the American mainland. Covering an area stretching from Carolina south to Spanish Florida and west to the new French settlement at Mobile, Nairne’s chart gave special attention to the many Indians who controlled the areas between these European settlements. Together the material offered the fullest account of the region’s human geography then available.10
Nairne’s letter was dated July 10, more than two weeks after he was imprisoned. Yet he gave no indication of his difficulties, describing himself not as a victim of oppression but as an “an Agent, and Intenerary Justice, among the Indians.” Careful attention to self-presentation was essential to Nairne’s activities. As agent he singlehandedly mediated endless disputes between traders and natives in Indian villages. On his westward journey a few months before, he had traveled across barely charted territories to the Great Village of the Choctaws, Carolina’s long-time foes. And a few months later, he traveled even farther to London, where, despite being a fugitive and an accused traitor, he earned the confidence of Carolina’s proprietors.11
Nairne, however, was not a chameleon, simply fitting into his surroundings. He was also committed to encouraging the relationships recommended by the politics of politeness. Some of these ideals, he believed, were already at work in Native villages he had seen on his western trip, a view that only added to his outrage at European traders who took advantage of their power to treat Indians selfishly and arbitrarily.
After Nairne had been imprisoned for ten weeks with little prospect of release, more than sixty residents of his home county of Colleton petitioned the governor to grant bail. Nairne was no traitor, they argued. He had fought for the queen “with great bravery & zeal,” served in the legislature “faithfully,” and labored “with equall Currage and Diligence … among the Indians.” Keeping him from his work “for the Safety of the country,” they predicted, would lead to “many bad consequences.” The commendation (which petitioners assured the governor was shared by “the generallity” of the county) went beyond mere words. They also offered bond in the substantial sum of £10,000, several times the colony’s annual budget.12
As his neighbors noted, Nairne had by 1708 became an important figure in the colony. Formerly an active legislator, he had become North Carolina’s sole representative in Indian country. His expertise in dealing with Native peoples made him a significant figure in defending against attacks from both nearby Indian nations and more distant (but sometimes more troubling) European powers.
Though Nairne failed to mention his imprisonment to Sunderland, he truthfully represented himself as someone who worked “among the Indians.” He had already gained local reputation as a dependable figure in Indian affairs when he first appears in the legislative records (bearing the first of many subsequent misspellings of his name). In 1701 the legislature noted Nairne as the center of a local “allarum” system on the edge of Indian country. In the event of an attack, the watch-house guard on the Savannah River was to go first “to Cap’t Nearnes.” After warning a nearby settlement, the “2 white men & Six Indjans” were then to “return … and follow his ord’rs.”13
Nairne’s life before the creation of this plan remains obscure. Born in Scotland, he had arrived in Carolina by 1695, when he appeared as a witness to the will of a recently deceased Carolinian who had moved from London. Nairne soon afterward married the Scottish-born widow. The marriage suggests that he was an adult by that year—although perhaps not much beyond twenty-one since he was serving in the demanding role of Indian agent on his death two decades later.14
By the turn of the century, Nairne lived in Colleton County, the province’s most southern settlement, working among the Yamasee Indians who lived nearby. He accompanied a number of them
