Trans-Oconee Republic
In February 1794, General Elijah Clarke, a popular veteran of the American Revolutionary War, resigned his current commission in the Georgia state militia in order to lead an expedition against the East Florida colony.When the invasion failed to develop, General Clarke and several hundred of his followers moved instead to establish an independent state west of the Oconee River —on hunting grounds reserved by the federal Treaty of New York (1790) exclusively for the Creek Indians.[3] The United States government viewed Clarke's actions as a violation of the Treaty of New York, which provided recognition of Creek lands in an effort to maintain peace and guarantee their neutrality.[3] In late August, Judge George Walton issued a charge to an Augusta grand jury in which he condemned the actions of Clarke and his followers, and explained that they constituted a threat to the state and federal powers.[3] Clarke's establishment of the illegal settlements coincided with increasing interest in the state in the disposition of Georgia's western land claims, which at that time stretched as far as the Mississippi River.