Today in Chickamauga History - May 7
1828, May 7: ARKANSAS TERRITORIAL PAPERS VOL XX – Page 672 – 673 –
DELEGATE SEVIER TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR - [NA:OIA, Lets. Recd. (Cherokees W.) :ALS]
Hs OF REPS. May 7 th 1828.
DEAR Sir. Capt Rodgers of the Cherokee delegation, whom I saw this moment, informs me that you have not as yet entered into a treaty with them 63- This intelligence gives me some hope, that my people may yet be saved from ruin - If however you are yet disposed to treat, I will take it as a great favour if you will suspend your negociations until the bill now before the house of Reps. Authorizing the president to hold treaties with several tribes of Indians is taken up---It will be taken up I presume tomorrow-I intend when that bill comes up to offer an amendment to hold a treaty with the Cherokee nation of Indians in Arkansa to puchase of them all their lands within the organized limits of Arkansas -By complying with this request you will confer a favour upon me and perhaps save many persons from ruin and to the government many thousands of dollars--
Respectfully, your obt Servt.
A.H. SEVIER
[Addressed] Hon Jas Barbour Secretary of war Washington City.
[Endorsed] Ho: Rep• May 7. 1828. A-H-Sevier, Requests that the negociations with the Cherokee deputation of Arkansa, be suspended for a short time---Indn. Office 8 May.
63 The treaty, or convention, with the Arkansas Cherokees was actually concluded in Washington, D. C., May 6, 1828. The original MS. text of the treaty is in NA (SD, Indian Treaties), and has been printed in 7 STAT. 311-315, and in Kappler (ed.), Ind. Affairs, Laws and Treaties, II, 288-292). A MS. copy is also found in NA (OIA, Lets. Sent, Bk. 4). The various textual versions include the Senate proviso relating to the boundary, and also the Cherokee acceptance of the same. The treaty was ratified May 23, 1828 (Senate, Exec. Journal, III, 609, 611, 615, 616), and proclaimed by the President on May 28, 1828. The area ceded by the Cherokees is delineated in Royce, Indian Land Cessions, plate cxiii, cession designation 143. An estimate of the cost of the treaty ($126,960), is found under date of May 24, 1828 in NA (OIA, Lets. Sent, Bk. 4). The principal feature of the treaty consists of a description of a new western boundary for the territory, approximating the western boundary of the present state of Arkansas. It was also the eastern boundary of the Cherokees, who were thus moved outside the limits of Arkansas. By the same token an undetermined number of settlers were now also beyond the civil jurisdiction of Arkansas Territory; Forts Gibson and Towson were likewise outside the territory. See diagram in Douglas, Boundaries of the U. S. and the Several States, p. 179. The new boundary line thus placed the Cherokees into a portion of what was popularly termed "Lovely's Purchase."
See ante, XIX, 6, n.
In the June 25, 1828, issue of the Ark. Gazette there appears editorial comment on the treaty in question, followed by Delegate Sevier's letters to the Secretary of
War under dates of Feb.18 and Apr. 22, 1828 (ante, pp. 602,651), together with the letter reproduced above. In the issue of the Gazette for Sept. 23 and Sept. 30, 1828
(Vol. 9, Nos.39 and 40), there is printed a great part of the correspondence and Indian talks pertaining to "Lovely's purchase"-records drawn from the General Land Office and the office of the Secretary of War. These documents had been transmitted to the Speaker of the territorial House of Representatives Apr. 28, 1828. See
also the Secretary of War to the Cherokee delegation, May 17, 1828 (NA, OIA, Lets. Sent, Bk. 4), transmitting a copy .of the treaty to be submitted to their council, and stating that it was the best that could be done. See resolution of citizens of Lovely County, May 27, 1828 (Ark. Gazette, June 11, 1828 [Vol. 9, No. 24]), against the cession of Lovely's purchase which would deprive them of their homes. It was resolved that a memorial be addressed to the President protesting the cession. See also "Crawford" to the Editor of the Gazette, June 16, 1828 (ibid., July 2, 1828 [Vol. 9, No. 27]), written from Ft. Smith, protesting the loss of Lovely's purchase. The same issue of this newspaper contains a news item describing the chagrin of the inhabitants of the area relative to the action of the Cherokee delgation in Washington, and stating that poles had been erected before the house of each of the settlers on which to place the heads of the members of the delegation upon their return. The June 18, 1828,
issue of the Gazette (Vol. 9, No. 25), contains an account of the land surrendered, and refers to the many salt springs within its compass, and to the prospective