The Cherokee Nation of Indians. (1887 N 05 / 1883-1884 (pages 121-378))

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Title: The Cherokee Nation of Indians. (1887 N 05 / 1883-1884 (pages 121-378))

Author: Charles C. Royce

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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION--BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.

THE CHEROKEE NATION OF INDIANS:

A NARRATIVE OF THEIR OFFICIAL RELATIONS WITH THE
COLONIAL AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS.

CHARLES C. ROYCE.

Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1883-1884, Government
Printing Office, Washington, 1887, pages 121-378.

CONTENTS.

Page.

Introduction 129
Cessions of land--Colonial period 130
Cessions of land--Federal period 131
Treaty of November 28, 1785 133
Material provisions 133
Historical data 134
De Soto's expedition 134
Early traditions 136
Early contact with Virginia colonists 138
Early relations with Carolina colonists 138
Mention by various early authors 139
Territory of Cherokees at period of English settlement 140
Population 142
Old Cherokee towns 142
Expulsion of Shawnees by Cherokees and Chickasaws 144
Treaty relations with the colonies 144
Treaty relations with the United States 152
Proceedings at treaty of Hopewell 153
Treaty of July 2, 1791 158
Material provisions 158
Historical data 160
Causes of dissatisfaction with boundary of 1785 160
Tennessee Company's purchase 162
Difficulties in negotiating new treaty 162
Survey of new boundaries 163
Treaty of February 17, 1792 169
Material provisions 169
Historical data 169
Discontent of Cherokees 169
War with Cherokees 170
Treaty of June 26, 1794 171
Material provisions 171
Historical data 171
Complaints concerning boundaries 171
Cherokee hostilities 173
Intercourse act of 1796 173
Treaty of October 2, 1798 174
Material provisions 174
Historical data 175
Disputes respecting territory 175
Treaty of October 24, 1804 183
Material provisions 183
Historical data 184
New treaty authorized by Congress 184
Wafford's settlement 186
Further negotiations authorized 187
Treaty of October 25, 1805 189
Material provisions 189
Treaty of October 27, 1805 190
Material provisions 190
Historical data respecting this treaty and the preceding one 190
Continued negotiations authorized 190
Controversy concerning "Doublehead" tract 192
Treaty of January 7, 1806 193
Material provisions 193
Treaty of September 11, 1807 194
Material provisions 194
Historical data 195
Controversy concerning boundaries 195
Explanatory treaty negotiated 197
Treaty of March 22, 1816, ceding land in South Carolina 197
Material provisions 197
Treaty of March 22, 1816, defining certain boundaries, etc 198
Material provisions 198
Historical data 199
Colonel Earle's negotiations for the purchase of iron ore
tract 199
Tennessee fails to conclude a treaty with the Cherokees 201
Removal of Cherokees to the west of the Mississippi proposed 202
Efforts of South Carolina to extinguish Cherokee title 204
Boundary between Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws 205
Roads through the Cherokee country 208
Treaty of September 14, 1816 209
Material provisions 209
Historical data 210
Further purchase of Cherokee lands 210
Treaty of July 8, 1817 212
Material provisions 212
Historical data 214
Policy of removing Indian tribes to the west of the
Mississippi River 214
Further cession of territory by the Cherokees 216
Treaty of February 27, 1819 219
Material provisions 219
Historical data 221
Cherokees west of the Mississippi--their wants and condition 221
Disputes among Cherokees concerning emigration 222
Public sentiment in Tennessee and Georgia concerning
Cherokee removal 223
Treaty concluded for further cession of land 225
Status of certain Cherokees 228
Treaty of May 6, 1828 229
Material provisions 229
Historical data 231
Return J. Meigs and the Cherokees 231
Tennessee denies validity of Cherokee reservations 232
United States agree to extinguish Indian title in Georgia 233
Treaty of May 6, 1828--Continued.
Cherokee progress in civilization 240
Failure of negotiations for further cession of lands 241
Cherokee Nation adopts a constitution 241
Cherokee affairs west of the Mississippi 242
Treaty of February 14, 1833 249
Material provisions 249
Historical data 251
Conflicting land claims of Creeks and Cherokees west of
the Mississippi 251
Purchase of Osage half-breed reserves 252
President Jackson refuses to approve treaty of 1834 252
Treaty of December 29, 1835 253
Material provisions 253
Treaty of March 1, 1836 (supplementary articles) 257
Material provisions 257
Historical data 258
Zealous measures for removal of Eastern Cherokees 258
General Carroll's report on the condition of the Cherokees 259
Failure of Colonel Lowry's mission 262
Decision of Supreme Court in "Cherokee Nation v. Georgia" 262
Failure of Mr. Chester's mission 262
Decision of Supreme Court in "Worcester v. Georgia" 264
Disputed boundaries between Cherokees and Creeks 266
Cherokees plead with Congress and the President for justice 272
Cherokees propose an adjustment 274
Cherokees memorialize Congress 275
Treaty negotiations resumed 278
Report of Major Davis 284
Elias Boudinot's views 285
Speech of General R. G. Dunlap 285
Report of General John E. Wool 286
Report of John Mason, Jr. 286
Henry Clay's sympathy with the Cherokees 287
Policy of the President criticised--Speech of Col. David
Crockett 288
General Winfield Scott ordered to command troops in Cherokee
country 291
John Ross proposes a new treaty 291
Cherokees permitted to remove themselves 292
Dissension among Cherokees in their new home 292
Cherokees charge the United States with bad faith 296
Per capita payments under treaty of 1835 297
Political murders in Cherokee Nation 297
Adjudication commissioners appointed 298
Treaty of August 6, 1846 298
Material provisions 298
Historical data 300
Cherokees desire a new treaty 300
Feuds between the "Ross," "Treaty," and "Old Settler" parties 301
Death of Sequoyah, or George Guess 302
Old Settler and Treaty parties propose to remove to Mexico 302
More political murders 303
Negotiation of treaty of 1846 304
Affairs of the North Carolina Cherokees 313
Treaty of August 6, 1846--Continued.
Proposed removal of the Catawba Indians to the Cherokee
country. 317
Financial difficulties of the Cherokees 318
Murder of the Adairs and others 319
Financial distresses--New treaty proposed 320
Slavery in the Cherokee Nation 321
Removal of white settlers on Cherokee land 322
Fort Gibson abandoned by the United States 322
Removal of trespassers on neutral land 323
John Ross opposes survey and allotment of Cherokee domain 324
Political excitement in 1860 324
Cherokees and the Southern Confederacy 326
Cherokee troops for the Confederate army 328
A Cherokee Confederate regiment deserts to the United States 329
Ravages of war in the Cherokee Nation 332
Treaty of July 19, 1866 334
Material provisions 334
Treaty of April 27, 1868 (supplemental) 340
Material provisions 340
Historical data 341
United States desire to remove Indians from Kansas to Indian
Territory 341
Council of southern tribes at Camp Napoleon 341
General council at Fort Smith 341
Conference at Washington, D.C. 345
Cession and sale of "Cherokee strip" and "neutral lands" 348
Appraisal of confiscated property--census 351
New treaty concluded but never ratified 351
Boundaries of the Cherokee domain 354
Delawares, Munsees, and Shawnees join the Cherokees 356
Friendly tribes to be located on Cherokee lands west of 96° 358
East and north boundaries of Cherokee country 365
Railroads through Indian Territory 366
Removal of intruders--Cherokee citizenship 367
General remarks 371

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.

PLATE VII. Earliest map showing location of the Cherokees. 1597 128

VIII. Map of the former territorial limits of the Cherokee
Nation of Indians, exhibiting the boundaries of the
various cessions of land made by them to the colonies
and to the United States. 1884[1]

IX. Map showing the territory originally assigned to the 379
Cherokee Indians west of the Mississippi River; also,
the boundaries of the territory now occupied or owned
by them. 1884[1]

[Illustration: EARLIEST MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF THE CHEROKEES--1597.]

THE CHEROKEE NATION OF INDIANS.

By CHARLES C. ROYCE.

INTRODUCTORY.

An historical atlas of Indian affairs has for some time past been in
course of preparation under the direction of the Bureau of Ethnology,
Smithsonian Institution.

The chief aim of this atlas is to show upon a series of State and
Territorial maps the boundaries of the various tracts of country which
have from time to time been acquired through the medium of treaty
stipulation or act of Congress from the several Indian tribes resident
within the present territory of the United States from the beginning of
the Federal period to the present day.

Accompanying this atlas will be one or more volumes of historical
text, wherein will be given with some detail a history of the official
relations between the United States and these tribes. This will treat
of the various negotiations for peace and for the acquisition of
territory, the causes rendering such negotiations necessary, and the
methods observed by the Government through its authorized agents in
this diplomacy, as well as other matters of public concern growing out
of the same.

The following monograph on the history of the Cherokees, with its
accompanying maps, is given as an illustration of the character of the
work in its treatment of each of the Indian tribes.

The maps are intended to show not only the ancestral but the present
home of the Cherokees, and also to indicate the boundaries of the
various tracts of territory purchased from them by the Colonial or
Federal authorities from time to time since their first contact with
the European settlements. A number of purchases made prior to the
Federal period by individuals were unauthorized and unrecognized by the
Colonial authorities, and their boundaries, though given in the text,
are not laid down upon the map, because the same areas of territory
were afterwards included within the limits of Colonial purchases.

In the preparation of this article, more particularly in the tracing
out of the various boundary lines, much careful attention and research
have been given to all available authorities or sources of information.
The old manuscript records of the Government, the shelves of the
Congressional Library, including its very large collection of American
maps, local records, and the knowledge of "old settlers," as well as
the accretions of various State historical societies, have been made to
pay tribute to the subject.

In the course of these researches the writer has been met in his
inquiries with a degree of courtesy and kindly assistance that merits
public recognition.

Among others who have shown an earnest desire to promote the object
of these investigations are Hon. John M. Lea, vice-president State
Historical Society of Tennessee; General Robert N. Hood, Spencer
Munson, and R. H. Armstrong, of Knoxville, Tenn. The writer is also
deeply indebted to the Hon. Hiram Price, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, and E. L. Stevens, chief clerk, for the readiness with which
they afforded him access to the records and files of the Indian
Bureau. This permission was earnestly supplemented by the intelligent
assistance and encouragement of Mr. C. A. Maxwell, chief of the Land
Division, as well as that of R. F. Thompson and Paul Brodie, of the
same Bureau, both of whom have taken special and constant pains to aid
these researches.

To Captain Adams, of the Bureau of Topographical Engineers, the hearty
thanks of the writer are due for many courtesies extended in the
examination of the voluminous and valuable collection of maps belonging
to that branch of the public service, and equal credit must be given to
Mr. G. P. Strum, principal draughtsman of the General Land Office, and
his assistants, for their uniform courtesy in affording access to the
official plats and records of that Bureau.

The officers of the Congressional Library have also shown a marked
degree of courtesy and interest.

* * * * *

The various cessions of land by the Cherokees alluded to in the text
are numerically designated upon the accompanying maps, and are as
follows:

COLONIAL PERIOD.

FEDERAL PERIOD.

The arrangement of the historical text has seemed to the writer to be
that best suited to the object in view. As will be observed, an abstract
of the salient provisions of each treaty is given, beginning with the
first treaty concluded between the Cherokee Nation and the United
States of America. In each instance, immediately following this abstract,
will be found the historical data covering the period and the
events leading to its negotiation, as well as those of the subsequent
period intimately connected with the results of such treaty.

TREATIES WITH THE CHEROKEES.

TREATY CONCLUDED NOVEMBER 28, 1785.[2]

_At Hopewell, on the Keowee River, in South Carolina, between
Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, Joseph Martin, and Lachlane
M'Intosh, Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the United States, and
the Headmen and Warriors of all the Cherokees._

MATERIAL PROVISIONS.

The United States give peace to the Cherokees and receive them into
favor and protection on the following conditions:

1. The Cherokees to restore to liberty all prisoners citizens of the
United States or subjects of their allies; also, all negroes and other
property taken from citizens during the late war.

2. The United States to restore to the Cherokees all Indian prisoners
taken during the late war.

3. The Cherokees to acknowledge themselves under the exclusive
protection of the United States.

4. The boundary line between the Cherokees' hunting-ground and the
United States to be as follows, viz: Begin at the mouth of Duck River
on the Tennessee; thence northeast to the ridge dividing the waters
falling into the Cumberland from those falling into the Tennessee;
thence eastwardly along said ridge to a northeast line to be run, which
shall strike Cumberland River 40 miles above Nashville; thence along
said line to the river; thence up the river to the ford where the
Kentucky road crosses; thence to Campbell's line near Cumberland Gap;
thence to the mouth of Claud's Creek on Holstein; thence to Chimney-Top
Mountain; thence to Camp Creek, near the mouth of Big Limestone on
Nolichucky; thence southerly six (6) miles to a mountain; thence
south to the North Carolina line; thence to the South Carolina Indian
boundary, and along the same southwest over the top of Oconee Mountain
till it shall strike Tugaloo River; thence a direct line to the top
of Currohee Mountain; thence to the head of the south fork of Oconee
River.

5. Citizens of the United States or persons other than Indians who
settle or attempt to settle on lands west or south of said boundary and
refuse to remove within six months after ratification of this treaty
to forfeit the protection of the United States, and the Indians to
punish them or not, as they please: _Provided_, That this article shall
not extend to the people settled between the fork of French Broad and
Holstein Rivers, whose status shall be determined by Congress.

6. The Cherokees to deliver up for punishment all Indian criminals for
offenses against citizens of the United States.

7. Citizens of the United States committing crimes against Indians to
be punished by the United States in the presence of the Cherokees, to
whom due notice of the time and place of such intended punishment shall
be given.

8. Retaliation declared unjust and not to be practiced.

9. The United States to have sole right of regulating trade with the
Indians and managing their affairs.

10. Traders to have liberty to trade with the Cherokees until Congress
shall adopt regulations relative thereto.

11. Cherokees to give notice of any designs formed by other tribes
against the peace, trade, or interests of the United States.

12. Cherokees to have the right to send a deputy of their choice to
Congress whenever they think fit.

13. The hatchet to be forever buried between the United States and
Cherokees.

HISTORICAL DATA.

FERNANDO DE SOTO'S EXPEDITION.

The Cherokee Nation has probably occupied a more prominent place in
the affairs and history of what is now the United States of America,
since the date of the early European settlements, than any other tribe,
nation, or confederacy of Indians, unless it be possible to except the
powerful and warlike league of the Iroquois or Six Nations of New York.

It is almost certain that they were visited at a very early period
following the discovery of the American continent by that daring and
enthusiastic Spaniard, Fernando De Soto.

In determining the exact route pursued by him from his landing
in Florida to his death beyond the Mississippi, many insuperable
difficulties present themselves, arising not only from an inadequate
description on the part of the historian of the courses and distances
pursued, but from many statements made by him that are irreconcilable
with an accurate knowledge of the topographic detail of the country
traversed.

A narrative of the expedition, "by a gentleman of Elvas," was published
at Evora in 1557, and translated from the Portuguese by Richard
Hakluyt, of London, in 1609. From this narrative it appears that after
traveling a long distance in a northeasterly direction from his point
of landing on the west coast of Florida, De Soto reached, in the spring
of 1540, an Indian town called by the narrator "Cutifachiqui." From the
early American maps of De L'Isle and others, upon which is delineated
the supposed route of De Soto, this town appears to be located on the
Santee River, and, as alleged by the "gentleman of Elvas," on the
authority of the inhabitants, was two days' journey from the sea-coast.

The expedition left Cutifachiqui on the 3d of May, 1540, and pursued
a northward course for the period of seven days, when it came to a
province called Chelaque, "the poorest country of maize that was seen
in Florida." It is recorded that the Indians of this province "feed
upon roots and herbs, which they seek in the fields, and upon wild
beasts, which they kill with their bows and arrows, and are a very
gentle people. All of them go naked and are very lean."

That this word "Chalaque" is identical with our modern Cherokee would
appear to be almost an assured fact. The distance and route pursued
by the expedition are both strongly corroborative of this assumption.
The orthography of the name was probably taken by the Spaniards from
the Muscogee pronunciation, heard by them among the Creeks, Choctaws,
and Chickasaws. It is asserted by William Bartram, in his travels
through that region in the eighteenth century, that in the "Muscogulge"
language the letter "r" is not sounded in a single word, but that on
the contrary it occurs very frequently in the Cherokee tongue.[3]

Through this province of Chalaque De Soto passed, still pursuing
his northward course for five days until he reached the province of
"Xualla," a name much resembling the modern Cherokee word Qualla. The
route from Cutifachiqui to Xualla lay, for the most part, through a
hilly country. From the latter province the expedition changed its
course to the west, trending a little to the south, and over "very
rough and high hills," reaching at the end of five days a town or
province which was called "Guaxule," and two days later a town called
"Canasagua," an orthography almost identical with the modern Cherokee
name of Canasauga, as applied to both a stream and a town within their
Georgia limits.

Assuming that these people, whose territory De Soto thus traversed,
were the ancestors of the modern Cherokees, it is the first mention
made of them by European discoverers and more than a century anterior
to the period when they first became known to the pioneers of permanent
European occupation and settlement.

_Earliest map._--The earliest map upon which I have found "Chalaqua"
located is that of "Florida et Apalche" by Cornely Wytfliet, published
in 1597.[4] This location is based upon the narrative of De Soto's
expedition, and is fixed a short distance east of the Savannah River
and immediately south of the Appalachian Mountains. "Xualla" is placed
to the west of and near the headwaters of the "Secco" or Savannah River.

EARLY TRADITIONS.

Haywood, in his Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, records
many of the traditions concerning the origin and the primal habitat of
the Cherokees. He notes the fact that they were firmly established on
the Tennessee or Hogohege River before the year 1650, and exercised
dominion over all the country on the east side of the Alleghany
Mountains, including the headwaters of the Yadkin, Catawba, Broad, and
Savannah Rivers, and that from thence westward they claimed the country
as far as the Ohio, and thence to the headwaters of the Chattahoochee
and Alabama. One tradition which he alleges existed among them asserts
their migration from the west to the upper waters of the Ohio, where
they erected the mounds on Grave Creek, gradually working eastward
across the Alleghany Mountains to the neighborhood of Monticello, Va.,
and along the Appomattox River.

From this point, it is alleged, they removed to the Tennessee country
about 1623, when the Virginians suddenly and unexpectedly fell upon
and massacred the Indians throughout the colony. After this massacre,
the story goes, they came to New River and made a temporary settlement
there as well as one on the head of the Holston; but, owing to the
enmity of the northern Indians, they removed in a short time to the
Little Tennessee and founded what were known as "Middle Settlements."
Another tribe, he alleges, came from the neighborhood of Charleston,
South Carolina, and settled lower down the Tennessee. This branch
called themselves "Ketawanga," and came last into the country. The
tradition as to those who came from Virginia seeks also to establish
the idea that the Powhatan Indians were Cherokees. The whole story is
of the vaguest character, and if the remainder has no stronger claims
to credibility than their alleged identity with the Powhatans, it is
scarcely worthy of record except as a matter of curiosity.

