In the year 1797 the legislature of the State of Tennessee addressed a
memorial and remonstrance to Congress upon the subject of the Indian
title to lands within that State. The burden of this complaint was
the assertion that the Indian title was at best nothing greater than
a tenancy at will; that the lands they occupied within the limits of
the State had been granted by the State of North Carolina, before the
admission of Tennessee to the Union, to her officers and soldiers of
the Continental line, and for other purposes; that the treaties entered
into with the Cherokees by the United States, guaranteeing them the
exclusive possession of these lands, were subversive of State as well
as individual vested rights, and praying that provision be made by law
for the extinguishment of the Indian claim.[107]
This was communicated to Congress by the President. Mr. Pinckney,
from the committee of the House of Representatives to which the matter
was referred, submitted a report,[108] accompanied by a resolution
making an appropriation for the relief of such citizens of the State
of Tennessee as had a right to lands within that State, by virtue of
the cession out of the State of North Carolina, provided they had made
actual settlement thereon and had been deprived of the possession
thereof by the operation of the act of May 19, 1796, for regulating
intercourse with the Indian tribes. The sum to be appropriated, it was
declared, should be subject to the order of the President of the United
States, to be expended under his direction, either in extinguishing the
Indian claim to the lands in question, by holding a treaty for that
purpose, or to be disposed of in such other manner as he should deem
best calculated to afford the persons described a temporary relief.
_New treaty._--The House of Representatives, on considering the
subject, passed a resolution directing the Secretary of War to lay
before them such information as he possessed relative to the running of
a line of experiment from Clinch River to Chilhowie Mountain by order
of Governor Blount, to which the Secretary responded on the 5th of
January, 1798.[109]
Following this, on the 8th of the same month, President Adams
communicated a message to the Senate, setting forth that the situation
of affairs between some of the citizens of the United States and the
Cherokees had evinced the propriety of holding a treaty with that
nation, to extinguish by purchase their right to certain parcels of
land and to adjust and settle other points relative to the safety
and convenience of the citizens of the United States. With this view
he nominated Fisher Ames, of Massachusetts, Bushrod Washington, of
Virginia, and Alfred Moore, of North Carolina, to be commissioners,
having authority to hold conferences and conclude a treaty with the
Cherokees for the purposes indicated.[110]
The Senate concurred in the advisability of the proposed treaty, but
Fisher Ames and Bushrod Washington having declined, George Walton and
John Steele were associated with Mr. Moore, and detailed instructions
were given for their guidance.[111]
By these instructions they were vested jointly and severally with full
powers to negotiate and conclude a treaty with the Cherokees, limited
only by the scope of the instructions themselves. The Cherokee agent
had already been directed to notify the Indians and the commandant of
United States troops in Tennessee to furnish an escort sufficient for
the protection of the negotiations.
_Further purchase of Cherokee lands proposed._--The commissioners
were directed as a primary consideration to secure, if possible, the
consent of the Cherokees to the sale of such part of their lands as
would give a more convenient form to the State of Tennessee and conduce
to the protection of its citizens. Especially was it desirable to
obtain their consent to the immediate return of such settlers as had
intruded on their lands and in consequence had been removed by the
United States troops, such consent to be predicated on the theory that
the Cherokees were willing to treat for the sale to the United States
of the lands upon which these people had settled. They were directed to
renew the unsuccessful effort made by Governor Blount in 1791 to secure
the consent of the Cherokees that the boundary should begin at the
mouth of Duck River and run up the middle of that stream to its source
and thence by a line drawn to the mouth of Clinch River. The following
alternative boundary propositions were directed to be submitted for the
consideration of the Indians, in their numerical order, viz:
1. A line (represented on an accompanying map by a red dotted line)
from a point on the ridge dividing the waters of the Cumberland from
the Tennessee River, in a southwest direction, until it should strike
the mouth of Duck River; thence from the mouth to the main source of
the river; thence by a line over the highest ridges of the Cumberland
Mountains to the mouth of Clinch River; thence down the middle of the
Tennessee River till it struck the divisional line under the treaties
of 1791 and 1794; thence along said line to its crossing of the Cunchee
Creek running into Tuckasegee; thence to the Great Iron Mountains;
thence a southeasterly course to where the most southerly branch of
Little River crossed the divisional line to Tugaloo River.
