The sagacious and unscrupulous half breed Alexander McGillivray had placed the Creeks under the protection of Spain in 1784; and shortly afterward they began to be regularly supplied with ammunition by the Spanish authorities.
At first Spain pursued the policy of secretly encouraging these Indians to resist the encroachments of the Americans, while she remained on outwardly friendly terms with the United States.
During the period of the Spanish conspiracy, however, there is reason to believe that Miro endeavored to keep the Indians at peace with the borderers, as a friendly service, intended to pave the way for the establishment of intimate relations between Spain and the dwellers in the trans-Alleghany.

Yet his efforts cannot have been very effective; for the Cumberland settlements continued to suffer from the ravages and depredations of the Creeks, who remained "totally averse to peace, notwithstanding they have had no cause of offence"; and Robertson and Bledsoe reported to Governor Caswell (June 12, 1787): "It is certain, the Chickasaws inform us, that Spanish traders offer a reward for scalps of the Americans." The Indian atrocities became so frequent that Robertson later in the summer headed a party on the famous Coldwater Expedition, in which he severely chastised the marauding Indians.

Aroused by the loss of a number of chiefs and warriors at the hands of Robertson's men, and instigated, as was generally believed, by the Spaniards, the Creeks then prosecuted their attacks with renewed violence against the Cumberland settlements.
Unprotected either by the mother state or by the national government, unable to secure free passage to the Gulf for their products, and sorely pressed to defend their homes, now seriously endangered by the incessant attacks of the Creeks, the Cumberland leaders decided to make secret overtures to McGillivray, as well as to communicate to Miro, through Dr.White, their favorable inclination toward the proposals of the one country which promised them protection.

In a letter which McGillivray wrote to Miro (transmitted to Madrid, June 15, 1788) in regard to the visit of Messrs.

Hackett and Ewing, two trusty messengers sent by Robertson and Bledsoe, he reports that the two delegates from the district of Cumberland had not only submitted to him proposals of peace but "had added that they would throw themselves into the arms of His Majesty as subjects, and that Kentucky and Cumberland are determined to free themselves from their dependence on Congress, because that body can not protect either their property, or favor their commerce, and they therefore believe that they no longer owe obedience to a power which is incapable of protecting them." Commenting upon McGillivray's communication, Miro said in his report to Madrid (June 15, 1788): "I consider as extremely interesting the intelligence conveyed to McGillivray by the deputies on the fermentation existing in Kentucky, with regard to a separation from the Union.