In fact the explorations of De Soto leave almost convincing proof that
the Cherokees were occupying a large proportion of their more modern
territory nearly a century prior to their supposed removal from the
Appomattox.

Pickett, in his History of Alabama, improves upon the legend of Haywood
by asserting as a well established fact what the latter only presumes
to offer as a tradition.

However, as affording a possible confirmation of the legend related by
Haywood concerning their early location in Eastern Virginia, it may
be worth while to allude to a tradition preserved among the Mohican or
Stockbridge tribe. It appears that in 1818 the Delawares, who were then
residing on White River, in Indiana, ceded their claim to lands in that
region to the United States. This land had been conditionally given by
the Miamis many years before to the Delawares, in conjunction with the
"Moheokunnuks" (or Stockbridges) and Munsees. Many of the latter two
tribes or bands, including a remnant of the Nanticokes, had not yet
removed to their western possessions, though they were preparing to
remove. When they ascertained that the Delawares had ceded the lands to
the United States without their consent, they objected and sought to
have the cession annulled.

In connection with a petition presented to Congress by them on the
subject in the year 1819, they set forth in detail the tradition
alluded to. The story had been handed down to them from their ancestors
that "many thousand moons ago" before the white men came over the
"great water," the Delawares dwelt along the banks of the river that
bears their name. They had enjoyed a long era of peace and prosperity
when the Cherokees, Nanticokes, and some other nation whose name had
been forgotten, envying their condition, came from the south with a
great army and made war upon them. They vanquished the Delawares and
drove them to an island in the river. The latter sent for assistance to
the Mohicans, who promptly came to their relief, and the invaders were
in turn defeated with great slaughter and put to flight. They sued for
peace, and it was granted on condition that they should return home and
never again make war on the Delawares or their allies. These terms were
agreed to and the Cherokees and Nanticokes ever remained faithful to
the conditions of the treaty.

The inference to be drawn from this legend, if it can be given any
credit whatever, would lead to the belief that the Cherokees and the
Nanticokes were at that time neighbors and allies. The original home
of the Nanticokes on the Eastern Shore of Maryland is well known, and
if the Cherokees (or at least this portion of them) were then resident
beyond the Alleghanies, with sundry other powerful tribes occupying
the territory between them and the Nanticokes, it is unlikely that any
such alliance for offensive operations would have existed between them.
Either the tradition is fabulous or at least a portion of the Cherokees
were probably at one time residents of the Eastern slope of Virginia.

The Delawares also have a tradition that they came originally from the
west, and found a tribe called by them Allegewi or Allegans occupying
the eastern portion of the Ohio Valley. With the aid of the Iroquois,
with whom they came in contact about the same time, the Delawares
succeeded in driving the Allegans out of the Ohio Valley to the
southward.

Schoolcraft suggests the identity of the Allegans with the Cherokees,
an idea that would seem to be confirmatory of the tradition given by
Haywood, in so far as it relates to an early Cherokee occupancy of Ohio.

EARLY CONTACT WITH VIRGINIA COLONISTS.

Whatever the degree of probability attending these legends, it
would seem that the settlers of Virginia had an acquaintance with
the Cherokees prior to that of the South Carolina immigrants, who
for a number of years after their first occupation, confined their
explorations to a narrow strip of country in the vicinity of the
sea-coast, while the Virginians had been gradually extending their
settlements far up toward the headwaters of the James River and had
early perceived the profits to be derived from the Indian trade.

Sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia, equipped an expedition,
consisting of fourteen Englishmen and an equal number of Virginia
Indians, for the exploration of the country to the west of the existing
settlements. The party was under the command of Capt. Henry Batt, and
in seven days' travel from their point of departure, at Appomattox,
they reached the foot of the mountains. The first ridge they crossed
is described as not being very high or steep, but the succeeding ones
"seemed to touch the clouds," and were so steep that an average day's
march did not exceed three miles.

They came upon extensive and fertile valleys, covered with luxuriant
grass, and found the forests abounding in all kinds of game, including
turkeys, deer, elk, and buffalo. After passing beyond the mountains
they entered an extensive level country, through which a stream flowed
in a westward course, and after following it for a few days they
reached some old fields and recently deserted Indian cabins. Beyond
this point their Indian guides refused to proceed, alleging that
not far away dwelt a powerful tribe that never suffered strangers
who discovered their towns to return alive, and the expedition was
therefore compelled to return. According to the historian, Burke, this
expedition took place in 1667, while Beverly, not quite so definite,
assigns it to the decade between 1666 and 1676.[5] It is believed that
the powerful nation of Indians alluded to in the narrative of this
expedition was the Cherokees, and, if so, it is apparently the first
allusion made to them in the history of the colonial settlements.

That the Virginians were the first to be brought in contact with the
Cherokees is further evidenced by the fact that in 1690 an Indian
trader from that colony, bearing the name of Daugherty, had taken up
his residence among them, which is alleged by the historian[6] to
have been several years before any knowledge of the existence of the
Cherokees reached the settlers on Ashley River in South Carolina.

EARLY RELATIONS WITH CAROLINA COLONISTS.

The first formal introduction of the Cherokees to the notice of the
people of that colony occurred in the year 1693,[7] when twenty
Cherokee chiefs visited Charleston, with proposals of friendship, and
at the same time solicited the assistance of the governor in their
operations against the Esau and Coosaw tribes, who had captured and
carried off a number of Cherokees.

The Savannah Indians, it seems, had also been engaged in incursions
against them, in the course of which they had captured a number of
Cherokees and sold them to the colonial authorities as slaves.

The delegation urgently solicited the governor's protection from the
further aggressions of these enemies and the return of their bondaged
countrymen. The desired protection was promised them, but as their
enslaved brethren had already been shipped to the West Indies and sold
into slavery there, it was impossible to return them.

The extreme eastern settlements of the Cherokees at this time were
within the limits of the present Chester and Fairfield districts, South
Carolina, which lie between the Catawba and Broad Rivers.[8]

MENTION BY VARIOUS EARLY AUTHORS.

We next find an allusion to the Cherokees in the annals of Louisiana by
M. Pericaut, who mentions in his chronicle of the events of the year
1702, that "ten leagues from the mouth of this river [Ohio] another
falls into it called Kasquinempas [Tennessee]. It takes its source from
the neighborhood of the Carolinas and passes through the village of the
Cherokees, a populous nation that number some fifty thousand warriors,"
another example of the enormous overestimates of aboriginal population
to which the earlier travelers and writers were so prone.

Again, in 1708, the same author relates that "about this time two
Mobilians who had married in the Alibamon nation, and who lived among
them with their families, discovered that that nation was inimical to
the Mobilians as well as the French, and had made a league with the
Cheraquis, the Abeikas, and the Conchaques to wage war against the
French and Mobilians and burn their villages around our fort."

On various early maps of North America, and particularly those of De
L'Isle, between the years 1700 and 1712, will be found indicated upon
the extreme headwaters of the Holston and Clinch Rivers, "gros villages
des Cheraqui." These villages correspond in location with the great
nation alluded to in the narrative of Sir William Berkeley's expedition.

Upon the same maps will be found designated the sites of sundry other
Cherokee villages, several of which are on the extreme headwaters of
the "R. des Chaouanons." This river, although indicated on the map
as emptying into the Atlantic Ocean to the west of the Santee, from
its relation to the other streams in that vicinity, is believed to be
intended for the Broad River, which is a principal northwest branch of
the Santee. Other towns will also be found on the banks of the Upper
Catawba, and they are, as well, quite numerous along the headwaters of
the "R. des Caouilas" or Savannah and of the Little Tennessee.

Mention is again found of the Cherokees in the year 1712, when 218
of them accompanied Colonel Barnwell in his expedition against the
hostile Tuscaroras and aided in the subjugation of that savage tribe,
though along the route of Barnwell's march the settlers were very
nearly persuaded that they suffered greater damage to property from
the freebooting propensities of their Indian allies than from the open
hostilities of their savage enemies.

The old colonial records of South Carolina also contain mention in the
following year (1713) of the fact that Peter St. Julien was arraigned
on the charge of holding two Cherokee women in slavery.[9]

In 1715 the Yamassees, a powerful and hitherto friendly tribe,
occupying the southwesterly portion of the colony of South Carolina and
extending to and beyond the Savannah River, declared open hostilities
against the settlers. In the desperate struggle that ensued, we find
in full alliance with them the Cherokees, as well as the Creeks and
Appalachians.

In his historical journal of the establishment of the French in
Louisiana, Bernard de la Harpe states that "in January, 1716, some
of the Cheraquis Indians, who lived northeast of Mobile, killed MM.
de Ramsay and de Longueil. Some time after, the father of the latter
gentleman, the King's lieutenant in Canada, engaged the Iroquois to
surprise this tribe. They sacked two of their villages and obliged the
rest to retreat towards New England."

TERRITORY OF CHEROKEES AT PERIOD OF ENGLISH SETTLEMENT.

At the time of the English settlement of the Carolinas the Cherokees
occupied a diversified and well-watered region of country of large
extent upon the waters of the Catawba, Broad, Saluda, Keowee, Tugaloo,
Savannah, and Coosa Rivers on the east and south, and several of the
tributaries of the Tennessee on the north and west. It is impossible
at this late day to define with absolute accuracy the original limits
of the Cherokee claim. In fact, like all other tribes, they had no
definite and concurrent understanding with their surrounding savage
neighbors where the possessions of the one left off and those of the
other began. The strength of their title to any particular tract of
country usually decreased in proportion to the increase of the distance
from their villages; and it commonly followed as a result, that a
considerable strip of territory between the settlements of two powerful
tribes, though claimed by both, was practically considered as neutral
ground and the common hunting ground of both.

As has already been stated, the extreme eastern settlements of
the Cherokees in South Carolina in 1693 were in the district of
country lying between the Catawba and Broad Rivers, and no claim has
been found showing the existence at any time of any assertion of
territorial right in their behalf to the east of the former stream.
But nevertheless, on Bowen's map of 1752 (obviously copied from earlier
maps), there is laid down the name of "Keowee Old Town." The location
of this town was on Deep River in the vicinity of the present town
of Ashborough, N. C. It was a favorite name of the Cherokees among
their towns, and affords a strong evidence of at least a temporary
residence of a portion of the tribe in that vicinity. A map executed
by John Senex in 1721 defines the Indian boundary in this region as
following the Catawba, Wateree, and Santee Rivers as far down as
the most westerly bend of the latter stream, in the vicinity of the
boundary line between Orangeburg and Charleston districts, whence it
pursued a southwesterly course to the Edisto River, which it followed
to the sea-coast. The southern portion of this boundary was of course
a definition of limits between Carolina and the Creeks, or rather of
certain tribes that formed component parts of the Creek confederacy. No
evidence has been discovered tending to show an extension of Cherokee
limits in a southerly direction beyond the point mentioned above on
the Edisto River, which, as near as can be ascertained, was at the
junction of the North and South Edisto. Following from thence up the
South Edisto to its source the boundary pursued a southwesterly course,
striking the Savannah River in the vicinity of the mouth of Stevens
Creek, and proceeding thence northwardly along the Savannah.

On the borders of Virginia and North Carolina the ancient limits of the
Cherokees seem to be also shrouded in more or less doubt and confusion.
In general terms, however, it may be said that after following the
Catawba River to its source in the Blue Ridge the course of those
mountains was pursued until their intersection with the continuation of
the Great Iron Mountain range, near Floyd Court-House, Va., and thence
to the waters of the Kanawha or New River, whence their claim continued
down that stream to the Ohio. At a later date they also set up a claim
to the country extending from the mouth of the Kanawha down the Ohio
to the ridge dividing the waters of the Cumberland from those of the
Tennessee at the mouths of those streams, and thence following that
ridge to a point northeast of the mouth of Duck River; thence to the
mouth of Duck River on the Tennessee, and continuing up with the course
of the latter river to Bear Creek; up the latter to a point called Flat
Rock, and thence to the Ten Islands in Coosa River, &c.

That portion of the country thus covered, comprising a large part of
the present States of West Virginia and Kentucky, was also claimed by
the Six Nations by right of former conquest, as well as by the Shawnees
and Delawares.

Adair, a trader for forty years among the Cherokees, who traveled
extensively through their country about the middle of the eighteenth
century, thus specifically outlines the boundaries of their country
at that period: "The country lies in about 34 degrees north
latitude at the distance of 340 computed miles to the northwest of
Charlestown,--140 miles west-southwest from the Katahba Nation,--and
almost 200 miles to the north of the Muskohge or Creek country. They
are settled nearly in an east and west course about 140 miles in
length from the lower towns, where Fort-Prince-George stands, to the
late unfortunate Fort Loudon. The natives make two divisions of their
country, which they term '_Ayrate_' and '_Otarre_,' the one signifying
'low' and the other 'mountainous.'"

POPULATION.

In point of numbers the Cherokee population now considerably exceeds
that first enumerated by the early colonial authorities. As early
as 1715 the proprietors of the South Carolina Plantation instructed
Governor Robert Johnson to cause a census to be taken of all the
Indian tribes within that jurisdiction, and from his report it appears
that the Cherokee Nation at that time contained thirty towns and an
aggregate population of 11,210, of whom 4,000 were warriors. Adair
alleges that in 1735, or thereabouts, according to the computation
of the traders, their warriors numbered 6,000, but that in 1738 the
ravages of the small-pox reduced their population one-half within one
year. Indeed, this disaster, coupled with the losses sustained in
their conflicts with the whites and with neighboring tribes, had so
far wasted their ranks that a half century after the census taken by
Governor Johnson they were estimated by the traders to have but 2,300
warriors.[10] By the last report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
the total population is estimated to number 22,000.[11] It is true that
considerable of this increase is attributable to the fact that several
other small tribes or bands, within a few years past, have merged their
tribal existence in that of the Cherokees. Independent of this fact,
however, they have maintained a slow but steady increase in numbers for
many years, with the exception of the severe losses sustained during
the disastrous period of the late southern rebellion.

OLD CHEROKEE TOWNS.

It is perhaps impossible to give a complete list of the old Cherokee
towns and their location; but in 1755 the authorities of South
Carolina, in remodeling the old and prescribing new regulations for the
government of the Indian trade, divided the whole Cherokee country into
six hunting districts, viz:

1. _Over Hill Towns._--Great Tellico, Chatugee, Tennessee, Chote,
Toqua, Sittiquo, and Talassee.

2. _Valley Towns._--Euforsee, Conastee, Little Telliquo, Cotocanahut,
Nayowee, Tomatly, and Chewohe.

3. _Middle Towns._--Joree, Watoge, Nuckasee.

4. _Keowee Towns._--Keowee, Tricentee, Echoee, Torsee, Cowee, Torsalla,
Coweeshee, and Elejoy.

5. _Out Towns._--Tucharechee, Kittowa, Conontoroy, Steecoy, Oustanale,
and Tuckasegee.

6. _Lower Towns._--Tomassee, Oustestee, Cheowie, Estatoie, Tosawa,
Keowee, and Oustanalle.

About twenty years later, Bartram,[12] who traversed the country, gives
the names of forty-three Cherokee towns and villages then existing and
inhabited as follows:

-----+---------------------+------------------------------------------
No. | Name. | Where situated.
-----+---------------------+------------------------------------------
1 | Echoe | }
2 | Nucasse | } On the Tanase east of
3 | Whatoga | } Jore Mountains.
4 | Cowe | }
| |
5 | Ticoloosa | }
6 | Jore | } Inland, on the branches
7 | Conisca | } of the Tanase.
8 | Nowe | }
| |
9 | Tomothle | }
10 | Noewe | }
11 | Tellico | }
12 | Clennuse | } On the Tanase over the Jore
13 | Occunolufte | } Mountains.
14 | Chewe | }
15 | Quanuse | }
16 | Tellowe | }
| |
17 | Tellico | }
18 | Chatuga | } Inland towns on the branches of
19 | Hiwasse | } the Tanase and other waters over
20 | Chewase | } the Jore Mountains.
21 | Nuanba | }
| |
22 | Tallase | }
23 | Chelowe | }
24 | Sette | }
25 | Chote, great | }
26 | Joco | } Overhill towns on the Tanase or
27 | Tahasse | } Cherokee River.
28 | Tamahle | }
29 | Tuskege | }
30 | -- -- Big Island | }
31 | Nilaque | }
32 | Niowe | }
| |
33 | Sinica | } Lower towns east of the mountains on
34 | Keowe | } the Savanna or Keowe River.
35 | Kulsage | }
| |
36 | Tugilo | } Lower towns east of the mountains
37 | Estotowe | } on Tugilo River.
| |
38 | Qualatche | } Lower towns on Flint River.
39 | Chote | }
| |
40 | Estotewe, great | }
41 | Allagae | } Towns on waters of other rivers.
42 | Jore | }
43 | Naeoche | }
-----+---------------------+------------------------------------------

Mouzon's map of 1771 gives the names of several Lower Cherokee towns
not already mentioned. Among these may be enumerated, on the Tugalco
River and its branches, Turruraw, Nayowee, Tetohe, Chagee, Tussee,
Chicherohe, Echay, and Takwashnaw; on the Keowee, New Keowee, and
Quacoretche; and on the Seneca, Acounee.

In subsequent years, through frequent and long continued conflicts
with the ever advancing white settlements and the successive treaties
whereby the Cherokees gradually yielded portions of their domain, the
location and names of their towns were continually changing until the
final removal of the nation west of the Mississippi.[13]

EXPULSION OF SHAWNEES BY CHEROKEES AND CHICKASAWS.

In the latter portion of the seventeenth century the Shawnees, or a
portion of them, had their villages on the Cumberland, and to some
extent, perhaps, on the Tennessee also. They were still occupying that
region as late as 1714, when they were visited by M. Charleville, a
French trader, but having about this time incurred the hostility of the
Cherokees and Chickasaws they were driven from the country. Many years
later, in the adjustment of a territorial dispute between the Cherokees
and Chickasaws, each nation claimed the sole honor of driving out the
Shawnees, and hence, by right of conquest, the title to the territory
formerly inhabited by the latter. The Chickasaws evidently had the best
of the controversy, though some concessions were made to the Cherokees
in the matter when the United States came to negotiate for the purchase
of the controverted territory.

TREATY RELATIONS WITH THE COLONIES.

_Treaty and purchase of 1721._--The treaty relations between the
Cherokees and the whites began in 1721, when jealousy of French
territorial encroachments persuaded Governor Nicholson of South
Carolina to invite the Cherokees to a general congress, with a view to
the conclusion of a treaty of peace and commerce.