2. A line (represented on said map by a double red line) beginning at
the point 40 miles above Nashville, as ascertained by the commissioners
(and laid down on said map); thence due east till it struck the dotted
line on Cumberland Mountains; along said mountains to the junction of
Clinch and Tennessee Rivers; and down the Tennessee to the extent of
the boundary described in the first proposition.
3. A line (dotted blue) beginning at a point 56 miles from the point 40
miles above Nashville, on the northeast divisional line, being 1-1/2
miles south of the road called Walton's or Caney Fork road; thence on
a course at the same distance from the said road to where it crosses
Clinch River; thence resuming the remaining boundary as described in
the first proposition.
4. A line (being a double blue line on the map) beginning at a point
one mile south of the junction of the Clinch and Tennessee Rivers;
thence westerly along the course of the road 1-1/2 miles south thereof
until it entered into Cumberland Mountains; thence a northeasterly
course along the ridges of said mountains on the west of Powell's
Valley and River to the source of the river next above Clear Fork, and
thence down the middle of the same to the northeast divisional line;
the Tennessee River and the further line thence, as described in the
first proposition, to be the remaining boundary.
In case the Indians should accept the first proposition and cede the
tract therein described, or a greater quantity, the commissioners were
to solemnly guarantee the Cherokees the remainder of their country and
agree to their payment by the United States of either an annuity of
$4,000, or to deliver them, on the signing of the treaty, goods to the
amount of $5,000 and the further sum of $20,000 in four equal annual
installments.
Refusing the first and accepting the second proposition, they were to
receive the same guarantee, and an annuity of $3,000, or $5,000 at once
in goods and $15,000 in three equal annual installments.
Refusing the first and second and accepting the third proposition, the
same guarantee was offered and an annuity of $2,000, or $5,000 in goods
on signing the treaty and $10,000 in two equal annual installments.
Accepting the fourth proposition, to the exclusion of the other three,
the same guarantee was to be given, together with an annuity of $1,000,
or $5,000 in goods on signing the treaty and the same amount during the
year 1799.
It was also represented by the Secretary of War that the arts and
practices used to obtain Indian land in defiance of treaties and the
laws, at the risk of involving the whole country in war, had become
so daring, and received such countenance from persons of prominent
influence, as to render it necessary that the means to countervail
them should be augmented. To this end, as well as to more effectually
secure to the United States the advantages of the land which should be
obtained by the treaty, the commissioners were instructed to secure the
insertion into the treaty of provisions of the following import:
1. That the new line should be run and marked by two commissioners, one
of whom should be appointed by the treaty commissioners and the other
by the Indians. They should proceed immediately upon the signing of
the treaty to the execution of that duty, upon the completion of which
three maps thereof should be prepared, one for the use of the Secretary
of War, one for the executive of the State of Tennessee, and one for
the Cherokees.
2. That the Cherokees should at all times permit the President of the
United States to employ military force within their boundaries for
the arrest and removal of all persons seeking to make unauthorized
negotiations with or to incite their hostility toward the United States
or any of its citizens, or toward any foreign nation or Indian nation
or tribe within the limits and under the protection of the United
States; also, of all persons who should settle on or who should attempt
to reside in the Indian country without the written permission of the
President.
3. That the treaty should not be construed either to affect the right
or title of any ejected settler upon the Indian lands to the tract
theretofore occupied by him or in any manner to enlarge his right or
claim thereto; and that all Indian land purchased by the contemplated
treaty, which had not been actually occupied as aforesaid, should
remain subject to the operation of all the provisions of the proposed
as well as any former treaty and of the laws of the United States
relative to Indian country, until such time as said lands should be
sold by and under the authority of the United States. This provision
was intended to prevent any further intrusion on any part of the land
ceded by the State of North Carolina to the United States; as also
upon the land set apart to the Cherokee Indians by the State of North
Carolina, by act of her legislature, passed May 17, 1783, described as
follows, viz: "Beginning on the Tennessee, where the southern boundary
of this State intersects the same, nearest to the Chicamauga towns;
thence up the middle of the Tennessee and Holston to the middle of
French Broad; thence up the middle of French Broad River (which lines
are not to include any island or islands in the said river) to the
mouth of Big Pigeon River; thence up the same to the head thereof;
thence along the dividing ridge, between the waters of Pigeon River and
Tuckasege River, to the southern boundary of this State."
