The commissioners (Return J. Meigs and Daniel Smith) who were appointed
and instructed under date of April 4,1804, and who negotiated the
treaty of October 24, 1804, with the Cherokees, it will be remembered,
failed in the object of their instructions, except as to the single
matter of securing the cession of a tract covering the settlement of
Colonel Wafford and others near Currahee Mountain. They were, however,
directed to continue their negotiations from time to time until the
full measure of their original instructions should be secured.
_Treaties of October 25 and 27, 1805, considered together._--This
course was pursued, and after several fruitless conferences the
commissioners succeeded in concluding the treaties of October 25, 1805,
and October 27, 1805. Inasmuch as these two treaties were negotiated by
the same commissioners, acting under the same instructions and at the
same conference, they will be considered together. The treaties were
upon their conclusion transmitted to the Secretary of War,[152] and,
upon submission to the Senate, that body duly advised and consented to
their ratification. They were ratified and proclaimed by the President
on the 24th of April and 10th of June, 1806, respectively.[153]
_Secret agreement with Doublehead._--Following the transmission of
the treaties to the Secretary of War by the commissioners, the latter
addressed[154] an explanatory communication to him, in which they set
forth that by the terms of the treaty of October 25, 1805, there were
reserved three square miles of land, "for the particular disposal of
the United States, on the north bank of the Tennessee, opposite and
below the mouth of Hiwassa." This reservation, they affirmed, was
predicated ostensibly on the supposition that the garrison at Southwest
Point and the United States factory at Tellico would be placed thereon
during the pleasure of the United States, but that they had stipulated
with "Doublehead," a Cherokee chief, that whenever the United States
should find this land unnecessary for the purposes mentioned it was to
revert to him (Doublehead), provided that he should retain one of the
square miles to his own use, but should relinquish his right and claim
to the other two sections in favor of John D. Chisholm and John Riley
in equal shares.
_Purchase of site for State capital._--The cession by the treaty of
October 27, 1805, of the section of land at Southwest Point was secured
upon the theory that the State of Tennessee would find Kingston a
convenient and desirable place for the establishment of the State
capital. A subsequent change of circumstances and public sentiment,
however, caused it to be located seven years later at Nashville.
_Boundaries surveyed._--On the 11th of July, 1806, the Secretary of
War notified Return J. Meigs of his appointment as commissioner to
superintend the running and marking of the line "from the junction of
the fork at the head of which Fort Nash stood with the main south fork
of Duck River to a point on the Tennessee River bank opposite the mouth
of Hiwassee River." He was also to superintend the survey of the lines
of the reserved tracts agreeably to the treaty of October 25, 1805.
He was directed to appoint a surveyor, but before running the line from
Duck to Tennessee Rivers above described, to have him survey and mark
the lines of the 3-mile tract reserved opposite to and below the mouth
of Hiwassee, and also, when completed, to designate the most suitable
site for the military post, factory, and agency, each site to be 300
feet square and 40 rods distant from the others.
Commissioner Meigs followed the letter of his instructions and caused
the lines to be surveyed in accordance therewith. The line from Duck
River to the mouth of Hiwassee was begun on the 9th and finished on the
26th of October, 1806. The point of departure at the west end of the
boundary line was a red elm tree, trimmed and topped, standing on the
extreme point of land formed by the confluence of that branch of Duck
River at the head of which Fort Nash stood, with the main south fork of
the river. The eastern terminus of the line was a mulberry tree on the
north bank of Tennessee River opposite the mouth of Hiwassee River, 73
miles and 166 poles from the beginning.[155]