James Adair

Overview

James Adair was an Irish-born trader, author, and physician who lived among Southeastern Native American Indian tribes during the Colonial Era. He worked closely with the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw, influencing tribal alliances and trade. His book, History of the American Indians (1775), provided detailed accounts of Indian customs and languages.

Personal Facts

• Full Name:  James Robert Adair.
• Nickname: He was also called “Robert” and “Robin Adair.”
• Part Of: Colonial America.
• Significance: James Adair is important to American History for his documentation of Native American Indian tribes in the American Southeast during the Colonial Era.

Biography

Early Life and Career

Very little is known about Adair’s life, except for what he included in his History of the American Indians (1775) and what is provided in J.B. Adair’s Adair History and Genealogy (1924).

• James Adair is believed to have been born around 1709 in County Antrim, Ireland.
• He came from a noble Irish family, but was a younger son, which limited his inheritance.
• Adair immigrated to America in 1735 and arrived in Charleston, South Carolina.
• He entered into trade with the Indians soon after his arrival.
• By 1736, he was working among the Cherokee.
• He may have partnered with George Haig, Thomas Brown, and others.

AHC Notes

• Thomas Brown (c. 1700–?) — Brown was an Irish merchant who operated a trading post out of Fort Congaree, South Carolina. He worked with his brother, Patrick Brown, and is believed to have started trading with the Catawba around 1730. Thomas took a Catawba woman as a wife and had at least one son, William Brown. According to sources, “Brown” is the oldest recorded surname among the Catawba. At some point, Thomas was abducted by Indians and taken to the Ohio Country, where he lived for two years, until he was found by the Carolina Militia. By this time, his wife had given birth to two sons. Thomas partnered with his brother, Patrick Brown, and Alexander Kilpatrick.
• George Haig (c. 1712–1748) — Haig, also spelled Hague, was a Scottish merchant who traded with the Indian tribes. Haig was appointed Deputy Surveyor in 1733 and assisted in surveying new townships in Carolina, and helped purchase the land that became the Ninety-Six District. He lived near Thomas Brown and operated out of Brown’s trading post. During a trading expedition, he was attacked by Senesas and taken as a prisoner, along with Brown’s son, William. After spending a year in captivity with them, they traded him to the Notteway, who subjected him to a forced march. According to legend, Haig became too weak to continue and asked the Nottoway to take his life. They killed him quickly, as a sign of respect and mercy. This incident is said to have occurred along the Ohio River in 1748, but the exact location is unknown.

Adair and the Southeastern Tribes

Adair was closely associated with the Catawbas, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws in the southeast of the American Colonies. At the time he started trading with them, both the French and the British were attempting to expand and strengthen their alliances with Indian tribes. 

Adair strengthened British ties with tribes in the Mississippi Valley and encouraged them to resist the French and their Indian allies, which brought him to the attention of French and Spanish authorities.

• Adair worked with the Tennessee Cherokees early in his trading career.
• In 1743, he traded with the Catawbas and took a census of their population.
• In 1744, he moved his home and trade business to the Chickasaws in northern Mississippi. He traded with Chickasaw towns on the upper Tombigbee River.
• Adair became close to the Chickasaws, gaining their trust and respect, which helped him convince them to settle at New Windsor, which was near Fort Moore on the Savannah River.
• From there, Adair and the Chickasaws helped defend South Carolina against attacks from enemy Indians, particularly the Shawnees, who were allies of the French.

King George’s War and the Choctaw Civil War

During King George’s War (1744–1748), South Carolina’s Governor, James Glen, hired Adair to carry out a scheme that was intended to divide the Choctaws. Glen hoped to undermine the French and also increase his personal profit from trade with the Choctaws. During the Winter of 1745–1746, Adair saw a chance to weaken French control over the Choctaws.

• He gained the loyalty of Red Shoes, a chief of a pro-British Choctaw faction.
• Red Shoes supported trade with the British instead of the French in New Orleans.
• According to Adair, his actions helped start the Choctaw Civil War (1747–1750) and contributed to the killing of several Frenchmen by Red Shoe and his warriors.
• Pro-British Choctaws in the west clashed with Pro-French Choctaws in the east.
• The Pro-French Choctaws won the war, and a peace treaty was signed in 1750.

During the conflict, Glen undermined Adair by creating the “Sphynx Company” to control trade with the Choctaws. He followed by sending shipments of goods into the region.

• Adair believed that his efforts had opened up these new trade opportunities, but he was not being allowed to benefit from them.
• Adair had financed his operation himself, and Glen refused to reimburse him.
• He criticized Glen and his political allies, whom he blamed for his financial ruin and personal bankruptcy.

1748–1759

Following the war, he visited French officials at Fort Toulouse on the Coosa River, north of present-day Montgomery, Alabama. Upon arrival, he was arrested and sent to the prison in Mobile. However, he escaped en route and appears to have disappeared into the Backcountry until 1750.

