Chapter 16

322Secretary of War to Arkansas Cherokee delegation in Washington, October 8, 1821.323United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IV, p. 153.324United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IV, p. 40.325April 3, 1827.326Letter of T. L. McKenney to Secretary of War, March 18, 1828.327March 27, 1828.328April 11, 1828.329The 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 378.330United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 311.331Letter of Secretary of War to Western Cherokee delegation. May 17, 1828.332Letter of Sub-Agent Brearly to Secretary of War, September 27, 1828.333May 28, 1828.334Letter of T. L. McKenney to Secretary of War, January 21, 1830.335United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 414.336United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 286.337See Creek treaty of 1833, United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 417.338United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 311.339See preamble to Creek treaty of February 14, 1833, United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 417.340In March, 1832.341United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 240.342United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 478.343See Indian Office files.344See Indian Office records.345United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 478.346United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 488.347May 27, 1828.348Letter of War Department to Hugh Montgomery, Cherokee agent, May 27, 1828, and to General William Carroll, May 30, 1829.349December 18, 1828.350Letter of T. L. McKenney to Secretary of War, November, 17, 1829.351Letter of T. L. McKenney to Hugh Montgomery, Cherokee agent, August 6, 1830.352Letter of Cherokee delegation (East) to Secretary of War, January 21, 1829.353Letter of Secretary of War to Cherokee delegation, April 18, 1829.354December 20, 1828.355Agent Montgomery to the Secretary of War, July 11, 1829.356Secretary of War to General William Carroll, May 27, 1829.357June 25, 1829.358November 19, 1829.359June 23, 1829.360December 19, 1829.361Among other legislation on this subject enacted by Georgia may be enumerated the following, viz:1. A penalty of forfeiture of all right to his land and improvements was denounced against any Cherokee who should employ any white man, or the slave of any white man, as a tenant-cropper, or assistant in agriculture, or as a miller or millwright.2. Any Indian who should enroll for emigration and afterwards refuse to emigrate should forfeit all right to any future occupancy within the State.3. No Indian should be allowed the use of more than 160 acres of land, including his dwelling house.4. Grants were to be issued for all lots drawn in the late land and gold lottery, though they might lie within the improvements of an Indian who had by any previous Cherokee treaty received a reservation either in Georgia or elsewhere.5. No contract between a white man and an Indian, either verbal or written, should be binding unless established by the testimony of two white witnesses.6. Any Indian forcibly obstructing the occupancy by the drawer of any lot drawn in the land and gold lottery should be subject to imprisonment in the discretion of the court.362Letter of War Department to Hugh Montgomery, Cherokee agent, June 9, 1830.363Letter of Acting Secretary of War to H. Montgomery, Cherokee Agent, June 18, 1830.364Letter of Acting Secretary of War to H. Montgomery, Cherokee Agent, June 26, 1830.365September 1, 1830.366October 20, 1830.367Action of Cherokee national council, October 22, 1830.368Cherokee Nationvs.State of Georgia, Peters's United States Supreme Court Reports, Vol. V, p. 1.369April 17, 1832.370July 18, 1832.371September 4, 1832.372Worcestervs.State of Georgia, Peters's United States Supreme Court Reports, Vol. VI, p. 515.373According to the statement of Hon. Geo. N. Briggs, a member of Congress from Massachusetts, President Jackson remarked, after the case of Worcestervs.State of Georgia was decided, "Well, John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it."374Treaty June 1, 1773, between the British superintendent of Indian affairs and the Creeks and Cherokees.375United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 237.376Letter of D. B. Mitchell, Creek agent, to Secretary of War.377See Indian Office files for these two treaties.378United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 171.379Ib., p. 215.380United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 237.381Ib., p. 289.382Ib., p. 307; Creek treaty of November 15, 1827.383Letter of Secretary of War to D. B. Mitchell, Creek agent.384Letter of Governor Forsyth, of Georgia, to Samuel A. Wales, May 5, 1829.385Letter of Montgomery to Wales, May 13, 1829.386October 10, 1829.387December 30, 1829.388January 15, 1830.389March 14, 1830.390Secretary of War to Governor Gilmer, of Georgia, June 1, 1830.391The following paper, which is on file in the Office of Indian Affairs, is interesting in connection with the subject matter of this boundary:Extract from treaties and other documents relative to the Cherokee lines in contact with the Creeks and Chickasaws west of Coosa River:"June 10, 1786.