Chapter VII: Front Matter (7)

_Cherokees ask protection against Georgia's demands._--Shortly following these attempted negotiations, which had produced in the minds of the Indians a feeling of grave uneasiness and uncertainty, a delegation of Cherokees repaired to Washington for a conference with the President touching the situation. Upon receiving their credentials, the Secretary of War sounded the key-note of the Government's purpose by asking if they had come authorized by their nation to treat for a further relinquishment of territory. To this pointed inquiry the delegation returned a respectful and earnest memorial,[288] urging that their nation labored under a peculiar inconvenience from the repeated appropriations made by Congress for the purpose of holding treaties with them having in view the further purchase of lands. Such action had resulted in much injury to the improvement of the nation in the arts of civilized life by unsettling the minds and prospects of its citizens. Their nation had reached the decisive and unalterable conclusion to cede no more lands, the limits preserved to them by the treaty of 1819 being not more than adequate to their comfort and convenience. It was represented as a gratifying truth that the Cherokees were rapidly increasing in number, rendering it a duty incumbent upon the nation to preserve, unimpaired to posterity, the lands of their ancestors. They therefore implored the interposition of the President with Congress in behalf of their nation, so that provision might be made by law to authorize an adjustment between the United States and the State of Georgia, releasing the former from its compact with the latter so far as it respected the extinguishment of the Cherokee title to land within the chartered limits of that State.

The response[289] of the Secretary of War to this memorial was a reiteration of the terms of the compact with Georgia and of the zealous desire of the President to carry out in full measure the obligations of that compact. The manifest benefits and many happy results that would inure to the Cherokee Nation from an exchange of their country for one beyond the limits of any State and far removed from the annoying encroachments of civilization were pictured in the most attractive colors, but all to no purpose, the Cherokees only maintaining with more marked emphasis their original determination to part with no more land. Seeing the futility of further negotiations, the Secretary of War addressed[290] a communication to the governor of Georgia advising him of the earnest efforts that had been made to secure further concessions from the Cherokees and of the discouraging results, and inviting an expression of opinion from him upon the subject.

_Governor Troup's threatening demands._--Governor Troup lost no time in responding to this invitation by submitting[291] a declaration of views on behalf of the government and people of the State of Georgia, the vigorously aggressive tone of which in some measure perhaps compensated for its lack of logical force. After censuring the General Government for the tardiness and weakness that had characterized its action on this subject throughout a series of years and denying that the Indians were anything but mere tenants at will, he laid down the proposition that Georgia was determined at all hazards to become possessed of the Cherokee domain; that if the Indians persisted in their refusal to yield, the consequences would be that the United States must either assist the Georgians in occupying the country which is their own and which is unjustly withheld from them, or, in resisting the occupation, to make war upon and shed the blood of brothers and friends. He further declared that the proposition to permit the Cherokees to reserve a portion of their land within that State for their future home could not be legitimately entertained by the General Government except with the consent of Georgia; that such consent would never be given; and, further that the suggestion of the incorporation of the Indians into the body politic of that State as citizens was neither desirable nor practicable. The conclusion of this remarkable state paper is characterized by a broadly implied threat that Georgia's fealty to the Union would be proportioned to the vigor and alertness with which measures were adopted and carried into effect by the United States for the extinguishment of the Cherokee title.

_Response of President Monroe._--These criticisms by the executive of Georgia, which were sanctioned and in large measure reiterated by the legislature and by the Congressional delegation of that State,[292] called forth[293] from President Monroe a message to Congress upon the subject in defense of the course that had been pursued by the executive authorities of the United States. Accompanying this message was a report[294] from John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, wherein it is alleged that at the date of the compact of 1802 between the United States and Georgia the two Indian nations living within the limits of that State (the Creeks and the Cherokees) were respectively in possession of 19,578,890 and 7,152,110 acres of territory. At the date of such compact, treaties existed between the United States and those tribes defining the limits of their territories. In fulfillment of the stipulation with Georgia, seven treaties had been held with them, five of which were with the Creeks and two with the Cherokees. The lands thus acquired from the former in Georgia amounted to 14,449,480 acres and from the latter to 995,310 acres. In acquiring these cessions for the State of Georgia the United States had expended $958,945.90, to which should be added the value of the 995,310 acres given by the Cherokees in exchange for lands west of the Mississippi, the estimated value of which, at the minimum price of public lands, would amount to $1,244,137.50. The United States had also (in addition to $1,250,000 paid to Georgia as a part of the original consideration) paid to the Yazoo claimants, under the same compact, $4,282,151.12, making in the aggregate $7,735,243.52, which sum did not include any portion of the expense of the Creek war, whereby upwards of 7,000,000 acres were acquired for the State of Georgia.[295]

The President expressed it as his opinion that the Indian title was not in the slightest degree affected by the compact with Georgia, and that there was no obligation resting on the United States to remove the Indians by force, in the face of the stipulation that it should be done _peaceably_ and on _reasonable_ conditions. The compact gave a claim to the State which ought to be executed in all its conditions with good faith. In doing this, however, it was the duty of the United States to regard its strict import, and to make no sacrifice of their interest not called for by the compact, nor to commit any breach of right or humanity toward the Indians repugnant to the judgment and revolting to the feelings of the whole American people. The Cherokee agent, Ex-Governor McMinn, was shortly afterward ordered,[296] "without delay and in the most effectual manner, forthwith to expel white intruders from Cherokee lands."