4. The United States should have the right to establish such military
posts and garrisons within the Indian limits for their protection as
should be deemed proper. In case it should be found impracticable to
obtain Duck River or a line that should include within it the road
leading from Southwest Point to Cumberland River for a boundary, the
commissioners were to stipulate for certain parcels of land lying on
such road at convenient distances from each other for the establishment
of houses of entertainment for travelers. Also in case the cession
obtained should not include both sides of the ferry on Clinch River, to
secure a limitation upon the rates of toll that should be charged by
the occupant.
The commissioners repaired to Knoxville, where they ascertained it to
be the desire of the Indians that the treaty negotiations should be
held at Oostenaula, the Cherokee capital.
To this the commissioners objected, but agreed to meet the Indians
at Chota, which they concluded to change to Tuckasege, and, finally,
before the date fixed for the meeting, June 25, again changed it to
Tellico, where the conference was held.[112]
_Tennessee commissioners attend the council._--In the mean time[113]
Governor Sevier of Tennessee designated General Robertson, James
Stuart, and Lachlan McIntosh as agents to represent the interests of
that State at the treaty, and gave them minute instructions covering
the following points,[114] viz:
1. To obtain as wide an extinguishment of the Cherokee claim north of
the Tennessee River as possible.
2. An unimpeded communication of Holston and Clinch Rivers with the
Tennessee and the surrender of the west bank of the Clinch opposite
South-West Point.
3. To secure from future molestation the settlements as far as they had
progressed on the northern and western borders of the State and the
connection of Hamilton and Mero districts, then separated by a space of
unextinguished hunting ground 80 miles wide.
4. To examine into the nature and validity of the claim recently set
up by the Cherokees to lands north of the Tennessee River; whether it
rested upon original right or was derived from treaties; or was founded
only upon temporary use or occupancy.
The council opened early in July. The "Bloody Fellow," a Cherokee
chief, at the outset delivered a paper which he stated to contain their
final resolutions, and which covered a peremptory refusal to sell
any land or to permit the ejected settlers to return to their homes.
After seeking in vain to shake this determination of the Cherokees,
further negotiations were postponed until the ensuing fall, and the
commissioners departed.
On the 27th of August, the Secretary of War addressed some additional
instructions upon the subject to George Walton and Lieut. Col. Thomas
Butler as commissioners (John Steele having resigned and Alfred Moore
having returned to his home in North Carolina), authorizing them to
renew the negotiations. The original instructions were to form the
basis of these negotiations, but if it should be found impracticable to
induce the Indians to accede to either of the first three propositions,
an abandonment of them was to take place, and resort was to be had to
the fourth proposition, which might be altered in any manner as to
boundaries calculated to secure the most advantageous results to the
United States.[115] The council was resumed at Tellico on the 20th of
September, but it was found, during the progress thereof, that there
was no possibility of effecting the primary objects of the State agents
of Tennessee. General Robertson failed to attend. General White (who
had been appointed in the place of Stuart) was there, but Mr. McIntosh
resigned and Governor Sevier himself attended in person.
The treaty was finally concluded on the 2d of October, by which a
cession was secured covering most of the territory contemplated by the
fourth proposition, with something additional. It included most if not
all the lands from which settlers had been ejected by the United States
troops, and they were permitted to return to their homes.
The road privilege sought to be obtained between East and Middle
Tennessee was also realized, except as to the establishment of houses
of entertainment for travelers.[116]
President Adams transmitted the treaty to the Senate,[117] and that
body advised and consented to its ratification.