The invitation was accepted, and delegates attended from thirty-seven
towns, with whom, after smoking the pipe of peace and distributing
presents, he agreed upon defined boundaries and appointed an agent to
superintend their affairs.[14]

_Treaty of 1730._--Again, in 1730, the authorities of North Carolina
commissioned Sir Alexander Cumming to conclude a treaty of alliance
with the Cherokees. In April of that year the chiefs and warriors of
the nation met him at Requasse, near the sources of the Hiwassee River,
acknowledged King George as their sovereign, and sent a delegation of
six warriors to carry the crown of the nation (consisting of five eagle
tails and four scalps) to England and do homage to the King, where they
concluded a treaty of peace and commerce at Dover on the 30th of June.

In this treaty they stipulated:

1. To submit to the sovereignty of the King and his successors.

2. Not to trade with any other nation but the English.

3. Not to permit any but English to build forts or cabins or plant corn
among them.

4. To apprehend and deliver runaway negroes.

5. To surrender any Indian killing an Englishman.[15]

_Treaty and purchase of 1755._--November 24, 1755, a further treaty was
concluded between the Cherokees and Governor Glenn, of South Carolina.
By its terms the former ceded to Great Britain a territory which
included the limits of the modern districts of Abbeville, Edgefield,
Laurens, Union, Spartanburg, Newberry, Chester, Fairfield, Richland,
and York, and deeds of conveyance were drawn up and formally executed
therefor.[16] This cession included a tract of country between the
Broad and Catawba Rivers which was also claimed and generally conceded
to belong to the Catawba Nation, the boundary line between the latter
and the Cherokees being usually fixed as the Broad River.[17] One of
the main objects of this treaty was to prevent an alliance between the
Cherokees and the French.

_Treaty of 1756._--In the year 1756 Hugh Waddell was commissioned by
the authorities of North Carolina to treat with the Cherokees and
Catawbas. In pursuance of this authority he concluded a treaty of
alliance with both nations.[18] Governor Glenn, also, in the same
year erected a chain of military posts on the frontiers of his recent
purchase. These consisted of Fort Prince George, on the Savannah,
within gunshot of the Indian town of Keowee; Fort Moore, 170 miles
farther down the river; and Fort London, on the south bank of Tennessee
River, at the highest point of navigation, at the mouth of Tellico
River.[19]

_Captain Jack's purchase._--A grant signed by Arthur Dobbs, governor
of North Carolina, et al., and by The Little Carpenter, half king of
the Over-Hill Cherokees, made to Capt. Patrick Jack, of Pennsylvania,
is recorded in the register's office of Knox County, Tennessee. It
purports to have been made at a council held at Tennessee River, March
1, 1757, consideration $400, and conveys to Captain Jack 15 miles
square south of Tennessee River. The grant itself confirmatory of the
purchase by Captain Jack is dated at a general council held at Catawba
River, May 7, 1762.[20]

_Treaty of 1760._--The French finally succeeded in enlisting the active
sympathy of the Cherokees in their war with Great Britain. Governor
Littleton, of South Carolina, marched against the Indians and defeated
them, after which, in 1760, he concluded a treaty of peace with them.
By its terms they agreed to kill or imprison every Frenchman who should
come into their country during the continuance of the war between
France and Great Britain.[21]

_Treaty of 1761._--The hostile course of the Cherokees being still
continued, the authorities of South Carolina in 1761 dispatched Colonel
Grant with a force sufficient to overcome them. After destroying
their crops and fifteen towns he compelled a truce, following which
Lieutenant Governor Bull concluded a treaty with them at Ashley Ferry,
or Charleston.[22] By this instrument the boundaries between the
Indians and the settlements were declared to be the sources of the
great rivers flowing into the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1767 the legislature of North Carolina made an appropriation and
the governor appointed three commissioners for running a dividing-line
between the western settlements of that province and the Cherokee
hunting grounds.[23]

_Treaty and purchase of 1768._--Mr. Stuart, the British superintendent
of Indian affairs, on the 14th of October, 1768, concluded a treaty
with the Cherokees at Hard Labor, South Carolina. Therein it was agreed
that the southwest boundary of Virginia should be a line "extending
from the point where the northern line of North Carolina intersects
the Cherokee hunting grounds about 36 miles east of Long Island in the
Holston River; and thence extending in a direct course north by east to
Chiswell's mine on the east bank of the Kenhawa River, and thence down
that stream to its junction with the Ohio."[24]

This treaty was made in pursuance of appeals from the Indians to stop
further encroachments of settlers upon their lands and to have their
boundaries definitely fixed, especially in the region of the north fork
of Holston River and the headwaters of the Kanawha.

_Treaty and purchase of 1770._--The settlements having encroached
beyond the line fixed by the treaty of 1768, a new treaty was concluded
on the 18th October, 1770, at Lochabar, South Carolina. A new boundary
line was established by this treaty commencing on the south bank of
Holston River six miles east of Long Island, and running thence to the
mouth of the Great Kanawha.[25]

_Treaty and purchase of 1772._--The Virginia authorities in the early
part of 1772 concluded a treaty with the Cherokees whereby a boundary
line was fixed between them, which was to run west from White Top
Mountain in latitude 36° 30'.[26] This boundary left those settlers on
the Watauga River within the Indian limits, whereupon, as a measure
of temporary relief, they leased for a period of eight years from the
Indians in consideration of goods to the value of five or six thousand
dollars all the country on the waters of the Watauga. Subsequently in
1775 [March 19] they secured a deed in fee simple therefor upon the
further consideration of £2,000.[27] This deed was executed to Charles
Robertson as the representative or trustee of the Watauga Settlers'
Association, and embraced the following tract of country, viz: All
that tract on the waters of the Watauga, Holston, and Great Canaway or
New River, beginning on the south or southwest of Holston River six
miles above Long Island in that river; thence a direct line in nearly
a south course to the ridge dividing the waters of Watauga from the
waters of Nonachuckeh and along the ridge in a southeasterly direction
to the Blue Ridge or line dividing North Carolina from the Cherokee
lands; thence along the Blue Ridge to the Virginia line and west along
such line to the Holston River; thence down the Holston River to the
beginning, including all the waters of the Watauga, part of the waters
of the Holston, and the head branches of New River or Great Canaway,
agreeable to the aforesaid boundaries.

_Jacob Brown's purchase._--Jacob Brown, in 1772, for a horse load of
goods leased from the Cherokees a tract on the Watauga and Nonachuchy
Rivers.

Three years later (March 25, 1775) for a further consideration of ten
shillings he secured from them a deed in fee for the leased tract as
well as an additional tract of considerable extent.

The boundary of the first of these bodies of land ran from the mouth
of Great Limestone Creek, thence up the same and its main fork to the
ridge dividing the Wataugah and Nonachuchy Rivers; thence to the head
of Indian Creek, where it joins the Great Iron Mountains, and along
those mountains to the Nonachuchy River; across the Nonachuchy River,
including its creeks, and down the side of Nonachuchy Mountain against
the mouth of Great Limestone Creek and from thence to the place of
beginning.

The second purchase comprised a tract lying on the Nonachuchy River
below the mouth of Big Limestone on both sides of the river and
adjoining the tract just described. Its boundaries were defined as
beginning on the south side of the Nonachuchy River below the old
fields that lie below the Limestone on the north side of Nonachuchy
Mountain at a large rock; thence north 32° west to the mouth of Camp
Creek on the south side of the river; thence across the river; thence
pursuing a northwesterly course to the dividing ridge between Lick
Creek and Watauga or Holston River, thence along the dividing ridge to
the rest of Brown's lands; thence down the main fork of Big Limestone
to its mouth; thence crossing the Nonachuchy River and pursuing a
straight course to the Nonachuchy Mountains and along such mountains to
the beginning.[28]

_Treaty and purchase of 1773._--On the 1st of June, 1773, a treaty
was concluded jointly with the Creeks and Cherokees by the British
superintendent whereby they ceded to Great Britain a tract beginning
where the lower Creek path intersects the Ogeechee River, thence along
the main channel of that river to the source of the southernmost branch
thereof; thence along the ridge between the waters of Broad and Oconee
Rivers up to the Buffalo Lick; thence in a straight line to the tree
marked by the Cherokees near the head of the branch falling into the
Oconee River [on the line between Clarke and Oglethorpe Counties, about
8 miles southeast of Athens]; thence along the said ridge 20 miles
above the line already run by the Cherokees, and from thence across to
the Savannah River by a line parallel to that formerly marked by them.

_Henderson's purchase by the treaty of 1775._--On the 17th of March,
1775, Richard Henderson and eight other private citizens concluded a
treaty with the Cherokees at Sycamore Shoals, on Watauga River. By its
terms they became the purchasers from the latter (in consideration of
£10,000 worth of merchandise) of all the lands lying between Kentucky
and Cumberland Rivers, under the name of the Colony of Transylvania in
North America. This purchase was contained in two deeds, one of which
was commonly known as the "Path Deed," and conveyed the following
described tract: "Begin on the Holston River, where the course of
Powell's Mountain strikes the same; thence up the river to the crossing
of the Virginia line; thence westerly along the line run by Donelson
* * * to a point six (6) English miles east of Long Island in Holston
River; thence a direct course towards the mouth of the Great Kanawha
until it reaches the top of the ridge of Powell's Mountain; thence
westerly along said ridge to the beginning."

This tract was located in Northeast Tennessee and the extreme
southwestern corner of Virginia.[29] The second deed covered a much
larger area of territory and was generally known as the "Great Grant."
It comprised the territory "beginning on the Ohio River at the mouth
of the Kentucky, Cherokee, or what, by the English, is called Louisa
River; thence up said river and the most northwardly fork of the same
to the head-spring thereof; thence a southeast course to the ridge of
Powell's Mountain; thence westwardly along the ridge of said mountain
to a point from which a northwest course will strike the head-spring
of the most southwardly branch of Cumberland River; thence down said
river, including all its waters, to the Ohio River; thence up said
river as it meanders to the beginning."[30] This tract comprises nearly
the whole of Central and Western Kentucky as well as part of Northern
Central Tennessee. Although a literal reading of these boundaries would
include all the territory watered by the Cumberland River and its
branches, the general understanding seems to have been (and it is so
specifically stated in the report of the treaty commissioners of 1785)
that Henderson's purchase did not extend south of Cumberland River
proper.[31] The entire purchase included in both these deeds is shown
as one tract on the accompanying map of cessions and numbered 7.

In this connection it is proper to remark that all of these grants to
private individuals were regarded as legally inoperative, though in
some instances the beneficiaries were permitted to enjoy the benefits
of their purchases in a modified degree. All such purchases had been
inhibited by royal proclamation of King George III, under date of
October 7, 1763,[32] wherein all provincial governors were forbidden
to grant lands or issue land warrants locatable upon any territory
west of the mountains or of the sources of streams flowing into the
Atlantic. All private persons were enjoined from purchasing lands from
the Indians. All purchases made of such lands should be for the Crown
by the governor or commander-in-chief of the colony at some general
council or assembly of the Indians convened for that purpose.

In the particular purchase made by Henderson and his coadjutors, the
benefits thereof were afterwards claimed by the authorities of Virginia
and North Carolina for those States, as the successors of the royal
prerogative within their respective limits. In consideration, however,
of Henderson's valuable services on the frontier, and in compensation
for his large expenditures of money in negotiating the purchase,
the legislature of North Carolina in 1783 granted to him and those
interested with him a tract of 200,000 acres,[33] constituting a strip
4 miles in width from old Indian town on Powell's River to the mouth,
and thence a strip down the Clinch River for quantity 12 miles in
width. The legislature of Virginia also granted them a tract of like
extent upon the Ohio River, opposite Evansville, Indiana.[34]

_Treaties and purchases of 1777._--In consequence of continued
hostilities between the Cherokees and the settlers, General Williamson
in 1776 marched an army from South Carolina and destroyed the towns of
the former on Keowee and Tugaloo Rivers. General Rutherford marched
another force from North Carolina and Colonel Christian a third
from Virginia, and destroyed most of their principal towns on the
Tennessee.[35]

At the conclusion of hostilities with the Cherokees, following these
expeditions, a treaty with them was concluded May 20, 1777, at De
Witt's or Duett's Corners, South Carolina, by the States of South
Carolina and Georgia. By the terms of this treaty the Indians ceded a
considerable region of country upon the Savannah and Saluda Rivers,[36]
comprising all their lands in South Carolina to the eastward of the
Unacaye Mountains.

Two months later (July 20) Commissioners Preston, Christian, and
Shelby, on the part of Virginia, and Avery, Sharpe, Winston, and
Lanier, for North Carolina, also concluded a treaty with the Cherokees,
by which, in the establishment of a boundary between the contracting
parties, some parts of "Brown's line," previously mentioned, were
agreed upon as a portion of the boundary, and the Indians relinquished
their lands as low down on Holston River as the mouth of Cloud's Creek.
To this treaty the Chicamauga band of Cherokees refused to give their
assent.[37]

The boundaries defined by this treaty are alluded to and described
in an act of the North Carolina legislature passed in the following
year, wherein it is stipulated that "no person shall enter or survey
any lands within the Indian hunting grounds, or without the limits
heretofore ceded by them, which limits westward are declared to be as
follows: Begin at a point on the dividing line which hath been agreed
upon between the Cherokees and the colony of Virginia, where the line
between that Commonwealth and this State (hereafter to be extended)
shall intersect the same; running thence a right line to the mouth of
Cloud's Creek, being the second creek below the Warrior's Ford, at the
mouth of Carter's Valley; thence a right line to the highest point of
Chimney Top Mountain or High Rock; thence a right line to the mouth
of Camp or McNamee's Creek, on south bank of Nolichucky, about ten
miles below the mouth of Big Limestone; from the mouth of Camp Creek
a southeast course to the top of Great Iron Mountain, being the same
which divides the hunting grounds of the Overhill Cherokees from the
hunting grounds of the middle settlements; and from the top of Iron
Mountain a south course to the dividing ridge between the waters of
French Broad, and Nolichucky Rivers; thence a southwesterly course
along the ridge to the great ridge of the Appalachian Mountains, which
divide the eastern and western waters; thence with said dividing
ridge to the line that divides the State of South Carolina from this
State."[38]

_Emigration of Chicamauga band._--The Cherokees being very much
curtailed in their hunting grounds by the loss of the territory
wrested from them by the terms of these two treaties, began a
movement further down the Tennessee River, and the most warlike and
intractable portion of them, known as the Chicamaugas, settled and
built towns on Chicamauga Creek, about one hundred miles below the
mouth of the Holston River. Becoming persuaded, however, that this
creek was infested with witches they abandoned it in 1782, and built
lower down the Tennessee the towns usually called "The Five Lower Towns
on the Tennessee." These towns were named respectively Running Water,
Nickajack, Long Island Village, Crow Town, and Lookout Mountain Town.
From thence marauding parties were wont to issue in their operations
against the rapidly encroaching settlements.[39]

Although comparative peace and quiet for a time followed the heroic
treatment administered to the Indians by the expeditions of Williamson,
Rutherford, Christian, and others, reciprocal outrages between the
whites and Indians were of frequent occurrence. The situation was
aggravated in 1783 by the action of the assembly of North Carolina in
passing an act (without consulting the Indians or making any effort
to secure their concurrence) extending the western boundary of that
State to the Mississippi River, reserving, however, for the use of the
Cherokees as a hunting ground a tract comprised between the point where
the Tennessee River first crosses the southern boundary of the State
and the head waters of Big Pigeon River.[40]

_Treaty and purchase of 1783._--On the 31st of May of this same
year, by a treaty concluded at Augusta, Ga., the Cherokee delegates
present (together with a few Creeks, who, on the 1st of November
succeeding, agreed to the cession) assumed to cede to that State
the respective claims of those two nations to the country lying on
the west side of the Tugaloo River, extending to and including the
Upper Oconee River region.[41] With the provisions of this treaty
no large or representative portion of either nation was satisfied,
and in connection with the remarkable territorial assertions of the
State of North Carolina, together with the constant encroachments of
white settlers beyond the Indian boundary line, a spirit of restless
discontent and fear was nourished among the Indians that resulted in
many acts of ferocious hostility.

_Treaties with the State of Franklin._--In 1784, in consequence of the
cession by North Carolina to the United States of all her claims to
lands west of the mountains (which cession was not, however, accepted
by the United States within the two years prescribed by the act) the
citizens within the limits of the present State of Tennessee elected
delegates to a convention, which formed a State organization under
the name of the State of Franklin and which maintained a somewhat
precarious political existence for about four years. During this
interval the authorities of the so-called State negotiated two treaties
with the Cherokee Nation, the first one being entered into near the
mouth of Dumplin Creek, on the north bank of French Broad River, May
31, 1785.[42] This treaty established the ridge dividing the waters of
Little River from those of the Tennessee as the dividing line between
the possessions of the whites and Indians, the latter ceding all claim
to lands south of the French Broad and Holston, lying east of that
ridge. The second treaty or conference was held at Chote Ford and
Coytoy, July 31 to August 3, 1786. The Franklin Commissioners at this
conference modestly remarked, "We only claim the island in Tennessee at
the mouth of Holston and from the head of the island to the dividing
ridge between the Holston River, Little River, and Tennessee to the
Blue Ridge, and the lands North Carolina sold us on the north side
of Tennessee." They urged this claim under threat of extirpating the
Cherokees as the penalty of refusal.[43]

TREATY RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES.

This general history of the Cherokee Nation and the treaty relations
that had existed with the colonial authorities from the period of
their first official contact with each other is given as preliminary
to the consideration of the history and provisions of the first treaty
negotiated between commissioners on the part of the United States and
the said Cherokee Nation, viz, the treaty concluded at Hopewell, on the
Keowee River, November 28, 1785, an abstract of the provisions of which
is hereinbefore given.[44]

The conclusion of this treaty marked the beginning of a new era in the
relations between the whites and Cherokees. The boundaries then fixed
were the most favorable it was possible to obtain from the latter
without regard to previous purchases and pretended purchases made
by private individuals and others. Although the Indians yielded an
extensive territory to the United States,[45] yet, on the other hand,
the latter conceded to the Cherokees a considerable extent of territory
that had already been purchased from them by private individuals or
associations, though by methods of more than doubtful legality.

The contentions between the border settlers of Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, as well as of the authorities
of those States, with the Cherokees and Creeks, concerning boundaries
and the constantly recurring mutual depredations and assaults upon
each other's lives and property, prompted Congress, though still
deriving its powers from the Articles of Confederation, to the
active exercise of its treaty-making functions. It was, therefore,
determined[46] to appoint commissioners who should be empowered under
their instructions, subject, of course, to ratification by Congress, to
negotiate a treaty with the Cherokees, at which the boundaries of the
lands claimed by them should be as accurately ascertained as might be,
and the line of division carefully marked between them and the white
settlements. This was deemed essential in order that authoritative
proclamation might be made of the same, advising and warning settlers
against further encroachments upon Indian territory.

PROCEEDINGS AT TREATY OF HOPEWELL.

