For a decade now Spanish and English diplomats waged a battle for supremacy among the Creeks. At Caveta two factions formed in the Indian councils. Old Brimins, the Emperor, leaned toward the English; his son, the usingulo Chipacasi (Seepey Coffee), was a staunch supporter of the Spaniards. Numerous contests occurred between the Spanish and English agents who met at the Indian towns in the struggle for control. One such took place in 1717. Diego de Pena, head of an embassy from San Agustin, encountered a party of English traders at Caveta.2 [For Peña's embassy to Caveta, see "Diario del Viaje que hizo el Teniente Diego Pena & Apalachicola," beginning at Savacola on September 20, 1717 (Serrano y Sanz, Documentos Histdricos, 227237; Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, 329, 356-357, 361.] The chiefs held a heated debate. The Emperor adhered to the English, his son to the Spaniards. Chipacasi's oratory and Peña's whiskey were plied in vain, and Pena was forced to leave under escort to prevent a massacre. But it was a drawn battle, for at the same time ten of the English party were expelled from Talapoosa, an Upper Creek town.