Among those who visited him in his last years, one has left this description of him: "Dissipation has sapped a constitution originally delicate and feeble.
He possesses an atticism of diction aided by a liberal education, a great fund of wit and humor meliorated by a perfect good nature and politeness." Set beside that kindly picture this rough etching by James Robertson: "The biggest devil among them [the Spaniards] is the half Spaniard, half Frenchman, half Scotchman and altogether Creek scoundrel, McGillivray." How indefatigably McGillivray did his work we know from the bloody annals of the years which followed the British-American peace, when the men of the Cumberland and of Franklin were on the defensive continually.
How cleverly Mire played his personal role we discover in the letters addressed to him by Sevier and Robertson.

These letters show that, as far as words go at any rate, the founders of Tennessee were willing to negotiate with Spain.

In a letter dated September 12, 1788, Sevier offered himself and his tottering State of Franklin to the Spanish King.
This offer may have been made to gain a respite, or it may have been genuine.

The situation in the Tennessee settlements was truly desperate, for neither North Carolina nor Congress apparently cared in the least what befell them or how soon.

North Carolina indeed was in an anomalous position, as she had not yet ratified the Federal Constitution.