The commissioners deputed for the performance of this duty were
Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, Joseph Martin, and Lachlan McIntosh.
They convened the Indians in council at Hopewell, S. C., on the 18th
of November, 1785.[47] Hopewell is on the Keowee River, 15 miles
above the junction of that river with the Tugaloo. The commissioners
announced to the Indians the change of sovereignty from Great Britain
to Congress that had taken place in the country as a consequence of the
successful termination of the Revolution. They further set forth that
Congress wanted none of the Indian lands, nor anything else belonging
to them, but that if they had any grievances, to state them freely,
and Congress would see justice done them. The Indian chiefs drafted
a map showing the limits of country claimed by them, which included
the greater portion of Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as portions of
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Being reminded by the
commissioners that this claim covered the country purchased by Colonel
Henderson, who was now dead, and whose purchase must therefore not be
disputed, they consented to relinquish that portion of it. They also
consented that the line as finally agreed upon, from the mouth of
Duck River to the dividing ridge between the Cumberland and Tennessee
Rivers, should be continued up that ridge and from thence to the
Cumberland in such a manner as to leave all the white settlers in the
Cumberland country outside of the Indian limits.

At the time, it was supposed this could be accomplished by running a
northeast line from the ridge so as to strike the Cumberland _forty
miles above Nashville_. This portion of the boundary, not having been
affected by the treaty of 1791 (as was supposed by the Cherokees), was
reiterated in that treaty in a reverse direction. But the language
used--whether intentional or accidental--rendered it susceptible of a
construction more favorable to the whites. This language read, "Thence
down the Cumberland River to a point from which a southwest line will
strike the ridge which divides the waters of Cumberland from those of
Duck River, 40 miles above Nashville." As this line was not actually
surveyed and marked until the fall of 1797,[48] and as the settlements
in that locality had in the meantime materially advanced, it became
necessary, in order to exclude the bulk of the settlers from the
Indian country, to take advantage of this technicality. The line was
consequently so run (from a point on said dividing ridge 40 miles above
Nashville) that it struck the Cumberland River about 1 mile above the
mouth of Rock Castle River, a distance of perhaps 175 to 200 miles
above Nashville. This line was surveyed by General James Winchester,
who, under date of November 9, 1797, in a letter to General Robertson,
describes a portion of it as running as follows:

From Walton's road to the Fort Blount road, which it crosses
near the two springs at the 32-mile tree; crosses Obey's River
about 6 or 7 miles from the mouth; Achmugh about 2 miles above
the Salt Lick; the South Fork of Cumberland, or Flute River, 5 or
6 miles from the mouth, and struck Cumberland River about a mile
above the mouth of Rock Castle.

He also adds that the total length of the line (from the dividing ridge
to Cumberland River above Rock Castle) is 138-11/16 miles.

The Fort Blount here mentioned was on the south side of Cumberland
River, about 6 miles in a direct line, southwest of Gainesboro', and
the road led from there to Walton's road, which it joined at or near
the present site of Cooksville.[49] Walton's or Caney Fork road led
from Carthage in an easterly direction, and before the organization
of Putnam County formed the boundary line between Overton and White
counties, from whence it continued easterly through Anderson's Cross
Roads and Montgomery to Wilson's, in Knox County. The "Two Springs,"
are about 2 or 3 miles northwest of Cooksville.[49]

There is much difficulty in determining the absolute course of the
"Winchester line," from the meager description contained in his letter
above quoted. Arrowsmith and Lewis, in their Atlas, published in 1805,
lay down the line as pursuing a perfectly straight course from its
point of departure on the dividing ridge to its termination on the
Cumberland above the mouth of Rock Castle River. Their authority for
such a definition of the boundary is not given. If such was the true
course of the line, the description given in General Winchester's
letter would need some explanation. He must have considered Obey's
River as emptying into Wolf River in order to bring his crossing
of the former stream reasonably near the distance from its mouth
specified by him. He must also have been mistaken in his estimate of
the distance at which the line crossed above the mouth of the South
Fork of the Cumberland. The line of Arrowsmith and Lewis would cross
that stream at least 12 miles in a direct line above its mouth,
instead of five or six. It is ascertained from correspondence with
the officers of the Historical Society of Tennessee, that the line,
after crossing the Fort Blount road at the "Two Springs," continued in
a northeasterly direction, crossing Roaring Fork near the mouth of a
small creek, and, pursuing the same course, passed to the east of the
town of Livingston. "Nettle Carrier," a Cherokee Indian of some local
note, lived on the headwaters of Nettle Carrier's Creek, about four
or five miles east of Livingston, and the line passed about half-way
between his cabin and the present site of that village.[50] Thence it
continued to the crossing of Obey's River, and thence to the point of
intersection with the Kentucky boundary line, which is ascertained
to have been at the northeast corner of Overton County, Tennessee,
as originally organized in 1806. From this point the line continued
to the crossing of Big South Fork, at the place indicated by General
Winchester, and thence on to the Cumberland at the terminal point one
mile above the mouth of Rock Castle River. In the interest of clearness
a literal following of the line indicated in General Winchester's
letter, and also that given by Arrowsmith and Lewis, are shown upon
the accompanying map. At the conference preliminary to the signing of
the treaty of 1785, the Indians also asserted that within the fork of
the French Broad and Holston Rivers were 3,000 white settlers who were
there in defiance of their protests. They maintained that they had
never ceded that country, and it being a favorite spot with them the
settlers must be removed. The commissioners vainly endeavored to secure
a cession of the French Broad tract, remarking that the settlers were
too numerous to make their removal possible, but could only succeed in
securing the insertion of an article in the treaty, providing for the
submission of the subject to Congress, the settlers, in the mean time,
to remain unmolested.[51]

_Protest of North Carolina and Georgia._--During the pendency of
negotiations, William Blount, of North Carolina, and John King and
Thomas Glasscock, of Georgia, presented their commissions as the agents
representing the interests of their respective States. They entered
formal protests in the names of those States against the validity
of the treaty, as containing several stipulations which infringed
and violated the legislative rights thereof. The principal of these
was the right, as assumed by the commissioners, of assigning to the
Indians, territory which had already been appropriated, by act of
the legislature in the case of North Carolina, to the discharge of
bounty-land claims of the officers and soldiers of that State who had
served in the Continental line during the Revolution.[52]

There were present at this treaty, according to the report of the
commissioners, 918 Cherokees, to whom, after the signature and
execution thereof, were distributed as presents goods to the value
of $1,311-10/90. The meagerness of the supply was occasioned, as the
commissioners explained, by their expectancy of only meeting the chiefs
and headmen.[53]

_Location of boundaries._--In the location of the boundary points
between the Cherokees and whites, recited in the fourth article of the
treaty, it is proper to remark that--

1. The route of the line along the ridge between Cumberland and
Tennessee Rivers, and from thence to the Cumberland, at a point 40
miles above Nashville, has already been recited.

2. "The ford where the Kentucky road crosses the river" (Cumberland)
is at a point opposite the mouth of Left-Hand Fork, about 12 or 13
miles slightly west of north of Cumberland Gap. From the point "40
miles above Nashville" to this ford, the commissioners adopted, as they
declare, the line of Henderson's Purchase; while from the "Kentucky
Ford" to the mountain, 6 miles south of the mouth of Camp Creek on
Nolichucky, they followed the boundary prescribed by the treaty of July
20, 1777, with Virginia and North Carolina.[54]

3. "Campbell's line" was surveyed in 1777-'78 by General William
Campbell, as a commissioner for marking the boundary between Virginia
and the Cherokees. It extended from the mouth of Big Creek to the high
knob on Poor Valley Ridge, 332 poles S. 70° E. of the summit of the
main ridge of Cumberland Mountain, a short distance west of Cumberland
Gap.[55] The point at which the treaty line of 1785 struck Campbell's
line was at the Kentucky road crossing, about 1-1/2 miles southeast of
Cumberland Gap.

4. The treaty line followed Campbell's line until it reached a point
due north of the mouth of Cloud's Creek. From this point it ran south
to the mouth of that creek, which enters the Holston from the north, 3
miles west of Rogersville.

5. The line from Cloud's Creek pursued a northeasterly direction to
Chimney Top Mountain, which it struck at a point about 2 miles to
the southward of the Long Island of Holston River.

6. "Camp Creek, near the mouth of Big Limestone, on the Nolichucky"
(which is the next point in the boundary line), is a south branch
of Nolichucky River in Greene County, Tennessee, between Horse and
Cove Creeks, and empties about 6 miles southeast of Greeneville. It
was sometimes called McNamee's Creek.

7. The mountain "six miles to the southward of Camp Creek" was in the
Great Smoky or Iron Range, not far from the head of that creek.

8. "Thence south to the North Carolina line, thence to the South
Carolina Indian boundary." This line was partially surveyed in the
winter of 1791, by Joseph Hardin, under the direction of Governor
Blount.[56] It ran southeasterly from the mouth of McNamee's or Camp
Creek, a distance, as stated by Governor Blount, of 60 miles to
Rutherford's War Trace, although the point at which it struck this
"Trace," which is given in Governor Blount's correspondence as being 10
or 12 miles west of the Swannanoa settlement, is only a trifle over 50
miles in a direct line from the mouth of Camp Creek.

The "Rutherford's War Trace" here spoken of was the route pursued
by General Griffith Rutherford, who, in the summer of 1776, marched
an army of 2,400 men against the Cherokees. He was re-enforced by
Colonels Martin and Armstrong at Cathey's Fort; crossed the Blue Ridge
at Swannanæ Gap; passed down and over the French Broad at a place yet
known as the "War Ford;" continued up the valley of Hominy Creek,
leaving Pisgah Mountain to the left and crossing Pigeon River a little
below the mouth of East Fork; thence through the mountains to Richland
Creek, above the present town of Waynesville; ascended that creek and
crossed Tuckaseigee River at an Indian village; continued across Cowee
Mountain, and thence to the Middle Cherokee Towns on Tennessee River,
to meet General Williamson, from South Carolina, with an army bent on
a like mission.[57] The boundary between western North Carolina and
South Carolina was not definitely established at the date of the survey
of Hardin's line and, as shown by an old map on file in the Office of
Indian Affairs, the point at which a prolongation of Hardin's line
would have struck the South Carolina Indian boundary was supposed to
be on or near the 35th degree of north latitude,[58] whereas it was
actually more than 20 miles to the north of that parallel and about
10 miles to the north of the present boundary of South Carolina. The
definite establishment of this treaty line of 1785 in this quarter,
however, became unnecessary by reason of the ratification in February,
1792, of the Cherokee treaty concluded July 2, 1791,[59] wherein the
Indian boundary line was withdrawn a considerable distance to the west.

9. The line along the "South Carolina Indian boundary" ran in a
southwesterly direction from the point of contact with the prolongation
of Hardin's line, passing over "Ocunna" Mountain a short distance to
the northwestwardly of Oconee Station and striking the Tugaloo River at
a point about 1 mile above the mouth of Panther Creek.[58]

10. The line from Tugaloo River pursued a west of south course to
Currahee Mountain, which is the southern terminus of a spur of the
Alleghany Mountains, and is situated 4 miles southwest of "Toccoa
Falls" and 16 miles northwest of Carnesville, Georgia.

11. From "Currahee Mountain to the head of the south fork of Oconee
River," the line pursued a course south 38° west[58] to the source of
that stream, now commonly known as the Appallachee River, and was the
terminal point of the boundary as defined in this treaty. This line was
surveyed in 1798[60] under the direction of Col. Benj. Hawkins.

It is also a pertinent fact in connection with the boundaries defined
by this treaty (as already stated in connection with Henderson's
treaty), that although a literal reading of the description contained
in Henderson's "Great Grant" of 1775 would include all the country
watered by the tributaries of the Cumberland, the commissioners
who negotiated this treaty of Hopewell in 1785 did not consider
Henderson's Purchase as extending south of the Cumberland River proper,
except in its course from Powell's Mountain to the head of the most
southwardly branch of that river. This branch was considered by these
commissioners of 1785 as being the Yellow River, whose source was at
best but imperfectly known. They specifically state that they accept
the boundaries of Henderson's Purchase in this direction,[61] and as
the boundary defined by them between Powell's Mountain and Yellow River
was "Campbell's line," they must have considered that line as being the
southern limit of Henderson's Great Grant.

[Footnote 1: In pocket at the end of volume.]

[Footnote 2: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 18.]

[Footnote 3: I am informed by Colonel Bushyhead, principal chief of the
Cherokee Nation, that Bartram is mistaken in his latter assumption.
The letter "r" was never used except among the Overhill Cherokees, and
occurred very infrequently with them.]

[Footnote 4: The full title of this work is "Descriptionis Ptolemaicæ
Augmentum; sive Occidentis Notitia, brevi commentario illustrata,
studio et opera, Cornely Wytfliet, Louaniensis. Lovanii, Typis Iohannis
Bogardi, anno Domini MDXCVII."]

[Footnote 5: Campbell's Virginia, p. 268.]

[Footnote 6: Logan's South Carolina, Vol. I, p. 168.]

[Footnote 7: Martin's North Carolina, Vol. I, p. 194.]

[Footnote 8: Logan's South Carolina, Vol. I, p. 141.]

[Footnote 9: Logan's South Carolina, Vol. I, p. 182.]

[Footnote 10: Adair's American Indians.]

[Footnote 11: Report Commissioner Indian Affairs for 1883, p. 272.]

[Footnote 12: Bartram's Travels in North America from 1773 to 1778, p.
371.]

[Footnote 13: From a distribution roll of Cherokee annuities paid
in the year 1799 it appears that there were then 51 Cherokee towns,
designated as follows: Oostinawley, Creek Path, Aumoia, Nicojack,
Running Water, Ellijay, Cabben, High Tower, Pine Log, High Tower
Forks, Tocoah, Coosawaytee, Crowtown, Shoemeck, Aumuchee, Tulloolah,
Willstown, Acohee, Cuclon, Duck-town, Ailigulsha, Highwassee,
Tennessee, Lookout Mountain, Noyohee, Tusquittee, Coosa, Nantiyallee,
Saukee, Keyukee, Red Bank, Nukeza, Cowpens, Telassee, Buffalo Town,
Little Tellico, Rabbit Trap, Notley, Turnip Mountain, Sallicoah,
Kautika, Tausitu, Watoga, Cowee, Chillhoway, Chestuee, Turkey Town,
Toquah, Chota, Big Tellico, and Tusskegee.]

[Footnote 14: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, p. 46.]

[Footnote 15: Martin's North Carolina, Vol. II, pp. 3, 9, and 11.]

[Footnote 16: Hewat's History of South Carolina and Georgia, Vol. II,
pp. 203, 204.]

[Footnote 17: Broad River was formerly known as Eswaw-Huppedaw or Line
River. See Mills' Statistics of South Carolina, p. 555.]

[Footnote 18: Williamson's North Carolina, Vol. II, p. 87.]

[Footnote 19: Martin's North Carolina. Vol. II, p. 87.]

[Footnote 20: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, p. 68.]

[Footnote 21: Martin's North Carolina, Vol. II, p. 106.]

[Footnote 22: Ib., Vol. II, p. 152.]

[Footnote 23: Ib., Vol. II, p. 226.]

[Footnote 24: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, p. 76.]

[Footnote 25: Ib., p. 102.]

[Footnote 26: Ib., p. 109.]

[Footnote 27: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, p. 119.]

[Footnote 28: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, pp. 110, 121.]

[Footnote 29: There seems to be a confused idea in this description as
to the identity of Powell's Mountain. This was doubtless occasioned by
a lack of definite knowledge concerning the topography of the country.
This ridge, as it is commonly known, does not touch the Holston River,
but lies between Powell's and Clinch Rivers. The mountains supposed
to be alluded to in that portion of the description are a spur of the
Clinch Mountains, which close in on the Holston River, near the mouth
of Cloud's Creek.]

[Footnote 30: Mann Butler's Appeal, pp. 26, 27.]

[Footnote 31: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 38.]

[Footnote 32: Martin's North Carolina, Vol. II, p. 339.]

[Footnote 33: Haywood's Tennessee, pp. 16, 17.]

[Footnote 34: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, p. 204.]

[Footnote 35: Letter of Governor Blount to Secretary of War, January
14, 1793. See American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 431.]

[Footnote 36: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 431,
and Ramsey's Tenn., p. 172.]

[Footnote 37: Haywood's Tennessee, p. 451.]

[Footnote 38: Scott's Laws of Tennessee and North Carolina, Vol. I, p.
225.]

[Footnote 39: Letter of Governor Blount to Secretary of War, January
14, 1793. See American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 431,
also page 263.]

[Footnote 40: Report of Senate Committee March 1, 1797. See American
State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 623. Also Ramsey's Annals of
Tennessee, p. 276.] .]

[Footnote 41: Carpenter and Arthur's History of Georgia, p. 253.]

[Footnote 42: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, p. 299.]

[Footnote 43: Ib., p. 345.]

[Footnote 44: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 18.]

[Footnote 45: See Nos. 10_a_ and 10_b_ on accompanying map of Cherokee
cessions.]

[Footnote 46: By resolution of Congress, March 15, 1785.]

[Footnote 47: Report of Treaty Commissioners, dated Hopewell, December
2, 1785. See American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 40.]

[Footnote 48: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 628,
and letter of General Winchester to General Robertson, November 9,
1797.]

[Footnote 49: Letter of Hon. John M. Lea, of Nashville, Tenn., to the
author.]

[Footnote 50: Letter of Geo. H. Morgan, of Gainesborough, Tennessee.]

[Footnote 51: Report of Treaty Commissioners. See American State
Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 38.]

[Footnote 52: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 44.]

[Footnote 53: Journal of Treaty Commissioners. See American State
Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 43.]

[Footnote 54: Report of Treaty Commissioners in American State Papers,
Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 38.]

[Footnote 55: Letter of Return J. Meigs to Secretary of War, May 5,
1803; also, letter of Hon. John M. Lea, Nashville, Tennessee.]

[Footnote 56: Letter of Governor Blount to Secretary of War, December
16, 1792, in American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 631.]

[Footnote 57: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee.]

[Footnote 58: Old manuscript map on file in Indian Office, Washington,
D. C.]

[Footnote 59: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 39.]

TREATY CONCLUDED JULY 2, 1791; PROCLAIMED FEBRUARY 7, 1792.[62]

_Held on bank of Holston River, near the mouth of French
Broad, between William Blount, governor of the Territory south of
Ohio River and superintendent of Indian affairs, representing the
President of the United States, on the part and behalf of said
States, and the chiefs and warriors of the Cherokee Nation on the
part and behalf of said nation._

MATERIAL PROVISIONS.

