Creek Indian Chief William McIntosh (c. 1790-1825) was best remembered for signing the Treaty of Indian Springs on February 12, 1825, in which he and several other chiefs gave up large tracts of their ancestral lands to the state of Georgia. In 1802, Georgia agreed to cede its western property to the United States, while the federal government proceeded gradually to "extinguish" Indian title to all the lands within the area. The settlers became increasingly impatient to claim the lands as their own, while Creek Indians watched anxiously as their territories diminished around them. In 1811, at the Broken Arrow Council, a tribal law was enacted forbidding Indians to sell any more of the Creek nation's lands, under penalty of death. In May of 1825, an "execution" squad headed by Menawa found, shot, and killed McIntosh and two other chiefs for breaking the pact at Indian Springs, even though McIntosh had been promising protection by the state of Georgia. Painting by Charles Bird King. Library of Congress top back forward