—In the treaty of this date with the Chickasaws the lands allotted them eastwardly 'shall be the lands allotted to the Choctaws and Cherokees to live and hunt on.' In the conference which took place between the commissioners of the United States and the Chickasaws and Cherokees, it was apparent that their claims conflicted with each other on the ridge dividing the waters of Cumberland from those of Duck River and around to the Chickasaw Oldtown Creek on Tennessee, thence southwardly, leaving the mountains above the Muscle Shoals on the south side of the river, and to a large stone or flat rock, where the Choctaw line joined with the Chickasaws. The journal of occurrences at the time were lodged with the papers of the old Congress, and probably were transferred to the office of Secretary of State. On the 7th of January, 1806, in a convention between the United States and Cherokees, on the part of the former by Mr. Dearborn, the United States engaged to use their best endeavors to fix a boundary between the Cherokees and Chickasaws, 'beginning at the mouth of Caney Creek, near the lower part of the Muscle Shoals, and to run up the said creek to its head, and in a direct line from thence to the flat stone or rock, the old corner boundary,' the line between the Creeks and Cherokees east of Coosau River."In 1802, at the treaty of Fort Wilkinson, it was agreed between the parties that the line was 'from the High Shoals on Apalatche, the old path, leaving Stone Mountain to the Creeks, to the shallow ford on the Chatahoochee.'"This agreement was in presence of the commissioners of the United States and witnessed by General Pickens and Colonel Hawkins. On the 10th October, 1809, a letter was sent from the Cherokees to the Creeks and received in February in the public square at Tookaubatche, stating the line agreed upon at Fort Wilkinson, and that 'all the waters of Etowah down to the ten islands below Turkeytown these lands were given up to the Cherokees at a talk at Chestoe in presence of the Little Prince, and Tustunnuggee Thlucco Chulioah, of Turkeystown, was the interpreter.'"In August, 1814, at the treaty of Fort Jackson, the Creeks and Cherokees were invited to settle their claims, and Colonel Meigs was engaged for three or four days in aiding them to do so. The result was they could not agree, but would at some convenient period agree. This was signed by General Jackson, Colonel Hawkins, and Colonel Meigs."At the convention with the Creeks, in September, 1815, the Cherokees manifested a sincere desire to settle their boundaries with the Creeks, but the latter first declined and then refused. Tustunnuggee Thlucco, being asked where their boundary was west of Coosau, said there never was any boundary fixed and known as such between the parties, and after making Tennessee the boundary from tradition, and that the Cherokees obtained leave of them to cross it, the policy of the Creeks receiving all destroyed red people in their confederacy, the Cherokees were permitted to come over and settle as low down on the west of Coosau as Hauluthee Hatchee, from thence on the west side of Coosau on all its waters to its source. He has never heard, and he has examined all his people who can have any knowledge on the subject, that the Cherokees had any pretensions lower down Coosau on that side. He does not believe, and he has never heard, there was any boundary agreed upon between them. Being asked by Colonel Hawkins his opinion where the boundary should be, he says it should go up Hauluthee Hatchee, passing a level of good land between two mountains, to the head of Itchau Hatchee, and down the same to Tennessee, about 8 or 9 miles above Nickajack. In the year 1798 the Cherokees had a settlement at the Muscle Shoals, Doublehead and Katagiskee were the chiefs, and the Creeks had a small settlement above the Creek path on Tennessee. The Cherokee settlement extended southwardly from the shoal probably a mile and a half. The principal temporary agent for Indian affairs south of the Ohio was early instructed in 1777 to ascertain the boundary line of the four nations, and instructions were given accordingly by him to Mr. Dinsmore and Mr. Mitchell to aid in doing it. Several attempts were made, but all proved abortive, owing to the policy of the Creeks, which was to unite the four nations in one confederacy and the national affairs of all to be in a convention to be held annually among the Creeks, where the speaker for the Creeks should preside."At every attempt made among the Creeks when these conventions met, the answer was, 'We have no dividing lines, nor never had, between us. We have lines only between us and the white people, our neighbors.' At times, when the subject was discussed in the convention of the Creeks, they claimed Tombigby, called by them Choctaw River (Choctau Hatchee), the boundary line between them and the Choctaws. Tustunneggee Hopoie, brother of the old Efau Hajo (mad dog), who died at ninety-six years of age, and retained strength of memory and intelligence to this great age, reported publicly to the agent, 'When he was a boy his father's hunting camp was at Puttauchau Hatchee (Black Warrior).' His father had long been at the head of the Creeks, and always told him 'Choctaw River was their boundary with the Choctaws.' He never saw a Choctaw hunting camp on this side the Black Warrior."A true copy from the original."PHIL. HAWKINS,Jr.,"Ast. A. I. A."392Letter of Secretary of War to Governor Lumpkin, of Georgia, March 12, 1833.393March 21, 1833.394Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Agent Montgomery, April 22, 1833.395Secretary of War to Governor Lumpkin, of Georgia, January 28, 1834.396March 28, 1834.397May 1, 1834.398March 3, 1834.399Letter