1. Perpetual peace declared between the United States and the Cherokee
Nation.

2. Cherokees to be under sole protection of the United States and to
hold no treaty with any State or individuals.

3. Cherokees and the United States to mutually release prisoners
captured one from the other.

4. Boundary between the United States and the Cherokees defined as
follows: Beginning at the top of Currahee Mountain, where the Creek
line passes it; thence a direct line to Tugelo River; thence northeast
to Ocunna Mountain and over same along South Carolina Indian boundary
to the North Carolina boundary; thence north to a point from which a
line is to be extended to the River Clinch that shall pass the Holston
at the ridge dividing waters of Little River from those of Tennessee
River; thence up Clinch River to Campbell's line and along the same
to the top of Cumberland Mountain; thence a direct line to Cumberland
River where the Kentucky road crosses it; thence down Cumberland River
to a point from which a southwest line will strike the ridge dividing
waters of Cumberland from those of Duck River 40 miles above Nashville;
thence down said ridge to a point from which a southwest line will
strike the mouth of Duck River.

To prevent future disputes, said boundary to be ascertained and marked
by three persons appointed by the United States and three persons
appointed by the Cherokees.

To extinguish all claim of Cherokees to lands lying to the right of
said line, the United States agree to immediately deliver certain
valuable goods to the Cherokees and to pay them $1,000 annually.

5. Citizens of United States to have free use of road from Washington
District to Mero District and of navigation of Tennessee River.

6. The United States to have exclusive right of regulating trade with
the Cherokees.

7. The United States solemnly guarantee to the Cherokees all their
lands not herein ceded.

8. Citizens of the United States or others not Indians settling on
Cherokee lands to forfeit protection of the United States and be
punished as the Indians see fit.

9. Inhabitants of the United States forbidden to hunt on Cherokee
lands, or to pass over the same without a passport from the governor of
a State or Territory or other person authorized by the President of the
United States to grant the same.

10. Cherokees committing crimes against citizens of the United States
to be delivered up and punished by United States laws.

11. Inhabitants of the United States committing crimes or trespass
against Cherokees to be tried and punished under United States laws.

12. Retaliation or reprisal forbidden until satisfaction has been
refused by the aggressor.

13. Cherokees to give notice of any designs against the peace and
interests of the United States.

14. Cherokees to be furnished with useful implements of husbandry.
United States to send four persons to reside in Cherokee country to act
as interpreters.

15. All animosities to cease and treaty to be faithfully carried out.

16. Treaty to take effect when ratified by the President of the United
States by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

[Footnote 60: See resolution of Georgia legislature, June 16, 1802. It
is however stated by Return J. Meigs, in a letter to the Secretary of
War dated December 20, 1811, that this line was run by Colonel Hawkins
in 1797.]

[Footnote 61: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 38.]

[Footnote 62: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 39.]

HISTORICAL DATA.

CAUSES OF DISSATISFACTION WITH THE BOUNDARY OF 1785.

The boundary line prescribed by the treaty of November 28, 1785, had
been unsatisfactory to both the Cherokees and the whites. On the part
of the former the chief cause of complaint was the non-removal of the
settlers in the fork of the French Broad and Holston Rivers and their
evident disposition to encroach still farther into the Indian country
at every opportunity. The whites, on the other hand, were discontented
because further curtailment of the Cherokee territory had not been
compelled by the commissioners who negotiated the treaty, and the State
authorities of North Carolina and Georgia had protested because of the
alleged interference by the General Government with the reserved rights
of the States.[63] In retaliation for the intrusions of the whites the
Indians were continually engaged in pilfering their stock and other
property.

The state of affairs resulting from this continual friction rendered
some decisive action by Congress necessary. A large portion of the
land in Greene and Hawkins Counties, Tennessee, had been entered by
the settlers under the laws of North Carolina, whereby she had assumed
jurisdiction to the Mississippi River.[64] These lands were south and
west of the treaty line of 1785, as were also the lands on the west
side of the Clinch upon which settlements had been made. Settlers to
the number of several thousand, south of the French Broad and Holston,
were also within the Cherokee limits.[65]

It is true that the authorities of the so-called State of Franklin had
in the years 1785 and 1786 negotiated two treaties with the Cherokees,
obtaining cessions from the latter covering most, if not all, of these
lands,[66] but neither the State of North Carolina nor the United
States recognized these treaties as of any force or validity.

These trespasses called forth under date of September 1, 1788,
a proclamation from Congress forbidding all such unwarrantable
intrusions, and enjoining all those who had settled upon the hunting
ground of the Cherokees to depart with their families and effects
without loss of time.

General Knox, Secretary of War, under date of July 7, 1789, in a
communication to the President, remarked that "the disgraceful
violation of the treaty of Hopewell with the Cherokees requires the
serious consideration of Congress. If so direct and manifest contempt
of the authority of the United States be suffered with impunity,
it will be in vain to attempt to extend the arm of government to
the frontiers. The Indian tribes can have no faith in such imbecile
promises, and the lawless whites will ridicule a government which
shall, on paper only, make Indian treaties and regulate Indian
boundaries."[67]

He recommended the appointment of three commissioners on the part of
the United States, who should be invested with full powers to examine
into the case of the Cherokees and to renew with them the treaty made
at Hopewell in 1785; also to report to the President such measures as
should be necessary to protect the Indians in the boundaries secured to
them by that treaty, which he suggested would involve the establishment
of military posts within the Indian country and the services of at
least five hundred troops. President Washington, on the same day,
transmitted the report of the Secretary of War, with the accompanying
papers, to Congress. He approved of the recommendations of General
Knox, and urged upon that body prompt action in the matter.

Congress, however, failed to take any decisive action at that session,
and on the 11th of August, 1790, President Washington again brought the
subject to the attention of that body. After reciting the substance of
his previous communication, he added that, notwithstanding the treaty
of Hopewell and the proclamation of Congress, upwards of five hundred
families had settled upon the Cherokee lands, exclusive of those
between the fork of the French Broad and Holston Rivers.[68] He further
added that, as the obstructions to a proper conduct of the matter had
been removed since his previous communication, by the accession of
North Carolina to the Union and the cession to the United States by
her of the lands in question,[69] he should conceive himself bound to
exert the powers intrusted to him by the Constitution in order to carry
into faithful execution the treaty of Hopewell, unless it should be
thought proper to attempt to arrange a new boundary with the Cherokees,
embracing the settlements and compensating the Cherokees for the
cessions they should make.

_United States Senate authorizes a new treaty._--Upon the reception of
this message the Senate adopted a resolution advising and consenting
that the President should, at his discretion, cause the treaty of
Hopewell to be carried into execution or enter into arrangements
for such further cession of territory from the Cherokees as the
tranquillity and interests of the United States should require. A
proviso to this resolution limited the compensation to be paid to the
Cherokees for such further cession to $1,000 per annum and stipulated
that no person who had taken possession of any lands within the limits
of the proposed cession should be confirmed therein until he had
complied with such terms as Congress should thereafter prescribe.

Accordingly, instructions were issued to William Blount, governor of
the Territory south of the Ohio River and _ex-officio_ superintendent
of Indian affairs, to conclude a treaty of cession with the
Cherokees.[70]

TENNESSEE COMPANY'S PURCHASE.

In the mean time the troubles between the Indians and the settlers had
become aggravated from divers causes. Prominent among these was the
fact that Georgia had by act of her legislature disposed of 3,500,000
acres of vacant land lying south of Tennessee River to the Tennessee
Company. This association undertook to effect a settlement in the year
1791 at or near the Muscle Shoals.[71] The matter coming to the notice
of the Secretary of War was made the subject of a strong protest by him
to the President.[72]

The latter issued his proclamation forbidding such settlement. The
company persisted in the attempt, and as the President had declared
such act would place them without the protection of the United States,
the Indians were left free to break up and destroy the settlement,
which they did.[73]

DIFFICULTIES IN NEGOTIATING NEW TREATY.

In pursuance of Governor Blount's instructions, he convened the Indians
at White's Fort, on the present site of Knoxville, Tenn.; and after a
conference lasting seven days, succeeded, with much difficulty and with
great reluctance on the part of the Cherokees, in concluding the treaty
of July 2, 1791.[74]

In his letter to the Secretary of War,[75] transmitting the treaty, he
asserts the greatest difficulty to have been in agreeing on a boundary,
and that the one fixed upon might seem singular. The reason for this
peculiarity of description was owing to the fact that the Indians
insisted on beginning on the part where they were most tenacious of
the land, in preference to the mouth of Duck River, where the Hopewell
treaty line began. The land to the right of the line was declared to
belong to the United States, because no given point of the compass
would describe it. In accordance with his instructions, Governor
Blount proposed to the Indians that the ridge dividing the waters of
Little River from those of the Tennessee should form a part of the
boundary. To this the Indians would not agree, but insisted on the
straight line which should cross the Holston where that ridge should
strike it. Governor Blount explains that this line is not so limited
by the treaty as to the point at which it shall leave the north line
or at which it shall strike the Clinch, but that it might be so run as
either to include or leave out the settlers south of the ridge; the
only stipulations respecting it being that it should cross the Holston
at the ridge, and should be run by commissioners appointed by the
respective parties.

He urged that the line should be run immediately after the ratification
of the treaty, as settlers were already located in the immediate
vicinity of it, and more were preparing to follow.

The President transmitted the treaty to the Senate with his message of
October 26, 1791,[76] and Senator Hawkins, from the committee to whom
it was referred, reported it back to the Senate on the 9th of November
following, recommending that the Senate advise and consent to its
ratification.[77]

On the 19th of the same month the Secretary of War advised Governor
Blount that the treaty had been ratified by the President, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, and inclosed him 50 printed
copies for distribution, although the United States Statutes at Large
[Vol. VII, p. 39] give the date of the proclamation of the treaty as
February 7, 1792.[78]

[Footnote 63: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 44.]

[Footnote 64: Protest of Col. William Blount to Treaty Commissioners
of 1785. American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 44, and
Ramsey's Annals of Tenn., p. 549. Also Scott's Laws of Tennessee and
North Carolina, Vol. I.]

[Footnote 65: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 38.]

[Footnote 66: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, p. 345.]

[Footnote 67: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 53.]

[Footnote 68: Ib., p. 83.]

[Footnote 69: The assembly of North Carolina proceeded in 1789 to
mature a plan for the severance of Tennessee, and passed an act for
the purpose of ceding to the United States of America certain western
lands therein described. In conformity with one of the provisions of
the act, Samuel Johnson and Benjamin Hawkins, Senators in Congress from
North Carolina, executed a deed to the United States on the 25th of
February, 1790. Congress accepted the cession by act of April 2, 1790,
and Tennessee ceased to be a part of North Carolina.]

[Footnote 70: These instructions were issued in pursuance of the advice
and consent of the Senate, under date of August 11, 1790. See American
State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 135.]

[Footnote 71: This act of the Georgia legislature bore date of December
21, 1789. A prior act, bearing date February 7, 1785, had been passed,
entitled "An act for laying out a district of land situated on the
river Mississippi, within the limits of this State, into a county, to
be called Bourbon." See American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I,
p. 114.]

[Footnote 72: January 22, 1791. See American State Papers, Indian
Affairs, Vol. I, p. 112.]

[Footnote 73: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, pp. 549-556.]

[Footnote 74: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 39.]

[Footnote 75: July 15, 1791. See American State Papers, Indian Affairs,
Vol. I, p. 628.]

[Footnote 76: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 123.]

[Footnote 77: Ib., p. 135.]

[Footnote 78: Ib., p. 629.]

SURVEY OF NEW BOUNDARIES.

The Secretary also intrusted the matter of the survey of the new
boundary to the discretion of Governor Blount, and suggested the
appointment of Judge Campbell, Daniel Smith, and Col. Landon Carter as
commissioners to superintend the same. This suggestion was subsequently
modified by the appointment of Charles McLung and John McKee in place
of Smith and Carter. Governor Blount designated the 1st of May as
the date for the survey to commence. Andrew Ellicott was appointed
surveyor, he having been previously appointed to survey the line
under the Creek treaty of 1790.[79] Before these arrangements could
be carried out, the Secretary of War again wrote Governor Blount,[80]
remarking that while it was important the line should be run, yet
as the United States, in their military operations, might want the
assistance of the Cherokees, perhaps it would be better policy to
have the lines ascertained and marked after rather than before the
campaign then about to commence against the Indians northwest of the
Ohio.[81] It was thus determined, in view of numerous individual acts
of hostility on the part of the Cherokees and of the desire to soothe
them into peace and to engage them as auxiliaries against the northern
Indians, to temporarily postpone the running of the line.

After considerable correspondence between Governor Blount and the
Cherokee chiefs in council, the 8th of October, 1792, was fixed upon
as the date for the meeting of the representatives of both parties
at Major Craig's, on Nine-Mile Creek, for the purpose of beginning
the survey.[82] In the mean time an increased spirit of hostility had
become manifest among the Cherokees and Creeks, the five lower towns of
the former having declared war, and an Indian invasion of the frontier
seemed imminent. Governor Blount, therefore, in the latter part of
September,[83] deemed it wise to call fifteen companies of militia
into immediate service, under the command of General Sevier, for the
protection of the settlements. Notwithstanding this critical condition
of affairs, the boundary line commissioners on the part of the United
States assembled at the appointed time and place. After waiting until
the following day, the representatives of the Cherokees putting in no
appearance, they proceeded to inspect the supposed route of the treaty
line. After careful examination they came to the conclusion that the
ridge dividing the waters of Tennessee and Little Rivers struck the
Holston River at the mouth and at no other point.[84]

They then proceeded to run, but did not mark, a line of experiment from
the point of the ridge in a southeast direction to Chilhowee Mountain,
a distance of 17-1/2 miles, and also from the point of beginning in
a northwest direction to the Clinch River, a distance of 9 miles.
From these observations they found that the line, continued to the
southeast, would intersect the Tennessee River shortly after it crossed
the Chilhowee Mountain, and in consequence would deprive the Indians
of all their towns lying on the south side of the Tennessee. This
rendered apparent the necessity of changing the direction of the line
into a more nearly east and west course, and led the commissioners to
express the opinion that the true line should run from the point of the
ridge south 60° east to Chilhowee Mountain and north 60° west to the
Clinch.

The course thus designated left a number of the settlers on Nine-Mile
Creek within the Indian limits.[85]

The records of the War Department having been almost completely
destroyed by fire in the month of November, 1800, it is with great
difficulty that definite data can be obtained concerning the survey of
this and other Indian boundaries prior to that date. It has, however,
been ascertained that the above mentioned line was not actually
surveyed until the year 1797.

_Journal of Col. Benjamin Hawkins._--The manuscript journal of Col.
Benjamin Hawkins, now in the possession of the Historical Society of
Georgia, shows that instructions were issued by the Secretary of War
on the 2d of February, 1797, appointing and directing Col. Benjamin
Hawkins, General Andrew Pickens, and General James Winchester as
commissioners on the part of the United States to establish and mark
the lines between the latter and the Indian nations south of the Ohio.
These instructions reached Colonel Hawkins at Fort Fidius, on the
Oconee, on the 28th of February. Notice was at once sent to General
Pickens at his residence at Hopewell, on the Keowee, and also to
General Winchester, through Silas Dinsmoor, at that time temporary
agent for the Cherokee Nation, to convene at Tellico, on Tennessee
River, on the 1st of April following, for the purpose of determining
and marking the Cherokee boundary line pursuant to the treaty of
1791. Colonel Hawkins joined General Pickens at Hopewell, from which
point they set out for Tellico on the 23d of March, accompanied by
Joseph Whitner, one of their surveyors, as well as by an escort of
United States troops, furnished by Lieut. Col. Henry Gaither. Passing
Ocunna station, they were joined by their other surveyor, John Clark
Kilpatrick. They reached Tellico block-house on the 31st of March, and
were joined on the following day by Mr. Dinsmoor, the Cherokee agent.
Here they were visited by Hon. David Campbell, who, in conjunction
with Charles McLung and John McKee, had been appointed in 1792, as
previously set forth, to survey and mark the line. Mr. Campbell
informed them that he and his co-commissioners, in pursuance of their
instructions, did in part ascertain and establish the boundary and
report the same to Governor Blount, and that he would accompany the
present commissioners and give them all the information he possessed
on the subject. About the same time confidential information was
received that General Winchester would not attend the meeting of his
co-commissioners, and that this was understood to be in pursuance of a
scheme to postpone the running of the line in the interest of certain
intruders upon Indian land. On the 7th of April the commissioners set
out to examine the location and direction of the ridge dividing the
waters of Little River from those of Tennessee, at the same time noting
that "we received information that the line run between the Indians and
white inhabitants by the commissioners, mentioned on the 3d instant by
Mr. Campbell, was by order, for the express purpose of ascertaining
a line of accommodation for the white settlers, who were then over
the treaty line." By arrangement they met a number of the interested
settlers at the house of Mr. Bartlett McGee on the 9th, and by them
were advised that the ridge between the sources of Nine-Mile, Baker's,
Pistol, and Crooked Creeks "is that which divides the waters running
into Little River from those running into the Tennessee."

Proceeding with their observations, they set out for the point on this
ridge "where the experiment line for fixing the court-house of Blount
County passes the ridge between Pistol Creek and Baker's Creek, due
east from a point on the Tennessee 13-1/2 miles, and this point on the
Tennessee is 1-1/2 miles south from a point from where a line west
joins the confluence of the Holston and Tennessee." The point on the
ridge here spoken of was 2-1/2 miles north of Bartlett McGee's and 1
mile north of the source of Nine-Mile Creek. The commissioners state
that in noting observations they count distances in minutes, at the
rate of 60' to 3 miles. From the foregoing point they proceeded west 8'
to a ridge dividing Pistol and Baker's Creeks; turned south 6' to the
top of a knoll, having on the right the falling grounds of Gallagher's
Creek. This knoll they called "Iron Hill." Continuing south 11', they
crossed a small ridge and ascended a hill 4' SSW., crossing a path from
Baker's Creek to the settlements on Holston. From here the ridge bore
SSW. 1 mile, SW. by W. 1 mile, SSW. 3 miles, and thence NW., which
would make it strike the Holston River near the mouth of that stream.
This corresponded with the observations of the previous commissioners
who had run the experimental line.

This inspection convinced the commissioners that a considerable number
of the white settlers were on the Indian land. The latter were quite
anxious that some arrangement should be made for their accommodation in
the coming conference with the Indians, but received no encouragement
from the commissioners further than an assurance that they should be
permitted to gather their crops of small grain and fruit before removal.

Being asked by the commissioners why the line run by Mr. Campbell
and his confrères was known by three names, "that of experience, of
experiment, and the treaty line with the Indians," they answered that
"it was not the treaty line, but a line run to see how the citizens
could be covered, as they were then settled on the frontier; that they
understood this to be the direction to the commissioners, and that
they conformed to it and ran the line as we had noticed in viewing the
lands between the two rivers." The settlers also said, "the law, as
they were likely to be affected, had been incautiously worded. They
understood from it that the line from Clinch to cross the Holston at
the ridge would turn thence south to the South Carolina Indian boundary
on the North Carolina line. We replied that this understanding of it
was erroneous. There was no such course in the treaty, and they should
never suppose that the Government would be capable of violating a
solemn guarantee; that, although the expression was 'thence south,' yet
it must be understood as meaning southeastwardly, to the point next
called for, as the point is in that direction and far to the east; that
the lands in question had moreover been expressly reserved by the State
of North Carolina for the Indians, and the occupants had not, as some
others had, even the plea of entry in the land office of that State."