_Boundary lines surveyed._--In fulfillment of the provisions of the
fifth article of the treaty concerning the survey of boundary lines,
the President appointed Captain Butler as a commissioner to run that
portion of the line described as extending from Great Iron Mountain in
a southeasterly direction to the point where the most southerly branch
of Little River crossed the divisional line to Tugaloo River, which
trust he executed in the summer of 1799.[118] Owing to the unfortunate
destruction of official records by fire, in the year 1800, it is
impossible to ascertain all the details concerning this survey, but it
was executed on the theory that the "Little River" named in the treaty
was one of the northernmost branches of Keowee River.
This survey seems not to have been accepted by the War Department, for
on the 3d of June, 1802, instructions were issued by the Secretary of
War to Return J. Meigs, as a commissioner, to superintend the execution
of the survey of this same portion of the boundary. Mr. Thomas Freeman
was appointed surveyor.[119]
From the letter of Commissioner Meigs, transmitting the plat and field
notes of survey,[120] it appears that much difference of opinion had
existed as to what stream was meant by the "Little River" named in the
treaty, there being three streams of that name in that vicinity. Two of
these were branches of the French Broad and the other of Keowee River.
If the line should be run to the lower one of these two branches of the
French Broad, it would leave more than one hundred families of white
settlers within the Indian territory. If it were run to the branch of
Keowee River, it would leave ten or twelve Indian villages within the
State of North Carolina.
It was therefore determined by Commissioner Meigs to accept the upper
branch of French Broad as the true intent and meaning of the treaty,
and the line was run accordingly, whereby not a single white settlement
was cut off or intersected, and but five Indian families were left on
the Carolina side of the line.[121]
_Status of certain territory._--In this connection it is pertinent
to remark that the State of North Carolina claimed for her southern
boundary the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude.
The line of this parallel was, however, at that time supposed to run
about 12 miles to the north of what was subsequently ascertained to be
its true location.
Between this supposed line of 35° north latitude and the northernmost
boundary of Georgia, as settled upon by a convention between that State
and South Carolina in 1787, there intervened a tract of country of
about 12 miles in width, from north to south, and extending from east
to west, from the top of the main ridge of mountains which divides
the eastern from the western waters to the Mississippi River. This
tract remained, as was supposed, within the chartered limits of South
Carolina, and in the year 1787 was ceded by that State to the United
States, subject to the Indian right of occupancy. When the Indian title
to the country therein described was ceded to the United States by the
treaty of 1798 with the Cherokees, the eastern portion of this 12-mile
tract fell within the limits of such cession.
On its eastern extremity near the head-waters of the French Broad
River, immediately at the foot of the main Blue Ridge Mountains, had
been located, for a number of years prior to the treaty, a settlement
of about fifty families of whites, who by its ratification became
occupants of the public domain of the United States, but who were
outside the territorial jurisdiction of any State. These settlers
petitioned Congress to retrocede the tract of country upon which
they resided to South Carolina, in order that they might be brought
within the protection of the laws of that State.[122] A resolution
was reported in the House of Representatives, from the committee to
whom the subject had been referred, favoring such a course,[123] but
Congress took no effective action on the subject, and when the State
boundaries came to be finally adjusted in that region the tract in
question was found to be within the limits of North Carolina.
_Yellow Creek settlement._--After that portion of the boundary of the
country ceded by the treaty of 1798 which extended along the foot of
Cumberland Mountain until it intersected "Campbell's Line" had been
surveyed, complaint was made by certain settlers on Yellow Creek that
by the action of the surveyors in not prolonging the line to its true
point of termination, their homes had been left within the Indian
country.
Thereupon the Secretary of War instructed Agent Meigs[124] to go in
person and examine the line as surveyed with a view to ascertaining the
truth concerning the complaints.
It was ascertained that the "point" of Campbell's Line was not on
Cumberland Mountain proper, but on the ridge immediately east thereof,
known as Poor Valley Ridge. This ridge is nearly as lofty as the
main range, and Colonel Campbell, in approaching it from the east,
had mistaken it for that range and established his terminal point
accordingly. The surveyors under the treaty of 1798, assuming the
correctness of Colonel Campbell's survey, had made the line of their
survey close thereon. By such action the Indian boundary in that
locality was extended 332 poles further to the east than would have
been the case had the true reading of the treaty been followed.