of John Ross and others to Secretary of War, inclosing protest, May 24, 1834.400Letter of Hon. J. H. Eaton to John Ross, May 26, 1834.401May 29, 1834.402Secretary of War to governor of Georgia, July 8, 1834.403May 17, 1834.404The Ross delegation was composed of John Ross, R. Taylor, Daniel McCoy, Samuel Gunter, and William Rogers. The Ridge delegation consisted of John Ridge, William A. Davis, Elias Boudinot, A. Smith, S. W. Bell, and J. West.405February 11, 1835.406Memorandum delivered by Secretary of War to Senator King, of Georgia, February 28, 1835.407Memorandum delivered by Secretary of War to Senator King, of Georgia, February 28, 1835.408March 16, 1835.409September 10, 1835.410September 26, 1835.411Senate Document 120, Twenty-fifth Congress, second session, p. 124.412See proceedings of council.413National Intelligencer, May 22, 1838.414Schermerhorn to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, December 31, 1835.415See report of proceedings of council.416National Intelligencer, May 22, 1838.417United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 488.418In addition to these sums, an appropriation of $1,047,067 was made by the act of June 13, 1838, in full of all objects specified in the third supplemental article and for the one year's subsistence provided for in the treaty.419Commissioner of Indian Affairs to John Ross, March 9, 1836.420Hon. P. M. Butler, in a confidential letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, March 4, 1842, says: "The treaty, as the Department is aware, was sustained by the Senate of the United States by a majority of one vote."421United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 478et seq.422July 25, 1836.423July 30, 1836.424The Secretary of War, October 12, 1836, directed General Wool to inform Mr. Ross that the President regarded the proceedings of himself and associates in council as in direct contravention of the plighted faith of their people, and a repetition of them would be considered as indicative of a design to prevent the execution of the treaty even at the hazard of actual hostilities, and they would be promptly repressed.425October 17, 1836.426Senate confidential document, April 12, 1836, p. 200.427National Intelligencer, May 22, 1838.428National Intelligencer, May 22, 1838.429June 3, 1837.430July 15, 1837.431September 25, 1837.432September 30, 1836.433October 25, 1836.434Secretary of War to Andrew Jackson, August 21, 1837.435October 16, 1837.436The amounts adjudicated and paid by this commission, as shown by the records of the Indian Office (see Commissioner of Indian Affairs' letter of March 7, 1844), were as follows:1.For improvements$1,683,192771/22.Spoliations416,306821/23.National debts due to Cherokees19,058144.National debts due to citizens of the United States51,642875.Reservations159,32487_________________Total2,329,52486(The figures as given here are correctly copied from the commissioner's letter, but there is an obvious error either in the footing or in the items.)437January 3, 1837.438December 1, 1836.439This census showed a distribution of the Cherokee population, according to State boundaries, as follows:States.Cherokees.Slaves.WhitesintermarriedwithCherokees.In Georgia8,94677668In North Carolina3,6443722In Tennessee2,52848079In Alabama1,42429932Total16,5421,592201440Secretary of War to Col. William Lindsay, May 8, 1837.441March 26, 1838.442Speech in reply to Mr. Halsey, of Georgia, January 2, 1838.443May 22, 1838.444National Intelligencer, June 8, 1838.445Secretary of War to James K. Polk, Speaker of the House of Representatives, January 8, 1838.446General Macomb to General Scott, April 6, 1838.447May 10, 1838.448May 18, 1838.449Annual report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, November 25, 1838.450Proposal was accepted July 25; emigration to begin September 1 and end before October 20, 1838.451The number, according to the rolls of John Ross, who removed under his direction, was 13,149. According to the rolls of Captain Stevenson, the agent who received them on their arrival West, there were only 11,504, and, according to Captain Page, the disbursing officer, there were 11,721. Mr. Ross received on his settlement with Captain Page subsequent to the removal,$486,939.501/4, which made a total payment to Ross by the Government on account of Cherokee removals of $1,263,338.38. (Letter of Commissioner Indian Affairs, June 15, 1842). See, also, Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Commissioner of Land Office, January 9, 1839.452Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Secretary of War, September 12, 1839.453April 21, 1840.454Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1839.455Letter of John Ross to General Arbuckle, June 24, 1839.456June 22, 1839.457Agent Stokes to Secretary of War, June 24, 1839.458July 5, 1839.459August 9, 1839.460August 27, 1839.461August 23, 1839.462July 7, 1839.463July 10, 1839.464August 21, 1839.465September 4, 1839,et seq.466November 9, 1839.467January 22, 1840.468April 21, 1840.469Coody, in an interview with the Secretary of War, persisted in considering the murders of Boudinot and the Ridges as justifiable. General Arbuckle's letter of notification bore date April 21, 1840.470Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Maj. William Armstrong, August 26, 1840.471September 22, 1841.472March 4, 1842.473September 9, 1842.474November 8, 1842.475United States Statute at Large, Vol. IX, p. 871.476May 6, 1844.477May 30, 1844.