_Alarm of the Cherokees and indignation of Georgia._--The views expressed by the governor and legislature of Georgia upon this subject were the cause of much alarm among the Cherokees, who, through their delegation, appealed[297] to the magnanimity of the American Congress for justice and for the protection of the rights, liberties, and lives of the Cherokee people. On the other hand, the doctrines enunciated in President Monroe's special message, quoted above, again aroused the indignation of the governor of Georgia, who, in a communication[298] to the President, commented with much severity upon the bad faith that for twenty years had characterized the conduct of the executive officers of the United States in their treatment of the matter in dispute.

_Message of President John Quincy Adams._--Every day but added acrimonious intensity to the feelings of the officials and people of Georgia. Their determination to at once possess both the Creek and the Cherokee territory within her chartered limits would admit of no delay or compromise. Following the Creek treaty of 1826, her surveyors were promptly and forcibly introduced into the ceded country, in spite of an express provision of the treaty forbidding such action prior to the 1st of January, 1827. So critical was the state of affairs considered to be that President John Quincy Adams invited the attention of Congress to the subject in a special message.[299] Therein the President declared that it ought not to be disguised that the act of the legislature of Georgia, under the construction given to it by the governor of that State, and the surveys made or attempted by his authority beyond the boundary secured by the treaty of 1826 to the Creek Indians, were in direct violation of the supreme law of the land, set forth in a treaty which had received all the sanctions provided by the Constitution; that happily distributed as the sovereign powers of the people of this Union had been between their general and State governments, their history had already too often presented collisions between these divided authorities with regard to the extent of their respective powers. No other case had, however, happened in which the application of military force by the Government of the Union had been suggested for the enforcement of a law the violation of which had within any single State been prescribed by a legislative act of that State. In the present instance it was his duty to say that if the legislative and executive authorities of the State of Georgia should persevere in acts of encroachment upon the territories secured by a solemn treaty to the Indians and the laws of the Union remained unaltered, a superadded obligation, even higher than that of human authority, would compel the Executive of the United States to enforce the laws and fulfill the duties of the nation by all the force committed for that purpose to his charge.

CHEROKEE PROGRESS IN CIVILIZATION.

Notwithstanding the many difficulties that had beset their paths and the condition of uncertainty and suspense which had surrounded their affairs for years, the Cherokees seem to have continued steadily in their progress toward civilization.

The Rev. David Brown, who in the fall of 1825 made an extended tour of observation through their nation, submitted, in December[300] of that year, for the information of the War Department, an extended and detailed report of his examination, from which it appeared that numberless herds of cattle grazed upon their extensive plains; horses were numerous; many and extensive flocks of sheep, goats, and swine covered the hills and valleys; the climate was delicious and healthy and the winters were mild; the soil of the valleys and plains was rich, and was utilized in the production of corn, tobacco, cotton, wheat, oats, indigo, and potatoes; considerable trade was carried on with the neighboring States, much cotton being exported in boats of their own to New Orleans; apple and peach orchards were quite common; much attention was paid to the cultivation of gardens; butter and cheese of their own manufacture were seen upon many of their tables; public roads were numerous in the nation and supplied at convenient distances with houses of entertainment kept by the natives; many and flourishing villages dotted the country; cotton and woolen cloths were manufactured by the women and home-made blankets were very common; almost every family grew sufficient cotton for its own consumption; industry and commercial enterprise were extending themselves throughout the nation; nearly all the merchants were native Cherokees; the population was rapidly increasing, a census just taken showing 13,563 native citizens, 147 white men and 73 white women who had intermarried with the Cherokees, and 1,277 slaves; schools were increasing every year, and indolence was strongly discountenanced; the nation had no debt, and the revenue was in a flourishing condition; a printing press was soon to be established, and a national library and museum were in contemplation.

FAILURE OF NEGOTIATIONS FOR FURTHER CESSION OF LANDS.

On the 2d of March, 1827,[301] Congress passed an act authorizing the President to open negotiations with the Cherokees for the extinguishment of their title to such lands as were claimed by them within the limits of the State of North Carolina, and also for such quantity of land as should be necessary in the building of a canal to connect the Hiwassee and Canasauga Rivers.

Ten thousand dollars were appropriated to defray the expenses of such negotiations, and Generals John Cocke, G. L. Davidson, and Alexander Grey were[302] appointed commissioners to conduct the same. Their negotiations were barren of results, as were also those of Maj. F. W. Armstrong, who in the following year[303] was dispatched on a similar mission.

THE CHEROKEE NATION ADOPTS A CONSTITUTION.

At a general convention, of delegates, "duly authorized for that purpose," held at New Echota, in the Cherokee Nation, July 26, 1827, a constitution, was adopted for the nation, predicated upon their assumed sovereignty and independence as one of the distinct nations of the earth. Such an instrument could not fail of exciting to the highest pitch the feelings and animosity of the authorities and people of Georgia.

_Georgia's opinion of the Indian title._--Governor Forsyth inclosed[304] a copy of the "presumptuous" document to the President, at the same time desiring to know what the United States proposed to do about the "erection of a separate government within the limits of a sovereign State."

