STUART, John, British officer, born in England about 1700; died there in 1779. He came to this country in 1733 with General James E. Oglethorpe. When Fort Loudoun was invested by the Cherokees in the French war, he made terms with Oconostota, who consented that the garrison should march out with their arms and have free passage to Virginia. They were massacred on the route, but Stuart, who was popular with the Indians, was spared. In 1863 he was appointed general agent and superintendent of Indian affairs for the southern department. On 14 October, 1768, he concluded a treaty with the Cherokees, fixing the western boundary of Virginia at Kanawha river, to the chagrin of the people of that province. He had a deputy with each tribe, and exerted great influence over the southern Indians. When the Revolutionary war began, he conceived the idea of suppressing the revolt of the colonies by the aid of the savages. The British cabinet approved his plan, which was to land a body of troops in western Florida, which should march through the territory of the Creeks, Chickasaws, and Cherokees, and with the warriors of those nations destroy the settlements and exterminate the Whigs by a sudden blow, their attention being diverted by the landing of an army from Boston and an attack on Charleston by the British fleet. Letters were distributed by Stuart among the loyalists in South Carolina, urging them to join the royal standard as soon as it should be raised in the Cherokee country. He circulated among the tribes in the spring of 1776, and arranged for the murderous raid to take place simultaneously with the appearance of Sir Peter Parker's naval force on the coast. But it was frustrated by the vigilance of the Kentucky settlers. (See OCONOSTOTA and SEVIER, JOHN.) Stuart, after the defeat of the Indians and the discovery of his plans, which Sir Henry Clinton made two later attempts to carry out, fled to Florida, and in 1779 returned to England. His property was confiscated in 1782.--His son, Sir John, British soldier, born in Georgia in 1761 ; died in Clifton, England, 1 April, 1815, was educated at Westminster school, entered the foot-guards as ensign in January, 1779, served under Lord Cornwallis in this country, and was dangerously wounded at Guilford. He was a major-general during the Napoleonic wars, gained a victory over General Jean Louis Reynier at Maida, Sicily, 4 July, 1806, for which he was knighted, and was subsequently made a lieutenant-general.