322Secretary of War to Arkansas Cherokee delegation in Washington, October 8, 1821.

323United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IV, p. 153.

324United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IV, p. 40.

325April 3, 1827.

326Letter of T. L. McKenney to Secretary of War, March 18, 1828.

327March 27, 1828.

328April 11, 1828.

329The 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.

330United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 311.

331Letter of Secretary of War to Western Cherokee delegation. May 17, 1828.

332Letter of Sub-Agent Brearly to Secretary of War, September 27, 1828.

333May 28, 1828.

334Letter of T. L. McKenney to Secretary of War, January 21, 1830.

335United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 414.

336United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 286.

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

338United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 311.

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

340In March, 1832.

341United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 240.

342United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 478.

343See Indian Office files.

344See Indian Office records.

345United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 478.

346United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 488.

347May 27, 1828.

348Letter of War Department to Hugh Montgomery, Cherokee agent, May 27, 1828, and to General William Carroll, May 30, 1829.

349December 18, 1828.

350Letter of T. L. McKenney to Secretary of War, November, 17, 1829.

351Letter of T. L. McKenney to Hugh Montgomery, Cherokee agent, August 6, 1830.

352Letter of Cherokee delegation (East) to Secretary of War, January 21, 1829.

353Letter of Secretary of War to Cherokee delegation, April 18, 1829.

354December 20, 1828.

355Agent Montgomery to the Secretary of War, July 11, 1829.

356Secretary of War to General William Carroll, May 27, 1829.

357June 25, 1829.

358November 19, 1829.

359June 23, 1829.

360December 19, 1829.

361Among other legislation on this subject enacted by Georgia may be enumerated the following, viz:1. A penalty of forfeiture of all right to his land and improvements was denounced against any Cherokee who should employ any white man, or the slave of any white man, as a tenant-cropper, or assistant in agriculture, or as a miller or millwright.2. Any Indian who should enroll for emigration and afterwards refuse to emigrate should forfeit all right to any future occupancy within the State.3. No Indian should be allowed the use of more than 160 acres of land, including his dwelling house.4. Grants were to be issued for all lots drawn in the late land and gold lottery, though they might lie within the improvements of an Indian who had by any previous Cherokee treaty received a reservation either in Georgia or elsewhere.5. No contract between a white man and an Indian, either verbal or written, should be binding unless established by the testimony of two white witnesses.6. Any Indian forcibly obstructing the occupancy by the drawer of any lot drawn in the land and gold lottery should be subject to imprisonment in the discretion of the court.

361Among other legislation on this subject enacted by Georgia may be enumerated the following, viz:

1. A penalty of forfeiture of all right to his land and improvements was denounced against any Cherokee who should employ any white man, or the slave of any white man, as a tenant-cropper, or assistant in agriculture, or as a miller or millwright.

2. Any Indian who should enroll for emigration and afterwards refuse to emigrate should forfeit all right to any future occupancy within the State.

3. No Indian should be allowed the use of more than 160 acres of land, including his dwelling house.

4. Grants were to be issued for all lots drawn in the late land and gold lottery, though they might lie within the improvements of an Indian who had by any previous Cherokee treaty received a reservation either in Georgia or elsewhere.

5. No contract between a white man and an Indian, either verbal or written, should be binding unless established by the testimony of two white witnesses.