The law referred to above by the settlers and the commissioners was the
act of Congress approved May 19, 1796, entitled "An act to regulate
trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes and to preserve peace on
the frontiers." This act recited the course of the Indian boundary as
established by treaty with the various tribes extending from the mouth
of Cuyahoga River along the line described in the treaty of 1795 at
Greenville, to the Ohio River and down the same to the ridge dividing
the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers; thence, up and along said ridge
and continuing according to the Cherokee treaty of 1791 to the river
Clinch; "thence down said river to a point from which a line shall pass
the Holston, at the ridge which divides the waters running into Little
River from those running into the Tennessee; thence _south_ to the
North Carolina boundary," etc.

Owing to fears for their personal safety caused by the hostile tone
of the settlers toward them, it was not until the 25th of April that
a representative delegation of the Cherokees was convened in council
by the commissioners. There were present 147 chiefs and warriors.
Commissioners were appointed by them to act on behalf of their nation,
in conjunction with those on behalf the United States, to run and mark
the boundary line, and an agreement was reached that Messrs. Hawkins
and Pickens should have authority to select the necessary sites for the
proposed military posts within their country.

During the council a delegation of the intruding settlers presented
themselves but were not allowed to attend the deliberations, being
advised by the commissioners "that it was not in contemplation to make
a new treaty but to carry the treaty of Holston into effect; that
we did not expect much light on this subject from the Indians; that
we should form our decision from the instrument itself and not from
interested reporters on either side; that all who were on the Indian
lands could not be relieved by us; * * * that he (Captain Henly) and
most of the deputation lived on this side of the line of experiment,
and that they had informed us that that line was merely to ascertain
how the citizens could be accommodated and _on this side of the true
line_ intended in the treaty; that to accommodate them a new treaty
must be had and a new line agreed on, and, in our opinion, at this time
it could not be effected; that the Indians were much alarmed for their
situation, and viewed every attempt to acquire land as a violation of
the solemn guaranty of the Government; that we need not expect ever
to obtain fairly their consent to part with their land, unless our
fellow-citizens would pay more respect than we saw they did to their
treaties.

Following this conference with the Indians, the commissioners proceeded
(examining the country carefully en route) to South West Point, at the
mouth of Clinch River, which they reached on the 6th of May, and the
journal of Colonel Hawkins concludes with this day's proceedings. It
is learned, however, from an old map of the line now on file in the
office of Indian Affairs, that the survey was not begun until more than
three months after their arrival at South West Point. From another map
in the same office it appears that the line as surveyed extended from
a point about 1,000 yards above South West Point in a course S. 76° E.
to the Great Iron Mountain, and was known as "Hawkins Line."[86] From
this point the line continued in the same course until it reached the
treaty line of 1785, and was called "Pickens Line." The supposition
is that as the commissioners were provided with two surveyors, they
separated, Colonel Hawkins with Mr. Whitner as surveyor running the
line from Clinch River to the Great Iron Mountains, and General Pickens
with Colonel Kilpatrick as surveyor locating the remainder of it. This
supposition is verified so far as General Pickens is concerned by his
own written statement.[87]

From the point where it struck the Clinch River, the line of cession
by this treaty of 1791 followed up the course of that river until it
struck Campbell's line at a point 3 or 4 miles southwest of the present
town of Sneedville. From this point it became identical with the
boundary line prescribed by the treaty of November 28, 1785 at Hopewell.

The tract of country ceded by this treaty comprised the territory
within the present limits of Sevier, Cocke, Jefferson, Hamblen,
Grainger, and almost the entirety of Knox, as well as portions
of Roane, Loudon, Anderson, Union, Hancock, Hawkins, Sullivan,
Washington, Greene, and Blount Counties in Tennessee, together with a
portion of North Carolina lying principally west of the French Broad
River.

[Footnote 79: Ib., p. 628-630.]

[Footnote 80: January 31, 1792. See American State Papers, Indian
Affairs, Vol. I, p. 629.]

[Footnote 81: It may not be uninteresting as a historical incident
to note the fact that at the time of General Wayne's treaty at
Greeneville, in 1795, a band of Cherokees had settled on the
head-waters of the Scioto River in Ohio. Not presenting themselves
at the conferences preceding that treaty, General Wayne sent them a
special message through Captain Long Hair, one of their chiefs, with
the information that if they failed to conclude articles of peace with
him they would be left unprotected. They sent a delegation to assure
General Wayne of their desire for peace, saying that as soon as they
gathered their crop of corn they would return to their tribe, which
they did.]

[Footnote 82: American State Papers. Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 630.
According to the original manuscript journal of Col. Benj. Hawkins,
Major Craig's house was 1/4 mile below the source of Nine-Mile Creek.]

[Footnote 83: September 27, 1792. See American State Papers, Indian
Affairs, Vol. I, p. 630.]

[Footnote 84: Report of Boundary Commissioners, November 30, 1792.
American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 630.]

[Footnote 85: Report of Boundary Commissioners, November 30, 1792.
American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 630.]

[Footnote 86: See preamble to treaty of 1798; American State Papers,
Indian Affairs, Vol. I, pp. 639-641; letters of Indian Bureau, War
Department, December 13 and 14, 1828; also, old manuscript maps in
Office of Indian Affairs, Nos. 716 and 749. By the former of these
maps it appears that the survey of "Hawkins Line" from Clinch River
was begun August 13, 1797, and that "the line commences on the Clinch,
one-fourth mile above the ferry, in view of South West Point. (The
ferry was 600 yards above the point.) From this point the view through
the vista or street passing Captain Wade's garden to the right S. 26 W.
the same side of the river above N. 47 W. The beginning tree, a Spanish
oak, marked U. S. on the north side and C. on the south; on the oak
1797. A wahoo marked U. S. and C. under the U. S. Aug. 13, continues
the line 4 cuts 7 strikes to the Cumberland road, here a white oak
marked U. S. and C. The mile trees have U. S. and C. marked on them,"
etc.]

[Footnote 87: Letter of Gen. Andrew Pickens to Hon. Mr. Nott, of South
Carolina, January 1, 1800. See American State Papers, Public Lands,
Vol. I, p. 104.]

TREATY CONCLUDED FEBRUARY 17, 1792; PROCLAIMED FEBRUARY 17, 1792.

_Held at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, between Henry Knox,
Secretary of War, on behalf of the United States, and certain
chiefs and warriors, in behalf of themselves and the Cherokee
Nation._

MATERIAL PROVISIONS.

This treaty was negotiated as, and declared to be, an additional
article to the treaty of July 2, 1791, and provided as follows:

1. That the annual sum to be paid to the Cherokees by the United
States, in consideration of the relinquishment of lands, made in treaty
of 1791, be $1,500 instead of $1,000.

HISTORICAL DATA.

DISCONTENT OF THE CHEROKEES.

As stated in considering the treaty of July 2, 1791, the Secretary of
War notified Governor Blount[88] that the President had ratified the
same, and inclosed printed copies thereof to him for distribution. This
was equivalent to its official promulgation, although the treaty as
printed in the United States Statutes at Large gives February 17, 1792,
as the date of proclamation.

But, whichever may be the correct date, during the interval elapsing
between them, a Cherokee delegation, without the invitation or
knowledge of the United States authorities, proceeded to Philadelphia
(then the seat of Government), where they arrived on the 28th of
December, 1791, bringing with them from Governor Pinckney and General
Pickens, of South Carolina, evidence of the authenticity of their
mission.[89]

The delegation consisted of six, besides the interpreter, and was
headed by Nen-e-too-yah, or the Bloody Fellow. They were kindly
received by the President, who directed the Secretary of War to
ascertain their business.

Conferences were thereupon held with them, lasting several days, at
which the Indians detailed at great length their grievances and made
known their wants.

_Causes of complaint._--The substance of their communications was to
the effect that when they were summoned by Governor Blount to the
conference which resulted in the treaty of July 2, 1791, they were
unaware of any purpose on the part of the Government to secure any
further cession of land from them; that they had protested vigorously
and consistently for several days against yielding any more territory,
but were met with such persistent and threatening demands from Governor
Blount on the subject that they were forced to yield; that they had no
confidence that the North Carolinians would attach any sacredness to
the new boundary, in fact they were already settling beyond it; and
that the annuity stipulated in the treaty of 1791, as compensation for
the cession, was entirely inadequate. They therefore asked an increase
of the annuity from $1,000 to $1,500, and furthermore demanded that the
white people who had settled south of the ridge dividing the waters of
Little River from those of the Tennessee should be removed, and that
such ridge should be the barrier.

President Washington, believing their demand to be a just one, and also
desiring that the delegation should carry home a favorable report of
the attitude and disposition of the Government toward them, submitted
the matter to the Senate[90] and requested the advice of that body as
to the propriety of attaching an additional article to the treaty of
1791 which should increase the annuity from $1,000 to $1,500.

_Annuity increased._--To this proposition the Senate gave its advice
and consent,[91] and what is mentioned in the United States Statutes
at Large as a treaty concluded and proclaimed February 17, 1792,[92]
became the law of the land.

WAR WITH CHEROKEES.

This concession did not, however, in any large degree heal the
differences and antagonisms existing between the Indians and the border
settlers, with whom they were brought in constant contact. Even while
the treaty of 1792 was being negotiated by the representatives of
the Cherokees at the capital of the nation, a portion of their young
warriors were consummating arrangements for the precipitation of a
general war with the whites, and in September, 1792, a party of upwards
of 700 Cherokee and Creek warriors attacked Buchanan's Station, Tenn.,
within 4 miles of Nashville. They were headed by the Cherokee chief
John Watts, who was one of the signers of the treaty of Holston, and
had he not been severely wounded early in the attack, it is likely the
station would have been destroyed.[93]

A year later, between twelve and fifteen hundred Indians of the
same tribes invaded the settlements on the Holston River and
destroyed Cavitt's Station, 7 miles below Knoxville.[94] In fact,
the intermediate periods between 1791 and 1795 were filled up by the
incursions of smaller war parties, and it was not until the latter
year that the frontiers found any repose from Indian depredations.

The general tranquillity enjoyed after that date seems to have been
occasioned by the wholesome discipline administered to the tribes
northwest of the Ohio by General Wayne, in his victory of August 20,
1794, and as a result of the expedition of Major Ore, with his command
of Tennesseeans and Kentuckians, in September of the same year, against
the Lower Towns of the Cherokees, wherein two of those towns, Running
Water and Nickajack, were destroyed.[95]

[Footnote 88: November 19, 1791. See American State Papers, Indian
Affairs, Vol. I, p. 629.]

[Footnote 89: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 203.]

[Footnote 90: January 18, 1792.]

[Footnote 91: January 20, 1792.]

[Footnote 92: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 42.]

[Footnote 93: This attack was made about midnight on the 30th of
September, 1792. See American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p.
294.]

[Footnote 94: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 468.]

TREATY CONCLUDED JUNE 26, 1794; PROCLAIMED JANUARY 21, 1795.[96]

_Held at Philadelphia, Pa., between Henry Knox, Secretary of
War, on behalf of the United States, and the chiefs and warriors
representing the Cherokee Nation of Indians._

MATERIAL PROVISIONS.

The treaty of July 2, 1791, not having been fully carried into effect,
by reason of some misunderstanding, this treaty was concluded to
adjudicate such differences, and contains the following provisions:

1. The treaty of July 2, 1791, declared to be in full force in respect
to the boundaries, as well as in all other respects whatever.

2. The boundaries mentioned in the 4th article of treaty of July 2,
1791, to be ascertained and marked after ninety days' notice shall have
been given to the Cherokee Nation of the time and place of commencing
the operation by the United States commissioners.

3. The United States agree, in lieu of all former sums, to furnish the
Cherokees with $5,000 worth of goods annually, as compensation for all
territory ceded by treaties of November 28, 1785, and July 2, 1791.

4. Fifty dollars to be deducted from Cherokee annuity for every horse
stolen by Cherokees from whites and not returned within three months.

5. These articles to be considered as additions to treaty of July 2,
1791, as soon as ratified by the President and Senate of the United
States.

HISTORICAL DATA.

COMPLAINTS CONCERNING BOUNDARIES.

The destruction of the official records renders it very difficult to
ascertain the details of the misunderstandings alleged in the preamble
of this treaty of June 26, 1794,[97] to have arisen concerning the
provisions of the treaty of 1791. But it is gathered from various
sources that the principal cause of complaint was in reference to
boundaries.

After that treaty was concluded, however, it became evident that there
would be difficulty in determining satisfactorily where the ridge came
in contact with the Holston, inasmuch as the white settlers in the
vicinity could not agree upon it. The Indians also changed their minds
in some respect as to the proper course of the line; but, in view of
the fact that settlers were encroaching with great persistency upon
their territory, they saw the necessity of taking immediate steps to
have the boundary officially surveyed and marked. They also revived an
old claim to pay for lands yielded by them in the establishment of the
treaty line of 1785, for which they had received no compensation.

_Increase of annuity._--In the conference preceding the signature of
this treaty of 1794 they insisted that for this and other reasons an
increase should be made in the annuity provided by the treaty of 1791,
as amended by that of 1792. This was agreed to by the United States,
and the annuity was increased from $1,500 to $5,000.

_Boundary line to be surveyed._--It was also agreed that the treaty
line of 1791 should be promptly surveyed and marked after ninety days'
notice had been given to the Cherokees of the time when and the place
where the survey should begin.

This, as has already been stated in connection with the treaty of
1791, had been so far performed in the fall of 1792 as to run but not
mark a preliminary line for a short portion of the distance, but in
spite of the additional agreement in this treaty of 1794 the actual
and final survey did not take place until 1797,[100] three years after
the conclusion of this treaty and more than seven years after it was
originally promised to be done.

The treaty of 1794 was concluded by the Secretary of War himself with
a delegation of the Cherokees who had visited Philadelphia for that
purpose. It was communicated by President Washington to the Senate on
the 30th of December, 1794.[101]

CHEROKEE HOSTILITIES.

While this treaty was being negotiated, and for some months thereafter,
a portion of the Cherokees were engaged in the bitterest hostilities
against the white settlements, which were only brought to a close, as
has been incidentally remarked in discussing the treaty of 1792, by the
expedition of Major Ore against the Lower Cherokee towns in September,
1794.

_Peace conference._--Following this expedition the hostile Cherokees
sued for peace, and at their request a conference was held with them by
Governor Blount, at Tellico Block House, on the 7th and 8th of November
of that year.[102]

This council was attended by Col. John Watts, of Willstown, principal
leader of the hostiles; Scolacutta, or the Hanging Maw, head chief
of the nation, and four hundred other chiefs and warriors. A general
disposition seemed to be manifested among them to abandon their habits
of depredation and secure for themselves and their families that
peace to which they, as well as their white neighbors, had long been
strangers. Governor Blount met them in a friendly spirit and sought, by
every means in his power, to confirm them in their good disposition.

In reporting the facts of this conference to the Secretary of War he
asserted one of the most fruitful causes of friction between the whites
and Indians to be the stealing and selling of horses by the latter,
for which they could always find a ready and unquestioned market among
unscrupulous whites. As measures of frontier protection he suggested
the continuance of the three military garrisons of Southwest Point at
the mouth of the Clinch, of Fort Granger at the mouth of the Holston,
and of Tellico Block House, opposite the remains of old Fort Loudon,
and also the erection of a military post, if the Cherokees would permit
it, on the north bank of the Tennessee, nearly opposite the mouth of
Lookout Mountain Creek. Subsequently[103] he held a further conference
with the Cherokees and endeavored to foster hostilities between them
and the Creeks by urging the organization of a company of their young
warriors to patrol the frontiers of Mero District for its protection
against incursions of the Creeks. To this the leading Cherokee chiefs
refused assent, not because of any objection to the proposition, but
because they desired time for preparation.

INTERCOURSE ACT OF 1796.

Early in the following year[104] President Washington, in an emphatic
message, laid before Congress a communication from Governor Blount
setting forth, the determination of a large combination of persons
to take possession of certain Indian lands south and southwest of
the Cumberland, under the pretended authority of certain acts of the
legislature of North Carolina, passed some years previous, for the
relief of her officers and soldiers of the Continental line.

In view of the injustice of such intrusions and the mischievous
consequences which would of necessity result therefrom, the President
recommended that effective provision should be made to prevent them.

This eventuated in the passage of the act of Congress, approved May 19,
1796,[105] providing for the government of intercourse between citizens
of the United States and the various Indian tribes.

[Footnote 95: Report of Maj. James Ore to Governor Blount, September
24, 1794. He left Nashville September 7, with 550 mounted infantry,
crossed the Tennessee on the 12th, about 4 miles below Nickajack, and
on the morning of the 13th destroyed Nickajack and Running Water towns,
killing upwards of 50 and making a number prisoners. See American State
Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 632.]

At the treaty of 1791, Governor Blount, as he alleges, sought, by every
means in his power, to have the boundary of the cession follow, so far
as might be, the natural barrier formed by the dividing ridge between
the waters of Little River and those of the Tennessee,[98] and such
in fact was the tenor of his instructions from the Secretary of War;
but the Indian chiefs unanimously insisted that the boundary should be
a straight line, running from the point where the ridge in question
should strike the Holston, and assumed as evidence of the crookedness
of Governor Blount's heart the fact that he desired to run a crooked
line.[99]

[Footnote 96: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 43.]

[Footnote 97: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 43.]

[Footnote 98: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 629.]

[Footnote 99: Letter of Governor Blount to Secretary of War, March 2,
1792. See American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 629.]

[Footnote 100: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 628.]

[Footnote 101: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 543.]

[Footnote 102: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 536.]

[Footnote 103: January 3, 1795. See American State Papers, Indian
Affairs, Vol. I, p. 536.]

[Footnote 104: February 2, 1796. See American State Papers, Indian
Affairs, Vol. I, p. 581.]

TREATY CONCLUDED OCTOBER 2, 1798.[106]

_Held near Tellico, in the Cherokee Council House between
George Walton and Lieut. Col. Thomas Butler, commissioners on
behalf of the United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the
Cherokee Nation._

MATERIAL PROVISIONS.