He also inclosed the report of a committee and the resolutions of the legislature of Georgia predicated thereon as exhibiting the sentiments of that body on the subject. This committee, in reporting to the legislature the results of their investigations, assert that anterior to the Revolutionary war the Cherokee lands in Georgia belonged to Great Britain, and that the right as to both domain and empire was complete and perfect in that nation. The possession by the Indians was permissive. They were under the protection of Great Britain. Their title was temporary, being mere tenants at will, and such tenancy might have been determined at any moment either by force or by negotiation, at the pleasure of that power. Upon the close of the Revolution, Georgia assumed all the rights and powers in relation to the lands and Indians in question previously belonging to Great Britain, and had not since divested herself of any right or power in relation to such lands, further than she had in respect of all the balance of her territory. She was now at full liberty and had the power and the right to possess herself, by any means she might choose, of the lands in dispute, and to extend over them her authority and laws. Although possessing this right, she was averse to exercising it until all other means of redress had failed. She now made one other and last appeal to the General Government to open negotiations with the Cherokees on this subject. If no such negotiation should be opened, or if, being opened, it should result unsuccessfully, it was recommended to the next legislature of Georgia to take immediate possession of the disputed territory and to extend her jurisdiction and laws over the same. In a spirit of liberality, however, it was suggested that, in any treaty the United States might make with the Cherokees, Georgia would agree to allow reserves to be made to individual Indians not exceeding in the aggregate one-sixth part of the entire territory in dispute. Should the Indians still refuse to negotiate, they were solemnly warned of the unfortunate consequences likely to follow, as the lands _belonged_ to Georgia, and that she _must_ and _would_ have them.

A resolution of the House of Representatives of the United States, in the month of March following, calling upon the President for information upon the subject, brought forth[305] copies of all the correspondence relative to the matter, and the distinct avowal that the records of the United States failed to show any act of executive recognition of the new form of Cherokee government, but that, on the contrary, their status toward the United States was regarded as not in the slightest degree changed.

CHEROKEE AFFAIRS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

Whilst all these events having a bearing upon the condition and prospective welfare of that portion of the Cherokee people who had remained in their old homes east of the Mississippi River were happening, those who had taken up their abode in the Arkansas country were likewise having their troubles.

_Difficulties with the Osages._--Their disagreements with the Osages, which had, with slight intermission, existed for years, broke out afresh when in February, 1820, a party of Osages robbed and killed three Cherokees. The latter determined upon the prosecution of a general war against the aggressors, and were only persuaded to pause at the earnest solicitation[306] of Governor Miller, of Arkansas Territory, until he could visit the villages of the Osages and demand the surrender of the murderers. In company with four of the Cherokee chiefs, he proceeded to the principal Osage village, where they were kindly received by the Osages, who repudiated the action of the murderers and agreed conditionally to surrender them. They, however, produced the treaty concluded in 1818, under the superintendence of Governor Clark, between themselves and the Cherokees, Shawnees, and Delawares, wherein it was agreed that a permanent peace should thenceforth exist between them, and that the Cherokees were to meet them at Fort Smith the following spring and surrender all Osage prisoners, which the former had neglected to do and still retained a number of Osage captives. The Cherokee chiefs admitted that this was true, whereupon Governor Miller advised them that before the Osage murderers could be surrendered, the Cherokees must comply with their agreement by surrendering all prisoners in their hands. An arrangement was made to meet at Fort Smith in October following and effect the exchange,[307] which was done. Notwithstanding this adjustment, the feeling of hostility between the two tribes remained. Active warfare broke out again in the summer of 1821,[308] and was not suppressed by the most strenuous efforts of the United States authorities until the fall of the following year.[309]

_Boundaries and area._--Governor Miller reported, in connection with this subject, that the Arkansas Cherokees were very restless and dissatisfied. They complained much in that, as they said, no part of the treaty of 1819 had been complied with by the United States and in that they had received no annuity money since their removal to the west of the Mississippi River. Furthermore, their boundaries had not been established, and they still awaited the fulfillment of the promise made them for an extension of their line to the west as far as the Osage line. To this latter scheme the Osages were much opposed, preferring rather to have the country occupied by whites. The adjustment of this boundary question would seem to have been very desirable, inasmuch as nearly one-half of the Cherokees had taken up their abode south of the Arkansas River,[310] which was clearly outside of their proper limits. It formed the subject of much correspondence and complaint throughout several years, and was the occasion of a number of visits of representative delegations from the Arkansas Cherokees to Washington. The eastern boundary had, as already stated, been run by General Rector in 1818-'19, but the difficulty in fixing the western line arose from the fact that the quantity of land to which the Cherokees were entitled was to be measured by the area already ceded by them to the United States by the treaties of 1817 and 1819. The ascertainment of this latter quantity with exactness could not be made in advance of the completion of the surveys thereof by the States of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. From such reports and estimates as the United States were able to secure from the several State authorities, it was estimated, early in 1823,[311] that the quantity to which the Cherokees were entitled was about 3,285,710 acres, and they were informed that measures would at once be taken to have the western boundary established. This was performed under direction of Governor Miller, in compliance with instructions given him for that purpose on the 4th of March, 1823. A year later[312] a delegation of the Indians visited Washington to complain that the boundary had been run without notice to them and in such a manner as to be highly prejudicial to their interests. It was also urged that the quantity of land included was largely less than the quantity ceded by the Cherokees east of the Mississippi.