• Adair may have spent some time with the Chickasaws at New Windsor.
• By 1750, he was living in present-day Dobbs County, North Carolina, at the invitation of Governor Arthur Dobbs.
• Adair resumed his trade with the Indians, taking notes on their customs, practices, and medicines.

Adair planned to publish a book or broadside about the Choctaw Civil War. However, no copies or evidence of the publication have survived.

• He is known to have met with Governor Glen in 1756 and Governor William Henry Lyttleton in 1758. Adair considered Lyttleton to be a much better leader than Glen.
• Adair requested payment from the South Carolina Commons House of Assembly for causing the Choctaw split that facilitated British trade. His petition was rejected.

Anglo-Cherokee War (1758–1761)

The Anglo-Cherokee War, also referred to as the “First Cherokee War,” was fought from 1758 to 1761 during the French and Indian War (1754—1763). In 1760, Adair recruited Chickasaw warriors to join a South Carolina military expedition against the Cherokees, who were allied with the French and had attacked settlers in South Carolina and Virginia.

• The campaign was led by Colonel Archibald Montgomery.
• Adair was commissioned as a Captain.
• Montgomery’s forces burned Cherokee towns in April and May.
• The expedition encountered resistance, and Montgomery returned to Charleston.
• Adair and his Chickasaw warriors continued fighting for a while after Montgomery withdrew.
• In 1761, Adair joined Colonel James Grant for another expedition, though few details are known.
• Adair received £200 sterling for his service in the war
• According to Adair’s History, the Cherokee population fell to roughly 6,900 after the war.
• After the Anglo-Cherokee War ended, he returned to live with the Chickasaws.
• In 1759, he hoped to be appointed as the Indian Agent to the southwestern Indians, but Edmond Atkin received the position.

1761–1769

Following the French and Indian War, France surrendered most of its American territories to England. Adair set up headquarters in Mobile, which was in West Florida. He is also believed to have spent some time in London, where he may have married Lady Caroline Keppel, the daughter of the Earl of Albemarle.

• In 1763, he once again hoped to be appointed as the Indian Agent to the southwestern Indians, but John Stuart was selected.
• He continued to spend time among the Chickasaws, engaging in trade with them.
• During this period, he likely completed most of his work on History of the American Indians.
• In May 1768, he traveled north, likely to meet with William Johnson, Indian superintendent for New York.
• He may have made several trips to England to visit Lady Caroline, who died in 1769.

History of the American Indians

Adair’s book, History of the American Indians, was published in London in 1775. It offers detailed descriptions of tribes, their customs, languages, and experiences.

• There is no known record of Adair living in London at the time of publication.
• The book is controversial because it suggests Indians are descended from the Jews.
• Although the theory is no longer accepted, the book has remained important.
• Scholars value the book for its accuracy and careful observations about events from the 1740s to the 1770s.

AHC Notes

• History of the Americans (1775) — Published in 1775, the book provides detailed ethnographic observations of tribes such as the Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Catawba. Adair’s central thesis argued that American Indians were descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel, a view now widely discredited. Despite this flawed premise, the work is valued for its firsthand descriptions of Native American customs, languages, trade practices, and intertribal relations during the Colonial Era.
• Jewish Indian Theory — A belief held by some that Native American Indians descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Promulgated by writers such as James Adair, this theory sought to reconcile biblical history with the existence of native peoples in the New World. Although based on superficial comparisons of customs and language, the theory was influential, especially among certain religious groups. It is now rejected by modern scholarship but remains important in understanding early European interpretations of Native identity.
• Lost Tribes of Israel — The ten northern tribes of the ancient Kingdom of Israel that were conquered by the Assyrians around 722 BC and then disappeared from the historical record. These tribes were: Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, and Manasseh. They became the subject of numerous legends and theories. In Colonial America, some Europeans believed that native peoples of the Americas were descendants of these tribes, a theory used to connect Biblical narratives with the New World. The concept influenced early missionary work and perceptions of Native American Indians.

Wives and Children

According to Dr. James B. Adair’s Adair History and Genealogy (1924), Adair returned from London and settled in North Carolina. However, others have suggested he settled near the border of present-day Tennessee and Georgia. Records of his life after 1775 are almost nonexistent, leaving much of his personal life to conjecture.

One account says he married Ann McCarty, and they lived in North Carolina, but others claim he never legally married a white woman. 

• He married McCarty on October 8, 1744, and they had three daughters.
• Adair established a plantation on Great Contentnea Creek, which he named “Fairfields,” after McCarty’s birthplace of Fairfield, Connecticut.
• In 1770, he purchased a plantation in present-day Robeson County, known as “Patcherly.”

He is believed to have lived with or married several Cherokee and Chickasaw women, fathering children with them.

