As Spanish influence declined, the Carolinians achieved new successes among the Indians. In 1723 English traders freely distributed muskets and pikes among the Lower Creeks, encouraging them to join the Talapuses and Uchizes in the proposed war on the Spanish Yamasees. Governor Benavides was so disturbed over the menace of these two “independent and uncivilized” tribes that he begged the French in Mobile—unsuccessfully—to sell him 600 muskets and 6,000 musket balls for the defense of the six Yamasee villages. [Note 37: gov to king 10/15/1723] AN318 (Tepaske GSF)