6. Any Indian forcibly obstructing the occupancy by the drawer of any lot drawn in the land and gold lottery should be subject to imprisonment in the discretion of the court.

362Letter of War Department to Hugh Montgomery, Cherokee agent, June 9, 1830.

363Letter of Acting Secretary of War to H. Montgomery, Cherokee Agent, June 18, 1830.

364Letter of Acting Secretary of War to H. Montgomery, Cherokee Agent, June 26, 1830.

365September 1, 1830.

366October 20, 1830.

367Action of Cherokee national council, October 22, 1830.

368Cherokee Nationvs.State of Georgia, Peters's United States Supreme Court Reports, Vol. V, p. 1.

369April 17, 1832.

370July 18, 1832.

371September 4, 1832.

372Worcestervs.State of Georgia, Peters's United States Supreme Court Reports, Vol. VI, p. 515.

373According to the statement of Hon. Geo. N. Briggs, a member of Congress from Massachusetts, President Jackson remarked, after the case of Worcestervs.State of Georgia was decided, "Well, John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it."

374Treaty June 1, 1773, between the British superintendent of Indian affairs and the Creeks and Cherokees.

375United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 237.

376Letter of D. B. Mitchell, Creek agent, to Secretary of War.

377See Indian Office files for these two treaties.

378United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 171.

379Ib., p. 215.

380United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 237.

381Ib., p. 289.

382Ib., p. 307; Creek treaty of November 15, 1827.

383Letter of Secretary of War to D. B. Mitchell, Creek agent.

384Letter of Governor Forsyth, of Georgia, to Samuel A. Wales, May 5, 1829.

385Letter of Montgomery to Wales, May 13, 1829.

386October 10, 1829.

387December 30, 1829.

388January 15, 1830.

389March 14, 1830.

390Secretary of War to Governor Gilmer, of Georgia, June 1, 1830.

391The following paper, which is on file in the Office of Indian Affairs, is interesting in connection with the subject matter of this boundary:Extract from treaties and other documents relative to the Cherokee lines in contact with the Creeks and Chickasaws west of Coosa River:"June 10, 1786.—In the treaty of this date with the Chickasaws the lands allotted them eastwardly 'shall be the lands allotted to the Choctaws and Cherokees to live and hunt on.' In the conference which took place between the commissioners of the United States and the Chickasaws and Cherokees, it was apparent that their claims conflicted with each other on the ridge dividing the waters of Cumberland from those of Duck River and around to the Chickasaw Oldtown Creek on Tennessee, thence southwardly, leaving the mountains above the Muscle Shoals on the south side of the river, and to a large stone or flat rock, where the Choctaw line joined with the Chickasaws. The journal of occurrences at the time were lodged with the papers of the old Congress, and probably were transferred to the office of Secretary of State. On the 7th of January, 1806, in a convention between the United States and Cherokees, on the part of the former by Mr. Dearborn, the United States engaged to use their best endeavors to fix a boundary between the Cherokees and Chickasaws, 'beginning at the mouth of Caney Creek, near the lower part of the Muscle Shoals, and to run up the said creek to its head, and in a direct line from thence to the flat stone or rock, the old corner boundary,' the line between the Creeks and Cherokees east of Coosau River."In 1802, at the treaty of Fort Wilkinson, it was agreed between the parties that the line was 'from the High Shoals on Apalatche, the old path, leaving Stone Mountain to the Creeks, to the shallow ford on the Chatahoochee.'"This agreement was in presence of the commissioners of the United States and witnessed by General Pickens and Colonel Hawkins. On the 10th October, 1809, a letter was sent from the Cherokees to the Creeks and received in February in the public square at Tookaubatche, stating the line agreed upon at Fort Wilkinson, and that 'all the waters of Etowah down to the ten islands below Turkeytown these lands were given up to the Cherokees at a talk at Chestoe in presence of the Little Prince, and Tustunnuggee Thlucco Chulioah, of Turkeystown, was the interpreter.'"In August, 1814, at the treaty of Fort Jackson, the Creeks and Cherokees were invited to settle their claims, and Colonel Meigs was engaged for three or four days in aiding them to do so. The result was they could not agree, but would at some convenient period agree. This was signed by General Jackson, Colonel Hawkins, and Colonel Meigs."At the convention with the Creeks, in September, 1815, the Cherokees manifested a sincere desire to settle their boundaries with the Creeks, but the latter first declined and then refused. Tustunnuggee Thlucco, being asked where their boundary was west of Coosau, said there never was any boundary fixed and known as such between the parties, and after making Tennessee the boundary from tradition, and that the Cherokees obtained leave of them to cross it, the policy of the Creeks receiving all destroyed red people in their confederacy, the Cherokees were permitted to come over and settle as low down on the west of Coosau as Hauluthee Hatchee, from thence on the west side of Coosau on all its waters to its source. He has never heard, and he has examined all his people who can have any knowledge on the subject, that the Cherokees had any pretensions lower down Coosau on that side. He does not believe, and he has never heard, there was any boundary agreed upon between them. Being asked by Colonel Hawkins his opinion where the boundary should be, he says it should go up Hauluthee Hatchee, passing a level of good land between two mountains, to the head of Itchau Hatchee, and down the same to Tennessee, about 8 or 9 miles above Nickajack. In the year 1798 the Cherokees had a settlement at the Muscle Shoals, Doublehead and Katagiskee were the chiefs, and the Creeks had a small settlement above the Creek path on Tennessee. The Cherokee settlement extended southwardly from the shoal probably a mile and a half. The principal temporary agent for Indian affairs south of the Ohio was early instructed in 1777 to ascertain the boundary line of the four nations, and instructions were given accordingly by him to Mr. Dinsmore and Mr. Mitchell to aid in doing it. Several attempts were made, but all proved abortive, owing to the policy of the Creeks, which was to unite the four nations in one confederacy and the national affairs of all to be in a convention to be held annually among the Creeks, where the speaker for the Creeks should preside."At every attempt made among the Creeks when these conventions met, the answer was, 'We have no dividing lines, nor never had, between us. We have lines only between us and the white people, our neighbors.' At times, when the subject was discussed in the convention of the Creeks, they claimed Tombigby, called by them Choctaw River (Choctau Hatchee), the boundary line between them and the Choctaws. Tustunneggee Hopoie, brother of the old Efau Hajo (mad dog), who died at ninety-six years of age, and retained strength of memory and intelligence to this great age, reported publicly to the agent, 'When he was a boy his father's hunting camp was at Puttauchau Hatchee (Black Warrior).' His father had long been at the head of the Creeks, and always told him 'Choctaw River was their boundary with the Choctaws.' He never saw a Choctaw hunting camp on this side the Black Warrior."A true copy from the original."PHIL. HAWKINS,Jr.,"Ast. A. I. A."