A number of families of settlers on Yellow Creek, together with a tract
of about 2,500 acres of land, were thus unfortunately left within the
Indian country. All efforts of Agent Meigs to secure a relinquishment
of this strip of territory from the Indians were, however,
ineffectual.[125]
[Footnote 105: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. I, p. 496.]
[Footnote 106: United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 62.]
[Footnote 107: This address and remonstrance will be found in full in
American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, page 625.]
[Footnote 108: December 20, 1797.]
[Footnote 109: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 629.]
[Footnote 110: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 631.]
[Footnote 111: These instructions were dated March 2, 1798. See
American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 639]
[Footnote 112: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, pp. 693, 695.]
[Footnote 113: June 20, 1798.]
[Footnote 114: Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, pp. 693, 695.]
[Footnote 115: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 640.]
[Footnote 116: By act of September 27, 1794, the legislature of the
territory southwest of the Ohio authorized the raising of a fund for
cutting and clearing a wagon road from Southwest Point to Bledsoe's
Lick on the Cumberland. The funds for this purpose were to be raised
by a lottery managed by Cols. James White, James Winchester, Stockley
Donelson, David Campbell, William Cocke, and Robert Hayes. The Indians
not having granted the necessary right of way, its construction was
necessarily postponed, but subsequently, by act of the legislature
of Tennessee passed November 14, 1801, the Cumberland Road Company
was incorporated and required to cut and clear a road from the Indian
boundary on the east side of Cumberland Mountain to the fork of the
roads leading to Fort Blount and Walton's Ferry.]
[Footnote 117: January 15, 1799.]
[Footnote 118: See letter of General Pickens to Representative Nott, of
South Carolina, January 1, 1800. American State Papers, Public Lands,
Vol. I, p. 103.]
[Footnote 119: Letter of Secretary of War to Return J. Meigs, in Indian
Office records.]
[Footnote 120: Dated October 20, 1802.]
[Footnote 121: Commissioner Meigs mentions that the accompanying plat
and field notes of Mr. Freeman, the surveyor, will give more abundant
details regarding this survey. After a careful search, however, no
trace has been found among the Indian Office records and files of
the plat and field notes in question. There is much difficulty in
ascertaining the exact point of departure of "Meigs Line" from Great
Iron Mountains. In the report of the Tennessee and North Carolina
boundary commissioners in 1821 it is stated to be 31-1/2 miles by the
course of the mountain ridge in a general southwesterly course from
the crossing of Cataluche Turnpike; 9-1/2 miles in a similar direction
from Porter's Gap; 21-1/2 miles in a northeasterly direction from the
crossing of Equovetley Path, and 33-1/2 miles in a like course from the
crossing of Tennessee River. All of these courses and distances follow
the crest of the Great Iron Mountains. It is stated to the author, by
General R. N. Hood, of Knoxville, Tenn., that there is a tradition that
"Meigs Post" was found some years since about 1-1/2 miles southwest of
Indian Gap. A map of the survey of Qualla Boundary, by M. S. Temple, in
1876, shows a portion of the continuation of "Meigs Line" as passing
about 1-1/2 miles east of Quallatown. Surveyor Temple mentions it as
running "S. 50° E. (formerly S. 52-1/2° E.")]
[Footnote 122: See memorial of Matthew Patterson and others, dated
"French Broad, 8th January, 1800," printed in American State Papers,
Public Lands, Vol. I, p. 104.]
[Footnote 123: This resolution was reported by Mr. Harper, from the
committee to whom it was referred, to the House of Representatives,
April 7, 1800, and is printed in American State Papers, Public Lands,
Vol. I, p. 103.]
[Footnote 124: February 7, 1803. See Indian Office records.]
[Footnote 125: See report of Agent Return J. Meigs to the Secretary of
War, May 5, 1803, on file in the Office of Indian Affairs.]