Owing to misunderstandings and consequent delay in running the boundary
line prescribed by the treaties of 1791 and 1794, and the ignorant
encroachment of settlers on the Indian lands within the limits of such
boundaries before their survey, it became desirable that the Indians
should cede more land. The following treaty was therefore concluded:

1. Peace and friendship are renewed and declared perpetual.

2. Previous treaties acknowledged to be of binding force.

3. Boundaries of the Cherokees to remain the same where not altered by
this treaty.

4. The Cherokees cede to the United States all lands within the
following points and lines, viz: From a point on the Tennessee River,
below Tellico Block House, called the Wild Cat Rock, in a direct line
to the Militia Spring near the Maryville road leading from Tellico.
From the said spring to the Chill-howie Mountain by a line so to be
run as will leave all the farms on Nine Mile Creek to the northward
and eastward of it, and to be continued along Chill-howie Mountain
until it strikes Hawkins's line. Thence along said line to the Great
Iron Mountain, and from the top of which a line to be continued in a
southeastwardly course to where the most southwardly branch of Little
River crosses the divisional line to Tuggaloe River. From the place
of beginning, the Wild Cat Rock, down the northeast margin of the
Tennessee River (not including islands) to a point one mile above the
junction of that river with the Clinch, and from thence by a line to
be drawn in a right angle until it intersects Hawkins's line leading
from Clinch. Thence down the said line to the river Clinch; thence
up the said river to its junction with Emmery's River; thence up
Emmery's River to the foot of Cumberland Mountain. From thence a line
to be drawn, northeastwardly along the foot of the mountain until it
intersects with Campbell's line.

5. Two commissioners to be appointed (one by the United States and one
by the Cherokees) to superintend the running and marking of the line,
immediately upon signing of the treaty, and three maps to be made after
survey for use of the War Department, the State of Tennessee, and the
Cherokee Nation respectively.

6. Upon signing the treaty the Cherokees to receive $5,000 cash and
an annuity of $1,000, and the United States to guarantee them the
remainder of their country forever.

7. The United States to have free use of the Kentucky road running
between Cumberland Mountain and river, in consideration of which the
Cherokees are permitted to hunt on ceded lands.

8. Notice to be given the Cherokees of the time for delivering annual
stipends.

9. Horses stolen by either whites or Indians to be paid for at $60
each (if by a white man, in cash; if by an Indian, to be deducted from
annuity). All depredations prior to the beginning of these negotiations
to be forgotten.

10. The Cherokees agree that the United States agent shall have
sufficient ground for his temporary use while residing among them.
This treaty to be binding and carried into effect by both sides when
ratified by the Senate and President of the United States.

HISTORICAL DATA.

DISPUTES RESPECTING TERRITORY.

In the year 1797 the legislature of the State of Tennessee addressed a
memorial and remonstrance to Congress upon the subject of the Indian
title to lands within that State. The burden of this complaint was
the assertion that the Indian title was at best nothing greater than
a tenancy at will; that the lands they occupied within the limits of
the State had been granted by the State of North Carolina, before the
admission of Tennessee to the Union, to her officers and soldiers of
the Continental line, and for other purposes; that the treaties entered
into with the Cherokees by the United States, guaranteeing them the
exclusive possession of these lands, were subversive of State as well
as individual vested rights, and praying that provision be made by law
for the extinguishment of the Indian claim.[107]

This was communicated to Congress by the President. Mr. Pinckney,
from the committee of the House of Representatives to which the matter
was referred, submitted a report,[108] accompanied by a resolution
making an appropriation for the relief of such citizens of the State
of Tennessee as had a right to lands within that State, by virtue of
the cession out of the State of North Carolina, provided they had made
actual settlement thereon and had been deprived of the possession
thereof by the operation of the act of May 19, 1796, for regulating
intercourse with the Indian tribes. The sum to be appropriated, it was
declared, should be subject to the order of the President of the United
States, to be expended under his direction, either in extinguishing the
Indian claim to the lands in question, by holding a treaty for that
purpose, or to be disposed of in such other manner as he should deem
best calculated to afford the persons described a temporary relief.

_New treaty._--The House of Representatives, on considering the
subject, passed a resolution directing the Secretary of War to lay
before them such information as he possessed relative to the running of
a line of experiment from Clinch River to Chilhowie Mountain by order
of Governor Blount, to which the Secretary responded on the 5th of
January, 1798.[109]

Following this, on the 8th of the same month, President Adams
communicated a message to the Senate, setting forth that the situation
of affairs between some of the citizens of the United States and the
Cherokees had evinced the propriety of holding a treaty with that
nation, to extinguish by purchase their right to certain parcels of
land and to adjust and settle other points relative to the safety
and convenience of the citizens of the United States. With this view
he nominated Fisher Ames, of Massachusetts, Bushrod Washington, of
Virginia, and Alfred Moore, of North Carolina, to be commissioners,
having authority to hold conferences and conclude a treaty with the
Cherokees for the purposes indicated.[110]

The Senate concurred in the advisability of the proposed treaty, but
Fisher Ames and Bushrod Washington having declined, George Walton and
John Steele were associated with Mr. Moore, and detailed instructions
were given for their guidance.[111]

By these instructions they were vested jointly and severally with full
powers to negotiate and conclude a treaty with the Cherokees, limited
only by the scope of the instructions themselves. The Cherokee agent
had already been directed to notify the Indians and the commandant of
United States troops in Tennessee to furnish an escort sufficient for
the protection of the negotiations.

_Further purchase of Cherokee lands proposed._--The commissioners
were directed as a primary consideration to secure, if possible, the
consent of the Cherokees to the sale of such part of their lands as
would give a more convenient form to the State of Tennessee and conduce
to the protection of its citizens. Especially was it desirable to
obtain their consent to the immediate return of such settlers as had
intruded on their lands and in consequence had been removed by the
United States troops, such consent to be predicated on the theory that
the Cherokees were willing to treat for the sale to the United States
of the lands upon which these people had settled. They were directed to
renew the unsuccessful effort made by Governor Blount in 1791 to secure
the consent of the Cherokees that the boundary should begin at the
mouth of Duck River and run up the middle of that stream to its source
and thence by a line drawn to the mouth of Clinch River. The following
alternative boundary propositions were directed to be submitted for the
consideration of the Indians, in their numerical order, viz:

1. A line (represented on an accompanying map by a red dotted line)
from a point on the ridge dividing the waters of the Cumberland from
the Tennessee River, in a southwest direction, until it should strike
the mouth of Duck River; thence from the mouth to the main source of
the river; thence by a line over the highest ridges of the Cumberland
Mountains to the mouth of Clinch River; thence down the middle of the
Tennessee River till it struck the divisional line under the treaties
of 1791 and 1794; thence along said line to its crossing of the Cunchee
Creek running into Tuckasegee; thence to the Great Iron Mountains;
thence a southeasterly course to where the most southerly branch of
Little River crossed the divisional line to Tugaloo River.

2. A line (represented on said map by a double red line) beginning at
the point 40 miles above Nashville, as ascertained by the commissioners
(and laid down on said map); thence due east till it struck the dotted
line on Cumberland Mountains; along said mountains to the junction of
Clinch and Tennessee Rivers; and down the Tennessee to the extent of
the boundary described in the first proposition.

3. A line (dotted blue) beginning at a point 56 miles from the point 40
miles above Nashville, on the northeast divisional line, being 1-1/2
miles south of the road called Walton's or Caney Fork road; thence on
a course at the same distance from the said road to where it crosses
Clinch River; thence resuming the remaining boundary as described in
the first proposition.

4. A line (being a double blue line on the map) beginning at a point
one mile south of the junction of the Clinch and Tennessee Rivers;
thence westerly along the course of the road 1-1/2 miles south thereof
until it entered into Cumberland Mountains; thence a northeasterly
course along the ridges of said mountains on the west of Powell's
Valley and River to the source of the river next above Clear Fork, and
thence down the middle of the same to the northeast divisional line;
the Tennessee River and the further line thence, as described in the
first proposition, to be the remaining boundary.

In case the Indians should accept the first proposition and cede the
tract therein described, or a greater quantity, the commissioners were
to solemnly guarantee the Cherokees the remainder of their country and
agree to their payment by the United States of either an annuity of
$4,000, or to deliver them, on the signing of the treaty, goods to the
amount of $5,000 and the further sum of $20,000 in four equal annual
installments.

Refusing the first and accepting the second proposition, they were to
receive the same guarantee, and an annuity of $3,000, or $5,000 at once
in goods and $15,000 in three equal annual installments.

Refusing the first and second and accepting the third proposition, the
same guarantee was offered and an annuity of $2,000, or $5,000 in goods
on signing the treaty and $10,000 in two equal annual installments.

Accepting the fourth proposition, to the exclusion of the other three,
the same guarantee was to be given, together with an annuity of $1,000,
or $5,000 in goods on signing the treaty and the same amount during the
year 1799.

It was also represented by the Secretary of War that the arts and
practices used to obtain Indian land in defiance of treaties and the
laws, at the risk of involving the whole country in war, had become
so daring, and received such countenance from persons of prominent
influence, as to render it necessary that the means to countervail
them should be augmented. To this end, as well as to more effectually
secure to the United States the advantages of the land which should be
obtained by the treaty, the commissioners were instructed to secure the
insertion into the treaty of provisions of the following import:

1. That the new line should be run and marked by two commissioners, one
of whom should be appointed by the treaty commissioners and the other
by the Indians. They should proceed immediately upon the signing of
the treaty to the execution of that duty, upon the completion of which
three maps thereof should be prepared, one for the use of the Secretary
of War, one for the executive of the State of Tennessee, and one for
the Cherokees.

2. That the Cherokees should at all times permit the President of the
United States to employ military force within their boundaries for
the arrest and removal of all persons seeking to make unauthorized
negotiations with or to incite their hostility toward the United States
or any of its citizens, or toward any foreign nation or Indian nation
or tribe within the limits and under the protection of the United
States; also, of all persons who should settle on or who should attempt
to reside in the Indian country without the written permission of the
President.

3. That the treaty should not be construed either to affect the right
or title of any ejected settler upon the Indian lands to the tract
theretofore occupied by him or in any manner to enlarge his right or
claim thereto; and that all Indian land purchased by the contemplated
treaty, which had not been actually occupied as aforesaid, should
remain subject to the operation of all the provisions of the proposed
as well as any former treaty and of the laws of the United States
relative to Indian country, until such time as said lands should be
sold by and under the authority of the United States. This provision
was intended to prevent any further intrusion on any part of the land
ceded by the State of North Carolina to the United States; as also
upon the land set apart to the Cherokee Indians by the State of North
Carolina, by act of her legislature, passed May 17, 1783, described as
follows, viz: "Beginning on the Tennessee, where the southern boundary
of this State intersects the same, nearest to the Chicamauga towns;
thence up the middle of the Tennessee and Holston to the middle of
French Broad; thence up the middle of French Broad River (which lines
are not to include any island or islands in the said river) to the
mouth of Big Pigeon River; thence up the same to the head thereof;
thence along the dividing ridge, between the waters of Pigeon River and
Tuckasege River, to the southern boundary of this State."

4. The United States should have the right to establish such military
posts and garrisons within the Indian limits for their protection as
should be deemed proper. In case it should be found impracticable to
obtain Duck River or a line that should include within it the road
leading from Southwest Point to Cumberland River for a boundary, the
commissioners were to stipulate for certain parcels of land lying on
such road at convenient distances from each other for the establishment
of houses of entertainment for travelers. Also in case the cession
obtained should not include both sides of the ferry on Clinch River, to
secure a limitation upon the rates of toll that should be charged by
the occupant.

The commissioners repaired to Knoxville, where they ascertained it to
be the desire of the Indians that the treaty negotiations should be
held at Oostenaula, the Cherokee capital.

To this the commissioners objected, but agreed to meet the Indians
at Chota, which they concluded to change to Tuckasege, and, finally,
before the date fixed for the meeting, June 25, again changed it to
Tellico, where the conference was held.[112]

_Tennessee commissioners attend the council._--In the mean time[113]
Governor Sevier of Tennessee designated General Robertson, James
Stuart, and Lachlan McIntosh as agents to represent the interests of
that State at the treaty, and gave them minute instructions covering
the following points,[114] viz:

1. To obtain as wide an extinguishment of the Cherokee claim north of
the Tennessee River as possible.

2. An unimpeded communication of Holston and Clinch Rivers with the
Tennessee and the surrender of the west bank of the Clinch opposite
South-West Point.

3. To secure from future molestation the settlements as far as they had
progressed on the northern and western borders of the State and the
connection of Hamilton and Mero districts, then separated by a space of
unextinguished hunting ground 80 miles wide.

4. To examine into the nature and validity of the claim recently set
up by the Cherokees to lands north of the Tennessee River; whether it
rested upon original right or was derived from treaties; or was founded
only upon temporary use or occupancy.

The council opened early in July. The "Bloody Fellow," a Cherokee
chief, at the outset delivered a paper which he stated to contain their
final resolutions, and which covered a peremptory refusal to sell
any land or to permit the ejected settlers to return to their homes.
After seeking in vain to shake this determination of the Cherokees,
further negotiations were postponed until the ensuing fall, and the
commissioners departed.

On the 27th of August, the Secretary of War addressed some additional
instructions upon the subject to George Walton and Lieut. Col. Thomas
Butler as commissioners (John Steele having resigned and Alfred Moore
having returned to his home in North Carolina), authorizing them to
renew the negotiations. The original instructions were to form the
basis of these negotiations, but if it should be found impracticable to
induce the Indians to accede to either of the first three propositions,
an abandonment of them was to take place, and resort was to be had to
the fourth proposition, which might be altered in any manner as to
boundaries calculated to secure the most advantageous results to the
United States.[115] The council was resumed at Tellico on the 20th of
September, but it was found, during the progress thereof, that there
was no possibility of effecting the primary objects of the State agents
of Tennessee. General Robertson failed to attend. General White (who
had been appointed in the place of Stuart) was there, but Mr. McIntosh
resigned and Governor Sevier himself attended in person.

The treaty was finally concluded on the 2d of October, by which a
cession was secured covering most of the territory contemplated by the
fourth proposition, with something additional. It included most if not
all the lands from which settlers had been ejected by the United States
troops, and they were permitted to return to their homes.

The road privilege sought to be obtained between East and Middle
Tennessee was also realized, except as to the establishment of houses
of entertainment for travelers.[116]

President Adams transmitted the treaty to the Senate,[117] and that
body advised and consented to its ratification.

_Boundary lines surveyed._--In fulfillment of the provisions of the
fifth article of the treaty concerning the survey of boundary lines,
the President appointed Captain Butler as a commissioner to run that
portion of the line described as extending from Great Iron Mountain in
a southeasterly direction to the point where the most southerly branch
of Little River crossed the divisional line to Tugaloo River, which
trust he executed in the summer of 1799.[118] Owing to the unfortunate
destruction of official records by fire, in the year 1800, it is
impossible to ascertain all the details concerning this survey, but it
was executed on the theory that the "Little River" named in the treaty
was one of the northernmost branches of Keowee River.

This survey seems not to have been accepted by the War Department, for
on the 3d of June, 1802, instructions were issued by the Secretary of
War to Return J. Meigs, as a commissioner, to superintend the execution
of the survey of this same portion of the boundary. Mr. Thomas Freeman
was appointed surveyor.[119]

From the letter of Commissioner Meigs, transmitting the plat and field
notes of survey,[120] it appears that much difference of opinion had
existed as to what stream was meant by the "Little River" named in the
treaty, there being three streams of that name in that vicinity. Two of
these were branches of the French Broad and the other of Keowee River.
If the line should be run to the lower one of these two branches of the
French Broad, it would leave more than one hundred families of white
settlers within the Indian territory. If it were run to the branch of
Keowee River, it would leave ten or twelve Indian villages within the
State of North Carolina.

It was therefore determined by Commissioner Meigs to accept the upper
branch of French Broad as the true intent and meaning of the treaty,
and the line was run accordingly, whereby not a single white settlement
was cut off or intersected, and but five Indian families were left on
the Carolina side of the line.[121]

_Status of certain territory._--In this connection it is pertinent
to remark that the State of North Carolina claimed for her southern
boundary the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude.

The line of this parallel was, however, at that time supposed to run
about 12 miles to the north of what was subsequently ascertained to be
its true location.

Between this supposed line of 35° north latitude and the northernmost
boundary of Georgia, as settled upon by a convention between that State
and South Carolina in 1787, there intervened a tract of country of
about 12 miles in width, from north to south, and extending from east
to west, from the top of the main ridge of mountains which divides
the eastern from the western waters to the Mississippi River. This
tract remained, as was supposed, within the chartered limits of South
Carolina, and in the year 1787 was ceded by that State to the United
States, subject to the Indian right of occupancy. When the Indian title
to the country therein described was ceded to the United States by the
treaty of 1798 with the Cherokees, the eastern portion of this 12-mile
tract fell within the limits of such cession.

On its eastern extremity near the head-waters of the French Broad
River, immediately at the foot of the main Blue Ridge Mountains, had
been located, for a number of years prior to the treaty, a settlement
of about fifty families of whites, who by its ratification became
occupants of the public domain of the United States, but who were
outside the territorial jurisdiction of any State. These settlers
petitioned Congress to retrocede the tract of country upon which
they resided to South Carolina, in order that they might be brought
within the protection of the laws of that State.[122] A resolution
was reported in the House of Representatives, from the committee to
whom the subject had been referred, favoring such a course,[123] but
Congress took no effective action on the subject, and when the State
boundaries came to be finally adjusted in that region the tract in
question was found to be within the limits of North Carolina.

_Yellow Creek settlement._--After that portion of the boundary of the
country ceded by the treaty of 1798 which extended along the foot of
Cumberland Mountain until it intersected "Campbell's Line" had been
surveyed, complaint was made by certain settlers on Yellow Creek that
by the action of the surveyors in not prolonging the line to its true
point of termination, their homes had been left within the Indian
country.

Thereupon the Secretary of War instructed Agent Meigs[124] to go in
person and examine the line as surveyed with a view to ascertaining the
truth concerning the complaints.

It was ascertained that the "point" of Campbell's Line was not on
Cumberland Mountain proper, but on the ridge immediately east thereof,
known as Poor Valley Ridge. This ridge is nearly as lofty as the
main range, and Colonel Campbell, in approaching it from the east,
had mistaken it for that range and established his terminal point
accordingly. The surveyors under the treaty of 1798, assuming the
correctness of Colonel Campbell's survey, had made the line of their
survey close thereon. By such action the Indian boundary in that
locality was extended 332 poles further to the east than would have
been the case had the true reading of the treaty been followed.

A number of families of settlers on Yellow Creek, together with a tract
of about 2,500 acres of land, were thus unfortunately left within the
Indian country. All efforts of Agent Meigs to secure a relinquishment
of this strip of territory from the Indians were, however,
ineffectual.[125]

[Footnote 105: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. I, p. 496.]

[Footnote 106: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 62.]

[Footnote 107: This address and remonstrance will be found in full in
American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, page 625.]

[Footnote 108: December 20, 1797.]

[Footnote 109: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 629.]

[Footnote 110: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 631.]