Adair’s Legacy

• Adair was described as appealing, well-educated, and a man of integrity.
• He was known as an “English Chickasaw” due to his close ties with the tribe.
• Adair is known to have been acquainted with Joseph Galloway, Elias Boudinot, and Benjamin Franklin.

Milestones and Accomplishments

• 1735 — James Adair arrived in Charleston, South Carolina.
• 1736 — He started trading with the Cherokee.
• 1743 — Adair traded with the Catawba and took a population census.
• 1744 — He moved to the Chickasaw territory in northern Mississippi.
• 1745–46, Winter — Adair worked to gain Red Shoes’s support and split the Choctaw Nation.
• 1750 — He resumed trading with the Cherokee.
• 1760 — Adair led Chickasaw warriors in support of Colonel Archibald Montgomery’s campaign against the Cherokee.
• 1761 — He joined Colonel James Grant’s expedition during the Cherokee War.
• 1763 — Adair relocated to Mobile after the French ceded territory to Britain following the French and Indian War.
• 1775 — He published History of the American Indians in London.

Appendix

Narrative

AHC Note — This narrative of the life of James Adair is adapted from the Dictionary of American Biography (1943). Please note that minor text corrections have been made and additional spacing has been added to improve readability.

James Adair was an early Indian trader and author. He is said to have been born in County Antrim, Ireland. The known facts of his life are few, gathered in the main from the personal incidents narrated in his book, The History of the American Indians (1775), and occasional references in South Carolina chronicles. Adair History and Genealogy (1924), by J. B. Adair, provides numerous biographical details purported to be based on family tradition; however, few of these are verifiable through available records.

It is certain that Adair was highly educated. By 1735, he had come to America, probably entering at the port of Charleston, South Carolina. In that year, he engaged in trade with the Catawbas and Cherokees, continuing with them until 1744. 

He then established himself among the Chickasaws, whose villages were on the headwaters of the Yazoo, in Mississippi, where he remained for about six years. During the latter part of this period, he frequently visited the Choctaws in an effort to counteract the influence of the French and to win them to an alliance with the English. The effort was successful, but it led to difficulties with other traders and with James Glen, the Royal Governor of South Carolina from 1743 to 1756. According to Adair, this led to his financial ruin. 

In 1751, he moved to the Ninety-Six District and resumed trade with the Cherokees, remaining there until about the end of 1759. His activities during these years covered a wide range. He was several times called in counsel by Governor Glen, with whom he could never agree and whom he heartily detested. 

Among the Indians, he was a diplomat and a peacemaker, but he was also a fighter. Historian John Henry Logan called him “a valiant warrior.” When he could not resolve quarrels among the Indians, he took sides in their wars. At various times, he was engaged in conflicts with the French.

In the Indian War of 1760–1761, he commanded a band of Chickasaws under a commission as captain. From 1761 to 1768, he again traded with the Chickasaws, receiving his supplies via Mobile. 

In 1769, he visited New York City. Either then or a few years later, he probably voyaged to London. Of his later life, nothing authentic is recorded. He was, as the conclusion of his book amply shows, a vigorous defender of the rights of the American Colonies, but there appears to be no mention of him in Revolutionary annals. He is said to have been married and to have had several children, and also to have died in North Carolina shortly after the close of the Revolution.

Adair is chiefly known through his history of the Indians. Primarily, it is an argument that the Indians are the descendants of the ancient Jews. The theory was accepted by Elias Boudinot, onetime president of the Continental Congress, who gave it hearty support in his book, A Star in the West (1816). 

Adair’s work has outlived its thesis. Its account of the various tribes, their manners, customs, and vocabularies, its depiction of scenes, and its narration of incidents in his own eventful career, give it a permanent value. It is a record of close and intelligent observation, and its fidelity to fact has been generally acknowledged. The book must have required many years of toil. In his preface, he says that it was written “among our old friendly Chickasaws,” likely during his second period of residence with them, and that the labor was attended by the greatest difficulties. Although some passages may have been added subsequently, it was probably completed by the end of 1768.

In the Georgia Gazette, of Savannah, October 11, 1769, appeared an item dated February 27 of that year. It was apparently copied from a New York newspaper, and announced his arrival in New York, saying that “he intends going to Europe in the ensuing summer, where he proposes to print the Essays.” 

The care with which the book is printed indicates that he gave it personal supervision through the press. From the dedication, it is evident that he had the friendship of the noted Indian traders, Colonel George Galphin and Colonel George Croghan (with the former of whom he may for a time have been in partnership) and of Sir William Johnson; and from various references, it is certain that he was highly respected by those who knew him. 

The historian Logan credits Adair with the audacity, cool demeanor, and endurance that allowed him to succeed with the Indians. Another historian, Albert T. Volwiler, says that he was one of the few men of ability who personally embarked in the Indian trade.