It would seem that in the survey of this western boundary Governor Miller, through a misconception of his instructions, had caused the line to be run due north, and south, instead of in a direction parallel with that of the east line, as was the evident intention of the treaty of 1817.[313] The effect of this action was to largely curtail the Cherokee frontage on Arkansas River, where the lands were rich and capable of remunerative cultivation, and to extend their frontier on the Upper White River, toward the rough and comparatively valueless region of the Ozark Mountains. It was also admitted by the Secretary of War that the quantity of land within these boundaries was probably less than that to which the Cherokees were entitled.[314] Inquiries were accordingly again made of the several State authorities as to the area of territory acquired by them through the treaties of 1817 and 1819, the replies to which, though partially estimated, aggregated 4,282,216 acres.[315] Directions were therefore given to Agent Duval[316] to propose to the Indians the running of a provisional line, subject to such future alterations as the official returns of the quantity ceded in the States should render necessary and proper. It seems, however, from a report of Agent Duval, that the Cherokees in council had expressed to him a preference to adopt for their western boundary what was known as the "upper" or Governor Miller line, and to run thence down and between the Arkansas and White Rivers for quantity, ignoring the line run under the treaty of 1817 by General Rector, the effect of which would be to give them an extension of territory to the east instead of toward the west. This proposition called forth directions from the Secretary of War to Governor Izard, in the spring of 1825, to open negotiations with the Cherokees upon the subject of an exchange of territory with them for an equal quantity of land lying to the west of Arkansas and Missouri, and for their removal thereto, but that the matter must not be pressed to the point of irritation. If, through the aversion of the Indians to entertain such a proposition, it should be dropped, then, if ±he same should be satisfactory to the citizens of Arkansas, the proposal contained in the report of Agent Duval would meet the views of the Government.[317]

The Indians were brought to no definite agreement to either of these propositions. In the meantime their provisional western boundary was established and run, in January and February, 1825.[318] The line began at the upper end of Table Rock Bluff, on the Arkansas River, and ran north 1 mile and 70 chains, crossing Skin Bayou at a distance of 66 chains from the beginning; thence it ran north 53° east 132 miles and 31 chains, to White River, which it struck at a point opposite the mouth of Little North Fork.

As a matter of fact, so strong was the prejudice of the Cherokees against any concession of territory that their council passed[319] what they denominated a "perpetual law" denouncing the death penalty against any of their nation who should propose the sale or exchange of their lands.

_Lovely's purchase._--In the mean time the legislature of Arkansas, through Acting Governor Crittenden, had forwarded to the President in the summer of 1824, a memorial urging that the tract of country known as "Lovely's purchase" be thrown open to white settlement by a revocation of the prohibitory order of December 15, 1818. This the President declined to do until a final adjustment should be made of the west boundary of the Cherokees and the east boundary of the Choctaws. A history of "Lovely's purchase" is to be found in a letter dated January 30, 1818, from Major Long, of the Topographical Engineers, to General Thomas A. Smith. From this it seems that by a treaty then recently made (but without any authority) with the Osages, "by Mr. Lovely, late Indian agent,"[320] that tribe had ceded to the United States the country between the Arkansas and Red Rivers, and also a tract on the north of the Arkansas situated between the Verdigris River and the boundary established by the Osage treaty of 1808. It appears, however, that it was not the intention of the Osages to cede to the United States so large a tract on the north of the Arkansas, but, as afterwards alleged by their chiefs, they only desired to surrender the country lying south of a line commencing at the Falls of the Verdigris and running due east to the treaty line of 1808, and east of another line beginning at the same place and running due south as far as their possessions should extend, and thence east again to the 1808 boundary, excepting and reserving therefrom the point of land between the Verdigris and Six Bulls or Grand River. The Osages, never having been informed that the treaty was not duly authorized and had not been confirmed, still considered the country described therein as belonging to the United States, and had repeatedly solicited whites to settle on it, alleging that the main object of the cession on their part was to secure the convenient approach of civilized neighbors, who should instruct the men how to cultivate the ground and the women to spin and weave, that they might be able to live when the forests should afford no further supplies of game. They were therefore much irritated when they found civilized settlements prohibited, in order to protect the introduction and establishment adjoining or upon this territory of their inveterate enemies, the Cherokees.

_Western outlet._--The indefinite outlet to the west which had been promised the Cherokees by the President in 1818 formed the subject of much complaint by them from time to time. In the spring of 1823[321] they were advised that until their western boundary was established it would be improper to make any decision upon the "outlet" question. Two years earlier[322] it had been declared to them that in removing settlers from "Lovely's Purchase," for the purpose of giving them their western outlet, it must always be understood that they thereby acquired no right to the soil, and that the Government reserved to itself the right of making such disposition as it might think proper of all salt springs therein. But this troublous question was definitively disposed of when the treaty of 1828 came to be negotiated.

By the provisions of an act of Congress approved April 5, 1826,[323] the land districts of the Territory of Arkansas were extended so as to include all the country within the limits of that Territory as then existing (the limits having been extended 40 miles to the west by act of Congress of May 26, 1824),[324] with the proviso, however, that nothing in the act should be so construed as to authorize any survey or interference whatever upon any lands the right whereof resided in any Indian tribes. Notwithstanding this proviso, reports became current that surveys had been begun of "Lovely's Purchase," causing much irritation and ill feeling among the Cherokees and eliciting an order[325] from the Secretary of War forbidding any further surveys until it should be finally ascertained how much land the Cherokees were entitled to receive from the United States in pursuance of the treaties of 1817 and 1819.

