At the age of nineteen, Paddy Carr was principal interpreter for the Creek chiefs when they visited President John Quincy Adams in 1826 to protest bitterly the infamous Indian Springs treaty. Colonel McKenney, who later witnessed the new treaty with Secretary of War James Barbour, found the young half-breed to have "a quick perception of the human character, which enabled him to manage and control the Indians with more success than many who were his seniors...in rapidly interpreting the speeches the Indian orators...he often gave it additional vigor and clearness.... He possessed the entire confidence of the whole delegation, who regarded him as a youth of superior talents".

It was clear that Paddy Carr, son of an Irish trader and a Creek woman, did not intend to remain an interpreter for occasional traders, horse dealers, and infrequent Indian commissioners who only appeared when the government wanted to buy more land. Shortly after his return from Washington he wooed and married the pretty daughter of a wealthy half-breed farmer, who presented his new son-in-law with a generous dowry. In ten years Paddy owned considerable land, herds of horses and cattle, and seventy to eighty slaves-many more than a Virginia aristocrat.

In 1826, he defied his neighbors and became interpreter for General Thomas Sidney Jesup in the Creek country. Later he served as second in command of a large force of Creek warriors who fought as mercenaries against the Seminole.

Racehorses became his passion, and in later years the former Indian interpreter owned a large stable of blooded ponies. McKenney wrote that "when he has a trial of speed...he cannot suit himself with a rider, he rides his own horse".

Paddy Carr was now one of the lords of his valley and the chief source of employment for many poor Creek families. McKenney called him a man of "a liberal and generous disposition, hospitable to strangers, and kind to the poor."

Evidently the handsome half-breed not only had a fine eye for blooded horses but also for pretty women. In the 1830s he had three wives, all described as attractive.