391The following paper, which is on file in the Office of Indian Affairs, is interesting in connection with the subject matter of this boundary:

Extract from treaties and other documents relative to the Cherokee lines in contact with the Creeks and Chickasaws west of Coosa River:

"June 10, 1786.—In the treaty of this date with the Chickasaws the lands allotted them eastwardly 'shall be the lands allotted to the Choctaws and Cherokees to live and hunt on.' In the conference which took place between the commissioners of the United States and the Chickasaws and Cherokees, it was apparent that their claims conflicted with each other on the ridge dividing the waters of Cumberland from those of Duck River and around to the Chickasaw Oldtown Creek on Tennessee, thence southwardly, leaving the mountains above the Muscle Shoals on the south side of the river, and to a large stone or flat rock, where the Choctaw line joined with the Chickasaws. The journal of occurrences at the time were lodged with the papers of the old Congress, and probably were transferred to the office of Secretary of State. On the 7th of January, 1806, in a convention between the United States and Cherokees, on the part of the former by Mr. Dearborn, the United States engaged to use their best endeavors to fix a boundary between the Cherokees and Chickasaws, 'beginning at the mouth of Caney Creek, near the lower part of the Muscle Shoals, and to run up the said creek to its head, and in a direct line from thence to the flat stone or rock, the old corner boundary,' the line between the Creeks and Cherokees east of Coosau River.

"In 1802, at the treaty of Fort Wilkinson, it was agreed between the parties that the line was 'from the High Shoals on Apalatche, the old path, leaving Stone Mountain to the Creeks, to the shallow ford on the Chatahoochee.'

"This agreement was in presence of the commissioners of the United States and witnessed by General Pickens and Colonel Hawkins. On the 10th October, 1809, a letter was sent from the Cherokees to the Creeks and received in February in the public square at Tookaubatche, stating the line agreed upon at Fort Wilkinson, and that 'all the waters of Etowah down to the ten islands below Turkeytown these lands were given up to the Cherokees at a talk at Chestoe in presence of the Little Prince, and Tustunnuggee Thlucco Chulioah, of Turkeystown, was the interpreter.'