_Negotiation and conclusion of treaty of 1828._--Matters remained thus _in statu quo_ until the spring of 1828, when a delegation of the Western Cherokees arrived in Washington, clothed with authority to present to the attention of the President their numerous grievances and to adjust all matters in dispute for their people. The burden of their complaints had relation to the delays that had occurred in fixing their boundaries; to the failure to secure to them the promised "western outlet;" to the adjustment of the hostilities that continued to exist between themselves and the Osages; and to the irregularity in the receipt of their annuities, as well as to the encroachments of white settlers.[326]

The delegation were not clothed with authority to negotiate for any cession or exchange of territory, the "perpetual law" against entertaining such a proposition being still in force among them. Notwithstanding this fact, a communication was addressed to them from the War Department[327] desiring to be advised if they had any objection to opening negotiations upon a basis of an exchange of land for territory west of the west boundary of Arkansas, provided that boundary should be removed a distance of 40 miles to the east, so as to run from Fort Smith to the southwest corner of the State of Missouri, and also that the Creeks should be removed from their location above the Falls of Verdigris River to territory within the forks of the Canadian and Arkansas Rivers. To this proposal the delegation returned a polite but determined refusal, and demanded that the actual number of acres to which they were entitled in Arkansas be ascertained and laid off with exact definiteness. The whole subject of an exchange of lands was thereupon submitted by the Secretary of War to the President for his direction, and it was announced[328] to the visiting delegation that the President had concluded to order a permanent western line to be run, within which should be embraced the full quantity of land to which they were entitled, and which was found to be, as nearly as possible, as follows:[329]

Acres

In lieu of quantity ceded in Georgia(actual survey) 824,384

In lieu of quantity ceded in Alabama(actual survey) 738,560

In lieu of quantity ceded in Tennessee (actual survey) 1,024,000

In lieu of quantity ceded in North Carolina
(survey 70,000, estimate 630,000) 700,000

________

3,286,944

Less 12 miles square, school reservation in Alabama 92,160
________

3,194,784

As to their promised "western outlet," the President was unprepared to say anything definite, inasmuch as that matter was then in the hands of Congress.

From this showing it was made evident to the delegation, and no opportunity was lost to impress the fact strongly upon them, that if they insisted upon refusing to arrange for an exchange of lands, instead of being entitled to a large additional tract beyond their provisional western boundary, they would, in fact, be entitled to several hundred thousand acres less than had already been placed in their possession. In addition to this it was more than doubtful, from the temper of the President and Congress, whether their long anticipated "western outlet" would ever crystallize into anything more tangible than a promise. With these facts staring them in the face, with the alluring offers held out to them of double the quantity of land possessed by them in Arkansas in exchange, with liberal promises of assistance in their proposed new homes, and with the persistent importunities of their agent and other United States officials, they yielded, and the treaty of May 6, 1828,[330] an abstract of which has been already given, was the result. It was promptly ratified and proclaimed on the 28th of the same month.

So nervous were the members of the delegation, after the treaty had been concluded and signed, as to the reception that would greet them on their return home, that the Secretary of War felt the necessity of giving them a letter of explanation to their people. In this letter the Cherokees were advised of the integrity, good conduct, and earnest zeal for the welfare of their nation that had invariably characterized the actions of their delegation at Washington. The nation was assured that their representatives had done the best thing possible for them to do in the late treaty.[331]

Notwithstanding this testimonial, the delegation met with an angry reception on their return home. Their lives and property were unsafe; the national council pronounced them guilty of fraud and deception, declared the treaty to be null and void, as having been made without any authority, and expressed an earnest desire to send a delegation to Washington clothed with power to arrange all differences.[332]

In the mean time Agent Duval had been advised[333] of the ratification of the treaty, and Messrs. R. Ellis and A. Finney had been appointed, in conjunction with him, as commissioners to value all improvements and property abandoned by the Cherokees, and to sell the agency property as a means of raising funds for the erection of mills in their new country.

_Survey of new boundaries._--The eastern line of this new Cherokee country, dividing it from Arkansas, was surveyed in 1829,[334] but it was not until April 13, 1831, that instructions were given to Isaac McCoy to survey the remaining boundaries.

The fourth article of the treaty of 1828 contained a provision requiring the United States to sell the property and improvements connected with the agency for the erection of a grist and saw mill for the use of the Indians in their new home. In lieu of this grist and saw mill the United States furnished them with patent corn-mills to the amount of the appraised value of the improvements. A tract in townships 7 and 8 of range 21, including these agency improvements, was surveyed separately in 1829, and was commonly known as the "Cherokee Agency Reservation." In after years the Cherokees claimed that they had never been compensated for this so-called reserve and asserted that it still belonged to them. After a dispute continuing through many years, it was finally decided by the Secretary of the Interior, on the 28th of June, 1878, that the reserve did not belong to the Cherokees, but that, through the operation of the treaty with them, it became a part of the public domain.

[Footnote 269: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 311.] without delay, and to remove all white settlers and other objectionable people living to the west of the east boundary of the Cherokee tract.

[Footnote 270: Meigs was appointed, May 15, 1801, superintendent of Indian affairs for the Cherokee Nation and agent for the War Department in the State of Tennessee.]