[Footnote 111: These instructions were dated March 2, 1798. See
American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 639]

[Footnote 112: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, pp. 693, 695.]

[Footnote 113: June 20, 1798.]

[Footnote 114: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, pp. 693, 695.]

[Footnote 115: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 640.]

[Footnote 116: By act of September 27, 1794, the legislature of the
territory southwest of the Ohio authorized the raising of a fund for
cutting and clearing a wagon road from Southwest Point to Bledsoe's
Lick on the Cumberland. The funds for this purpose were to be raised
by a lottery managed by Cols. James White, James Winchester, Stockley
Donelson, David Campbell, William Cocke, and Robert Hayes. The Indians
not having granted the necessary right of way, its construction was
necessarily postponed, but subsequently, by act of the legislature
of Tennessee passed November 14, 1801, the Cumberland Road Company
was incorporated and required to cut and clear a road from the Indian
boundary on the east side of Cumberland Mountain to the fork of the
roads leading to Fort Blount and Walton's Ferry.]

[Footnote 117: January 15, 1799.]

[Footnote 118: See letter of General Pickens to Representative Nott, of
South Carolina, January 1, 1800. American State Papers, Public Lands,
Vol. I, p. 103.]

[Footnote 119: Letter of Secretary of War to Return J. Meigs, in Indian
Office records.]

[Footnote 120: Dated October 20, 1802.]

[Footnote 121: Commissioner Meigs mentions that the accompanying plat
and field notes of Mr. Freeman, the surveyor, will give more abundant
details regarding this survey. After a careful search, however, no
trace has been found among the Indian Office records and files of
the plat and field notes in question. There is much difficulty in
ascertaining the exact point of departure of "Meigs Line" from Great
Iron Mountains. In the report of the Tennessee and North Carolina
boundary commissioners in 1821 it is stated to be 31-1/2 miles by the
course of the mountain ridge in a general southwesterly course from
the crossing of Cataluche Turnpike; 9-1/2 miles in a similar direction
from Porter's Gap; 21-1/2 miles in a northeasterly direction from the
crossing of Equovetley Path, and 33-1/2 miles in a like course from the
crossing of Tennessee River. All of these courses and distances follow
the crest of the Great Iron Mountains. It is stated to the author, by
General R. N. Hood, of Knoxville, Tenn., that there is a tradition that
"Meigs Post" was found some years since about 1-1/2 miles southwest of
Indian Gap. A map of the survey of Qualla Boundary, by M. S. Temple, in
1876, shows a portion of the continuation of "Meigs Line" as passing
about 1-1/2 miles east of Quallatown. Surveyor Temple mentions it as
running "S. 50° E. (formerly S. 52-1/2° E.")]

[Footnote 122: See memorial of Matthew Patterson and others, dated
"French Broad, 8th January, 1800," printed in American State Papers,
Public Lands, Vol. I, p. 104.]

[Footnote 123: This resolution was reported by Mr. Harper, from the
committee to whom it was referred, to the House of Representatives,
April 7, 1800, and is printed in American State Papers, Public Lands,
Vol. I, p. 103.]

[Footnote 124: February 7, 1803. See Indian Office records.]

[Footnote 125: See report of Agent Return J. Meigs to the Secretary of
War, May 5, 1803, on file in the Office of Indian Affairs.]

TREATY CONCLUDED OCTOBER 24, 1804; PROCLAIMED MAY 17, 1824.[126]

_Held at "Tellico Block House," Tennessee, between Daniel
Smith and Return J. Meigs, commissioners on the part of the United
States, and the principal chiefs representing the Cherokee Nation._

MATERIAL PROVISIONS.

It is agreed and stipulated that--

1. The Cherokee Nation relinquish and cede to the United States a
tract of land bounding southerly on the boundary line between the
State of Georgia and the Cherokee Nation, beginning at a point on the
said boundary line northeasterly of the most northeast plantation in
the settlement known by the name of Wafford's Settlement, and running
at right angles with the said boundary line 4 miles into the Cherokee
land, thence at right angles southwesterly and parallel to the first
mentioned boundary line so far as that a line to be run at right angles
southerly to the said first mentioned boundary line shall include in
this cession all the plantations in Wafford's Settlement, so called, as
aforesaid.

2. In consideration of this cession the United States agree to pay the
Cherokees $5,000, in goods or cash, upon the signing of the treaty, and
an annuity of $1,000.

HISTORICAL DATA.

NEW TREATY AUTHORIZED BY CONGRESS.

Congress, under date of February 19, 1799,[127] appropriated $25,000
to defray the expense of negotiating a treaty or treaties with the
Indians, and again, on the 13th of May, 1800,[128] appropriated $15,000
to defray the expense of holding a treaty or treaties with the Indian
tribes southwest of the Ohio River, with the proviso that nothing in
the act should be construed to admit an obligation on the part of the
United States to extinguish for the benefit of any State or individual
the Indian claim to any lands lying within the limits of the United
States.

Pursuant to the authority conferred by these enactments, President
Jefferson appointed[129] General James Wilkinson, Wm. R. Davie, and
Benj. Hawkins as commissioners, and they were instructed by the
Secretary of War to proceed to negotiate treaties with the Cherokees,
Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws.

_Objects of the treaty._--The objects sought to be attained with the
Cherokees were to secure their consent, 1st. To cede to the United
States all that portion of their territory lying to the northward of a
direct line to be run from a point mentioned in treaty of October 2,
1798, on Tennessee River, 1 mile above its junction with the Clinch,
to the point at or near the head of the West Fork of Stone's River, on
the ridge dividing the waters of the Cumberland and Duck Rivers which
is struck by a southwest line from the point where the Kentucky road
crosses Cumberland River, as described in the treaty of Holston.

2. That the Tennessee River should be the boundary from its mouth to
the mouth of Duck River; that Duck River should be the boundary thence
to the mouth of Rock Creek; and that a direct line should be run for a
continuation of the boundary from the mouth of Rock Creek to the point
on the ridge that divides the waters of Cumberland from Duck River.

3. That a road should be opened from the boundary line to a circular
tract on Tennessee River at the mouth of Bear River, reserved to the
United States by treaty of 1786 with the Chickasaws. From this point
the road should continue until it reached the Choctaw territory, where
it was to connect with a road through the country of the latter to
Natchez. The entire line of this road must be open to the free use of
citizens of the United States.

4. In case the Indians should refuse to cede any of the lands
designated, the commissioners were instructed to obtain, if possible,
a cession of all the land lying northward of the road leading from
Knoxville to the Nashville settlements, run conformably to the treaty
of 1791. If they should be unwilling to grant this, then to ask for a
strip of land from 1 to 5 miles in width, to include the said road in
its whole extent across their lands. Whether success or failure should
attend the first or second objects of their mission, the commissioners
were to seek the consummation of the third proposition for a road to
the Bear Creek reservation, which would otherwise be of no practical
value to the United States.

If consent was obtained to the first three proposals or to the
alternative marked 4th, an annuity of $1,000 was authorized and an
immediate sum not exceeding $5,000 in cash or goods. If, as had been
represented to the War Department, the Cherokees and Chickasaws both
claimed the land on either side of Tennessee River for a considerable
distance, the commissioners were instructed that they must obtain the
assent of both tribes to the opening of the road.

Six days after the issuance of these instructions, a delegation of
Cherokees, headed by Chief "Glass," arrived in Washington, and obtained
an interview with the Secretary of War.[130] They represented that the
promise had been made them, at the treaty of 1798, that they would
never be asked to cede any more land. Now they learned that the United
States was about to hold another treaty with them to secure further
cessions. They also desired to know whether the United States or the
settlers got the land theretofore ceded, and why they had not been
furnished with the map showing the boundary lines by the treaty of
1798, as had been promised them. In his reply,[131] after seeing the
President, the Secretary of War informed them that no desire existed to
purchase any more land from them unless they were anxious to sell; that
the map should be at once furnished them; that the States of Kentucky
and Tennessee had been formed out of the lands already purchased from
them, and the main object of the proposed treaty with their nation was
to secure the right of way for roads through their country in order to
maintain communication between detached white settlements.

The delegation strenuously objected to the proposed "Georgia" road and
were informed that the matter would not be pressed, but that the road
to Bear River and Natchez was a necessity.

As a result of the visit of this delegation, the instructions to
Messrs. Wilkinson, Davie, and Hawkins were modified,[131] it being
stated by the Secretary of War that he had been mistaken as to
part of the line between the United States and the Cherokees. He
therefore directed that the second object of their instructions should
be suspended as regarded both the Cherokees and the Chickasaws.
Commissioner Davie having declined his appointment, General Andrew
Pickens was substituted in his stead.[132]

_Failure of negotiations._--It is only necessary to observe that the
commissioners failed in the accomplishment of any of their designs with
the Cherokees.

WAFFORD'S SETTLEMENT.

Prior to the survey and marking of the boundary line near Currahee
Mountain in Georgia, provided for by the Cherokee treaty of 1785 and
the Creek treaty of 1790, which survey did not occur until 1798, one
Colonel Wafford, in company with sundry other persons, had formed a
settlement in that vicinity, which proved to be within the limits of
the Indian country.

Inasmuch as it was supposed these parties had ignorantly placed
themselves within the Indian line and had made considerable and
valuable improvements, the Government was indisposed to use harsh or
forcible means for their ejection, but rather approved of the urgent
appeals from Colonel Wafford and his neighbors to make an effort to
secure the relinquishment from the Indians of a tract sufficient to
embrace their settlement.

The Government had been laboring under the impression that these lands
belonged to the Creeks, but the delegation of the Cherokees, headed
by "The Glass," who visited Washington in the summer of 1801, claimed
them as Cherokee territory, and asked for the removal of the settlers.
Commissioners Wilkinson, Hawkins, and Pickens had been instructed[133]
to negotiate with the Creeks for the purchase of this tract, but they
having reported, upon examination, that the title was undoubtedly in
the Cherokees, were directed[134] to report upon the expediency of
applying to the Cherokees for a cession of the same.

Such an application having at this time been unfavorably received
by the Cherokees, nothing further was done in the matter until the
winter of 1803,[135] when the Secretary of War directed a conference
to be held with them for the double purpose of securing a cession or
a lease for seven years of the "Wafford Settlement" tract and the
Indian consent to a right of way for a road through their country
from Southwest Point or Tellico Factory to Athens, Ga., with the
establishment of the necessary houses of entertainment for travelers
along such route. For this latter concession he was authorized to
offer them the sum of $500. The Cherokees having refused both these
propositions, Agent Meigs was directed[136] to secure the granting
of the road privilege, if possible, by offering Vann[137] and other
men of influence among them a proper inducement to enlist their
active co-operation in the matter. This latter method seems to have
been effective, for later in the season[138] the Secretary of War
transmitted to the governors of Georgia and Tennessee an extract from
an agreement entered into with the Cherokees providing for an opening
of the desired road, stating that, as the United States had no funds
applicable to the laying out and construction of such a road, it would
be proper for the legislatures of those States to make the necessary
provision therefor.

The clamor for more land by the constant tide of immigration that was
flowing into Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia from the North and East
became more and more importunate. The desire to settle on Indian land
was as potent and insatiable with the average border settler then as it
is now.

FURTHER NEGOTIATIONS AUTHORIZED.

Notwithstanding the recent and oft-repeated refusals of the Cherokees
to part with more land, a new commission, consisting of Return J. Meigs
and Daniel Smith, was appointed and instructed[139] by the Secretary
of War to negotiate a treaty for the cession of lands in Kentucky,
Tennessee, or Georgia, and particularly of the tract near the Currahee
Mountain, including the Wafford settlement.

They were authorized to pay for the first cession a sum not exceeding
$14,000, coupled with an annuity of $3,000, and for the "Wafford tract"
not exceeding $5,000, together with an annuity of $1,000, and were
directed to give "Vann," a Cherokee chief, $200 or $300 to secure his
influence in favor of the proposed purchase.

_Purchase of Wafford settlement tract._--In pursuance of these
instructions a conference was held with the Cherokees at Tellico,
Tenn.,[140] at which they concluded the arrangements for the cession of
the Wafford tract, but failed in their further objects. The treaty was
signed on the 24th of October, and transmitted to the Secretary of War
a week later,[141] two persons having been appointed to designate and
run the lines of the ceded tract, which was found to be 23 miles and
64 chains in length and 4 miles in width.[142]

_Singular disappearance of treaty._--No action having been taken
looking toward the ratification of this treaty for several years
ensuing, Return J. Meigs, in the winter of 1811,[143] addressed a
letter to the Secretary of War calling attention to it, setting forth
the fact that its consideration had theretofore been postponed on
account of a misunderstanding in relation to the limits of the ceded
tract, but that the Cherokees had now of their own motion, and at their
own expense, had a survey made of 10 miles and 12 chains in length in
addition to the original survey, which would make the tract ceded 33
miles and 76 chains in length, and which would include the plantation
of every settler who could make the shadow of a claim to settlement
prior to the survey of the general boundary line run in 1797[144] by
Colonel Hawkins. He therefore concluded that there could be no reason
for further postponing the ratification of the treaty, and urged that
it be done without delay.

Notwithstanding this letter of Agent Meigs no further notice seems to
have been taken of the treaty, and it had been entirely lost sight
of until attention was again called to it by a Cherokee delegation
visiting Washington early in 1824, nearly twenty years after its
conclusion.[145]

After diligent search among the records of the War Department,
Secretary Calhoun reported[146] that no such treaty could be found and
no evidence that any such treaty had ever been concluded. Whereupon
the Cherokee delegation produced their duplicate copy of the treaty
together with other papers relating to it. The Secretary of War,
after receiving a reply[147] to a letter addressed by him to Colonel
McKee, of the House of Representatives (who was one of the subscribing
witnesses to the treaty), became satisfied of its authenticity, and
the President thereupon[148] transmitted the Cherokee duplicate to the
Senate, which body advised and consented to its ratification. It was
duly proclaimed by the President on the 17th of May, 1824.[149]

[Footnote 142: Commissioner Smith in his letter of October 31, 1804, to
the Secretary of War, states that two persons on the part of the United
States, to be accompanied by two Cherokee chiefs, had been designated
to run the boundaries of this cession. The propriety was then urged on
the Cherokees by the commissioners of making a cession of the lands
lying between East and West Tennessee. Several days were consumed in
urging this proposal, and a majority of the chiefs were probably in
favor of it, but Commissioner Smith remarks that a majority, unless it
amounts almost to unanimity, is not considered with them sufficient to
determine in matters of great interest, particularly in making cessions
of lands.]

[Footnote 126: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 228.]

[Footnote 127: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. I, p. 618.]

[Footnote 128: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. II, p. 82.]

[Footnote 129: The President's appointment of these commissioners bore
date of June 18, 1801.]

[Footnote 130: This interview occurred, as shown by the Indian Office
records, on the 30th of June, 1801, and was adjourned to meet again on
the 3d of July.]

[Footnote 131: July 3, 1801. See Indian Office records.]

[Footnote 132: July 16, 1801. See Indian Office records.]

[Footnote 133: July 17, 1801. See Indian Office records.]

[Footnote 134: June 10, 1802. See Indian Office records.]

[Footnote 135: February 19, 1803. See Indian Office records.]

[Footnote 136: May 30, 1803.]

[Footnote 137: "Vann" was a half-breed of considerable ability and
shrewdness, and was at this time perhaps the most influential chief
among the Cherokees. His home was on the route of the proposed Georgia
road, and when the road was constructed he opened a store and house
of entertainment for travelers, from which he derived a considerable
income.]

[Footnote 138: Letter of Secretary of War to governors of Georgia and
Tennessee, dated November 21, 1803.]

[Footnote 139: April 4, 1804.]

[Footnote 140: October 10, 1804. See letter of Daniel Smith to
Secretary of War, October 31, 1804.]

[Footnote 141: October 31, 1804.]

[Footnote 143: December 20, 1811.]

[Footnote 144: It is stated in a resolution of the Georgia legislature,
passed June 16, 1802, that this line was surveyed by Colonel Hawkins in
1798.]

[Footnote 145: The letter of the Cherokee delegation calling attention
to this matter is dated January 19, 1824.]

[Footnote 146: February 6, 1824.]

[Footnote 147: April 15, 1824.]

[Footnote 148: April 30,1824.]

[Footnote 149: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 228.]

TREATY CONCLUDED OCTOBER 25, 1805; PROCLAIMED APRIL 24, 1806.[150]

_Held at Tellico, Tenn., between Return J. Meigs and, Daniel
Smith, commissioners on behalf of the United States, and certain
chiefs and headmen of the Cherokees, representing that nation._

MATERIAL PROVISIONS.

1. All former treaties providing for peace and prevention of crimes are
continued in force.

2. The Cherokees cede to the United States all the land which they have
heretofore claimed lying to the north of the following boundary line:
Beginning at the mouth of Duck River; thence up the main stream of the
same to the junction of the fork at the head of which Fort Nash stood,
with the main south fork; thence a direct course to a point on the
Tennessee River bank opposite the mouth of Hiwassa River. If the line
from Hiwassa should leave out Field's settlement, it is to be marked
around his improvement and then continued the straight course; thence
up the middle of the Tennessee River (but leaving all the islands to
the Cherokees) to the mouth of Clinch River; thence up the Clinch
River to the former boundary line agreed upon with the said Cherokees,
reserving at the same time to the use of the Cherokees a small tract
lying at and below the mouth of Clinch River; from the mouth extending
thence down the Tennessee River from the mouth of Clinch to a notable
rock on the north bank of the Tennessee in view from Southwest Point;
thence a course at right angles with the river to the Cumberland road;
thence eastwardly along the same to the bank of Clinch River, so as to
secure the ferry landing to the Cherokees up to the first hill and down
the same to the mouth thereof, together with two other sections of one
square mile each, one of which is at the foot of Cumberland Mountain,
at and near the place where the turnpike gate now stands, the other on
the north bank of the Tennessee River where the Cherokee Talootiske now
lives. And whereas from the present cession made by the Cherokees, and
other circumstances, the sites of the garrisons at Southwest Point and
Tellico are become not the most convenient and suitable places for the
accommodation of the said Indians, it may become expedient to remove
the said garrisons and factory to some more suitable place; three other
square miles are reserved for the particular disposal of the United
States on the north bank of the Tennessee opposite to and below the
mouth of Hiwassa.

3. In consideration of the foregoing cession the United States agree to
pay $3,000 at once in merchandise, $11,000 in 90 days, and an annuity
of $3,000.

4. The United States to have the use of two roads through the Cherokee
country, one from the head of Stone's River to Georgia road, and
the other from Franklin to the Tombigbee settlements, crossing the
Tennessee River at Muscle Shoals.

5. Treaty to take effect upon ratification by the President by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate.

[Footnote 150: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 93.]

TREATY CONCLUDED OCTOBER 27, 1805; PROCLAIMED JUNE 10, 1806.[151]

_Held at Tellico, Tenn., between

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