"In August, 1814, at the treaty of Fort Jackson, the Creeks and Cherokees were invited to settle their claims, and Colonel Meigs was engaged for three or four days in aiding them to do so. The result was they could not agree, but would at some convenient period agree. This was signed by General Jackson, Colonel Hawkins, and Colonel Meigs.

"At the convention with the Creeks, in September, 1815, the Cherokees manifested a sincere desire to settle their boundaries with the Creeks, but the latter first declined and then refused. Tustunnuggee Thlucco, being asked where their boundary was west of Coosau, said there never was any boundary fixed and known as such between the parties, and after making Tennessee the boundary from tradition, and that the Cherokees obtained leave of them to cross it, the policy of the Creeks receiving all destroyed red people in their confederacy, the Cherokees were permitted to come over and settle as low down on the west of Coosau as Hauluthee Hatchee, from thence on the west side of Coosau on all its waters to its source. He has never heard, and he has examined all his people who can have any knowledge on the subject, that the Cherokees had any pretensions lower down Coosau on that side. He does not believe, and he has never heard, there was any boundary agreed upon between them. Being asked by Colonel Hawkins his opinion where the boundary should be, he says it should go up Hauluthee Hatchee, passing a level of good land between two mountains, to the head of Itchau Hatchee, and down the same to Tennessee, about 8 or 9 miles above Nickajack. In the year 1798 the Cherokees had a settlement at the Muscle Shoals, Doublehead and Katagiskee were the chiefs, and the Creeks had a small settlement above the Creek path on Tennessee. The Cherokee settlement extended southwardly from the shoal probably a mile and a half. The principal temporary agent for Indian affairs south of the Ohio was early instructed in 1777 to ascertain the boundary line of the four nations, and instructions were given accordingly by him to Mr. Dinsmore and Mr. Mitchell to aid in doing it. Several attempts were made, but all proved abortive, owing to the policy of the Creeks, which was to unite the four nations in one confederacy and the national affairs of all to be in a convention to be held annually among the Creeks, where the speaker for the Creeks should preside.

"At every attempt made among the Creeks when these conventions met, the answer was, 'We have no dividing lines, nor never had, between us. We have lines only between us and the white people, our neighbors.' At times, when the subject was discussed in the convention of the Creeks, they claimed Tombigby, called by them Choctaw River (Choctau Hatchee), the boundary line between them and the Choctaws. Tustunneggee Hopoie, brother of the old Efau Hajo (mad dog), who died at ninety-six years of age, and retained strength of memory and intelligence to this great age, reported publicly to the agent, 'When he was a boy his father's hunting camp was at Puttauchau Hatchee (Black Warrior).' His father had long been at the head of the Creeks, and always told him 'Choctaw River was their boundary with the Choctaws.' He never saw a Choctaw hunting camp on this side the Black Warrior.

"A true copy from the original.

"PHIL. HAWKINS,Jr.,"Ast. A. I. A."

392Letter of Secretary of War to Governor Lumpkin, of Georgia, March 12, 1833.

393March 21, 1833.

394Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Agent Montgomery, April 22, 1833.

395Secretary of War to Governor Lumpkin, of Georgia, January 28, 1834.

396March 28, 1834.

397May 1, 1834.

398March 3, 1834.

399Letter of John Ross and others to Secretary of War, inclosing protest, May 24, 1834.

400Letter of Hon. J. H. Eaton to John Ross, May 26, 1834.

401May 29, 1834.

402Secretary of War to governor of Georgia, July 8, 1834.

403May 17, 1834.

404The Ross delegation was composed of John Ross, R. Taylor, Daniel McCoy, Samuel Gunter, and William Rogers. The Ridge delegation consisted of John Ridge, William A. Davis, Elias Boudinot, A. Smith, S. W. Bell, and J. West.

405February 11, 1835.

406Memorandum delivered by Secretary of War to Senator King, of Georgia, February 28, 1835.

407Memorandum delivered by Secretary of War to Senator King, of Georgia, February 28, 1835.

408March 16, 1835.

409September 10, 1835.

410September 26, 1835.

411Senate Document 120, Twenty-fifth Congress, second session, p. 124.

412See proceedings of council.

413National Intelligencer, May 22, 1838.

414Schermerhorn to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, December 31, 1835.

415See report of proceedings of council.

416National Intelligencer, May 22, 1838.