[Footnote 271: Letter of Meigs to General Wilkinson, dated Marietta, Ohio, February 10, 1801. This letter is in reply to one received from General Wilkinson, in which the latter, among other things, inquires if he can in any way serve the former. Meigs replies: "I will answer these kind inquiries truly. In the first place, I enjoy excellent health; in the next place, I am doing what I can at farming business, endeavoring to maintain a credible existence by industry. I have been for more than two years one of the Territorial legislators; this, though credible, is not profitable. My principal dependence for living is on the labor of my own hands. I am confident, sir, you _can serve_ me, as you are conversant with every department of the Government and may know what places can be had and whether I am capable of being usefully employed. I don't care what it is, whether civil or military or where situated, provided it be an object which you shall think proper for me. I don't know Mr. Jefferson; have always revered his character as a great and good man. I am personally acquainted with Colonel Burr. He ascended the river Kennebeck as a volunteer in the year 1775 and was with me in the Mess a great part of that march to Canada. I think I have his friendship, but he is not yet, perhaps, in a situation to assist me." Colonel Meigs was also a member of the court-martial convened for the trial of General Arthur St. Clair for the evacuation of Ticonderoga. He died at his post of duty in February, 1823, as shown by a letter to the Secretary of War from ex-Governor McMinn, dated the 22d of that month.]

[Footnote 272: May 30, 1820.]

[Footnote 273: Letter of Secretary of War to Attorney-General, July, 26, 1820.]

[Footnote 274: August 12, 1820.]

[Footnote 275: August 14, 1820.]

[Footnote 276: March 7, 1821.]

[Footnote 277: American State Papers, Public Lands, Vol. I, p. 125.]

[Footnote 278: January 7, 1822.]

[Footnote 279: June 15, 1822.]

[Footnote 280: August 24, 1822.]

[Footnote 281: November 19, 1822.]

[Footnote 282: March 17, 1823.]

[Footnote 283: February, 1823.]

[Footnote 284: March 17, 1823.]

[Footnote 285: Report of commissioners on file in Office Indian Affairs.]

[Footnote 286: See correspondence between commissioners and Cherokee council. American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. II, pp. 465-473.]

[Footnote 287: October 28, 1823.]

[Footnote 288: January 19, 1824. This memorial is signed by John Ross, George Lowrey, Major Ridge, and Elijah Hicks, as the Cherokee delegation.]

[Footnote 289: January 30, 1824.]

[Footnote 290: February 17, 1824.]

[Footnote 291: February 28, 1824.]

[Footnote 292: Letter of Georgia delegation to Congress, March 10, 1824. Memorial of Georgia legislature to Congress, December 18, 1823.]

[Footnote 293: March 30, 1824.]

[Footnote 294: March 29, 1824.]

[Footnote 295: This Creek war was in large measure, if not wholly, superinduced by the unlawful and unjust aggressions by citizens of that State upon the rights and territory of the Creeks. Foreign emissaries, however, it is true, encouraged and inflamed the just indignation of the Creeks against the Georgians to the point of armed resistance.]

[Footnote 296: May 3, 1824.]

[Footnote 297: April 16, 1824.]

[Footnote 298: April 24, 1824.]

[Footnote 299: February 5, 1827.]

[Footnote 300: Letter of Rev. David Brown to Thomas L. McKenney, December 13, 1825.]

[Footnote 301: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IV, p. 217.]

[Footnote 302: March 13, 1827.]

[Footnote 303: June 4, 1828.]

[Footnote 304: January 26, 1828.]

[Footnote 305: March 20, 1828.]

[Footnote 306: April 20, 1820.]

[Footnote 307: Letter of Governor Miller, of Arkansas, to Secretary of War, June 20, 1820.]

[Footnote 308: Letter of Secretary of War to Maj. William Bradford, July 21, 1821.]

[Footnote 309: Letter of Secretary of War to Governor Miller, of Arkansas, November 6, 1822.]

[Footnote 310: October 8, 1821, Governor Miller was instructed by the Secretary of War to remove the Cherokees from lands south of the Arkansas, but its execution was deferred several years pending the establishment of the Cherokee boundaries.]

[Footnote 311: Secretary of War to Arkansas Cherokee delegation in Washington, February 12, 1823.]

[Footnote 312: March 3, 1824.]

[Footnote 313: Indian Office to Cherokee delegation of Arkansas, March 13, 1824, and Secretary of War to Governor Crittenden, of Arkansas, April 28, 1824.]

[Footnote 314: Secretary of War to Governor Crittenden, of Arkansas, April 28, 1824.]

[Footnote 315: Indian Office to Agent E. W. Duval, Little Rock, Arkansas, July 8, 1824.]

[Footnote 316: July 8, 1824.]

[Footnote 317: Secretary of War to Governor Izard, of Arkansas, April 16, 1825.]

[Footnote 318: See map on file in Indian Office.]

[Footnote 319: May, 1825.]

[Footnote 320: In a letter from Agent Meigs to the Secretary of War, dated June 2, 1817, Major Lovely is spoken of as having been agent residing with the Cherokees on the Arkansas. He had been an officer of the Virginia line throughout the Revolution and participated in the capture of Burgoyne. He had lived some time in the family of President Madison's father, and went to Tennessee at an early day, whence (after living many years among the Cherokees) he removed with the emigrant party to the Arkansas. In a letter to the Hon. John Cocke from the Secretary of War, December 15, 1826, it is, however, stated that Major Lovely was a factor or trader in the Arkansas country, who took an active part in the preliminary negotiations that led finally to the conclusion of the treaty with the Osages of September 25, 1818. It also appears from the same letter that the estimated area of Lovely's purchase was 7,392,000 acres, and that when the west boundary line of the Cherokees was run, in 1825, it was found that 200 square miles of Lovely's purchase were included within its limits.]

[Footnote 321: Secretary of War to Arkansas Cherokee delegation in Washington, February 12, 1823.]

[Footnote 322: Secretary of War to Arkansas Cherokee delegation in Washington, October 8, 1821.]

[Footnote 323: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IV, p. 153.]

[Footnote 324: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IV, p. 40.]

[Footnote 325: April 3, 1827.]

[Footnote 326: Letter of T. L. McKenney to Secretary of War, March 18, 1828.]

[Footnote 327: March 27, 1828.]

[Footnote 328: April 11, 1828.]

[Footnote 329: The areas here given by the State authorities were largely below the quantity actually contained within the limits of the cessions within the States of Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, as will be seen by a glance at the table of such areas on page 378.]

[Footnote 330: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 311.]

[Footnote 331: Letter of Secretary of War to Western Cherokee delegation. May 17, 1828.]

[Footnote 332: Letter of Sub-Agent Brearly to Secretary of War, September 27, 1828.]

[Footnote 333: May 28, 1828.]

[Footnote 334: Letter of T. L. McKenney to Secretary of War, January 21, 1830.]

TREATY CONCLUDED FEBRUARY 14, 1833.--PROCLAIMED APRIL 12, 1834.[335]

_Held at Fort Gibson, on the Arkansas River, between Montfort
Stokes, Henry L. Ellsworth, and John F. Schermerhorn, commissioners
on the part of the United States, and the chiefs and headmen of the
Cherokee Nation of Indians west of the Mississippi._

MATERIAL PROVISIONS.

It having been ascertained that the territory assigned to the Cherokees by the treaty of May 6, 1828, conflicted with a portion of the territory selected by the Creek Nation in conformity with the provisions of the Creek treaty of January 24, 1826, and the representative men of those two nations having met each other in council and adjusted all disputes as to boundaries, the United States, in order to confirm this adjustment, concluded the following articles of treaty and agreement with the Cherokees:

1. The United States agree to possess the Cherokees, and to guarantee it to them forever, * * * of seven millions of acres of land, to be bounded as follows, viz: Beginning at a point on the old western Territorial line of Arkansas Territory, being twenty-five miles north from the point where the Territorial line crosses Arkansas River; thence running from said north point south on the said Territorial line to the place where said Territorial line crosses the Verdigris River; thence down said Verdigris River to the Arkansas River; thence down said Arkansas River to a point where a stone is placed opposite to the east or lower bank of Grand River at its junction with the Arkansas; thence running south forty-four degrees west one mile; thence in a straight line to a point four miles northerly from the mouth of the North Fork of the Canadian; thence along the said four miles line to the Canadian; thence down the Canadian to the Arkansas; thence down the Arkansas to that point on the Arkansas where the eastern Choctaw boundary strikes said river, and running thence with the western line of Arkansas Territory, as now defined, to the southwest corner of Missouri; thence along the western Missouri line to the land assigned to the Senecas; thence on the south line of the Senecas to Grand River; thence up said Grand River as far as the south line of the Osage Reservation, extended if necessary; thence up and between said south Osage line, extended west if necessary, and a line drawn due west from the point of beginning, to a certain distance west at which a line running north and south from said Osage line to said due-west line will make seven millions of acres within the whole described boundaries.

In addition to the seven millions of acres of land thus provided for and bounded, the United States further guarantee to the Cherokee Nation a perpetual outlet west, and a free and unmolested use of all the country lying west of the western boundary of said seven millions of acres, as far as the sovereignty of the United States and their right of soil extend: _Provided, however_, That if the saline or salt plain on the great western prairie shall fall within said limits prescribed for said outlet, the right is reserved to the United States to permit other tribes of red men to get salt on said plain in common with the Cherokees. And letters patent shall be issued by the United States as soon as practicable for the land hereby guaranteed.

2. The Cherokees relinquish to the United States all claim to all land ceded or claimed to have been ceded to them by treaty of May 6, 1828, not embraced within the limits fixed in this present supplementary treaty.

3. The United States agree to cancel, at the request of the Cherokees, the sixth article of the treaty of May 6, 1828.

4. The United States agree to furnish the Cherokees, during the pleasure of the President, four blacksmith's shops, one wagon-maker's shop, one wheelwright's shop, and necessary tools, implements, and material for the same; also four blacksmiths, one wagon-maker, and one wheelwright; also eight patent railway corn-mills, in lieu of those agreed to be furnished by article 4 of the treaty of May 6, 1828.

5. These articles are supplementary to the treaty of May 6, 1828.

6. One mile square to be set apart for the accommodation of the Cherokee Agency, to be selected jointly by the Cherokee Nation and United States agent.

7. This treaty to be obligatory after ratification by the President and Senate.

HISTORICAL DATA.

CONFLICTING LAND CLAIMS OF CREEKS AND CHEROKEES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

The treaty of January 24, 1826,[336] with the Creek Indians had provided for the removal of that tribe west of the Mississippi. In accordance with its provisions, a delegation consisting of five representative men of the tribe proceeded to the western country and selected the territory designed for their future occupancy. The year following this selection a party of Creeks removed to and settled thereon. The country thus selected and occupied lay along and between the Verdigris, Arkansas, and Canadian Rivers.[337]

Subsequently, on the 6th day of May, 1828,[338] a treaty was concluded with the Cherokee Nation west of the Mississippi, by the terms of which they ceded all their lands within the present limits of Arkansas and accepted a tract of 7,000,000 acres within the present limits of Indian Territory, in addition to a perpetual outlet extending as far west as the western limits of the United States at that time, being the one hundredth meridian of longitude west from Greenwich.