417United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 488.

418In addition to these sums, an appropriation of $1,047,067 was made by the act of June 13, 1838, in full of all objects specified in the third supplemental article and for the one year's subsistence provided for in the treaty.

419Commissioner of Indian Affairs to John Ross, March 9, 1836.

420Hon. P. M. Butler, in a confidential letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, March 4, 1842, says: "The treaty, as the Department is aware, was sustained by the Senate of the United States by a majority of one vote."

421United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 478et seq.

422July 25, 1836.

423July 30, 1836.

424The Secretary of War, October 12, 1836, directed General Wool to inform Mr. Ross that the President regarded the proceedings of himself and associates in council as in direct contravention of the plighted faith of their people, and a repetition of them would be considered as indicative of a design to prevent the execution of the treaty even at the hazard of actual hostilities, and they would be promptly repressed.

425October 17, 1836.

426Senate confidential document, April 12, 1836, p. 200.

427National Intelligencer, May 22, 1838.

428National Intelligencer, May 22, 1838.

429June 3, 1837.

430July 15, 1837.

431September 25, 1837.

432September 30, 1836.

433October 25, 1836.

434Secretary of War to Andrew Jackson, August 21, 1837.

435October 16, 1837.

436The amounts adjudicated and paid by this commission, as shown by the records of the Indian Office (see Commissioner of Indian Affairs' letter of March 7, 1844), were as follows:1.For improvements$1,683,192771/22.Spoliations416,306821/23.National debts due to Cherokees19,058144.National debts due to citizens of the United States51,642875.Reservations159,32487_________________Total2,329,52486(The figures as given here are correctly copied from the commissioner's letter, but there is an obvious error either in the footing or in the items.)

436The amounts adjudicated and paid by this commission, as shown by the records of the Indian Office (see Commissioner of Indian Affairs' letter of March 7, 1844), were as follows:

(The figures as given here are correctly copied from the commissioner's letter, but there is an obvious error either in the footing or in the items.)

437January 3, 1837.

438December 1, 1836.

439This census showed a distribution of the Cherokee population, according to State boundaries, as follows:States.Cherokees.Slaves.WhitesintermarriedwithCherokees.In Georgia8,94677668In North Carolina3,6443722In Tennessee2,52848079In Alabama1,42429932Total16,5421,592201

439This census showed a distribution of the Cherokee population, according to State boundaries, as follows:

440Secretary of War to Col. William Lindsay, May 8, 1837.

441March 26, 1838.

442Speech in reply to Mr. Halsey, of Georgia, January 2, 1838.

443May 22, 1838.

444National Intelligencer, June 8, 1838.

445Secretary of War to James K. Polk, Speaker of the House of Representatives, January 8, 1838.

446General Macomb to General Scott, April 6, 1838.

447May 10, 1838.

448May 18, 1838.

449Annual report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, November 25, 1838.

450Proposal was accepted July 25; emigration to begin September 1 and end before October 20, 1838.

451The number, according to the rolls of John Ross, who removed under his direction, was 13,149. According to the rolls of Captain Stevenson, the agent who received them on their arrival West, there were only 11,504, and, according to Captain Page, the disbursing officer, there were 11,721. Mr. Ross received on his settlement with Captain Page subsequent to the removal,$486,939.501/4, which made a total payment to Ross by the Government on account of Cherokee removals of $1,263,338.38. (Letter of Commissioner Indian Affairs, June 15, 1842). See, also, Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Commissioner of Land Office, January 9, 1839.

452Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Secretary of War, September 12, 1839.

453April 21, 1840.

454Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1839.

455Letter of John Ross to General Arbuckle, June 24, 1839.

456June 22, 1839.

457Agent Stokes to Secretary of War, June 24, 1839.

458July 5, 1839.

459August 9, 1839.

460August 27, 1839.

461August 23, 1839.

462July 7, 1839.

463July 10, 1839.

464August 21, 1839.

465September 4, 1839,et seq.

466November 9, 1839.

467January 22, 1840.

468April 21, 1840.

469Coody, in an interview with the Secretary of War, persisted in considering the murders of Boudinot and the Ridges as justifiable. General Arbuckle's letter of notification bore date April 21, 1840.

470Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Maj. William Armstrong, August 26, 1840.

471September 22, 1841.

472March 4, 1842.

473September 9, 1842.

474November 8, 1842.

475United States Statute at Large, Vol. IX, p. 871.

476May 6, 1844.

477May 30, 1844.

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