This new assignment of territory to the Cherokees, it was soon found, included a considerable portion of the lands selected by and already in the possession of the Creeks.

The discovery of this fact produced much excitement and ill feeling in the minds of the people of both tribes, and led to many acts of injustice and violence during the course of several years.

_Territorial difficulties adjusted._--In the year 1832 a commission was constituted, consisting of Montfort Stokes, Henry L. Ellsworth, and John F. Schermerhorn, with instructions to visit the country west of the Mississippi and to report fully all information relating to the country assigned as a permanent home to the aborigines. Among the formidable difficulties presented for and earnestly urged upon their attention and consideration were these conflicting territorial claims of the Creeks and the Cherokees. Both parties claimed several million acres of the same land under treaty stipulations; both were equally persuaded of the justice of their respective claims, and at first were unyielding in their dispositions.

After a protracted public council, however, in which a careful examination and exposition of the various treaties was made, the commissioners succeeded in inducing the Creeks to accept other lands to the southward of their upper settlements on Verdigris River,[339] and concluded treaties with both the Creeks and the Cherokees modifying their respective boundaries.

This treaty of February 14, 1833, with the latter tribe occasioned a material change in the boundaries previously assigned them.

Instead of following the western line of Arkansas and Missouri as far north as the point where the Grand or Neosho River crosses the boundary of the latter State, and running from thence due west to a point due north of the old western boundary line of Arkansas Territory, and thence south to the Arkansas River, the new line followed the present western boundary of Arkansas and Missouri as far north as the south line of the territory then recently assigned to the Senecas; thence west along the south line of the Senecas to Grand River, and following up Grand River to the south boundary of the Osage reservation, which was parallel with the present southern boundary of Kansas, and on the average about two miles to the north of it; thence west for quantity.

PURCHASE OF OSAGE HALF-BREED RESERVES.

Prior[340] to the conclusion of this treaty of 1833, a delegation of the Western Cherokees had visited Washington to insist upon a literal fulfillment of the treaty of 1828 and especially to demand that they be possessed of all lands and improvements within the outboundaries of their country as defined by the last named treaty. The lands and improvements alluded to were seven reservations of one section each on the Neosho River assigned to certain half-breed Osage Indians by the terms of the treaty of 1825[341] with that tribe.

Although the treaty of 1833 failed to make provision for the extinguishment of these Osage half-breed titles, the desired object was attained by the terms of the fourth article of the treaty of December 29, 1835, wherein $15,000 were appropriated for the purchase.[342]

PRESIDENT JACKSON REFUSES TO APPROVE THE TREATY OF 1834.

On the 10th of February, 1834, George Vashon, agent for the Western Cherokees, negotiated a treaty with them[343] having in view an adjustment of certain differences between themselves and their eastern brethren, whereby the feelings of the latter should be more favorably affected toward an emigration to the western country. The treaty provided for a readjustment of the tribal annuities proportioned to the respective numbers of the Cherokees east and west, the basis of division to be ascertained by an accurate census. The country provided for the Cherokees by the treaty of 1833 was to be enlarged so that it should equal in quantity, acre for acre, the country ceded by the Cherokees east in 1817 and 1819, as well as the proportional quantity of those who should agree to emigrate to the West under the provisions of this treaty. It was also agreed that all Cherokees should possess equal rights in the new country, and that an asylum should be established for the maintenance of the orphan children of the tribe. The negotiations thus entered into were, however, barren of results, inasmuch as President Jackson refused to recommend the treaty to the Senate for the advice and consent of that body.[344]

[Footnote 335: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 414.]

[Footnote 336: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 286.]

[Footnote 337: See Creek treaty of 1833, United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 417.]

[Footnote 338: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 311.]

[Footnote 339: See preamble to Creek treaty of February 14, 1833, United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 417.]

[Footnote 340: In March, 1832.]

[Footnote 341: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 240.]

[Footnote 342: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 478.]

[Footnote 343: See Indian Office files.]

[Footnote 344: See Indian Office records.]

TREATY CONCLUDED DECEMBER 29, 1835; PROCLAIMED MAY 23, 1836.

_Held at New Echota, Georgia, between General William Carroll
and John F. Schermerhorn, commissioners on the part of the United
States, and the chiefs, headmen, and people of the Cherokee tribe
of Indians.[345]_

MATERIAL PROVISIONS.

The preamble recites at considerable length the reasons for the negotiation of the treaty and the preliminary steps taken, following which the provisions of the treaty as concluded are given.

1. The Cherokee Nation cedes to the United States all the land claimed by said Nation east of the Mississippi River, and hereby releases all claims on the United States for spoliations of every kind for and in consideration of $5,000,000. In case the United States Senate should decide that this sum does not include spoliation claims, then $300,000 additional should be allowed for that purpose.

2. The description of the 7,000,000 acres of land guaranteed to the Cherokees west of the Mississippi by the treaties of 1828 and 1833 is repeated, and in addition thereto the further guaranty is made to the Cherokee Nation of a perpetual outlet west, and a free and unmolested use of all the country west of the western boundary of said 7,000,000 acres, as far west as the sovereignty of the United States and their right of soil extend, provided that if the salt plain shall fall within the limits of said outlet the right is reserved to the United States to permit other tribes of Indians to procure salt thereon. "And letters patent shall be issued by the United States as soon as practicable for the land hereby guaranteed."